Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou squatted on the ground, digging a hole with a dagger. They buried the bottom of the ladder in it, then stomped the ground flat and tamped the soil down.
Lu Yang kicked the ladder. It did not budge, but the impact left his right foot numb.
"Not bad, it's sturdy. I'll try it first. Once I succeed, you can come up."
"No problem." Meng Jingzhou nodded.
Lu Yang rubbed his hands together, took three steps in two, and nimbly climbed up the ladder. When he reached the bend—the height parallel to the fiftieth step—he cursed inwardly. This is bad.
Lu Yang forced himself to look straight ahead without glancing down, inching forward like a caterpillar.
The people on the steps looked up as Lu Yang drew closer to the fiftieth step, one step at a time, their jaws hanging open.
What had they seen? A massive ladder stood on the ground, bent at a ninety-degree angle, with its end—the destination, the fiftieth step—right there.
It wasn't that they hadn't seen Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou building the ladder below. They simply hadn't thought much of it.
They had struggled desperately to reach the fortieth step. If they went down to see what the two were doing, only to discover that they were making a scene, they wouldn't have the strength to return to the fortieth step. They would truly fail this trial completely.
Man Gu had advanced the fastest among them and had already reached the forty-ninth step. Yet the fiftieth step was like a natural moat, impossible to cross. He felt as though he were carrying a mountain on his back, its weight about to crush him.
Then he watched helplessly as Lu Yang crawled past him and reached the fiftieth step.
Lu Yang passed the trial safely.
Meng Jingzhou followed close behind and passed as well.
First place and second place had been decided.
At the same time, outside Heart-Questioning Mountain, the Ask Dao Sect disciples were thrown into chaos.
"Don't hold me back! I'm going to teach those two punks a lesson today. I promise I won't beat them to death!" Dai Bufan's muscles bulged with rage, making him look like a bear whose honey had been stolen.
His junior brothers and sisters hurried forward to restrain him:
"Senior Brother Dai, you can't hit them!"
"Senior Brother Dai, you have to calm down!"
"If something happens to the people taking the trial, and word gets out, our Ask Dao Sect's reputation will be ruined!"
"Using your seniority to bully your juniors will look terrible if word gets out, Senior Brother Dai!"
"Senior Brother Dai, don't forget—the third trial tests the heart that seeks the Dao. You absolutely mustn't lose your temper!"
Dai Bufan calmed down when he heard the last sentence.
That was right. The third trial tested the heart that sought the Dao. Being so quick-tempered would not benefit his future cultivation.
"...Wait, the third trial is testing them, not me!"
The Ask Dao Sect disciples fell into chaos once again.
Seeing this, the River Spirit felt much more balanced. It retreated into the river and stopped making trouble for the two of them.
Perhaps the example of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou's sincere cooperation and success had inspired everyone. One by one, the disciples taking the trial cried out and finally charged onto the fiftieth step.
Man Gu was the first. Next came people Lu Yang didn't know. They had all been behind Lu Yang, and he had no idea what was special about their Root Bones. Finally came several people with dual spirit roots, all of whom Lu Yang had seen before.
The remaining people kept trying, but they could never take another step. They wanted to descend the mountain and use the ladder Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had built to climb to the fiftieth step. Unfortunately, descending the mountain also meant enduring immense pressure, and their bodies could no longer move either upward or downward by even one step.
"The third trial is over. Those who remain on the mountain have lost their qualifications." Yun Zhi announced coldly, ordering Dai Bufan to bring them down.
Heart-Questioning Mountain forcibly dragged the people to a place beyond the reach of ordinary humans, and even Dai Bufan could not remove them from it. To rescue the people on the mountain, he had no choice but to withstand Heart-Questioning Mountain's pressure and climb step by step.
Dai Bufan glared viciously at Lu Yang before climbing Heart-Questioning Mountain.
He looked completely at ease as he climbed straight to the fiftieth step.
The disciples who had just passed the third trial saw how effortlessly Dai Bufan moved. Thinking of how they had nearly died climbing to the fiftieth step, they felt the disparity was simply too great.
"There's nothing difficult to understand. You're only fourteen or fifteen. Even if your families supported you from behind and you came into contact with cultivation at an early age, it was still like the moon reflected in water or flowers reflected in a mirror. You have no real experience and cannot truly understand what the Dao or immortals are."
"Cultivating immortality is also cultivating the heart. Once your cultivation has reached a certain level, climbing Heart-Questioning Mountain will no longer be difficult."
Only at the very end of her explanation did Yun Zhi seem to remember something. She symbolically added, "Congratulations on becoming disciples of the Ask Dao Sect."
Yun Zhi waved her delicate hand. The bell around her wrist chimed, and mist rose, forming clouds that lifted everyone up.
Lu Yang stood on the clouds. As he watched the ground grow farther and farther away, he swallowed hard, his heart leaping into his throat.
Good heavens, cultivating immortality is thrilling.
Standing on the clouds, Yun Zhi said to the junior brothers and sisters below, who were wrapping up their work, "Thank you for your efforts today. Once you've finished cleaning up, you may continue with your own affairs."
The junior brothers and sisters answered in unison, "Yes!" Then they chanted, "One, two, three! One, two, three!" as they dismantled and carried away the ladder Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had made.
What was a ladder doing on Heart-Questioning Mountain, anyway?
Lu Yang didn't dare open his eyes on the cloud. But when he heard the others excitedly praising the scenery, he couldn't hold back his curiosity and opened his eyes as well. The sight before him stunned him thoroughly, and he stared blankly.
A mountain stood at the center of the surrounding peaks, its cliffs rising a thousand feet straight into the heavens. Its four sides were steep and sheer, like a peerless immortal sword forged through a hundred refinements. Majestic and imposing, it was surrounded by eight mountains radiating wondrous auras. Farther out, ranges of overlapping peaks rolled and surged, encircling these nine central mountains.
The mountains overlapped layer upon layer like a blooming lotus, stirring the heart and setting the soul alight!
Misty fog shrouded the nine mountains, adding another layer of mystery.
Yun Zhi said mildly, "The core of the Ask Dao Sect has nine peaks. The central peak is where the Sect Master resides. It is called Heaven Gate Peak. The other eight peaks belong to the eight elders. Each elder has their own specialty, and accordingly, each of the eight peaks serves a different purpose."
"Beyond those, some peaks are places for sect trials, some are extensions of the elders' peaks, and some are places where Ask Dao Sect disciples cultivate. There are also dangerous areas where insufficient cultivation means certain death and the dissolution of one's Dao... It would be impossible to explain them all in a few words. You can explore them gradually in the future."
"Cultivating immortality places great importance on the word 'affinity.' During the next month, you may move freely throughout the Ask Dao Sect, visit the peaks, go to the Scripture Depository, or ask senior brothers and elders for guidance."
"After one month, you must choose an elder to be your master. Of course, that presupposes that the elder agrees to take you as his disciple."
Man Gu asked whatever came to mind: "Can we only choose an elder? Can we choose the Sect Master?"
"You can. However, the Sect Master has never liked teaching disciples, so your chances of success are very small."
Even after Yun Zhi said this, many people still wanted to cultivate under the Sect Master.
The Ask Dao Sect was one of the Five Great Immortal Sects of the Central Continent. Its Sect Master held an exalted position and possessed unquestionable strength, with few rivals in the cultivation world. To become the disciple of such an expert offered more obvious and hidden benefits than anyone could count!
"Someone will take you to your respective abodes shortly."
"Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, you two stay behind."
Before you continue