Spiritual root

"Fail" Was all the young man said before signaling him to move aside.

"How could I fail?" Surprised at failing Richard couldn't help himself from asking this question in disbelief.

Looking at him with annoyance but then thinking of his senior sister, he decided to give her some face and answer his question.

"You don't have a spirit root, it's impossible for you to even begin the road of cultivation." Stating it with a note of finallity the youngster then turned towards the next in line an motion the girl behind him to come forward.

Stumped at the turn of event and having no clue what a spirit root was, Richard could only move aside and then observe all the people in purple robes.

Now what was he supposed to do? Was it because he wasn't from this world? But then why did some pass while most like him failed the second test. He needed to know and the only way he could think of was to use the spell true sight.

Removing the scroll from the satchel he unfurled it which resulted in a small flash of light. True sight was not a flashy spell and was almost undetectable unless someone was using a similar spell or could somehow detect spells.

As the spell took effect the world around him took a great change. The feeling of the world baring all its secrets to him and something that he had never ever seen before seemed to happen before his eyes. Everyone he looked at seemed to become light a walking source of light. Hundreds of small lines ran across their bodies filled with light blue light, and three small orbs situated at their forehead, heart and slightly below their navels stood out and seemed connected to the network of small lines.

Looking at them he could see that the one's in purple clothing also had purple light inside their network while their orbs were also filled a great deal shining like small light orbs inside their bodies. They and everyone who had gotten a pass on the second test had small sparks of lights enter the orb at their forehead. Looking closely Richard could make out that something was being gathered towards the forehead and as it came closer to that orb it was easier to make them out just before they entered.

The purple dressed youngster also seemed to have a much larger orb bellow their navel compared to the citizen they were still tiny however barely the size of a pinky nail.

Quickly he decided to take out some pen and papper to take notes, true sight only lasted for an hour after all and he needed to gather as much information as possible.

After sometime of observation and the crowd of people becoming less that at a certain spot the glitter in the air seemed to gather and turn into a maelstrom as they gathered into an old man with a purple robe sitting down with his legs crossed and deep in meditation. The amount he was able to gather looked to be hundreds of times greater then anyone else. Focusing on him some distinct differences could be made out, for one his orb below the navel seemed to be about the size of a thumb. His purple light within his network also contained some sort of truth that was hard to make out even with the true sight spell. Small discharges of lightning appeared spontaneously along his network and small orbs.

The longer he observed these small discharges the more it felt like his understanding of the storm element deepened. He felt like if he watched it long enough he would easily be able to create the rune needed for a first or perhaps even second tier spell of the thunder element.

Suddenly the old man opened his eyes and stared at him, a hint of danger came of him and against his better judgement he started running away at his top speed.

The old man on the other hand looked at the disappearing boy with shock. Something had disturbed his mediation, it felt similar to a divine sense probing him but at the same time different. It was if the beholder could see his deepest secrets and upon opening his eyes he had noticed a small boy starting at him intently as if trying to bore into him. Annoyed at this disturbance he simply sent out a small amount of lightning to turn the impudent boy into a smoldering corpse.

Shockingly the lightning had simply disappeared upon reaching a short distance away from him as if hitting an impenetrable wall and simply made a barely audible fizzle which made a few people close by turn their heads to look for the source of the sound. The boy however had already turned around to run before it had reached him as if he had noticed the attack. He was also moving ar a speed impossible for a boy his age with out cultivation, the old man was unable to feel even the slightest hint of qi on him.

Which could only mean he was either many times more powerful then him, he had a magic item to block others senses or he was simply a mortal. Being a prudent man he had to gather some information looking at how the boy had been standing close by to one of the lines for the spirit root test he quickly approached the outer disciple sitting there.

He was quickly given an answer, a mortal who had come to take the test to join the sect, but he didn't have a spirit root so he had failed. Things couldn't be any better, a mortal most likely from a rich family here alone with no guards but carrying what could only be a magic item or a dao weapon. Perhaps there was even more then one seeing as he had displayed both a protection against lightning and great speed if not and it had two different abilities then it must be a powerful item or better yet thinking about the aspects it could be an extremely suitable item for him as its aspects appeared to be of the lightning type.

Rubbing his hands together with a wicked grin on his face he decided to give pursuit.