Chapter 723: One What Grounds?!
Having made his decision, Li Yun no longer hesitated and immediately rushed forward at full speed.
Since he had decided to save people, he had to increase his speed during normal travel to make up for the time he would lose inside the illusions.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Under his full acceleration, he overtook more than a dozen cultivators and reached the front of the first echelon.
"What is going on with this kid?"
"Everyone else is getting slower and slower, so how is this guy getting faster? Could it be that the willpower pressure here has no effect on him?"
This scene caused everyone to show expressions of shock.
The cultivators near him were especially shocked. Their eyes widened, and they could hardly believe what they were seeing.
At this stage, the willpower pressure had already grown to a level equivalent to a powerhouse at the 5th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm. Under such pressure, many 9th level Heavenly Core Realm powerhouses were significantly affected.
Even those powerhouses at the perfection stage of the 9th level of Heavenly Core Realm had slowed down to varying degrees.
Yet Li Yun was doing the exact opposite.
As others slowed, he only became faster.
"How is this possible?"
Qin Yuehan and Xuan Qiu, in particular, had extremely ugly expressions.
By now, both of them had been left behind by Li Yun. Xuan Qiu was especially far behind, already several hundred meters away from Li Yun. With such a gap, it was almost impossible for him to catch up.
Li Yun naturally did not care about the thoughts of Qin Yuehan and the others.
Soon, he reached the location of the third illusion.
This time, he descended into a small town.
Hundreds of demonic path cultivators surging with devilish qi were slaughtering indiscriminately. Blood flowed like a river, and resentment filled the air.
In the entire town, seventy percent of the people had already been killed by those demonic path cultivators. The remaining thirty percent were fleeing desperately, but they clearly could not hold out for long.
"As expected."
Seeing this, Li Yun further confirmed his judgment.
From the third illusion onward, the difficulty of saving people had increased significantly.
There were hundreds of these demonic path cultivators, and their strength was at the 5th level of Heavenly Core Realm. Some among them had even reached the 7th level of Heavenly Core Realm.
Killing all of them would clearly take a considerable amount of time.
However, Li Yun had long been prepared for this.
He immediately acted.
Only after a full three hundred breaths did he finally kill them all.
Afterward, he continued toward the summit.
By now, the intensity of the willpower pressure had reached a level comparable to a powerhouse at the 6th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm, but it still could not affect Li Yun.
Not long after, he reached the four-fifths mark.
This final illusion was a small city, and the enemies he had to face reached a staggering number of one thousand.
In terms of strength, these enemies had not improved, but their numbers had increased far too much.
Facing so many enemies, Li Yun spent a full fifteen minutes before killing them all.
Finally, when Li Yun reached the summit, more than an hour had passed.
Even so, among this batch of cultivators, he still ranked in the top twenty.
Although he had been delayed for a long time because he chose to save people, the willpower pressure had not affected him at all. Because of that, Li Yun’s speed was still much faster than most cultivators.
Among all the cultivators who successfully passed the Heart Refining Road trial, he still ranked near the front.
"Foolish compassion."
Not long after, Qin Yuehan reached the summit.
He sneered and glanced at Li Yun with disdain.
He had not stayed during any of the illusions he entered. Because of this, in his view, Li Yun, who had wasted time saving people inside the illusions, was incredibly stupid.
"Idiot."
A moment later, with only a few dozen breaths left before the one-hour limit, Xuan Qiu finally reached the summit as well.
Like Qin Yuehan, he also gave Li Yun a cold and mocking glance. His gaze was as if he were looking at a fool.
Li Yun did not care at all.
Even though Qin Yuehan and Xuan Qiu had not chosen to save anyone, their speed still could not compare to his. Why should he care about these losers?
Next, the eleventh and twelfth batches of cultivators also completed the trial.
After a full day and night, the first trial of the Heart Refining Road finally ended.
By this time, fewer than ten thousand cultivators remained on the summit.
"All cultivators enveloped in red light are eliminated."
Just then, Daoist Scarlet Brow spoke indifferently.
He waved his hand, and a crimson light spread out like fireworks, instantly enveloping nearly half of the cultivators present.
Wang Lie, Qin Yuehan, Xuan Qiu, and the others were all within the range of that crimson light.
"This..."
"I refuse to accept this. We clearly passed the test, so on what grounds are we being eliminated?"
"Exactly. We need an explanation."
Daoist Scarlet Brow’s words immediately shocked those cultivators. Then, the cultivators enveloped in red light broke into a direct uproar.
Wang Lie’s expression was especially unsightly.
His figure flickered forward, appearing directly before Daoist Scarlet Brow. Looking straight at him, he shouted angrily, "Lord Vice Peak Master, in this Heart Refining Road test, my speed ranked in the top ten. On what grounds are you eliminating me?"
"On what grounds?"
Daoist Scarlet Brow’s expression was cold as he said indifferently, "Do you really think the Heart Refining Road is only meant to test your willpower?"
"Heart Refining Road means refining the heart. This so-called refining of the heart tests your heart-nature just as much as it tests your determination."
"For the sake of your assessment result, you were unwilling to waste time saving people. I can understand that. However, in the illusions of the first two stages, you only needed to spend a tiny bit of time. Especially in the first stage, where saving someone would only take a single breath, yet you were not willing to waste even that small amount of time."
"From this, it is clear that all of you are extremely selfish, cold-blooded, and heartless individuals. For people like you, on what grounds should my Profound Origin Immortal Sect accept you? And on what grounds should we trust you and nurture you?"
"You tell me. On what grounds?"
Daoist Scarlet Brow’s voice was merely cold at first, but gradually, his expression became sharper and his voice more severe.
By the end, his voice was like a clap of spring thunder, startling everyone.