Chapter 7: The Kind-Hearted Little Fatty

The place where Bai Chen lived was the most remote corner of Shunhe Quarter.

Even so, when a beam of azure light shot straight into the sky, he heard cheers erupting from other parts of the quarter.

People who had traveled from all across the Cangmang Region to attend Hexu Sect's disciple recruitment ceremony rushed headlong toward the eastern side of the market, where the path leading up to Hexu Sect's mountain gate began.

Bai Chen wasted no time either.

He had never witnessed an immortal sect open its gates for recruitment before, but he knew that in matters like this, the earlier the better.

He quickly tidied up his appearance, gathered his bundle, and set off toward Hexu Sect.

Stepping onto Shunhe Quarter's main street, he was soon swept into the crowd surging toward the mountain gate.

The climate of the Cangmang Region was somewhat like the Guangdong province back on Blue Star.

Hexu Sect held its annual disciple recruitment on the third day of the third month.

At this time of year, it only got a little warm around midday; the rest of the day was quite pleasant.

But there were so many people heading to Hexu Sect that Bai Chen found himself feeling stifled.

He glanced around at the crowd.

On the Xuancang Continent, unless one possessed extraordinarily rare talent, Spiritual Roots only manifested at the age of fifteen.

So the crowd was mostly made up of boys and girls around fifteen or sixteen years old.

A handful of older individuals were scattered among them.

Whether they had come because they'd been out of the loop and only just heard the news, or because they refused to accept their fate and were trying their luck here after being turned away elsewhere — it was hard to say.

Either way, there were so many people it gave Bai Chen a headache.

He could even catch the faint smell of sweat from the youths around him.

After walking for a while, two strangers nearby — perhaps squeezed close by the crowd, or perhaps simply nervous — struck up a conversation.

A dark-skinned youth in a coarse cloth jacket clutched the hem of his shirt, swallowed, and spoke first to the person beside him.

"Hey, friend — is this your first time testing your Spiritual Root too? Just turned fifteen this year?"

The youth he addressed was wearing a half-worn blue robe. He gave a wry smile and shook his head.

"No. I went to Xuanjian Sect last year to test, but I have a mixed Spiritual Root — they wouldn't even take me as an Outer Sect Disciple."

On the Xuancang Continent, the finest Spiritual Roots were single-element roots, followed by dual-element roots.

Cultivators with single or dual Spiritual Roots absorbed Spiritual Energy at a speed and efficiency that left all others in the dust — they were universally regarded as the heaven's chosen.

Yet such cultivators were exceedingly rare across the entire continent.

The majority of cultivators possessed three-element Spiritual Roots.

Those with four or more elements were called mixed Spiritual Roots, because their cultivation progress was far too slow.

And the most useless of all mixed Spiritual Roots was the five-element root.

A four-element root could still get someone taken in as a Menial Disciple by some sect, but a five-element root was rejected by virtually every sect on the Xuancang Continent.

Upon hearing that the blue-robed youth had a mixed Spiritual Root, the coarse-cloth youth let out a soft "oh," a flicker of sympathy crossing his eyes.

"A mixed Spiritual Root... so that's why you came to try your luck at Hexu Sect."

"Exactly."

The blue-robed youth's eyes were filled with resignation.

"Why else would I travel all this way to Hexu Sect? In the whole Cangmang Region, they're the only ones who don't discriminate by Spiritual Root — as long as you have one, you can enter the Outer Sect. Even if I spend my whole life as an Outer Sect Disciple, it still beats farming back home."

The coarse-cloth youth nodded. "True enough. Once you're inside the mountain gate, who knows what Fortuitous Encounters might come your way."

On the Xuancang Continent, Hexu Sect was something of an oddity.

Five-element roots that no one else wanted? Hexu Sect would take them.

So every year when Hexu Sect opened its gates for recruitment, the crowd gathered at the foot of the mountain for the "interview" was the largest of any sect on the entire Xuancang Continent.

The two had barely finished speaking when a chubby youth in a brocade jacket squeezed over.

His clothes and accessories looked expensive at a glance — clearly from a well-off family.

He clasped his hands toward the coarse-cloth youth and the blue-robed youth with a cheerful grin.

"Fellow brothers, I also turned fifteen this year. My father says I've always made jade stones heat up whenever I touched them since I was little — says my Spiritual Root might actually be pretty decent. If we all make it through the gate, we'll be fellow sect members. We should look out for each other!"

The chubby youth had a booming voice and a face full of smiles.

As the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face — the coarse-cloth youth and the blue-robed youth quickly returned the gesture.

"Of course."

After clasping hands with the two of them, the chubby youth's gaze swept over to Bai Chen, who had been quietly walking alongside them, and greeted him with a smile as well.

"Fellow brother, let's look out for each other in the future!"

Since someone was talking to him, Bai Chen couldn't very well ignore it. He turned his head toward the chubby youth and gave a slight nod with a smile. "Sure thing."

The chubby youth had only been casting a wide net with his greetings, but the moment Bai Chen turned to face him fully, his eyes went wide as saucers.

"Whoa — hey, friend, your complexion... are you feeling unwell?"

That was putting it rather diplomatically.

Bai Chen's "look" today was the frail and sickly style.

He had painted his face a pallid white, his lips drained of color to a ghostly pink with not a trace of blood.

His brows drooped, and beneath his eyes lay faint dark circles, as though he hadn't slept in several nights.

His hair was loosely pinned up with an old wooden hairpin, and a few stray strands had been blown by the wind to stick against his sweat-dampened temples, making him look even more haggard.

He looked as though a single gust of wind could knock him over.

The impression was that he might drop dead at any moment — calling it "feeling unwell" was being polite.

The chubby youth stared with eyes full of disbelief.

Could someone who looked like he'd keel over after just a few steps really be seeking the immortal path?

Seeing the little fatty's stunned expression, Bai Chen felt a sudden urge to play along.

He covered his mouth and gave two weak coughs, then said in a "feeble" voice: "It's fine. I'm actually in great health."

The shock in the little fatty's eyes nearly overflowed.

In this state, and he called himself in great health?

Bai Chen watched his expression, waiting to see what he'd say in rebuttal — but to his surprise, the little fatty simply reached into his chest pocket and pulled out an oil-paper parcel, pressing it straight into Bai Chen's hands.

"Here, take this. It's osmanthus cake made by our family's cook — very filling!"

He glanced toward the mountain gate in the distance.

"Hexu Sect's recruitment takes place in front of the Spirit Induction Hall, and there's a long flight of stone steps to climb first.

"Your body is way too frail. Having something on hand to nibble on whenever you need it would do you good."

Bai Chen stood there clutching the oil-paper parcel, momentarily stunned.

He had expected that with his sickly appearance, people would either tease him a little or give him a wide berth.

With so many people at the recruitment ceremony, who would pay any attention to someone who looked like he might faint at any second?

After all, someone like that was struggling just to stay upright — how could anyone expect him to make it through the gate?

He hadn't expected this at all — this little fatty, who seemed so carefree and brash on the surface, actually had a genuinely kind heart.

After pressing the oil-paper parcel into Bai Chen's hands, the little fatty turned back to the other two and let out a sigh.

"I figured there'd be a lot of people coming to Hexu Sect's recruitment, but I didn't think there'd be this many. Now I'm starting to worry that when my dad said I was gifted, he was just a proud father seeing what he wanted to see."

The coarse-cloth youth and the blue-robed youth both smiled but said nothing.

After all, they didn't know him — if they casually told the little fatty he'd definitely make it and he didn't, they'd only earn his resentment.

But Bai Chen spoke up: "You'll definitely get into the sect without a problem."