Chapter 459 - The First Steps

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John's gaze turned heated as he heard the Grand Elder reveal this, as he was looking at the names of the most talented cultivators to ever walk the world.

"These names belonged to cultivators that inspired fear and awe back in the ancient times. Only the ninth place spot belongs to someone of our timeline, the Astral Emperor," the Grand Elder explained.

"Astral Emperor? Does he still live?" Iris asked, a tinge of excitement in her voice as she enjoyed learning about the world she lived in.

"Indeed he does. He's the Emperor of the Astral Empire, who is one of the strongest powers in this world," the Grand Elder replied.

"How strong is the Astral Empire compared to our Heavenly Lightning Sect?" Iris asked, enthusiasm again present in her voice.

"With the Astral Emperor at their helm, the Astral Empire is definitely stronger than our Heavenly Lightning Sect," the Grand Elder replied without hiding anything. "However, we too have powers we can rely on, such as the Lightning Dragon."

Iris's eyes lit up upon hearing about the lightning dragon. Unlike John, her sect was closer to the Divine Martial Continent, and the route much less dangerous. As such, they did not require the dragon's escort across the ocean, and so Iris had never seen the dragon before.

"How strong is the Dragon?" Iris asked, firing off question after question.

"Strong enough to ensure our safety," the Grand Elder replied, not giving much detail regarding the dragon.

Iris opened her mouth to ask another question, but John spoke up before she could. His gaze lingered at the very top of the tablet as he spoke to the Grand Elder.

"Grand Elder, who was the Jade Dragon-God Emperor?" John asked as he stared at the number one name on the list, who had a score of nineteen steps.

"Ah, him," the Grand Elder replied as he stared at the name at the top of the list. "He was from before calamity, and the myths surrounding him are many. He was the Emperor of the Jade Dragon Empire and was supposedly the most powerful cultivator in this world at the time of the calamity. He played an enormous part in repelling the invading force and was one of the reasons this world still yet exists. However, details about him afterward the calamity are scarce, and so no one knows what happened to him after those times," the Grand Elder explained.

John stared at the name for some time, thinking about what type of man the Jade Dragon-God Emperor was. Silence filled the area for a short while, before John turned to the Grand Elder with a confident and resolved look on his face.

"Grand Elder, what about the twentieth step? Has no one ever reached it?" John asked, although he already knew the answer based on the names and scores.

"None have ever set foot on it, at least not while taking the test the way it is intended," the Grand Elder replied. "There is a rumor of some sort of reward for the one who reaches the twentieth step, but obviously such a rumor has never been confirmed."

The Grand Elder's response was mostly what John had been expecting.

"Grand Elder, what score do I need to become a Direct Disciple?" John asked.

"Eight steps," the Grand Elder replied without hesitation.

"And which section on this tablet belongs to our sect?" John asked.

"The bottom right," the Grand Elder replied.

John glanced at the bottom right section and read over the names and scores, which ranged from ten to twelve.

"Only twelve? Our Heavenly Lightning Sect appears to have the lowest score out of all the top talents," John replied.

"That it does," the Grand Elder replied, not upset at John speaking the truth. The other tablets belonged to entire races or alliances, while the Heavenly Lightning Sect tablet was merely one sect. It was common for them to have the lowest scores out of all the sections. However, merely having one of the tablets for their use was an honor, and so they put up with such things as an afterthought.

"What would happen if I were to score at the top of our sect, or even the top of all the powers?" John asked.

"Then our Heavenly Lightning Sect would support you with all our resources, naturally," the Grand Elder replied.

John nodded his head at the Grand Elder's words, before he quickly glanced at the top section which contained the names of the world's greatest cultivators through all time.

"And what would happen if I were to place amongst the names at the top?" John asked.

Iris's face lit up in slight surprise upon hearing John's question, while the Grand Elder raised an eyebrow as well. They were surprised to hear John consider such a thing a possibility, although neither truly believed he was capable of it.

