Volume Five: Ancient Legends - Chapter Forty-Eight: Immortal Sect Selection

Immortals—powerful beings that have existed since the dawn of time.

Legends of immortals are whispered in many realms, yet very few mortals ever cross the threshold into their domain. Perhaps it is a realm forever beyond reach, or perhaps those who enter it learn secrets too vast to be spoken. Most who ascend simply choose silence, and so it has remained through the years.

This is the most fundamental survival law of the immortals; those who draw too much attention to themselves, exposing their power to the world, inevitably court destruction.

Filled with a mixture of yearning and wonder, Chen Chen walked under the guidance of the elder who trained their bodies day after day. They journeyed toward the immortal mountain to seek immortal arts and capture their destined fate.

The path of the immortal demands iron will, or it remains forever closed. Only the exceptionally gifted can ever hope to earn its recognition.

Through years of relentless effort and perseverance, Chen Chen had barely managed to cultivate the strength required to attempt the trial. Ahead lay a journey where he would be accompanied by strangers across distant peaks, yet forced to face perilous trials alone. Destiny was descending upon the mortal world, and a heavy burden now rested upon his young shoulders.

Only by enduring could one earn the right to practice bitterly on the mountain of enlightenment, grow strong, and enter the immortal gates to study the mystic arts.

Failure to become a true immortal immediately did not mean it was impossible; everything was merely a beginning.

Chen Chen, alongside several others, followed close behind the elder, pressing on toward the immortal mountain and the gates of the immortal sect.

The immortal sect was nestled atop the immortal mountain. As Chen Chen and his companions reached the foot of the mountain, the Hundred-Step Dao-Inquiry Stone stood before them as their first test.

Chen Chen and the others were merely eleven or twelve years old. The Dao-Inquiry Stone rose a full hundred steps, demanding that every seeker of immortal fate walk forward with unyielding determination. Only by climbing to the very apex and treating every single step as a stepping stone could one barely be considered to have passed the initial trial.

Chen Chen ascended the mountain alongside the elder of the Breeze Tribe. The elder, bearing the surname Chen, was named Chen Xianyu. Rising from the immortal mountain itself, he had guided the young disciples to its foothills, standing guard over the mountain villages and shielding the Breeze Tribe from harm.

Under Chen Xianyu’s guidance, Chen Chen and the others began their ascent of the Dao-Inquiry Stone.

The stone steps stretched upward, one after another, totaling one hundred in all. Though called the Dao-Inquiry Stone, the reality was that these boys and girls possessed small frames and had accumulated little internal energy. Gathering the strength within their bodies to climb required a degree of bitter cultivation that was difficult to achieve without sustained effort—and thus, these mundane stairs had earned the name of Dao-Inquiry Stones. To seasoned warriors who had tempered their bodies for years, these steps were nothing more than a leisurely path for a pleasant stroll.

Chen Xianyu was leading a large group of novices to the immortal mountain to seek masters and learn the Dao. The immortal gates stood high upon the peak; crossing them might not guarantee apotheosis into a true immortal, but it offered the possibility of walking the path toward immortality.

On the hundred-step Dao-Inquiry Stone, Chen Xianyu acted as one of the guardians, leading the mountain youths upward in search of their destiny.

The Breeze Tribe faced its habitual survival pressure, and the once-in-a-century beast tide was drawing ever closer. Recently, rumors had spread that other villages of the Breeze Tribe had also suffered from beast disturbances and clashed fiercely with humankind. Some of these beasts were decades or even centuries old, while others possessed millennia of cultivation.

Fortunately, the various villages of the Breeze Tribe possessed foresight. Only by sending their youths to bitterly cultivate on the immortal mountain could they hope to produce warriors capable of rivaling those beasts one day.

As the immortal bells tolled across the immortal mountain, villages spanning tens of miles within the Breeze Tribe received the decree: the immortal sect was opening its doors to recruit disciples.

The immortal sect rose in harmony with the mountain's contours, shrouded in ethereal mists. It was known as the Misty Sect.

Having stood for ages, the Misty Sect had laid claim to this tribal region since the founding of the Great Cultivation Nation. Beyond the Breeze Tribe, countless other tribes existed, each possessing its own immortal mountain and immortal gate. Together, they formed the territory of the Great Cultivation Nation, within whose capital resided the Immortal Kings who guarded the realm.

Sagehood was the realm of the monarch. Under the leadership of the Holy Lord, the Breeze Tribe was undergoing a profound transformation.

They needed to select a new generation of successors to guard the tribe. In the decades to come, the older generation of tribal guardians would gradually age, stepping down to live out their remaining years in peace.

Amidst the younger generation, Chen Chen and his peers would rise to the occasion, becoming the vanguard nurtured by the immortal mountain, bearing the heavy responsibility of protecting their tribe.

The hearth and home formed the tiny space of their survival. The village was the homeland they depended on. The tribe was the territory that bound them closely together. And the nation represented the dignity of their land and people.

