"Ugh…" Xu Hui struggled to sit up even as he was being tended to by medics. He clenched his fists in frustration. "Damn it! I underestimated the Chaotic Heart Forest. I thought I could get to eighth level at least, but I failed."
"No, you did your best! Seventh step is already impressive enough!"
"Yeah! You were great!"
"As expected of the direct disciple of the Deep Heart Sect! my eyes have been opened!"
"You guys…" Xu Hui stared at all the cheering participants, touched by their encouragement and reassurance. He lowered his head gratefully. "Thank you."
"Er…you guys remember that you're supposed to be rivals, right?" Long Shou Shi asked, trying not to laugh. "This is such a touching display of brotherhood, but you all have to take the trial, remember? And only the best among you, the ones who progressed to the highest levels, are allowed to proceed to the next trial."
"So what? That doesn't mean we can't respect him for his efforts!"
"Yeah! Haven't you heard of good sportsmanship? Even if we are competing against each other, we can still encourage and respect each other! What Xu Hui did is worthy of praise!"
"I'm not sure if I can do the same!"
"Don't look down on yourself! I'm sure you'll do fine! Just do your best! We will all do our best!"
"YEAH!"
Long Shou Shi stared at us, his jaw hanging open. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Are you guys really proper cultivators? Whatever happened to stepping over each other's heads to fight to the top? What happened to strong eat the weak? Why are you guys all so chummy with each other? You should be more ruthless and crueler! That's the only way to survive in a cultivation world!"
"Who said so?"
"What kind of edgy logic is that? Are you a second-year middle schooler or something?"
"What's wrong with having a competitive but healthy environment? We live in modern society right now, so why is there a need to backstab each other over something like this?"
"There's something wrong with his brain. I think he read too many toxic web novels and manhuas that embrace ruthlessness and selfishness."
"Ugh, shut up, all of you! Who's next?"
"Me!" A stout cultivator with muscles and a buzzcut strode forward.
"Wang Di from the Iron Wolf Sect!" Someone gasped. "I didn't think I would meet a genius like him here!"
"I'm not a genius," Wang Di said, turning to grin at everyone. He slammed a fist against his chest. "Here, I'm among peers."
Then he turned back and took the first step. Like Xu Hui before him, he managed to reach five steps. Then he shuddered and trembled on the sixth step. Sucking in a deep breath, he bellowed and stomped on the stone, and I could almost see the illusions fade away. Steadying himself, he reached for the seventh step.
Wang Di froze, perspiration trickling down his face. Exhaling, he shook his head and turned around.
"Sorry, guys. This is my limit. I'll be leaving the rest to you."
"Hey, king." I patted his shoulder when he returned to us, and offered him a crown. "You dropped this."
"Are you…making fun of me?"
"No. I'm serious. I think you were courageous enough to step up after seeing what happened to Xu Hui, and you knew when to quit." I nodded at the others, who were watching him solemnly. "By giving up when you did, you demonstrated to everyone that there is no shame in doing so, and now no one will be reckless enough to risk their lives just to achieve as high a step as possible."
"Trust me," Xu Hui croaked, still being treated by the medics. "It's not worth it."
"Who's next?" Long Shou Shi snapped, not wanting to waste time. Or perhaps he was sick of seeing us behave all friendly with each other. I honestly didn't understand what his problem was. He reminded me of the existences beyond the fourth dimension who kept screaming at me, or one of those juvenile commenters in a web novel website who posted inflammatory remarks, whining about how the protagonists were "beta cucks" and screaming about how he wanted ruthless and cruel main characters.
Both Long Shou Shi and those edgy brats really needed to know that the world didn't revolve around them.
Emboldened by the courage of their peers, the other candidates went, but most of them failed. In the end, none of us could match Xu Hui's achievement of the seventh step. Until…
"Hey, you!" Long Shou Shi pointed at me rudely. "Song Jun Wen, you're the last candidate left! Don't tell me you're going to give up after watching everyone give it a try! At least make sure you take several steps before you forfeit your place in the trial!"
The dude was already assuming that I would fail the trial. I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Taking a deep breath, I nodded.
"Don't let his words bother you!"
"You can do it!"
"Do your best!"
"Be careful! A few of us got hurt earlier, so don't be too reckless! If you feel like you're in danger, just pull out!"
"I will. Thanks for your concern and encouragement." I held up a hand and bowed gratefully to the other participants before placing a foot on the first step. A faint illusion washed over me, but I brushed past it because it was too shallow to affect my Dao heart or whatever you called it.
Second step. Third step. Flames burst to life and tried to burn me, but I walked past them, feeling little more than a bit of heat. Walking through the inferno, I proceeded to the fourth step, only to suddenly feel weighed down. Chains coiled around my limbs and yanked, exerting several tons of weight. Aside from the pressure, I felt nothing and simply stoically bore the weight. Reminding myself that it was nothing more than an illusion, I continued forward, refusing to let the chains weigh me down.
