Steps of Death
The disciple looked at Yama in contempt when he heard his name, the disciple can tell Yama didn't give his actual name but regardless he still had to write it down as there are cultivators who uses different aliases, but how can the disciple know that Yama is the name of the Lord of Hell and God of Death.
"Go inside and wait for your name to be called, you will get more instructions inside. The cultivators who have registered on the fifth stall is going to start their test soon so quickly go inside and join." The disciple said as he waved Yama off.
Yama walked through the entrance door, as soon as he walked through he was teleported instantly to a open field where all the cultivators were standing, the field was very large it could easily fit more than six thousand cultivators and they will still be plenty of space left.
Yama can tell that this must be a illusion that he was transported too, because this looked nowhere near like a academy should look like, just then a voice resounded across.
"Welcome everyone to the trial grounds... This is a special training ground in the academy that you have been teleported too, this is usually used for test purposes for new students. Let me first start by saying that you will have to take three tests if you pass two of them then you will be a student of this academy, if not you will be teleported back to where you came from.
Let me first give you the details of your first test. The first test will test your will and determination" as soon as the voice ended, out of nowhere a tall and wide staircase was summoned in front of all the cultivators, the cultivators where bewildered by this scene, just then the exact voice resounded throughout the grounds.
"Let me introduce you to the pressure staircase, it is also known as the Steps of Death. This staircase consists of 500 steps. These step consists of killing intent, so every step you take will result in the increase of intent and pressure.
If you cannot take forward a step then quit otherwise you will either end up dying or hurting yourself very bad, your results will be recorded and you will know wether you have passed or not, even if you fail this test you would not need to worry as you will have two more tests to take as long as you pass the others you will pass"
The cultivators where all surprised when they heard this, all what was running through their mind was what was the minimum to get a pass, since the person hasn't said anything about it suddenly someone amongst the crowd shouted out.
"What is the highest anyone got to on the steps of death?"
Everyone turned to look at the person who shouted, they were surprised straight away because this was none other than a well known cultivator.
"That's Fen Juechen! Why is he here?"
"That's the fen clans young master!"
"He is definitely going to pass! Why is he even doing this test?"
Everyone knew exactly who it was apart from Yama. Yama can tell from the discussions amongst the cultivators that this guy is a genius.
"Ohhh! Why isn't it the Fen clan's genius young master, Since you have asked I will tell you the highest anyone got so far is 456 steps." The voice resounded.
Everyone who listened to this was surprised, they can easily tell that no one has achieved 500 steps yet, however amongst these cultivators one person was not phased at all and that was Yama, if it is a test of killing intent, then they will be no one else better than him, however how can the people from the academy know that one of the person who is going to be challenging the Steps of Death is none other than the God of Death & the Lord of Hell.
---
Currently in the academy dozen of elders and disciples, were facing a illusionary image in front of them, the illusions of image which was being displayed is none other than the scenes of what is currently happening at the trial grounds.
"Fen Heng, What's the highest amount of steps do you think this will batch will do?" an elder asked a disciple who was sitting next to him.
"Senior, the record will be broken today!"
"Oh.. How comes your this confident?" The elder asked after seeing the confident look from the disciples face.
"The person who is going to break the record is going to be none other than my brother Fen Juechen! So I am confident very much"
"Haha! You are really confident in your brother! I know your brother is a genius, but is not easy getting past 456 steps the amount of pressure and the killing intent is going to emit is very heavy. Even I would not be able to handle it, however after seeing how confident you are if your brother can really break the record, I will give him all the resources I can to help him break through!"
"Senior... Your going to take him as a disciple to?" Fen Heng looked at the senior in surprise! He knows that this senior is the third elder of the academy Hui Ran and he has never taken a disciple before so he was excited after hearing that he will put all the resources into his brother!
"Un" Hui Ran replied.
"Junior sister, why are you smiling all of a sudden?" a disciple who was also in the room asked.
"Nothing much, I don't think it will be Fen Juechen who will break the record!" the junior sister said, if Yama was here he will instantly recognise this is none other than Ying Yue, the princess of Green Heaven Kingdom.
