Death

The snake quickly arose to the surface of the lake.

"You little brats dare to cultivate in MY lake?"

Chu Feng and Wu Zhen slowly backed away from the lake, preparing to run. Suddenly, the snake flew at Chu Feng, coiling up around him and preventing him from moving.

"If you dare take another step, this boy will die."

Wu Zhen stopped moving. He still valued Chu Feng's life. His chances of survival would be higher with another person, and if Chu Feng died, who could he talk to? The snake started speaking once more

"If you brats agree to be my servant for the next 10 years, I'll let you live. Otherwise, well, killing you two isn't that hard for me."

Wu Zhen sighed deeply, "Fine, we'll be your servants, just don't harm him."

The snake released Chu Feng, who ran behind Wu Zhen and was shaking in fear. This snake was no joke.

"You have to do everything I say, or else I'll kill you. If you do well, I'll let you cultivate in the lake alongside me, the Snake Lord! Understood?"

"Understood!", Wu Zhen and Chu Feng said in unison.

Being the snake's servant was tough. To satisfy the snake's appetite, they had to hunt at least three demons every day for their meat. Every day was a matter of life and death. Would they be able to manage to keep up with its hunger, or would they be the ones eaten instead? The worst part was, the snake's appetite was still growing.

He had asked the snake how strong it was exactly, but it refused to tell. He had also asked the snake what was in the other passageway. It responded that the other passageway led to death. Turns out, they were actually pretty lucky that they didn't die. Mount Thundersea was truly terrifying. If demons were already this powerful at the lower levels, how monstrous would they be near the peak?

The days spent doing errands for the snake were tedious. It had already been 3 months since they had started, and they were getting closer to the deadline of the trial's ending. They had to escape soon, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to summit.

In the last 3 months, the snake had awarded them some time in the lake for all their troubles. Using this, Wu Zhen had already broken through to Qi Condensation 5, and Chu Feng was close to breaking through to Qi Condensation 4. They knew that they had to defeat the snake soon, but how? They were completely controlled by it. They didn't know how strong it was, but they were certain it was enough to end their puny existence in an instant. Wu Zhen and Chu Feng began to grow desperate, constantly thinking of ways to escape.

When one servant went on a task, the snake purposefully let the other one cultivate in the lake so that if the servant going on a task ever escapes, he could easily kill the other one. The only way to escape was to abandon your fellow servant. The snake didn't even really care if one escaped, it just wanted to see how long it would take for the servants to betray each other.

Wu Zhen and Chu Feng both knew this, but they were reluctant to sacrifice each other to escape. By this point, they were already considering escaping every time they went out for tasks. Eventually, Wu Zhen grew sick of it to that point that he had decided that enough was enough. He knew that by the time a year had passed, they would either betray each other or the snake would grow bored of them and kill them. If it was going to be like this, he wanted to go out on his own terms. At midnight, he woke up Chu Feng and told him he was going to be exploring the other passageway.

Chu Feng tried to stop him, but he knew that if Wu Zhen decided on it, he would stop at nothing to accomplish it. Otherwise, how could a poor kid like him even have made it to the rank of martial arts apprentice?

Wu Zhen told Chu Feng that if he didn't come back out, he should just tell the snake lord that it was his dying wish that his friend left alive. Even though there wasn't much of a chance that the snake actually cared, it was still worth trying.

He walked through the passageway, closing his eyes, waiting for death's embrace. He shivered every step he took. Did he really have to die? He put on a brave facade in front of Chu Feng, who he treated like his younger brother, but in reality, he was still scared. Tears couldn't stop flowing out of his eyes, was this it? He had chanced upon great fortune, but he was still unqualified to inherit it. Maybe he should've stayed back in that village after all.

He prayed to god, maybe he would help him. Anything. He would take anything at this point. He just didn't want to die. He didn't want to die, bawling like a crybaby, knowing he was walking towards his own death.

Then, his body dropped to the floor. No heartbeat, dead through and through. He slowly rose from his own body. When he looked down, he could see it. Was that his corpse? Was the snake actually telling the truth?

His form was that of a ghostly version of himself, he had no senses, yet he felt like he knew everything that was happening around his body. It was a strange feeling.

Suddenly, more words popped up, floating in the air.

[Wu Zhen has unlocked the secret trial 'Awakening of the soul']

After saying this, he was teleported to what seemed like a completely new realm, with nothing but stairs in front of him. For some reason, the teleportation made him incredibly nauseous this time. Perhaps it was because he was just a soul now.

His mood had gotten significantly better. Since this was a 'secret trial', it seemed like something planned by the mysterious voice. It definitely wouldn't just kill him, right? Honestly, he had no idea what was going on right now. Was he dead or alive? Or was he in some sort of in-between?

Fortunately, more words popped up to guide him to what he actually had to do.

[Climb the Staircase of Sanity without going insane.]

It seems like the Staircase of Sanity was the staircase right in front of him. Considering the name and the objective, it seemed like the staircase would cause him to go insane?

He didn't care. He had to return to his physical body somehow, and the only path seemed to be up the staircase.

He stepped foot on the first step of the stairway. Illusions assaulted him from all directions. The illusions were mostly people he knew and things that he was scared of, but they also assaulted his mental state. They made him question whether it was really worth it to even continue, that maybe it would be best to embrace death and escape from this prison. Still, he stepped forward.

With every step, the doubt and illusions only grew stronger.

"They're illusions, illusions, illusions are all they are. You can't let them trick you, Wu Zhen, you have a physical body you have to get back to! You have to continue living!"

He climbed and climbed, eventually stopping at the 53rd step. The voices in his head only multiplied, the visions greatly increased. He couldn't make out a single word of what they were saying. All he could feel was fear. Pure fear. He was stuck in place, unable to move a single step backward or forward.

He tried to think of something else, anything else, but it didn't work. What was this fear? How could he, the great Wu Zhen lose to a mere illusion? But was it an illusion? Could it be real? Was any of this real?

Wu Zhen stopped thinking. He thought of nothing. Curses were flung at him; It felt like everyone he knew was telling him to give up, to just give up his sanity to end his pain.

He fully cleared his thoughts, forcing out every thought he had in his mind. All his doubt, all his suspicion, and his fear too. He now only had one thought: STEP. FORWARD. His entire mind was dedicated to this one purpose, stepping forward. He knew this tranquility wouldn't last long, so he ran as fast as he could, making it up to the 82nd step before the tranquility was utterly broken apart by the innumerous illusions.

Doubt and fear came back even stronger.

It felt like everyone he ever knew was telling him to give up, telling him to rest, that it would be fine. Wu Zhen knew it was an illusion, but he still missed them. He can't back out though, not now.