Mo Fan’s sudden disappearance caused a slight jolt in Lu Qianqian’s heart, but she quickly understood what had happened.
Someone was challenging Senior Brother Zheng Dao!
Every disciple of Tianlu Sacred Land had a talisman pattern in their waist token. This pattern was connected to the arrays of these more than one hundred arenas. Within a certain range, once someone issued a challenge, the twelve core elders presiding over the arrays would activate the talisman pattern in the challenged person’s token through the array, thereby initiating teleportation.
Realising this, Lu Qianqian looked around at the arena arrays nearby. Sure enough, in an array not far away, she spotted Zheng Dao’s figure.
“Senior Brother Zheng…”
A trace of worry flashed in Lu Qianqian’s eyes, but after sensing the challenger’s cultivation level, she quickly felt relieved.
“It’s just a disciple at the peak of Foundation Establishment. He shouldn’t be able to harm Senior Brother Zheng, right?”
In fact, Mo Fan at that moment also did not take his opponent seriously.
He possessed mid-Core Formation cultivation and had likewise sensed the opponent’s aura. He immediately shook his head helplessly.
The gap in cultivation was an insurmountable chasm for the opponent!
“Senior Brother Zheng Dao, I know you are an inner sect disciple who has made a name on the Earth List, but for you to be so arrogant at this moment as to not even look at me properly is truly going too far in bullying others!
I, Shen Tao, will let you know that even an outer sect disciple can defeat an inner sect disciple!”
Opposite Mo Fan, the sword cultivator dashed swiftly across the ground. As he formed a hand seal with one hand, his entire body instantly split into two afterimages, one on the left and one on the right, charging towards Mo Fan simultaneously.
“Shen Tao is indeed formidable. He has actually cultivated the Water Moon Technique to the third level. This is precisely the secret method of the third level of the Water Moon Technique, ‘Water Moon Phantom’!”
“Yes, although the Water Moon Phantom is said to consist of one real and one illusory body, in reality the phantom possesses a certain degree of attack power. It is not much different from a clone. This is equivalent to him suddenly having two bodies, both capable of unleashing terrifying combat strength. Two against one, that Zheng Dao is bound to lose!”
“Senior Brother Shen Tao, keep going. You are the best!”
“Senior Brother Shen Tao, I love you. Keep going. You must defeat that Zheng Dao!!”
“…”
Listening to the shouts from the crowd of female disciples below, Mo Fan’s facial muscles twitched slightly.
Good heavens, this fellow is actually a heart-throb adored by thousands!
However, this king detests pretty boys who rely on their looks to get by the most!
Mo Fan’s eyes focused sharply. Spiritual power circulated within his body as he immediately deployed the Tianlu Derived Spirit Technique.
In an instant, his divine sense surged forth like a tidal wave, spreading overwhelmingly towards the front!
“Hmm?”
The moment Mo Fan’s divine sense left his body, the twelve core elders overhead all turned their gazes uniformly towards Mo Fan’s side.
“What immense divine sense power!”
“It is estimated to be at least late-Core Formation!”
“Who is this child? There is actually such a disciple in the inner sect. In terms of divine sense strength alone, he is already qualified to enter the core level!”
“Elder Huang Dao, that array zone is under your responsibility. Do you know who that inner sect cultivator is?”
The immortal-like Zhou He spoke, directing his gaze towards an elderly cultivator more than a hundred zhang away.
That cultivator was precisely Huang Dao, also one of the twelve core elders. He immediately replied, “Reporting to the Holy Lord, this child is named Zheng Dao. He is a disciple of Inner Sect Elder Liu Zhengde. His ranking on the Earth List is nine hundred and ninety-fifth… oh, it has now dropped two places to nine hundred and ninety-seventh.”
“At the very bottom of the Earth List?”
The group of core elders looked at each other upon hearing this.
“The Earth List rankings have been in place for ten years after all. Ten years can change many things. It does not count for much!”
Zhou He shook his head, then took out a mirror and smiled faintly. “Let this old man see what this child’s aptitude is like?”
As he spoke, he activated the mirror and shone it directly at Mo Fan. Immediately, an image of vast oceans appeared within the mirror.
“It is actually a water spiritual root!”
The elders all showed surprise upon seeing this. One of them asked Zhou He, “Holy Lord, how many spiritual roots does this Zheng Dao have in total?”
“This child has an excellent constitution. He actually possesses a single water spiritual root!”
Zhou He promptly withdrew the treasure mirror, then stroked his beard with one hand, a smile appearing on his face.
