Everyone arrived at Asking Heart Mountain, and most felt nothing special about it, except for Man Gu, who clearly sensed his strength diminishing. His body began to align with the others, and the ancient blood of the barbarian tribe within him settled down, no longer providing him with endless power.
The group exchanged glances, and eventually, they all turned to the strongest among them, Man Gu.
"I'll go first," Man Gu said, seeing everyone looking at him. He didn’t hesitate and decided to be the first to climb.
First step, second step, third step... up to the tenth step.
Man Gu moved easily through the first ten steps, but starting from the eleventh step, the pressure began to show. It felt like he was carrying a heavy stone slab; the higher he climbed, the heavier it became.
But it was still within his limits.
He kept climbing.
After catching his breath, Man Gu headed for the twentieth step.
By the time he reached the twentieth step, each step became increasingly difficult, and his pace slowed down.
When he reached the twenty-ninth step, sweat began to seep from his back, soaking his clothes. He had to stop, panting, and sat down on the steps to rest.
"Even sitting down brings pressure," Man Gu gritted his teeth and thought to himself, too tired to talk. Now, he was just sitting down with the weight of the stone slab instead of standing, and his recovery was slow.
Seeing Man Gu struggle so much, the others realized that this mountain was not easy to climb, and they felt a bit nervous.
Someone said in a low voice, "I heard from the elders in the tribe about places like this. Asking Heart Mountain tests one's determination to seek the truth. The purer the heart, the stronger the will, and the more genuine the desire to seek the truth. If even Man Gu, known for his single-mindedness, finds it so hard, we might find it even tougher!"
"Will the calming mantra help settle the mind?" another person suggested.
The third test required them to reach the fiftieth step, and there was no need to be the first to pass. They were not in a competition at this moment.
Everyone nodded, agreeing that it was a good idea. Their elders had taught them similar mantras for self-cultivation.
Lu Yang opened his mouth but realized he didn't know any calming mantras.
"Do you want me to teach you a calming mantra?" Meng Jingzhou asked.
Lu Yang shook his head. "Not yet, I want to think of other methods."
Seeing this, Meng Jingzhou didn't insist on teaching Lu Yang the mantra.
...
When Meng Jingzhou woke up from his meditation, he felt an unprecedented calmness in his heart.
The calming mantra worked!
Meng Jingzhou meditated longer than most, and when he woke up, the others were already struggling on the twenty-thirty steps, drenched in sweat and needing immense willpower to move forward.
Big drops of sweat covered their faces, and they didn’t even have the strength to wipe their faces.
Some tried to take a shortcut, thinking that the pressure only existed on the steps, so they went around the mountain to reach the fiftieth step. But when they got there, they found that this method didn’t work; the pressure increased the higher they went on Asking Heart Mountain.
Others tried using treasures, only to find that their treasures lost power. No matter how magical the treasures were, they couldn’t even be activated, turning into useless junk.
No wonder Dai Bufan wasn’t worried about them using treasures.
Lu Yang lagged behind everyone, standing out the most.
He was barefoot on one foot, squatting on the tenth step, seemingly deep in thought, not sure what he was observing.
"What are you doing? Everyone else has climbed much further," Meng Jingzhou asked curiously.
Lu Yang didn’t answer, holding a shoe in his hand.
Lu Yang threw the shoe, and it landed on the eleventh step. "You pick it up and try."
Meng Jingzhou didn’t understand what Lu Yang meant but did as he was told. He soon realized that the shoe felt heavier than usual, as if something was pulling it down.
Meng Jingzhou started to understand. He threw the shoe to the twelfth step and noticed that it fell at the same speed as on the eleventh step, but it felt heavier when he picked it up.
"Did you discover a pattern?"
Meng Jingzhou frowned. "If an object doesn’t fall, the pressure won’t act on it. Only when it touches the ground will there be extra pressure?"
"Exactly." Lu Yang clapped his hands, pleased to find someone who shared his thoughts.
Meng Jingzhou, thinking quickly in his calm state, said, "The steps are slanted, and there are so many trees here. We can make a ‘7’-shaped ladder, with one end buried in the ground and the other reaching the fiftieth step."
Lu Yang confidently said, "Yes, this third test must be testing our wisdom. This is the right answer!"
Meng Jingzhou understood Lu Yang's idea but quickly raised another question: "How do we cut the trees?"
Without axes or saws, how could they cut trees to make a ladder?
"Do you have any sharp treasures?" Lu Yang had already thought of this problem.
He considered collaborating with others, but unfortunately, no one else understood his ideas.
Meng Jingzhou took out a dagger. "This was given to me by the elder for self-defense. It can be activated with thought, and its speed is comparable to that of someone in the Golden Core stage, but it can't fly here on Asking Heart Mountain."
"That's fine, as long as it's sharp." Lu Yang smiled. The Meng family was a big clan, and their treasures, even if they couldn’t be activated, were much sharper than ordinary axes or saws.
Perfect for cutting trees.
"Come look, while you were meditating, I already designed the blueprint."
Lu Yang led Meng Jingzhou to a patch of soft sandy ground, where he had drawn the ‘7’-shaped ladder design.
After a brief discussion, they got to work.
The Meng family's dagger was indeed sharp. Thick trees fell before it like paper, and soon, they had cut the trees into uniquely shaped wooden planks.
The trees that grew around Asking Heart Mountain were just ordinary ones, like those found anywhere.
Soon, Meng Jingzhou encountered another problem.
"How do we connect these two wooden planks? We don’t have nails, and even if we did, we couldn’t join such thick planks."
"Have you heard of the mortise and tenon joint?"
"No."
Lu Yang sighed. While he shaped the connection points into a mortise and tenon joint with the dagger, he explained the wisdom of the ordinary world to Meng Jingzhou.
"This protruding part is called the tenon, and this recessed part is called the mortise. Together, they form the mortise and tenon joint. The biggest feature of this joint is that it can be very sturdy without using nails."
Meng Jingzhou listened attentively. The Meng family used spiritual energy for crafting, and they didn’t need mortise and tenon joints.
Meanwhile, everyone else on the steps was sweating profusely, panting heavily, all trying to reach the fiftieth step to be the first to pass.
Perhaps the first to pass would gain the favor of the Dao Seeking Sect and be nurtured.
They also understood why there was no time limit; climbing the mountain consumed too much energy. If they stayed too long, they might be too hungry to even stand, let alone climb.
Down on the steps, the two were also drenched in sweat, panting heavily. After considerable effort, they had cut down a patch of trees and, after several trials and errors, finally made the ladder.
The ladder was oddly shaped, narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, curving at the end. Rather than a ladder, it resembled a giant ‘7’.
The surrounding area was bare, as if a giant pig demon had taken a bite out of it.
Some disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect secretly glanced at Dai Bufan, remembering how he loved to boast about the lush Asking Heart Mountain.
Dai Bufan's eyelid twitched, and he unconsciously clenched his fist.
(End of Chapter)