From the side, the person Zhu Yi spotted waved his hand. A wave of earth Qi shot towards him, breaking trees as it traveled.
Zhu Yi took out his sword.
"Sword Wave."
He swung his sword vertically and sword Qi broke the wave of earth Qi, quickly traveling towards the attacker.
Zhu Yi finally made out his attackers figure as the attackers eyes widened. From his clothes, he was from the high boulder sect, the 10th ranked sect in the world.
The attacker waved his hand and a shield of earth Qi came up.
"Wait. We can talk. Who are you?" He said as the sword Qi broke the shield before dissipating.
As the fragments of the shield broke, the disciple of the High Boulder sect saw Zhu Yi.
"White Palace City trash?" He said unconsciously.
Hearing his words Zhu Yi waved his sword again. He did not want to talk anymore.
"Wait! I misspoke!" The High Boulder sect disciple said.
"You want to kill him?" Zhou Fan asked.
Zhu Yi nodded as he attacked and the High Boulder sect disciple defended.
"There won't be any consequences, right?" Zhu Yi asked.
"Probably not. This is an inheritance made by this world's strongest after all. Nobody can see inside." Zhou Fan answered.
Although Zhu Yi had not shown it, he was annoyed at being ignored and belittled. Who wouldn't be.
He had planned on allowing the High Boulder sect disciple to speak, but when he called him White Palace City trash, Zhu Yi decided to vent his anger.
As an Assassin, he was no stranger to killing. It didn't even affect him anymore.
The disciple of the High Boulder sect tried to talk while defending, but Zhu Yi ignored him. He increased his strength and severed the High Boulder sect disciple in half.
Although he had been strong compared to anyone else Zhu Yi had fought, he had not been anything special.
"Even for the top ten sects, I'm sure it's hard to produce disciples under the age of twenty that can reach the foundation establishment realm. Among them, how many are still under the age of twenty during the once in a hundred year opening? There are bound to be some weaker ones." Zhou Fan said.
Zhu Yi agreed.
He ran past the body and continued to climb up the mountain. If his guess was correct, then at the very least there would be one more person on the mountain. It would be the other disciple of the High Boulder sect. After all, to Zhu Yi's knowledge, they were a sect that practiced with earth Qi. What better place was there to go than a mountain?
Zhu Yi continued to run up. Although the mountain was large, it was rather easy to traverse. There were no cliffs that needed climbing, just a constant uphill slope.
After running for an hour, Zhu Yi finally saw the peak. At the same time, he saw two others not too far below him. One was a woman wearing the same clothes as the person Zhu Yi killed, while the other was someone else. Zhu Yi had memorized the clothes of the top ten sects, but this person was not wearing them. He was one of the twenty that had joined last.
When Zhu Yi had seen them, they had seen him. Zhu Yi read the man's lips.
"White Palace City trash again. What's up with these people?" Zhu Yi said.
"Arrogance. You'll get used to it. You should already be."
Zhu Yi also looked at the woman, but she did not say anything, though she was clearly a little confused.
Zhu Yi faced forward and saw the top of the mountain. It did not come to a peak, but a flat area.
It was as if the peak had been cleanly sliced off. The flat top was around a mile in area. When Zhu Yi stepped on it, something appeared in the sky above the mountain.
"1/4" Zhu Yi said.
It seemed that he would have to wait for 3 others. He suddenly regretted killing that person back there.
He sat down and waited. Soon, the woman stepped on top of the mountain. The number changed to 2/4.
She looked at the number for a second before walking towards Zhu Yi. Zhu Yi did not pay her too much attention and slightly pulled the sword out of his sheath.
She stopped walking and sat down.
"You are from White Palace City, right?" She asked.
"I am."
"How did you get up here so fast?"
"I ran." Zhu Yi sheathed his sword back into his sheath. She didn't seem to be a danger.
"Did you see my little brother along the way?" She asked.
Zhu Yi shook his head. "Nope."
She nodded and waited. Not too long later, Zhu Yi saw the man step on top of the mountain.
The number changed to 3/4.
The man looked at the number before looking at Zhu Yi.
He looked confused. "How did you get up here so fast?"
Although he had said White Palace City trash earlier, he did not seem too arrogant. It must have been a reflexive action.
"Do you people look down on White Palace City so much?" Zhu Yi asked.
The man looked slightly embarrassed. "Did you notice that? Sorry. I just got used to those from the top ten sects saying it. I didn't mean to insult you."
Zhu Yi internally forgave him.
"Forget about it. I got up here by running." Zhu Yi said.
"Are you really from White Palace City?" He asked.
"I am."
The man fell silent and sat down.
This time, they had to wait longer. After a few minutes, the girl ran around the perimeter of the mountain.
She came back with a frown.
"Did you see my little brother?" She asked the man.
The man shook his head.
The girl frowned even harder. "If one of you met my brother, please tell me the truth. I, Tin Ih, will be grateful. Even if you harmed him, I would like to know."
Neither Zhu Yi nor the man said anything. The girl sat down and closed her eyes, deep in thought.
