Chapter 168 - 161: Zhenhe Pass

Chapter 168: Chapter 161: Zhenhe Pass

The city Jiang Zuo was currently in was named Zhenhe Pass. South of Zhenhe Pass, hundreds of miles away, lay a massive river named Zhenhe.

The other side of the river was the territory of the Demon Race.

With the Zhenhe River as the border, the Human Race and the Demon Race had governed their respective territories for over ten thousand years.

Currently on the Ancestral Continent, not counting the human Mortal Territory, the land occupied by the Human Race and the Demon Race was split at a ratio of roughly four to six.

The Human Race held forty percent, and the Demon Race sixty.

When Jiang Zuo heard the reason for this, he was a little speechless.

The reason, it turned out, was that powerful humans generally preferred to pursue Ascension.

The path to Ascension in this world was open. As long as a human’s Cultivation reached the required level, ascending didn’t seem all that difficult.

Jiang Zuo had even heard during his travels that the Human Race held a grand Ascension Conference every five hundred years.

Essentially, every five hundred years, the Human Race lost a group of its most powerful members.

It wasn’t that the powerful members of the Demon Race disliked ascending to the Upper Realm; it was just that it was more difficult for them than for humans.

Moreover, if an exceptionally powerful expert emerged among the Demon Race, they would often unite their people and initiate a war with the Human Race before ascending.

But for the Human Race, even when an incredibly powerful expert was born, uniting the will of the people was an immensely difficult task.

The result was that even though the Human Race was prosperous, they were often outmatched by the Demon Race whenever a war broke out between them.

Over tens of thousands of years, this led to the Human Race’s territory becoming smaller than that of the Demon Race.

The conflict between the Human and Demon Races was irreconcilable. Even when the two races were not officially at war, fighting still occurred daily along their border.

As one of the major cities closest to the Demon Race, Zhenhe Pass had a large number of Cultivators from various sects stationed in this part of the Far West Land.

Merchants came here to purchase High Tier Demon Beast materials, like pelts and flesh, at relatively low prices.

Jiang Zuo had blended in with a merchant caravan from another city to travel to Zhenhe Pass.

Fortunately for Jiang Zuo, he learned something soon after arriving in Zhenhe Pass.

The Immortal Seedling assessment, which was held once every five years, would soon take place in Zhenhe Pass.

The sects of the Cultivation Realm were all built atop Spirit Veins.

Over time, numerous human towns would form around these sects.

If an Immortal Seedling was discovered among the mortals in these towns, the sect that governed the area would usually be the first to know.

However, in most other lands, the Spiritual Qi was merely average.

It was difficult to produce any cultivation resources in places with average Spiritual Qi, so the major sects had little interest in these human towns.

But in the Cultivation Realm, even the descendants of the most ordinary mortals could possess a Spirit Root.

If the mortals living in these lands were left to find the major sects on their own, they might not be able to reach them even after a lifetime of travel.

And yet, with so many towns and such a large mortal population, a considerable number of Immortal Seedlings could be born, even if the chances for any one individual were small.

The practice in the Far West Land was that every five years, the major sects, led by the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect, would form a dedicated Immortal Seedling selection team. This team would travel to these human towns to test the Spirit Roots of all suitable youths under sixteen.

As long as their Spirit Root Talent wasn’t of the lowest grade, they could almost certainly join a sect.

This process took about half a year.

Zhenhe Pass was their last stop. After finishing the assessment here, the representatives from the various sects would take their newly recruited disciples and return to their respective homes.

However, after a little digging, Jiang Zuo learned that while this sounded like a massive undertaking, in reality, only the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect took it seriously. The other sects were not particularly invested.

The reason was simple enough.

In the Cultivation Realm, disciples of the major sects had missions to recruit new talent. If they could bring a disciple with good aptitude into their sect, they would earn a significant amount of Sect Contribution points.

And the mortal cities of the Cultivation Realm were home to a fair number of Cultivators.

Those with outstanding Spirit Root Talent often showed various telltale signs. Long before the five-year assessment, someone would have already given them a preliminary test and taken them to a sect.

Therefore, this five-year Immortal Seedling assessment really just served to catch anyone who had been missed.

The major sects mostly came on the off chance they might get lucky and find a talented disciple. If not, they would just treat it as an opportunity to recruit some Outer Sect Disciples and Servant Disciples.

This was especially true for Zhenhe Pass.

Esteemed experts from the major sects were stationed here year-round. Any truly good prospects would have been discovered long ago.

Basically, the Immortal Seedling selection team’s visit to Zhenhe Pass was a mere formality.

In fact, the more important objective was to let the newly recruited disciples witness this border fortress, where the Human and Demon Races clashed.

Zhenhe Pass was vastly different from an ordinary human town. For the newly recruited Immortal Seedlings, a visit here—even a brief one—was a baptism for body and soul.

Jiang Zuo himself had been shocked when he first entered Zhenhe Pass.

The city was practically littered with Demon Beast corpses, and the entire place reeked of blood.

He had only been here for half a month, but he had already witnessed massive battles between human Cultivators and Demon Beasts that had crossed the river just outside the pass.

In the end, both humans and demons suffered heavy casualties.

One could say the area around the Zhenhe River was a meat grinder for the Human and Demon Races.

Of course, Zhenhe Pass was protected by a City Defense Array established by a human Great Power, so it was actually quite safe as long as you didn’t leave the city.

