yasinovel Chapter 56: Guess who the awakened one is?
Chapter 56: Guess who the awakened one is?
"Everyone has their own destiny," the stall owner said once again.
"Heh, hahaha," Qian Cheng chuckled bitterly to himself, the light in his eyes gradually fading, replaced by the whites of his eyes. "Why can't I have this fate?"
He wanted to say something more, but then he had nothing left to say.
After coming into contact with the mutated spirit seed, his family was burdened with debt, and his health deteriorated, leaving no room for redemption.
Forget about competing with Jiang Qiu for a spot; even just taking a breath right now requires an immense effort. That's just how fate has arranged things...
His eyelids drooped slowly, and Qian Cheng was filled with despair. Yet, the stall owner's seductive voice echoed in his mind again, "I can give you a chance to change your fate, to make you even more talented and powerful than Jiang Qiu. How about it?"
"Ha, you've already swindled me so much I'm almost ruined, and you're still going to swindle me?" He laughed angrily. "You've already destroyed me, what else do you want from me? I have nothing left!"
"Not bad, at least you don't deny that you want to surpass Jiang Qiu," the stall owner said with a hint of appreciation in his tone. "As for the price, I don't want money this time, I just want to take away your [mentality]."
"What is 'mindset'?" Although his death was imminent, Qian Cheng felt a strange sense of curiosity, realizing that he still had value.
The stall owner explained calmly, "You can think of it as a soul. It contains the five elements of life, which is life itself. It can be used to cultivate advanced and mutated spiritual seeds. Different people will have different effects from fertilizing it."
"You're going to use my soul to cultivate a mutated spirit seed?" Qian Cheng roared, his anger rising. "Didn't you say you'd help me surpass Jiang Qiu?!"
The other party laughed and said, "Don't be delusional. How could you possibly be better than him now? Only if you voluntarily give up your [Mindset], and I use it to cultivate a higher-grade, more advanced, mutated spirit seed, and then [graft] it onto a genius customer, will you have a chance to surpass Jiang Qiu."
"But I'm just nutrients! The person who surpassed Jiang Qiu wasn't me, it was someone else!" Qian Cheng shouted hoarsely in protest.
"Tsk, actually they're not that different," the stall owner shook his head. "I only gave you the chance to choose because you 'helped' me steal the spiritual energy from the roots of the [Spirit Embryo Ancestral Tree], but unfortunately you don't intend to choose for yourself."
"I can't possibly agree to that... uh!"
Sitting in the chair, Qian Cheng suddenly glared, the last glimmer of light in his iris vanished, his eyes darkened, and the last vestiges of life transformed into a special spiritual energy, gathering from his limbs and bones towards his dantian—
With a creaking sound, the [Golden Cage] swallowed them up, then gradually closed its mouth, its shape disintegrating like mud dissolving in water.
With a soft rustling sound, his hair fluttered. The golden light on his face had not yet faded, yet he remained motionless, his unclosed eyes fixed on the direction of the golden fruit tree, reflecting Jiang Qiu's upright figure in his gray eyes.
"Don't worry, the customer I've chosen for you is a somewhat famous genius. He will inherit your obsession and defeat Jiang Qiu. Just 'watch' from the sidelines." The last voice in his mind disappeared.
Qian Cheng died quietly.
The regulatory officials took a piece of cloth and draped it over him.
Not far away, the assessment was slowly coming to an end.
"I hereby announce the conclusion of the second test item of the internship assessment. This item only ranked interns with a certain physique. Those with an average physique were named according to the rules, referencing rare spiritual plants with similar characteristics. The rankings are as follows—"
"First place: Jiang Qiu, the only person in this competition with the rare metal physique [Daytime Accumulation of Gold], whose characteristics have not yet been identified, and whose performance is top-notch."
"Jiang Qiao, who is second in the rankings, possesses a normal metallic physique [Golden Spirit Cage Body] that can transform and promote the [Convergence] of metallic spiritual energy. Her performance is average."
"Third place: Wang Baisheng, ordinary wood-type physique [Wood Spirit Grain Body], which can promote the [Growth] of wood-type spiritual energy, with average performance."
"Fourth place: Yang Zhilan, ordinary fire-attribute physique [Fire Spirit Torch Body], can promote fire-attribute spiritual energy [ascending to the top], average performance."
