Vivian was caught completely off guard by Anda's sudden suggestion.
She had accepted Anda as her disciple back then purely because of her outstanding alchemy talent. She had never really cared much about cultivation talent.
Mawarini, on the other hand, possessed a water element spirit root. That meant she would not be able to learn alchemy, which required incredible fire control that only cultivators with fire spirit roots could master. As for guiding her in general cultivation, Vivian lacked confidence in her own ability to do so properly.
However, it was Anda herself who had recommended this. The rapid growth of the Leyan Family was largely due to Anda's careful planning. Since Anda suggested Mawarini as her disciple, there must be a good reason behind it.
So, Vivian decided to go along with the idea.
"What do you think, little Mawarini?" Vivian asked gently with a warm, motherly smile. "Would you like to become my disciple? I have a son around your age. You two can become friends so you won't feel lonely in the sect."
Jojori only had big sisters in the Alchemy Hall to play with and no friends his own age, so she thought Mawarini could fill that role nicely.
Anda praised Vivian inwardly. She doesn't even know my plan, yet she already paved the way so beautifully. Nice assist!
Mawarini, however, felt quite intimidated by Vivian at first. Similar to Anda, Vivian had not been one of the elders fighting to become her master earlier, so that wasn't the cause.
The real reason she felt intimidated was because Vivian's breasts were simply too big. Even though Vivian always wore loose dresses that exposed very little skin, her impressive pair of mountains could not be hidden.
From the perspective of a small child, it felt as if Vivian was looking down at her from a great height, looming over her like a colossal tree.
Fortunately, when Vivian spoke with such a warm and motherly voice, it reminded Mawarini of her own mother who had passed away two years ago. The sense of intimidation vanished almost instantly. Those two mountains no longer seemed so scary.
"Ma-Mawarini is willing to become Elder Vivian's disciple," the young girl said timidly.
"Good," Vivian replied with a warm, motherly smile. "Come here and sit with me. Later, we will hold the master-disciple ceremony privately."
Mawarini walked nervously toward Vivian's seat and sat down beside her. She was small and skinny, so she didn't take up much space at all.
The other children looked at Mawarini with clear envy in their eyes. It wasn't just the children. Even many of the sect disciples felt a pang of jealousy. They all longed to possess a top-grade spirit root too.
The other sect elders showed regretful expressions, clearly disappointed that they had missed the chance to take such a rare talent as their direct disciple.
Unlike the elders, Sect Master Gunung, who always put the sect's long-term interests first, was overjoyed. A top-grade talent had finally appeared in their sect. This was wonderful news for Mountain Dew Sect's future.
After that, the testing continued.
Discovering one top-grade talent was already an incredibly rare event, so nobody expected much from the remaining children.
After 434 children born to mortal parents had been tested, the next group consisted of those born to one cultivator parent and one mortal parent. All of them were male cultivators paired with mortal women.
The opposite pairing, female cultivator with mortal man, rarely happened anywhere. Female cultivators generally would not consider mortal men as suitable partners.
Some male cultivators chose mortal women to have children because it was relatively easier than conceiving with another cultivator. The downside was a higher chance that their children would be born without a spirit root. The advantages and disadvantages generally balance each other out.
However, this only applied to lower cultivation realms. Mortal women would not be able to handle men with higher cultivation levels. They could easily die if the cultivator was not extremely careful.
Soon, only 19 children remained. They were the final group, where both parents were cultivators. All of them were expected to have spirit roots.
Jojori was among them. He was the only child in the sect born to two Core Formation Realm parents, so he would be tested last.
Sure enough, all the other 18 children possessed spirit roots. Not a single unfortunate case appeared among them. One of them even had a high-grade spirit root.
This would normally have caused quite a sensation, but because Mawarini had appeared earlier with her top-grade talent, the child with the high-grade spirit root did not receive nearly as much hype from the crowd. Truly unfortunate timing for him.
Finally, it was Jojori's turn to test his spirit root. He was the last child to be tested.
Leyvi could already vividly imagine how shocked everyone would be very soon. Well, he could imagine it so clearly because he had already seen similar reactions before.
"Mawarini, that boy up there is my son," Vivian said softly to the young girl. "In the future, be friends with him, okay?"
