Lou Ben was not too different from the many people holding their ears as their bodies swayed from left to right.
Funny enough, Lou Ben had a similar problem when he was on Earth.
The ringing was not to the same degree but was something he experienced during his later years.
Lou Ben had tinnitus, ringing in the ears.
Now that he was reborn, he never had that issue.
So, when this trial of will occurred, the need for peace and quiet surged in his heart.
"Everyone stop moving!"
"The ringing stops when you stop!"
"Everyone shut up!"
"Make it stop!"
Countless voices were yelling at the top of their lungs.
These words all fell into the clamoring of bell sounds.
After the first person was eliminated, there was no peace.
At this moment people would push their neighbors to make it stop.
*DING
*DING
*DING
Only a few minutes after the first elimination has passed.
The herd of people was significantly thinned out.
The people around Lou Ben were eliminated.
There was space each current contestant.
After a few more minutes of elimination, there was enough room for people to shake their bodies without bumping into each other.
Steward Wen Guoliang looked below at the people slowly recovering from the initial uproar and announced the second phase of the test "begin!" his voice reverberated around the half empty colosseum.
The white circle around each contestant shrunk to hug their figure.
The amazement and shock filled the majority, while Lou Ben was still trying to maintain clarity.
"This is only the first test and so many people were eliminated. I don't see how many of these people were able to survive."
"I'm lucky in this aspect, I was able to stay in my circle because the people around me got eliminated early on."
"If they started to move and shove me, then I probably wouldn't have made it far."
Lou Ben was smiling inside but wiped cold sweat off his forehead.
"Now that the circle is directly around our waist, we have no other choice than to keep still."
"It's a good thing that no one has been eliminated since the first wave."
There was anxiety filling the air.
Every contestant was looking around at the after math.
A few of the people were able to calm themselves like Lou Ben, but others were sweating and showed a face of despair.
"If I would have known it would be this hard, I wouldn't have entered in the first place."
The weakness was of their will to move forward was showing.
For a single hour, there was no one eliminated, until someone with tears running down their face yelled "I give up!"
"I'm hungry and cant stand still any longer!"
Steward Wen Guoliang smiled as he saw this and sneered as he thought would be an entertaining show.
*DING
"Oh no!"
The group collectively choked on their own saliva.
*DING
*DING
*DING
The bell sound was fiercer than the first wave, if it can be described in words, the first wave was like hearing an avalanche approaching.
The second wave had so much power behind it that it was as if the contestant were submerged in snow and heard the ferocious snow drown them deep into the mountain range.
From the first person to be eliminated from this round to groups of two and gradually growing to groups of ten, people were eliminated left and right, in waves of despair.
Lou Ben was only able to keep still because he was thinking of the scene that first happened as he was reborn here in this world.
First, he was inside a battlefield, then through happenstance he was kidnapped, tortured to watch people eat his hand and leg, and finally left alive so that he can be sold off as a slave.
It only happened not too long ago, and these are the memories he has of this place, of this world.
Lou Ben looked down to see his two legs and two hands.
This is what was able to keep Lou Ben from being eliminated from this stage of the test, there was no mental power to be able to think clearly, but Lou Ben was able to feel determined to push forward as he was looking down.
Steward Wen Guoliang lifted his head to see the faces of the people remaining.
His gaze focused on Lou Ben as he recalled "this is the boy who was lucky enough to find those three books."
"He seems interesting."
"If he can make it through the three tests then I see no problem with him becoming master Xiao's disciple."
"Unfortunately…"
Steward Wen Guoliang looked around at the other contestants, and focused on another young man who was smiling.
"Good…"
"This is going to be very interesting. I hope these two make it into the last round."
The young man that caught steward Wen Guoliang's attention seemed to be the same age as Lou Ben.
He had yellow short gold hair that sparkled as the sunlight reflected off him.
His green jade eyes were radiating as his marble white teeth clenched his lower lip in a determined fashion.
The boy's figure was trembling, but this didn't stop him from smiling.
Lou Ben naturally had no mental power to be able to look around and see him, he was looking down with his eyebrows tugging towards each other.
*DING
The final bell went off. Silence filled the stage once more.
This moment of silence was enough for the people to look around and stare at each other.
The once fully packed colosseum is now nearly empty.
Originally after the first wave of eliminations, there was only room for people to take a single step before bumping into another.
After this wave of eliminations, there was enough room for everyone to jump with a running start.
Steward Wen Guoliang took a moment to let the contestants rest and spoke "good!"
"So many people were eliminated."
"You have all done a good job finding the will to move forward."
"No matter what the reason is, every single person that travels down the road to become a dao master has a 'why', I don't need to know your 'why', but after this test it is clear each one of you has one."
"The road of cultivation is full of trials and tribulations."
"If you don't have a reason to continue moving forward, then all your progress is nothing but rudimentary aspirations!"
"You can not have a surface level goal to achieve."
"Each one of you has proven that it is not too simple. Perhaps that's not true, maybe some of you were able to pass through luck."
"I will tell you as well…"
Steward Wen Guoliang looked down at the drenched contestants "luck is also a part of this test."
"Some will fight against heaven, some will have the strength to sit at the top, but if someone is lucky enough…"
"They might surpass all."
The contestants looked at each other.
The background of each person standing was of servitude. No one here was free, all their life they had been stuck inside this palace.
The servants don't usually aspire to achieve anything grand; they don't even realize that they are stuck inside the palace of Xiao.
Their whole life exists inside a bubble.
This is the mentality of everyone here.
Lou Ben is different; he was reborn here after having to watch his life replay back for countless years.
So, when it comes to ambitions or goals, it can be said that their depth or grandness only reaches as far as the knowledge and wisdom a person has.
Although Lou Ben didn't directly know what his ambition was, he is able to have a better understanding than most people.
Unfortunately for him, simply knowing and living often can't live up to some people and their innate talent, whether it be intellect or open-mindedness.
This was the final aspect of the first test.
The first test not only gauged a person's will, resolution, and luck, but it most importantly tested a more intangible aspect, and that is innate talent.
"ha-ha, these mortals are truly frogs in a well. Not even one of them understand what it truly means to be human." Steward Wen Guoliang thought to himself as he rubbed his chin.
"Let's move on to the next test!" Steward Wen Guoliang proclaimed as he lifted his sleeve and clenched his fist.
The white crystal that was floating above the stage crumbled.
"Here is the next test!"
This time a jade green crystal with the top and bottom covered in gold flakes appeared.
Steward Wen Guoliang threw it in the air and threw aura stones at it.
The aura stones were absorbed and the light coming from the crystal exploded.
The fragments crumbled and flew to each of the contestants on the stage.
"This is amazing!"
"So, if we get chosen, this is what we can do?"
The stage was full of awe as everyone reached out to touch the fragments hovering in front of them.