75 Those at the Peak II

Amon felt that the cold and crisp voice was very familiar. If that voice was from the Guardian, and if he was indeed right about its identity, then the things Amon did, heard and said in the last Trial were even more important than what he had thought. Nevertheless, he was sure of one thing: the Guardian certainly had a purpose to gather them all together for the last Trial.

The red walls of the hall began to tremble fiercely and started to crack. The floor under their feet quaked and the tiles broke apart. The ceiling was blown away, and the walls started falling apart in huge chunks that disintegrated in the air as they fell.

The participants bundled together closely to those of their own sect, soon being completely divided in five groups as the building collapsed.

Just like that, the building that sheltered them had been ground to dust, leaving just a broken floor beneath their feet. It was quite the surprise for them. Most of the participants looked around with worried expression, as if waiting for something else to collapse.

"Your task is very simple." The voice echoed again, jolting them awake. "All you have to do is reach the highest peak in this mountain range."

"As long as you don't break the rules of the Hellblaze Trials, you can use all means available to you." It spoke slowly, as if trying to make sure all of the thirty-one participants understood what it was saying. "What matters is only reaching the peak, nothing more and nothing less."

The voice stopped speaking, and soon an uncomfortable silence took over the cultivators gathered. Only the sound of the wind blowing could be heard near the remains of the collapsed building.

Jake looked upwards, as did the other inheriting disciples present. They had to reach the highest peak, but they could not see anything beyond the white vortex that overshadowed the mountain range. Nevertheless, it was not very hard to guess which would be the correct mountain to climb.

The four of them seemed to reach the same conclusion as the set their gazes in the mountain right at the center of the vortex. The mountain that lied in the center of that world.

As long as one was a proper cultivator, they would understand. The highest peak had always been the center of their world. Everything else depended on it, and moved towards it.

Not only that, the Guardian had purposefully gathered all the participants together for one reason. His choice of words also seemed to be very deliberate. As long as they did not break the rules, everything was valid.

As the four of the inheriting disciples exchanged glances, they all understood it, and the atmosphere suddenly turned even tenser.

Everyone stood completely still, barely being able to breathe as a silent pressure seemed to fall over every one of the participants. Reynard had his right hand over his shoulder, gripping the hilt of his curved sword. Anna and Alden had their arms relaxed at the sides of their bodies, but the air around them was distorting as they silently gathered Qi.

Jake had a deep frown on his face as he held the grip of the red saber hanging from his waist with his right hand. Very slowly, he sent a meaningful glance to Karen, Joshua, Evan and Skylar that stood on guard by his side. He then extended a finger in his right hand, lightly tapping the hilt of his saber twice. The other four gave an almost imperceptible nod as the heard Jake's instructions.

Even if it was a very and subtle light tap, the sound exploded like a thunderclap in the tense silence that had fallen over all of them.

Hearing the taps, Anna slowly dragged her feet on the ground, adjusting her posture. The Noan River Sect's disciples all tensed even further, unable to hide the anxiousness in their faces.

Reynard smiled with disdain as he gripped his sword even tighter, and the Roaring Mountain Sect's disciples all took a deep breath before raising their weapons.

Surprisingly, Alden's reaction was to stay still, not even moving. He had his eyes closed, and the disciples of the Southern Flame Sect all looked extremely relaxed compared to the others.

The two disciples of the Storm Peak Sect stood back to back, looking very nervous as the wind made their green clothes flutter.

Amon was also not moving among the members of the Abyss Sect. He had a displeased look on his face as he remembered the Guardian's words. However, before he could think properly, one of the Noan River Sect's disciple took a step forward as his whole body trembled. He was clearly incredibly nervous, and wasn't able to deal with the tension.

It all happened in a moment. Reynard's smile widened as he stomped heavily on the ground, shooting forward like a cannonball as he unsheathed his sword with a fluid motion. It glinted ominously under the sunlight, making Amon shiver.

"Now!" Jake shouted as he unsheathed his saber and a wall of raging fire sprang to life in front of him. The sudden heat sent a blast of hot air in all directions, raising a cloud of dust that blocked everyone's vision.

Karen took a step forward and waved her hands. A piercing howl echoed through the air as a blast of wind hit the wall of flames, sending them spiraling in Reynard's direction. Amon could only see a smile of disdain in Reynard's face before he was engulfed in the fire.

'BOOM!'

With a deafening sound, the ground quaked violently.

Amon lost his balance and almost fell to the ground.Rather than stopping, however, the quaking got worse. Gritting his teeth, Amon managed to stay on his feet as he drew Windhowler with a piercing trill.

"Come on, don't stand there!" Someone called out to him, and Amon recognized Evan and Skylar running to his direction with Daniel.

"What about the others?" Amon asked in a hurry.

"They are just buying time!" Skylar answered, grabbing Amon's clothes and almost dragging him with her before he managed to properly turn and run with them.

"We were lucky that we were standing in that side of the building in the first place." Evan murmured as he stomped the ground with violence, speeding up even more. "Our group was the closest to the mountain range; we got a good advantage there."

They had an advantage because no one stood between them and the mountain range, while the other four groups had to get past them to get there using the shortest path. Jake had decided to stay behind with Joshua and Karen so he could hold the others back as much as possible to properly make use of the advantage they had.

Amon looked back and saw flashes of fire raging wildly as the wind howled and the ground rumbled. Streams of water pierced the air, some travelling upwards and dispersing in a weak rain.

A faint mist started spreading through what was now a crater rather than the remains of the building. The mist was being blown away by the wind and the fire before forming again as the humidity in the air increased. The sounds turned even louder as the fight seemed to turn fiercer and the clash of the elements intensified.

Amon was sure that all of the other groups were fighting amongst themselves too and not only trying to get past Jake, Joshua and Karen. The problem, however, was that he did not know why a fight had broken out.

"I don't mean to sound inconvenient, but why is all of this happening?" Amon asked in a hesitant tone.

"You don't understand the situation?" Daniel asked while raising a brow. The fierce winds made his black hair whip wildly as he turned to look at Amon.

"This is a race, Amon." Daniel said in a serious tone.

There was no other explanation. The Guardian gathering all of them together and setting the highest peak as the objective, and even allowing all available methods to be used, all of it pointed to the Trial of the Heart involving a competition to the top of the highest mountain.

A race to the top of the world.

The Hellblaze Secret World was, after all, a world of cultivators. More than that, it was the world they lived in.

In one way or the other, cultivators were all racing to some sort of peak, a place were they could stand above all else.

For them, anothing was more important then the climb.

When Amon heard Daniel's explanation, his eyes dimmed somewhat, and he couldn't hide his disappointment.

If all of the present had arrived at the same conclusion, than maybe that white beast had been right. This was the kind of cultivators that existed nowadays.

Amon wanted to laugh. The Guardian of the Hellblaze Secret World was surely a very cunning and cruel being. To lead them all into this fight was a very twisted thing to do.

No, this was wrong.

Maybe cultivators were cunning and cruel beings. The Guardian had only chosen the precise words that would lead people with a certain mindset to the same conclusion.

Amon shook his head. The Guardian himself had said it. All that mattered was to reach the peak, nothing more and nothing less.

This race, this fight, was nothing but an illusion the participants had created themselves. They were standing on their own way.

He could only sigh. This was not a race he would be taking part of. If he needed to reach the peak in order to move on, he would do so in his own terms, at his own pace. His cultivation was his alone.

Amon remembered the words the beast said as it looked at him with a serious gaze in its icy eyes. Every time he though about them, he felt he understood it a bit more.

In the end, it was all relative.