The First Stage of the Sky Cloud Sect's Entrance Trial was the Trial of the Dao Heart. It was a test not of brute force, but of mental fortitude, conviction, and the clarity of the cultivator's purpose.
The remaining candidates—now several hundred, minus Xiao Feng and his followers who had to be carried away—were led into a large, dimly lit hall. In the center stood dozens of jade platforms, each inscribed with complex runes.
"Step onto the platform!" commanded a solemn Elder. "The platforms will project the greatest temptations, fears, and regrets from your past and future. Only those whose Dao Heart remains unshaken can pass. Failure means a broken spirit and a crippled future. Begin!"
One by one, the cultivators stepped onto the platforms. Immediately, many began to sweat, their faces twisted in emotional agony.
A young woman was weeping, seeing the image of her deceased master urging her to abandon the path of cultivation.
A strong young man screamed, trapped in an illusion where his family was annihilated because of his weakness.
The observers, including Grand Elder Xi and the powerful Outer Elders, watched intently. A faint blue glow indicated an unshakeable heart; a flickering red glow meant the candidate was near collapse.
Ling Tian stepped onto an empty platform. As the runes activated, his spiritual energy was instantly locked, and his consciousness was pulled into the illusion.
Inside the Illusion
Ling Tian stood in the ruined courtyard of the Ling Clan. He was still the weak boy at the Third Layer of Qi Condensation.
Suddenly, a beautiful, weeping woman—an image of his mother—appeared before him.
"Tian'er," she pleaded, her voice filled with sorrow. "Do not pursue this agonizing path of cultivation. Leave it all behind. Forget ambition. Live a normal life, where no one will mock you. Your father and I only want you to be safe."
This was the first trap: The Temptation of Safety and Abandonment of the Dao.
Beside her, a glimpse of the future appeared. If he followed his current path, he saw himself brutally murdered by countless enemies, ending up as bones on the ground in a higher realm. This was the second trap: The Fear of the Ultimate Price.
Ling Tian simply stood tall, his Primordial Chaos eyes glowing with a faint purple light, but his expression remained cold.
He looked at the illusory face of his mother. "Safety? That is an offer for the weak. Ambition is the fire that forges immortality. I reject a safe life. I reject a path not filled with challenges."
He then looked at the brutal glimpse of his future death.
Ling Tian sneered.
"You think death frightens me? Death is merely the start of a new cycle. And if I die, it means I was not strong enough! I will never back down for fear of failure," Ling Tian declared in a tone so arrogant that the illusion itself trembled.
"The path I walk is the Path of Supremacy. It is a path that makes the Heavens tremble and the Stars kneel. I will never abandon it, even if all people, all gods, and all demons oppose me!"
This vow of absolute arrogance and self-conviction was far stronger than mere calm resolve. It was an absolute belief in one's own supreme destiny.
The Shattering
Outside the platform, candidates struggled for hours. Some managed to exit, their faces pale but their Dao Hearts intact.
However, Ling Tian's platform began to behave strangely.
A purple aura erupted from it, not being absorbed by the platform's runes, but actively forcing them out. The golden runes on the platform flickered wildly, unable to contain the intensity of his Arrogant Dao Heart.
CRACK!
Suddenly, with the sound of cracking crystal, the jade platform shattered into countless pieces!
Everyone, including Grand Elder Xi and the Elders, gasped and sprang to their feet.
The Dao Heart Trial platform was a sect treasure made of Heavenly Jade. It should only be destroyable by a direct attack from a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator!
Ling Tian stepped out of the rubble, completely unaffected, as if he had just emerged from a casual bath.
Grand Elder Xi stared at him, her wise eyes filled with shock. "He did not just pass the trial. He shattered it. The intensity of his resolve was too high for the platform to contain!"
"He has set his Dao Heart, not as one who perseveres, but as a Ruler," muttered an Elder.
Ling Tian ignored their astonishment. He looked down at the platform wreckage, shaking his head in disdain.
"A weak test," he said softly, his voice clear in the silence. "If this is what the Sky Cloud Sect calls the 'Dao Heart,' then this sect is far weaker than I initially believed."
With his unparalleled and arrogant Dao Heart, Ling Tian had completed the first stage in under an hour and in a manner utterly insulting, shattering the sect's record and leaving all present in awe of his absolute genius.