He wanted to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm; he had to have a mental method.
The mental method was a cultivation technique specifically for improving one's realm.
Compared to swordsmanship or fist skills and other attack skills, the mental method was more central and more precious.
Every power treated their mental method like a treasure, not allowing outsiders to touch it.
The Detection Tower was the only place where an ordinary person could receive a mental method as a reward, but it was extremely difficult to obtain.
Jiang Fan wasn't confident about getting the reward. After all, he had no idea what grade a transparent spirit root was.
The crowd entered the Detection Tower.
There were many separate rooms inside the tower; the Tower Master arranged for Jiang Fan and Lu Zheng from the Xu Family to enter adjacent rooms.
Lu Zheng exuded confidence all over, glanced sideways at Jiang Fan, and said with a sly smile, "Don't be scared by the true grade of my spirit root later!"
He was confident that this time he could detect a third-grade top-level spirit root.
Thus, his status in the Xu Family would increase again.
By then, it would be easier to snatch Xu Youran away.
Jiang Fan shrugged and wrote on a piece of paper, "Let's wait and see."
He had a spirit root too.
Though it was transparent.
With the Tower Master's command, everyone entered the detection chambers simultaneously.
It was Jiang Fan's fourth visit.
After closing the stone door, he couldn't help but feel nervous as he looked at the crystal ruler floating in the center of the chamber.
It had nine colored markings, representing grades one to nine.
When a martial artist placed their hand on it, the spirit root would trigger the corresponding color on the crystal ruler, indicating the grade of the spirit root.
The detection was very accurate, never making errors.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Fan approached the crystal ruler and placed his hand on it.
Buzz!
The crystal ruler immediately trembled slightly!
A ripple slowly rose from the base, reaching the red marking, then shot to the orange marking without stopping.
Jiang Fan's heart relaxed a bit.
He had always worried that his transparent spirit root might be some sort of waste spirit root with no grade.
Soon, the ripple reached the yellow marking, and then surged to the green marking with a rapid force.
Jiang Fan's heart raced.
The green represented a fourth-grade spirit root, already exceeding Lu Zheng's grade, a rare top spirit root in Lonely Boat City.
But the ripple showed no sign of stopping.
It went past the blue marking and reached the azure marking!
Jiang Fan clenched his fist, his heart pounding fiercely.
A sixth-grade spirit root, reaching Xu Yining's level!
Yet the ripple didn't stop!
Purple, seventh-grade!
Black, eighth-grade!
Jiang Fan's heart was in his throat, and he couldn't help but feel dry-mouthed.
Eighth-grade!
He had actually achieved eighth-grade, breaking the highest record in Lonely Boat City!
Buzz——
The ripple still had immense momentum and surged to the highest marking, white!
Ninth-grade! It was ninth-grade!
Jiang Fan's pupils contracted, his eyes filled with uncontrollable joy.
He actually had an unprecedented ninth-grade spirit root!
This was a legendary level!
However.
The ripple still didn't stop and continued to rise.
The end of the crystal ruler was a large blank area with no markings.
But the ripple continued rising and finally shot out of the ruler, flying out of the chamber.
This left Jiang Fan dumbfounded.
What kind of spirit root was his?
He had detected it but seemed like he hadn't…
Almost at the moment the ripple shot out of the crystal ruler.
In the adjacent chamber, Lu Zheng watched the ripple in the crystal ruler rising slower and slower, like a snail climbing a wall, and when it finally settled at the critical point between mid and upper third-grade, his face turned ugly.
"Rise! Come on, rise! Damn it!" Lu Zheng pounded the crystal ruler angrily, shouting in frustration.
He thought he was a sure thing to reach third-grade top-level, but ended up just a hair's breadth away.
This difference meant he had no access to the Xu Family's resources, nor Wang Yingfeng's promised "Xu's Sword Technique"!
At that moment.
The ripple in Jiang Fan's crystal ruler shot out of his chamber and passed by Lu Zheng's chamber.
The powerful surge pulled the ripple in Lu Zheng's crystal ruler, causing it to climb again.
It surged past the green, azure, blue, purple, and black markings.
Finally, it climbed slowly and settled at the white marking.
The white marking began to glow, and the light grew increasingly intense.
