Chapter 561: Trial of the Mind
As soon as the pain arrived, it disappeared. Only then did Hui Yue understand that he had already experienced the pain of the Fourth Court of Hell and he sighed heavily. The pain was slowly climbing in intensity, but even so, it was manageable.
These punishments were not meant for Gods. They were meant for normal mortals, and they did not have the willpower or perseverance of a God, nor were their souls even half as strong as God ranked cultivators. Although it seemed like they were truly experiencing the pains of these punishments because of their strong souls and perseverance the punishments were not as terrible as it was for mortals.
Hui Yue understood this, and when he was sitting in his beam of light looking at the many so-called experts, he narrowed his eyes in disdain.
Many of them were sprawled on the floor, clearly screaming their lungs out. He knew that the pain was severe, but even so, he could not help snort in contempt that these people would dare call themselves experts with such lack of endurance. This was just the first trial, if they could not handle it, then they should never have started these trials.
Just as Hui Yue was thinking about this sharp knife lacerations appeared all over his body, and he felt as if he had been thrown on top of multiple swords.
These swords went straight through his body and left gaping wounds everywhere. He instantly recognized the punishment he was undergoing. This was without a doubt the Fifth Court of Hell's punishment of being thrown onto a mountain of knives. This was Yanluo's court so Hui Yue could not help but wonder if something special was going to happen, but after a bit of time, Hui Yue was disappointed.
He just felt like he was hanging there losing blood and slowly becoming weaker and weaker, but he did not find the pain as unbearable as some of the other punishments he had encountered.
This hill of knives was the only punishment in the Fifth Court of Hell, and Hui Yue was a little surprised that it did not hurt as much as he had expected. He was stuck in this weakened state for a full six hours before his body died on him. Afterwards, his body was rapidly healed by the formation, and this left him a few minutes worth of time to catch his breath.
Looking around he saw that both Pei Ze and Pei Feng were still managing, but neither of them looked good at all. Their faces were as white as a sheet and sweat rushed down their faces. Their expressions were filled with grimaces as they went through this almost unbearable torture.
Within the chamber, no other member of the Celestial Sword Sect remained other than Hui Yue, Pei Ze, and Pei Feng but a few from the Nightcrawler Sect were still present. Especially the young man who was considered the number one expert.
Looking at him, Hui Yue saw that his face was slightly pale, but when he looked closer, he was uncertain about whether or not this paleness was natural to the expert or if he was having trouble with the trial.
A few other members had persevered, but the majority had long since given up, and many of the experts that were now within the room were unaffiliated experts who had joined the trials in the hope that they would be able to sweeten their lives. They hoped they could carve a new future for themselves and become someone important.
This was also why many of them were trying to hang on even though they were in so much agony that they laid sprawled on the floor screaming out in pain.
None of the top sect members had ever reached that level of desperation. None of them had expected that they would be able to become the new Judge of Hell anyways so when they reached their limits, they gave up straight away and left the chamber.
Just as Hui Yue had finished scanning the room, he felt a similar pain to the one he had just experienced. New, deep cuts appeared on his body, and although he observed them with curiosity, his mind had long since turned numb. He was feeling the pain and was able to tell that it was truly painful, but it did not affect him.
As soon as he had spent some time thinking about the fact that even though his body was going through torture after torture, it would heal instantly afterwards, he realized that no matter how severe the pain, he would not die. Because of this, it was actually not such a terrible trial. If anything it was a trial of the mind rather than a trial of the flesh which at first glance is not what one would think.
After this his body was cut in half, he experienced the pain of his tongue being pulled out, and also being thrown into a pot of boiling oil. He went through the experience of having his intestines and organs pulled out from his body and then had his body dismembered.
At the very end he had his head and arms cut off, and finally, he was crushed under boulders, but despite all these trials, he just sat there. The more time that passed, the more tranquil his face became and by the last few courts, his body no longer shook from the pain.
Anyone who saw him expected that Hui Yue was experiencing the break between the torture, but even so how could he always be in this state? People started wondering, and those who were leaving the chamber delayed their departure as they looked at Hui Yue and the genius from the Nightcrawler Sect. It seemed that amongst everyone present, these two were the only ones who had recognized that this trial was about the mind and not to see if one could experience the painful punishments that the souls had to go through.
