"What?" 

The middle aged man in front of him smiled when he saw Lin Xiao bewildered look. "You have already passed the test. Look to your back and you'll notice that the Stairs of Truth."

Hmm?

Lin Xiao peered to the back and noticed that there were several people who were walking not far from him. It seemed that one way or another, he had climbed the stairs? Lin Xiao was stunned.

He was sure that he was inside that illusion all this time, how come he had climbed the stairs? Little did he know that when he was inside the consciousness, his body was climbing the stairs slowly and steadily. The faster he passed the illusion, the faster his body would move.

That way, he would pass the stairs without any difficulties.

"Stairs of Truth?" Lin Xiao asked in confusion.

"That's the name of the stairs." The elder was patient enough. In fact, Lin Xiao was not the only one curious, but the others didn't' dare to open their mouth and silently watched from the side. After all, some of them felt that it was simply beneath them to ask for the name of the stairs from the elder.

Only those like Lin Xiao didn't care about that. If he didn't know, why not just ask directly?

That was simpler.

"The stairs will be able to show you your real heart and whether you have the qualification to move forward or not. As long as you can break the illusion and not fall deeper into it, you'll pass the stairs."

"Ooh…"

It was then Lin Xiao understood what was going on. He looked at the stairs with apprehension. When he was seeing his parents again, he could sense the deep longing inside his heart, yet he kept his heart firm because he knew that he couldn't turn back time.

Maybe there was a method that could allow one to turn back time, but it was something beyond his current comprehension right now.

"The illusions are all the test for us to pass?" Lin Xiao asked for confirmation even though he already had the answer.

The elder nodded his head. "Naturally, you have to make sure that you have enough comprehension and also the heart that's suitable for martial arts. Without both of it, you'll never reach far in your path as martial artist."

Lin Xiao nodded in understanding before looking back once more. The stairs did feel a bit long now that he thought about it.

Tep!

At this time, someone else had arrived. Just like Lin Xiao from before, the young man also looked befuddled and needed reminder for him to snap out of his daze. They all had just seen so many illusions to the point that they were not totally sure whether they had seen the reality or not.

Lin Xiao swept his gaze across the people before he saw the prince. Prince Lin Kai was looking at the people with scornful gaze. It was clear that he saw himself as above them and they were all beneath him.

How arrogant.

But it was not arrogance without anything to back him off.

However, what made Lin Xiao quite apprehensive was the fact that the academy didn't test their fighting capabilities in the slightest bit. In fact, it looked as if they didn't care whether they could fight or not.

But in the illusion just now, they had already fought?

Lin Xiao was not totally sure.

He should just wait.

Before long, Sui Wenyan came out from the stairs. She looked a bit tired, yet her eyes shone with happiness when she saw them. It seemed that she understood what was going on even without the elders' reminder.

Wenren Yu came out not long afterwards with his face flushed red. Even though he was supposed to be only walking, he looked like he had fever with how red his face was.

"Yu?"

"Ah, I'm okay." Wenren Yu passed a glance at Sui Wenyan then turned his head around once more, his ears even turned red.

Lin Xiao was speechless, but he understood that the last stage of the illusion must be about… lust? Sweat poured on his back when he recalled the woman that appeared on his part. Xu Qin? He felt more disgust than lust when he was seeing that woman.

Probably that was the reason why he passed the last stage almost immediately. Not even one second has passed after he uttered the sentence that the image completely disappeared because he didn't have any interest in that woman at all.

Hmm, since it was that kind of test, who will appear in the other's illusion?

Lin Xiao was curious.

However, he didn't have the guts to ask that to Sui Wenyan in case that she would beat him black and blue even though they had just passed the test.

One by one, more and more people had passed. Lin Yun came out afterwards, also looked tired. Probably he spent more time during the fighting stage because of his overall weaker physical condition.

Bai Xin, Xu Qin, Song Hua, Prince Lin Hong, and many others began to pass one by one.

Time passed ever so slowly.

The elders looked at them before nodding his head. "Everyone had passed. Now, the test is official over."

Over?

Lin Xiao looked around, noticing that there were only between 100 to 200 people in the place. The elimination rate was simply very high. From over 17,000 people to only 100 to 200 people. It was around 99 percent people who were eliminated during the process this time.

…

Their current stage:

Lin Xiao: Body Training Rank 10

Lin Yun: Body Training Rank 10

Wenren Yu: Body Training Rank 10

Sui Wenyan: Foundation Establishment

Song Hua: Foundation Establishment

Prince Lin Kai: Foundation Establishment

Prince Lin Hong: Foundation Establishment

Prince Lin Su (the one following Prince Lin Hong): Body Training Rank 9

Bai Xin: Body Training Rank 10

Xu Qin: Body Training Rank 8