"The rankings have been announced. Based on the combined scores of the two projects, Qian Cheng has been disqualified from the assessment due to his congenital defect. A total of 45 of the remaining interns have been promoted to full-time positions. Among them, Yang Zhilan, like other interns who did not meet the standards or were absent, will continue to retain her internship assessment eligibility."
"This year, the three internship training slots within the park have been allocated to Jiang Qiu, Jiang Qiao, and Wang Baisheng respectively. Jiang Qiu has the first choice for the [Initial Spirit Embryo], Jiang Qiao has the second choice, and Wang Baisheng has the last choice!"
A thunderous applause erupted from the audience, their eyes filled with envy. Zhang San and Li Si couldn't help but whisper among themselves, marveling, "Time flies! After choosing the [Initial Spirit Embryo], Brother Jiang will officially become an apprentice and embark on the path of cultivation."
Li Si echoed with a gleam in her eyes, "With Brother Jiang's talent, he'll definitely be the next Lu Changming. He'll transform into a dragon when he encounters a storm. In less than three years, he'll become the strongest apprentice and advance to a spirit plant master. When he goes to the front lines to establish his homeland, why don't we go and join him?"
Zhang San declared firmly, "Wasn't this something we agreed on before? Only Brother Jiang in the garden is willing to sell us our optimized nutrient soil at a low price, I'm definitely going with him!"
"Then we'd better work hard to cultivate and accumulate experience."
"Of course, I plan to buy another batch of improved nutrient soil."
The two exchanged a knowing smile, their hearts in perfect harmony.
The assessment activity quickly ended amidst cheers. The interns who were promoted to full-time positions were taken away by their assistants to receive their new employee badges. Qian Cheng's body was quietly taken away by Team Leader Sun's supervision team. Director Liu also suppressed his smile and accompanied them away. Jiang Qiu, Jiang Qiao, and Wang Baisheng, led by Wu Shan, went to the inner courtyard.
"Wang Baisheng, you didn't expect this, did you? Not only did I cultivate the [Wood Healing Fruit], but I also awakened the [Golden Spirit Cage Body] with the potential for transformation, ranking above you. When we pick the [Initial Spirit Embryo] later, you will choose last, and you will only have one [Blessing], while I will have two." Jiang Qiao said with her hands on her hips and her chin held high, looking smug.
"..." Wang Baisheng glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "At least my physique is innate, not something I awakened by buying pills from my father."
"Hmph, so what if you awaken after taking a pill? Jiang Qiu was the first to awaken after taking the [Awakening Pill]," Jiang Qiao nudged Jiang Qiu lightly. "You saw him demonstrate [Daily Accumulation of Gold] just now, didn't you? I'll transform into that kind of person someday, won't I be more powerful than you?"
"He also awakened by taking the [Awakening Pill]?"
Wang Baisheng was stunned. The [Awakening Pill] had only been successfully refined for less than a month, and related information was only circulating within the circle of spirit plant masters. The price was high, and more importantly, the supply was extremely limited.
Many people want to reserve pills for their offspring but can't get a spot. It's said that one of the essential ingredients, the Golden Spirit Cage, is difficult to cultivate. To date, only about ten pills have been refined, making the production extremely scarce and in short supply.
Jiang Qiu has neither a powerful background nor money, so how could he be qualified to receive the [Awakening Pill]? Even if Jiang Qiao's father bought too many, he would never give them to him.
Moreover, as a newly developed level 2 pill, the probability of awakening an ordinary physique with the [Awakening Pill] is not very high, and the possibility of awakening a rare physique is almost zero, so theoretically it is impossible to succeed.
Jiang Qiu succeeded?
Based on the information Wu Shan had given him, Wang Baisheng frowned and looked at Jiang Qiu with suspicion. "He's really not congenital?"
"Hmph, it's one thing to be born with an ordinary physique, but how many people are born with rare physiques? You don't actually doubt that the [Awakening Pill] can awaken a rare physique, do you?"
With a slight pursing of her lips, Jiang Qiao proudly raised the corners of her eyes, "Yidan Garden has publicly revealed that Sister Zhao Nan's [Awakening Pill] has the effect of awakening rare physiques, which means that there are already successful experimental cases."
"And I was there during the experiment."
"Guess who that person who awakened is?"