Chapter 19: Selection ground : Root testing

They left the inn before full light. There had been one more round before dawn, the one she had asked for, and her body still carried all of it.

Her pussy was tender and slightly swollen, the light pink outer lips still sensitive enough that each step on the stairs reminded her of how he had been inside her, and a faint slickness remained no matter how carefully she had cleaned. The dual thread sat warm and steady under her skin.

The faint mark of his mouth at her throat stayed hidden by her collar. Lin Tian’s arm was better, and the Foundation energy sat cleaner in his meridians after the duals. Neither of them spoke much on the way down.

The barred door and the men from the hallway felt already far behind, though she checked the street twice before they turned toward the east road.

The road to the outer selection grounds was crowded by the time they reached it. Young men and women in practice robes walked in small groups, some talking too loud, some silent with nerves.

’Hmm a few older cultivators with clan badges watching us all, from the sides of the road without joining the line.’

The air grew sharper the closer they got, thin with spiritual pressure that made ordinary people slow down without knowing why, and the dual thread between Lin Tian and Su Qingxue pulled a little tighter in response.

Su Qingxue kept close to his side and spoke without looking at him,

"Stay near me when we go through the gate. If they separate us for the spirit root test I want you to find me the moment it’s done ,"

" and if anyone asks about mixed energy we say nothing until we’re inside and speaking to an elder, not a supervisor in the yard. "

"last night those men found our room from a description and a feeling in a corridor, and this place will have people who can sense more than that, so promise me you won’t let the dual core flare if someone pushes you or tries to test what you are."

"I wasn’t planning to announce it," Lin said and thought with a smile ’Why is she talking too much , is this her after-sex trait?’ He speaks again,

"I’ll keep it quiet, I promise, and if the core shows itself on a testing platform in front of half the outer court we won’t get to choose who hears about it, so I’ll hold it down no matter who pushes."

She nodded once and looked ahead at the flags. The outer grounds sat at the base of a long green slope.

Stone pillars marked the boundary. Azure Cloud flags moved in the morning wind. A wide yard held several testing platforms already, and a line of hopefuls stretched from the main gate back along the road.

Elders in pale blue robes stood near the front with recording jade slips. Outer disciples in simpler uniforms directed the crowd.

"Your names and place of origin? " a young outer disciple called as they reached the front of their section,

"If there’s no clan recommendation, stand to the left for open testing, spirit root first then combat if you pass.... and if you fail the root test, you’ll leave the grounds this same day."

"Lin Tian, eastern villages, no recommendation," he told them and Su Qingxue added, "Su Qingxue, same."

The disciple glanced at them, at the way they stood near each other, and marked two slips.

"Go to the left line and don’t cause trouble... Next "

They moved into the open testing line. The dual thread hummed between them, quieter under Lin Tian’s control but still present. Su Qingxue watched the platforms.

A boy ahead of them placed his hand on a crystal pillar and the stone glowed a dull yellow. An elder wrote something down and waved him toward the combat area.

The next girl produced only a faint grey light and was told to leave. She walked out with her jaw tight and her eyes wet, and no one in the line spoke until she was past the pillars.

"Hmmm , so yellow is average," Su Qingxue said under her breath, "Grey is no usable root, I’ve heard blue and above are what they actually want for inner track later, so we’re going to look ordinary on the stone and strange in every other way ."

" Qingxue...I need you to remember that ordinary is enough to get us through passing gate, we’ll pass ordinary and prove the rest after," Lin Tian said and added,

"Sigh ....most of the hard parts already happened , this is just a stone and a fight, and it stays simple until someone makes it complicated."

She smiled and the line moved , a pair of young men in silver-cloud badges the same clan mark she had seen in the market glanced over at Lin Tian and frowned as if they felt something .

One of them leaned toward the other and spoke too low to catch. Su Qingxue shifted her weight closer to Lin Tian without thinking and kept her voice even.

"They’re looking at you, I felt the way the air changed when they noticed, the dual core’s quiet so they’re only guessing maybe , "

’ Heh heh I won’t give them a reason to stop guessing.! ’

"And I want them to keep guessing until we’re past the combat test and inside somewhere with walls " he chuckled.

When their turn came, Su Qingxue went first. She placed her palm on the crystal pillar , and for a second nothing happened ?

Then the stone lit a steady blue light !!

An elder raised his eyebrows and marked the slip,

"Water-leaning root, acceptable..go to the combat line."

She stepped back, pulse loud in her ears, and watched Lin Tian place his hand on the same pillar.

The crystal flickered !

Gold and a thin thread of violet chased each other under the surface for a heartbeat, before settling into a strong, mixed light that was neither pure yellow nor pure blue .

The elder’s brush stopped he looked at Lin Tian properly for the first time, and the two silver-cloud disciples at the side of the yard went numb !

"Mixed root " Unusual...stable enough for the combat line. Don’t leave the training grounds until the second test is finished."

Lin Tian nodded and stepped away. The dual core stayed quiet under his skin, the flare was only what the pillar had forced. Su Qingxue’s fingers brushed his as they walked toward the combat area, and she spoke without looking at the elders behind them.

"They show it ! I’m not talking about the core or thread , only a mixed root, and that’s enough for today."

"One step at a time, Tian-ge , and stay where I can see you when the combat pairs are called, because I am not losing you in a yard full of people "

"One step at a time , hmm I like that." he agreed, "and I’ll stay where you can see me."

The dual thread pulled once as the first combat pairs were called onto the stone and the morning sun cleared the slope above the grounds.