Chapter 612: Everyone Has a Question
Lin Feng was curious as he watched the leading pack. He saw as they were troubled by the illusions they faced
"Father, Mother, Sixth Granduncle...Grandfather, Great Grandfather..."
The images that surfaced in the mind of Luo Qingwu was a little messy. At one point, she was surrounded by her relatives and was doted upon by everyone. At another point, they treated her very coldly and ignored her while she called for them.
These images appeared alternately, along with other images of her childhood treasures. They were accompanied by the feelings of surprise when she found them and feelings of sorrow when she lost them.
In the next moment, the image changed again. Firstly, she was not accepted by the Celestial Sect of Wonders and she felt very depressed. After that, she was accepted as she passed the test and she cheered on Mount Yujing.
Luo Qingwu bit her lips and inched forward. As she was young, her state of mind was not stable yet. She was very active and liked to think of weird stuff. Thus, she was very easily disturbed by the illusions.
Fortunately, her Determination was not low. She was a stubborn girl and was very resilient internally. Hence, she could still maintain some semblance of stability.
Furthermore, as her Innate Ability was outstanding, she did not face much difficulties as she took on the test in the area of Innate Ability. This allowed her to put more focus into stabilizing her mind and resisting the illusions.
Whereas Li Yuanfang was the complete opposite. He was very determined and developed very few illusions.
At times, the illusions that appeared in his mind were the Two Elements of Creation Formation, Vairocana Formation, Supreme Yin-Yang Void Formation and the Immortal Heaven Universal Sword Formation, which were the best formations around. He was trying to study and figure them out.
At times, the River Map Grandmaster appeared in front of him. It was as if he went out to play and returned back.
There were even times when Ding Runfeng from the Great Void Sect appeared, wearing a sarcastic smile on his face. Ding Runfeng even said to him, "You are not even a disciple of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, why are you here?"
Li Yuanfang was expressionless. He shut his eyes and opened them in the next second. His vision was clear again and the illusions in his mind disappeared. He did not stop and continued.
As compared to Luo Qingwu, he spent more of his effort trying to deal with the spiritual energy and the attack of the lights.
Dao Yuting ascended the stairs of the pagoda. As she tried to overcome the various restrictions, she was also trying to resist the illusions in her head.
Her Determination was not weak. But whatever she experienced was much complex than the others.
After reuniting with her father after so many years, she felt happy. But her mother perished in the hands of the Heaven Lake Sect cultivator, which made her feel sorrowful.
Regardless whether it was happiness or sorrow, positivity or negativity, they all induced illusions that disturbed her.
At times, Song Qingyuan's figure would appear, which was her greatest fear.
Following the destruction of the Heaven Lake Sect, her reunification with her father and her acceptance into the Celestial Sect of Wonders, her fear had slowly disappeared. But it appeared again suddenly.
Ever since Dao Yuting was accepted into the Heaven Lake Sect, she knew that Song Qingyuan would have become her training partner. They complemented each other.
The plan of the Heaven Lake Sect was to wait for Dao Yuting to form the Aurous Core before she combined with Song Qingyuan and cultivate together.
But as Dao Yuting thought of Song Qingyuan, she felt chills all over her body.
She was even afraid of forming the Aurous Core and was shying away from it intentionally. The Aurous Core path that was the dream of many cultivators was feared by her. She was not fearful of the difficulty of forming the Aurous Core. On the other hand, she was afraid of the things she had to face after forming the Aurous Core.
Dao Yuting shook her head hardly and shook off the creepy thought in her mind. She stabilized her state of mind and continued to ascend.
Zhuge Wanqiu, who was rather fast, was now lagging behind by a lot. She was far behind Luo Qingwu, Li Yuanfang and Dao Yuting now.
Her thoughts and experiences were not complex, and she was resilient enough to remove the confusing thoughts from her head. Every little memory in her head could invoke an illusion for her.
Some of these memories include the spiritual birds she caught when she was young, the death of a beast she kept as a pet and her father's separation from her.
As her emotions were not very intense, the illusions were very normal. She was able to shake them off very quickly, but she could not handle the frequency in which they came. It was as if they were never-ending.
But it was a good thing her Innate Ability was very outstanding. Especially the spirituality of her soul and her sensitivity. They were very outstanding. When she faced a decision she had to make, she didn't hesitate. She could find the correct direction immediately, which allowed her to remain in the leading pack.
After a long period of ascension, Xu Yunsheng, Liu Xiafeng and the other Successive Disciples had already overtaken most of the other disciples. They reached the front of the pack and were not far from Zhuge Wanqiu and the other three.
