???

While the quintet was wholly absorbed in their comprehension, the other parties traversed the stairway, some with high difficulty others with rapid speed. Out of the other Holy Lands, the QUO were the second fastest with the Elemental Infinitum Sect as well as the Divine Bestia sect close at their heels.

Some of the stronger empires were not far behind.

"The spirit of the mountain will prevent any and all offensive actions between parties during the ascent of the stairway." Netruvean, the female-elf of the twins, informed her group from the QUO.

Not wasting any time the rest of the participants sank into comprehension.

Astrallis was currently in the midst of a scene filled with endless knowledge and pain. A Plethora of different children, some even younger than himself, were being put through various torturous experiences; all with one goal in mind, to garner a firmer body and foundation.

The injection of natural treasures into the marrow, the forging of the human body within a furnace, the freezing of the soul within ice; a myriad of different techniques, all synonymous with the word agony, attempting to manufacture a perfect vessel for which to cultivate.

Astrallis felt his blood run cold watching the scenes and at the same time, profound enlightenment occurred within his being.

"I understand what Grandpa Doehring means now, 'There is a sky beyond a sky, and a person beyond a person'. The amount of suffering that they have gone through compared to me is incomparable. Many of them are younger than me, but the auras they emanated even pressured me. I may hold the meridian system of the Astral God, but it won't be directly beneficial for me until I reach much later in my cultivation, as it focuses on the Primordial Laws,"

"I have intimately amalgamated with the runes the Astral God placed within me, although apart from the reinforcement of the Five Viscera and Six Bowels, the effects on my body are still an enigma."

Sinking his spiritual sense into his dantian, he began to observe the ethereal white figure within. Once one enters the Spirit-Gathering Realm after the Foundational Realm, one will attempt to gather the spirit energy in the air absorbing it into their soul-space. Once enough soul energy has been formed the cultivator will try to converge their soul energy into a Soul-Being, which is a perfect spiritual replicant of themselves. If a cultivator succeeds in establishing a Soul-Being, they will break through to the Soul-Convergence Realm, at this stage one strengthens their newly formed spiritual replicant by converging soul energy into it.

The most significant benefit of the Soul-Convergence Realm is that it allows one to project spiritual sense out of their body.

Spiritual sense allows one to sense your surroundings with perfect clarity. One can hide from another's spiritual sense if they are at a higher realm of cultivation or their Primordial Law comprehension is superior.

"I seem to be an oddity, but one cannot limit my body to conventional means since I am a descendant of the enigmatic Astral God. I managed to use spiritual sense to observe my body when I was at the peak of Body-Tempering, and I even formed a Soul-Being when I broke through to the Qi-Gathering Realm; although mine is different from what I've read in the scriptures. I'm currently not able to project it out of my body, but the reason isn't that of a physical limitation, I just haven't figured out a way."

Astrallis stared at the figure, a perfect replica of himself, with eleven systematic black-holes orbiting around it. The largest of the two formations were in the shape of a hexagon, with six black-holes at each point of the vertices, the second formation was in the form of a pentagon which was placed in the centre of the hexagon.

"Currently, all I know about my indecipherable spiritual replicant and the black-hole array is that it allows me to absorb the vast amount of essence and refine it into an extremely pure Qi. When one refines their Qi to such an extent it slows done their speed of cultivation, I do not have that problem. But it seems this array also allows the intake of spirit energy..." Said Astrallis solemnly.

"I should be excited to have such a body, but it's disconcerting to have it all but none of it at the same time. I will have to sit down and figure it all out once I leave the mountain. Although I do feel that my body leans towards the path of spiritual manifestation."

Even after all these stately thoughts flashed through Astrallis mind, a slight smile spread across his lips. Those that saw him stopped in their tracks, a cold sweat forming on their backs as they stared at that beautiful smile tinged with a hint of devilishness. If Astrallis saw their expressions now, he wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Astrallis face soon became dignified when he thought about the children, of similar ages, who were going to such extremes to create the perfect body. Bodies that even pressured himself.

"I need to find a body-cultivation technique, maybe one even more obscure than the ones I've just seen, a technique that will suit me. Son of the Vita Fairy and the Rising Spear."

???

Standing up slowly, Astrallis observed his four deeply engrossed friends. Nodding in appreciation, he began to watch the murals of the next stage. The same result occurred as last time, but this time the ideas displayed in the vision were diametrically opposite to the past.

Looking towards his friends meaningfully Astrallis moved out from the Qi barrier, beginning the next stage.

"Look someone is moving on to the next stage."

"It's only been six days. Generally it takes about two weeks for the first person to leave the first stage." A monk with large ears and a long white beard said, while his eyes squeezed shut in amusement.

"Hoho, and it even seems to be the child that that Great Being took a liking too. The Great Being's emotions haven't shifted for the past millennia; I wouldn't have known it was because of this young child if she hadn't informed me to keep him safe." Cold-sweat formed on his back when his mind recalled the cosmic killing intent that was trained upon him.

"From what I've garnered so far after observing this golden-haired child is that he holds his family and friends close to him so one can infer that this stage focuses on the individual. Otherwise he wouldn't be walking on his own."

???

A pure golden Qi enclosed Astrallis' body as he steadily advanced upwards.

This scene repeated itself for the next month as Astrallis headed the pack, pondering upon the natural wonders and enlarging the mind. During this time Astrallis' aura became much more reserved as he realised he had only been a frog in a well, the universe is vast, and he is just from one of the realms within the universe; there are sure to be more heaven-warping geniuses out there, many much older than him. He had also made some new insights towards a few cultivation realms above him, but many of the ideas that would have helped a cultivator with a normal-physique do not apply to his special physique.

At the peak of the mountaintop, a seductive figure gently tapped her finger on the bark of the tree she sat upon, "This is too easy for him."

"Little Spirit, I want you to increase the pressure on him." A voice filled with schadenfreude echoed throughout the mountaintop.

"Oh, why would you want that M'Lady?" An indistinct rocky form appeared in front of the seductive figure.

"Hmph, he won't be allowed to call me his Grandmother if he can't even take a little bit of pain." She said dismissively.

"Yes, M'Lady."

A daunting pressure soon enveloped the stairway much to the dismay of the participants, but to their surprise, they weren't affected by it.

"Thank the heavens it was not placed on us, quite a few people have already been eliminated on their ascent with even fewer being sent off because an ancestor took a liking to them."

"Well, we can't all be like the ones at the front who actually turn down ancestors." Said a thin girl forlornly.

"Don't be like that, we may still have a chance. Even though we are multiple stages behind the Heaven-Chosen, we can still be picked." A bright-faced boy replied motivating.

The group of children, all with new found motivation, pressed on upwards.

But this happy atmosphere was not prevalent in the Ethereal Grotto Sects pavilion; they had all just been informed that a Great Being had taken a liking to Astrallis and had ordered the Spirit of the Mountain to increase the pressure placed on him manifold. It should have been a moment to rejoice, but the fact that the demand had risen substantially for Astrallis worried them.

The only one who wasn't worried but was instead smiling from ear-to-ear was Jasmine, "So, you did notice." She thought inwardly.

"My dear wife, why are you smiling during a time like this?" Cestra stared incredulously at his wife.

"It is not enough to reach the apex without persevering through tribulations. Also, there is no need to worry about his well-being, well, at least no need to worry about his life." Jasmine laughed, while a slight aura of an Asura began leaking out of her; almost as if she was excited about the prospect of blood.

???