Mawarini nodded multiple times. Her eyes carefully studied Jojori's appearance so she could remember him.
On the stage, Jojori placed his hand on the detection stone. He was not really expecting anything special. He was completely unaware that his uncle had already upgraded his spirit root a week ago.
A few seconds later, the aptitude-testing artifact reacted once again. A brilliant glow, just as dazzling as Mawarini's earlier, shone brightly, shocking everyone present.
Sect Master Gunung jumped up from his seat. Gasps could be heard all around the training ground.
"T-TOP GRADE WOOD ELEMENT SPIRIT ROOT! ANOTHER ONE!" the host elder yelled the result in disbelief.
Vivian and Bobori were both greatly shocked. They looked at each other in astonishment. They had never expected their son to possess such exceptional talent.
On the stage, Jojori himself was dumbfounded. I have top-grade talent too? Isn't top-grade spirit root supposed to be very rare?
He looked at his happy parents, then at his Aunt Lilian who was waving excitedly at him, and then at his Uncle Leyvi, who was smiling but seemed to be observing the reactions of the people around him. Jojori felt a bit suspicious.
Then he glanced at the skinny little girl sitting next to his mom, his mom's new disciple. Her face looked a bit sunken, and her body appeared rather weak.
Too thin. Do her parents not feed her properly or something? Poor girl. He thought, already intending to share some food with her later.
"Hahahaha! Heaven has truly blessed our Mountain Dew Sect! Two top-grade talents appearing at once!" Sect Master Gunung laughed joyfully, unable to contain his excitement.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that discovering great talents for the sect could bring him such overwhelming happiness.
Two top-grade talents and one high-grade talent. If nurtured properly, the Mountain Dew Sect could have three Nascent Soul Realm cultivators in the future. And if they were lucky enough and had sufficient resources, the two top-grade talents might even reach the Soul Formation Realm one day.
However, with great talents came great challenges.
Cultivation resources. That was the biggest hurdle the sect needed to overcome. Without enough resources, these talents would be wasted.
The sudden arrival of three exceptional talents meant he had to start planning carefully for the sect's future right away.
The sect's current resources were limited. He could not simply take away what was supposed to go to the other disciples and give it all to these three. That would be unfair and highly irresponsible.
The disciples of the sect worked hard every day to earn their share of cultivation resources. If he reduced their rewards, it would cause widespread discontent. Eventually, the harmony that the sect had worked so hard to maintain would collapse.
What he needed was a new, sustainable source of income to support the massive future expenditure. But if it were that easy, they would have solved this problem long ago.
Should he ask for support from the Leyan Family? That would feel far too shameless. Although Leyvi and Anda were incredibly wealthy now, they also required enormous amounts of cultivation resources to support their own growth and the rest of their family members.
He knew from past records that both Leyvi and Anda only had middle-grade spirit roots. To reach the Nascent Soul Realm, they would need even more resources than the three talented children the sect had just gained.
Sect Master Gunung sighed inwardly. If only their sect's location had multiple spirit stone mines to harvest from, maybe they would not be so tight on budget all the time.
Leyvi naturally noticed the Sect Master's worried expression. Lacking sufficient cultivation resources had always been one of the most common struggles in the cultivation world.
However, this problem no longer concerned his own family. The Leyan Family now possessed Spiritual Veins, the ultimate, inexhaustible cultivation resource. Even without counting the Spiritual Vein, they were still incredibly wealthy thanks to everything they had acquired during the Mystic Realm expedition.
He could easily support Jojori fully without needing any help from the sect.
That said, he was not going to offer open support right away. He wanted to quietly observe what course of action the sect would take to nurture the three talented children they had just gained.
If their approach pleased him, he would not mind giving long-term support to the entire sect, elevating everyone. But if the sect disappointed him, he would slowly distance himself and only provide support for his nephew alone. It was a test to see if the sect deserves his support.
The spirit root testing event ended on a truly legendary note, leaving the entire sect in shock afterward. Two top-grade talents appearing at once was something that had never happened in the sect's long history. Many disciples and elders began wondering if their sect was finally going to rise in the future.
The next day, the Leyan Family departed from Mountain Dew Sect and began their journey back home toward Bara City.