Supreme Emptiness

He quickly sat cross-legged, holding his breath and concentrating his mind.

The sound of the shell breaking grew more intense in his ears.

At first, it was as quiet as a mosquito, then it grew louder like raindrops pounding, and finally, it boomed like war drums.

At last, a thunderous roar that seemed to crack mountains and split the earth exploded right by his ears, plunging Jiang Fan into darkness.

In the darkness, he saw a tender shoot breaking through the soil.

Its emergence seemed to disturb some supreme existence, which sent down devastating thunderbolts trying to crush it back underground.

The tender shoot slowly opened and effortlessly absorbed the thunderbolts.

It then grew robustly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

An inch, two inches, three inches...

A yard, two yards, three yards...

Ten yards, a hundred yards, a thousand yards...

Jiang Fan watched in astonishment as a single seed grew into an endlessly tall towering tree, using the thunderbolts as its nutrients!

Realizing it could not stop the growth, the thunder gradually ceased.

Just when Jiang Fan thought it was over, a majestic and powerful roar erupted:

"How dare you take the Void Ancient Clan's Divine Tree? Whoever you are, wherever you are, we will find you! We will find you!!!"

The roar hit his ears, causing his head to ache as if it would split apart, and his soul was about to shatter under the unparalleled divine power.

In that moment of crisis,

the Void Ancient Tree scattered green light, which merged into Jiang Fan's body.

The tearing sensation gradually disappeared, and under the influence of the green light, a spirit root began to form in his dantian.

Having narrowly survived, Jiang Fan's face turned pale.

Who was that?

A roar that transcended time and space almost destroyed him?

And why did they say the tree belonged to the Void Ancient Clan?

Wasn't it given to him by his father?

After a long time, he managed to calm the waves in his heart, then subconsciously looked at his abdomen and couldn't help but tremble in his voice.

"Spirit Root! I have a Spirit Root now!" he exclaimed with immense joy.

He had waited eighteen years for this transformation, and it finally arrived!

Immediately, he knelt on the ground full of sorrow: "Dad, did you see that?"

"Your son now has a Spirit Root, and he can protect himself from now on."

"You can rest in peace in heaven!"

He bowed deeply, his eyes moist.

Before his father's death, his greatest worry was Jiang Fan's lack of strength and protection for his growth.

Now, he had a Spirit Root.

His father, who protected his child throughout his life, could finally see him grown up!

After a long time, Jiang Fan calmed down and carefully examined the Spirit Root, only to be taken aback.

"Transparent?"

His Spirit Root was actually transparent, without any color!

"Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black, white, but none are transparent!"

Xu Yining's Spirit Root was azure, representing a sixth-grade Spirit Root.

The highest in legend is the white Spirit Root, representing the ninth grade.

But a transparent Spirit Root had never been heard of!

"It seems I need to go to the Detection Hall to confirm." Jiang Fan muttered to himself.

On this continent, there was an ancient power called the Heavenly Mechanism Hall, with the famous Green Cloud Sect being just one of its nine subordinate sects.

They had established a Detection Tower in every city.

Providing free Spirit Root detection for everyone.

If an excellent Spirit Root was detected, one could apply to join the local sect through the Detection Tower Master.

For instance, Xu Yining was detected as having a sixth-grade Spirit Root, which alarmed an elder of the Green Cloud Sect, making an exception to take her as a True Disciple.

It was said that if one's talent was unparalleled, it might even attract someone from the Heavenly Mechanism Hall to recruit them directly.

But it was only rumored, as no one had ever been directly recruited by the Heavenly Mechanism Hall since the Detection Tower in Lonely Boat City was established.

To enter the Heavenly Mechanism Hall, one had to further cultivate in one of the nine major sects for three years, with only the most outstanding among them standing a chance of being selected by the Heavenly Mechanism Hall.

He wondered what grade his transparent Spirit Root would be.

At that moment,

Jiang Fan suddenly noticed that the lush Void Divine Tree was filled with huge transparent fruits.

