Everyone who had started late had formed a group of their own under some tacit understanding. They passed the hundred steps without much difficulty. Since they had all started climbing together, a certain kind of kinship had formed between them.
After only two hundred steps, their group encountered the first straggler. The boy didn't seem in the right condition. He lay flat on his stomach, his body sprawled across the stairs. Foam gathered at the corner of his mouth as he breathed in ragged gasps. Lingling's eyes widened with concern as she instinctively moved toward him.
"Leave him be."
A girl in regal clothes stepped forward, her tone carrying the weight of someone used to being obeyed. Xiaomeng remembered her from the hushed whispers at the foot of the stairs. Rong Ning, one of the noble-born children. "If there was any actual risk, the sect would have already taken appropriate measures."
Hearing the words, Lingling froze mid-step. Xiaomeng took her hand and gently pulled her back. "What she says is most likely true. He just couldn't bear the pressure and fainted." Xiaomeng pointed at the boy. "Look, his breathing is shallow, but there doesn't seem to be any real damage done to him. The sect wouldn't let anyone die in an entrance test, probably"
Lingling nodded and continued upward. Even so, she cast one final worried glance back at the twitching boy.
Moving ahead, the group encountered more cases like the first one. Many children had collapsed on the stairs. Some were unconscious, others wept from either frustration or pain. The ones who had rushed ahead without adapting to the pressure, Xiaomeng realized. Their bodies and souls had destabilized from the sudden strain. If they'd taken it slowly, paced themselves well, they might have reached further.
After the four hundredth step, the children they encountered were exhausted but still able to struggle onwards. The pressure now was several times stronger than at the first step, yet the group around her climbed steadily, not showing any signs of struggle.
Rong Ning's expression remained cool and collected. The burly boy, Tieshan, cracked his neck occasionally but showed no real strain. The fan-wielding elegant boy, Gu Yichen, was waving his fan rapidly, using it to generate a small breeze of cold air for himself. Even the seemingly soft and sheltered Lingling kept pace without complaint.
But Xiaomeng herself was starting to find it a little difficult to carry on!
Spiritual roots not only increased the affinity with spiritual energy, but they also enriched the body since birth. That much was very obvious now. Everyone around her had either a blessed single-element root or a dual-element root. All far better than her self-made three-element root, which wasn't even as good as a natural one of the same type. Their bodies had been subtly strengthened by the energy flowing through them their whole lives, and hers hadn't.
Xiaomeng's breathing grew a little ragged. Her steps became a little uneven. Yet, she was not ready to give up.
She slowly began circulating her special body refinement technique. It didn't help with cultivation at all and only strengthened the physical body a bit, which made it nearly impossible to be detected even by stronger cultivators at first glance. The effect was subtle at first. Her breathing soon stabilized and her steps found rhythm again. The pressure didn't lessen, but her body coped better.
From somewhere behind, she felt a gaze burrowing into her. Glancing back, her eyes again met those silvery-lavender eyes. Right at that moment, she stumbled on the stairs, but Lingling caught her from beside her. Regaining her balance, she once again looked back with a smile. Tian Yao's expression didn't change. She simply looked away from Xiaomeng and continued climbing.
Lingling tugged Xiaomeng's sleeve. "Hey," she whispered. "Did you get into conflict with her somehow?" Xiaomeng shook her head at that.
"Good. Just maintain some distance from her." Lingling's voice dropped even lower. "Before you arrived, I asked around a little. She's the First Elder's personal disciple. Once we're in the sect, she'll have higher status and more influence than anyone here." Xiaomeng smiled wryly at her words.
"You!" Lingling stamped her foot in frustration.
The sudden exclamation made everyone's head turn. Lingling's face burned bright red as she'd spoken too loudly, and now all attention was on her. She ducked behind Xiaomeng immediately, hiding her flushed cheeks against Xiaomeng's back.
Before all the attention could shift on Xiaomeng, a commotion ahead diverted everyone's focus.
"Meng Chou! You'll pay for this!"
A young man in ordinary clothes knelt on the stairs. His whole body was trembling with rage. Ahead of him, a well-dressed youth in white robes with gold embroidery laughed contemptuously, one arm wrapped possessively around a gentle-faced girl who wouldn't meet the kneeling man's eyes.
"Accept the reality, Shen Yi." Meng Chou's voice dripped with ridicule. "You're a cripple now. Your cultivation is finished. Shen Yao's family has already agreed to our engagement. If you want to stay safe, don't ever show your face near us again." He then tightened his grip on the girl's hand and continued climbing, ignoring the newly arrived group entirely.
