Su Jian turned to look at Le Jing, "Are you leaving?"
Le Jing shook his head and said calmly: "Wait. Let them go up first."
To be honest, combined with the hint given by the swordsman just now, he almost immediately thought of the content of the exam.
The Cloud Ladder will most likely create illusions based on each person's memory to test the candidates. This is also a cliché used in later immortal cultivation novels.
But...there is always a chance of something happening.
So Le Jing must wait and see for a while.
Facts have proved that there are many candidates like Le Jing who make such plans.
So the messy candidates were immediately divided into two groups. Some, like Le Jing, kept silent and chose to wait and see, while others stepped onto the ladder indifferently.
Then, the people who stepped onto the ladder disappeared silently into the clouds one after another.
Le Jing narrowed his eyes. Was it a space transfer? Or a trick? Or was it space folding?
It seems that he can only experience it himself.
Le Jing nodded to Su Jian, "Let's go."
Although it was a ladder, when Le Jing stepped on it, he felt it was hard, just like a white marble floor.
The mountain winds were howling on both sides, but the ladder remained very stable, and people walking on it could hardly feel any shaking.
After walking a few steps, a thick fog arose. The milky white fog came out of nowhere.
Almost at the same time as the fog rose, Su Jian and the big wolfhound beside him also disappeared.
Le Jing walked quietly on the cold cloud ladder. The road ahead and the way back were all white. All he could do was to walk steadily.
After a few breaths, the thick fog dissipated, gradually revealing the cold appearance of the city.
Le Jing calmed himself down and looked around calmly.
It is surrounded by quaint ancient buildings and looks similar to Changsu City.
Le Jing noticed something was wrong here almost immediately.
It's so quiet here.
There were few people on the street, and the few pedestrians who occasionally walked hurriedly and silently. The wind passed silently through the empty streets, and even the birds kept quiet and did not dare to make any noise.
It was like a long silent movie.
Le Jing has discovered that he cannot see the cause and effect of passers-by.
Either his power was limited by some existence, or the people he saw were non-existent illusions.
Le Jing walked forward cautiously and found that although the shops on both sides of the street were open, no one was serving customers. The bosses sat stiffly in front of the counter, and it seemed that even their eyes had stopped blinking.
Inadvertently, Le Jing's curious eyes met the lifeless eyes of a teahouse owner. The owner nodded to him stiffly and asked word by word like a robot: "Why didn't you go to class?"
Le Jing thought about it and said casually, "I'm sick today."
The boss's face, which was as stiff as granite, trembled violently. "If you attend classes every day and carry out ideological transformation, how can you get sick?"
Le Jing: ...
"Go to class now, or I'll have the police arrest you."
"...Okay, I'm going to class now. Goodbye, uncle."
Le Jing ran away without looking back.
Suddenly, there was a sound of gongs and drums, and a parade suddenly appeared on the deserted street.
Four men were carrying a wooden donkey. A naked woman was sitting on it, wailing in a shrill, inhuman way.
As the men walked, they proclaimed the woman's crimes: "Her husband is dead, but this bitch didn't commit suicide! She even smiled at other men!"
The silent people suddenly roared in anger: "Drowned this bitch in the pond!"
"Beat her to death!"
"Pig Cage Dip!"
The woman wailed in pain, her private parts bleeding, leaving a winding trail of blood on the ground.
Le Jing looked at this scene in shock and was speechless.
The excited crowd passed by him, and the smell of blood in Le Jing's nose became stronger and stronger. He lowered his head expressionlessly, his stomach churning.
Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm tightly and asked loudly, "Why didn't you go to class?"
Le Jing slowly raised his head and met a strange smiling face.
“…I’m sick.”
The man's smile widened. "That's because your thought reform was not thorough enough, so you got sick." He held Le Jing's arm tightly, as if he was holding a criminal. "Come on, I'll take you to class."
Le Jing was caught by him and went in the opposite direction of the parade.
A crow suddenly landed on his shoulder, put its cold beak against his ear, and whispered softly, "We are watching you."
Le Jing moved his eyes, and the crow flew away immediately. Another crow on the wall stared at him and made a hoarse cry:
"Remember, I'm watching you."
Le Jing's face was pale as he let the man lead him into a private school where the teacher was giving a class and dozens of well-behaved, expressionless children were sitting below.
"Why are you so late? Go sit down and listen to the class."
Le Jing sat down in the last seat in silence.
