Chapter 5: I Think the Third Trial Tests Wisdom

The crowd arrived at the Mountain of Inquiry, feeling nothing out of the ordinary, save for Mangu alone, who distinctly felt his strength beginning to wane, his physical attributes aligning closely with the rest.

The roiling, ancient barbarian blood within his veins grew tranquil, no longer providing him with an inexhaustible torrent of might.

The others looked from one to another, and ultimately, all eyes fell upon the sturdiest among them, Mangu.

"I shall go first," Mangu said, seeing the collective gaze fixed upon him. Dispensing with pleasantries, he simply stepped forward to lead the way.

The first step, the second, the third... the tenth.

The initial ten steps Mangu ascended with ease, but from the eleventh onward, pressure gradually began to manifest; he felt as though he were carrying a slab of stone upon his back, growing heavier the higher he climbed.

Yet it remained within the bounds of endurance.

He pressed on.

Mangu gasped twice, steadied his breathing, and moved toward the twentieth step.

As Mangu attained the twentieth step, his stride grew increasingly labored, and the speed of his ascent noticeably slackened.

By the twenty-ninth step, sweat had begun to seep through the back of Mangu’s garments, drenching the cloth; he was forced to halt, drawing ragged breaths as he sat upon the steps to rest.

"Even sitting brings no respite," Mangu muttered through gritted teeth, too exhausted to speak aloud. His present state was merely a shift from bearing the stone monument standing to bearing it seated, and the recovery of his strength was agonizingly slow.

Seeing Mangu struggle so severely, the crowd realized the ascent would be far from easy, and their hearts sank.

One spoke in a heavy voice: "I have heard the clan elders speak of similar places. This Mountain of Inquiry tests the heart’s devotion to the Dao. The simpler a person's nature, the more resolute their will, and the purer their devotion. Mangu hails from the ancient barbarians and is famous for his stubborn, singular mind. If even he finds the climb this difficult, I fear it will be harder still for the rest of us!"

"Could a meditation mantra settle the mind? Would that be effective?" another suggested, hit by a sudden inspiration.

The third trial merely required reaching the fiftieth step, with no stipulation that only the first few to finish would pass; they were not currently in competition with one another.

The crowd nodded in succession, universally agreeing it was an excellent approach; their family elders had all imparted similar mantras for self-cultivation and character refinement.

Lu Yang opened his mouth but said nothing, for he knew no such meditation mantra.

"Shall I teach you a stanza of the meditation mantra?" Meng Jingzhou inquired.

Lu Yang shook his head. "No need for now, I wish to consider other methods."

Seeing this, Meng Jingzhou did not force the mantra upon Lu Yang.

...

Meng Jingzhou awakened from his meditative trance, feeling a tranquility within his mind unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

The meditation mantra indeed worked!

Meng Jingzhou’s meditation had lasted longer than most. By the time he opened his eyes, the others had already reached the twentieth or thirtieth step, drenched in sweat, requiring immense willpower just to advance a single pace.

Great beads of sweat rolled down their tear-streaked faces, leaving them without even the strength to wipe them away.

Someone attempted to find an alternative path, reasoning that the pressure only existed upon the steps themselves. He sought to bypass them through the mountain terrain alongside, aiming for the fiftieth step. Yet upon entering the adjacent mountain land, he discovered the method failed completely; across the entirety of the Mountain of Inquiry, the pressure intensified uniformly with altitude.

Others tried to employ Dharma treasures, only to find the artifacts had completely lost their efficacy. No matter how miraculous the treasures were, they could not be activated in the slightest, reduced to nothing more than piles of scrap metal.

It was no wonder Dai Bufan had shown no concern over their use of such artifacts.

Lu Yang lagged behind everyone else, rendering him the most conspicuous figure.

With one foot bare, he squatted upon the tenth step, lost in thought, his eyes fixed on something indefinable.

"What are you doing? The others have already climbed quite far," Meng Jingzhou asked, filled with curiosity.

Lu Yang remained silent, holding a single shoe in his hand.

Lu Yang tossed the shoe, letting it land upon the eleventh step. "Try picking it up."

Meng Jingzhou failed to grasp Lu Yang's intention but complied nonetheless. Instantly, he realized the shoe felt heavier than usual, as though something beneath were dragging it downward.

