Chapter 10: If I Cannot Step onto the Path of Cultivation, I Will Never Find Peace

"Hey, no need to be so polite with me!"

Chen Jinbao shoved the pill directly into Bai Chen's hand, tossed his own into his mouth, and waved his hand with a carefree grin.

"My old man got these specifically for me to deal with the mountain stairway. They're only really useful for climbing this thing today anyway.

"After today, whether I get into Hexu Sect or not, I'm never climbing this death-trap stairway again.

"Keeping them would just be a waste — go ahead and eat it. I've still got plenty more in here."

As he spoke, Chen Jinbao shook the porcelain bottle in his hand.

Bai Chen could indeed hear the faint clinking inside — there were quite a few left.

"Thank you."

Seeing that Chen Jinbao had already swallowed his pill, Bai Chen didn't refuse any further and popped it into his mouth.

He was genuinely curious about what pills in this world were actually like.

The pill dissolved the moment it touched his tongue — none of the bitter, medicinal taste he had imagined, nor any other particularly unusual flavor.

A moment after swallowing it, a faint, warm current slowly spread from his dantian, drifting lazily through his limbs and every bone in his body.

Bai Chen paid close attention to the sensation.

The tight, aching muscles in his calves from the climb seemed to loosen — just a little.

Just a little, though. Beyond that, there was nothing more to feel.

Bai Chen rolled his wrists and ankles, then tried taking a deep breath. The feeling remained the same.

He couldn't even tell whether the pill had actually done something, or whether sitting on the stone steps and resting for so long had simply let his body recover on its own.

"Well? Well? Don't you feel like you've got energy bursting out of you all of a sudden?"

Chen Jinbao leaned over, eyes full of eager anticipation.

Bai Chen looked at him, hesitated for a long moment, and finally nodded. "Mm, it does feel a bit lighter."

After eating someone's pill, it would be far too ungrateful to turn around and say it was no good.

Better to just play along.

Getting the affirmation he wanted, Chen Jinbao immediately broke into a wide grin and slapped his thigh.

"I told you the pills my old man prepared were potent, didn't I? Ha!"

Bai Chen gave a slight nod, thinking to himself: it's probably not that your old man's pills are potent — it's that your own psychological comfort is potent.

After resting on the steps for ten minutes, Chen Jinbao watched the people who had already overtaken them and pushed himself up with both hands on his knees.

"Let's go, Brother Bai."

Bai Chen looked at his still-trembling legs and advised, "Rest a little longer. There's no rush."

But Chen Jinbao shook his head.

"We can't rest any longer.

"Brother Bai, you might not know this — when Hexu Sect opens its mountain gate to allow mortals to climb the stairway, the window is only four hours. Anyone who hasn't reached the Spirit Induction Hall within four hours automatically loses their testing qualification."

"So we can't drag it out, or we'll have to come back next year. I have absolutely no desire to climb this stairway again."

He stepped forward and pulled Bai Chen by the arm, climbing as he wheezed and muttered under his breath.

"The pills Dad gave me only help with stamina, not with the legs. These things are shaking way too much."

Bai Chen raised an eyebrow slightly and glanced at the mountain path ahead.

No wonder everyone in Shunhe Quarter had gone absolutely mad rushing over the moment the bell rang.

The selection really did start from the moment you entered the mountain gate.

He had already spent all his money probing other people's attributes — he had no capital to wait another year.

He had to enter Hexu Sect today.

Bai Chen gritted his teeth and reached back to support Chen Jinbao's round, chubby arm.

The two of them leaned on each other, inching their way upward one step at a time.

To make it to the summit within four hours, they didn't dare stop to rest again after that.

The path ahead was exactly as Bai Chen had guessed — the pressure grew greater the higher they climbed.

In the final stretch before the summit, their legs felt as though they had been glued to the stone steps, each step a struggle.

