The seven immortals of the Azure Order sect were standing just behind the inner estate gate.
The spectators behind the challengers were kneeling on the ground.
From the murmurs and gasps, it was easy to tell that it was not every day that they got to see the immortals of the Sect.
While Silver was busy examining the seven, one out of them, a woman, came forward and raised her hand slightly.
All the sounds in the surroundings immediately seized at once, not wasting any more time, the woman said,
"Only those above the age of thirteen and below thirty are allowed to take part in the trials."
"What!?"
Silver along with the other challengers looked at the back of the group, where they saw two middle-aged men with shock laced on their faces.
"Imm-mmortal, what do you mean? Isn't it supposed to be forty?"
The outer elder looked at the two men and didn't beat around the bush.
"The standards, starting this year, have been changed. Now only those above the age of thirteen and below the age of thirty are allowed to take the trials."
The face of the two men standing behind turned ugly but they didn't dare to retort.
One of them even clenched his fist, trembling. After all, his dream of pursuing immortality had been utterly crushed.
The other man placed a hand on his shoulders as he shook his head.
Silver and the other challengers who were within the bracket looked as the two men took their leave, clearly with indignation.
Not waiting for them, the outer elder announced.
"The trial of the will begins now!"
Silver was slightly surprised as he looked at the outer elder, he didn't think that the first trial would happen then and there.
"The rules are simple. Those who can pass through the gate will clear the trial of the will and will be allowed to enter the trial of spirits."
The challengers who were taking the trial for the very first time were shocked, but the people who looked like this was not their first time doing so gulped visibly.
Silver, who knew better, looked at fatty, who was a little relaxed when compared to the surroundings. The trial of the will tests your endurance, the archway through the entrance gate would be anything but simple.
He didn't want to be hasty and wanted to observe first so he just stayed there.
But, some people looked like they couldn't wait any longer. Without giving it much thought, they made their way to the gate, instantly becoming the center of attention.
Silver too looked at the person valiantly going forward, carefully to not miss any detail.
The person looked around twenty years old, he had brown hair and a confident face, with a sticky grin on it.
It looked like he was enjoying being the center of attention as the grin on his face intensified.
As he placed his first foot on the archway, looking behind him as if mocking the people for being cowardly.
He turned around, no longer paying attention, and gazed at the seven immortals, with desire lit in his eyes.
He started moving forward. At first, his speed was astonishing, almost sprinting.
It looked like he would be making it to the other side in no time but it didn't take much time for it all to change.
The man was on his seventh step when his shoulders suddenly slouched as if something invisible to the naked eyes was pressing him down.
The challengers behind him were only able to look at his back and retarding pace as the man found it more and more difficult to take a step.
It hadn't even been a minute since the man went inside the archway but he was already gasping for breath now.
Finally, not being able to bear it anymore, the man fell to his knees.
The face that was exuding confidence just earlier was nowhere to be seen, he just kept looking at the ground with a pained expression while gasping for breath.
It looked like even the act of breathing was taking a toll on him. He tried to look behind him but it looked like that was too much to ask.
He didn't want to give up now, once he became an immortal, he would slaughter the people who had wronged him, once he slaughters them, he'd take all their wives and have fun with them.
Thinking such, he tried to crawl towards the light in front of him.
There were only seven shadows in front of the bright light.
As he was crawling on all fours, the man noticed one of the shadows shake its head slightly.
'Wha–'
Unfortunately, that question would remain unanswered.
The man fell down, having his face slammed brutally into the ground. Blood was flowing out of his eyes, mouth, ears, and nose.
The heaving of his chest seized and so did the excited rants outside.
The man was dead.
The other challengers except for a few took a sharp breath.
Silver too gulped a wad of saliva as he reflected on the sequence of things.
'It had only been around a minute and a half.'
It took only a minute and a half for that man to perish inside the archway.
Silver recalled what the fatty said to him.
'Endure the pressure of the mystical force until you make it to the other side, but if you don't give up promptly, you're dead.'
Silver looked around him once again. The challengers were observing the deceased just like him, the murmurs behind resumed again.
"Next."
It was then that a clear and crisp voice made its way outside. The outer elder spoke again, indicating for the others to come forward.
'Quite brutal indeed.'
They weren't planning to remove the man's body it seemed. As more people fail, their bodies would only pile up only for others to either join them or go past them.
This was indeed brutal, people worked hard not to face such brutality.
Back on earth, people run after money and status so that they don't face the brutality of the poor.
Here, people pursue immortality and power in order to not face the immortality of the weak.
But contradictorily, you will still face such brutality even when pursuing immortality.
Who could tell if even the immortals faced any brutality, brutality of being a weak immortal?
Was there anyone in this world who was truly free of worldly machinations?
Silver didn't know and he wouldn't be finding the answer any time soon.
Four people have challenged the trial of the will till now, and not a single one succeeded.
The second challenger, right after the first one, was a bulky man with a toned body and protruding muscles.
He boasted of strength and tenacity but he had only lasted a minute longer than the last man before his body literally burst out with blood and flesh, causing the people behind to shriek and scream at the sight of it.
The challengers too, were not given much time to collect themselves together when a cold chilling voice from beyond ordered the next to step forward.
The third challenger was a woman, she had tanned skin and black hair. She didn't look like a native of the estate.
She approached the archway cautiously, only taking one step at a time while keeping her mind still.
It looked like her strategy was working as she had passed the records of both the people before her but alas that was as far as she could go.
Before long, she started gasping for breath. She considered falling back but it was already too late as something iron-like made its way out of her mouth.
She fell to the ground, coughing and throwing up blood, never to get up again, joining the other two.
Three people had died in a row.
Some people felt pity for the woman but that was all.
Silver looked around again.
The crowd of spectators had nearly doubled from what he remembered.
The challengers on the other side had lost five people till now.
First the two men and then the three challengers.
The next guy looked not much older than Silver, around seventeen years old.
He was donning lavish clothes and a hand fan which gave him a scholarly look, he had an amicable smile on his face and his body was relaxed unless the tense challengers as if the scene and the same potential outcome didn't bother him one bit.
Silver looked at this guy, he had a different aura around him, maybe he'd be the first one to clear this trial.
Confidently, the guy moved towards the archway but he didn't step in. He looked at the seven shadows in the distance, raised his hand slightly, and announced for all to hear,
"I give up."
After saying what he wanted to say, the guy took his leave, not turning back around even once as he disappeared into the crowd.
There was absolute silence in the area. The spectators, challengers, and Silver himself, found themselves at a loss of words.
The trance was only broken when a lone figure, without a shred of doubt, moved towards the archway, he betrayed the skepticism people showed thinking if this guy wanted to pull the same stunt as the last one.
Silver looked at the sharp-eyed figure making his way towards the archway as he started paying attention. This time, even more so than before.
The figure, who was now standing in front of the archway, looked into the distance at the seven shadows as he placed his first step inside.
This sharp-eyed figure was none other than Mo Chen.