It was already the morning of the next day when the trial finally ended. There wasn't any more movement from the participants for over an hour. Even in that case, the cultivators were looking at the Steele with trepidation. Especially the five 'judges'. They came over to mock old man Jing and poke fun at the undying fart Clear Lake like their superiors from the Ling clan ordered, however, they found themselves being face-smacked continuously, to the point where they were afraid to open their mouth to make any other snide remarks.
Initially, there were sentences like, 'So what if they climbed up to the 600th step. They surely won't be able to reach the 750th.' or 'Even if they reach the 750th step, how many of them can there be?'. When the morning sun bathed the world with its radiant glow, even old man Jing who kept trashing the group with his words all night long was stunned into speechlessness.
[Is there a need to be so gaudy!? I appreciate and thank you all for helping me have my petty revenge against these idiots here, but is there a need to be so over the top!?](Jing)
Honestly speaking, even Herman himself was kind of scared at the results his tutorials and message had. There were less than a hundred people who suffered minor damage from the backlash of the Steele from going up higher than the 750th step without having Superior Spiritual Roots. Those people sat quietly on the 750th step and even had thoughts of climbing down from it and trying their luck the following trial. Just the Perception and Absorption points they gained, was worth such an endeavor. Were young master Ling and the other to hear the thoughts of these insidious bastards, they might be even angered to death. To think that they wanted to use his clan's treasures in such a brutish way... even their clan's ancestor might throw up blood if he were to find out such audacious thoughts.
With a trembling voice, Floating Clouds Jing announced the ending of the first trial.
[Uhm... this... The first trial has ended and with it, I will announce the number of people that have passed. First of all, there are no people under the 250th step and only 80 people on the 250th. All of them qualify to participate in the following trial...](Jing)
[Wait up! Hold on for a second sir! I didn't notice that the trial was ending and forgot myself while immersed in the tempering of my meridians. I wish to descend the stairs and not participate in the next examination!](?)
[Same here sir!](?)
[Me too, me too!](?)
...
Hearing their words, those that gave up early and descended the stairs before the ending of the trial were dumbfounded for a second, after which they began cursing at themselves. Why the heck didn't they think about it as well!? Was there a rule that said that they couldn't remain there and temper themselves even if they couldn't advance further. This... who do they have to blame if not themselves for not thinking things through.
Hearing the words of the people on the Steele, as well as the ones on the ground, the cultivators received yet another heavy blow. The people from Earth are truly shameless! There were no rules about staying on it after not being able to advance, because it was self-implied that one had to head down on his own, basking in their inadequacy. Who would even think of staying there to temper themselves, while others might discuss how they didn't even pass the mark... Well, they did pass the mark... Heck! They even refused to participate in the next assessment.
Unknowingly, the six cultivators concluded that they shouldn't use common sense to judge these country bumpkins, otherwise they might as well be angered to death by them.
[Ahem! If all of you are sure, then you can proceed to descend.](Jing)
[Oh! Excellent! Thank you, sir! We look forward to challenging these steps six months from now!](?)
[Uh... Yes... Let's proceed then...](Jing)
Old man Jing was suddenly having a headache about how he should ask for his old master to rent these two treasures from the Ling clan every six months from now on. It shouldn't be that difficult given his master's reputation. If he wouldn't even manage to accomplish such a small task, he wouldn't be able to find enough face to return to this small world for the next trial. Coughing to shake away his awkwardness, he continued.
[There are no participants under the 400th step. Counting, there are roughly about 600.000 participants between the 400th step and the 450th. Between the 450th and the 500th another 150.000. Between the 500th and the 550th place, 120.000. Between the 550th place and the 600th place...](Jing)
Here, he took a pause and looked at the young master Ling face which was as dark as a pot's bottom and continued.
[... around 100.000.](Jing)
Hearing the number and unable to suppress his anger, a mouthful of blood was coughed out by the future leader of the Ling clan. To think that even in such a small and remote world, there would still be at least 100.000 people better than him. Such a thought made one question the reason behind still being alive after consuming God-knows how many treasures from his clan's warehouse. Did he truly eat all that rice for nothing his entire life so far!?
[Continuing, between the 600th place and the 700th place, 80.000. Between the 700th and the 750th place, 70.000. Between the 750th place and the 800th place, 50.000. Between the 800th and the 900th place, 30.000. Between the 900th and the 1000th place... 15.000. Standing at the summit of the Heaven Ascending Steele, on the 1001 step...](Jing)
Here, again he took another break, looking with incredulity at the people calmly socializing at the peak of the platform. They weren't even paying attention to the old man and instead they were circulating Qi through their bodies while laughing and sharing their experiences of climbing up to this point. Even old man Jing was forced to look at these people as if seeing monsters.
