……….
When Zilan had just arrived before the altar, the majority of the audience were extremely envious, some of them imagined themselves in his shoes while others wished ill on him, praying that he would suddenly choke to death. When he was standing above the ‘Supreme Scripture’ their feelings of envy and jealousy were quickly converted to expectancy. They all wanted to witness what kind of reaction the supreme scripture would have when he attempted to possess it. Would a big battle break out? If so, how strong would the Supreme scripture be? It surely had to be considerably more dangerous than the Legendary scriptures, right? Thinking up to that point, many of them were looking forward to seeing Zilan get his a** handed to him.
When they saw his shocked expression after he had read the things scribbled onto the altar, their excitement reached the peak. Watching him then reach out for the tome had them all sitting on pins and needles, they were at the edge of their seats. Silence took over the grounds and the anticipation could not be higher. However, what happened next was akin to Zilan collectively slapping the sense out of them.
“He walked away.” Whispered one of the spectators, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at Zilan’s back.
“Why is he walking away?” asked another person, tears welling up in his eyes.
Confusion, anger, hatred, became the theme of the spectators’ area. It was like Zilan was telling them with his actions, ‘Don’t try and comprehend my actions with your small brains.’ Which obviously was not the case as Zilan could care less about the people watching. Of course, they did not know this and thus came up with their own conclusions.
In the Elder’s area, even the Elders could not comprehend his actions. “Why can’t he just do things normally?” shouted Wazimu. He was annoyed because he was actually rooting for Zilan and seeing him pull what he thought to be a ‘publicity stunt’ just like the other antics he had pulled in prior competitions, Wazimu could not sit still.
“I’m going to talk some sense into that kid.” Before any of the other Elders could stop him, Wazimu had already taken off at full speed. Unfortunately for him, no sooner had he travelled twenty metres did a mysterious force suddenly clamp down on his movements. He could barely stand let alone walk and in the entire Association only one person was capable of reducing him to such a state. All of the Elders were watching this play out and some of the more perceptive ones like the First, Second and Fourth Elder could tell that there was more to the story of this year’s Concealed Scripture Display than met the eye. Of course it went without saying that Wazimu was also in the know.
……………….
Zilan followed that unique feeling’s direction and it had surprisingly led him back to the stairway only it no longer looked like a stairway. The dark staircase had morphed into a horizontal passage, that stretched about a hundred metres into the distance. With his exceptional eyesight Zilan could not make out anything particularly dangerous but he did notice that every ten metres, a mark, that he could not recognise was placed on the walkway. Although he did not know what it was or what it represented, he still felt threatened by the aura it exuded.
“Looks like you’re not going to make this easy.” Zilan sighed. “Very well then.”
His first step onto the walkway unlike his first step onto the stairway was very eventful. The world around Zilan shifted and he was no longer above the mountain but instead in space. To his right and left a vast expanse of nothingness could be seen all around, burning bright lights that seemed close but were actually extremely far away were like treats to his eyes. Marvelling at the scenes as well as the environment Zilan was not only shocked but also exceedingly impressed.
The area around was not fake, it was not an illusion, that much he could tell. As for how it was possible for him to be in such a predicament, he did not know, all he knew for sure was that this was the final ‘test’ by the Chairman.
Surprisingly though, the spectators could still see Zilan above the mountain, clear as day, from their viewpoint. Even now, as he was about to take his second step, the audience could clearly see his feet move which obviously meant his body and the part of him that was in ‘space’ presumably his soul was synchronised. Whatever his body did, his soul in ‘space’ would do the same just that they were experiencing different things.
With each step on the space walkway, Zilan could feel a piece of himself disappear. It was a weird thing to describe but it was also beyond frightening for him. This wasn’t about memory, this was literally a part of him, his soul, the thing that made him, him, was being taken away step by step. Looking forward in fright, Zilan could see a blinding white mirror twice his size at the end of the walkway. As if sensing his fear, the mirror’s light dimmed and the markings on the walkway suddenly grew brighter, the pressure on him consequently doubled.
A few words appeared on the walkway in space, “Reach the end and all will be restored, fail and everything will end here. Turn back now if you cannot bare this trial. Without conviction you cannot accept the thing you seek.”
Looking at those words Zilan oddly wanted to laugh, “Conviction?..Hahaha…”
His feet which had stalled due to the fear of losing himself suddenly quickened and he began running. 3 metres, 2 metres, 1 metre…..The moment he came into contact with the marking after the first 10 metres, Zilan’s body both in ‘space’ and above the mountain instantly toppled to the ground. The strange part though was that in ‘space’ it was almost like a reflexive action that he could not control, the power that could erase his soul had jumped and become even stronger after he’d crossed the first marking to the point that he didn’t even dare to move. This was his inherent fear and longing for existence that pushed him down.
Above the mountain though, Zilan’s body was also sprawled on the ground. The only difference was that it was a physical force pushing him down.
Lightly panting, the Zilan in space suddenly growled. “Without your help, the future isn’t all that bright anyway…so f**k it!”
“AHHH!” Gritting his teeth, he ran forward, all the while bits and pieces of his body like tiny puzzle pieces were slowly falling before evaporating from existence. It was an indescribable emotion, feeling a part of you not die, but actually seize to exist. Nevertheless, Zilan continued to run forward towards the white mirror.
On the physical walkway, Zilan’s body was now standing perfectly straight. One of his Divine abilities that he had gotten once he became an Adolescent Spring Dragon was fully activated. Raw power could be felt coming from him. Double his amount of power to be exact. The Divine Ability was called [Spring’s Embrace] and it doubled solely the physical/body strength he possessed for a period of time, cultivation was not affected. That being said, it was still a huge improvement as Zilan’s physical body was no joke.
His body thus did exactly what his soul was doing, it took off forwards towards the end of the walkway. It was quite peculiar as Zilan could feel himself or a small part of himself still controlling his body as his soul was running up in ‘space’. The power required to do this without causing permanent irreparable harm was something he couldn’t help but be in awe of.
