The gathering cloud seemed to be awaiting his decision. As the pressure intensified, Bing Wenhai lifted his foot toward the eighth step.
Suddenly, his surroundings shifted.
Mountains rose and collapsed around him. Vast oceans surged into existence before evaporating into mist. Ancient cities appeared and crumbled into dust. Countless scenes of birth, destruction, triumph, and despair unfolded before his eyes like fragments of an ancient world.
Time itself seemed distorted.
For a moment, he frowned and lowered his foot.
Above the platform, the mysterious figure's posture changed slightly. Though his features remained obscured, his movements suggested anticipation.
Bing Wenhai raised his leg again.
Then, he lowered it once more.
He repeated the motion several times. Each attempt seemed to shake his resolve.
After the fifth attempt, he finally stopped.
He did not take the step.
The mysterious figure sighed softly and shook his head.
As if understanding his decision, the clouds in the sky finally unleashed their judgment.
Six bolts of lightning descended.
This six-lightning tribulation was far more dangerous than any before it. The thunder roared endlessly as Bing Wenhai fought against the destructive force.
The battle lasted far longer than the others.
But eventually, the lightning faded.
Mysterious glowing lines also appeared across his body, marking his transformation as he entered the next realm.
With the same gentle gesture as before, the mysterious figure lifted him from the platform and placed him among the others, who still sat in meditation. Now, only one person remained.
Chu Feng.
He stood quietly, his gaze sweeping across the gathering. He looked first at those who had failed the trial and never reached the fifth step—their bodies battered, their expressions bitter. Then he looked at those who had already broken through into the Soul Spirit Realm. Among them, only Bing Wenhai remained deep in meditation. The others had already opened their eyes, though they still sat cross-legged to stabilise their cultivation.
As Chu Feng observed them, they were also watching him.
Many misunderstood his silence. To them, it looked like hesitation. Fear. Even Miao Ying watched him with a faintly worried expression. Yet Chu Feng's face remained calm, as though he were merely taking in everything that had happened. He slowly closed his eyes.
Some of the beast cultivators who had failed the trial immediately began mocking him.
"Still standing there? Are you waiting for the heavens to pity you?" one called out.
"Kid, save yourself the humiliation and crawl away now," another added.
"At your level, you won't even survive the first step."
Their laughter carried across the platform, but Chu Feng paid them no attention.
At that moment, the mysterious figure spoke.
"Little one," the figure said calmly, "do you wish to give up?" His voice carried neither mockery nor encouragement. "Among everyone here, you alone remain at Level 44. You are also the youngest. If you withdraw now, it would still be understandable." He paused briefly before continuing. "Even if your cultivation falls back to what it was before entering this realm, it will not matter much for you. With determination, you may still grow into someone remarkable."
Several breaths passed.
Then Chu Feng slowly opened his eyes. Something about his demeanour changed. Even the mysterious figure—who had been about to continue speaking—paused.
Chu Feng stepped forward at an even, unhurried pace. Then he spoke.
"The Dao is indifferent," he said calmly. "It grants favour to none and treats all things the same. Under such a heaven, when has cultivation level ever truly mattered?" He continued walking as he spoke. "Is cultivation not the very act of defying the impossible?"
Silence fell over the entire mountain. No one spoke.
Then suddenly, the mysterious figure burst into roaring laughter.
"Well said!" his voice echoed like thunder across the ridge. "What a 'defying the impossible!'" He looked at Chu Feng and waved his hand lightly. "Go. Show me your resolve."
Chu Feng approached the steps. Just as he raised his foot to step onto the first step, he froze mid-stride, his foot hovering in the air.
The void around him shattered.
Suddenly, he was no longer himself. He was Li Tian. But this time was different. He was not merely witnessing Li Tian's life—he was Li Tian. And he could control everything.
The execution ground appeared before him once again. The crowd. The executioner. The raised axe.
At first, the same overwhelming feeling of resignation began creeping into his mind—the same emotion Li Tian had felt when accepting his unjust death. But suddenly, anger surged in Chu Feng's chest.
