"We are willing to enter the Supreme once more, to clear the path for the Taboo!"
The five Holy Sons and two Holy Maidens spoke in unison.
Regardless of their motives or underlying thoughts, at this moment, they all wanted to try their hand at this Supreme Dao once again!
Without further ado, Yìng Zhédao led the nine elders to the front of the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts.
Both the Supreme and the Dragon-Washing paths shared a single starting point—the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts.
The Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts consisted of three levels.
Reaching the second level allowed entry into the Dragon-Washing path, while reaching the third level led to the Supreme path.
Upon exiting the third level, one would arrive at the Immortal Purity Pond, within which stood a flight of stairs known as the Cloud-Relying Ladder.
The Cloud-Relying Ladder had a total of nine hundred and ninety-nine steps.
Stepping onto the cloud ladder meant having successfully traversed the Supreme Dao. As for how many steps one could reach, it depended entirely on one's personal fortune.
Yìng Zhédao produced the Yìng Clan Master Token and began hand-sealing incantations together with the nine elders.
The Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts stirred to life, emitting a divine radiance as it slowly shifted into motion.
Then, the second path leading to the Dragon-Washing grounds closed, and a small path on the third level appeared...
The Holy Sons and Holy Maidens exchanged glances. Without wasting words, they walked straight inside.
"It's starting, it's starting!"
The onlookers below all sat down to watch the show.
"I wonder who will come out first..."
"That has to be Holy Son Tiānxiào, needless to say. Holy Son Tiānxiào has already stepped onto the Holy Path!"
"True! Hahaha!"
...
The Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts would manifest one's inner demons and various tribulations, testing a cultivator's aptitude and the steadfastness of their Dao heart.
Time ticked by. Three hours later, a figure stepped out, landing beside the Immortal Purity Pond.
The crowd looked over.
"Who is it?"
"It's... Holy Maiden Luòxī!?"
Landing and seeing no one else around, Yìng Luòxī smiled faintly behind her veil, then crossed her legs in mid-air and waited quietly.
"Holy Maiden Luòxī is actually the first?"
"What about Holy Son Tiānxiào? Given the time, why hasn't he come out yet?"
"Ah! He's out! He's out!"
At that moment, Yìng Tiānxiào was also stunned to see Yìng Luòxī, who had already arrived.
He then silently found a spot to recover.
After a while, Yìng Líng'er, Yìng Tiānzhòu, Yìng Dōngjí, and Yìng Míngyǔ emerged one after another, all quietly regulating their breath upon exiting.
Another half an hour passed.
"Where is Holy Son Dàoyī?"
"Impossible. Even going by last time's timing, Holy Son Dàoyī should have come out long ago!"
Some disciples began to grow anxious. Had the elders not remained completely calm, they would have thought something had gone wrong.
Finally, after a long while, Yìng Dàoyī emerged, looking somewhat disheveled all over.
"Why has Holy Son Dàoyī ended up like this!?"
"This is... illusions becoming reality!"
Normally, the trials of the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts would not bleed into reality and cause physical harm.
Unless one failed to suppress their inner demons and harbored malicious intent!
However, since Yìng Dàoyī had managed to push through himself, it meant his inner demons had also been purged.
"Sigh, it seems Wúyī and Tiānyáo still had an impact on their Dao hearts!" Yìng Qīngliǔ and several other elders muttered.
"Where are we even? The real blow is yet to come... Sigh!"
"A little bit of a blow is good for their cultivation! The sons and daughters of our clan are no delicate flowers!" said the Sixth Elder, Yìng Nánxiāo.
Yìng Yǎwǎn, however, looked helplessly toward Yìng Wúyī and the other person resting in front of the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts and said,
"If it really were just a little blow, that would be fine. I'm just afraid..."
"We can only leave it to their own fortune when the time comes," the Ninth Elder, who rarely spoke, said with a worried expression.
"Enough, their fortune is sealed!" All the elders let out a sigh.