After arriving at Zhenhe Pass, Jiang Zuo left the merchant caravan and found a small inn to stay in. ℯℯ𝑙.

The Immortal Seedling selection team was due to arrive in Zhenhe Pass in another half a month.

Although the selection team’s visit was just a formality, there were still quite a few mortals eagerly awaiting the assessment.

The room next to Jiang Zuo’s was occupied by a grandfather and his two grandchildren, who had also arrived in Zhenhe Pass early to await the Immortal Seedling selection team.

The trio’s surname was Cao. The grandfather called himself Old Man Cao, and his two grandchildren were a simple, honest-looking boy of about fifteen and a clever, lively girl of about twelve.

The boy’s name was Cao Guangshan, and the girl’s was Cao Xuezhu; they were siblings. Like Jiang Zuo, they were waiting for the Immortal Seedling selection team to arrive to have their Spirit Roots tested and see if they possessed any Cultivation Talent.

"Zhou, come, sit with us!"

Jiang Zuo took all three of his daily meals at the inn. He had a large appetite, so if he saw something delicious while he was out, he never had to worry about not having room for it.

Although Jiang Zuo did his best to appear like an ordinary boy, Old Man Cao had somehow sensed that he was different. The old man was trying to build a good rapport with him, inviting him to eat together every time he saw him in the inn’s main hall.

Jiang Zuo didn’t mind. He wasn’t worried about the grandfather and his grandchildren plotting against him.

Over a hundred years ago, Jiang Zuo had used the surname Zhou while serving as Imperial Physician Zhou in the Venus Kingdom.

Now that he had changed his identity, he had originally planned to use a new surname.

However, on his way to the Far West Land, before joining the merchant caravan, Jiang Zuo had encountered a group of bandits in the middle of an attack.

A family was being murdered. Jiang Zuo intervened, but only managed to save the young boy the family had died protecting.

But unexpectedly, upon seeing that his parents and sisters were all dead, the boy lost his will to live, even after being rescued by Jiang Zuo.

After dazedly explaining who he was and burying the bodies of his family, he killed himself by smashing his head against a gravestone.

Jiang Zuo was speechless. Then, realizing he could use the boy’s identity, he simply decided to assume it.

In the Cultivation Realm, one’s identity and origins were very important. If your background was unclear, you might only ever be an Outer Sect Disciple, even if you managed to join a sect.

Jiang Zuo now went by the name Zhou Yong. His story was that he came from a small village in the center of the continent, had narrowly escaped a bandit attack, and had traveled with a merchant caravan to the Far West Land, hoping to join a sect and avenge his family.

"Zhou, if you and my grandchildren are lucky enough to enter the same sect, please look out for them."

Old Man Cao said to Jiang Zuo again as they ate breakfast.

"Elder Cao," Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but ask, "what makes you so certain I’ll be able to join a sect?"

"Heh heh, I have a pretty good eye for people, and I’m telling you, Zhou, you definitely have Spirit Root Talent—and it’s not half-bad, either!"

Old Man Cao chuckled.

"It’s hard to say with this boy, Guangshan. I can’t quite tell. But Xuezhu, she definitely has a Spirit Root. She’s the main reason we’re here."

"Xuezhu is still young, so if you and she end up in the same sect, please look out for her."

Old Man Cao said, gesturing toward his two grandchildren.

As his grandfather spoke, Cao Guangshan rubbed his head, looking embarrassed.

"Zhou."

At a signal from her grandfather, Cao Xuezhu called out to him shyly. Her voice was clear and melodious.

"I didn’t realize you had such a skill, Elder Cao," Jiang Zuo remarked with a nod. "With an ability like that, you could make a very comfortable living."

"It’s not that simple. I get it right most of the time, but I’ve been wrong on plenty of occasions, too."

"And if I make a mistake and tell someone they have no talent when they actually have a good Spirit Root, I’ll have made a bitter enemy."

"If I tried to make a living that way, I’m afraid I wouldn’t last very long."

Old Man Cao just shook his head with a wry smile.

He would help take a look for people he knew well, but he would never dare to charge money for his assessments.

Jiang Zuo nodded. ’That does seem to be the case,’ he thought.

「Half a month passed quickly.」

On this day, the streets of Zhenhe Pass were teeming with people.

"They’re here! They’re here!"

A massive wooden airship appeared on the distant horizon, flying toward the city.

The airship was incredibly fast, arriving over Zhenhe Pass in the blink of an eye.

In the center of Zhenhe Pass was a massive public square.

The airship descended slowly, landing in the square.

Large numbers of young men and women walked out of the airship, led by a group of Immortal Masters.

These youths were led away by designated guides to tour the city.

The Immortal Masters, meanwhile, began setting up recruitment booths for their respective sects around the square.

In the Cultivation Realm, there were several ways to test for a Spirit Root, but the most accurate method was using a Spirit-Testing Array.

The person being tested simply had to step into the Array, and their Spirit Root Talent would be revealed instantly.

Setting up an Array was a complicated affair. Even though the Spirit-Testing Array was not particularly complex—in fact, it was a miniature Array—it still took the Array Master from the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect over an hour to set it up.

As for the other sects, they didn’t even bother to set one up.

Over the years, this selection team, composed of members from all the major sects, had developed certain unspoken agreements.