Pill Workshop, early morning.
The sun was shining brightly, illuminating the bluestone slabs in the courtyard.
In the spacious courtyard.
A few children of various heights stood in a row, neatly and energetically.
The children's father, Tang Yijing, along with several young mothers, were also quietly waiting nearby, all showing signs of anticipation and some nervousness.
Before long.
A figure caught everyone's attention.
It was Huang Yueyang, hands behind his back, strolling calmly into the courtyard.
In recent years.
Huang Wangyou had been pushed by Chen Sheng to practice arduously day and night.
Huang Yueyang, having injured his foundation in his youth, was now over ninety years old and increasingly tired.
Unable to succeed in studying Pill Formulas, he turned to educating the younger generation and enjoying family happiness.
Nowadays, the spirit testing and daily Qi cultivation of the family's younger generations were all his responsibility.
Huang Yueyang gestured to the gathered juniors.
"Come over one by one, your great-grandfather will test your spirit."
"Thank you, great-grandfather!"
The children answered obediently in unison, their childish voices laced with some expectation.
As they spoke.
Huang Yueyang took an item from his Storage Pouch.
It was a palm-sized disc, carved entirely from a smooth white jade, mirror-like in texture.
Intricately inscribed runes surrounded it, with a small indentation in the center—this was the Magical Artifact used for Spirit Testing—the Spirit Testing Disc.
"Wenlong, come over!"
Huang Yueyang called the first name.
Spirit testing soon began.
The first chubby child, 'Tang Wenlong,' stepped forward.
"Don't be afraid, it will be over soon!"
Huang Yueyang bent down, took the child's slightly chubby hand, quickly pricking his fingertip with a specially crafted, slender Silver Needle.
A drop of full, crimson blood instantly welled up, falling into the indentation in the Spirit Testing Disc.
Huang Yueyang performed a Spell with his fingers.
A pure surge of Mana flowed into the disc.
With a buzz, the white jade disc immediately glowed softly.
Five light beams, varying in length, rose from the base of the disc.
Green, red, yellow, white, black!
Five colors of light flowed, corresponding to the Five Elements.
Everyone has Five Elements attributes, but only if they reach a certain level can they become a Spiritual Root.
At this moment, within the jade disc.
The five light beams lay flat against the edge of the disc.
The highest, the Wood attribute, was only three inches.
Huang Yueyang's gaze swept across the top marks of those five light beams, gently shaking his head:
"Gold one, Water one, Fire two, Earth one, Wood three, No Spiritual Root!"
Upon hearing this.
The chubby Tang Wenlong immediately wailed, bursting into tears, with droplets rolling down.
"Wah…"
"I want to learn alchemy from great-grandfather…"
His mother's eyes showed a hint of disappointment, then quickly acceptance, eagerly rushing forward to embrace the child, wiping his tears with a handkerchief.
She herself had red eyes yet still smiled coaxingly:
"We won't learn alchemy; didn't you want to play with abacus beads? I'll teach you accounting."
...
Huang Yueyang shook his head:
"Tang Wenbao, Tang Wenhua, you both come over."
The two children, showing nervousness, walked over.
Not long after.
Huang Yueyang revealed the results.
"Gold three, Water one, Wood two, Fire one, Earth one, No Spiritual Root!"
"Fire three, Wood one, Gold two, Water one, Earth two, No Spiritual Root!"
Like cold rain pouring down.
Another chorus of cries ensued.
Despite Huang Yueyang's calm demeanor, he couldn't entirely hide a trace of disappointment.
Until the fourth child.
A bright-eyed little girl with twin braids.
"Come now, Wenya!"
"Yes, great-grandfather!"
Blood drops fell into the jade disc.
A red light beam soared, steadily climbing past the "ten" mark!
Huang Yueyang stroked his beard, nodding gently:
"Gold four, Earth five, Wood seven, Water four, Fire thirteen, Lower Grade Fire Spiritual Root."
"Not bad!"
At his words, the child's mother instantly covered her mouth, too excited to speak.
Tang Yijing's eyes lit up with genuine joy.
The little girl seemed somewhat bewildered, but seeing her parents' joyful expressions, she followed suit, smiling happily.
...
Soon.
A simple spirit testing ceremony ended.
There were a total of seven children.
Within them were two children with Lower Grade Spiritual Roots.
One boy and one girl.
One Earth Spiritual Root, one Fire Spiritual Root.
Adding the three Lower Grade Spiritual Root children appearing in previous years.
Under Tang Yijing's lineage, there were twenty-nine children.
Already five potential immortals had been born.
That probability is truly high!
Huang Yueyang looked at the large family, his gaze settled on Tang Yijing, reassuringly patting his increasingly sturdy shoulder:
"Well done! Yijing, you've worked hard these years, expanding the family, your contributions are significant."
He then took out two scrolls from his Storage Pouch.
These were basic Breathing Techniques Spell manuals.
"Have them memorize these, and come to the back courtyard to find me tomorrow."
Tang Yijing accepted the Jade Scroll, bowing:
"Grandson understands."
...
Fire Room.
Doors and windows shut tightly.
The air was filled with the fresh scent of Pill Qi.
After failing to establish his Foundation, Chen Sheng gradually recovered.
Huang Wangyou even specially took care of him for a time.
Mainly worried about Chen Sheng's mindset; anyone striving for decades without success would be greatly distressed, their will eroded.
However.
Chen Sheng's mindset was calmer than ever before, even carrying a serene demeanor after enlightenment.
"If I don't succeed in this life, there's still the next!"
He completely abandoned the idea of establishing a Foundation in this life.
Especially having personally experienced it once.
The gap was evident!
Chen Sheng shook his head:
"Achieving the Upper Realm is truly difficult!"
"With my aptitude and foundation, forcibly trying is basically suicidal!"
"I still have plenty of good times this life, and hundreds of opportunities to seek the Dao; it's not worth going mad over a single chance."
He quickly thought things through.
He was only in his fifties, still decades away from the end of his lifespan.
Chen Sheng naturally wouldn't let time go to waste.
He had achieved the status of a High Grade Alchemist, but without further inheritance and enlightenment, his daily refinement of the Huang Clan's secret Alchemy had slowed in progress, showing little exciting progress.
No surprise.
This would be the apex of his life.
Chen Sheng could only shift his focus.
His attention gradually turned to cultivating the Tier One Top Grade Fire Attribute Daoist Skill.
"Red Flood Dragon Burning River Seal"
This was a Spell Formula Chen Sheng purchased from an auction years ago; it was both offensive and defensive, divided into three layers of realm.
First Layer: Red Scale Seal.
Second Layer: Wave-Breaking Seal.
Third Layer: Burning River Seal
Reached Great Success, even at the Qi Cultivation stage, it was a Sword Gang-like trump card.
Rarely matched by an opponent!
However, the difficulty of cultivating this method was very high.
Not only required elevating Mana applications to an extremely profound level, but also opening up several new meridians to smoothly perform the Spell.
At the beginning.
Chen Sheng researched it for months with no progress, shelving it to not delay Qi cultivation.
Now, he had plenty of time to cultivate this Daoist skill.
Silently, Chen Sheng thought in his heart:
"Average aptitude? Then I'll make up for it with time."
"I refuse to believe I can't hone this skill over time."