Chapter 3: I think the third level tests wisdom

Everyone gathered at Wen Xin Shan, feeling nothing in particular except for Man Gu. He clearly felt his power diminishing, with all his physical standards aligning with everyone else's.

The boiling ancient barbarian blood within him had returned to calm, no longer providing him with continuous power.

Everyone looked at each other, finally turning their gaze towards the strongest barbarian bone.

"I'll go first." Seeing everyone looking at him, Man Gu didn't stand on ceremony and simply declared himself the first to try.

First tier, second tier, third tier... tenth tier.

Man Gu walked through the first ten tiers with ease. From the eleventh tier onwards, the pressure gradually appeared. He felt as if he was carrying a large stone slab, and the higher he climbed, the heavier the slab became.

However, it was still within a bearable range.

He continued to climb.

Man Gu panted twice, steadying his breath, and walked towards the twentieth tier.

As Man Gu ascended to the twentieth tier, his pace became more and more difficult, and the speed of his steps on the stairs became slower and slower.

By the twenty-ninth tier, sweat had already begun to seep from Man Gu's back, dampening his clothes. He had to stop, panting heavily, and sit on the stairs to rest.

"Even sitting is stressful." Man Gu gritted his teeth, muttering to himself, too tired to speak. Although he had changed from standing and carrying a stone tablet to sitting and carrying a stone tablet, the speed of his power recovery was very slow.

Seeing how difficult it was for Man Gu to walk, everyone realized this mountain was not easy to climb, and their hearts sank.

Someone said in a deep voice: "I heard elders in my clan talk about similar places. This Wen Xin Shan can test the heart of seeking the Dao. The purer the heart, the firmer the will, and the purer the heart of seeking the Dao. Man Gu comes from the ancient barbarian race, known for his strength. If even he finds it so difficult to climb, I'm afraid it will be even harder for us!"

"Can the Heart Calming Incantation help quiet the heart?" Another person thought of a method.

The third test requires climbing to the fiftieth tier and doesn't require finishing among the first few. They are not competing now.

Everyone nodded, feeling this was a good method. The elders in their families had all taught them similar incantations for cultivating the body and nurturing nature.

Lu Yang spoke up, as he might not know any Heart Calming Incantations.

"Do you want me to impart a segment of the Heart Calming Incantation to you?" Meng Jingbo asked.

Lu Yang shook his head: "Not needed for now. I'll think of other methods."

Seeing this, Meng Jingbo didn't insist on imparting the incantation to Lu Yang.

...

Meng Jingbo woke up from his meditation feeling his heart calmer than ever before.

The Heart Calming Incantation was feasible!

Meng Jingbo stayed in meditation longer than usual. By the time he woke up, others were already around the twenty-third tier, their faces covered in sweat, needing great willpower to take another step forward.

Large drops of sweat rolled down their faces, and they didn't even have the strength to wipe them away.

Some people wanted to forge another path, feeling that only the stairs had pressure. They tried to go around the mountain from the side of the stairs to the fiftieth tier, but upon reaching the side of the mountain, they discovered this method didn't work. The entire Wen Xin Shan had greater pressure the higher you went.

Some people also wanted to use magic treasures, but found that their magic treasures lost their ability. No matter how divine the magic treasures were, they couldn't even be activated and became just a pile of broken copper and rotten iron.

No wonder Dai Bufan wasn't worried about them using magic treasures.

Lu Yang lagged behind everyone else, being the most conspicuous.

He was barefoot on the tenth tier, squatting as if deep in thought, not knowing what he was observing.

"What are you doing? Everyone else has climbed very far," Meng Jingbo asked curiously.

Lu Yang didn't speak, holding a shoe in his hand.

Lu Yang threw the shoe, and it landed on the eleventh tier: "Pick it up and try."

Meng Jingbo didn't understand Lu Yang's meaning, but still followed suit. He discovered the shoe was heavier than before, as if something was pulling it down.

