Chapter 166 - Calmly Surpassing
Step, step, step…
Yaan was unhurried as he walked up the first stairway. Even though he could not see the world outside of the tower from within, he knew that thousands of people would be watching him right now. Even so, that had no influence over his actions.
His life was at stake here, he needed to handle this properly.
So what if people felt doubt towards him staying still for the first quarter hour, allowing the other 94 participants to get ahead of him? In the first place, this trial was not a race, there was neither reason nor benefit to rushing.
Yaan pace was unhurried and unrushed. To those watching him carefully, it was clear that he was simply walking at a calm and relaxed pace.
With each step he took, Yaan felt an unusual pressure building up within him. It was near impossible to locate the source of this pressure, it was also difficult to ascertain it’s exact target, but he could certainly feel it, that much was doubtless.
He did not count the number of steps between the floors, but the number was certainly in the hundreds. As the pressure built up with every step, it gave rise to the feeling of an eternity passing by, as if this staircase was the only thing that existed in his life and in the world.
When Yaan ascended from floor 1 to floor 2, he did not pause, but continued walking unhurriedly towards the next staircase.
Step step step…
The pace of his footsteps remained unchanging, even after reaching the 3rd floor.
On the 4th floor, he still showed no signs of struggle.
On the 5th floor, Yaan continued on. At this point, when he stepped onto the stairway between the 5th and 6th floors, he had finally caught up to some other participants.
Anyone remaining on this stairway was simply struggling to move on. Yaan’s pace in climbing the stairs was relatively slow compared to the other brightest individuals in this examination, whilst he had also spent 15 minutes standing still at the beginning. Nobody else who was able to ascend further still remained stuck at this point.
As Yaan expressionlessly walked past an old man, the old man looked up with wide eyes. He grimaced and his expression became dark.
‘Damnit, I’m in last place! How does this kid look so unfazed, the pressure here is already tremendous!’
Whilst it was unlikely that anyone would fail at this point, many individuals were already showing signs of struggle. Their arrogant expressions had been cut down as they realised that they were unable to hide the difficulty they were facing from the onlookers…after all, their cultivations were entirely suppressed, the only thing holding them together was their heart, but their heart was experiencing the greatest strain of their life right now!
When the heart was pressured, it was a very different compared to having one’s physical body subdued. Even the sensation of having the soul attacked was nothing compared to this feeling!
It was a feeling of exhaustion, an exhaustion that was simply impossible to resist. This feeling could not be powered through with a strong mindset. This pressure made the participants feel as if even their willpower and determination were useless, because the pressure was directly attacking their will to go on, crushing their sense of resolve at its source!
The increasing pressure gave rise to the feeling of despair, it caused thoughts of wanting to give up to appear in their minds.
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Many of the cultivators could not believe that they were experiencing such weakness! These individuals were accustomed to successfully overcoming every challenge thrown at them. They were all strong-willed and highly motivated people, they never gave up, they never back down, surrender was not in their vocabulary!
Yaan reached the 6th floor. As he made his way towards the 7th floor, an individual behind him also took his first step onto the 6th floor…before immediately collapsing, landing on his knees. The moment his knees hit the ground, he let out a involuntary grown and was ejected from the tower instantly!
A few people were startled when they saw this, including those both within and outside of the tower.
“Ugh…what…ah!”
As it turned out, the first person to fail the second stage of the examination was the very same man whom Yaan passed by first. This person was actually an elder from the Beast Domination School. He was known by his title ‘Five Eagle Elder’, a title he obtained during a competition some years ago. He made a name for himself in that competition after he defeated an Early Origin Soul realm Qi master when he himself was only at the initial stage. Five Eagle Elder achieved this feat by making use of his five tamed eagle beasts.
Five Eagle Elder had excelled in the first stage of the examination, ending his match against the Xuqi Sect Elder in a draw. Since he himself was now at the late stage, this was already a good result.
However, who would have thought that he would be the first person ejected from the tower! Five Eagle Elder was not happy with this, to the extent that he even started making a fuss.
“There must be a mistake, I can still go on! Why did the tower eject me, this is-”
“Silence! Do not embarrass the sect any further!”
Before any of the Xuqi Sect Elders could even respond, the Beast Domination School Head Master stepped forwards, glaring down at Five Eagle Elder domineeringly. The current head master was a woman with a fierce appearance, she had two scars caused by a beast’s claws slashed across her face. As a Qi master at the peak of the Origin Soul realm, she could easily hide this wound, but she chose to leave it on her face as a reminder to herself, a reminder that she should never underestimate a beast’s ferocity!
Five Eagle Elder immediately became silent, lowering his head. Seeing his ashamed and repentant expression, the head master nodded lightly, now feeling more satisfied with his conduct.
“There is no mistake, do you think that such an immortal construct could possibly make a basic error like this?” The head master sighed, turning her beast fur-clad body towards the tower with a melancholic expression.
Truthfully, she had also entered this tower once…she had also failed. Back then, she was too naive, thinking that she could pass this test just because of her immense battle power.
In truth, simply passing this test was extremely difficult! The pressure became twice as intense with every floor ascended, it became exponentially more difficult to progress the higher you climbed.
“The Tower of Mortal Dao ejects anyone who has given up in their heart. Even if you feel that you were still able to progress, that means nothing if your heart had already surrendered…no, in fact, this can be considered an even more severe loss. To give up whilst you are still able to walk, your heart is not firm enough, Five Eagle Elder. When we return to the sect, you will seclude yourself in Eternal Echo Valley until you have reflected on your loss properly.”
The old man’s expression changed slightly when he heard mention of ‘Eternal Echo Valley, but he simply lowered his head and obliged.
“Yes, I understand head master, I will reflect on my actions properly.”
“Good.” She nodded, then turned back towards the tower. Just as her gaze settled on the stairway leading to the 7th floor, another person was ejected!
This person was actually quite far ahead compared to most, but her sprint had finally come to an end. Xuqi Hana could only smile bitterly as she failed just a few steps away from reaching the 10th floor.
“Don’t worry Hana, you are still young.” The grand protector comforted the exhausted girl as she returned to the Xuqi Dynasty group. “You will have more opportunities to attempt the examination in the future, I am sure that you will achieve success within 30 years.”
“Young?” Xuqi Hana’s bitter smile became even more bitter. “I am over 250 years old, compared to him, I am not young at all…”
Him…
The grand protector glanced towards Yaan, he eyes narrowing briefly.
Yaan reached the 7th floor, but he still looked unfazed.
His heart could feel pressure, exhaustion, weighing down on it, but it was as if he did not care about his own heart’s suffering.
No matter how much his heart cried out, Yaan did not care.
No matter how much his heart screamed, he did not listen.
His own pain landed on deaf ears, Yaan spared himself no mercy.
8th floor…
9th floor…
As Yaan ascended the stairway to the 10th floor, the exhaustion encompassing every fibre of his being grew stronger with every step. He passed by many people who had stopped to recover along the way, but he ignored them all. Likewise, nobody had the energy to pay him any attention either, they were all focussed on their own progressions.
Yaan was vaguely aware that people were being ejected from the tower frequently. He also understood that a few talented individuals had already reached the 10th level, symbolising their passing of this exam.
But that was all irrelevant to him. The performance of almost all others meant nothing, only the people who had the chance to obtain 1st place were his competition…
No, perhaps even then, those people did not matter.
Maybe the Immortal Ancestor would be satisfied with Yaan’s performance if he achieved 1st place, but maybe even that was not enough. All Yaan could do was completely ignore the others, focussing entirely on his own ascent.
The 10th floor…
Yaan continued on without pause.