C26 - The Heart Trial
The dawn above Azure Cloud Mountain was unlike any sunrise Ye Chen had ever witnessed.
Golden light spilled across an endless sea of clouds, transforming the heavens into a vast ocean of fire. Ancient temple bells echoed through the mountain, their deep, solemn notes carrying across valleys hidden beneath the mist.
The seventy-three successful candidates gathered in the central square.
No one spoke.
Yesterday's climb had stripped away the excitement of becoming a cultivator.
Today, they stood with quieter hearts.
A blue-robed elder stepped onto the stone platform.
It was not Elder Han.
This man appeared younger, though his sharp eyes suggested decades of experience.
"I am Elder Mo."
His voice was calm.
"You have proven that your bodies possess determination."
He slowly surveyed every face before him.
"Now we shall determine whether your hearts deserve the path of cultivation."
Several candidates straightened nervously.
Elder Mo continued,
"The second examination has no correct answer."
"There is only your answer."
With a wave of his sleeve, the stone platform trembled.
The clouds before the square slowly parted.
An ancient bridge emerged from the mist.
It was astonishingly narrow, barely wide enough for one person to cross, stretching toward a lonely pavilion suspended above the abyss.
The bridge had no railings.
Only endless clouds beneath it.
"Cross."
That was all Elder Mo said.
The first candidate stepped forward confidently.
After only ten steps, his face changed.
His breathing became uneven.
He staggered.
Then, with a terrified scream, he turned around and fled back to the square.
"I... I can't!"
His entire body trembled uncontrollably.
The disciples standing nearby simply recorded his name.
"Failed."
No explanation.
No comfort.
Only one word.
The second candidate stepped onto the bridge.
She walked farther.
Nearly halfway.
Then she suddenly burst into tears.
"My family..."
She reached desperately toward empty air before collapsing unconscious.
"Failed."
One by one, the candidates attempted the crossing.
Some screamed.
Some laughed hysterically.
Others froze without taking a single step.
Ye Chen quietly watched.
Something was strange.
The bridge itself never moved.
The wind remained gentle.
Whatever defeated the candidates...
Was invisible.
---
Finally, Elder Mo looked toward him.
"Ye Chen."
He nodded.
"It's your turn."
Ye Chen walked toward the bridge.
The moment his foot touched the ancient stone...
The world disappeared.
---
He stood once again in Green Willow Village.
The fields were golden with ripened grain.
Children laughed near the willow tree.
Old Liu waved cheerfully from his porch.
His mother called him home for dinner.
His father stood beside the doorway, smiling exactly as he remembered.
Everything...
Was perfect.
For one impossible moment, Ye Chen forgot he was on Azure Cloud Mountain.
Forgot cultivation.
Forgot the examination.
His father walked toward him.
"Chen'er."
His voice was warm.
"You've worked hard."
He placed a familiar hand upon Ye Chen's shoulder.
"You don't need to leave."
His mother smiled through the doorway.
"We're together."
"Isn't that enough?"
Ye Chen's heart shook violently.
He wanted nothing more than to remain here.
No blood.
No suffering.
No endless road ahead.
Only home.
Only family.
Only peace.
His father reached out his hand.
"Come inside."
Ye Chen slowly raised his own.
His fingers almost touched—
Then...
He stopped.
Silence filled the world.
His father looked at him with gentle confusion.
"What is it?"
Tears gathered in Ye Chen's eyes.
He smiled sadly.
"My father..."
His voice trembled.
"...would never ask me to abandon the future."
The smiling figure froze.
Ye Chen took a step backward.
"My father died so I could live."
Another step.
"He didn't protect me..."
The illusion began to crack.
"...so I could spend my life hiding in memories."
The sky shattered like glass.
His mother's figure dissolved into countless fragments of light.
Old Liu disappeared.
The village collapsed into white mist.
Only his father's smile remained.
For the briefest moment...
It seemed almost real.
Then it too vanished.
---
Ye Chen opened his eyes.
He was standing at the center of the bridge.
The summit lay behind him.
The lonely pavilion stood ahead.
Not a single step had been taken.
His body had never moved.
Everything...
Had happened within his mind.
He looked back.
Many elders were watching him with unreadable expressions.
Elder Mo spoke quietly.
"What did you see?"
Ye Chen remained silent for several breaths.
"My home."
"And why did you leave it?"
Ye Chen looked toward the endless sky.
"Because..."
He gently touched the wooden leaf pendant beneath his robe.
"...some memories are meant to guide us."
"They are not meant to imprison us."
For the first time that morning...
A faint smile appeared on Elder Mo's stern face.
"Continue."
Ye Chen turned and walked calmly across the remaining bridge.
This time...
Nothing appeared.
No illusions.
No voices.
Only silence.
When he stepped into the pavilion on the opposite side, a soft chime echoed across the mountain.
A disciple recorded his name.
"Passed."
High above, hidden within the clouds, the mysterious old wanderer closed his eyes.
"He has finally let go..."
he whispered.
Then, after a long pause, he smiled.
"...without forgetting."
Far away in the deepest chamber beneath Azure Cloud Mountain, an ancient stone tablet—covered in countless mysterious runes and untouched for hundreds of years—flickered with a single thread of golden light.
No disciple noticed.
No elder sensed it.
But something...
Buried since ancient times...
Had quietly awakened.