Volume 1, Chapter 179 – Trial of the Dao Heart

Early the next morning.

New copies of the Myriad-Phenomena Tower Cultivation Regulations had already been posted on the announcement jade walls throughout Yaochi Immortal Palace.

First floor: tenfold time flow.

Entry requirements: disciples from the Qi Refinement stage through the middle stage of Qi Refinement.

Second floor: twentyfold time flow.

Entry requirements: disciples at late-stage or peak Foundation Establishment who have passed the basic Dao Heart assessment.

Third floor: thirtyfold time flow.

Entry requirements: disciples at the Golden Core stage or above, as well as all elders of the Immortal Palace.

Supplementary rules: Disciples must present their identity jade tokens and enter in the designated order. The allocation of cultivation resources will also be based on an assessment of their daily performance.

The moment the new regulations were released, the entire Immortal Palace erupted!

Inside the Spiritual Cuisine Hall.

Several disciples who had just finished cultivating sat around a table, staring intently at the jade slips on which the regulations had been copied. Excitement and frustration warred on their faces.

“Twentyfold! Thirtyfold!”

“Good heavens… If you cultivated on the third floor for a year, wouldn’t that be equivalent to nearly thirty years of grueling cultivation outside?!”

A round-faced young man was so excited that his voice cracked.

“Dream on! Didn’t you read the requirements? You have to be at least at the Golden Core stage to enter the third floor! We’re only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. We’ve still got a long way to go!”

A slightly older senior brother beside him smacked him on the back of the head, his voice filled with emotion.

“But even the twentyfold time flow on the second floor is incredible enough… I need to hurry up and break through to late-stage Foundation Establishment!”

“I heard Elder Die Wu will personally oversee the Dao Heart assessment. It won’t be easy to pass…”

“Easy or not, we have to pass! If we miss an opportunity like this, we’ll regret it for the rest of our lives!”

At another table, several female disciples were also whispering among themselves, their eyes shining.

“The Deputy Palace Master has really thought of everything. She isn’t only considering cultivation, but character as well.”

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“Exactly. That’s the only fair way to do it. Otherwise, someone with high cultivation but bad intentions might go out into the world one day and disgrace the Immortal Palace.”

“I heard we can earn contribution points by completing sect missions or helping our junior brothers and sisters with their cultivation! Once we’ve saved up enough, we can exchange them for treasures at the sect storehouse.”

“I’ve got fairly good luck, so I can help the Alchemy Pavilion gather more spiritual herbs from now on. Once I’ve saved enough contribution points, I’ll trade them for a defensive artifact.”

On the martial practice ground, discussions of the new regulations mingled with the whistle of sword qi.

“Thirtyfold… If I could practice my swordsmanship on the third floor for ten years…”

Murong Xue lowered her sword and stood gazing toward the Myriad-Phenomena Tower to the west, fervent longing blazing in her cool eyes.

She had already reached peak Foundation Establishment and was only one final step away from the Golden Core stage.

For her, the new regulations were the most powerful incentive imaginable.

Not far away, Li Zhiwei practiced her sword forms again and again, every movement meticulous.

Her gaze occasionally flicked toward the announcement jade wall, but her expression remained perfectly calm.

To her, it did not matter which floor she cultivated on. As long as she had a sword in her hand and the Dao in her heart, she had everything that truly mattered.

Still, thirty times as much time would allow her to temper her sword intent to greater purity far more quickly.

That was undoubtedly what she needed most as well.

On Cloudmist Peak.

Li Hanyi and Yun Yun stood side by side, looking down at the excitement sweeping through the Immortal Palace in the wake of the new regulations. Their eyes shone with satisfaction.

“What the Palace Master has accomplished this time is truly astonishing.”

Yun Yun spoke gently.

“Twentyfold and thirtyfold cultivation acceleration… Forget the Southern Region. Even across the entirety of Canglan Continent, I doubt there is another place like it.”

Li Hanyi nodded slightly, her gaze settling on the Myriad-Phenomena Tower.

“Accelerated cultivation is also a form of trial.”

“For disciples of insufficient character, it may do more harm than good.”

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“Rest assured, Grand Elder.”

Yun Yun smiled faintly.

“I have already discussed the contents of the character assessment with Elder Die Wu.”

“Only those who pass will be allowed to enjoy such an opportunity.”

“Those who fail can temper themselves properly on the first floor. We can reconsider once their character has matured.”

Li Hanyi found the arrangement perfectly reasonable and said no more.

Her gaze, however, drifted involuntarily toward the main palace.

The Palace Master would soon depart on the long journey to Central Province, and there was no telling what fortune or danger awaited her.

All Li Hanyi could do was guard this place alongside the Deputy Palace Master while the Palace Master was away and wait for her return.

With the announcement of the Myriad-Phenomena Tower’s new regulations, the disciples of Yaochi Immortal Palace became more enthusiastic about cultivating than ever before.

