txolops Chapter 16 Dog's Good Fortune, 2 Dogs
Chapter 16 Dog's Good Fortune, 2 Dogs
He took a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.
Several lines of text were written crookedly on it, with varying shades of ink, but each character was clearly legible.
"I wrote this. Two months ago, I couldn't even write my own name, but now I can write letters. My parents died early, and no one taught me these things. It was taught by the Patriarch, by the Qingyun Sect."
Wang Ergou held the paper high in his hand so that everyone could see it.
"I'm a rough man, not good at sweet talk. I'll just say one thing: Qingyun Sect is real. What the sect leader said about providing food and lodging, teaching literacy, and teaching cultivation is all true."
The crowd fell silent.
Then it exploded.
"I'm signing up!"
"I'm signing up too!"
"My daughter is thirteen this year, can I take her in?"
The crowds surged in, even more frenzied than last time.
Because last time they only saw a celestial master taking a few steps in the air, this time they saw a living example. Two months ago, this person was rolling in the mud just like them, but now he was wearing a blue robe, standing in the sunlight, holding up the words he had written.
Cultivating immortality was too far away for them, but Wang Ergou changing his fate with the help of Qingyun Sect was real and within reach!
Zhao Shitou and Gou Dan began to maintain order, making the people who were registering line up in three queues.
Lin Xiaoyue conducted an initial screening at the entrance of the line, persuading those whose ages were clearly not up to standard to return. Naturally, this caused dissatisfaction among many people.
After all, Shen Qing accepted all disciples last time, even taking in a vagrant like Wang Ergou in his twenties.
They believed they were no worse than Wang Ergou, yet they were the first to be eliminated this time.
Those who intended to cause trouble immediately cowered upon seeing Shen Qing. They could be tough in front of the young girl Lin Xiaoyue, but how could they dare to act presumptuously in front of the immortal master Shen Qing?
Huang An and Huang Ning sat at the table, spread out paper and pens, and recorded the information of the applicants who passed the first round of screening one by one.
Zhou Bo stood in the middle of the line, asking each person who passed the initial screening to stretch their arms and legs so he could feel their bones and read their fortune.
"Good physique," he nodded, and circled the name.
For those with poor physical constitution, draw a triangle.
Shen Qing sat at the very back, with a small table in front of him.
Each person selected by Uncle Zhou walked up to him, and he reached out and probed into their body, circulating his spiritual energy around them.
The spiritual root aptitude was immediately apparent, and system notifications kept ringing out, mostly from mortals without spiritual roots.
Shen Qing had anticipated this and instructed Chen Gou Dan to take the person to the waiting area.
Whether you have spiritual roots or not is not important, as long as you have good physical constitution.
If you have good physical constitution, you will have a bright future in martial arts and be able to put your skills to good use in the struggle for supremacy in the mortal world.
If they can be useful, they can contribute to loyalty.
Once the loyalty is high enough, the system can extract spiritual energy, even if it's just 0.1 wisp, it adds up.
On the first day, more than two hundred people registered for screening.
Shen Qing sat from morning till night, examining everyone who passed Zhou Bo's initial screening. Class A potential: zero. Class B aptitude: three people.
Two boys and one girl, all with three spiritual roots, aged between thirteen and fifteen, from poor families in the north of the city.
Shen Qing wrote down the names of the three people separately and had Zhao Shitou personally lead them to the waiting area.
The next day, even more people signed up, and the news spread to other areas of the county. Even families in the south of the city who were relatively well-off brought their children to register.
The potential for Category A is still zero, while there are four people with Category B qualifications.
On the third day, there was only one person with a Class B qualification. On the fourth day, none. On the fifth day, no one.
On the sixth day, Shen Qing finally met a person with dual spiritual roots.
He was a fourteen-year-old boy named Xu Ping. After his parents died, he lived in a dilapidated temple in the north of the city for three years, making a living by collecting scraps and begging.
When Zhou Bo pinched his bones, he discovered that the boy had excellent physique and was a martial arts genius.
Later, when Shen Qing probed into the spiritual energy, his fingers paused slightly.
