'Young master Chen cleared it…'
People were cheering as they saw the first challenger clear the trail.
Han Ling too was elated inside, Mo Chen had cleared the trial of the will, albeit with some difficulty, He was now one step closer to immortality.
When he first fell on all four, she was perturbed. Will he fail? Or so she thought.
But soon after, he exhibited his immortal art and forced his way through the archway, clearing the trial of immortality.
This brought a new dilemma for her and the people of the dove city group.
'If even Young master Chen had to suffer this much to clear it, can we do it?'
Looking at the people around her, The Mu twins had worried expressions on their faces and it was not much different for Miao.
They all looked up to Mo Chen and admired him as someone from a Martial family,
Looking at how difficult it was for him to clear the trial, they were worried as they couldn't fare any better than him, especially when they were mortals who had no inklings whatsoever with immortals.
'Should I give up?'
They all had this thought emerge simultaneously in their heads.
Distressed, Han Ling looked behind her, An action that she was doing for quite a while now.
She looked at the solitary figure standing at the back of the challenger group all by himself.
She had been paying attention to this person for a few days now and the more she looked the more puzzled she became.
The Yifan she knew of, heard, and seen was just a foolish, lackadaisical moron who'd follow her akin to a dog, trying to please her and winning her heart ever since they were kids.
She always took his presence for granted and paid not much attention to him.
But after that day, no, after that night when the wolf beasts had attacked the troupe, the one who came back from the jaws of death was not the Yifan she knew.
It was like a whole other person. From his actions, words, mannerisms, and indifference. He was entirely different.
And the most important fact, he started acting like he didn't know them!
He would always pester her but he had isolated himself from their group from that night.
At first, she couldn't be any happier having him as far away from herself but the more he acted differently, the more she felt puzzled, and it… annoyed her.
When he had humiliated her in front of everybody in the troupe, she thought that she'd get her revenge sooner or later but Yifan started actively distancing himself from them, as if wanting nothing to do with them.
For her to be on the opposite side of such treatment, she didn't like it. She had been the one to avoid people before but now there was someone who she deemed lower than trash, trying to avoid them!
She'd like nothing more than Yifan embarrassing himself in front of everybody. Even if she doesn't do it herself, as long as he loses his face, it'd be enough for her.
After witnessing the trial, knowing its difficulty, and realizing how laughable her previous actions of pursuing immortality were, she felt lost.
She wasn't ready to place her life on the line.
From a young age, she had heard how difficult it was to pursue immortality, she had taken for granted just how harsh life could be and how easily one could wash their hands off of their life.
She experienced a roller coaster of emotions when she saw the first and then the second and then the third challenger seemingly die so easily while passing the archway, something she considered to be an easy feat, as they just had to walk through it.
Only later it dawned on her that her initial thought couldn't be any stupider.
How could something like a trial of a legit immortal force possibly be so easy?
Had all the fantasy and spineless ambition clouded her mind's clarity?
Han Ling and the people around her had fully come to the realization that they weren't up for such a challenge.
They would rather live their lives as mortals rather than potentially dying on a trial which they knew they couldn't pass.
Or had she?
'Why…?'
No frown on his face, stood Yifan in the back with his arms folded and his stance relaxed as if there was nothing that would make him worry here.
'Was it all an act…?'
She wasn't able to understand it.
Was the foolish self he had put up all an act or this indifferent Yifan was an act?
At this point, Han Ling didn't know why she was even considering what she was considering, why would the sight of Yifan make her so annoyed and dismayed at the same time?
She could have just left him and anything that had to do with him behind and solely focus on her own ambitions.
Alas, barely a fourteen-year girl didn't have the mental fortitude to do so, only a puppet to her active mind's shenanigans.
She had expected Yifan to show a troubled or distressed look, it would somehow console her. The reasoning to which, only she knew exactly.
But what she was seeing couldn't be further away from what she wanted.