In the lowest hanging fruit, a cultivation technique was sealed.

"Profound Level High-grade Mental Method, 'Dragon Seeking Scripture.' "

Reading the inscription on the technique, Jiang Fan was shocked.

The Xu Family, as an old power in Lonely Boat City, had its treasure technique which was only a Yellow Level Medium-grade Swordsmanship, ranking among the top ten techniques in Lonely Boat City.

Several crises in Xu Family history sprang from others coveting it.

A single Profound Level High-grade technique was enough to plunge the world into chaos!

He held his breath and rushed to the tree, attempting to jump and grab the fruit.

But an invisible force pushed him back to the ground.

A trace of information emerged in his mind.

"Only those in the Foundation Establishment Stage can pick the lowest fruit."

Soon after, the dark world in front of him gradually dissipated, and he returned to the simple room he lived in.

He was stunned; the experience just now felt like a dream.

But the Spirit Root in his abdomen confirmed that it was all real.

"'Dragon Seeking Scripture,' Foundation Establishment Stage." Jiang Fan excitedly licked his lips, itching to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm immediately.

Not wanting to waste any time, he left the Xu Mansion, half walking and half running, until he reached the Detection Tower, gasping for breath.

It was still early morning, and the Detection Tower had not yet opened.

A group of young boys and girls were waiting outside the tower for their tests.

"Zheng, today's retest, don't be nervous. The Tower Master said you underperformed last time because of nerves."

Wang Yingfeng stood with Lu Zheng, waiting for the tower to open.

"You should have been at least a third-grade top level, but nerves only showed you as a third-grade medium!"

"Because of this difference, I couldn't secure more resources for you from the Xu Family."

Lu Zheng nodded heavily.

The Xu Family's resources were limited, most of which went to Xu Yining, with the remainder allocated according to talent.

Many in the Xu Family had third-grade Spirit Roots.

Being a grade lower meant receiving far fewer resources.

So this retest, he needed to show his true level.

"If you can test as a third-grade top level, I will find a way to convince the Xu Family to make an exception and let you cultivate the Xu's Sword Technique."

For this nephew, Wang Yingfeng was willing to go all out, even planning to pass on the Xu Family's core secrets to an outsider.

What?

Lu Zheng was ecstatic!

The Xu's Sword Technique, a Yellow Level Medium-grade attack skill, was one of the top techniques in Lonely Boat City, accessible only to the core members of the Xu Family.

After enduring ten years of hardships in the Xu Family, he finally had the chance to touch its core techniques!

In his excitement, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but be surprised:

"Jiang Fan? What are you doing here?"

Jiang Fan calmly wrote down a note: "The same as you."

Until his skills reached a certain level, he decided to continue pretending to be mute to avoid suspicion from the Xu Mansion.

"The same as me? Haha." Lu Zheng shook his head, filled with disdain.

He was there for a higher Spirit Root retest.

Jiang Fan had been tested several times; what was the point of another retest?

He patted Jiang Fan on the shoulder, taunting:

"Spirit Roots are innate, if you have it, you have it, if not, you don't."

"Living a life as an ordinary person, what's wrong with that? Why chase after something you can't get?"

Jiang Fan clenched his fists quietly.

Why was he destined to be an ordinary person while others got to be high and mighty Martial Artists?

At this moment, the doors opened.

The Detection Tower Master, an old man who had performed the same job for decades, looked numb and expressionless as he said:

"As always, those with outstanding qualifications will receive cultivation technique rewards."

Everyone looked indifferent.

Because the rewards were nearly out of reach for them.

In recent decades, the only one who had received a reward was Xu Yining, whose sixth-grade Spirit Root gifted her a Yellow Level Low-grade Mental Method.

With that mental method, Xu Yining reached the Eighth Layer of Qi Cultivation in just six months.

Even a sixth-grade Spirit Root only got the lowest level technique, so the others didn't even bother to hope.

But Jiang Fan's eyes gleamed: "There are techniques up for grabs?"