The Grand Elder remained silent for a moment, not knowing whether to actually entertain John's question or not, but decided to do so after a short period.

"Then we would throw the entire weight of the sect behind you, and support you without question," the Grand Elder replied.

"Good," John replied. "Then I'll keep you to those words."

Without any delay, John turned and walked towards the talent testing steps, leaving the stunned Iris and Grand Elder behind.

"He's…he's not serious, is he?" Iris asked the Grand Elder.

The Grand Elder remained silent for a moment before shaking his head with uncertainty. "Who can truly tell what others are thinking. Only time will reveal to us if his words carry any weight, or if he simply overestimates himself."

With his unique eye talents, the Grand Elder could tell that John was a special talent. However, even he couldn't see through all John's truths, and so was uncertain of just how talented John was.

John arrived before the talent testing steps and stood just one step away. He felt an incredibly profound energy emanate from the steps, which only grew stronger as he got closer to it.

'I'm not even on the steps yet, and I can tell this formation is incredible. It reminds me of the steps trial in the ancient city, only far more profound.'

Without wasting any more time, John calmed his mind and stepped out.

Bang!

His right foot slammed onto the first step, shaking the area around the formation from the might of his step. John raised an eyebrow in surprise, as he had not expected the first step to be so…violent. He felt an absolutely incredible amount of energy wrap his leg and force it down violently. A weaker cultivator would have had their leg shattered, unable to resist even slightly against the formation.

'No wonder only the most talented of youths are able to take this test. Youths who are Inner Disciples or below could seriously die taking this test.'

Bang!

He stepped forward once again, bringing his other leg onto the second step, and his entire body into the area of the formation. An incredible energy instantly washed over him, which surged through every inch of his body and over his dantian. However, it ignored his body dantian, and only focused on his essence dantian.

'So that's how it is,' John mused internally as he started to figure out how the test worked.

'This talent test sure is brutal. If it were someone with a dantian of four compressions or less, I'm sure they would have had their dantian crushed instantly under this pressure.'

The more a dantian had been compressed, the harder it would be and the more energy it could store. This was a primary indicator of talent and was the main thing the talent steps were testing.

Bang!

John took another step forward as he stepped onto the third step. Upon doing so, he felt the pressure on his body and dantian increase again.

Bang!

His fourth step slammed down on the steps, shaking it from the force as he tested it. The level of pressure on his dantian, meridians, and body once again increased.

He could feel an incredible energy squeeze down on his dantian as it tried to crush it, which he pressed back with his Qi to resist. The cultivators body constitution also made a difference, as only those with supreme body constitutions could move enough Qi through it to resist the pressure. Those with weak meridians or suboptimal meridian pathways would fail the test, as the amount of Qi used throughout the body to resist the pressure would be lessened.

Not only that, but John could feel the pressure of the test seem to fight against his soul and perception, which he needed to quickly comprehend the nature of the energy and adjust to in order to resist it with maximum efficiency.

The trial tested the comprehensive talent of the cultivator, considering all aspects which affected combat prowess talent. As such, if one was talented with cultivation and had optimal meridian pathways and perception talents, they could overcome their dantian weakness and ascend above their dantian limits. All the aspects that made up talent blended together to test the ultimate combat talent of the cultivators.

Bang!

Bang!

His foot slammed onto the fifth and sixth step as he finally came to a halt and stayed there for several minutes as he felt the formation's pressure wash over him. 

'While the steps do test other factors, the main factors of these steps test dantian compressions, natural meridian talent, and comprehension talent. Each step is a linear increase in pressure, starting from roughly four dantian compressions. Going from the first to the sixth step increased the pressure roughly three compressions worth. So, with this in mind, I'm currently at the limits of a seven dantian compression cultivator. So going forward…"

John quickly did the simple math in his head, and a confident smile appeared on his face as he came to the truth of this test. 

"The twentieth step would be…fourteen dantian compressions....as long as the meridian pathways and natural comprehension talent keeps up…heh…"

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