Chapter 2 Life and death depend on the will of God
As the entire team passed through the valley, the poisonous miasma in front gradually dissipated and the terrain began to narrow, forming a gourd-like pass.
From afar, Yuan Ming saw a bronze gate five or six feet high standing on the other side of the pass, with seven or eight armored guards holding swords stationed beside it.
The bronze door is engraved with a dense pattern of entwined green snakes, giving it an exotic atmosphere at first glance.
On both sides of the gate, there is a green wolf more than two feet tall stationed on each side. They all have their backs arched and wear special scale armor to closely protect their necks, chest and abdomen. They look extremely ferocious.
Seeing the crowd approaching, Green Wolf immediately bared his teeth and let out a low hoarse roar from his throat. His body was low and his muscles were tense, as if he was ready to attack at any time.
After the guards on the side comforted him, the green wolf stopped looking like he was going to devour others.
The leading naked man led everyone to the front. After greeting people inside, there was a heavy mechanical sound of gears turning, and then the extremely heavy bronze gate slowly lifted upwards, opening a passage.
At this time, a sharp roar suddenly came from high in the sky, and a shadow flew past everyone's heads.
Yuan Ming raised his head and looked up into the sky, only to see a huge black falcon hovering above with spread wings. After a spin, it dived straight down.
"call"
A strong wind swept up a large amount of smoke, dust and sand and swept it towards everyone. An eagle with a wingspan of five feet, its sharp claws flashing with cold light, passed over everyone's heads and then rushed straight into the air, attracting everyone's shouts.
exclaimed.
Yuan Ming looked at the passage and sighed in his heart. The defense here was much tighter than he imagined. Once he entered it and tried to escape, it would be as difficult as climbing to heaven.
"As long as you live, you will definitely have a chance."
Yuan Ming narrowed his eyes, and as the team continued to move forward, walking along a two-foot-wide passage for a few miles, the scene ahead suddenly opened up, and an unusually wide bluestone square came into view.
Behind the square, there stands a majestic circular hall, built entirely with blue stones and with a huge circular vault on top, which looks like a huge fortress.
Extending to the left and right sides of the main hall, there are also scattered round halls of similar shapes. Farther behind, there is a mountain peak standing, and you can also see stone buildings on it.
Beast roars came from the back of the hall. The sounds were of different pitches and seemed to be the sounds of different beasts. Above everyone's heads, there were more falcons flying up and down, their low sounds continuing.
Only a few people walked by in the square. When they looked here, the big men from Southern Xinjiang who escorted them would put their hands on their chests and bend down to salute.
They did not stay here for too long, and were led to the left side of the square, and finally stopped outside one of the main halls.
Yuan Ming looked up and found that above the stone door in front of him, three crooked characters, like ghostly drawings, were engraved with characters that looked like earthworms.
After just a moment's thought, Yuan Ming recognized that this was a snake script commonly used in southern Xinjiang.
And the meaning of those three words is "Zhuling Hall".
At this time, an old man in gray robe walked out of the hall with a withered face. His skin was slightly gray, and his figure was obviously quite tall, but his figure seemed a bit shrinking.
"There are quite a lot of people this time." The old man said with a hoarse voice.
"Elder Saren, you are lucky this time. There are a total of 137 people who can light up soul stones. There should be a few with spiritual roots." The naked man bowed slightly, with a smile on his face.
said.
"I hope so. After I finish testing the spiritual roots here, you can go to the treasury to collect the reward." The old man nodded slightly.
"Thank you, elder."
Elder Saren's eyes swept across the group of southern barbarians one by one. When his eyes fell on Yuan Ming, he stopped and frowned slightly, seeming to be a little disgusted.
"Why is there still a Central Plains person?"
"Ahem, I picked it up on the way. I originally thought about extracting the soul together, but I didn't expect that his soul was not weak and passed the soul stone test. We didn't dare to make the decision at will, so we brought him back." The naked man hurriedly explained.
road.
When Yuan Ming heard this, his heart sank slightly. From the conversation between the two people, it seemed that being a "Central Plains native" was not well received here.
"Bring him in first and check the situation before we talk." Elder Saren ordered calmly.
The naked man and others escorted Yuan Ming and a group of southern border barbarians towards the palace.
