“Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch…” Mo Yi rubbed the bruised spots on his body, hopping on one foot. “What’s wrong with these cultivators? Do the steps have to be this hard? Would it kill them to make them softer?”
Xiao Yan stared blankly at Mo Yi at the other end of the red jade steps, and even the old artifact seemed shocked into silence.
“Are you… okay?” Xiao Yan stammered, “You just went over like that?”
Mo Yi rubbed his shoulder and grinned at Xiao Yan, “What nonsense! Of course, it hurts! The ashes on the ground are so inconsiderate, I fell and it really hurt!”
Xiao Yan swallowed hard and opened his mouth, the conflict on his face was painfully clear.
“Come over here!” Mo Yi waved his hand at Xiao Yan, “There’s still a stretch of road ahead.”
Xiao Yan hesitated for a moment, tentatively extending his foot to step on the red jade steps. If Mo Yi could pass through so easily, didn’t that mean the path to immortality had lost its power?
This guess made Xiao Yan feel more assured. He had long heard that the eldest son of the Mo family in the capital was a good-for-nothing, skilled in eating, drinking, and playing, and that the meat pits and wine forests were all leftovers from Mo Yi's escapades. If such a waste could step through, why couldn’t he?
Xiao Yan’s expression turned solemn, and he stepped forward without hesitation!
“Boom!”
Once again, he was met with that familiar, terrifying pressure. Xiao Yan nearly stumbled and fell on the steps, feeling every bone in his body creak painfully. This pressure was no different from the Buddha’s palm that once struck Sun Wukong!
Xiao Yan was on the verge of collapse, his blood flow was forced to a halt, capillaries bursting, and faint beads of blood began to seep through his skin. Xiao Yan was unwilling! Truly unwilling, so he braced himself, risking his life! His pupils turned crimson, blood seeping from his clenched jaws, and a roar of defiance and anger rumbled in his throat.
“Are you out of your mind… Don’t force yourself to do what you can’t! Do you think you’re me?” Mo Yi gently pushed, his hands touching Xiao Yan’s chest, and Xiao Yan felt a gentle force push him out of the overwhelming pressure. At the same time, cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
He was, possessed.
Xiao Yan knelt on one knee, looking at the boy before him, so close yet feeling worlds apart. The sunlight shone down from behind the boy, illuminating only a radiant glow.
“We usually call those who don’t give up ‘those who won’t turn back until they hit a wall’ or ‘those who won’t shed tears until they see the coffin.’” Mo Yi slightly turned his head to look at the pile of bones in the distance. After Mo Yi’s destruction, the bones quickly crumbled into dust, and with the mountain wind, what was once whole turned to flying ash.
“But I prefer to call these people idiots.” Mo Yi said lightly, “Very specific, very direct, because idiots usually don’t live long.”
“Idiots?” Xiao Yan stared at Mo Yi in shock.
“You’re half an idiot.” Mo Yi nodded.
In an instant, Xiao Yan’s face turned red, not from shame, but from anger.
“Little Yan, he called you an idiot.” The old artifact’s voice rang out, calm and unhurried.
“I know…” Xiao Yan gritted his teeth, suppressing his anger.
“Want to hit him?” the old artifact asked.
Xiao Yan forced a bitter smile, “I’d have to be able to reach him first! Let alone hit him!”
“Then let go of that thought and focus on what’s in front of you!” The old artifact suddenly scolded, leaving Xiao Yan momentarily stunned.
“You’ve already been led by the nose by him, haven’t you noticed? If I’m not mistaken, he’s casting an illusion on you. Although it’s a simple folk technique, it’s quite clever. What he’s doing is establishing an insurmountable image in your heart, constantly undermining your confidence, making your goal solely about revenge… This boy has malicious intent.” The old artifact’s voice was like a cold spring, sending a shiver down Xiao Yan’s spine. He instinctively shuddered and looked at Mo Yi.
Mo Yi remained silent, a barely noticeable frown appearing on his brow. Suddenly, Xiao Yan seemed to be awakened, and all his anger vanished in an instant.
“Old man… what a hassle.” Mo Yi chuckled softly to himself.
“Friend, please continue forward; your sister is waiting for you ahead.” Xiao Yan said this with all his strength. After speaking, he sat cross-legged on the spot, his expression softening as he closed his eyes, no longer looking at Mo Yi.
Mo Yi also stopped looking at Xiao Yan, turning to leave. “Then, goodbye.”
“Definitely.”
It wasn’t until Mo Yi’s figure disappeared that Xiao Yan opened his eyes. He looked at the red jade steps in silence, a small seed taking root and sprouting in his pupils.
“In the end, I still couldn’t avoid planting the seed of fear.” The old artifact sighed softly, silently contemplating the impact this event would have on Xiao Yan and how to resolve it.
“……” Everyone at the peak of the immortal mountain fell silent, looking at Mo Yi, who was moving forward without any pressure, with complex expressions.
“Does he really have a spiritual root?” The man in the red robe couldn’t help but ask, “Such a freak shouldn’t exist in this world.”
The middle-aged man in black surprisingly didn’t retort the man in red. He was somewhat silent, weighing Mo Yi’s true identity in his mind… Could it be that this kid is truly the reincarnation of some ancient emperor?
“People call the unknown things demons and monsters, instinctively denying and rejecting them. When people encounter incredible prodigies, they also instinctively reject and deny them, then find ways to destroy them.” From atop the pine tree, a calm yet heavy voice rang out, “Why don’t we wait and see the true outcome? Perhaps the second trial of ‘state of mind’ will give us the answer.”
“State of mind?” The man in the red robe, who was squatting awkwardly on the ground, suddenly looked up at the man atop the pine tree, “Besides testing, can the formation also peer into others’ inner worlds?”
“This is a secret technique, the very core of the formation.” The man in the red robe said, suppressing his voice, “It’s also strictly prohibited by the Cultivators’ Alliance because peering into others’ state of mind is simply unethical. Everyone’s privacy should be respected; that’s the stance of the Cultivators’ Alliance.”
“What do you all think?” The man atop the pine tree asked, “Today’s events, if heaven doesn’t speak and earth doesn’t speak, you don’t speak, and I don’t speak, then the Cultivators’ Alliance will never know, but the premise is that we reach a consensus.”
“……” Another long silence ensued, and everyone became serious.
“Do we really have to do this?” The middle-aged man in black hesitated.
The man in the blue robe suddenly turned to look at the middle-aged man in black and said, “Do you remember the Bloodthirsty Demon Lord?”
The middle-aged man in black shuddered. The Bloodthirsty Demon Lord… the number one chaotic demon in the cultivation world, always wearing a blood-stained noble mask, with thousands of lives under his command. Blood was the wine in his cup, severed limbs were his delicacies in the afternoon. He fed on the world, using the sun and moon as his signs, casting a dark shadow over the history of the cultivation world.
Speaking of the Bloodthirsty Demon Lord, he once walked this path to immortality. Back then, the Bloodthirsty Demon Lord faltered just a hundred meters in, but even so, his exceptional spiritual root attracted countless sects to compete for him, ultimately entering a supreme sect and gaining countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures to assist in his cultivation.
But… an accident also occurred.