"No," he growled. "There is a flaw."
He raised his head sharply. What of his dying mother at home? Should he simply accept death and leave her behind?
Before the executioner could react, Chu Feng grabbed his arm. With a swift motion, he seized the axe. The blade flashed. A head rolled across the ground. Blood sprayed through the air.
For a moment, the entire execution ground froze. Then chaos erupted.
"Murderer!" someone screamed. "He killed the executioner!"
The crowd scattered in panic. Soon, the city patrol guards surrounded him.
Chu Feng gripped the axe tightly. Then he charged.
Steel clashed. Blood sprayed. Each swing of the axe tore through armor and bone alike. Guards fell one after another as the crude weapon carved brutal arcs through the battlefield. Even as blades cut into his body and blood soaked his clothes, he continued fighting like a madman. Bodies piled around him.
Finally, wounded and gasping, he planted the axe into the ground to support himself. Then he raised his head toward the sky and roared.
"If fate seeks to kill me unjustly, should I simply wash my neck and wait? If heaven blocks my path—I will cleave the heavens themselves!"
The vision shattered.
Chu Feng's foot descended. He stepped onto the first step.
The moment his foot touched it, the atmosphere changed. Dark clouds began gathering violently above the mountain ridge. It was as if the heavens themselves had become enraged.
Yet Chu Feng did not stop. He raised his foot again.
As he attempted the second step, the world changed once more. This time, he became a cicada. Just as before, he controlled the body.
The small creature had just consumed a trace of spiritual sap. Under the moonlight, Chu Feng climbed a tree and shed his shell. New wings unfolded slowly, hardening in the warm summer air. Soon, he joined the chorus of cicadas singing across the forest.
Through that tiny life, Chu Feng experienced the world in its simplest form. Sunlight. Wind. The quiet passage of days.
Yet the cicada held one wish: to see winter.
So he endured.
Summer faded into autumn. One by one, the other cicadas weakened and died. Their songs gradually disappeared. But Chu Feng endured. The faint spiritual essence within him prolonged the fragile life far beyond its natural limit.
Golden leaves drifted down from the trees. Alone on a branch, he watched the silent forest.
Then the sky exploded. Two cultivators clashed nearby. The shockwave shattered the branch beneath him.
As the cicada fell toward the ground, death rushing closer, the same sense of regret attempted to influence him. Chu Feng looked toward the sky. Then he laughed.
"So this is it." His voice was calm. He laughed again. "Ridiculous."
The wind roared past him as he fell.
"I wanted to see winter. But if I cannot see it, so what? That wish belongs to this body. The real me… will."
The world shattered.
His foot landed on the second step. The clouds above instantly changed colour. The pressure in the sky intensified, as though issuing a warning.
Chu Feng ignored it.
Behind him, the remaining fifteen observers were completely stunned. Nothing about this trial resembled what they had experienced. They could not utter a single mocking word. Even those who had already broken through stood up unconsciously.
Someone suddenly pointed. "His aura… It's rising!"
The mysterious figure watched silently, his attention sharper than ever. He did not want to miss a single detail.
Chu Feng stepped onto the third step. Visions continued appearing, one after another. Different lives. Different destinies. Where despair should have broken him, he remained calm. Where peace should have lulled him, he burned with anger. In every illusion, he refused to follow the path laid before him. He answered every trial with his own resolve.
With each step, his aura surged.
When he stepped onto the third step, his cultivation rose to Peak Level 46. The clouds above grew darker. Thunder rolled endlessly.
He continued climbing. By the sixth step, his aura erupted again. He reached Peak Level 48. The heavens seemed to grow increasingly furious.
By the eighth step, he had reached Peak Level 49.
Then he lifted his foot toward the ninth step.
The final vision appeared. He stood alone on a battlefield drenched in blood. Behind him lay the bodies of his friends and family, lifeless and broken. A tragic scene.
Yet his resolve did not waver.
He raised his head and declared calmly, "I will become so strong that even heaven and earth tremble. And I will protect those I wish to protect."
Then he continued softly, his voice carrying across the entire mountain.