As his foot landed on the first step, a weird sensation filled his entire body. His surroundings had changed, he was now in a desert of black sands. Calum looked around puzzled. His feet were naked on the hot as coals sands. A normal person would have started screaming his head off, the pain unbearable. Not Calum.

He was born with two 'flaws'; First, he couldn't feel pain whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or even spiritual. Second, he couldn't feel fear in any way. Because of this, people noticed that something was wrong with him; Thus, he was summarily alienated by his clan. Only his father accepted him as outlandish as he was.

These flaws also made him an untalented spiritual cultivator or so the theory went, his being deemed incomplete. His sense of qi was almost inexistent. The sense of qi correlated directly to one ability to cultivate. As such, for people in the Sky reaching continent, an inferior qi sense made one a complete failure. Hence Calum decided to join this demonic sect which ignored such a 'natural endowment'.

It seemed that otherworldly means had been infused in these steps. Either transporting one to another place or plunging one in a realistic illusion. In both cases, it isn't something mere mortals can break. In that case, I can only advance boldly.

Calum reflected.

After determining the situation, he simply walked forward. Staying stationary would not allow him to pass this test. It could even be fatal.

He felt like he had been walking in this desert for an eternity with no end in sight. His feet were scorched and bloodied, his clothes were ruined and his hair messy. Still, his expression didn't change, in fact, looking closely in his eyes, boredom could be seen.

This terrain would have made normal people despair but for him, it was simply boring. Worth mentioning was that despite not being able to feel pain, he could still precisely tell the depth of the damage he bore. His flesh was burned through almost reaching his bones. This injury was large enough to cripple the most robust man. Because of his particularities, Calum could continue walking like that forever as long as his body allowed for it.

After another eternity, something appeared in his sight. It looked like an oasis. Now that he gazed at it, he found that his mouth and throat were like sandpaper. His body was in severe lack of water. He went toward it. As for whether it was a desert mirage or not, he didn't care, after all, there was already a chance that he was in an illusion.

Entering the oasis, he was greeted with verdant plants and an emerald water pond. The very air itself seemed incomparably fresh. The contrast between this place and the rest of the desert was startling.

Ah? my wounds vanished. My body is full of energy and vitality. All the ailments I had prior to entering the oasis have disappeared. This is incredible, truly, immortals are unfathomable. I too will become this type of existence.

He thought to himself. As he walked deeper into the oasis he came upon an old man. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground. Hearing his steps, the old man looked at him. He had age lines running through his face like an old tree. His pure white hair cascaded down his back. His eyes were cloudy and filled with vicissitude.

"Congratulations, youngster, you managed to pass the first part of the Nine Torments trial. You can choose to stop here, and you will be accepted as an outer disciple." He said plainly.

"Thank you, senior. I wish to continue." Calum cup his fist respectfully.

"Let it be so. You can rest here for a night, the next day you face the second part of the trial." Before he finished speaking, the old man had already vanished like a mirage.

After the old man left, Calum thought a bit and went questing for food. An hour later he found fresh fruits and herbs that could be consumed. At that point, he was even more confused than when he was sent here. After all, if it was another world, how could one explain his healed injuries? If it was an illusion how come it felt so real without any gap in perception?

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In any case, the only certainty was that the creators of this trial were pure sadists. Giving a mental shrug, He sat before the water pond and calmly ate his fruits.

The previous trial was most likely testing an individual will, endurance, and persistence. For other people, it would be very difficult to pass. No wonder my father said that despite recruiting at large regardless of affiliation or talents, the Demonic Saint sect only had a meager number of disciples compared to other sects and powers.

Sighing he realized that there was indeed no free meal in the world. It sounded too good to be true for a sect to recruit massively without a stringent criterion. It turned out that they did have even stricter conditions for their disciple than the regular sect.

Feeling full, he leaned backward on a rock. The fruits seemed to contain a certain type of energy that renewed the body. It felt like days since he managed to take a breath.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep. It was a dreamless sleep until a howl disturbed his rest.

The howl came from far away and carried an inner chill. In a blink of an eye, the howl came closer. Calum opened his eyes and search for the owner of that howl. He was stunned to discover that he wasn't in the oasis anymore. Instead, he was in the middle of a bleak plain that seemed to extend infinitely.

He fixed his gaze on the creature in from of him. It was a dark wolf the size of a small cart. Within his hand, the sword of his father appeared from nowhere. It must have been given back to face that beast.

Is this the second part of the trial? Combat?

He wondered to himself. Fear didn't sink its grip on his heart after seeing this monstrous beast. On the contrary, he was extremely calm. Although he couldn't cultivate all these years, he still practiced the sword. In fact, his father said he had a great understanding capacity. If only he could cultivate, it would be like adding wings to a tiger.

He entered an open stance, his sword pointing down and his eyes fixed on the beast. The beast crouched slightly ready to pounce. Calum narrowed his eyes and shift his stance. The sword was now at his waist as if sheathed in the void.

Blur.

The wolf vanished from sight. Its speed was so horrendous, the human eye couldn't follow. Without seeking for the beast with his senses, Calum waited. His breathing deepened, then he slashed forward. His sword became a streak of light and severed flesh in twine.

Calum didn't sense the beast approach; he simply calculated the timing of his sword strike. Of course, it was also pure gambling. After all who is to say that the wolf trajectory would have been so straightforward. An additional factor to the demise of the beast was the nature of the sword. It wasn't a simple single edge iron sword. It was a rank 3 spiritual artifact. Its edge was naturally unparalleled.

As for whether it defeated the purpose of the trial to allow him the use of the sword, one could argue that pitting a mortal against a monstrous beast, creatures capable of absorbing the world qi, was sheer folly. Granted the beast was only barely a monstrous one. Still, it was far more powerful and ferocious than normal beasts.

He waved his sword and the beast's blood flowed along the edge of the blade toward the ground. Turning away from the corpse, Calum chose a direction and pressed forward.

Along the way, he came across other wolves. As if possessed they too, attacked without pause. No matter how dexterous he was with the sword, he still sustained numerous wounds from these encounters.

Nevertheless, he continued moving forward. The plain seemed to extend endlessly. He soon came to understand that he should forget about his concept of distance. As it seemed, it didn't exist in this bizarre dimension. Thus, he focused on killing those beasts and advancing.

After a moment, the terrain finally changed. The vast plain gave place to a wondrous woodland. Calum came to a stop before crossing its boundary. He looked like a disgruntled beggar. His clothes were in various states of ruins and his body was marred with blood stains and gory wounds.

The scenery finally changed, but does it mean that I completed the second part of the trial? Or is it still the second level? Well since that Senior didn't appear, I suppose the latter is more likely.

Calum mused to himself while taking a short break. He took deep breaths, and his body almost gave in from the accumulated fatigue. Calum was unmoved. Unless he passed out, his body could cry all it wanted, he wouldn't listen to it.

Someone looking at this scene would have chills. The scene of the obviously exhausted body combined with the impassive face was extremely bizarre.

He took a step and crossed the boundary. Deeper in the woodland the trees were closer, advancing become arduous. The sky was already not visible, covered by those tall trees.

Before long he came to a stop. His whole body was in a state of alert. The past battles in the plains had sharpened his senses. Those senses were now telling him that he was in danger.

The noise of birds and insects had vanished at some point. As if they had felt a terrifying being coming and fled for their lives.

"Tsk tsk tsk… look at what we have here. A human dare venture into the Demonic Woodland? I applaud you! For that, I will reward you with a feast. Of course, you are the main dish!!!"

From the tree shadows, a humanoid figure pounced toward him.