Genius Or Trash?

He slowly placed his hand on the stele. A burst of blinding light shone followed by chaotic energy flowing out of it.

"Huh?!"

5 different colored lights appeared. Bai Hu's face twisted slightly. 5 lights signify a 5 element spiritual root, the worst of the worst.

However, that initial surprise turned into confusion. A 5 element spirit root was always a fire, metal, earth, wood, and water attribute. But Bai Hu's 5 element spirit root was a fire, earth, metal, lightning, and wind attribute.

"A mutated spirit root?"

The elder's face also showed evident confusion. A lightning or wind spirit root by itself would be classified as a Heaven Ranked spirit root, but for it to be a part of a 5 element spirit root is unprecedented and has never happened before.

Elder Shui didn't know how to report this. Was he supposed to classify Bai Hu as a genius due to having rare mutated spirit roots or trash due to it being a 5 element spirit root?

Both of them stared at the stele in silence. Then Elder Shui cleared his throat "I'll bring this up to the higher ups. For now, you'll stay in there"

He pointed to a small cabin on the east side of the peak "There should also be a basic cultivation technique in there. Try to comprehend it for now"

He then started flying in a hurry. Bai Hu was dumbfounded for a moment before he walked towards the cabin the elder had pointed to with a calm expression. Even if his talent was the worst of the worst, he would still walk the road of cultivation.

Meanwhile, Elder Shui descended in front of a grand building decorated with ornate gold designs. A man standing guard outside came and greeted Elder Shui with a bow.

"Hello Elder Shui, how may I help you?"

"Tell the Grand Elders that I am requesting an audience"

"As you wish"

And with that he left to go report Elder Shui's wish while Elder Shui patiently waited outside.

Inside the incredibly rich and lavish building, the man took several corners and through several checkpoints before standing in front of a huge door just as lavishly decorated as the rest of the building.

"Who?"

An ancient sounding voice filled with power and authority rang out in the mind of the messenger. He hurriedly bowed when he heard that voice.

"Reporting to Grand Elders, Elder Shui wants an audience and from the looks of it it seems important"

There was silence for a moment before the voice responded again "Send him in..."

The man bowed again and left. He called Elder Shui up and let him through the corridors once more until they stood in front of the same door again. The messenger bowed and left Elder Shui alone.

"Enter"

Elder Shui took a deep breath and pushed open the doors. Contrary to what one would expect to see, the room he just walked into was bare save for an old circular table with 12 chairs, 6 of which have been occupied already by 6 old men.

The one sitting directly opposite to Elder Shui spoke "So... what is it that brought you here today... Elder Shui"

He trembled under the gaze of 6 of the sect's pillars. These were mighty Nascent Soul cultivators and were true elites tempered through battle, despite their appearance of dried husks.

"I came because I've run into an uncertain predicament..."

"Hm? Is it that you have run into a bottleneck?"

"No sirs, my talent can count as barely passable and have not yet reached the peak of my realm, it's just that Rising Disciple Rue Ming came to me today and brought in a youth to be registered into the sect"

There was silence, and then the man sitting leftmost spoke "And is that a problem? I'm sure her status allows that much"

"It's not that, its just when the disciple went to test his aptitude the results came out... strange"

"Strange how?"

"It was a 5 element spiritual root sirs"

"5 elements?"

This time the man sitting on the right spoke "Are you sure? How can someone with talent that probably won't even be able to get to the peak of qi refinement catch the eye of one of our greatest talents?"

"That's not the only problem. Instead of the usual 5 element spiritual root, it... it contained both the lightning element and wind element in place of the water and wood attribute"

""What?!""

Visible shock could be seen on their faces. Then they were all silent, though Elder Shui could see the Grand Elders exchanging glances and knew they were talking through voice transmission.

After a long moment, the Head Elder spoke "Give him Upper Outer Tier Treatment for now. Watch him closely but don't interfere. Report what you find regularly. You are dismissed"

He bowed once more and left the room.

-

Bai Hu sat down on the bed in his cabin. There wasn't much inside the cabin besides a bed, a table, and a single book.

He picked up the book and flipped through its contents.

It was called the Basic Qi Nourishment Method and its contents say to use qi to nourish and strengthen the body. This was a very basic strengthening method though, not a cultivation method like Elder Shui said.

"Was there a mistake?"

He read through the contents more thoroughly.

"Hmm... strengthen meridians... the skeleton... the muscles... spirit roots?"

He knew that strengthening techniques were common and this one can not be any more basic. But the strengthening of the spirit root? That is something that can throw the world into chaos!

He continued to read on.

There were 9 levels to this technique. Each level increases the purity of the body and in turn the spirit roots are cleansed and elevated.

"If I can purify my spiritual roots to a terrifying degree, then my cultivation speed can rival top geniuses! In fact, it might even be faster!"

It is commonly known that the more spiritual root attributes you have, the slower your cultivation speed. Now that does not mean that you are necessarily weaker than Heaven Ranked Spirit Root. The more attributes you have the more diversity you have in attacks. For instance, if you have a fire element spiritual root, the most obvious way to counter it is with water.

But what if he could strengthen his spiritual roots to a level comparable to Heaven Ranked ones? That would be akin to having 5 Heaven Ranked Spiritual root attributes, greatly boosting his combat power and purity of qi.

"First things first, I'll have to be able to sense the qi in the air"

He sat in a meditative position on the bed and relaxed, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. The process of sensing qi in the air is something that could take weeks, months, and even years to complete. Bai Hu is 13 this year and was prepared for the worst, though didn't let it discourage him as he recited a common qi sensing technique.