Chapter 860: The Heart is Strong, the Dao is Unyielding! (1/2)

Chapter 860: The Heart is Strong, the Dao is Unyielding!

Dying fills people with fear. Dying 100 times will make people numb. Dying 1,000 times can cause one to feel lost. Dying 10,000 times…

That can make someone feel as if they aren’t even human any more.

Such an experience gave birth to pain, a pain that the competitors could only hope would just come to an end. A pain that spread into the hearts of everyone. Their hearts filled with torment to the point that their Daos were in peril of being lost.

This trial by fire was like an enormous grindstone, slowly crushing away their wills as it turned and turned.

More and more people gave up on fighting back. If fighting back 10,000 times in a row did no good, how many people were there that could persevere…?

Meng Hao persevered. Every time he woke up, he would continue to fight and kill the beasts that attacked him. 10,000 times.

As time went by, Meng Hao saw countless cultivators making various decisions. Some chose to try to flee. Some chose to attack the giant. Some chose to commit suicide.

There were even some people who attacked other cultivators.

Regardless of what they did, every time Meng Hao regained his senses, he saw the same people in the same places on the iron chains, without exception.

The audiences in the Ninth Mountain and Sea watched the screens, and their hearts and minds trembled. If you said that the spectators had been shocked by the previous eight stages, then this stage left them completely astonished.

Before, they had been envious of the competitors, and had even sighed, wishing that they could switch places. Now that they saw what was happening in the final two stages, however, they could only watch silently.

As for how many times the cultivators had actually died, nobody knew.

“Just what kind of test is this? How does dying over and over again help their hearts and their Daos?”

“These last two stages are basically Hell!” By this point, the audience members were all breathing in ragged pants.

“You can see people trying all kinds of different methods. If you add everything together, it seems they’re trying every possibility! But in the end, there’s no other result than defeat.”

“How can this test be passed? I’m afraid Fang Mu will have no way to clinch first place.”

Complete silence reigned in the starry sky palace as the Patriarchs stared wordlessly at the display screens.

The dying continued, over and over again, an endless cycle.

Meng Hao remained silent and taciturn throughout the process. However, unlike many of the people around him, he never attempted to flee, nor did he lose his desire to fight. From beginning to end, every time he regained lucidity, he would begin killing.

However, his deaths came more and more quickly. That was because more and more of the others ceased resisting. When the iron chains were flung out, they would simply close their eyes and wait to die.

Gradually, fewer and fewer people were like Meng Hao, constantly fighting back. Of the tens of thousands of people who had started out fighting, there were now only a few thousand remaining. Suddenly, Ling Yunzi’s voice echoed out within the world.

“If you say ‘I give up,’ you can leave.”

The instant these nine words spread out, among the countless cultivators who had grown numb to the constant dying and were once again on the verge of being killed, someone quaveringly spoke up.

“I give up….” As soon as he spoke the words, he vanished, leaving the world entirely.

After him, one voice after another began to ring out, and one cultivator after another began to vanish.

Without the presence of despair, if someone is given hope, they might not attach too much importance to it, especially if they have a steadfast heart and an unchangeable Dao.

However… if you torment someone to their limits and place them in the midst of despair, then give them a sudden scrap of hope, an opportunity to be extricated, then most people would not hesitate to grab that chance.

More and more people chose to give up. However, there were also others who had previously ceased resisting, who suddenly seemed to be filled with energy, and began to fight the beasts.

Time passed by. They died over and over again, and as they did, the words ‘I give up’ seemed to become like an inner Devil, lurking in the hearts of all the cultivators.

Simply speaking, all they had to do was say some words, and the constant torment would be over. They would be released.

“What a brutal test,” said one of the Patriarchs in the palace.

“From ancient times until now, the mark to pass this stage has been 30,000 deaths.”

“More than 50,000 marks a participant as Chosen!”

“To date, no one has exceeded 79,113. That was the mark set by Sir Fan.”

“So, he participated in this part too. Without the element of despair, perhaps many could grit their teeth and continue on. But with hope right there, so close that all they have to do is reach out and grab it, how many people will be able to persevere?”

“The ninth stage tests the heart, the tenth stage inquires of the Dao. These two stages test how strong one’s heart is and how unyielding one’s Dao is!”

“The longer they endure, the more terrifying everything becomes!” In addition to the Patriarchs in the palace who were discussing the matter, there were many outside in the Ninth Mountain and Sea who were able to piece together some clues about the nature of the two stages.

“I heard that when Sir Fan reached these last two stages, he died more than 79,000 times. He held on until he was the very last person before giving up.”

The outside world was abuzz, but their discussions could not pass into the world in which Meng Hao was continuing to persevere. Inside of him, two voice were speaking, one of them telling him to give up, the other telling him to endure.