Three more people had passed the trials but it didn't help the dove city group much.
From what they heard from the people around them.
The people who had passed other than Mo Chen were challengers from previous years. They had cleared the trial more than once but always fell short of some in the final trials.
They were not someone she could compare with.
At this point, realizing her incompetence and weakness, she was all but ready to give up.
'Should I just–'
This thought barely permeated her mind when she saw a figure make its way toward the archway.
'Why…?'
Looking at the back of this figure, Han Ling's intent to fall back got buried under her indignation.
'Is he not scared…?'
She was scared of death. She could live a very good life, have all the mortal things she desired, inherit the city lord's position, find a good husband, and have kids while lacking nothing.
She was not ready to lose it all just for a minuscule chance of passing through this trial.
'Why is he trying…?'
Yifan was already inside the archway, his steps steady and his back straight.
Han Ling looked at him as he went deeper and deeper.
He suddenly fell to his knees and even laid on his stomach, which incited various concerning voices and even some screams from the people behind her.
When she saw him fall, she expected to feel happy or elated but strangely, she didn't feel an ounce of joy.
As if there was something she wanted for him to prove?
Not long after, The lying figure rose again, as if new life was injected into him.
He continued walking deeper into the archway, sometimes stopping and sometimes jumping.
The deeper he went, the rowdy the bunch behind her became, even the Mu twins and her friend Miao had a face laced with shock as they saw Yifan clearing the archway with even more ease, his attempt looked even easier than Yifan as he reached the last ten meters.
At this point, people were already roaring with elation.
Although there had been many people who challenged the trials, only a few would ascend to become immortal disciples of the sect.
The more challengers who succeeded, more the possibility of immortals emerging.
Even in the previous years, only one or two out of a whole bunch would pass through the trial but this time, four people had already cleared it and the fifth one was on his way to clear it.
Han Ling was not looking at the maddening crowd or the back of Yifan anymore, she had her head down, looking at the ground.
She recalled the conversation she had with her father, the baseless ambition she boasted, along with the inconceivable fantasies she had dreamt of.
She admonished herself as she thought of all of this.
If Yifan were to know of all of her thoughts, he'd just laugh it off. After all, she was just a thirteen-year-old girl.
It didn't matter which world it was, the kids were still kids. Their undeveloped brains would lead them through all of these fantasies and dreams, things that the people of their age had no control over.
Only when people exhibit control over their erratic brains could they be called mature.
Silver was someone who had matured even before he became an adult, forced by the situation to be so.
The things she was feeling now were part of a normal phase the kids their age went through and it was only right to go through it but there was no one to explain this to her.
There was no one to tell her that the herself she thought was mature enough couldn't be further away from it.
Even now, the things she was feeling were just something that would help her grow as a person but she wouldn't understand it yet.
'All this while, I considered myself above the others…the foolish one is me right…?'
She was conflicted, she just wanted to give up at this point.
But somewhere deep inside her heart, she also didn't want to. She didn't want to return to her foolish self, but this small fire only got buried further when the reality of things remained for all to see.
'Sigh…'
Let's just give up.
She uttered but no sound came out.
Just when she wanted to turn back, a voice made its way from far away…
"If you want to clear the trial…"
She suddenly looked up, trying to find the source of the familiar voice.
Her eyes dilated as she spotted the figure, she wasn't able to see clearly as it was just a shadow against the bright backdrop light of the end.
The figure was walking backward with his hands over his mouth as if trying to relay some important message.
She looked at the figure who got swallowed by the light but the voice was still lingering in her ears.
The little fire that was almost buried sparked a little.
'I want…'
The little spark was not the end of this little fire it seemed.
'One last time…'
The fire burst forth, consuming the reality before her.
It had not even been a few seconds since the voice was heard when a figure dashed into the archway, not caring about anything anymore.
'If you want to clear the trial, Hold your breath and run with all you've got.'
Her head was only filled with a single thought.