บท 183: Taking One Step
The Tower of Mortal Dao…
As soon as Yaan stepped through the golden gateway, he felt the suppression force weighing down upon him. A feeling of weakness overcame his body, but he was already prepared for this. Perhaps it was because he had recently experienced this type of mortal weakness during his self-imposed illusion of mortality, but Yaan seemed to adjust with greater ease compared to the others who entered the tower.
Those who took the longest to adjust were the older cultivators who were also entering this tower for the first time in their lives. For those old monsters, it had simply been too long since they had last felt this sort of mortal weakness, so they needed a dozen seconds to grow accustomed to the feeling before they were able to push on.
The ground floor of the tower suppressed the participants' cultivations, but it did not pressure their dao hearts. Yaan looked around, but really, there was nothing much to see. The inside of the tower was covered in golden tiles from the ground to the ceiling. Only the enormous spiral stairway in the centre of room was different, glowing faintly with a pure white light.
As Yaan made his way towards the stairway, he watched curiously as others paused after taking the first step. It seemed that even the very first step exerted pressure on the individual, whilst each subsequent step would increase this pressure compared to the last. This sight was inline with what Yaan had learned about the tower before coming here.
After finding a spot away from anyone else, Yaan took his first step onto the stairway. When his foot landed on the stair, he paused briefly, before bringing up his other foot and standing there motionlessly.
There were others who also did this, but most tried to put on a tough front, pretending that they felt nothing. They hid their struggling expressions, walking up the wide stairway, one slow step at a time.
Yaan stood motionlessly, eventually closing his eyes and focussing on this strange feeling.
When he first learned about the Tower of Mortal Dao and its peculiar ability to suppress a person's cultivation and even pressure their dao heart, he assumed that it was similar to Black Peak. However, now that he was experiencing this feeling for himself, he realised that the two strange places were nothing alike.
Black Peak did not exert pressure or suppress the individual's cultivation - it cut off a cultivator's connection with all facets of their being, aside from their dao heart.
This tower did not cut or blur these connections, it simply used outright pressure to suppress the challengers' cultivations back to mortality…but in a way, this was even more strange than Black Peak!
But the pressure which suppressed their cultivations was nothing shocking compared to the pressure which weighed down on their hearts. Directly targeting a cultivator's dao heart was a truly impressive feat; no Foundation Step cultivator could achieve such a thing with their own abilities at least.
Unknowingly, a quarter hour passed by. At this point, not only was Yaan the last person remaining on the first step, he was also the only person remaining on the first staircase. Everyone else had ascended further, and even those who were taking their time did not linger at any one location for too long. The longer they spent enduring this pressure, the more exhaustion they felt in their hearts.
Whilst their rapid ascent looked impressive to those spectating from outside, only the participants knew that they were simply giving it their all in a single sprint!
Some individuals did not feel the need to rush like this. The reason for the differences in approaches to this trial could be attributed to the differences in their dao hearts, but hardly any of these Foundation Step cultivators understood this. Only Xuqi Lian, the grand protector, had a slightly better understanding of the tower compared to others, but that was only because the Xuqi Sect Immortal Lord had explained some matters to him. He was well aware that his own understanding of the tower's mysteries was still superficial compared to the immortal lord's.
At the front of the pack was a cultivator from the Blade Justice School. This person's name was Pincho, he was middle-aged in appearance, yet still had the handsome looks of a young man. He only barely passed the first stage of the examination after losing both of his matches, but this was still commendable since he had only recently reached the Mid Origin Soul Realm. He knew that in order to stand out, his only chance was to reach the 10th floor before anyone else, he lacked the ability to surpass the other contestants and reach the highest floor.
Close behind Pincho was the lone cultivator, Eccentric Granny. She really had no reason to rush like this, she was one of the strongest competitors in the first stage, it would be quite bizarre if a Peak Origin Soul Realm powerhouse failed to even reach the 10th floor.
Then again, this test did not depend on cultivation, perhaps Eccentric Granny's dao comprehension was quite poor? People in the audience speculated this possibility as they watched on enthusiastically, but this thought was immediately cut off, when, with a sudden burst of speed, Eccentric Granny overtook Pincho and reached the 4th floor, cackling crazily as she took first place in this completely unnecessary race.
"Eccentric Granny is quite impressive, her speed of ascension is amongst the best I have seen. Her personality is a bit strange though…" Keasal commented casually, still speaking with Sect Master Brase. The other elders and disciples around this duo remained silent. They found it quite useful simply sitting back and listening to the experienced pair's discussion of the competition.
Both Keasal and Brase were old monsters with bountiful experience, they had witnessed this examination many times, they had many connections across the continent and understood the level of power flaunted by the top cultivators in the Southern Continent.
Brase smiled lightly, not minding that others were clearly listening in on their conversation.