“A single water spiritual root… does that not mean he has a heavenly spiritual root?”
The elders were all shocked upon hearing this. When they looked again at Zheng Dao within the array, their expressions were filled with delight.
“Holy Lord, a heavenly spiritual root is rare even in our Sacred Land. This child has extraordinary aptitude, yet he was previously unknown. This indicates that under that inner sect elder he has not made much progress. If he remains under that elder, it would truly be a pearl cast into darkness. This old man is willing, though not particularly talented, to accept him as a direct disciple!”
At this point, an elder with half-white and half-black hair suddenly spoke up.
“Elder Ye, if I remember correctly, you cultivate fire-based techniques, do you not?”
Before Zhou He could speak, someone immediately interjected with a faint tone and a cold laugh. “You yourself cultivate fire-based techniques, yet you are eager to take a water spiritual root disciple. If he truly joins your sect, that would be the real case of a pearl cast into darkness, would it not?”
“Qi Mei, what do you mean by that?!”
Ye Kongcheng’s expression immediately turned unsightly.
“What do I mean? I believe this child Zheng Dao should become my disciple, Qi Mei’s disciple. Do not forget that I possess water and wood spiritual roots, so I am naturally more qualified to teach him cultivation than you!”
The elder named Qi Mei smiled faintly in response.
“Fellow senior brothers, it is merely a heavenly spiritual root. There is no need to harm the harmony between us over him.”
At this moment, a middle-aged female cultivator spoke slowly, a smile appearing on her face as she acted as a peacemaker. However, she quickly changed her tone. “If we are truly discussing qualifications for teaching cultivation, I am afraid this seat is the most qualified. After all, like that child, this seat also has a water spiritual root and cultivates water-based techniques!”
For a time, the elders all spoke up, arguing over Mo Fan. Their goal was singular: they all wanted to take Mo Fan as their disciple.
In the cultivation world, a single spiritual root is regarded as a heavenly spiritual root. It is considered, aside from divine sacred physiques, the most talented for cultivation. This is because once a heavenly spiritual root achieves success in cultivation, it almost inevitably forms a spiritual body. Progress in cultivation is far faster than for those with multiple spiritual roots.
Thus, among spiritual roots, apart from some variant spiritual roots, the most sought-after are these single five-element spiritual roots. They are extremely popular in major sects.
Even in a powerful sect like Tianlu Sacred Land, the number of heavenly spiritual root holders does not exceed the fingers of two hands. This was why Mo Fan attracted competition from the group of core elders.
Cultivation is not merely personal practice. Sometimes, it also involves passing on teachings and guiding disciples.
For many cultivators, when they encounter a bottleneck, they will choose multiple paths to break through it, such as exploring secret realms and dangerous lands, or engaging in life-and-death battles.
Passing on teachings is also one such path.
Although in the eyes of many the cruel cultivation world seems incompatible with passing on teachings as part of its main theme, existence itself justifies it. The vast majority of great cultivators accept disciples not only to form good karma, but also so that these disciples, once they achieve success in cultivation, can undertake certain tasks in their stead.
For example, entering secret realms and dangerous lands that they themselves dare not rashly enter, to seek treasures capable of helping them break through their bottlenecks.
Therefore, when accepting disciples, they hope to recruit those with outstanding aptitude, preferably possessing cultivation potential that surpasses their own. In this way, even without doing anything, in the future they can gain prestige through their disciples, or have the disciples become powerful assistants!
This is the truth behind passing on teachings!
Seeing the elders arguing fiercely over the competition, Zhou He frowned slightly, then shook his head and said, “Stop arguing, everyone. We will discuss it after this grand competition ends!”
As he spoke, he tilted his head slightly and glanced at the two figures standing amidst the sea of clouds.
In fact, the moment Mo Fan displayed astonishing divine sense power, those two had already taken notice of him.
“Tianlu Derived Spirit Technique… there is no mistake!”
Situ Yunzhen’s eyes narrowed sharply!
Within the array, Mo Fan was unaware of the massive commotion caused by his ordinary action. His vast divine sense swept out, almost instantly shattering the cultivator’s so-called Water Moon Phantom and immobilising the opponent in place.
“Die!”
Shen Tao gritted his teeth, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. In the instant his consciousness fell into confusion, he slightly raised his sword finger and pointed remotely at Mo Fan.
“Shoo!”
A dharma sword pierced up from the ground, heading straight for Mo Fan’s back!
However, when the dharma sword was mere inches from Mo Fan, it abruptly halted…
“Junior Brother Shen, you have lost!”
