Chapter 495 - Inspire.

Yang Dao was sitting on the step with his eyes closed. He was comprehending what happened just now. The boy could tell that the scene in front of him was not reality. Because the killing intent was locked onto him but it did not give him the threat of death. 

He sat down and recalled the way to see through reality and illusion. An answer came to his mind, the fluctuation in the spirit energy. However, the solution was not so simple. There was a difference between the spirit fluctuation between the real objects and illusion. The killing intent he just sensed a bit ago fooled him. 

This was the thin barrier between reality and illusion. Yang Dao wanted to see through this barrier, he wanted to see find out the tiny difference between real and fake. Upon pondering a method came to his mind. Resonance of spirit energy fluctuations. Real objects will resonate with real objects and fake will resonate with illusions. 

Now the question in front of him was the crux of all this. How could he tap into this resonance? Even if he could tap in, he will have to depend on sensing the fluctuations as he did usually, but to sense these extremely minute fluctuation differences he was not experienced enough. 

He did not know what happened to him, he suddenly thought about combining the source energy of the four elements behind his pupil. This way he will be able to detect the real elemental objects in nature. The conclusion of his comprehension was that everything that lacked the balance of four elements was an illusion. 

After all, the world was made up of four elements, even if they contained one element only, for example, a stone containing the earth, they will be all same at the root. The fluctuations of the elements despite being different in nature were the same. 

Yang Dao decided upon his course of action and he concentrated his source energy at the back of his pupils. It took him ten minutes to complete the comprehension and then he stood up from the steps and opened his eyes. If anyone saw him from the front they will be shocked to see that his eyes were flickering with the four colors representing the elements. 

The boy did not wait anymore and he put a step forward. He climbed the seventy-seventh step. The illusion was triggered but Yang Dao was prepared and stabbed his jade-like finger ahead of him. The motion seem to be random but it broke through the array formation. 

...

Elder Chime saw this and his pupils shrank, and he mumbled, "Array master." 

Elder Jing Shui asked, "Elder Chime, what is it." 

The old man said, "This kid just used his finger to break through the weakest spot in the spirit fluctuation caused by the illusion array. He is somehow able to discern real from fake. You might not be able to sense it but the formation masters can all sense the fluctuations in the spirit energy. The array was set up by me personally and I can tell where the weakest point is. 

The boy is emitting spirit energy from inside him to break past this barrier and he is able to point out the weakest link very cleanly. He broke the illusion before it could completely execute." 

The elders were surprised but the four people, Amil, Shakti, Alisha, and Yue Jing were all shocked pale. They did not expect Elder Chime to praise this kid so highly. 

Elder Jing said, "I wonder if there is anything this brat cannot do. Well, Jing'er help me contact his parents or guardians, please. Invite them over to the sect, about time I bagged this enchanting young man for my disciple. I will contact Athena's parents myself." 

This statement shocked the people even more. They did not expect Jing Shui to be so decisive. 

...

On the staircase, Yang Dao was climbing swiftly and his pace only slowed down because he could not use the spirit energy inside his body. Do not misunderstand, the nature of source energy and spirit energy was all the same in a way so they worked and resonated with each other. For a better understanding consider the spirit energy the fifth element of the nature. 

Thus the boy could find his way through this. As he progressed, it took him a lot of effort to see through the illusions. The intensity of the illusions became closer to that of the reality. Meanwhile the others have all reached seventy-fifth step. They all had a similar situation like Yang Dao as well. 

They all had a benefit, that was to watch how the boy progressed in front of them. They all realised what the situation was like. Yang Dao's progress had slowed down a lot. He was now standing at eightieth step. Just five steps ahead of them but the pressure on him was fifty times more than the four behind him. 

...

The true disciples and the general disciples were discussing the situation when someone said, "He moved again." 

They all gazed at the staircase and found that Yang Dao had moved to the eighty-first step. One of the disciples said, "Can he really do it? The situation looks too overbearing right?" 

Disciple 2, "Even if it does look overbearing, he has no way but to preserve, he is the prime disciple of the sect master. Despite his age, his talent is higher than all of us. Even the older disciples are not as strong as he is." 

A lot of people nodded in affirmation. This was the truth, Yang Dao was the most starking creature in their batch. He was not only strong but also good at martial arts and recently they all have found out that the boy has passed the exam of an alchemist with the highest score ever. This gave them all a sense of awe towards him. 

There were some people who were not very satisfied with the statement but the majority wins. They did not have the face to speak, well, they all were aware that if they were wrong they will have no face to hide, and it will not be late to vocalize their thoughts after Yang Dao failed. 

These people looked down on him because of his age. The boy had now stepped onto the eighty-fifth step and his body was drenched with sweat. However, he was holding on, his eyes were still shining. What made him baffled was that the pressure on his body was unable to be resisted even with the earth's source energy coursing through him. 

By now, Yang Dao was holding on because of sheer willpower. Even breathing was exerting to him let alone raise a step and move forward. The boy took his time to stand on the steps and only when his body was used to the pressure on his body did he move forward. The time was increasing and the others were in the same straits as him, even worse. Daina was the second youngest and her dainty physique was being a bit too stressed by this. 

Yang Dao bend his head and said, "You all, do not give up. I will not acknowledge you as my peers if you did not pass. Do you understand, do not give up. Daina, you owe me chicken rolls, if you lost, you will have to compensate me." 

His voice was extremely light but it was enough to ignite the competing spirit in the eyes of the other four people. Trent was the first one to be spurred by his words and moved forward. 

The rest followed at their own pace and bearing. Soon, Yang Dao also climbed to the ninetieth step. Now, he could have gone down but he did not. The people were confused about what he was going to do. Their questions were answered when the boy lifted his foot and laid it heavily on the ninety-first step.

He did not want to give up by just passing the exam, he wanted to be the best, he wanted to be the first to reach the summit of this staircase. When he set foot on the ninety-first step the pressure that came crashing down on him was strong enough to make his bones tremble and emit crackling sounds. He grunted in discomfort. 

However, the shine in his eyes was not dimmed one bit. This scene was being telecasted through the entire sect. Everyone was holding their breaths. They all had heard the discussion among the elders. Earlier, Elder Chime said, "Ninety-first step needs one to be peak spirit formation realm otherwise it will be detrimental to their body and leave hidden injuries." 

The people could relate to the spirit of the boy and the disciples standing behind after finishing their climb could not help but cheer, "YANG DAO, YANG DAO..." 

The cheers surprised everyone and not only in the exam site but even in the other parts, the disciples began to chant the same way.. The purpose of this examination was to give everyone a chance and inspire them, and Yang Dao just achieved it.