"Senior brother, don't jest, you know as well as I that those people rushing to the top are not the most impressive by a long margin. Anyone taking this hurried approach simply does not possess a firm enough dao heart to remain under the tower's pressure for an extended period of time, this shows that they lack the endurance of the heart. Anyone can endure an intense adversity for a short period of time, but how many people are able to calmly face the waves of difficulty without fear or panic?"
Keasal chuckled and nodded in agreement.
"Indeed. From what I can see, the most impressive in this group is that 'Old Spear'. He deserves his reputation as one of the five strongest lone cultivators in the Southern Continent."
"Mm." Brase also agreed with this assessment. "But Hukon Foo is also someone to look out for. His cultivation base is only average in this group, but his true battle power is equal to the Peak Origin Soul Realm. It seems that his dao comprehension has also firmly attained the level of a Peak Origin Soul Realm powerhouse."
"For such a young person, he is certainly very talented. But speaking of the young, Xuqi Laila is not bad at all…"
Hukon Foo was not rushing, but neither was he moving slowly. Even after reaching the 3rd floor, he continued to walk steadily and without pause. As for Xuqi Laila, she was further back, somewhere in the middle of the pack. Even though her position was nothing impressive, she looked completely unfazed by the pressure that she was currently enduring. The reason that she had only now stepped onto the 3rd stairway, was because she stopped for a couple of minutes every time she reached a new floor.
Gradually, Keasal and Brase turned their attention back to Yaan. They did not say anything, but they silently waited for him to make a move.
"Could it be that Elder Yaan is already struggling?" A disicple from the Fragment Sect muttered to himself uncertainly.
He and a few others could not help but think this way, Yaan hadn't moved for 15 minutes after all. When they thought about it, wasn't Elder Yaan simply too young compared to everyone else in this examination? Even if his battle prowess was impressive, perhaps his dao comprehension was actually lacking due to his young age?
When Brase noticed a few disciples nodding subconsciously, he decided to 'assist' Yaan once again.
"Junior Brother Yaan is not struggling, his dao comprehension is not lacking like you are all thinking."
"Ah!" The disciple was startled, realising that he had said something inappropriate. "I- I apologise sect master, I should not have doubted Elder Yaan…"
"Actually, I am also quite curious about your junior brother's actions, Brase." At this moment, Hukon Jong, the current generation Hukon Clan leader, flew across to the Fragment Sect group and landed beside Keasal and Brase. He chuckled lightly and clasped his hands together, a greeting which Keasal and Brase promptly returned.
They did not mind the clan leader's casual attitude, they were all familiar with one another, since the Fragment Sect and Hukon Clan had always shared a close relationship.
"Yaan should be attempting to perceive the nature of the tower's suppressing force…" Brase spoke slowly, voicing his speculation out loud. "He is remaining at the lowest level of pressure to perceive the pressure, because this will not wear down his dao heart significantly."
"Hmm, perhaps that is it." Hukon Jong nodded.
Behind these esteemed figures, Zue Yin continued to silently watch Yaan from afar. She bit her lip, realising that unknowingly, Yaan had taken the spotlight once again.
When she first arrived in the Fragment Sect and was greeted so warmly, she believed that this was her chance to turn her life around, her opportunity to get herself back on track, the beginning of her rise to prominence!
However, Zue Yin was soon reminded that the righteous faction, although safer and more secure than the demonic path, was no paradise nor utopia.
Although she was greeted warmly and helped to settle into the sect, and even though the sect provided her with resources and facilities to practice her alchemy, she was still forced to fight for every resource she could get.
This was not the Zue Clan…her grandfather was not here to shelter her. She quickly realised that in truth, the righteous faction was far from perfect.
Others had quickly become jealous of her immediate promotion to elder. Whilst nobody would harm her physically, they constantly attempted to suppress her using political and economic means. Whenever she achieved success, people got in the way of her rewards; whenever she experienced failure, her flaws were brought up time and time again. This led to the situation where she was often stuck with no choice but to constantly refine pills for the sect, or else she would not be able to gather enough resources to support her own cultivation.
But Yaan's situation was clearly different. He was as far from being 'righteous' as anyone she knew, and yet somehow, he thrived in the Fragment Sect to such an extent that his cultivation had already soared by leaps and bounds!
Yaan was the disicple of an immortal…he had even received guidance from his immortal teacher for three straight years!
She did not know what Yaan had experienced during his time in the Fragment Sect, but Zue Yin still felt melancholic as she watched him drift further and further away from her. The two of them only had minimal contact since they joined the sect, even though they both came from the same distant homeland…
Honestly, Zue Yin didn't know if she wanted to see Yaan succeed or fail. In the end, she just continued to watch silently, at least wanting to see the result for herself.
Finally, Yaan opened his eyes. After over a quarter hour of standing motionless, he finally moved.
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