They snapped as I plunged forward, stepping into the fifth level. Water flooded the region, but I simply switched to the breathing technique that Myria taught me and waded through the sudden lake without difficulty. Then level six. Blades sliced into me, but I fluidly moved through them, almost as if I was water. Flowing River Clear Sword. Go with the currents. The blades might be illusions, but they could still cut. Nonetheless, my heart was as clear as a stream, and I continued onward.
Level seven. Claws and barbed tails lashed out at me, but I glared at them and stomped on the ground.
"Get lost."
The illusions froze and wavered, unable to bear my gaze. Then they silently retreated back to the ground, and I proceeded to the eighth step.
"What?! He's made it to the eighth step?! How?!"
"Go, bro! You can do it! You have progressed the furthest out of all of us!"
"Be careful! But if you feel like you can make another step, go for it! Just don't be too reckless!"
"Impossible!" Kai Fang shouted. He had limped back to the courtyard after receiving medical treatment, just in time to participate. He had only reached the third step before he forfeited, blaming his injured condition for his failure. Of course, I ended up being the scapegoat, with him insisting that if it weren't for my injuring him, he would have progressed much further.
Nobody believed him.
"He must be cheating!" Kai Fang howled, jabbing an accusatory finger at me. "What is the Long family going to do about that cheater?! Disqualify him immediately! Stop letting this farce continue!"
"Shut up!" Long Shou Shi yelled at him, stunning the beleaguered fellow. He clenched his fists. "Chaotic Heart Forest is a trial that tests the Dao of your heart. How is it possible to cheat? You think you can simply fake the Dao of your heart?"
I ignored the ruckus behind me and stopped at the eighth step. Already, I was being surrounded by treasures. Wealth beyond measure. Gleaming gemstones, mountains of gold, jewelry…almost everything a magnate could ever wanted.
I wasn't interested. I never had any interest in money. Well, that wasn't exactly true. I was only interested in money so far as I could buy stuff I wanted, like resources, tabletop miniatures, games, and anime. Oh, and books. But I wasn't interested in wealth for the sake of being rich. Money meant nothing to me.
So I ignored the mountains of wealth and went to the ninth step. Once I did, armies appeared, forming ranks and awaiting my command. A castle, similar to my Deep Sea Palace. A kingdom, no, a nation spread beyond my sight, all of it pledged to my authority.
Power. Authority. This was the next temptation.
"Sorry, not interested."
I might have my own dungeon, but I only maintained it because I wanted a living space for my summoned spirit beasts to inhabit comfortably. And I upgraded my dungeon to keep my spirit beasts safe. It wasn't because I desired power or authority or even my own kingdom. If anything, I found the whole thing troublesome and a big pain, but I persevered for the sake of my spirit beasts. Given a choice, I would rather just surrender all that and live a simple life.
Walking past the promise of power, I went straight to the tenth step.
This time, beautiful women filled the place, lounging on couches and beckoning for me to join them. A lot of them were dressed in skimpy dresses, the thin fabrics emphasizing the curves of their gorgeous bodies. All of them had long hair, but each girl sported different colors. There was a quiet type with long, black hair and intense dark eyes. There was a fiery redhead with sparkling green eyes who stretched body seductively. There was a friendly blonde with bright blue eyes who blew me a kiss. I ignored them all, not because I wasn't straight, but because I could feel a chill in my spine. I was aware that if Myria somehow knew that my heart was swayed by these illusions, she would punish me. I wasn't a simp, but c'mon, let's not make excuses for infidelity. Real men remain faithful to their significant other. Anybody who cried for harem endings were just delusional and out of touch with reality. This wasn't some middle eastern country where we were allowed to have four wives, and even such men had to be rich and able to afford the luxury of multiple spouses. I was just a humble cultivator who had only just gotten into university.
So I ignored them and went past the tenth step.
"Song…Song Jun Wen completed the trial successfully!"
"He made all ten steps!"
"He won! He did it! He freaking did it!"
Cheers erupted throughout the other participants as they celebrated my victory as if it was their own. I waved back at them, even as I spotted the system notifying me of the completion of the sub-quest. Several dozen ordinary spirit contracts and three Mystic ranked spirit contracts, huh? Interesting.
"It's not over yet!" Long Shou Shi yelled, though his tone was more gleeful than warning. He grinned, his eyes flashing insidiously. "In fact, by completing all ten steps, you've just unlocked a hidden trial! You'll be lucky to escape the Chaotic Heart Forest alive!"
As if to prove his words right, several shadows engulfed me in total darkness. The last thing I saw of the other participants were their horrified expressions before I was swallowed by the Chaotic Heart Forest.
Once my eyes adjusted and the enchanted lenses of my glasses kicked in to help me get used to the surroundings, I spotted glowing red eyes. Ghostly eyes that resembled will-o'-the-wisps burned ominously, almost like thousands of candle lights flickering to spectral life. The forest itself enclosed me in a cage of withered branches and leaves. Roots uncoiled and grew all over the steps I had just covered, barring my route back to the Long family manor. It took me a while to realize that the writhing roots, branches and leaves belonged to wood type spirit beasts.
Several Tree Revenants and countless Phantom Stumps had encircled me, and they were closing in to claim my life.