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When Duncan opened his eyes, it was already night.

The blood on his body had become dry and sticky. The split skin had caked over and he felt incredibly hungry. But, his face contained a huge smile as he ruffled through his pack and retrieved the last blood wine he had in his possession.

By logic, Duncan should use this wine to break through to the eighth level of the Qi Gathering realm. But, Duncan didn\'t care about anything else at this moment. He opened the gourd and started drinking happily.

After indulging in his wine for a bit and Duncan opened his bag and found some spirit fruit he had foraged during the past month. He had filled his bag with them as he didn\'t know when he would get something to eat again.

Duncan bit into the flesh of a fruit and its juice flowed into his mouth. The taste of the fruit was rich and it had ample spirit energy in it. The fruit restored his dried-up energy reserves rapidly. One fruit was enough to satiate his hunger.

Duncan sat there relaxing for a bit and then once more packed his bag and started walking to the top. This time when he saw the stele, he was in a good mood. His eyes lingered on the words Above Average for a bit and he passed the stele to come upon the next set of stairs.

These stairs and the archway looked similar.

This time, Duncan didn\'t activate this archway. He climbed the steps leisurely and reached the next platform soon. There was another stele situated in the center of this platform as well. Duncan came near it and read the words in it.

From what was written he understood that the below set of stairs tested the mental power of a cultivator. Duncan was a little bit intrigued by the concept. He put his bag near the stele and came down the steps and stood before the archway.

He never had an opinion of his mental strength. Today he was determined to walk out of this hill regardless of his results. His goal was already achieved. Right not, he merely wanted to test his mental power. He was determined to not overdo it and end up staying here longer.

No matter the result, he was leaving this hill today.

Activating the arch, Duncan waited calmly for the section of the steps to light up. Once it was lit-up, Duncan stepped foot on the first step. Nothing untoward happened. He tried to unleash his cultivation and found it restricted as usual. It told him that the test was working normally.

Slowly he walked up the stairs. Even when he reached the eighty-first step nothing felt different. Duncan was a bit surprised by this. But he schooled his features and steadied his mind, before climbing once more upwards.

When he reached the eighty-ninth step, he felt a ripple in his mind. There was a vague pressure pressing down upon his mind. His body felt fine, but his mind felt a little pressure.

Duncan stopped and felt out the sensation a bit. He felt that this one would be dangerous if he pushed past his limits. So, he once again determined not to push past his limits as he did with his body.

As Duncan continued ascending, the pressure on his mind increased bit by bit. By the ninety-seventh step, he was sweating profusely. However, he still felt fine. So, Duncan continued further. When he reached the one-hundred-and-fifth step, a sharp pain came from his mind.

It was like driving a spike into his head. Duncan winced and rubbed his head. He felt a little groggy. But, he still continued on. The pressure in his mind increased continuously and Duncan felt as if a spike was being slowly pushed into his head.

By the one-hundred-and-thirteenth step, Duncan\'s vision began to swim. He felt his eyes turning blurry and everything looking foggy. Duncan grit his teeth and ascended two more steps.

On the one-hundred-and-fifteenth step, his vision turned blank and his mind shuddered as if something was battering at his head. His head ached incomparably and even the worst of hangover felt tame at this point.

Duncan wisely stepped away from the lit-up path and breathed heavily. His entire body had become drenched in sweat unknowingly and Duncan had a lingering fear in his mind.

Even though the pressure vanished immediately after he stepped away from the lit-up section, he could still feel phantom pains assaulting his mind. Duncan sat down for a bit and regulated his breathing.

He entered a meditative trance and slowly recovered from the ordeal. Duncan was relieved that he didn\'t press on with this test as he did with his body. If he had pressed on, who knew what would happen to his mind?

Duncan also didn\'t know any way to increase his mental strength. He had only heard about stuff like mental strength until now. This was the first time he had experienced a mental attack and he was a little wary of it now.

However, he figured that this test might be really beneficial to beast hall disciples back at the sect. He had heard that one needed strong mental strength to become a beast master.

Duncan was already content with his results. His mental strength was above average and it was enough for him. Something about this test didn\'t sit well with him. The pressure was formless and he could only feel it in his head. It scared him a bit, to be honest.

Duncan quickly vacated the spot and reached the stele at the top. He picked up his bag and refreshed his energy a bit. Once done, he started walking towards the next set of stairs present behind the stele. Duncan didn\'t know how many such sets of stairs existed but was determined to give a try on every test.

Duncan did exactly like what he did with the mental strength test and walked directly up the stairs without activating the arch. He soon came upon a platform again and another stele was present in the middle of the platform.

After reading the explanation, Duncan\'s face turned a bit weird. He looked at the stairs below uneasily. From the words, Duncan had learned that this test was about the soul strength of a cultivator.

Apart from reading about souls a little and knowing that they are tangible parts of a cultivator in the cultivation world, Duncan had no other knowledge or experience with souls.

He was still the ignorant kid who had walked out of Starsinger town. While he may have become a cultivator, his knowledge or experience had not developed in a broad manner. So, he was still leery about stuff like soul.

Hearing about cultivators using souls to cultivate or using souls in some kind of attack always felt creepy to Duncan. If possible, he didn\'t want to go through this test. But, Duncan had planned to take all the tests.

Even the mental strength he took just an hour ago, let Duncan know his own mental strength and gave him an idea as to what an attack felt like in a mental plane. So, Duncan didn\'t want to waste this opportunity.

This was a safe way to get introduced to attacks that target the soul. If he knew what they felt like, he would be a little more prepared when he runs into such attacks in the future. So, letting out a tired sigh, Duncan dropped his bag and walked down.

Activating the arch with a bit of trepidation, Duncan waited for the section of stairs to light up.

The section of stairs lit up and Duncan mentally prepared himself for all possibilities before stepping up on the first step. As usual, there was no change. Duncan only felt a little uncomfortable. Apart from that, he felt nothing unusual. And as usual, his cultivation was sealed.

As Duncan started walking up the stairs, he felt the uneasy feeling in his heart increase steadily. Duncan already knew that the attacks have begun, but he hadn\'t seen any indication or know where it was coming towards. He didn\'t even know the target region, how was he supposed to prepare?

Duncan climbed further and the uneasy feeling morphed into fear of the unknown. He could feel something happening to him, but he couldn\'t pinpoint what was happening or where he was attacked. It was kinda eerie and he had only reached the sixtieth step.

Duncan felt that it would be safer to escape from this sensation as he didn\'t like it one bit. But, he grit his teeth and reminded himself that this was the safest way he could identify an attack against his soul.

Duncan consoled himself and started ascending further. When he stepped foot on the eighty-first step, he felt the fear he was feeling multiply tenfold.

"Is this fear coming from a soul attack?" Duncan asked confusedly. "Is all I have to do is withstand these fears?"

Duncan felt the test was simple if that was the case. He had faced far more terrifying situations than this and walked out alive. But, he remembered crossing eighty steps only meant his strength wasn\'t trash. So, he didn\'t feel overconfident and started to keenly feel out the changes in his heart carefully.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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You can also check out my other book [Booking Glory] and see if it is to your liking.

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