Meng Jingbo seemed to understand something and threw the shoe to the twelfth tier. He found that the shoe fell at the same speed as on the eleventh tier, but it was heavier when he picked it up compared to the eleventh tier.

"Did you find any rule?"

Meng Jingbo frowned: "If the object isn't grounded, the pressure isn't transmitted to it. Only when the object lands and makes contact with the ground is there extra pressure?"

"Correct." Lu Yang hit his fist against his palm, happy to find someone with the same idea as him.

Meng Jingbo seemed to be deep in thought. In his quiet state, his mind worked very quickly: "The stairs are inclined. There are so many trees here. We can make a '7' shaped ladder. One end of the ladder will be buried in the ground, and the other end will go straight through to the fiftieth tier."

Lu Yang said with certainty: "Right, this third test should be testing our wisdom. This is the standard answer!"

Meng Jingbo understood Lu Yang's idea and quickly raised another problem: "How do we chop down the trees?"

They had no axes or saws. How could they chop trees to make a ladder?

"Do you have any sharp magic treasures on you?" Lu Yang had already thought of this problem.

He had considered cooperating with others, but unfortunately, no one else understood his idea.

Meng Jingbo took out a dagger: "This is an old item given to me by an elder in my clan for self-defense. It can be activated with intent, and its speed is comparable to the Golden Core stage. However, on Wen Xin Shan, it can't fly."

"No problem, just being sharp is enough." Lu Yang laughed. The Meng family was a large clan, and even if their refined magic treasures couldn't be activated, their sharpness far exceeded that of mortal axes and saws.

They were perfect for chopping trees.

"Come here and look. While you were in meditation, I already designed the drawing."

Lu Yang brought Meng Jingbo to a patch of soft sandy ground, where he had drawn his design – a '7' shaped ladder.

The two briefly discussed it and then began to act.

The Meng family's dagger was indeed sharp. Thick tree wood was like paper before the dagger. The tree wood was quickly cut into oddly shaped wood boards by the two of them.

The cultivators on Wen Xin Shan were the same as mortals. The trees that could grow here were naturally the most ordinary kind.

Very quickly, Meng Jingbo discovered another problem.

"How do we connect these two pieces of wood? Not to mention we don't have nails, even if we did, we couldn't connect such thick wood boards."

"Haven't you heard of the mortise and tenon structure?"

"No."

Lu Yang was helpless. While he took the dagger and cut the connecting parts of the wood boards into mortise and tenon structures, he explained the wisdom of the mortal world to Meng Jingbo.

"This protruding part is called a tenon, and this concave part is called a mortise. When they combine, it's a mortise and tenon structure. The biggest characteristic of a mortise and tenon structure is that it's incredibly firm even without using nails on the object."

Meng Jingbo listened very seriously. The Meng family used spiritual energy for refining tools and relied on refining techniques, not the mortise and tenon structure.

On the stairs, everyone was sweating like rain, panting with exhaustion, just to ascend to the fiftieth tier and become the first to pass.

Perhaps the first to pass would gain the appreciation of the Wen Dao Sect and be cultivated key.

Everyone also understood why there was no time limit. Climbing the mountain consumed too much physical strength. If they stayed for a long time, they would be hungry and unable to even stand, let alone climb the mountain.

Under the stairs, the two people were also sweating like rain, panting with exhaustion. They spent a good half a day's effort chopping down tree wood, and after several failed attempts, finally made a ladder.

The ladder was strangely shaped, thin at the top and thick at the bottom, with the end bent. It was less like a ladder and more like a huge '7'.

The surrounding area was bare ground, as if a giant pig demon had taken a bite out of it.

Some Wen Dao Sect disciples secretly glanced at Dai Bufan. They remembered that Senior Brother Dai Bufan liked to show off his lush Wen Xin Shan the most.

Dai Bufan's eye twitched, and he unconsciously clenched his fist.