However, anyone who wished to enter the second or third floor and enjoy its twentyfold or thirtyfold time flow had another hurdle to clear.

Besides meeting the cultivation requirements, they also had to pass the “Dao Heart assessment,” personally overseen by Elder Die Wu.

The regulations did not explain how the assessment would be conducted. They merely instructed the disciples to gather at the Immortal Palace’s martial practice ground two days later.

Nothing seized the imagination quite like mystery and uncertainty.

Over the next two days, the disciples talked about little else but the “character assessment.”

“How do you think Elder Die Wu will test us? It won’t be a martial contest, will it?”

“How could it be? They already said it’s a Dao Heart assessment. It definitely won’t involve fighting and killing.”

“Elder Die Wu is beautiful and gentle, but I always feel as if her eyes can see right through people…”

“Of course! Elder Die Wu’s true form is a Seven-Colored Illusory Butterfly Empress in the Mahayana realm. How could she not be beautiful? Besides, illusions are her specialty!”

“Illusions?! Could the assessment involve trapping us in an illusion?”

“That’s very possible! Nothing tests a person’s true nature and willpower better than an illusion…”

The discussion and speculation continued without end, leaving many disciples both eager and apprehensive.

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They were eager because passing the assessment would allow them to cultivate on the second floor.

They were apprehensive because no one knew whether some hidden weakness lurked deep inside them, one they had never noticed themselves, only to be magnified without limit within an illusion.

Amid the disciples’ anticipation and faint unease, the two days quietly passed.

On the day of the assessment.

More than seventy disciples at late-stage Foundation Establishment or above had assembled on the Immortal Palace’s martial practice ground.

Liu Ruyan, Gu Luoli, and Ye Ling’er stood at the very front.

Liu Ruyan looked gentle and serene, Gu Luoli’s gaze was resolute, while Ye Ling’er pressed her lips together, a barely perceptible trace of nervousness in her eyes.

A-Yao was also among them, having received special permission to participate in the assessment.

The little girl wore a miniature personal disciple uniform today. Her small face was set in an expression of intense seriousness, while her large eyes darted curiously about.

Behind core disciples such as Li Zhiwei, Murong Xue, Xiao Ya, Zhao Ling’er, Wang Zhaojun, and Wang Teng stood many more disciples who had met the requirements through diligent cultivation.

Everyone held their breath and focused, their gazes fixed on the raised platform at the front of the martial practice ground.

Standing atop the platform was Elder Die Wu, who was responsible for today’s assessment.

Today, she wore a long, seven-colored gown with a train that stirred gently in the morning breeze.

Faint patterns resembling iridescent butterfly wings shimmered across the fabric, reflecting a hazy, dreamlike radiance in the morning light.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, but her beauty was unlike Empress Qingxuan’s languid splendor or Empress Lingshuang’s cool, peerless elegance.

Hers was an ethereal, dreamlike beauty. Her eyes were gentle as water, and the hint of a smile played at her lips.

Most striking of all were her eyes, like the finest seven-colored crystal, veiled in a shifting, misty glow.

The mere sweep of her gaze made many disciples feel as though they were about to slip into a dream.

“Disciples.”

Elder Die Wu spoke, her voice soft and melodious, instantly drawing everyone back to their senses.

“Today’s Dao Heart assessment is intended to help you understand your heart, perceive your true nature, and recognize your authentic self.”

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“On the path of cultivation, cultivation itself is merely the branches and leaves. Character is the root.”

“If your character is unstable, then no matter how advanced your cultivation becomes, you can still easily lose yourself.”

Her gaze slowly passed over every young face below, radiance flowing through her seven-colored pupils.

“You need only preserve a spark of clarity within your mind, face your true heart within the illusion, and make the choice that follows it.”

She paused. Her voice remained gentle, yet it now carried unquestionable authority.

“The assessment begins now.”

The instant she finished speaking…

Elder Die Wu raised her right hand and lightly pointed a slender, fair fingertip toward the center of the martial practice ground.

“Hum…”

A pinpoint of seven-colored light blossomed from her fingertip. Like a stone dropped into a tranquil lake, it swiftly sent ripple after ripple spreading outward.

Wherever the ripples passed, the martial practice ground’s solid floor, the surrounding buildings, and even the drifting clouds in the sky began to blur and distort.

Light and shadow shifted before the disciples’ eyes. The figures of their fellow disciples and the elder on the platform grew hazy and indistinct.

A gentle yet irresistible force silently enveloped their divine senses.

“Close your eyes, relax your minds, and do not resist.”

Elder Die Wu’s gentle voice seemed to speak directly within each person’s heart.

The disciples obeyed, closing their eyes and relaxing their taut minds.

In the next instant, heaven and earth spun as light and shadow shattered, then reassembled.

When they could “see” their surroundings again, they found themselves in a completely unfamiliar world.

Before them stretched a boundless ocean roiling with golden mist.