Wen Shuren gritted his teeth in anger at being humilated. How dare this woman reject him so bluntly when they were in public space! At least pretend to accept him to save his face!
'No matter. I will get you sooner or later. Xiulan family wouldn't be able to refuse an offer of alliance with my family.' Wen Shuren thought to himself.
'When that happen. I will surely tear you apart.' Wen Shuren smirked inside.
"Hahaha!"
He frowned and looked to the side. "Are you laughing at me?"
"No," Aldred replied before he laughed again.
"Daoist Aldred, I don't think you should offend him," Kang Huan said.
"I don't offend anyone. I simply laugh."
Wen Shuren frowned. What was this? Was this her plan to humiliate him? He looked at Shi Xiulan who already walked away from him.
Why did she want to humiliate me? Was this the order from the Xiulan family?
No. That can't be.
'But even so, I must not be humiliated.' Wen Shuren stabbed the air with his blade that show a mysterious energy, flying towards Aldred.
Aldred pushed Kang Huan away and blocked the attack with his bare hand. The skin on his hands melted with a bunch of bruises around his arms.
"Consider that a warning," Kang Huan said.
Aldred grinned as the wounds on his hands regenerated. New skin formed and his arms were as good as new.
He then casted a fire-elemental spell that spun like a vortex towards Wen Shuren.
"How dare you!" Wen Shuren slashed the fire vortex in half but the fire consumed his blade and burned his arms.
At the end, his arms were covered with hideous burn marks and the sword in his hand was almost destroyed.
"Consider that a warning," Aldred said.
"Wen Shuren." His friends approached him.
Wen Shuren glared at Aldred. He pushed his friends away and summoned another sword. "You dare!"
The handsome man was about to attack Aldred until an old man with a beard came.
"The elder is here!"
Everyone kept their silence and put their attention to the bearded man. Even Wen Shuren sheated his sword.
"Ohh, the test is about to start it seems." Aldred smiled.
"Aldred, why did you attack him?" Kang Huan asked. "Your life in the future won't be good if you offend a man like him. Now is not too late. You can turn him into a friend by apologizing."
Mally laughed. "Don't bother telling him to apologize. He won't do it. Not to an arrogant prick."
"Haish. He might be arrogant but he is from the Shuren Family. Your life in the sect will not be good."
"We will see about that." Aldred smiled. He had offend a lot of arrogant pricks who thought the world revolved around them. Of course he killed them because of their impudence. He wouldn't dare to do that if the enemy was much stronger than him of course. He wasn't stupid.
As he thought about that he recalled what Kang Huan said. 'My life in the sect will not be good, huh?'
'Wait. Life in the sect?'
"Kang Huan. What do you mean my future life in the sect?"
Before Kang Huan could reply the bearded man, standing atop a stage said with a calm expression: "The test will start now. As truth seekers, all of you should have manners and discipline. But not only that, you also must have the will and the talent to succeed."
"Your test is to climb the Silver Stairs. If you can reach the 40th steps, you can pass."
The people here slightly gasped when they hear that. They looked restless, but tried really hard to contain their emotions.
"What's happening?" Aldred whispered with his mental power.
"The test is twice as hard as last time. It was 20th steps to pass before."
Aldred nodded. 'So Kang Huan have participated in the last treasure hunt. But if everyone here is restless, does that mean a lot of people have participated in the last treasure hunt?'
That meant everyone here was older than 100 years old.
"The world is really interesting." Aldred smiled.
What Aldred didn't realize was the fact that this test was not for the treasure hunter, but for cultivators to enter a sect.
"Everyone follow me." The elder turned around.
Everyone followed him, entering the temple, walking through the wooden hallway. Incense scent entered Aldred's nose. It was soothing and calming. He also saw some statues of Buddha here and there.
This place looked oddly similar to cultivation world he had read in his past life.
Minutes later, they arrived in front of a tower completely made out of light where they could see through it and saw stairs that led upward which were also made out of light.
"This is the Silver Stairs. Proof yourself worthy by climbing as high as you can."
Aldred raised an eyebrow. Nothing about the stairs could be identified as silver. It should be called Ethereal Stairs or something like that.
A lot of people began to enter the tower, and climbed the stairs. Aldred watched from outside as they struggled to climb it. Every step was heavier than the last.
But two people: Shi Xiulan and Wen Shuren climbed the stairs with ease.
In a secret room, the elders were seated as they watched the contestant through a screen.
"Shi Xiulan and Wen Shuren should pass this test easily," an elder said.
"Of course they can. They would shame their family name if that is not the case."
"So who will pick them as disciple?"
The elders looked at each other. "Arguments will lead to nothing. Infighting will lead to division. We should give luck the power to decide."
"Coin toss?"
The elders all nodded in agreement.
...
"This doesn't look hard," Aldred said.
"Daoist Aldred, it might not look like much, but those people at the bottom are trying as hard as they can to climb every stair."
"Should we try?" Mary asked.
"Of course we do." Aldred looked at the tower. "Let's go."
Before they could enter the tower, something happened. A man on the stairs was teleported out and he fell on his butt.
"What happened?" Aldred asked.
"That man was eliminated at the 17th floor because he couldn't climb further even after 2 minutes."
"Ohh, I see. I wonder how many stairs can I climb."
Aldred and everyone else entered the tower of light.
"Solid light. This is new." Aldred took a step and he began to felt a tiny pressure on him. Like gravity suddenly increased.
He took two steps and the sensation increased, but it wasn't a lot. In fact, it was barely noticeable.
"Let's see if I can run." Aldred did. He ran up the stairs to the shock of others.
"Is that guy running?"
"Fools! No one can run on the Silver Stairs. He will fail himself."
Aldred felt the pressure on him mounting, but it wasn't a problem. He looked back and saw his friends were following him. Except for Baendjbi and the other swordsmen. They were struggling at the bottom.
Currently, Aldred and friends had passed 30 stairs.
The elders that watched this event unfolded were shocked. Not only did they ran up the stairs, they looked like they did it with absolute ease.
Only someone whose talent was boundless and could not be measured could so such a thing. And someone like this could only appear once every ten thousand years!
"And there's not one, but more than 70 people who can do this!"
The elders looked at one another.
"The heaven is blessing us with talents! Our good deeds, uncorrupted culture, and noble bearing must be the cause!"
The elders all nodded despite the fact that they knew their sect was one of the most corrupt sect in this world.
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