(Random POV)

The mounting pressure the girl experienced each time she tried to lift her foot dissuaded her from moving any further.

The discordant cries the girl heard from her surrounding persuaded the girl to remove her mask of indifference.

Yet the girl did not cry out in pain.

Nor did she remove her guise of nonchalance.

Lifting her leg, she took another step forward.

What lied beyond her destination was the only way to her future.

.....

(MC's POV)

Lifting my cup of spiritual green tea like a refined expert, I thought to myself.

What a wonderful day.

"I will not give up. I-I have too much to do." (Entrant A)

What made the day even more enjoyable was the wonderful values being preached by the young entrants through the crystal.

"Father, your son won't be able to visit you this year. Forgive me." (Entrant B)

To think that the youngsters these years are so caring.

I really misjudged them in my past life.

Gazing at the crystal, a drop of (imaginary) tear gathered around my eyes.

But what truly impressed me was youngster Quan.

"*beep*" x 999 (Quan Luo)

What a comprehensive knowledge of swearing.

As expected of the death-seeker.

How many years of effort must have been required to remember all those words.

One can only admire his work of dedication.

Still, it is truly refreshing to see him suffer like this.

The feeling is even more pleasant as I recall the times I suffered in my past life due to the mess this idiot made with Young Che.

Not just this idiot, but his entire clan was the same.

Especially that gloating expression of Elder Quan when he took my belongings. It was fulfilling to see his face change colors like a broken bulb today.

*sigh*

I am going to be addicted to this feeling, aren't I?

I feel like I awakened something which I shouldn't have.

Bah, at any rate, it is quite satisfying so who cares.

Normally speaking, someone like the young master of Quan clan would never swear such words in the middle of a trial.

That is, if the trial took place the way it normally did.

But sadly, a certain elder changed the contents of the trial yesterday. Consequently, making the current trial differ from the ones in the past.

Previously, the 'potential gateway' of the sect was activated as a method to weed out those with bad potential and the heart mirror was used to weed out those with poor determination.

But this year, all those pointless procedures were scrapped by a certain handsome elder(me) to make the test more effective and faster.

Thus, it was not anything strange for youngster Quan to feel so angry.

After all, the trial was not something which was supposed to require true effort nor pain.

It was supposed to be something like a lottery instead where you followed the policy of 'no pain yes gains'.

But now the policy leaned more towards 'virtue above all'.

A policy which could easily be felt by comparing the silent mountain a year ago to the prayer temple it is today.

Of course, initially, there was a fierce opposition especially from some conservative elders who were against the change to protect the traditions of the sect.

But a single sheet of paper listing the amount of spirit stones that would be saved by this method made them delete all the records of tradition from their mind.

'..' ˉ\_(ツ)_/ˉ

Grandpas rock.

......

(Third person POV)

The originally tranquil mountain of the Immortal Divinity Sect was currently filled with prayers and vulgarities of different dialects unique to different regions.

These prayers belonged to the numerous filial entrants who were trying to reach the destination of the trial while slowly picking up their pace.

Behind them were another group of entrants who were currently kissing the ground and slowly being deported outside the gates of the sect by the ten cultivators overseeing the trial.

They were the people who fainted in the middle of the trial.

To avoid similar fate, the remaining group of entrants gritted their teeth and put more effort to reach the area where their spirit roots would be checked.

Because if they failed to do so, all the efforts they exerted today would be wasted along with their hopes and aspirations.

Even if they failed this time, there was a chance that they may get a similar chance in the future.

However, for these entrants, the certainty placed right in front of them was much more convincing than the uncertainty that may or may not occur in the future.

In fact, they were not wrong to think this way.

The hidden purpose of the trial was to check the determination of the entrants.

The moment they had chosen to exert efforts at the present rather than hope for the future, they had already passed one of the trials of the sect.

With a few more steps, there was a high chance that these entrants could be chosen as the disciples of the immortal divinity sect if their roots met the bare requirement.

There were also some who already understood this simple principle the moment the trial started.

One of such figure was a young villager who stood at the very front of the cluster of entrants.

He had a heroic expression on his face and was muttering some chuuni lines as he tried to reach towards the goal.

Next to him was a certain death-seeking young master who previously spewed vulgarities like a random hooligan on the street.

In comparison to how he was when the trial started, he now looked more composed and resistant towards the pain.

After them were a certain burly son of city lord who was going full macho and the daughter of the Phoenix city who for whatever reason (hiding her ruined makeup) was wearing a fox mask.

These people were currently the hope of the struggling entrants.

A hope that the trial could be succeeded.

Similarly, there was another one of these hopes who was currently moving separate from the crowd.

The figure was wrapped with a gray rag and had her face disfigured by numerous scars.

With a hint of indifference and hidden resolution visible in her face, she was taking a step forward.