[At the summit of the Steele there are currently 237 geniuses! The total number of participants who passed the first stage is 1.362.521. Congratulations to all of you!](Jing)
While cheering erupted from all across the world, the cultivators present tried to guess the number of people and their respective Spiritual Roots quality. Based on the steps they climbed, there should be around 800.000 people with Medium Spiritual Roots. Just that in itself was already a huge achievement for old man Jing. But on top of it, there were at least another 400.000 that had Advanced Spiritual Roots. That's almost half a million people that had advanced quality roots! Those are not cabbages that one could go to the local market and shop about for, but one of the strongest foundations a cultivator could have.
And if that wasn't enough of a punch, there were over 150.000 mortals that had Superior Spiritual Roots.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Suddenly, young master Ling had a thought that scared him silly: if added all worlds from the 361st place to the 100th, would they have 150.000 people with Superior Spiritual Roots? Not to mention those 237 standing on the peak... even in the top 50, how many worlds can claim to have 237 geniuses that can climb the Heaven Ascension Steele to its summit? The faction born from this small world will be frightening in the future. He might've come here and got his face smacked black and blue, however it was worth it.
Given that all this new blood will be injected in that old monster Clear Lake's faction, his patriarch would certainly want to know about it. Heck! He might've even made the biggest contribution to his clan has seen in the past 100 years!
[We will now proceed to the second and last trial, the Warring Drums! Just like the Steele, this artifact will create its world in which small replicas of itself would appear in front of every participant. I advise every one of you to know your limits and not bite more than you can chew, else you might find yourself dead before you could have the chance to regret it! Everyone can strike the drums using their full force. Upon the fifth strike, a reverberation will pass through your body, cleansing its bones and marrow. Once you pass at least one reverberation...](Jing)
[Hold on Elder Jing! Shouldn't we increase the difficulty slightly? Seeing such a high number of participants, we should decrease their numbers, else we might not be able to find them places to live in the Immortal World. I say we increase the number to a minimum of 7 reverberations to get only the elites to pass.](Ling)
[This... alright!](Jing)
Even if the words sounded vicious, they weren't without logic. If he was to suddenly bring over a million people in the Immortal World, what would his old master say? Even if they had potential, did they have the resources to nurture all of them? Just those 150.000 with Superior Spiritual Roots was a tall order even for a Heavenly Sect. Not to mention how the scales of balance would be tipped, inciting great unrest among enemy factions.
Therefore, he agreed to have the bar raised higher. To pass 7 reverberations as a mortal was a very difficult thing, as the pain one had to undergo was excruciating. However, once the cleansing happened, one's potential will soar rapidly. They say that if one undergoes 5 reverberations, his potential will go up by 5%. After 10 reverberations one's potential will jump up with an additional 10%. Once one passes 15, a total of 25%. If one passed 20, 35%... as far as 25 or more is concerned, it was said that they would receive a 50% boost in their potential, all the way up to 100%. It was unknown how much of it was true, but Herman knew. LinkWill, Bian Hua, Harper, Envy, UX, Mental, Qhost, QiQi, Moon Empress, and many others underwent their rise to prominence after this very trial. These monsters underwent anywhere between the 25-50 reverberance. Especially LinkWill that had 49, Bian Hua 47, Envy 46, and UX 46 as well.
The fame they gained after, was comparable to the upgrade their potentials received as well.
Even Herman himself wondered how many reverberations could his own body withstand.
[Let everyone step to the fray and begin!](Jing)
Once his words ended, not even seconds later, the sound of drums was already echoing throughout the skies of the blue planet. The more impatient ones were already on the third strike. Soon, a cacophony of reverberating vibration somehow perfectly integrated with the loud chaos, a harmonious hum filling the world as result.
What followed after were mouthfuls of blood falling from the skies like rain and evaporating in the atmosphere while being cleansed by the Spiritual Qi omnipresent. Upon a much closer look, the participants noticed how the blood they spewed was of a darker color, closer to black, and also felt their bodies lighter.
Therefore, the pounding continued again and again with much greater force.
[We already have someone on their 5th reverberation. Judging by his look, it's doubtful if he can last two more.](Purple Snake)
[Don't sneer, Little Snake. Jealousy's an unbecoming emotion for a cultivator. I doubt you would've even lasted two reverberations back when you started cultivating and was still a mortal. Young master Ling, how many did you resist back when you underwent the baptism of the drums?](Jing)
[...eight!](Ling)
The answer was given through gritted teeth and clenched jaws. He wasn't very confident about his record and was almost certain that there would be at least 237 people that would go above his. With the guidance of his patriarch, when he started at the first level of Qi Gathering Realm, he had the help of Advanced Spiritual Roots, that's why he barely made it up to the 550th step. If not for his patriarch's guidance and the hundreds of pills he was been fed from a young age, he wouldn't have made it that far. Unfortunately, his physical body was weaker, therefore only resisted eight reverberations that injured him, but at the same time also cleansed much of the pill poisoning in his body.
