The next day, the sun rose and expelled the coldness of the mountain. Only now did Zhao Jiuge see the scene at the end of the chain. The sun was at the edge like an egg yolk and the large, green trees had a shade of golden light around them.

The cold, white mist gradually thinned, and the rise in temperature caused dew to form on the flowers and trees. This added a sense of liveliness to the mountain.

After waiting for a night, dozens of people had arrived. Those that should have come were here and those that didn’t have the courage wouldn’t be coming. At this moment, the young boys and girls were like eggplants that had a layer of frost form on them overnight.

They no longer had the momentum they had before and were all in a gloomy mood as they thought about the people that had fallen off the cliff. Even someone as arrogant as Bai Zimo was depressed as he understood how fragile life was.

Zhao Jiuge inhaled the fresh, mountain air and tried to change his depressed mood. He took a deep breath and then let it all out as if he wanted to expel all the unhappiness in his heart.

“There are more people than I thought, but I’ll still congratulate you all on passing the first trial.” A voice suddenly shocked Zhao Jiuge. He looked up to find Instructor Zhou proudly standing on a flying sword with a smile that wasn’t a smile.

The people gathered here all looked up. Beside Instructor Zhou were the other two instructors, and behind them were dozens of disciples. In addition, there were some figures behind the disciples standing on the flying swords.

Zhao Jiuge’s face was filled with shock and his eyes widened because he actually saw Luo Xie. Last night, Luo Xie had started walking on the chain before him, but when he arrived, he didn’t see Luo Xi, so he assumed Luo Xie had fallen off. His mood was gloomy because of this, but now such a shocking scene appeared before him.

What was going on!?

Doubt appeared in everyone’s hearts, and Instructor Zhou seemed to know everyone’s doubts. A smile actually appeared on his cold face.

“You want to know what happened, right? In truth, this trial was just to test your courage. As long as you were willing to take the first step, whether you made it or not didn’t matter. As for the danger, we were observing everyone, so naturally there was no danger. However, as for those who were too scared or ran away, hmph! No matter how much the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect has fallen, we won’t want a disciple like them!”

Instructor Zhou patiently explained with a smile on his face, but once he finished, a cold aura spread out from his body.

After hearing Instructor Zhou’s explanation, everyone suddenly realized what was happening. Those youths standing behind the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect disciples all revealed awkward expressions, but they felt fortunate to have passed the test and held on to their lives. However, thinking they were going to die had made them see a lot of things differently. That would be their greatest harvest during the first trial.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you all to the next trial, and once you pass, you will arrive at the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect. Then you will be official disciples of the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect.” He didn’t waste time saying anything extra. The three instructors and the dozens of disciples waved their sleeves. Zhao Jiuge felt a suction force and then was pulled onto a flying sword.

He once again experienced the feeling of soaring through the sky, but every time felt different because of the things he experienced. The surroundings changed, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived.

There was an endless staircase made of some unknown white material which also had some pale yellow stuff mixed in. These steps went all the way to the top.

The entire mountain seemed to be wearing a white jade belt. It was extremely disjointed and gave off a mysterious feeling.

“The second test is to climb stairs? This is simply too easy,” a sloppy-looking youth said softly.

Instructor Zhou suddenly frowned and shouted, “If the Chain of Immortal Dao Seeking was a test of your courage, then the second trial, Step onto the Road to Heaven, tests your perseverance. There is a total of 999 steps, and they symbolize the difficulty of the path of cultivation. Don’t think you’re good with the little spirit force you have now. Your spirit force is like a drop of water in the ocean; what good can you do with it?”

His shout was like a wake-up call for all those from well-off families and also let them understand what the symbol of strength was.

However, there were also youths that were fearless and very headstrong. At this moment, a youth with red dimples stepped out. “I’ll go first. It's merely stairs, I want to see how amazing it can be.”

Instructor Li gently touched his beard and faintly smiled. It was a silent acceptance.

Instructor Zhou was filled with disdain. He had seen too many geniuses, and he didn’t think that someone who merely had a slightly higher cultivation level was qualified. Instructor Zhou was also unhappy. After all, even if one had a high cultivation level, they wouldn't be able to make it far without a good character.

