Lingyuan Immortal

Chapter 7: Disciple Xiaobi
The sky was gloomy, and the air was filled with a depressing and dull atmosphere. Soon, the thick clouds seemed to be moved by the gods in the sky, and rain poured down heavily...

Chen Mu used his magic power to push out of his body to block the rain.

Standing outside the Spiritual Medicine Valley and looking up, you will see that the Spiritual Medicine Valley surrounded by mountains is like an invisible huge round bowl turned upside down.

The pouring rain fell on it, creating fleeting ripples...

After Chen Mu entered the valley, he was led by the disciple in charge to a spiritual grassland of several acres in size.

"Junior Brother Chen, there are three pieces of land from west to east. You must not exceed this range... If you are not proficient in magic and cannot control it well, you can consider reducing the number of land on the edge." The disciple in charge stretched out his hand to point out the scope of the land, turned his head and said to Chen Mu.

Chen Mu bowed and said, "Thank you for your help, Senior Brother."

"No problem." The disciple in charge smiled slightly, returned the greeting and left.

Chen Mu looked at the land and observed it. The land was full of spiritual herbs with copper coin-shaped leaves, arranged in neat rows.

"This is one of my few sources of spirit stones. It's crucial to my future cultivation progress, so I have to take good care of it..."

"Looking at the size of this area, I'll need to cast several spells..."

Chen Mu stood still immediately, and made a series of magic gestures.

In the dantian, above the water lotus.

The symbol of the Minor Rain-Calling Technique suddenly lit up.

Instantly, a gray cloud formed out of thin air above the land, rolling and condensing into raindrops.

Chen Mu carefully drove the dark clouds, and the rain became heavier than before.

The pennywort, nourished by the rain, twisted its branches and leaves as if cheering...

Ten breaths later, the clouds dispersed, and Chen Mu closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground, recovering his magic power.

……

After completing the mission, Chen Mu said goodbye to the disciple in charge and walked out of the valley with a relaxed look on his face.

Not long after walking, they ran into Lin Xuanzhu and others who were walking into the valley.

When Lin Xuanzhu saw Chen Mu, she was stunned and stopped involuntarily.

Chen Mu turned his head to take a look and walked straight ahead...

Lin Xuanzhu had already taken note of Chen Mu's Water Blade Technique after he was stopped by him yesterday. She was a little confused when she first encountered him...

Lin Xuanzhu took a few quick steps, found the disciple in charge, and threw a jade slip to him with his right hand: "These are a few spiritual herbs that my brother needs. Go prepare them later..."

"If Senior Brother Lin needs it, I will serve you." The disciple in charge laughed dryly and turned back to collect spiritual herbs...

"Wait." Lin Xuanzhu stopped him. "What did that disciple who just came here for?"

The disciple in charge looked at Chen Mu's receding figure in the distance and said with a smile, "Junior Brother Chen, you have accepted the mission of bringing rain."

Lin Xuanzhu's expression changed slightly, and she waved her hand: "Go and do your thing."

The follower who came with him whispered, "Brother Lin, that kid took on such menial tasks. It seems he doesn't have any backing. Do you want to..." After saying that, the follower shook his fist.

Lin Xuanzhu thought carefully and said, "No need. It's easy to deal with a mere outer disciple... For now, let's focus on Niu Dali..."

……

The cold wind swept across and the snow was everywhere.

The small bamboo window of the wooden house was blown open with a creak, letting in a lot of wind and snow.

Looking out the window, I see bamboo forests bathed in snow, mountains in the distance covered in silver, and mist drifting in the air...

Chen Mu stood up and closed the bamboo window again. After packing up, he walked out of the valley.

On the way, I passed by Du Xiaokui and Xiaoshuang's wooden house, and saw Du Xiaokui's head sticking out of the bamboo window from afar.

Chen Mu laughed and said, "Don't look at it, it's coming."

Today marks the three-month anniversary of Chen Mu’s group of immortal seedlings’ initiation into the sect, but more importantly... it is time to distribute the spirit stones.

Chen Mu was very much looking forward to it. According to Senior Brother Sun, in the disciple competition, the disciple with powerful magic usually wins and gets extra rewards.

For this reason, Chen Mu has not gone anywhere in the past two months except for his regular training and rain-making tasks. He has been staying in Qingzhu Valley to practice magic.

Last month I also learned a new water shield technique...

Chen Mu and the other two came into the hall, and the crowd was sparse.

Arrived early...

I found a place, sat down and waited.

A quarter of an hour later, the originally empty side hall had become a little crowded.

Du Xiaokui stood up and looked around: "Second Brother Chen, why hasn't Big Brother Niu come yet... That fat guy has been here for a long time."

Chen Mu took a look from afar and saw that it was Lin Xuanzhu and his three followers, who were pretending to rest with their eyes closed.

"Here they come!" Xiaoshuang pointed outside the hall and spoke first.

Chen Mu looked outside after hearing this.

The snow was still falling and the cold wind was howling.

Niu Dali, now a bit stronger, didn't use his magic power to block the wind and snow like the others. Instead, he braved the snow and walked forward, a wisp of white mist with every step. It was the heat from his body...

"Brother Niu! This..." Du Xiaokui waved.

Seeing this, Niu Dali smiled and quickened his pace.

After a while, Uncle Zhang, who was presiding over the ceremony, walked to the front of the stage and made a hand gesture to silence several disciples who were still discussing in low voices.

"Let's not waste any more time. Today is the day to distribute spirit stones. Three spirit stones for each person." After saying that, Uncle Zhang waved his sleeves, and pieces of spirit stones flew out from his sleeves, like white jade belts, flying in front of the disciples below the stage.