"Junior Sister! Don't talk nonsense, there is no one else than my brother amongst this batch who can break the record all the cultivators down there cannot even be compared to my brother" Fen Heng said to Ying Yue in contempt.
"Haha senior brother, you will know at the end if I am right or wrong." Ying Yue said paying no attention to Fen Heng.
"Sister, who caught your interest?" The person who asked was none other than the person who Yama saved while he was possessed, Ying Yue's brother Ying Tan.
"I will tell you later" Ying Yue will naturally tell her brother later, since she still hasn't told him about the incident as she was pissed off with how Yama treated and ignored a beauty like her.
---
Back at the trial grounds everyone was getting ready to take the test.
"Alright slot numbers from 1 - 400 you can start your test!"
as soon as the voice faded, 400 people moved towards the staircase, since the staircase was very wide it could accompany 400 people very easily, everyone started to take their steps, after 50 steps or so around 200 people were thrown out of the staircase one by one.
These cultivators were injured since they couldn't handle the amount of pressure which emitted, one can also tell that these cultivators have lack of experience otherwise they would have easily went up to 100 steps.
Soon after another batch of 100 cultivators where sent out of the staircase, these people easily managed to get somewhere between 100-150 steps. The remaining hundred cultivators were on the way to reaching the 200 step however one by one a cultivators was being sent out until it reduced to ten people by the 300 step.
--
Back at the academy in the room where the disciples and the elders were.
"I can't believe it this batch is better than the previous batches! ten people managed to reach the 300th step! Fen Heng your brother is in this slot right?"
"Yes Senior, I can see that he is still at the staircase!"
"Yes but it looks like he is behind someone at the moment, you sure he can beat the record?"
"Don't worry senior! My brother will definitely break the record!"
--
Back at the trial grounds, cultivators who has slots 400-800 where staring at the staircase, they found it hard to believe that there is only ten people left and they have managed to reach the 300th step.
"OMG! someone reached the 400th step!" one of the cultivators exclaimed out loud after ten minutes have passed.
Everyone turned to look at the person who reached the 400th step, by this time he was the only person standing and looking down on the other cultivators who were panting for breath, this was none other than Fen Juechen.
Fen Juechen walked slowly, each step now required him to put in a lot of effort by the time he reached the 450th step! He was panting for breath.
"OMG! He is going to break the record!" the cultivators who were watching this stood up and watched anxiously to see if a miracle will be achieved today, this also included the people who were in the academy.
Fen Juechen slowly landed on the 451th step as soon as he landed everyone can see bits of blood stain, this also meant that the pressure was getting to much for him after thirty minutes Fen Jeuchen managed to reach the 456th step, there was only one more step left to break the record.
"He is going to do it! It looks like he is going to break the record!" All the cultivators where going in a frenzy, they know that he's a genius so for them to witness this itself is a great achievement.
Fen Juechen tried to take one more step to achieve something that no one else has done at the academy but to his disappointment he was sent flying down the staircase.
"Oh No! He failed!"
"So what! He still managed get 456th step"
All the cultivators were now discussing about Fen Juechen, obviously there were some cultivators who were admiring him and some who were showing some hatred.
--
Back at the academy.
"hahaha! Fen Heng your brother really deserves the title genius! Even though he did not break the record he managed to reach 456th step which no one else has done either so this itself is a great achievement! You should be proud of yourself, I will definitely take him as my disciple"
Fen Heng was relieved after hearing the elder confirm that he will take his brother as a disciple even though he didn't break the record, regardless Fen Heng was still happy that his brother could achieve this, he then turned to look at Ying Yue with a smirk on his face.
Ying Yue obviously saw the contempt in Fen Heng's face but Ying Yue was fairly confident that Yama will easily break the record until suddenly few of the elders where shouting.
"WHAT?!?!?"
"What in the world happened to the Steps Of Death"
Ying Yue was bewildered by the reactions from the elders, she turned to look at the illusionary image and all she can see was debris on the floor, not a single piece of the staircase was left.