When the staircase appeared, the teenagers on Wenxiantai buzzed with excitement before rushing toward the steps, eager to get ahead.
Meng Shuying was swept along by the crowd toward the staircase. As soon as her foot touched the first step, the scene before her changed.
The bustling crowd vanished, and the staircase, which had been wide enough for two people, expanded to a width of over a hundred feet, with about ten feet separating each step.
Is this... a separate space within the formation?
Meng Shuying looked around and noticed that many others were also standing on the first step, looking bewildered.
When she looked up, she saw several people already on the higher steps, steadily climbing the staircase. The leader had already reached the tenth step.
Seeing that there was no immediate danger on the stairs, Meng Shuying didn't hesitate any longer and began to climb.
The first thirty-three steps were easy for her. By the time she stood on the thirty-third step, she only felt slightly warm, with no other discomfort.
However, along the way, she saw many people sitting on the steps, pale and resting. Some were even lying down, their faces flushed, with blood seeping from the corners of their mouths.
She estimated that less than half of the participants had made it this far.
The first thirty-three steps of Wenxiantai tested one's innate talent.
The path of cultivation is long and arduous, survival of the fittest.
Without sufficient talent, even if one managed to cultivate, it would be in vain.
Therefore, Meng Shuying did not feel pity for them.
After resting briefly on the thirty-third step, she took a deep breath, steadied her breathing, and then began to climb to the thirty-fourth step.
The next phase of Wenxiantai's trial, from the thirty-fourth to the sixty-sixth step, was a test of one's character.
As soon as Meng Shuying stepped onto the thirty-fourth step, she felt as if a faint voice was whispering in her ear, "That's enough, you can stop here. Don't go any further."
The higher she climbed, the clearer the voice became.
Along the way, she saw many people kneeling on the steps, clutching themselves in agony, their brows furrowed in pain.
She didn't slow down, focusing her mind and ignoring the voice, determined to keep climbing.
The higher she went, the fewer people there were on the steps.
When Meng Shuying reached the sixty-sixth step, she noticed a man not far from her. Blood was streaming from his ears and eyes, his vision cloudy, and his mind seemed lost. Yet, driven by sheer willpower, he was trying to step onto the sixty-sixth step.
But he didn't succeed.
Before his right foot could reach the step, he staggered backward. Unable to even crush the jade token in his hand, he rolled down the stairs and disappeared.
Meng Shuying shook her head, refocusing on the staircase. She firmly planted her feet on the sixty-sixth step and looked ahead at the staircase that stretched into the sky.
Including herself, fifteen people had reached the sixty-sixth step. As soon as they stepped onto this level, they vanished from the staircase. Meng Shuying guessed that beyond the sixty-sixth step, there was some sort of mystical barrier.
She wasn't sure about Sect Master Zhan Xuehan's criteria for accepting disciples, but she assumed that those who ascended higher on Wenxiantai had a better chance. She wanted to stay on Inkstone Peak and be with Senior Sister every day. So no matter what lay ahead—be it a mountain of blades or a sea of fire—she was determined to push through.
With that conviction, Meng Shuying didn't linger. She looked toward Inkstone Peak, silently vowing to overcome whatever challenges lay ahead.
As soon as she stepped onto the sixty-seventh step, the scenery around her abruptly changed. The white jade steps turned into soft earth, and the misty Qingxu Peak disappeared, replaced by several familiar-looking mountains.
Meng Shuying realized that she had entered an illusion.
She was standing on a mountain and looked back. In the distance, she could see a cluster of houses she knew all too well at the foot of the mountain.
Yes, this was the mountain behind her childhood home, where she had learned to gather herbs alone from a young age.
A wind suddenly picked up in the mountains, and the once-clear sky quickly darkened, soon followed by a light drizzle. Standing in the rain, Meng Shuying suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.
After a moment's thought, she remembered. The second time she had gone up the mountain, it had rained.
Back then, she was too young to predict the weather by the clouds, so she hadn't brought any rain gear and had been soaked to the bone on the mountain.
Recalling these past events, she lowered her eyes, hiding the shadow in them.
The rain continued to pour, soaking Meng Shuying's hair and white robe.
She stood quietly in the rain for a moment, then suddenly understood. In a soft voice, she said, "I see."