[Look! Someone is challenging the 7th reverberation!](random lackey)
Upon turning their eyes to a certain person, they strangely found the same arrogant little girl that stood first upon the 50th step of the Heaven Ascending Steele. Not only that, but this little girl even had time to look around and sneer at her companions.
[What's the matter sir Mental? Why are you hesitating? Do you need this Empress to show you how it's done?](Moon Empress)
[Hmpf! As if I need an 18 years old girl with a princess complex to show me what I need to do....](Mental)
[Youuuuu! It's 'EMPRESS'! 'EMPRESS', YOU HEAR ME!!!](Moon Empress)
[Yeah, yeah! Whatever you say, Your Highness.](Mental)
While the two of them were bickering, the loud sound of the 7th reverberation hit Envy and made him take half a step back. Surprised and caught off guard, the two parts at war with each other threw the other a provoking glance and began beating the drums in a frenzied manner.
Soon, every member of the Peak alliance, LinkWill, UX, Bian Hua, and others that made a name for themselves were already at the 10th reverberation. Not only that, but there were also people that Herman didn't recognize, or recognized at being at the same level as him or worse in his previous life among the ones present. What butterfly effect!? This looked like a total tornado passed through and messed up the storyline... If it was good or bad, only time would tell.
The only thread the six cultivators could hold on for the sake of their mental sanity was that there were already over 200.000 people that failed to withstand the 7th reverberation. What drove the examiners mad, was the fact that all of them had failed at the 7th reverberation. Not the 6th, the 5th or less... the 7th. Also, while they were injured, none of them died or were crippled, so they will be back to take another bite at the Immortal World in six months.
The straw that broke the camel's back, was the fact that each one of those that failed, were people that stopped between the 400th and the 450th step or better put, people who had Medium Spiritual Roots. For all others, they were still going strong even after the 10th reverberation.
"The examiners might not know, but the lack of Qi forced the human body to become more robust while resisting through countless plagues, disasters, and fearsome diseases that decimated through the populace. That made the descendants of the survivors that much more fearsome. Coupled with the fact that both men and women present are between 18-40 years old, they are people in their prime. It's not surprising for a rough world like ours to resist 10 reverberations. However, it's still amazing... Before, there were already over 500.000 people that dropped out at this step, mostly because they had Medium Spiritual Roots. Now, it's not even half of the number yet and the rest have already passed."
The same thoughts were currently galloping through the mind of the cultivators present, akin to thousands of divine horses with mud hooves running about. Didn't this mean that there were still over one million people that passed the trial, undergoing at least 10 reverberations? Even old man Jing wasn't pleased anymore, but rather scared. As for how he should proceed, he immediately contacted his old master to ask for further instructions.
[Eh!? Little Jing, for you to contact me, has your examination ended? How are the prospects? You know I have high expectations of you.](Clear Lake)
[Your subordinate pays his respects! The second trial is still undergoing master... however...](Jing)
[You needn't worry little Jing. Even if the number is smaller, they will all be elites. With the help of the two treasures of the Ling clan, you should be able to squeeze out the potential of this small primordial world and bring in powerful new blood in our faction. To think that that old bastard Luo Ling wanted to humiliate me. See if I don't use your treasure to create the hand that slaps you in the future!](Clear Lake)
Hearing his master's rant, old man Jing didn't know if to laugh or cry. He almost wanted to shout at the top of his voice that he could directly go to that old monster of the Ling clan and show him the results. If he wouldn't cough at least two to three mouthfuls of blood, he would be willing to spell his name backward from there onwards.
The problem was that the 'hand' his old master wanted to create, went beyond the usual two. Rather, there should be some feet somewhere in there as well.
[Master... that's not the problem. Many passed the trial of the Steele. Over one million to be more precise.](Jing)
[Oh? Such good fortune! However, make sure you set proper rules and don't allow those that barely passed 100 steps to join our faction. We need stronger ones, like the ones that reached 250 steps.](Clear Lake)
At this point, the old man Jing was already crying. Recruiting people that were on the 250th step!? Old master, those people voluntarily dropped out of the trial because they didn't want to embarrass themselves in front of their peers!
[*Cough**Cough* Old master... there aren't any participants that stopped at the 250th step...](Jing)
[*Sigh* Nothing we can do about it... it is, after all, a small world. You can lower your standards and... Eh!? 'None that stopped at the 250th step'? What do you mean little Jing?](Clear Lake)