Three dollars per person, no more, no less.

Chen Mu placed the spirit stone in front of him into his storage bag and continued to look at the Taoist master on the stage, waiting for the disciple competition to begin. After Uncle Zhang saw that the disciples had placed their spirit stones, he slowly said, "I believe you all know that I will hold a disciple competition today to test your cultivation progress. If you rank in the top ten, you will receive additional rewards..."

Chen Mu was startled when he heard this, then shook his head and smiled: "I was deceived by that old man Sun..."

"Uncle-master, why is it a competition of cultivation progress? Isn't it about magic?" One of the disciples stood up and asked urgently.

As soon as the words came out, they attracted many voices of agreement.

"Yeah, isn't it a magic competition..."

"I've practiced several spells specifically for this!"

"I even shortened my training time to practice magic..."

...

Uncle Zhang raised his eyebrows upon seeing this, but suppressed his smile and said, "Who told you guys to compete in magic?"

"It's Senior Brother Sun from the Dharma Transmission Pavilion!" Everyone spoke in a few words, but they all mentioned the same name.

"Sure enough, it's that Sun Wude again." Uncle Zhang laughed inwardly, but kept it to himself. "You're so gullible, and you're the ones who suffer. Don't you think about it? With your meager cultivation, what's the point of a fight? I'd rather go back and watch my cranes snatch mates... Besides, your most important thing right now is cultivation... How dare you be distracted by other things..."

"But your Senior Brother Sun didn't completely lie to you. In a year, I will conduct a comprehensive assessment of you..."

The disciples didn't dare to contradict their uncle and remained quiet, but secretly made up their minds to go find Senior Brother Sun after returning...

Chen Mu chuckled to himself. Although he hadn't neglected his cultivation for the past two months, even using spirit stones or Qi-boosting pills to aid his practice, and had condensed two drops of spiritual fluid, he had over seventy outer disciples, including a dozen with mid-grade spiritual roots. They also had spirit stones, so he had little hope of competing in their cultivation progress...

Uncle Zhang raised his hand and waved, and a straw man in armor appeared out of thin air in the side hall.

"Use your magic power to strike this straw man... Remember, don't hold back." He paused and said, "Niu Dali is not needed. You are ranked first."

As soon as the words came out, the disciples below the stage were in an uproar. Chen Mu was also stunned and turned to look at Niu Dali.

Before Niu Dali could say yes, Lin Xuanzhu hurriedly jumped out and asked, "Master, why doesn't Niu Dali need to be tested? This is unfair..."

Uncle Zhang's expression turned cold upon hearing this, and he said, "Do I still need you to teach me?"

Lin Xuanzhu finally realized that he had spoken out of turn and quickly bowed: "Disciple, I dare not."

"Niu Dali doesn't need to be tested because..." Uncle Zhang stretched out his hand and a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation suddenly emanated from Niu Dali's body: "He has already reached the second level of Qi Condensation..."

"What! Breaking through to the second level of Qi Condensation in just three months!"

"Is this a top-grade spiritual root..."

...

There was a lot of discussion in the audience, and everyone had different expressions.

Chen Mu smiled suddenly and said, "Congratulations to Brother Niu again!"

Niu Dali laughed and waved his hands: "Brother, don't be so polite in the future."

Lin Xuanzhu was struck by lightning and sat down with a look of shock on his face.

"Okay, okay, let's start." Uncle Zhang urged.

Upon hearing this, all the disciples regained their composure and released their magic power towards the armored straw man in the air.

Chen Mu also activated his magic power, and a drop of spiritual liquid in his body suddenly dissipated into mist, turning into a water-blue magic power thread that hit the straw man.

In the side hall, streams of magical power rushed into the air, colorful and very beautiful.

The armored straw man was bearing the impact of so much magical power and was staggering, but there was no sign of him breaking apart.

After a while.

"Okay, that's enough."

Uncle Zhang interrupted the spell and waved his hand to summon the armored straw man into his hand.

He closed his eyes and carefully felt the information coming from the armored straw man.

After a stick of incense.

Uncle Zhang made a hand gesture with his right hand and threw the armored straw man back into the air. Then the straw man shook continuously, and instantly a red light shot out from its body and flew towards a disciple in the crowd below the stage.

"Is it me?" Zhu Yuelian, who was still wearing red and yellow in winter, asked in surprise.

"If it's not you, then who is it?" Uncle Zhang looked at Zhu Yuelian lovingly.

As he spoke, the armored straw man shot out another ray of light...

...

"There are still three..." Chen Mu silently counted the number of people. Although he knew that his hope was slim, he still couldn't help but feel a little hopeful...

The straw man suddenly shot out a beam of aqua-blue light and flew downwards.

Chen Mu's eyes lit up. "Is it me..."

But the light passed by Chen Mu and flew to the back.

"Ah! It's me!" A pale young Taoist priest shouted excitedly with a look of joy on his face.

Chen Mu recognized him, a disciple with a mid-grade water spirit root...

"Aqua blue again..." someone whispered in the audience.

Chen Mu looked up when he heard that, and saw a water-blue light shooting out from the straw man, which felt inexplicably familiar.

The aqua-blue light circled around, as if looking for its owner, and suddenly rushed down quickly.

"It's me..." Chen Mu curled his lips and smiled.

...

Alright, the ten people have been selected this time. Each person can receive three extra spirit stones. The first five... I hope you will practice well. Next time, I will check again..."

(End of this chapter)