As Shi Ji’s blonde hair moved from my sight, the next person comes up. Another person from her group.

What proceeds from here is a line of slowly descending talent. With the obvious correlation being that they lined up in order of importance, i.e. privilege. Those who came from better families or have better backgrounds, whether self-made or not, usually had body cultivation before this.

Not only that, but they already were pumped full of cultivation cocktails and things to purify their body to a decent state.

The nobles have the best advantage, for a multitude of reasons, not the least the pride of the families to have their people be at a minimum level before applying to a sect. They are the most likely to have received help and are expected to be at a certain level of body cultivation beforehand.

For everyone else, though, it is blatantly obvious they did not receive such care in their lives.

The vast majority of people I am now healing have frail and malnourished bodies. The fact they made it up the mountain to where I started giving out the concoctions is a testament to their willpower.

But, regardless of all that, it doesn’t change where they start from.

I see the need to point it out to myself.

I’m just getting past the merchants in the group and now into the more regular people.

I pause the flow and speak out to the person in front of me, a man 10 years younger and with a poor spirit root.

“Hi. If you don’t mind my asking, what was your spirit root when you touched the crystal?”

He freezes in place. Clearly, this is both a sore subject and an embarrassing thing.

The buzz around the area dies down at this inquiry, looking to hear what he has to say.

It’s easy to see he doesn’t want to answer, but obliges.

“Rose Man 3, young master.”

A below average talent, as the majority of cultivators fall within Rose Man 5.

Normal people are usually at Rose Man 2, able to cultivate at 1/1000th speed of the average cultivator. Rose Man 3 is 1/100th speed. So, they are definitely better than normal people, but still significantly worse than the normal cultivator.

He quickly goes silent and has his head down in shame. There are some condescending mutters around from the merchant/noble groups. A large number of people in the upcoming crowds also lower their heads, being in the same boat.

Despite this, the mutters from the upper class continue.

I give the merchants/noble cliques a sharp glance, to tell them all they need to know on how I feel about such actions. The mutterings immediately stop.

No one wants to piss off your boss and especially one who’s just helped you. And hopefully will continue to do so.

Now, with his level of spirit root, he would have normally been relegated to sect servant.

Which wouldn’t be a completely terrible thing. Within the sect servant position, he would still have a chance to try cultivating a poor technique. After many years of service, of course.

Not a very good position, but would allow someone with no chance to at least achieve some level of cultivation.

But with that spirit root, it would be highly unlikely he could make it to even the end of qi condensation by the end of his lifetime. Typically, sects consider it a waste to spend resources on people like himself.

He chose to gamble. To bet on this relationship and the rumors from others about what I could do.

And from what I can tell, the vast majority of people here are exactly like him.

This is the standard in the group.

Time to show them all what they’ve signed up for.

I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, keep your head up.”

Slowly, his head rises, but with his eyes are still low.

“You made the right decision today. What some of you might have found out, but I can confirm, is that my ability improves spirit roots.

“And from this point, I’ll start indicating on what your spirit root is after healing.”

The more I spoke, the more I could tell the excitement in the room started building higher and higher. Increasing your spirit root/potential usually costs an immense amount and is impossible to get for even the wealthiest cultivators. As they say, it is ‘not something that can be bought, but only found’.

“This is why I wanted to make sure you all were contracted with me, as there are many more benefits than just this from joining this group.”

The fire in this young man’s eyes is bright, as this means that his choice to basically put himself at someone else’s mercy hasn’t been in vain. Almost anyone would do it for this kind of opportunity.

“Before we begin, I want to do something for each of you from here on.”

I motion to Dana to grab a large mirror from one of the furniture rooms. Putting it in front of where they will be healed.

“I want you to pay close attention to the changes that occur in you, from start to finish. And as we train after the healing, I want you to check your personal mirrors every day to see how you are improving.

“Make sure that it doesn’t become a thing of vanity, but encouragement to improve even further every day.”

I turn to the people who came before in line.

“You all have been doing this in some way already, though maybe not in this specific fashion. Continue with your regular habits, since you’ve likely already experienced the benefits of this.”

This came as an afterthought, but a few of the nobles seem visibly offended by me focusing on the commoners like this. I can see their faces ease a bit when I mention this, though it’s clear they still hold some of these feelings.

I’m not as worried about them, as either way I’ll be trying to instill qualities of equality in the group. Getting to that point will be a whole other issue.

The young man before me is ready, ingraining his image in the mirror in his mind. Likely being the first time he sees such a clear image of himself, with quality mirrors being a dream for the poor of the cities/rural areas.

Placing my hands on him, I go through the same process that I did for the others in the line. My hands glowing with energy, I use both techniques to heal the inside and out of his body.

Before everyone’s eyes, who are now laser focused on the changes, we can see his skin clear up, his hair changed to its natural color, and even his height grow to the fabled 6 ft, 1 in.

Just as I finish healing him, I direct him to drink the concoction to further refine his meridians.

He seems stronger, more confident, and in awe of the changes that have occurred in him. And not only him, but others are giving him a different look.

“Peony Earth 2.”

I directly state his spirit root.

There’s a collective intake of air.

“That can’t be!”

All eyes turn towards a merchant lady in the group, who quickly goes quiet.