Gradually, the mirror started to move back from the darkness. All the boys rapidly turned their heads away, and the girls shrieked while covering their eyes. Only Tian Yao, Tieshan, and Xiaomeng, who was covering Lingling's eyes, were looking at the mirror.
"What the –" Hearing Xiaomeng's sudden outburst, all those who were previously pretending to be modest and shy started peeking at the mirror through the gaps between their fingers. What they saw left them completely baffled. They glared at Xiaomeng for showing them such an absurd sight, something they would have a hard time forgetting for the rest of their lives. Xiaomeng coughed and turned her head away.
It was not the thing Tieshan was lifting, nor the way he was lifting it, but the shape and enormous size of that thing. "Who would lift something so massive and ugly?" Lingling suddenly blurted. At some point, she had lowered Xiaomeng's hands from her eyes.
The Tieshan in the mirror was lifting a statue nearly fifty times his own size while squatting with veins bulging on his dark temples. The huffing sounds came from him using all his strength to do it. The man depicted by the statue had oily, slicked-back black hair with a sheen of sweat on his upper forehead. The golden rings on all his fingers clashed badly with his golden teeth peeking out from his grinning mouth. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, exposing his chest hair.
Though the children didn't know the man in real life, he was definitely a sleazy character. And when you magnify something like that dozens of times, it just becomes an abomination. Even the Elders standing above were baffled by this. Lu Wancheng even spat out the tea in his mouth. "My eyes just died!" he cried. Looking at his suffering only brought relief to the Elders.
"Why are they so childish?" Lu Wancheng ranted. "Wasn't half of the last batch filled with assassins, spies, and demonic cultivators? How come we suddenly have such good luck? Is my sect going to be destroyed soon, and this is a warning?"
The Fourth Elder approached him and handed him another bowl of steaming hot tea. "This is due to the fortune of the Sect Master," he flattered. "Perhaps the heavens have taken pity on our sect and finally decided to bless us with good seedlings."
"You really think so?" Lu Wancheng raised his eyes. "Because heaven really likes to mess with me all the time."
"Absolutely," the Fourth Elder said with conviction.
Lu Wancheng snorted and leaned back in his floating chair. The Fourth Elder returned to the others and sent them an instant transmission: Next time, it's someone else's turn. But he got no reply.
Hey, answer me, someone! He transmitted again. Still, no answer from the others. They even slightly distanced themselves from him. You bastards! he screamed in his mind.
Down below, Gu Yichen pointed his hand at the mirror and asked in a trembling voice, "Who is he?"
"Of course, it's my master," Tieshan replied with a hint of pride in his voice.
"And why are you lifting his statue?"
"Of course, to pay my respects to him," Tieshan answered without hesitation.
Rong Ning was the first to move. She dashed toward the higher stairs. The others also tacitly followed after her. Tieshan was left puzzled as to why everyone had left. Just as he called out to Gu Yichen, the person in question started moving even faster. Tieshan never got an answer to his puzzle and had to move up with the others. After everyone had left, the space around the mirror shimmered and it disappeared.
The group encountered the next major hurdle at the fourteen hundredth step. A female disciple wearing the blue sect uniform was standing on the stairs. In front of her lay several plates containing many different types of leaves and herbs. Approaching the plates, everyone carefully examined their contents.
"The test this time is to eat these leaves. Some of them are poisonous, others are not. Anyone who eats a leaf is allowed to pass. If all the leaves are finished, everyone may leave together," the female disciple explained.
There were only thirteen trial takers here, but twenty plates were lined on the table. Studying the leaves, Xiaomeng picked up four and swallowed them together. The senior disciple jumped over the table with a frantic face. Tian Yao and Tieshan stepped forward and blocked her way.
"All the leaves she ate were poisonous," the disciple tried to explain.
Tieshan and Tian Yao suddenly glanced back. There were no visible changes in Xiaomeng's expression, except for her cheeks that had become a little rosy.
"Doesn't seem so," Tian Yao replied to the disciple.
The female disciple observed Xiaomeng for a moment and didn't find any symptoms of poisoning. Gulping down the leafy things, Xiaomeng explained, "The leaves balanced each other's poison. I had seen them around my village a lot of times. My mouth is just burning a bit." She fanned her face with her hand.
Gu Yichen took out a few nuts from somewhere and extended his hand. Looking at those sweaty palms, Xiaomeng's stomach churned. Right then, Lingling took out a properly wrapped hawthorn candy and handed it over.
Quickly taking and unwrapping it, Xiaomeng placed it in her mouth and enjoyed the sweet and tangy flavor.