The youth with the red dimples stepped forward and closed his eyes. Then he suddenly opened his eyes and a bright spirit light shined as he revealed his spirit force. He was at the late stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm!

After releasing his spirit force around his body, his aura became powerful and his late stage Spirit Transformation Realm cultivation made him feel like a different person. Everyone held their breath and watched him step onto the strange and mysterious steps.

One of the requirements of the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect was to be below the Foundation Realm. This rule was true for the majority of the holy lands, but none of them were as strict on this as the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect. In particular, Yue Hua Academy, who had been recruiting a large number of disciples, would even accept people at very high cultivation levels.

The children from big families knew about this, so the families would use their vast resources to get their cultivation to the late stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm early. Then, before they picked a teacher and began their studies, they would return to their families and help them. 

This was why Bai Zimo, Liu Yinger, Wang Baiwan, and other children of these families didn’t find any of these things strange.

Everyone watched with expectation in their eyes as the youth with the dimples on this face made his way up the steps. He looked very relaxed as he walked up a few steps, and his nervous heart relaxed. He found that there was nothing special about these steps and it was merely pretending to be mysterious. With his cultivation he could go up the 999 steps very quickly and he would be the first one!

He sped up the spirit force in his body and was prepared to charge to the top.

Hiss...

After some more steps, the youth sucked in a breath of cold air and his eyes filled with shock. He was completely stunned and found that the situation was not right, so he slowed down. He felt like his legs were filled with lead and were difficult to lift. Every step was very difficult, and at this moment, the youth had only reached the 113th step.

The people below didn’t notice anything wrong. They had only seen the youth with the dimples rush out really fast, then his step became heavier and heavier. Finally, he was sweating and gritting his teeth as if he was having trouble holding on.

Seeing how much the youth with the dimples was struggling, everyone was shocked because they couldn’t see anything strange. Only Zhao Jiuge’s eyes shined as he thought of something. It was as if he had noticed something but was unsure.

After he finished thinking, he didn’t speak. He just walked through the crowd to test the mysteriousness of these steps.

This face was as calm as water.

Zhao Jiuge didn’t panic and was strangely calm. He didn’t use any spirit force, he just climbed.

This time, Zhao Jiuge didn’t choose to be low-key, because the better his performance, the more resources he would get once he got into the sect. This would increase his chances of getting into the inner sect. This would also attract the attention of powerful teachers.

Seeing another person walk up, a commotion stirred among the crowd and everyone began to talk.

“Go, Zhao Jiuge!” Seeing that Zhao Jiuge had walked up, Wang Baiwan shouted excitedly and waved his arms.

Liu Yinger was a bit shy, so her voice was much softer as she cheered for Zhao Jiuge. Luo Xie still had a dull expression, as if he still hadn’t escaped from the fear of falling off the chain.

For the first few steps, Zhao Jiuge walked like he was walking on thin ice. His steps were careful and his breathing was calm as he climbed up the steps at a consistent pace. After 50 steps, Zhao Jiuge found himself a bit tired, but he still forced himself not to use spirit force, because he wanted to test if what he had noticed before was correct.

Not far away, the youth with the dimples rapidly cycled his spirit force and continued to move upwards. However, he was consuming a lot of spirit force, and it flowed away from his body like a flood.

“Hmph!”

Just at this moment, a cold snort came from Bai Zimo. He usually liked to be the center of attention, so he would have naturally chosen to go first, but hadn’t expected the youth with the dimples to charge ahead. And when he was just about to recover and walk up, Zhao Jiuge was a step ahead.

This made Bai Zimo very angry, but the proud him didn’t believe the first to go would be laughing in the end. In his eyes, the rest of the disciples were not as good as him. While not many had gone up yet, he stepped out with a cold snort. He wanted to let the others know that only he would be laughing in the end.

Zhao Jiuge got closer and closer to the youth with the dimples, but he was breathing hard and his breathing pattern was disrupted. His steps became more and more heavy and unstable.

However, Zhao Jiuge clenched his teeth and persevered. He had an unyielding gaze and his forehead was covered in sweat.

Finally, when he got so tired that he felt like he could no longer carry on, Zhao Jiuge erupted.