"Hao Jun, "
High upon the mountain a young woman softly muttered to herself,
Her face was pale, her breath uneven from exhaustion, dark circles under her eyes, she lifted her gaze upward looking at the figure above her with affection.
her whole body was trembling and exhausted but she continued climbing the mountain. chasing after the figure above her.
above her was a young handsome man dressed in white robes and a white headband on his forehead. compared to the young woman he still had some energy and was climbing a lot faster.
they had been climbing the mountain for days now and only stopped when the unpredictable wind came, and even then they had no time to rest but hold onto the mountain with all of their strength or the wind would knock them off the mountain, the wind was very strong and ruthless, nobody knew when it will strike again, there was no time to rest
The slaves below the young woman were even in more pitiful state, they wore dirty and tattered clothes and looked malnourished, born as slaves they weren't treated very well and never had a proper meal, but they still kept climbing the mountain as they trembled and breathed heavily,
"I'm tired and hungry but I have to keep going, I have to learn martial arts and take control over my life"
"Will i die here today? I haven't accomplished anything in life, I've been a slave since I was born"
"I can't die here, I can see the mountain top, I'm almost there"
some had eyes filled with despair and were just inches away from giving up, some had eyes full of light and were persevering.
The mountain was enormous. piercing the jade-green cloud above it that looked a seated dragon.
Just then, a jade-green wind seeped out from the jade-green cloud dragon and started rushing downward the mountain below as if it wanted to blow away all the living beings on the mountain.
There was no warning, there was no mercy, just a powerful wind that was out to take lives...
They all started to hold onto the mountain with all of their might once the wind started to descent upon them, they gritted their teeth and held on.
"I left home while father and mother begged me to stay, i don't want to die with regrets, i can't afford to die here"
The handsome young man gritted his teeth and used all his might to hold onto the mountain as the wind descended.
The wind had no thoughts of its own and did not discriminate, it treated both the slaves and the two ordinary youths equally, it wanted to kill all of them.
Though the slaves were extremely exhausted compared to the other two youths they still held on. gritting their teeth and fighting against the powerful wind.
There was no room to talk to each other and waste energy. they all had to focus and concentrate all their energy into holding onto the mountain until the wind passed through.
They were all battling against one enemy but they couldn't bond together and fight off the wind, its every man for himself, they were holding onto the mountain with both arms and legs the moment they let go they are certain to die, what could a mere mortal do against a powerful wind?
They were no martial masters who had superhuman strength and could whip up powerful winds or destroy huge boulders with their fists.
They all knew nobody was coming to save them, each one of them had to rely on themselves and pass this trial with their own strength, there was no comraderie between them.
If any one of them reached the top, they would be giving the chance to learn martial arts and their lives would change for the better, none of them wanted to miss this opportunity because of compassion.
Especially so for the young slaves, they had been oppressed since birth. This was their only shot at a better life.
After about the time it takes to crack three eggs the wind stopped, none of them died, and they all quickly continued their climb.
And after a few moments they finally arrived at the top of the mountain,
They had no energy to celebrate their survival, most of them immediately fell unconscious as soon as they arrived at the top of the mountain due to the extreme exhaustion,
Only one of the young slaves and a handsome young man with white headband on his forehead managed to stay conscious, they both looked at their surroundings.
In front of them about twenty feet away was a majestic wooden building, the building was 16 meters tall and looked like an abandoned ancient shrine as it leaned towards left with it's lower half buried deep into the ground.
The two youngsters could not get up due to extreme exhaustion, they both sat cross-legged resting. While the others layed on the ground knocked out.
A moment later they both saw two figures walking towards them.
Both youngsters looked at each other before kowtowing towards the two figures that were approaching them.
"You all survived, from now on you are disciples of jade wind sect,"
One of the two figures who was a middle-aged woman spoke calmly and quickly got to the point.
Both youngsters eyes brightened up. upon hearing the woman.
"I hao Jun will work hard for the sect from now on."
Hao Jun immediately shouted trying to curry favor towards the two people standing before him.
But the young slave didn't say anything instead stayed calm and composed as he continued kowtowing.
"Hohoho, so this is what It feels like to have disciples,"
"Lift your heads up, and from now on you may call me elder feng ming, and she's feng jing though you've already met her before."
Elder feng ming's voice was calm yet powerful, both youngsters kowtowing could tell that he is someone who lived for a long time and had a rich life experience.
"Hmm, so it's you, the slave from huan village"
As both youngsters lifted their head from the ground elder feng ming recognized the slave youngster.
"Yes, elder it's good to see you doing well"
The young slave wrapped his fist in his palm respectfully towards elder feng ming.
Hao Jun who was sitting next to the slave youngster looked at him with disdain in his eyes.