Rong Ning walked and stood in front of the table. She began to segregate the remaining leaves and herbs into poisonous and non-poisonous groups. Except for a few, these leaves were not spirit grasses but just ordinary leaves found around the region, and any experienced person could identify most of them. The leaves Xiaomeng had eaten were also normal ones, commonly found everywhere, and were not lethal for consumption.
It was impossible for a single person to know them all. In no time, the others had also joined in. Soon, with everyone's help, the leaves were properly separated into two groups. There were only four poisonous ones remaining. Rong Ning ate one and, bringing out a small jade bottle, drank its contents.
Tieshan ate one. It made his body reddish all over as a certain itchiness spread over his neck. He endured it through sheer willpower alone.
Zhao Feng, the boy who had evaded everyone's radars till now, ate one. The last one was eaten by Tian Yao, who showed no obvious reaction to it.
Lu Wancheng, who was observing all this from the skies, asked in a livid voice, "Whose idea was this test?"
The Fourth Elder lightly coughed twice at his words.
"Good," Lu Wancheng nodded at him. "We will reduce the spirit stone allotment for the Alchemy Peak by ten percent this year."
"But, Sect Master…" The Fourth Elder tried to protest but was held back by the others, who pulled him back and gagged his mouth.
"Quickly take him away, or else we'll all lose our allocated resources to those two vixens, just like last time," the Third Elder sent voice transmission to the other men. The Second and Third Elders nodded and followed his lead.
On the stairs, after completing the current task, the group took a short break, their backs resting against the side of the rocky mountain. Xiaomeng closed her eyes and felt the refinement of her body and soul for some time. After feeling well rested, they all continued on their way.
By now, the pressure from the stairs had increased exponentially. Some were finding it hard to keep up with the others, with Xiaomeng being the worst of them all. Sweat beaded her forehead; her hands clammy from constant clenching. The advantages she had gained in this life were completely exhausted. Now only her strong soul supported her. Reaching the sixteen hundredth step, she was sweating buckets, with her breathing ragged. Looking around, except for her group, only two other boys were present, and the end was still not in sight.
This time, a Senior Brother from the sect was standing there, holding a plain blue box. The rules of this trial were simple: There was a single ball inside the box. Everyone had one chance to reach inside and feel the ball's surface. At any given time, only one word, either 'True' or 'False', would be carved on the ball. The person touching the ball had to remember which word they felt and tell the examiner.
At the end, if someone had told a lie, they would be directly sent to the top and win immediately. Along with that, that person could also designate someone to be sent back to the base of the mountain. If more than one person had lied, the process would repeat for them, but the privilege of sending someone back would remain. Also, if everyone either lied or told the truth, they would simply pass this trial with no special advantages. And for every lie told, the others had to stay put for that many hours.
One by one, everyone put their hand inside the box and felt the ball. First was Gu Yichen: "True."
Followed by Rong Ning: "False."
Next was Tieshan: "False."
And after him came Xiaomeng: "False."
And like that, all thirteen of them finished. The Senior Brother took out the balls and began to match what he had heard from the test takers against the words registered on the ball. He discovered that everyone had told the truth and let them go.
Floating high above, Lu Wancheng picked up his chair and threw it. "Reduce the budget of the Alchemy Peak by a further ten percent!"
The Fourth Elder, who had barely escaped the grasp of the others, had no time to protest before he was again gagged and taken away. Such was the tragic state of the Fourth Peak.
Below, after crossing the sixteen hundredth step, everyone had to take short breaks between each successive step. The late afternoon sun beat down on them, making the atmosphere hotter. But still, the group managed to remain intact and carry forward. Gu Yichen was rapidly swinging his fan, while Lingling had covered her head with a spare cloth. Rong Ning had taken out a separate umbrella from who knows where and was barely protected under its shade. Everyone was using similar methods, except Tian Yao. She just stood there, observing their suffering, only a slight drop of sweat trickling down her smooth forehead, indicating that she was still human.
By the time they reached the eighteen hundredth step, the sky was dyed in a burning orange color. It had taken more time to traverse the previous four hundred steps than to climb the first fourteen hundred. The exhausted bunch looked ahead at the Senior Brother standing in front, wearing the sect uniform.
"To proceed ahead, you will have to defeat me," his words struck like thunder in their ears. In their current state, they couldn't even touch him, let alone defeat him. Even the tough Tieshan wore a grave expression.
At that moment, Tian Yao walked ahead. Thinking that the beautiful girl wanted to say something, the Senior Brother let his guard down. Approaching him, Tian Yao kicked out. Her leg buried deep inside her opponent's side within the blink of an eye. There was a snapping sound as the senior disciple was thrown aside and fell off the mountain from the open edge.
The audience, both above and below, couldn't process this scene. Their jaws hung slack, reflecting their utter disbelief.