Chapter 63

Jiang Mang was now standing inside a room. He remembered that this was the last test from the Zither palace and that he was now inside of an illusion formation. He was able to see some instructions written on the door that said the following: " To cultivate the dao, is to cultivate the heart!" You will encounter your greatest fear inside that door, and the time you need to overcome will be the time you will be scored on."

Jiang Mang was quite curious about this test, as he doesn't know his own greatest fear. He immediately entered the door to start the test. Jiang Mang was now stranded inside a space filled with darkness. He had lost his cultivation base and become an ordinary person. He had also lost his other senses and had become unable to sense anything. He only experienced nothing, endless darkness.

He felt helpless and useless. He knew that he was trying to do something like walking, but he didn't know if he was able to or was lying down. This was the first time, he experienced what it meant to be useless. This was his greatest nightmare, and it brought him a feeling of despair. He hated being useless, and he feared it even more.

He didn't know how much time passed, but he started becoming crazy inside of the darkness. He never stopped trying to resist his feelings, but he always failed, and it was this point that despaired him.

After an unknown amount of time, he eventually gave up as he realized that if resisting didn't work and that he wouldn't accept giving up, he just decided to embrace the darkness, the uselessness, and accept the fact the eventually will need to rely on others.

It was that moment when he woke up from the illusion and exited the formation. He sensed that he was the last person to leave the illusion. He will also probably score the lowest amount of points according to the instructions on that door. He, however, didn't care as his heart intent had just been perfected by overcoming his great fear.

This perfected intent will allow him to affect the heart of others by just being in their surroundings, while those who were weak-willed and had low comprehension could have their hearts changed with just a simple thought of him. He could also read the heart and emotions of everyone who surrounded him and had not comprehended a domain. The last aspect of it was that his own heart was completely under his control, and would hardly be affected by others besides himself.

The crowd outside of the test area was incredibly quiet when the test ended. The Zither palace doesn't expect a person to overcome their greatest fear, but to just endure it for a certain amount of times. A person will be rewarded a point, for every minute they endure it, while eight points require someone to last ten minutes and nine points require someone to last half an hour. A person will only gain ten points if they overcome their greatest fear.

The crowd was now quiet because Jiang Mang had taken four hours to exit the illusion, while he has scored ten points. He was the first person to score ten points while having cultivation below the king realm. Jiang Mang was still oblivious due to his breakthrough, but everyone else was staring at him with an astonished gaze while the elder of the Zither palace was trembling with excitement.

The other powers, also knew what it meant to pass this formation with a score of ten points. They knew that a person with such a strong heart and will would certainly reach the peak of cultivation if he didn't die early. Al the powers for which Jiang Mang had scored eight points, immediately started fighting with the Zither palace. They demanded that due to his many affinities, he should make the choice himself. The Zither palace was reluctant but eventually agreed, as they were being pressured by five other powers.

The other top ten rankers had already joined their power. Zhao Yin had joined the Holy maiden sect while Zhao Mo joined the Moon empire as he didn't want to join the Devil sect and oppose his sister. Huang Mo joined the Five elements palace, while the other six joined the other powers except for the Zither palace.

It was now time for Jiang Mang to choose, and he was pulled out of the reverie from his breakthrough. He was also informed of his situation by the elder of the Zither palace.

Jiang Mang was quite shocked by his circumstances but didn't let it show on his face. The Six powers for which he qualifies would describe what he could gain and learn by joining them before he would eventually make a choice.

The Moon empire went first and offered him the following condition: They offered him the chance to become a disciple of one of their grand-elders at the emperor realm who focused on the emotionless dao.

The Beast empire was second but didn't offer him discipleship. They offered him the chance to learn, their beast taming arts, and they would give him a beast cub with a pure primordial bloodline and not just a strand or parts like senior thunder eagle, or Xiao Liu.

The Heaven empire offered him their best body tempering technique to cultivate.

The Devil sect offered him, that they would provide him a top tier cultivation cauldron to dual cultivate, while also offering him a devil heritage to cultivate that was only below that of their ancestor's heritage.

The Sword Palace was the most generous, they promised that he would receive special nurturing and could become a grand-elders disciple, while also having the chance to learn their legacy techniques if he passed a certain test.

The Zither palace was the last power to offer him conditions: They didn't offer him anything but explained the reason for why he should join the Zither palace. The elder from the Zither palace had explained the following:

The zither palace is the oldest human power remaining from the primordial era. It has the longest existing heritage and specializes in cultivating the dao through the heart. They specialize in cultivating musician cultivators as they have to understand the heart to fully use their profound spirits. Their techniques involve using sounds as weapons and using music to create illusions that can trap or kill your opponents. They are also the leading power when it comes to formations and is only second to the formation guild. At last, every student who joins them will be assigned an elder as their master to guide them on their cultivation road depending on their profound spirits and specializations.

Jiang Mang was tempted by all the powers but eventually chose the Zither palace due to its suitability. It was also tempting that it was the most reclusive power, which meant that he could keep most of his secrets a secret.