Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improving Spiritual Root Aptitude

(I'm taking a day off to write. I'll update four chapters before 8:00 PM. Please read on.)

It turns out that after today, these rogue cultivators will be taken to a secluded secret realm in Falling Star Valley to participate in a competition similar to a chaotic battle.

The method of this competition seemed somewhat similar to a program he had seen in his previous life.

Snatching brand-name items is a hundred or a thousand times more brutal than the competition in the show; the real challenge is far more brutal.

The rules of the competition are very simple.

After entering the Falling Star Valley Secret Realm, each of the independent cultivators will receive a token. If they do not have a token before the end of the assessment, they will be considered eliminated.

Only those who hold the most tokens can successfully enter Falling Star Valley.

At first glance, this doesn't seem too harsh; it's just a matter of throwing away a token.

Even if one's strength is insufficient in the secret realm, one can simply hand over the token to someone else, and safely leave the secret realm after the assessment. At worst, one can continue to be a rogue cultivator; in any case, one will not lose one's life.

But if it were really that simple, the death rate for rogue cultivators who joined Falling Star Valley wouldn't have been so alarming.

Wu Fan was clear-headed; there were no rules in the secret realm, and everyone was a life-or-death competitor.

If you give the token to someone else today, there's no guarantee they won't turn around and steal it back.

Moreover, no one can guarantee that the other party doesn't have any hidden tokens.

For those powerful and ruthless cultivators, this unrestrained secret realm is the perfect place to kill and plunder. Moreover, they can use the guise of sect assessments to commit murder, which makes it seem "justified."

Therefore, once you step into that secret realm, it's as if you've tied your life to your belt.

If you don't kill others, others will kill you.

If you want to stand out and successfully join Falling Star Valley, you have to be more ruthless and fierce than others, climbing over the corpses of others to get ahead.

This is also why Wu Fan considered the entrance market assessment a last resort from the very beginning.

Fortunately, he had a letter of recommendation, so he didn't have to participate in this life-or-death battle or be tested on his various skills. He could simply follow the outer disciples' group and go directly to Falling Star Valley.

Although he knew in his heart that after entering the sect, he would probably still have to undergo another test in alchemy.

But at this moment, a completely different thought was quietly growing in his mind.

Before long, the group moved in an orderly fashion in one direction.

Wu Fan followed the group of selected outer disciples to the flying boat docking point at the summit of Yuelu Mountain.

There, two giant flying ships were already docked, their hulls shrouded in rich spiritual energy, and the words "Falling Star" were engraved on their bows, exuding an extremely magnificent aura.

"All selected disciples shall board the ship in an orderly manner, divided into outer and inner sect groups! No crowding or noise!"

A Foundation Establishment cultivator stood atop the flying boat, his voice booming and echoing throughout the entire mountain peak.

Following the flow of people, Wu Fan silently boarded a flying boat used by outer sect disciples.

The flying boat was already crowded with outer disciples like him. Most of them were excited and discussing the various aspects of Falling Star Valley in hushed tones. A few others, like him, remained calm, low-key, and reserved.

He found a seat by the window and sat down. Looking out the window at the gradually shrinking Yuelu Mountain below, a sense of emotion welled up in his heart.

Before long, the flying boat slowly rose into the air. With a command from the steward, it broke through the clouds and sped towards the depths of Falling Star Valley. The Yuelu Mountain behind it gradually became a small black dot in the distance.

......

Falling Star Valley.

Outer gate.

Cangyan Slope.

On the rocky slope, a gentle breeze blew by. A disciple dressed in light blue sect robes stood with his hands behind his back, his upright figure exuding a hint of languor.

He turned his head and glanced at the man in front of him, his tone tinged with impatience:

"Junior brother, you just said you wanted to inquire more about the miscellaneous affairs within the valley. Now that the other disciples have all gone to their respective posts and there's no one around, you might as well speak your mind."

The man was Wu Fan, who had just entered Falling Star Valley. He looked up and sized up the person in front of him.

Wang Pei was an outer sect steward assigned by the sect to guide the new disciples who had entered the sect with recommendation letters and familiarize them with the sect's affairs.

Earlier, when Wu Fan received the sect's robes and magical artifacts, he secretly slipped a few low-grade spirit stones to him, hoping to find an opportunity to ask him to exchange them for a more suitable chores.

Wu Fan was assigned the task of looking after the outer sect's medicinal fields. As an alchemist, he was very familiar with the habits of spiritual plants, so looking after the medicinal fields was not a difficult task for him, and he could even handle it with ease.

The problem is that managing the medicinal herb fields is time-consuming and labor-intensive, requiring one to spend every day in the fields, leaving no extra time to study alchemy.

If he had a legendary magical treasure that could accelerate the growth of spiritual plants, that would be fine, but right now, this chores are a complete waste of his time.

Having made up his mind, Wu Fan stepped forward, cupped his hands slightly, and spoke in a respectful but not servile tone:

"Senior Brother Wang, to be honest, I was a pill refiner back in the Bai family of Qingxi. Although my pill refining skills were still quite basic, only at the first-grade upper level, I was much more adept at handling pill-related matters than tending to the herb fields. Therefore, I humbly request that you make an exception and help me switch to a general affairs position related to pill refining?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Pei's eyebrows shot up sharply, a genuine look of surprise flashing in his eyes. He then frowned, his tone tinged with confusion:

"Oh? A first-grade high-level alchemist? Junior brother, are you serious? If so, why didn't you participate in the Hundred Arts Assessment when you attended the disciple recruitment ceremony? If you had just passed the assessment, you could have directly entered the Alchemy Hall and even become a disciple of a Foundation Establishment senior uncle. Why are you coming to me now?"

Wu Fan understood that Wang Pei's words contained both doubt and a test.

He was well aware that the sixth day of the disciple-acceptance ceremony would include a hundred skills assessment, but those Foundation Establishment cultivators were mostly there to take on disciples (oxen and horses). However, he had never intended to become a disciple of those Foundation Establishment cultivators, nor was he willing to serve them.

Although becoming a disciple of a Foundation Establishment cultivator seems prestigious and nominally offers many benefits, it is not without its advantages.

Being considered half a disciple of the other party would provide a powerful backer when traveling, but it would also restrict one's actions, forcing one to obey the Foundation Establishment cultivator's every word and deed.

If a Foundation Establishment cultivator gets caught up in sect or factional disputes, wouldn't he be dragging himself down with him?

It should be noted that even in an ordinary Foundation Establishment family like the Bai family, there are several factions fighting each other. How much more so in this vast Falling Star Valley, which is a genuine Nascent Soul sect.

Wu Fan was extremely unwilling to waste his cultivation time on these factional disputes.

Even if the Foundation Establishment cultivator he had apprenticed under was a hardship cultivator like himself, he was a newcomer and knew nothing about Falling Star Valley, so how could he know the other party's background?

Furthermore, living under someone else's roof inevitably brings some invisible constraints, making one feel uncomfortable.

Even if he were unwilling to join during the assessment, how could he dare to refuse on the spot?

To offend a Foundation Establishment cultivator is tantamount to creating a potential formidable enemy, a loss that outweighs any gain.

More importantly, he has Jiang Ling as a cautionary tale.