6 The Ancient Mountain

Everyone held their breaths. Their heart was beating twice as fast.

Slowly the three way door opened.

A wild gush of dense spiritual energy rushed out towards the disciples.

"This...", the crowd exclaimed with joy.

"Yes, this is the purest spiritual energy that will help you cultivate faster. Don't worry this is just the start, inside the 3 way door you will find even denser spiritual energy. So, Hurry up!", an elder from the Wind martial sect spoke after seeing the startled expressions of the crowd.

The crowd was so excited that it rushed inside with full force, within a few minutes the entire thousands of people vanished in to the 3 way door and it closed.

As everyone entered, they saw that the whole area was covered with plants, trees and several Grade 1 beasts were roaming freely. They realized that the area inside the 3 way door was a forest.

A few people even saw some grade 1 beasts coming near them but they simply ignored them. Grade 1 beasts are said to be the weakest ones with their strength equal to an Elementary Realm 2nd stage martial arts cultivator or even weaker. Grade 1 beasts are generally calm and hence they pose no threat to the masses.

Xi Ansel saw the deep forest around him and a hint of surprise appeared. This was the first time Xi Ansel came here because in the previous life he never had the chance to take the test as he was sent to the medicinal pavilion by the vice sect leader due to his grave injuries.

As he was checking the surrounding, suddenly he heard a familiar voice.

[PURE SPIRITUAL ENERGY DETECTED]

[STARTING ABSORPTION]

'Did I hear that right? Absorb....?', as Xi Ansel was anticipating what Wu Long said, he suddenly felt a gush of warm pure spiritual energy gushing down through his meridians. It was being absorbed by his blood and bones. He suddenly felt his qi being purified and his aura rising.

'How is this possible? What is happening? How can I absorb spiritual energy without going in a meditative position?', Xi Ansel was shocked beyond words. There was a time hen he felt that he had completely understood all the functions of Wu Long but now he felt like he was duped. He realized that the more he used Wu Long the less he knew about it.

It was as if Wu Long was created to defy the heavens and break the laws of the universe.

Wu Long seemed to realize the thoughts of Xi Ansel and answered....." [ Master, as I had remodeled your body, it can now absorb spiritual energy ten times faster without even going in a meditative position.]

[ABSORPTION COMPLETE]

As these last 2 words were heard, a sudden gush of powerful energy spread into the surroundings originated from Xi Ansel's body.

BOOM!

A loud sound could be heard from Xi Ansel's body.

'Breakthrough!!', Xi Ansel gasped inside.

[CONGRATULATIONS MASTER!! FOR REACHING ELEMENTARY REALM 3RD STAGE]

As Xi Ansel was surprised by his sudden breakthrough and was examining his body, he didn't realize the whole crowd's gazes towards him.

"Damn! What the hell? Breakthrough!"

"What kind of monster is he?"

"How can he absorb the dense spiritual energy while walking?"

"It took me 8 months to reach 3rd stage Elementary realm and he broke through just like that!", everyone in the crowd looked towards towards Xi Ansel with their mouths wide open with an astonished gaze. Even the elders that were leading the way were flabbergasted.

The vice leaders of the 3 sects looked towards the direction of Xi Ansel a bit of surprise appeared in their eyes but it quickly went away. Their faces reverted back to their original self.

Xi Ansel looked towards the crowd and enjoyed, after seeing the look of envy and jealousy people gave him. He felt refreshed seeing those expressions.

Xi Ansel said jokingly, 'Wu Long, Why did the energy accumulation stop? Can't you absorb a bit more?'

[That was the maximum energy that could be absorbed by your body at this time, if I were to exceed the limit, your body would burst. So, Master it's good not to be greedy!]

Hearing Wu Long's explanation Xi Ansel felt awkward. He just said that jokingly but never expected to get an answer.

Suddenly everyone stopped in front of a huge mountain. The mountain was as large as the naked eye could see. Everyone saw the mountain touching the skies. Fog covered the mountain but still parts of it were vaguely visible.

The elder from the Wind Martial Sect who was leading the crowd stopped. He turned around and started speaking, " This is known as the ancient mountain. It was built by the ancestors to nurture the younger generations. There are a total of 10,000 steps in this mountain. "

"The higher you climb the higher the gains. Let me explain you the method of selection-

If you climb more than 1000 steps you are welcome as an outer disciple. If you climb more than 3000 steps you are selected as an inner disciple and if you were to climb more than 6000 steps, you will be selected as a core disciple. Although, in the past two years, no-one has been able to reach the 6000th step. That's the reason for the declining strength of the sects.", as the elder came to the end of the explanation he could only sigh.

Suddenly a young and cheerful voice from the crowd could be heard," Elder, has anyone ever reached the 10,000th step?", following the voice the crowd turned to look at the 15 year old Xi Ansel standing there with an inquisitive look.

Now even the crowd was curious to know the answer as they turned back to look towards the elder with an excited expression.

Seeing the curious expressions of thousands of children the elder laughed, "HAHAHA! young people these days sure are interesting", saying so he turned to look towards Xi Ansel with an amiable expression, continued, " For the thousands of years no-one had been able to reach the top, even when we were kids we couldn't reach that level, even our sect master and vice sect master couldn't accomplish this feat."

"But legend says that about a hundred thousand years ago there was an exceptionally talented man who was also a direct disciple of the most powerful master at that time. He was also known as the unparalleled genius of that time. Only he was able to reach the 10,000th step before fainting. He only said a single sentence after waking up, " The power above is unfathomable, If one can yield it, one can take over the heavens." He knew that he only had one chance to get that treasure but he couldn't achieve as he just fainted. This became his life's biggest regret and eventually he faded in the tides of history. So no-one actually knows what there is but one thing is for sure that it's a heaven defying treasure."

After hearing those words everyone looked at one another. Their blood started rushing at an extremely fast rate. Crack! Crack! They cracked their bones, ready to take action. Some even stretched themselves ready to leap at any moment on the mountain. Everyone in the crowd looked towards the peak of the mountain like hungry wolves looking at their prey.

The only thing in everyone's mind was to 'GET THE TREASURE' for themselves. The first priority was to get the treasure and eventually they would also get a position in the sect as a core disciple. It was like killing two birds with a single stone.

Even Xi Ansel was flabbergasted after hearing the elder's words but then a smile crept on his face.

The elder after explaining and seeing the excited expressions of the disciples said, "Now the participants and the non-participants separate. It's time to start."

The family members of the examinees who came to watch their child perform, quickly separated and went towards the direction the elder pointed. It was safe for them to watch it from far away.

The crowd was divided in two halves one was in front of the mountain which was of the examinees and the other was a mile away which was of their parents, relatives or martial artists who came to view the test.

The reason the elder told the crowd to be far away was - so as to not interfere with the exam. If anyone above the Elementary realm were to step on the mountain, his/her body would burst into a million pieces.

The elder pointed his finger on the sky and said," May the heavens be with you. You can now start!".

The instant they heard the voice the whole crowd jumped towards the mountain, like a ravenous beast towards their food.

Xi Ansel stood there silently watching the show. After a while he slowly walked towards the first step. As soon as he stepped on the first step, he heard a faint and dull voice in his head, "COME". This voice was not of Wu Long's but it felt as if it came from the peak of the mountain.

Xi Ansel stood there on the 1st step and looked left and right to see if anyone heard that but all he could see was the crowd rushing and pushing each other to climb further.

Now he was sure that the voice came from the mountain's peak.

Thus, Xi Ansel dissipated all of his thoughts and with curiosity started moving towards the peak.