•••

“Children, that is the voice of Mt. Evanescence; the mountain itself has gained sentience over the countless years of its existence, from its incarnation it has managed the safety of the participants of the trial. So, you do not need to worry about your safety and go all out. The timeframe of accepting an inheritance may span between one to three years, even four years; although the last time someone managed to stay within Mt. Evanescence for four years was countless millennia ago.” Patriarch Cestra informed the children via their souls, as he stood upon the elder platform overlooking the stairway.

At this time the myriad of elders was all transferring last words of encouragement towards their pupils; all these children were below the age of seven, so the idea of being excluded from all they know for up to four years was daunting. The elders thought that they would have an adequate amount of time to brief the children about their ascension, but with the unforeseen sabre and sky-reaching tree appearing the situation has drastically changed.

As a result of this unforeseen incident, the monastery decided to invoke the descent of the pathway earlier than anticipated, to prevent any restrictions on the number of people allowed to ascend.

Gradually the restriction placed upon the gateway to the stairway was released, the full glory of the magnificent rainbow coloured stairway came to light; an archaic aura emanating from it stunning one to the core.

Everyone, no matter they be the elders or the cultivators upon the plains, stared in amazement at the stairway in all its glory. The vision-arrays showing the grandeur and monstrous size of it entirely.

The children all started to rush towards the opening in a frenzy of excitement, but as the foremost child reached the first step an overwhelming pressure descended on him causing him to directly crash towards the floor; his bones creaking. His body slowly evaporating into a faint light; the child eventually formed in a supine position at the front of the gate - his body in perfect condition, the only sign of the past events was his unconscious soul.

The elders that had seen this situation occur countless times gently shook their heads at the impetuous nature of the children, while the face of the elder of this child became red with embarrassment. The level at which a disciple may reach often correlates to the teachings of their elders, as a result of his disciple's failure he felt as if he had lost all face.

“All trial participants, you will be removed from the stairway as soon as one falls unconscious. You will be unable to attempt an ascension again.” The cold voice of the mountain’s spirit echoed throughout the minds of the child-participants.

The children all immediately stopped in their tracks, the realisation that this isn’t a game dawned upon them. If one is to fail they will fail in front of the entire Augustin cultivation world, a shame they would never be able to let down. Even though the participants are children their cognitive abilities are stronger than most adult mortals, it was a simple matter for them to fathom the repercussions if they were to fail.

This time the children reinforced their bodies in Qi and cautiously moved towards the first step, but the immense pressure barred their path restricting them from moving another step, although this time as they were prepared no one was eliminated.

This result proceeded to occur continuously as more and more people failed to move towards the second step; even the Holy Lands hadn’t managed to move up towards the second step, the only Holy Land that hadn’t attempted it yet were the Ethereal Grotto.

The elders were not able to give any pointers to the children, as the spirit of the mountain would notice the soul-disturbance and immediately remove the child and the child’s party.

Gradually the other participants noticed the immobile Ethereal Grotto.

A square-faced child from the Elemental Infinitum had enough of his failures and attempted to vent his anger out on the Grotto, “Wimps of the Grotto, are you too scared to even attempt?”

This outburst immediately attracted the attention of the elders and the participants, the rest of the Elemental Infinitum Sect and the Divine Bestia Sect followed suit and began to disparage the Grotto continuously.

Astrallis who had stood still during the outburst of anger had instead been astutely observing the stairway itself wholly ignoring the eyes of disdain around him. Astrallis group of friends did the same wholeheartedly believing whatever he was doing was for their own benefit.

Astrallis was currently deciphering the numerals imprinted on the stairway itself, the first time he observed the numerals he began to notice a pattern between each corresponding digit.

A vision began to appear in Astrallis’ soul, it depicted a young man fighting his way through life but continuously losing, but as soon as that young man found people who he could rely on no matter what he began to win his battles; through the support of his friends nothing could stop them. Eventually, that young man and his friends became the rulers of a world.

The vision ended with the young man and his friends holding hands while gazing at a sunset.

A flash of enlightenment, not going unnoticed by his friends, passed through Astrallis’ magenta coloured eyes.

“Hold hands.”

Astrallis and his friends began moving forward, hand-in-hand, towards the stairway. The Ethereal Grotto’s movement immediately captured the attention of everyone, be it the participants, elders or cultivators on the plains.

It was almost a comical site, Baihu’s tail was in the hand of Wukong, while Azui was perched upon Baihu’s back. Azalea naturally forced her hand into Astrallis’. The smallest party out of them all in juxtaposition to the massive monolith before them.

“We need to mix our Qi together and proliferate it all over our bodies. Only through joint-union can we get through this easily. The bonds between us as friends is what will allow us to pass through this stage.”

Qi began to propagate around their bodies, in a mix of colours: golden, pink, white, orange and blue.

The spectators stared incredulously at the actions of the Grotto, but that didn’t stop them from observing even more adamantly.

The group stepped on the first step, and their speed didn’t slow down at all as they stepped on the second, then the third, then the fourth, all way till the peak of the first stage. Everyone stared in silence at the ascended quintet; not a sound could be heard upon the plains.

“But how!?” A high pitched squeal broke the silence

“Because he’s my son,” A prideful laugh interrupted the dazed spectators.

“You wouldn’t expect any less from an Ether.” Patriarch Cestra’s voice resonated throughout the plains.

At his cultivation level, it was not difficult to pick up the red fatties voice, and even less challenging to infuse his voice with Qi to propel it around the plains.

The other Holy Lands soon realised the method and hand-in-hand proceeded to move up the steps, but the speed at which they moved was manifold less than the Grotto.

“I see, this stage takes into account the bonds between members of a party, our Grotto has the closest familial relations out of all the Holy Lands resulting in a faster ascension speed,” Jasmine informed everyone around her.

She turned and willfully looked towards the peak of the mountain, enshrouded with celestial clouds. “Are you watching?”

•••

The quintet at the summit of the first stage was currently enclosed in an incorporeal mist preventing any of the commotion outside to disturb their comprehension of the natural wonder before them.

At this moment Astrallis felt a pair of eyes staring at him, he looked sharply towards the cloud-enshrouded peak.

A figure that would cause even Buddha to drool sat upon a large grey tree. Gently touching the carmine leaves of the tree, a coquettish laugh spread throughout the peak of Mt. Evanescence.

“He managed to sense my vision on him, what a good grandson. He even has my lustrous golden-hair. My daughter, how did you manage to birth such a child?”

Laughter filled with glee continued to echo throughout the summit.

•••