The beam of light that Hui Yue was seated within started shining with a strong green light as he had gone through the final Court of Hell and Yanluo's face lit up with a smile.
"Young man from the Celestial Sword Sect, you can walk to the back of the building together with the others who have passed so far."
As Hui Yue awoke, he heard this voice boom through the room. He quickly stood up, bowed to Yanluo who had a smile on his face, and moved towards the back of the building.
On the way, he saw that both Pei Ze and Pei Feng were still persevering. Although they had not understood the true meaning behind this trial, they were still holding on. The speed with which they would finish the trial was slower than Hui Yue, and the strain on their soul was much harsher as they truly felt the constant pain. Hui Yue could not help but feel rather astonished by their pure willpower and unwillingness to give up.
As soon as Hui Yue exited the chamber, all the experts who had been observing also finally left. As soon as they came out, all of them were talking about Hui Yue and his performance, but none of them knew Hui Yue's name.
Still, the information that a young member of the Celestial Sword Sect had passed the trial quickly spread outside the black palace. Hearing this, all the members of the Celestial Sword Sect, even the head elders, were at first surprised, but then all of them become proud of their sect member.
The many experts from the Celestial Sword Sect started discussing whether or not the one who had passed was Pei Ze or Pei Feng, and some even started arguing about it as they were sure that their young master was the one who had passed.
"Be quiet!" Pei Ziqi said with a stern voice, "It is either Pei Ze, Pei Feng, or Pei Yue. No matter who it is, it is a great honor for our family, and we will be answered as soon as the others appear."
Hearing this, they all calmed down and said nothing else. Deep in their hearts, they were still all certain that it was their young master who had succeeded and not the others but having heard Pei Ziqi's words they also understood that they should no longer discuss it out loud.
It was one thing to have internal discussions at home, but quite another to have it in public.
While the outside was filled with excitement about Hui Yue having passed the trial, Hui Yue knew nothing of this as he entered the back of the building.
He had expected quite a few experts to be standing outside as he had not found the trial too hard, but there were only seven experts present. All seven looked very different from one another. One was gnawing on his finger with vacant eyes as he was seated on the ground rocking back and forth.
Another two were standing at a corner of the courtyard. Their eyes were dark, and their bodies trembled, but the remaining four were all seated in meditation occasionally glancing at the other three with disdain.
When Hui Yue arrived, all of the ones present looked at him, and shock appeared in their eyes. All of them could feel that Hui Yue was a new God, but despite this, he had still managed to get through this terrible trial.
Looking at the people present, Hui Yue understood that the ones who were cultivating all realized that this was a trial of the mind while the others had simply forced their way through like Pei Ze and Pei Feng were currently doing.
As he arrived, he just shrugged his shoulders and did not care about the fact that these people were staring at him; instead, he looked around and found somewhere to sit down.
Behind the building, Hui Yue was within a large courtyard surrounded by guards. These guards were in the corners looking at all of them with their carefree, purple eyes. Trying to see the strength of these guards, Hui Yue found that he was unable to see through their strength at all even with his soulforce, and this could only mean they were very high-ranked experts.
Instead of caring about anyone else Hui Yue started cultivating and absorbed the heavy, dark aura from Youdu. This energy strengthened his soul at the same time as he was absorbing the energy of Ancestral Worldpower from the surrounding area increasing his Ancestral Worldpower pool.
After sitting outside for approximately three hours, the expert from the Nightcrawler Sect appeared. His face was as serene as Hui Yue's has been, and when he saw Hui Yue, his eyes blazed with a desire to fight. Though, he quickly concealed this urge and sat down rather close to him to cultivate.
After another two hours, Pei Ze appeared. He was pale and frightened seemingly still reliving the ordeal he had gone through. Half an hour after him Pei Feng appeared. Both of them were shaking, but their eyes blazed with excitement from having passed through the first trial. Especially Pei Ze felt accomplished as he had managed to defeat Pei Feng by a half hour.
More and more time passed, and slowly more people appeared within the courtyard. Days went by and servants came with food for the experts time and time again. The experts did not spend too much time conversing as all of them understood that they needed to focus on recovering their strength for the rest of the trials, therefore, they spent every single moment cultivating, not letting a free moment slip by.