They formed the second group with a few other outstanding Foundational Disciples. As they continued to advance, they were at the front of the second group.
Although they were also troubled by the illusions, they resisted these illusions, the pressure by the spiritual energy and the attack of the golden lights to continue ascending the pagoda.
At this stage, everyone's speed was already very slow. Luo Qingwu, Li Yuanfang and the first few were all moving very slowly forward.
Among all the disciples, at least half of them were lagging very far behind. Either they were troubled by their inner demons, distracted as they resisted these inner demons of theirs or they could not handle the spiritual energy and the golden light.
However, although a large portion of them were effectively eliminated, overall, the test made Lin Feng pleased till this point. His tests were naturally difficult.
To be even cruder, if his test was used on all the younger generation disciples of the other sects, besides the Great Void Sect and Mount Shu Sword Sect, there were very few of them who could pass it.
For the weaker sects, this test could even eliminate all their disciples.
But there was something that happened which left Lin Feng unsure of whether to laugh or cry.
For example, there was a youth on the stairs that had lost control of his mind and had sunken into the illusions he faced, unable to escape.
"Power! Immense power, no one can look down on me anymore, hahaha!" That youth laughed and shouted. The words he said were related to his invincibility.
As Lin Feng heard it, he was speechless. He immediately used his powers to mask this youth who was going berserk. In this way, no one would witness what he was saying and doing, preventing him the embarrassment after he awoke.
As the Talent Analysis Device revealed, this guy's Innate Ability and Intelligence was pretty good. Even his Fortune was worth 7 points, which was quite good already.
It's just that his Determination was low. Furthermore, he did not have a good family background and was very used to being bullied. As a result, his emotions were repressed to a certain level and they were released all at one shot inside the pagoda.
"Gosh, there's always something lacking." Lin Feng shook his head. He considered very seriously. The Purple Clouds stairs at the foot of Yun Peak had to be more discerning of a person's personality. Previously, it was only used to test the presence of spies, which was insufficient.
Of course, this youth had only gone berserk because of the inner demons within him that were summoned. But such a state of mind was undesirable.
But since he was already accepted into the sect, Lin Feng could still keep him. He had to see whether the teachings and lessons in the future could tame him.
"Zhu Yi, keep track of this guy. Don't have to be too strict, but the rules of the sect must be carried out strictly. Rewards and punishments must be clear."
Zhu Yi and the rest were also tempted to laugh. After Zhu Yi heard Lin Feng's instructions, he nodded his head, "I understand, Master."
Shi Tianhao was laughing at one side, "This guy is really ambitious. But it's a pity he can't pass this test. If not, I will like to accept him as my disciple."
Everyone pursed their lips and had the same expression. The expression revealed their thoughts: Following you will make him hopeless.
The few of them laughed, whereas those inside the pagoda continued to ascend it. As they faced the spiritual energy and golden light, they also had to deal with the illusions in their minds.
The bunch of Foundational Disciples found it difficult as they ascend the pagoda. The countless tests gave them very little time to thing. They lost track of time and their entire focus were placed on overcoming the restrictions inside the pagoda.
Time passed quickly and it got dark soon.
For those in the leading pack, the top of the pagoda was within their reach. Eventually, Luo Qingwu was the first to reach.
The top of the pagoda was a vast space. A pathway appeared before her. It passed through a flashing formation. As what Zhu Yi explained earlier, this formation allowed one to be transferred to Mount Yujing. It also meant the passing of the test.
However, there was a white light shield blocking her, cutting off the pathway.
Hundreds of streaks of white light were shining in front of the white light shield.
Luo Qingwu stopped and looked at the shield and flow of light curiously. At this point, footsteps were heard behind her. She turned around and saw Li Yuanfang. The both of them reached at almost the same time, while Dao Yuting had been overtaken by Li Yuanfang.
Li Yuanfang also came before the shield. He looked at the flow of light seriously. After pondering for a while, he extended his hand to touch the light.
The light did not disappear, but landed in Li Yuanfang's palms like it was an entity with a form.
"This is, a name?" Li Yuanfang at the words flashed by the light. It was a person's name. He recalled for a moment and realized that it was a disciple that took part in the test.
As he looked at the remaining lights, he realized that each of them appeared the name of someone.
Li Yuanfang and Luo Qingwu soon found the lights with their names on it. They caught them in their hands and saw a line of words appearing behind their names. It was a simple question.
Luo Qingwu read it, "End of Pure Yin..." There were only four words, but there seemed to be some other content.
"I have to find out the answer on my own?" Luo Qingwu pondered.
Li Yuanfang was also deep in thought. The content on his light was different. "Intersection of rivers."