We stood before the first pearl.
Suddenly, I remembered something he had said earlier."Wait. Haven't you taken this trial before? Do the questions always change?"
"Everything changes," he replied calmly, "except the final question."
The pearl's light pulsed softly.
The first question appeared.
"State the mutual generation cycle of the Five Elements."
I stepped forward without hesitation.
"Wood nourishes Fire. Fire gives birth to Earth. Earth produces Metal. Metal gathers Water. Water nurtures Wood."
The pearl glowed gently. The pressure on our bodies vanished completely.
We moved on to the second floating platform.
On the second platform, the pearl's light grew denser, and the pressure increased slightly.
"Why is a stable cultivation foundation more important than breaking through realms quickly?"
I waited for the young man with the headband to answer first.
After he gave his answer, I decided to provide a different one, wanting to see whether each question allowed more than one answer.
I stepped forward.
"Because the foundation determines how much power the body can hold," I said slowly."Speed only shortens the path—but the foundation decides whether that path collapses halfway."
The pearl trembled, signaling that the answer was correct.
I smiled faintly, realizing that each question truly had more than one acceptable answer.
We continued onward.
The third platform passed without any real trouble. But when we arrived at the fourth floating platform, four people were already waiting there.
One of them turned to us. "If one of you can answer this question, we can move on."
I smiled politely. "Looks like we'll need to work together."
To my surprise, they agreed without resistance and even acted friendly toward us.
Definitely the type to stab you in the back once this is over, I thought.
The pearl shone more deeply than before.
"If two cultivators have the same realm, techniques, and talent, why can one break through their limits when cornered, while the other collapses?"
The four of them fell silent. None dared to answer.
I stepped forward.
"Because one lets go of fear and the concept of limits," I said,"while the other remains bound by old ideas of failure."
I continued firmly,"A true breakthrough isn't born from strength—but from the courage to stake everything."
The pearl shook violently. Light wrapped around me.
Luckily, I still had memories from my past life.
Without that understanding—without that experience—I would never have been able to answer correctly.
Almost immediately, the four of them repeated the exact answer I had just given.
We moved together, passing the fifth and sixth platforms, until we finally reached the seventh floating platform.
There, the final question appeared at last.
The pearl's light trembled softly, releasing a pressure that was subtle yet pierced straight into the mind.
"What will you do if there is a flaw in your cultivation that makes it impossible for you to go any further?"
The four of them looked pleased.
Relief showed on their faces—this question hadn't changed, just like in previous trials.
The headband-wearing youth approached me and whispered quickly, confidence in his tone.
"The real answer is to start over. I'm sure some of them will answer that they'll endure and look for luck to patch the flaw, but that's wrong—they'll still suffer residual pressure."
He glanced toward the mountain peak."The plan is this: when they close their eyes to meditate, we answer and immediately run for the peak."
I listened carefully.
Sure enough, the four of them sat down cross-legged, closed their eyes, and even swallowed a few pills to calm their minds.
A perfect opportunity.
I stepped forward.
"I will choose… to start over."
The moment the words left my mouth, the pressure vanished completely.
Without hesitation, I ran toward the mountain peak.
Just like he said, there was no pressure at all.
But the farther I ran, the stranger it felt.
The headband-wearing youth… was gone.
At the same time, a shout echoed from behind.
"What?! How can the pressure disappear for him?!"
The headband youth looked panicked.
The four immediately opened their eyes. One of them grabbed the youth by the throat.
"What happened?" he barked.
"H—he answered that he'd start over… and then ran straight to the peak!"
The four fell silent for a moment.
They had witnessed my sharpness throughout the earlier stages.
One of them immediately answered with what he assumed was my answer, then ran toward the mountain peak.The other three followed without hesitation.
I slowed my pace instead.
The uneasy feeling grew stronger.
In an instant, the four of them overtook me.
Strangely enough—I still didn't see the headband-wearing youth.
A short while later, the four of them were just about to reach the gate at the peak.
Then—
they vanished.
No light. No sound.
They were simply gone.
I stopped and looked back down.
About an hour later, the headband-wearing youth finally appeared, staggering forward, his steps heavy as if he were carrying a mountain on his shoulders.
"Was this… part of his plan?" I muttered."Maybe he deliberately chose the first answer and endured the pressure…"
I ground my teeth.
If I stepped onto the peak now, there was a good chance I'd be teleported just like them.Meanwhile, if he managed to reach it—he might pass without any obstacles.