As the three waited silently, an entire day passed. Just as they were about to consider leaving, another person made it to the peak of the mountain. He was another one of the 20 that did not belong to the top ten sects.
Zhu Yi stood up as the numbers turned to 4/4. So did the other two. Suddenly, lines formed around the flat mountain peak and fell vertically like pillars. They surrounded the mountain peak as a boundary and words appeared in the sky.
"Body like a rock, Heart like a boulder."
Zhu Yi did not understand, but before he could think, a pressure descended upon him. It felt as if he was holding up a mountain, not only in body, but in spirit.
Along with the bodily pressure, Zhu Yi felt a pressure descend upon his heart. It felt like it covered his willpower and pushed down upon it.
Zhou Fan spoke. "The body strong and firm like a rock. The heart unmovable like a boulder. This test is one of resistance and willpower. I'm not sure that you can succeed."
These words hurt Zhu Yi's spirit. Although it was true, it hurt to see his master not believe in him.
His master had always been above him, like a god. No matter how strong he became, he could not see Zhou Fan in any other way.
He, the disciple, was lacking.
Zhu Yi resisted the pressure. He was fueled by the desire to prove his master wrong.
Zhou Fan nodded outside of Zhu Yi's vision. Willpower could be trained and built up, but it could also temporarily skyrocket under certain circumstances.
Zhu Yi was experiencing a temporary boost. As for his body, although he did not specifically practice strengthening it, this trial focused less on the strength of the body and more on the strength of the heart.
It was clear that not only Zhu Yi, but the other three participant's eyes were unfocused. The body pressure was simply to allow one to feel it everywhere and fall into an unfocused state, but the pressure of the heart was the only test that truly mattered.
Zhou Fan was impressed by the creator of this inheritance. He had talent and was firm in will. Yet, in the vast universe, there were countless that were the same.
Perhaps a genius in a village was an ordinary person in a city. Perhaps a genius in a city was an ordinary person in a country. Perhaps a genius in a country was an ordinary person in the world. Perhaps a genius in a world was an ordinary person in the wider universe.
As far as Zhou Fan had seen, only Chen Jie had the potential to be a genius even in the wider universe.
Zhu Yi silently endured the pressure. At one point, his only thought was to prove his master wrong.
The first person to fail was the last person to come. He collapsed and rolled off of the mountain peak.
None of the remaining three even noticed. They were all too focused on enduring.
Zhu Yi lasted longer than Zhou Fan expected. The second person to fail was the third person that had come up the mountain. All that remained on the mountain peak were Zhu Yi and the girl.
Although Zhu Yi was doing well, it seemed as if he was about to lose. Zhou Fan spoke to him.
"At this rate, the girl will beat you."
"I know, but I will endure."
Zhou Fan laughed. "Then why don't we cheat?"
Zhu Yi was confused. He could not think much under the pressure.
"Speak to her. Tell her that you killed her brother."
Zhu Yi was shocked at Zhou Fan's ruthlessness.
"Are you sure, master?" Zhu Yi asked.
Zhou Fan nodded. "If you're not cheating, then you're not trying your hardest."
Zhu Yi agreed and strugglingly spoke. "You-You're looking for your brother, right?"
Although the girl wouldn't have usually heard Zhu Yi in her current state of mind, the word "brother" had caught her subconscious attention.
She did not speak, but she was listening.
"Down on the mountain, we met. I killed him with my bare hands while he begged me to stop. While I was ripping out his organs, he was saying something about a sister."
Zhu Yi ruthlessly lied. To say he didn't feel evil was a lie, but he needed to win.
As expected, Zhu Yi's ruthless words were heard by the girl, and her mental state temporarily shook. The pressure hit her heart full force and knocked her down.
As soon as she fell, the pressure disappeared.
Zhu Yi opened his eyes and looked around. The mountain was the same, but only he and the girl were left on it.
Above, a light was shining, but Zhu Yi did not look at it just yet. Lying on the ground, staring at him with bloodshot eyes, was the girl, Tin Ih.
Zhu Yi ran up to her and unsheathed his sword. "For the record, it was a quick death."
Tin Ih saw a sword wave traveling towards her and a wall of earth Qi blocked it. Unlike her brothers, this wall blocked the sword strike, though it collapsed with it.
"As expected, she's the stronger of the bunch."
Tin Ih was moving in pure anger with unrivaled hatred.
A spear of earth Qi condensed in each of her hands and stabbed towards Zhu Yi.
To say the least, it was clumsy. An attack fueled by rage was usually messier. Zhu Yi dodged each with a spin and slashed his sword towards Tin Ih.
Tin Ih ignored it and stabbed at him. She was truly fighting without caring for her life.
Zhu Yi mumbled. "Let the siblings die together."
He flipped up and moved his sword. Tin Ih's head flew and fell.
Zhou Fan spoke. "She would have been a more challenging fight in different circumstances."
Zhu Yi shook his head. "Regardless, let's focus on the reward."
He looked up and saw a floating key. It was high enough that a mortal wouldn't be able to reach it, but Zhu Yi jumped casually and grabbed it.
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