The Untamed: World Of Darkness

The Ten Levels Hardships

Wei Wuxian

Wei Wuxian crossed the middle bridge with great confidence, each step given without stop looking at Lan Zhan at the center, who was also looking back at him with a serious expression. This was the first time he actually wanted to impress a man, but not just any man, because Lan Wangji was a well-known for far more than just a beautiful face, he was the second strongest among the Lan's.

He enter the first circle, surrounded by long pillars with dragons engraved in them that curiously had a medium sized bell with cloud patterns, almost at the top of the pillar. A strong reddish barrier surrounded the circle at both sides of the path, so you could not jump to the next circle even if you wanted to, just leaving one way to go to the top. Wei Ying unsheathed Suibian, his spiritual sword, not knowing what to expect or of what consisted the challenge and start walking the single path.

At the top, Lan Wangji started playing his zither and the vibrations of his notes, make the bells rang in all the levels. At the first one, Wei Ying could barely hear it, even though he could see them move with each step he gave. He knew the Lan Clan specialize in music and their zither chords could kill, calm and affect the brain for either good or bad. So he was careful as he moved up and keep himself in alert from anything that could come at him, both internal or external.

Seen that there was no real danger in that first level, he closed his eyes to concentrate on his own core. The energy form which it was created was relative calm and steady, so whatever Lan Wangji was trying to test on their core, at that level was completely undetected and pretty much harmless.

Wei Ying sheathed back Suibian and simply walked on to the next level, which like the first one didn't present any danger or challenge at all. It was basically the same until he reached the fifth level, when the sounds of the bells really begin to get to him. Each ring, penetrate inside his mind all at once, like ripples echoes that make it hard to focus on the path in front of him. of course, there was a kind of pressure coming from the energy acting as invisible walls marking the different levels too, from were the challenge really begin from that point forward.

Even so, he had done harder trainings at his Clan and so far, even with the pressure getting to him at just a fifth level, it was still far inferior than the pressure he mastered inside the Stone Garden back in the east. He was now getting use to it, as he did when he first faced his Clan trial and could feel the waves of the sound more than hear it. Lan Zhan was playing so fast and beautifully it was also a distraction, but he was fine with that too.

"Lan Zhan, Oh Lan Zhan, I can't distinguish your melody from all this annoying bell ringing, but once I reach you at the top, you will had to play it for me as my prize for beating your core test." Wei whisper as he make a spiritual talisman in front of him, to guard his mind from the sound, then keep moving forward.

Lan Wangji

Wangji was looking at all three of them walk toward the elevated center mostly completely unaffected for the first few circles. Usually the later levels were the ones who really tested the cores, but the effect was present from the very first one, even if it was unnoticed at fist glance. The melody he was playing was one that confused the mind progressively. It will not had a direct effect when first hearing it, but after a few minutes of listening it to it, it will begin to work its magic if you were not aware enough.

Low levels participants would get dizzy at the very third ring and after the fifth it will experience hallucinations of all kinds. However, those three were beyond low level, thus they passed levels like they were walking a empty street. Wangji smiled pleased, it would had been disappointing if they had reacted this far... but what about pressing on it just a little further... he thought as he changed the sound to a harder one.