The space inside the stone hall is huge, and there are bronze animal-head-shaped chandeliers hanging on the surrounding walls, with yellow flames burning inside, illuminating the entire hall.
Yuan Ming saw at a glance that there was a circular stone plate in the middle of the hall. It looked similar to a millstone, but it was uneven and carved with many lines.
On each of the eight different directions on the stone plate, there is a southern Xinjiang snake character, which reads: wood, fire, earth, metal, water, sky, different, and empty.
He didn't know what it was, but he just guessed that it had something to do with the spiritual roots mentioned earlier.
"You, go up."
Elder Saren pointed at a burly savage, pointed at the center of the stone plate and said.
The savage looked frightened, his whole body was trembling, and he did not dare to step forward.
Elder Saren was not polite and raised his hand to grab him on the back. The savage became stiff and unable to move. He was picked up like a chicken and thrown onto the stone plate.
When the other savages saw this, they all looked frightened and fearful.
Yuan Ming opened his eyes wide at this time and watched all this silently.
I saw the burly savage being held down by Elder Saren's head, forcing him to sit down. Elder Saren then jumped off the stone plate, and after gesticulating with his hands in front of him, a ball of green light suddenly lit up on his palms.
He waved his hand casually, and the green light fell on the savage on the stone plate.
The latter was immediately enveloped in green light and screamed in fear.
However, no cruel and bloody scene appeared next. The green light on the savage flashed and then disappeared. The "empty" character on the stone plate flashed with white light and then went out.
"If you don't have spiritual roots, go and stand over there." Elder Saren pointed to an open space on the left with an expressionless face.
The burly savage was a little confused, but he didn't dare to disobey the old man's request and walked over.
Elder Saren pointed at a wild man again. When the man stepped on the stone plate, still only the character "empty" flashed.
"No spiritual roots."
"No."
"No."
There were seventeen or eight people in a row, all of whom had no spiritual roots. In the end, Elder Saren was so uninterested that he didn't even bother to speak and just waved his hand.
The naked man glanced at the savages standing in the open space to the left of the old man, and reached out to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
A soft cry suddenly sounded from Elder Saren's mouth.
When a ball of green light fell on a fat young savage on the stone plate, a little spiritual light seemed to shine on him and penetrated into the stone plate beneath him.
Immediately afterwards, a yellow, a cyan and a red beam of light lit up from the earth, wood and fire characters on the stone plate respectively.
"Three Spiritual Roots, not bad. Go and stand on the right side." Seeing this, Elder Saren nodded slightly.
After saying that, he stepped forward and picked up the savage, with a gentle smile on his face, which shocked the savage.
"It's your turn." Then he pointed at another savage whose head was obviously much larger than the others and said.
Seeing that it doesn't matter whether you choose or not in this test, others are not so nervous.
The big-headed savage walked onto the stone plate by himself. After sitting down, he looked around curiously.
At this time, Elder Saren shot out the cyan light group again, and saw a blue light pillar, a cyan light pillar, a golden light pillar and a red light pillar respectively lighting up from the stone plate.
"Hey, another one! One water spiritual root, one wood spiritual root, one fire spiritual root, and one golden spiritual root. The four spiritual roots are too complex, and if you are not qualified enough, go and stand on the right first." The old man shook his head, but
Let the big-headed savage stand on the right side.
"Thank you, elder." The big-headed savage saluted Elder Saren and then walked to the right.
At this moment, even if the other savages did not understand what spiritual roots were, they inferred from the changes in the old man's expression that having spiritual roots was better than not having spiritual roots.
In this way, one after another, under the instructions of the old man, the savages stepped onto the stone plate and accepted the spiritual root test.
But after the big-headed savage, there were more than twenty people in a row, all of whom had no spiritual roots. The left side of the old man's body was suddenly crowded.
Elder Saren's face was obviously a little ugly.
The naked man rubbed his hands and looked a little uneasy.
They worked hard to run out in this large circle and capture savages who met the age requirements everywhere. The reward they would get in the end was closely related to the spiritual root condition of these people that was eventually tested.
Speaking of which, among mortals, there is absolutely no one who has spiritual roots. Although these people have gone through a series of screenings and the chances of having spiritual roots have greatly increased, the majority of people without spiritual roots are still the majority. Even if they have spiritual roots, their spiritual roots
The four spiritual roots with poor root qualifications once again accounted for the majority.