The Tower Master was lying in a bamboo chair, holding a pen in one hand and lazily flipping through the registry with the other.
At this time, the stone door of Chamber 3 lit up first, releasing a faint red glow.
He found Chamber 3 in his registry and said indifferently, "Chamber 3, Miss Zhu of the Zhu Family, Zhu Tingting, first-grade lower spirit root."
Soon, other chambers began to light up one after another.
"Chamber 7, Yu Wangdong, heir of the Liu Family Commerce, first-grade upper spirit root."
"Chamber 1, Young Castle Master of Cheng Family Castle, Zheng Xiangqiu, first-grade lower spirit root."
...
After recording the results of several chambers, the Tower Master shook his head repeatedly. "Alas! Lonely Boat City is getting worse year by year!"
"If not for Xu Yining with her recent sixth-grade spirit root, the Detection Tower here would be dismantled."
Suddenly, a white light shot out from the seam of the stone door in Lu Zheng's chamber.
The Tower Master rubbed his eyes, looking puzzled, "White? On the crystal ruler, white represents…"
Crash!
He sprang to his feet, the force of his movement sending the bamboo chair flying several dozen feet.
His old face was filled with immense shock as he stared at the increasingly dazzling white light coming from Lu Zheng's chamber, exclaiming four words with astonishment!
"Ninth-grade... appearing!!!"
As his words fell, the white light suddenly intensified, like a blazing sun emitting a blinding radiance, turning the entire Detection Tower pure white.
The tower couldn't contain the overwhelming white light, which shot into the sky, piercing through the cloud layers!
Xu Family.
Xu Yining had just finished meditating, surrounded by spiritual energy, her eyes sharp and bright.
Beside her, Xu Zhengyan looked proud, "Yining, you've broken through the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation! At such a young age, this is unprecedented in our Lonely Boat City!"
Xu Yining's brows held a trace of pride, "After all, with a sixth-grade spirit root, it's no surprise to cultivate so fast."
"Once I join the Green Cloud Sect and obtain a mid or even high Yellow Level mental method, I'll cultivate even faster..."
Suddenly.
She glimpsed a beam of white light from the corner of her eye and was stunned, "Father, what is that?"
Xu Zhengyan, also shocked by the spectacular sight, observed for a while and then said, "It's from the Detection Tower."
"Could it be a world-class spirit root has appeared?"
"I heard your grandfather say that many years ago, in neighboring Biyun City, a prodigy with an eighth-grade spirit root appeared. During the detection, a black light beam shot into the sky, just like what we see now!"
Black light represented an eighth-grade.
Then, the white beam must be ninth-grade?
Xu Yining could hardly believe it as she watched the beam, unconsciously biting her lip.
As proud as she was, she couldn't accept that someone in Lonely Boat City had a spirit root superior to hers.
And far superior at that!
Watching the gradually fading light, she gritted her teeth, threw down her sword, and rushed toward the Detection Tower, saying, "I must see who it is!"
Xu Zhengyan worried about her impulsiveness, but he was also extremely curious about the identity of this extraordinary prodigy.
So, he quickened his pace to follow her.
The entire Lonely Boat City went into chaos because of the appearance of the white light beam.
Countless martial artists crazily flocked to the Detection Tower, eager to witness this once-in-several-hundred-years sight.
Among them were even a few old clan leaders, long thought dead, who could no longer stay hidden and broke through their seclusion to witness the face of this world-altering talented one!
The outside world was in turmoil.
Inside the Detection Tower, it was in an uproar.
The detecting martial artists rushed out of their chambers, crowding around Lu Zheng's stone door, filled with unparalleled shock.
The Tower Master appeared manic, muttering nonstop.
"A legend! I've witnessed a legend!"
"In my lifetime, I've actually seen the legendary ninth-grade spirit root!"
"It's the same as our Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion's Pavilion Master's spirit root."
A young man with clenched fists said jealously, "Tower Master, is ninth-grade really the strongest?"
The Tower Master glared at him and snorted, "Nonsense! Ninth-grade is of course the strongest..."
Seemingly recalling something, he paused, uncertain and said, "There's indeed a type of spirit root that surpasses the ninth-grade in this world."