She turned and began to walk down the mountain toward the village, but before she had taken a few steps, the scene shifted again.
As expected, she was right.
From the sixty-sixth step onward, each step was a new illusion.
To continue climbing, one had to break through these illusions.
Breaking illusions sounded simple, but it was far from easy.
Human emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, desire—were powerful forces, and these emotions gave rise to the illusions on Wenxiantai.
Starting from the sixty-seventh step, Wenxiantai would draw on a person's experiences and memories to find their deepest obsessions, weaving these into unique illusions.
If the person within the illusion could recognize it for what it was and find a way to break it, they could move on to the next step.
In the illusion she had just experienced, if Meng Shuying hadn't found the right path and remained hesitant, she would have been trapped in the illusion indefinitely.
Reflecting on her past, Meng Shuying felt a pang of nostalgia.
As a child, she hadn't been afraid of getting wet or sick in the rain; she had been afraid of not gathering enough herbs and facing her father's punishment at home. So, despite the downpour, she had stayed in the mountains, too scared to go back.
But time had passed, and she was no longer that weak, helpless little girl.
Now, she had Senior Sister standing behind her.
Thinking of Senior Sister, Meng Shuying felt her heart soften. She wanted to break through these illusions as quickly as possible and return to Senior Sister, to tell her that she had succeeded!
From now on, she too could embark on the path of cultivation and spend long years alongside her Senior Sister.
The rain from the previous illusion still clung to Meng Shuying as she wiped her face and prepared to step into the next one.
While Meng Shuying was swiftly breaking through one illusion after another, Su Luowei and Xie Hanzhu were summoned by Zhan Xuehan to the Mingguang Palace.
Mingguang Palace was located on Qingxu Peak and was where the Sect Master handled the sect's affairs.
When Su Luowei and Xie Hanzhu arrived, there were two other people present in addition to Zhan Xuehan.
The two were seated to Zhan Xuehan's left and right.
On the left sat a beautiful woman who appeared to be in her thirties. She wore a pomegranate-red gown with flowing gold embroidery, and a gauzy shawl adorned with embroidered flowers draped over her shoulders. Her black hair was styled in a cascading bun, held in place by several golden hairpins.
She didn't have the ethereal, otherworldly air of a cultivator but rather exuded a regal, luxurious aura.
This was Min Lanmeng, the Peak Master of Qionghua Peak.
Opposite her sat Nie Wentian, the Peak Master of Baizhan Peak.
Nie Wentian wore a simple dark blue robe, with a sword slung diagonally across his waist. His features were sharp and chiseled, like a seasoned swordsman.
Both Min Lanmeng and Nie Wentian knew Su Luowei was Zhan Xuehan's niece, so they were not surprised by her arrival. They gave her a brief glance before turning their attention back to the water mirror in the center of the hall.
The water mirror was a magical artifact that allowed them to observe Wenxiantai.
To protect the sect's newly recruited disciples, a hidden spell was placed on Wenxiantai starting from the sixty-sixth step, preventing outsiders from seeing how far the disciples had progressed.
Whenever Wenxiantai was opened, only the three peak masters and their trusted disciples were permitted to gather in Mingguang Palace and use the water mirror to view what was happening on the platform.
This was done to protect exceptionally talented disciples, as geniuses who had yet to mature were most vulnerable to being cut down.
Su Luowei followed everyone's gaze to the water mirror, where a layer of mist obscured the view, as though it was covered by a thin veil.
Zhan Xuehan made a hand gesture, causing the mist in the water mirror to gradually dissipate, revealing the scene inside.
Through the water mirror, they could see that there were still twenty-two people standing on the sixty-sixth step of Wenxiantai.
Zhan Xuehan smiled at the two peak masters below her and said, "It seems we'll be adding twenty-two new disciples this year. This is a promising sight."
Min Lanmeng lounged lazily on a cushion, fanning herself with a delicate fan. She laughed softly, "If I remember correctly, it's your turn to choose disciples first this time, Sect Master. You should take a good look and pick a disciple that suits your fancy."
As she spoke, her beautiful eyes drifted lazily toward Su Luowei, lingering on her for a moment before she nonchalantly looked away.
Su Luowei stood still, her focus entirely on the scene within the water mirror, seemingly unaware of Min Lanmeng's gaze.