The Eighth Elder, Yìng Yǎwǎn, and the Ninth Elder, Yìng Lónghuá, were considered juniors among the nine elders.
Elder Yǎwǎn belonged to the same generation of prodigies as Yíng Hóngyī and, like the rest of the elders, had witnessed Yíng Hóngyī's growth step by step!
Although the Ninth Elder, Yìng Lónghuá, was over a thousand years younger than Yíng Hóngyī, he too had grown up listening to the stories of the Hóngyī Empress and had witnessed her attaining the Dao to become a Great Emperor with his own eyes.
As for the rest of the Yìng Clan members, while they knew a thing or two—
For the hundred epochs preceding Yíng Hóngyī, no other "Taboo" had ever been sealed, and because Yíng Hóngyī had been active mostly out in the world, her deeds were rarely circulated within the clan.
Consequently, they had only heard of the so-called "Taboo Sequence" without understanding its weight.
This time, however, everyone would likely gain a crystal-clear understanding of what a "Taboo Sequence" truly meant!
At that moment, Yìng Wúyī held Tiānyáo's delicate little hand.
"Shall we go together?"
"Mhm, okay~"
Yìng Tiānyáo's pretty face broke into a smile, her two tender little dimples looking exceedingly cute.
"Let's go then!"
The two exchanged glances, flashed to the entrance of the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts, and stepped inside simultaneously.
The onlookers couldn't help holding their breath, growing nervous.
Unlike the Holy Sons and Holy Maidens, they had all traversed it at least once or twice.
Situations like Yìng Dàoyī getting injured were extremely rare.
But the Dao Child and Dao Maiden were different; not the slightest mishap could be tolerated.
After a bout of dizziness, Yìng Tiānyáo arrived at the first level.
She found that the brother she had been holding had vanished, and all around her were dense bamboo groves.
Before her lay a flagstone path, resembling the gullet of a monster leading deep into its belly. A gust of chilly wind swept through, carrying an eerie chill.
After observing her surroundings for a moment, she proceeded along the flagstone path.
Aside from the rustling sounds, the bamboo grove was exceptionally tranquil.
She walked on like this for a long time until the sky gradually grew dim...
Outside.
"Tiānyáo entered the second level just like that!?"
"Truly terrifying!"
The elders and the Patriarch naturally possessed insight into the conditions inside, and the Second Elder, Yìng Zé, said in astonishment upon seeing the situation.
"Naturally. However, the second level coming up won't be quite so simple."
"Indeed, but... what about Wúyī here..."
"Immaculate Voidness... is it?"
"Tsk tsk..."
Meanwhile, on Yìng Wúyī's side.
He was standing at the exit of the third level of the ancient path, feeling rather speechless.
That's right, the third level!
Just as he entered the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts, Yìng Wúyī noticed his younger sister was still by his side.
Then, raising his gaze, he saw a stone on his right hand inscribed with the characters—Mòlín!
Glancing further ahead, it was a pitch-black bamboo grove.
Yìng Wúyī recognized the paving stones in the middle as the "Dao-Severing Immortal Demon Ancient Stone." The three-foot-wide stone path was visible from end to end, spanning a mere hundred paces.
Suddenly, Yìng Wúyī felt his silly little sister break free from his grip.
At that moment, the pitch-black bamboo grove split open another path, and she walked toward it alone, gradually stepping deep into the bamboo grove and being swallowed by it.
Yìng Wúyī had tried to step forward and stop her, but no matter what, he couldn't hold her back. Unwilling to act recklessly on a whim, he had no choice but to split up and wait for her at the exit.
He then followed the stone path and was teleported to the next level.
The second level was a patch of turf, with a stone beside it inscribed with the characters—Zhǔyuán!
"This can be called a 'Plain'? Just this little patch of size?"
Under the starry sky, what lay before Yìng Wúyī was a lawn planted uniformly with unknown spirit herbs, glowing in an overall pale red hue, with a path right down the middle leading toward the next level.