'Shen Yi' remained kneeling, staring at their retreating backs. His eyes had turned blood red, hatred burning so fiercely it was almost visible. If eyes could kill, Meng Chou would have died a hundred times in that single instant.
Xiaomeng just observed the scene with mild disinterest. This kind of thing was a daily occurrence in the Upper Realm. Most of the time, the weaker person would die seeking opportunities. And if by some stroke of luck they encountered an ancient legacy, they would simply be hunted down by its original owner's enemies. It was just like a game of cat and mouse with the cat constantly changing.
A low crunching sound broke the silence.
All eyes turned to its source. Gu Yichen stood there, holding a small handful of nuts, crunching on them with evident delight. He pulled his hand back at the sudden attention.
"What? I only have a handful here," he seriously said. "I'm definitely not sharing any."
Rong Ning's fist shot toward his gut, but Gu Yichen twisted aside at the last moment, narrowly avoiding the blow.
"No need to get so violent over a few nuts," he protested.
Seeing her attack fail, Rong Ning ignored him completely and resumed climbing without a word.
Tieshan walked past Gu Yichen, pausing to give him a long, pitying look.
Gu Yichen was genuinely confused. "What?"
Tieshan said nothing, just shook his head and kept climbing, his expression somehow growing more sympathetic with each step.
"What?" No reply came back. "Can someone explain what happened?" Gu Yichen raised his voice. "This was even better than the dramas at the theaters back home!" But no one paid him any mind and continued on.
Idiot, Xiaomeng thought, ignoring him as well. Her gaze trailed behind Tian Yao, who had gotten ahead at some point.
Soon enough, the group had passed the six hundredth step.
They had come across more than half the children who had rushed ahead. They were sprawled across the stairs at various places, exhausted and defeated, waiting for the sect to retrieve them. The pressure here was dozens of times stronger than it had been on the first step. Even Xiaomeng, with her body refinement technique, could feel it pressing down on her from all sides. Her breaths deepened.
But what puzzled her the most was Lingling. The soft-hearted girl who panicked at a slight sign of confrontation, who hid behind others when embarrassed, who admitted to skipping her lessons, that same girl climbed steadily beside her without breaking a sweat.
Lingling caught her looking and flashed a bright, innocent smile. Xiaomeng decided not to question it. Some things were better left unexplored. She also had secrets of her own.
During these six hundred steps, Xiaomeng had noticed something peculiar about the stairs. They obviously radiated pressure, but they also strengthened the climber's body and soul. Each step, when first trodden upon, seemed to refine the body and soul subtly. And it only worked once. She'd tested it by stepping back down a few steps, but the refinement was completely gone, as if that step had already given everything it could.
With higher pressure came stronger refinement. The others had known this from the start or figured it out quickly. That was why they moved steadily, one step at a time, never rushing. Each step was an opportunity to get stronger and improve themselves.
Xiaomeng had heard of such things in the Upper Realm, special artifacts and arrays designed to temper groups of disciples. But experiencing it herself was completely different. She could feel herself growing steadily stronger with each step, her soul growing more condensed and her body becoming more resilient.
High above, hidden within the feathery clouds, four figures observed the scene below.
"Well, this is interesting." The Third Elder stroked his beard, amusement coloring his voice. "Every year, the talented youngsters compete to see who can climb fastest. This time, they're moving in a group and chatting like old friends at a tea ceremony."
The Second Elder nodded, his gaze fixed on specific figures below. "Is that so bad? Last year's batch ignored cultivation entirely and spent all their time playing politics. Their progress has suffered because of it." He gestured downward. "At least this group has more sense. And there are quite a few good seeds among them." His eyes lingered on Tieshan and Gu Yichen. One relied more on brute strength, while the other relied on cunning and intelligence.
"What the Second Elder says has merit." The Third Elder conceded with a slight nod. "Still, a little competition tempers the dao heart. They need setbacks to grow." His gaze shifted meaningfully. "Especially the First Elder's disciple."
The First Elder, an aged man whose age was impossible to guess, allowed a satisfied smile to touch his lips. He watched Tian Yao climb with effortless grace, untroubled by the pressure that had already broken thousands of others.
"There is no one there who can make her face a setback." The First Elder shook his head.
The Fourth Elder clicked his tongue. "Tch. First time I've seen you smile so openly."
The others laughed, their sound swallowed by wind and clouds.
The Fourth Elder's gaze drifted across the stairs, cataloging potential disciples. He briefly noted the girl in the middle of the pack who seemed the most ordinary among the extraordinary ones.