If the qualifications of the savages behind are not up to par, and the rewards are small, they will inevitably be scolded, and then sent out to arrest people, and they will not even have time to practice.
"What are you doing standing there in a daze? Go up." Elder Saren looked at a young savage boy who looked young, and his tone was a little impatient.
The young man was born with thick eyebrows and big eyes. Although his figure was not inferior to those of adult savages, there was still a bit of youthfulness between his eyebrows and eyes.
He walked to the center of the stone plate and sat down, and the test started again.
The next moment, a cyan light beam and a yellow light beam lit up from the corresponding positions of the wood and earth characters respectively, and Elder Saren's expression changed instantly.
"Double spiritual roots, there is actually a double spiritual root. It's not an exaggeration to just enter the inner door." The old man's sudden expression of ecstasy shocked everyone around him.
But soon, the old man calmed down and said to the naked man with great satisfaction: "Huza, you have done a great job this time. You have brought back a good seedling. This elder will give you a big reward."
Huza was also so excited that he could not speak. He looked at the confused young man with fiery eyes and wished he could hug him and give him a kiss.
The fewer types of spiritual roots, the purer they are, and the faster they will practice in the future. However, a single five-element spiritual root is too rare, and the appearance of a double spiritual root is enough to surprise them.
Happiness comes too suddenly!
Having learned from the past, the rest of the savages' faces were no longer worried at all, but instead showed a hint of eagerness to try, making them seem a bit noisy.
But Elder Saren’s next understatement seemed to pour cold water on their heads:
"Noisy! Those who have no spiritual roots, drag them out and kill them."
After saying that, he personally took the still confused young man off the stone plate and asked a few words in a friendly manner.
Huza immediately took out the bell, waved his hand, and several big men from Southern Xinjiang behind him strode forward, dragging the group of savages who had not yet reacted to the outside of the hall.
After a while, screams rang out from outside.
At this time, the remaining people realized that they would die if they did not have spiritual roots. They no longer fought for it, but instead shrank back one by one, not daring to step forward.
Yuan Ming's heart sank even more. He had basically understood that this stone plate seemed to be some kind of instrument for testing talent, and the result was beyond human intervention.
This also means that his life and death can only depend on God's will.
"Zhongyuan boy, you come first." At this moment, Elder Saren pointed at Yuan Ming and said in an unquestionable tone.
Yuan Ming walked onto the stone plate and sat down calmly without any resistance or struggle.
This scene made Saren's eyes flicker, a little surprised.
Soon, he cast the spell again, and a blue light enveloped Yuan Ming. He could feel a heat flowing from his body into the stone plate beneath him.
Immediately afterwards, four light beams of red, gold, blue, and green lighted up around him.
"The Five Elements are lacking soil... Haha, another false spiritual root." Saren curled his lips and shook his head.
When Yuan Ming heard this, his heart skipped a beat.
At this time, Huza, who had just come back from outside, heard this and asked:
"Would you like this..."
"Four Spiritual Roots, it's okay to be a furry beast slave. Those camps are currently short of manpower. Even though they are from the Central Plains, let's keep them for now." Elder Saren's indifferent words saved Yuan Ming's life.
.
Yuan Ming was overjoyed when he heard this and felt as if he had narrowly escaped death.
After that, the test continued, and most of the savages without spiritual roots were killed. Except for one who had three spiritual roots, the remaining survivors all had four spiritual roots, which was not much different from Yuan Ming.
Yuan Ming also judged from the results of this experiment and the sporadic words of Elder Saren that more spiritual roots were not always better.
It seems that the Heavenly Spiritual Root is the best, followed by the Alien Spiritual Root, and then the single Five Elements Spiritual Root, such as the Fire Spiritual Root, Water Spiritual Root, etc. The qualifications of the Double Spiritual Root are slightly inferior, but they are still very rare.
As for the four spiritual roots like him, they are inferior spiritual roots, the category with the worst qualifications, and are regarded as false spiritual roots.
At the moment, he still doesn’t know what being a Central Plains person and possessing inferior spiritual roots will mean for his future destiny.