Yìng Wúyī strolled leisurely forward as if he were wandering through a back garden.
Walking and walking, he was teleported to the third level.
This time, he was in mid-air.
Perhaps because the Yìng Clan's sky only held stars, Yìng Wúyī felt as though he hadn't seen white clouds like these in who knows how long.
Yet the white clouds lay entirely beneath his feet, encircling the island suspended in the air.
Beside him, another stone was inscribed with the characters—Trial Dao Cliff.
Before him, a five-inch-wide bridge connected him to the opposite island; aside from that, there was nothing else on the small islet.
Stepping onto the little bridge, Yìng Wúyī felt as though he were an immortal, wandering freely through a wonderland.
Yet the small bridge came to an end very quickly.
The surrounding scenery vanished completely, leaving behind only a "mirror."
It was the exit.
Yìng Wúyī looked at the exit before him, and then at the Holy Sons outside who wore expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
He himself was completely baffled.
Huh?!
Didn't they say the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts was riddled with evil spirits and overflowing with inner demons?
How come your young master didn't run into a single thing?
Was it an illusion? It didn't feel like one either!
Sigh...
How should he put it? It felt rather strange, and somewhat disappointing.
Yìng Tiānxiào and the others were outside the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts, so they naturally knew when Yìng Wúyī had entered.
Seeing Yìng Dàoyī's ghost-like expression right now, they figured they must have stayed inside for too long and started hallucinating out here as well.
"Hey, Brother Tiānzhòu, you can see it too, right?"
"Mhm... That's the Abyss Emperor's Son..."
Once confirmed, everyone swallowed hard, still unable to believe he could pass through so quickly.
Yet to Yìng Wúyī, the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts was merely a hundred paces for the first level, fifty paces for the second, and ten paces for the third!
Thus, it had only taken him the time equivalent of a hundred and sixty paces.
Mhm! And that was still done at a leisurely, unhurried pace!
At this moment, Yìng Wúyī stepped out. Knowing that Yìng Wúyī hadn't been subjected to the trials at all, the elders felt no excessive surprise.
But the others didn't know that!
"Holy crap! The Dao Child is way too fast!"
"This has got to be the fastest person in history to clear the Ancient Dao of Disturbed Hearts!"
"Half a cup of tea's time... simply... outlandishly absurd!"
...
Unable to see what was happening outside, Yìng Wúyī simply wore a "benign" smile as he looked at the few Holy Sons before him.
Beside him, Yìng Luòxī first bowed to Wúyī, then stepped behind him and stood quietly.
"Holy Son Míngyǔ, we meet again."
Yìng Míngyǔ: "......6"
(￣_,￣)
Yìng Dōngjí was the first who could no longer hold it in. Before giving Yìng Wúyī a chance to speak, he said:
"Lord Emperor's Son, since things stand thus, we shall take our leave a step ahead."
"Mhm! Go ahead!"
Yìng Wúyī didn't make a move, replying with the same smile.
The remaining Holy Sons shot him complex looks before dashing into the pool, terrified of being a step too late and letting Yìng Wúyī catch an opportunity.
Five figures vanished into the pool just like that.
The Immortal Purity Pond tested one's grasp of the direction of the Dao, making it the simplest trial within the Supreme Dao.
Unsurprisingly, after the span of a cup of tea, Yìng Tiānxiào and the other four arrived one after another, reaching the front of the Cloud-Relying Ladder.
The Cloud-Relying Ladder would conduct different trials based on the tester's realm and other factors, meaning the difficulty faced by each individual was completely identical.
The first three hundred and thirty-three steps targeted physical constitution and talent, the middle three hundred and thirty-threen steps honed the fourfold nature and talents, and the final three hundred and thirty-three steps challenged the young monsters of the Yìng Clan throughout the long river of history.
Yet across so many recent epochs, there was only a single person who had managed to push past the back of the cloud ladder and ascend those nine hundred-odd steps!
As for everyone else, they didn't even qualify to leave a mark upon it!