Seemingly understanding a fraction of the mystery, Meng Jingzhou threw the shoe onto the twelfth step. He noted its descent matched the speed of the previous throw, but upon lifting it, it felt heavier than it had on the eleventh.

"Have you discerned the pattern?"

Meng Jingzhou furrowed his brow. "If an object does not touch the ground, the pressure will not act upon it. Only when it lands and makes contact with the earth does the additional weight manifest?"

"Precisely." Lu Yang struck his palm with his fist, delighted to find someone who shared his train of thought.

Deep in thought, Meng Jingzhou’s mind turned rapidly under the influence of his tranquil state. "The steps are inclined, and there are so many trees here. We could construct a ladder shaped like the numeral '7'. One end of the ladder can be anchored in the ground, while the other extends directly to the fiftieth step."

Lu Yang spoke with absolute certainty: "Exactly. This third trial is meant to test our wisdom. This is the standard answer!"

Understanding Lu Yang's vision, Meng Jingzhou quickly raised another dilemma: "How are we to fell the trees?"

They possessed neither axes nor saws; how were they to cut timber to fashion a ladder?

"Do you have a sharp Dharma treasure on your person?" Lu Yang had anticipated this question long ago.

He had considered cooperating with others, but unfortunately, no one else could comprehend his logic.

Meng Jingzhou produced a dagger. "A clan elder thrust this upon me for self-defense. It can be driven by intent, achieving a speed comparable to the Golden Core stage. However, here on the Mountain of Inquiry, it cannot fly."

"No matter, so long as it is sharp," Lu Yang said with a smile. The Meng clan was a great lineage; the treasures they forged, even when stripped of their spiritual activation, possessed a sharpness far exceeding any mundane axe or saw.

It was perfectly suited for felling trees.

"Come look over here. While you were in your trance, I already drew up the blueprints."

Lu Yang led Meng Jingzhou to a patch of soft sand, where the blueprint he had designed was traced—the very ladder shaped like a '7'.

After a brief consultation, the two set to work.

The Meng clan dagger proved exceptionally sharp; the thick tree trunks offered no more resistance than paper before its blade. The timber was swiftly carved by the duo into blocks of peculiar shapes.

Within the bounds of the Mountain of Inquiry, cultivators were no different from mortals, and the trees capable of growing here were naturally of the most ordinary variety.

Before long, Meng Jingzhou discovered yet another complication.

"How are these two wooden boards to be joined? Never mind that we have no nails, even if we did, they could not connect timber of this thickness."

"Have you ever heard of mortise and tenon joinery?"

"I have not."

Resigned, Lu Yang took the dagger to carve the joints into mortise and tenon structures, explaining the wisdom of the mortal realm to Meng Jingzhou as he worked.

"This protruding portion is called the tenon, and this recessed portion is the mortise. Combined, they form the mortise and tenon joint. The greatest characteristic of this joinery is that it remains exceptionally secure without the use of a single nail."

Meng Jingzhou listened with utmost seriousness. The Meng clan utilized spiritual energy and artifact-refining arts to create structures; they had no need for mortise and tenon joinery.

Upon the steps, the crowd sweated profusely, gasping for breath, driven solely by the desire to reach the fiftieth step and become the first to pass the trial.

Perhaps the first to finish would earn the appreciation of the Daoist Sect, leading to focused cultivation.

The crowd also understood why there was no time limit imposed; ascending the mountain consumed too much physical stamina. If one lingered for too long, they would grow so starved they could not even stand, let alone climb the mountain.

Below the steps, the two companions were likewise drenched in sweat and panting heavily. After exerting considerable effort, felling a whole swath of trees and enduring several trials and errors, they finally completed the ladder.

The ladder was bizarre in shape, narrow at the top and thick at the base, with a curve at its extremity. Rather than a ladder, it resembled a colossal numeral '7'.

The surrounding area was stripped bare, looking as though it had been savaged by a monstrous boar demon.

A disciple of the Daoist Sect cast a stealthy glance at Dai Bufan, well remembering that Senior Brother Dai Bufan took the greatest pride in flaunting his lush, verdant Mountain of Inquiry.

Dai Bufan’s eyelid twitched, and his fists clenched imperceptibly.