After what felt like an eternity, just as the two of them were on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, they finally arrived at the plaza in front of the Spirit Induction Hall at the mountaintop.

Bai Chen had already braced himself to faceplant from sheer exhaustion — but the instant his foot touched the ground, he felt a rush of crisp, cool Spiritual Energy surge up through the soles of his feet.

In an instant, an indescribable sense of refreshment spread throughout his entire body.

The fatigue, soreness, frustration, and near-collapse from nearly four hours of climbing all vanished in that single moment.

It was like stepping out of a hot bath — his whole body felt so at ease that he couldn't help but draw a long, deep breath.

A cool, fragrant air filled his lungs, and his spirits lifted once more.

Bai Chen flexed his hand in amazement.

Truly worthy of an immortal cultivation sect — such methods were beyond anything a mundane power could ever replicate.

Chen Jinbao stepped onto the plaza and let out a long, satisfied groan.

"Ahh! That feels incredible!"

Just moments ago he had been ready to drop dead from exhaustion — and now, hey, he was alive again!

A disciple of Hexu Sect standing at the end of the mountain stairway called out loudly to those who had just stepped onto the plaza:

"Everyone, take a brief moment to catch your breath, then proceed immediately to the plaza in front of the Spirit Induction Hall and form ten orderly lines."

"Do not crowd or make noise, and absolutely do not cut in line. Any violations will result in immediate disqualification from the Spirit Root assessment."

Those who had already recovered moved at once toward the plaza.

"Let's go, Brother Bai — we need to get in line too."

Chen Jinbao pulled Bai Chen along and quickly joined one of the queues.

Bai Chen took the opportunity to look around.

It was an enormous plaza paved entirely with green stone.

The ground was laid with large, solid slabs of green stone, their surfaces carved with raised and recessed patterns — what appeared to be some kind of spirit runes.

Sunlight fell across them, and as the spirit runes shimmered, they gave off a faint, luminous glow.

At the far end of the plaza stood Hexu Sect's Spirit Induction Hall.

The great hall did not appear to be built from ordinary mortal brick and stone.

The pillars were wrapped in a layer of gilding, their surfaces carved with cloud patterns and images of mythical beasts.

Above the hall's entrance, a black jade plaque hung at the center, bearing the three gilded characters "Spirit Induction Hall" in a bold, vigorous script that seemed to have Spiritual Energy swirling around it.

The hall doors stood wide open, the interior deep and still — the details within were impossible to make out.

Yet the profound, awe-inspiring feeling it radiated was overwhelming, and Bai Chen instinctively averted his gaze and looked back toward the crowd.

Several thousand young men and women had already made it onto the plaza to have their Spiritual Roots tested.

Under the orderly guidance of the sect's disciples, they had formed ten lines at the front of the Spirit Induction Hall.

As more people stepped onto the broad green stone plaza, they followed the spirit rune pathways on the ground and wound into serpentine queues.

All ten lines were neat and orderly from front to back, without the slightest sign of crowding or chaos.

Bai Chen and Chen Jinbao had now joined these queues as well.

Bai Chen looked toward the Spirit Induction Hall again and quietly marveled.

This was only the outermost hall of Hexu Sect — there were surely even more breathtaking structures further within.

In a world without advanced technology, only those emperors who treated people as less than human — and these immortal cultivation sects — could have built such a magnificent complex atop a mountain peak.

Chen Jinbao stared wide-eyed, unable to help himself from turning back and whispering to Bai Chen in amazement.

"I always heard my father talk about how grand and impressive Hexu Sect was, and how much he regretted never being able to cultivate here.

"Now I finally understand why he could never let it go. If I can't enter the sect today either, I think I'll carry the same regret as my father."

"Indeed." Bai Chen gave a quiet nod, gazing at the Spirit Induction Hall before him as he clenched his fist.

The Fortuitous Encounter to seek immortality and pursue the Dao stood right before him.

If he could not cross this threshold, he feared he would never find peace for the rest of his life.