I felt irritation surge.
I'd been played.
"Maybe they were teleported back to the starting point," I thought."But even if I start over, I'm not sure I could reach the peak before sunset…"
I let out a long breath.
"Fine," I muttered coldly."If I don't pass, then I'll make sure none of them pass either."
Thirty minutes later, the headband-wearing youth finally reached my position.
His face changed in shock.
"Wait—why are you still here?!"
I didn't answer.
My kick landed cleanly.
His body flew back and rolled down—forced to start over.
Thirty minutes later, he returned.
And I kicked him again.
The scene repeated.
Again and again.
Until the sun began to sink toward the west.
In the end, I let out a bitter chuckle.
"Whatever… Lord Zhu will still give me money, right?"
"Maybe I can take the trial again next time."
I shook my head lightly.
"I've really been stupid lately. I even believed this was my only chance just because of Lord Zhu's words."
With calm steps, I walked toward the mountain peak—fully intending to accept being teleported back to the start.
But…
nothing happened.
I froze.
"Why… did nothing happen?"
"Lin Wu.""Passed. First place."
The voice echoed through the sky.
The heavens trembled.
And only then did I realize—
the trial was over.
A gentle light wrapped around me.
An elder appeared before me, his robe fluttering in the wind, his gaze calm yet deep.
"From today onward," he said slowly,"you are part of this sect."
He turned and walked away.
"Follow me. You will be registered as an outer disciple."
I stared at his back as I followed.
In my mind, a thought slowly took shape.
Why wasn't I teleported?
There were two possibilities.
First—because I was already at the very beginning. There was nothing that could be called "starting over" for me.Second—because my cultivation never had a flaw to begin with.
Either way, the first possibility felt far more reasonable. Besides, does the Body Tempering stage even count as cultivation? If it does, then why didn't Lord Zhu include it in the cultivation realms he mentioned before?
"Young man," the elder said softly, "are you truly a native of this world?"
My heart slammed violently.
I clenched my fists, realizing an uneasy feeling was slowly creeping into my chest.
If the first possibility was true—then I was just lucky.Lucky that I didn't experience what the others did.
But if the second possibility was true—
I swallowed hard.
Basically, none of us had truly begun cultivating yet.And yet, I was the only one who wasn't teleported back to the starting point.
If that was the case, then the flaw mentioned from the very beginning didn't come from cultivation itself.It came from our very existence.
Or more precisely—their existence had already been defined from the start, while mine had not.
From the very beginning…what was the real correct answer to that question?
I lifted my head and looked at the elder.
"Elder," I said cautiously, "in the final stage of the trial… was starting over really the answer that was meant to be?"
The elder stopped walking.
Just one step—yet the air around us seemed to freeze.
He didn't answer right away.
Instead, he stared at me for a long time, as if weighing something invisible.
"There are many answers that are accepted," he finally said."But very few answers are considered correct."
My heart beat faster.
"Then…" my voice came out a little hoarse, "what answer does the sect consider correct?"
The elder gave a faint smile—not a warm one, but the kind worn by someone who had lived far too long.
"That answer," he said softly, "is not decided by us."
I fell silent.
He continued, his steps resuming slowly.
"The final question was never about a flaw in cultivation," he said,"but about how one views their own path."
I clenched my fists tighter.
"Those who answer endure and hope for luck," he went on,"choose to hand their fate over to something outside themselves."
"Those who answer start over," he glanced slightly at me,"choose to decisively cut off their past."
His steps stopped once more.
"But there is a third answer."
I held my breath.
The elder finally looked straight into my eyes.
"The answer that neither tries to fix a flaw," he said quietly, "nor walks the same road again."
"But instead—realizes that from the very beginning, there was never a road prepared for them at all."
My blood surged.
"Young man," he continued, his voice almost a whisper, "if someone answers without bearing any consequences…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
But I understood.
I lowered my head, my thoughts in turmoil.
If that was the case—then I had never been walking the same path as them from the start.
The elder walked away.
"From today onward," he said without looking back, "be careful of questions that seem too simple."
"Because more often than not—they are not trials for your body, but for your origin."
I stood there, frozen.
Beyond the open gates of the sect—
I finally realized one thing.
Maybe…what had been tested from the very beginning wasn't whether I was worthy of becoming a cultivator.
But—
whether I truly belonged to this world.