"This time how far will the participants go?"
The head elder looked at the participants running towards the mountain top and asked in an eternal voice.
"I can bet that Lin Fan can go above 300 steps…."
Elder from the Lin family said while puffing his chest. He had already used gravitational chember to test Lin Fan and with effort he could cross 300 steps threshold. He looked at the elder from the Su family and puffed his chest in contempt.
"Hmpp…."
The elder from the Su family just snorted and ignored the provoking gaze. He looked at the top group of participants there were total of 13 people that just crossed the threshold of 100 steps.
"Where is that brat who took the first place in the first competition…?"
Asked one of the elders as everyone looked over they saw Zhu Shen climbing stairs in a weird fashion. He was drenched in sweat and likely to be run out of energy at any time.
"Hmpp… at most he can get upto 100 steps… what a waste…!"
Said one of the elders. Everyone else also felt disappointed. Head elders eyes flashed as he looked at Zhu Shen with a strange light.
"Maybe he has a good beast controlling technique…. Thats why he was able to tame the wyvern so easily..."
Greed flashed through elder Lin's eyes.
'Maybe, i can capture that kid and get the beast controlling technique'
All other elders kept silent as they watched the other participants.
Back on to the Magnetic mountain, Zhu Shen was drenched in sweat as he steadily walked upwards. His steps seemed random but orderly at the same time. As Zhu Shen proceeded forward the complexity of golden steps got harder and harder.
"Come on …. You can do this"
Zhu shen gritted his teeth as he proceeded froward. Soon he reached 100 step threshold.
As soon as zhu shen step foot into 101th tile … his vision darkened as he was back into the starry galaxy…. In front of Zhu Shen was a five clawed golden dragon moving rhythmically while fighting a huge monster. With his rhythematic steps the golden dragon was untouchable.
After some time the huge monster collapsed onto the ground and the five clawed dragon took a deep breath as he looked at Zhu Shen.
The Dragon's eyes turned golden as a golden string shot from his conciousness into Zhu SHen's mind.
A lot of memories regarding the steps on magnetic mountain flashed into Zhu Shen's mind.
How the five clawed dragon climbed the magnetic mountain again and again and learnt the footwork skill.
Zhu Shen was shocked at how many years the five clawed dragon took to master his skill. He looked at the five clawed dragon more respectively now.
"The Dragon Steps…. Once mastered, nobody in the world will be able to catch you."
The golden dragons voice boomed through Zhu Shen's ears as his vision soon cleared. He was still on 100th step of magnetic mountain.
He looked at the steps on the magnetic mountain and started mimicking the five clawed dragons movements.
He was shocked to find that he was able to move 10 times faster than before.
"This is it…."
As Zhu Shen's speed increased… few elders took notice of this change. Among them was the grand elder.
The grand elder stroked his beard as he saw Zhu Shen's movements.
"The Dragon Steps… haha… there really is a genius among this year's participants."
The grand elder got a letter from dragon palace city stating that this time they are sending a genius disciple to the sect.
The magnetic mountain was not only test of participants martial dao heart but also their ability to comprehend. Each steps had memory fragments of dragon clan ancestors. Sometimes they contained powerful skill other times a powerful intent. If you are fortunate enough you might also find a lost pill formula or lost weapon crafting manual.
That is the reason why it was essential to have new disciples to climb magnetic mountain. To get what the dragon clan's ancestors left behind and complete the legacy of dragon clan.
As the grand elder considering if he could accept Zhu Shen as his disciple, a huge dragon descended in front of the testing ground.
"Sect Master…!"
Everybody bowed to the new person on top of the dragon. He was the sect master of the dragon palace Ling Tian.
He nodded at all the elders and disciples as he looked towards the magnetic mountain.
Seeing that Lin Fan was first place he felt satisfied and turned his attention towards the elders and said,
"This time's batch of disciples are not bad… they have potential to break the previous generation's record… lets increase the rewards for the top student with a Body strengthening dan."
Everybody know that Sect leader was saying this because his disciple-in-name was in first place but the elders showed any reaction. Body strengthening dan was actually a tier 1 dan, very beneficial for disciples who just started cultivating. With the help of body strengthening dan one can not only temper their body but also remove impurities from their bodies.
The grand elder seemed a little displeased as he voiced out his concern.
"With the body strengthening dan the Distsance between the first place and rest of the students will increase tremendously."
"Hmph… what should we care for each and every disciple when we can groom 1 disciple with talent."
Scoffed the elder from Lin family.
From the looks it seemed that the outer dragon palace was divided into into 2 factions. First one with mentality of grooming only selected few talented disciples and send themtowards the inner dragon palace. The second faction took things more gently… their mentality was that every disciple must receive essencial resources.
Back on to the magnetic mountain Zhu Shen kept following the golden steps. As the golden steps became more and more complex Zhu Shen's footwork also improved.
"This is it..."
Zhu Shen felt like he was as light as feather. His speed was increasing at an alarming rate as he passed a group of people and stepped onto 200th step.
When Zhu Shen crossed the 200 step threshold runes started appearing on his feet as his speed increased yet again.
The grand elder who was keeping tab on Zhu Shen felt shocked as he stood up from his seat and shouted,
"Minor accomplishment…!"
Zhu shen had reached minor accomplishment of dragon steps.