Before this journey, Chen Chen and the others had already bid farewell to their parents. Upon the immortal mountain, the mountain's own rules of survival prevailed.

On the towering hundred-step Dao-Inquiry Stone, Chen Xianyu and several other guardians flanked the youths, protecting them front and back. Relying on their small frames, Chen Chen and his companions labored upward along the dao steps.

No outside assistance or support was permitted along the way; Chen Chen and the others had to rely entirely on their own efforts and perseverance to reach the highest tier.

As they climbed higher, the breaths of Chen Chen and the others grew increasingly ragged. As time passed, Chen Chen's figure gradually emerged clearer in the sight of the onlookers.

He wore a rough tiger-skin coat, radiating an aura of cold resilience and strength. His face was youthful and handsome, driven by an undying resolve.

He must grow stronger all the way, just to earn the right to know the truth of the world. He must grow stronger all the way, just to qualify to help guard the boundless lands of his homeland. He must grow stronger all the way, just to carve out a tomorrow amidst fierce competition.

As time wore on, Chen Xianyu and the guardians continued their ascent of the Dao-Inquiry Stone alongside the youths.

By the time they reached the fortieth or fiftieth step, the climb had become exceedingly arduous. Chen Xianyu stood by as a guardian, accompanying the boys and girls as they scaled the Dao-Inquiry Stone. Looking back and forth, he saw he was guiding four or five youths in total.

Further up the stairs, one or two children could no longer bear the strain; they sat down on the steps halfway up the mountain, throwing tantrums, wishing to ascend the immortal gates yet unwilling to climb under their own power.

Yet the rules for the Misty Sect's first trial were ironclad. The children undergoing the assessment had to rely solely on their own efforts to traverse the hundred steps of the Dao-Inquiry Stone before they could be deemed qualified to face the second trial.

Consequently, Chen Xianyu instructed the guardian bringing up the rear of the procession to escort a failing young girl back down the mountain. Though the girl lacked sufficient stamina on this journey, her participation at least fulfilled the spirit of striving.

Shortly after Chen Xianyu’s group reached the dao platforms, the selection teams from the other seven villages of the Breeze Tribe arrived one after another at the immortal mountain where the Misty Sect stood.

Apart from the village of Chen Xianyu and Chen Chen, candidates from those other seven villages were also fully prepared and eager to participate in the trials. Some of the delegation leaders from these villages had come with the intent of vying for other positions, such as teaching roles within the sect.

Some selection teams from those villages were already on the road, while others were making frantic final preparations.

Chen Chen, Chen Xianyu, and the others were still crawling upward along the dao steps.

Meanwhile, cultivators of profound power from the Breeze Tribe stepped upon flying gourds, soaring through the air with friends from the mountains, and arrived at the foot of the immortal mountain in the blink of an eye.

They understood the rules of the Misty Sect atop the immortal mountain well. This was a journey to seek affinity and inquire of the Dao. Walking the hundred steps of the Dao-Inquiry Stone would reveal whether the participating youths were dragons or mere worms, whether they possessed the endurance to survive a few steps, and whether they had the destiny to cultivate upon this mountain.

As the first and second teams led their groups into the immortal mountain to join the competition, more delegations arrived, gathering at the foot of the Misty Sect's mountain.

The Misty Sect did not appear excessively opulent, but it owed its renowned reputation entirely to the true immortals residing within its peaks who imparted mystic arts.

With the arrival of each new selection team, more tribes began to emulate the Breeze Tribe's recruitment methods. They prepared to complete their selections, fortify their respective tribes in one fell swoop, and brace for the upcoming centennial beast tide.

Chen Chen pressed forward step by step on the dao stairs. When he reached the sixty-seventh step, he felt as though he was reaching his absolute limit.

Dozens of steps still remained above him, and the climb would undoubtedly grow even more grueling.

By this point, several of his fellow villagers who had accompanied him to the trials had fallen behind, no longer able to climb upward under their own power.

Fortunately, Chen Chen refused to give up. The burning desire to become strong steeled his resolve. He refused to remain ignorant of how fierce worldly survival and competition truly were; he refused to ever sink back into the fate of a wandering ghost stripped of a physical body.

He understood that only by growing stronger and climbing higher could one earn the right to uncover the deeper truths of the mortal world.

Living creatures kept entirely in the dark were truly pathetic. Lacking sufficient strength, they could only swallow their grievances and compromise. Some individuals remained fools their entire lives—cheated by others, yet helping to count the money while wearing smiling faces.

Gathering a final reserve of strength, Chen Chen pushed upward once more. The steps above loomed immense and towering, making the ascent agonizingly difficult.

Around him, mountain youths from several other villages were likewise struggling upward along the hundred-step Dao-Inquiry Stone. More teams would continue to arrive over the coming days for this assessment.

However, the military commands of the Great Cultivation Nation weighed heavier than Mount Tai. A new war for survival across the land was about to begin.

There was no room for idle pleasure or unconditional survival; the only certainty was the impending arrival of trial and war—a test of humanity's capacity to endure, and proof of whether they still possessed the strength to go on living.