Having dual spiritual roots, although not as naturally clear as Zhong Xiu's meridians, is still extremely rare among mortals.
Such talent would be highly sought after by any sect.
Shen Qing withdrew her hand, her expression unchanged.
"Your qualifications are acceptable. Move over there."
Xu Ping was taken aback, seemingly not expecting it to be so simple.
He didn't ask any more questions, and silently walked to the waiting area, standing at the edge of the crowd.
As Shen Qing watched his retreating figure, she thought of Zhong Xiu from two months ago.
They are natural-born cultivators, even their temperaments are similar.
On the seventh day, there were no Class A cases.
On the eighth day, still nothing.
On the ninth day, another person with dual spiritual roots appeared. This time it was a girl, fifteen years old, named Fang Xue, the daughter of a poor merchant family in the south of the city.
Her father owed gambling debts and used her as collateral to pay off his debts. She fled from the south of the city to the north, where she happened to run into the Qingyun Sect recruiting disciples.
After Shen Qing probed into her spiritual energy and confirmed her dual spiritual roots, he had her stand in the waiting area.
On the tenth day, the apprenticeship program ended.
In ten days, more than 1,500 people signed up.
More than 400 people passed the initial screening and bone structure test, and Shen Qing finally selected 40 people.
Two individuals possess Class A potential: Xu Ping, with dual spiritual roots, aged fourteen; and Fang Xue, with dual spiritual roots, aged fifteen.
There are twenty-two people with Class B qualifications. All of them are those with decent aptitude among those with three or four spiritual roots, aged between twelve and sixteen, from poor families in the north of the city, and their aptitude and temperament have been initially assessed by Uncle Zhou.
Category C supplement, sixteen people. They have extremely poor spiritual roots but outstanding physical constitution. They are all from the north of the city, including laborers, beggars, and vagrants. They are hardworking and willing to risk their lives.
There are two people in Category A, twenty-two people in Category B, and sixteen people in Category C, for a total of forty people.
It wasn't that Shen Qing didn't want to take in more, but rather that he genuinely couldn't afford to support them anymore.
Shen Qingkuai emptied the Qingyun Sect's storage room. Of the Qi Gathering Pills that the system had rewarded him with last time, only twelve remained after spending them all.
With the original thirty-three disciples, the total number of Qingyun Sect disciples reached seventy-three.
As the sun set, Shen Qing led his large entourage out of the county town.
The white-robed sect leader walked at the front, followed by the blue-robed inner disciples, and then forty new disciples dressed in various tattered clothes.
Walking at the back, Uncle Zhou looked at the people in front of him, feeling somewhat dazed. The rapid growth of the Qingyun Sect made him feel unreal, as if it were a dream.
It was already dark when they returned to Qingyun Sect.
However, the disciples who remained at the sect already knew that the sect leader would be bringing new junior brothers and sisters up the mountain today, and under Zhong Xiu's leadership, they all waited outside the mountain gate.
The academy, which was already taking shape, was faintly visible in the twilight.
The new disciples looked up at the building under construction, their eyes reflecting the twilight and the firelight.
Shen Qing ignored the senior disciples who came to greet him, and instead stood in front of the academy's foundation, looking at the newcomers to Qingyun Mountain and saying loudly, "This academy was built for you."
"Two months ago, Qingyun Sect only had five people. Now, with you all, we have seventy-three. When this academy is completed, perhaps even more people will join us."
"You are the second batch of disciples of the Qingyun Sect. But you will not be the last batch."
"From today onwards, you are members of the Qingyun Sect. The Qingyun Sect will not let you go hungry, will not let you be bullied, and will not let you live like stray dogs."
"The Qingyun Sect offers you only two things: opportunity and dignity."
"The rest is up to you."
As dusk settled, the mountain wind whistled.
Seventy-three disciples stood before the foundation of the academy, their faces illuminated by the torchlight. No one spoke, but a fire burned in each of their eyes.
On the system panel, the loyalty levels of all new disciples jumped simultaneously. Some jumped from 30 to 40, some from 40 to 50, and some even reached 60 directly.