"New student, what's your name?"
"Le Jing."
"Recite the free schedule for Mondays for everyone."
"……I won't."
"How can you not know it? This is the freedom we must remember!" The teacher was a little angry, "Liu Hua, recite it to the new student."
"Okay." A little boy about ten years old stood up expressionlessly, but before he spoke, he raised the corners of his mouth to reveal a cheerful smile, "On Mondays, get up at 15:00, and have white porridge and stir-fried tofu with vegetables for breakfast... At 15:00, students go to school to study, and read the teacher's recent teachings a hundred times... Farmers go to the fields to plant crops, officials go to court and work... Eat at noon, merchants cannot eat meat, officials can eat cooked beef... At 15:00, couples can have sex, and everyone must go to bed before 15:00..."
Liu Hua talked incessantly for more than ten minutes. As he narrated every detail, he specified in detail what people from all walks of life should do in each of the twelve hours of Monday (the ancient name for Monday). Even the sleeping positions and the length of time a couple should have sex had standard regulations.
"Master, I'm done."
"Very good, sit down." The teacher asked Le Jing coldly: "Have you remembered it?"
All the students in the class turned their heads to look at Le Jing in unison and asked expressionlessly, "Did you remember it?"
Le Jing stared at them in silence for a long time, then slowly closed his eyes and suddenly realized something.
This is his fear.
There are very few things that Le Jing is afraid of.
But everything before his eyes was indeed his greatest fear.
He fears the banality of evil.
He was afraid that his freedom would be taken away, his thoughts would be monitored, and his humanity would be stifled.
He is afraid of "I'm watching you".
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."
"Under the shade of the chestnut tree, I betrayed you and you betrayed me."
“Thoughtcrime does not lead to death; thoughtcrime is death.”
"Big Brother is watching you."
This is a fear that has been buried deep in his heart since childhood. It is also the "pain" of his childhood of being monitored and controlled and continues to this day.
That's why this illusion is so twisted, weird and out of place.
When Le Jing opened his eyes again, the teacher, classmates and classroom had all disappeared. A familiar white mist filled the air around him. Ten seconds later, a white-haired old man in a gray robe appeared in front of him.
"What an interesting little fellow." The old man looked at Le Jing with an inquiring look, "I have never seen such a weird horror. It looks ordinary at first glance, but it makes your scalp tingle when you take a closer look."
Le Jing nodded politely to him, "I didn't expect that this is actually my biggest fear."
"But you have been so calm." The old man asked curiously, "Why? Aren't you afraid?"
"If I get scared, will the fear disappear? No, it won't. Fear will only feed on my 'fear' and continue to grow, slowly becoming the inner demon that controls my mind." Le Jing raised his eyebrows and smiled indifferently, "So I don't have to, and I can't, be afraid of 'fear'."
The old man looked at the boy with a faint smile, his eyes showing admiration, and he couldn't help but feel a deep love for talent in his heart: "You are very good." He asked expectantly: "Boy, are you willing to be my disciple?"
If you don't act quickly, such an excellent talent will be snatched away by others sooner or later, and it will be too late to regret then.
…
…
Mei Yingliang sat in the audience, his eyes wandering over the cloud mirrors in the sky. Each cloud mirror showed a different picture, representing the fear in the mind of each candidate.
There is great fear between life and death, so ordinary people try every possible means to cultivate immortality. To cultivate immortality is to cultivate the mind and also to achieve immortality.
In addition to life and death, there are still many small fears in life.
Fear of aging, fear of getting hurt, fear of love and separation, fear of no reward for efforts... These fears are scattered but make up the life of ordinary people.
Only by facing fear head-on can you break through the confusion, defeat fear, transcend the mundane, and go further and further on the path.
Practicing Taoism is actually a process of constantly overcoming inner fears.
In the illusion that reflects the fear in their hearts, many candidates' true colors are exposed and their ugly behavior is revealed.
Some people lie on their sickbeds with no desire for life, some cry bitterly because of their aging, and some commit suicide because they have gone from being rich to being a beggar...
The continuous disappearance of cloud mirrors proved that candidates were eliminated because they were unable to overcome their fear.
Suddenly, the attention of many viewers, including Mei Yingliang, was attracted by a cloud mirror.
The images that appear on the cloud mirror seem ordinary, but they are terrifying when you think about them carefully.
Mei Yingliang stared at the boy on the screen, full of doubts.
He didn't expect that he would actually see his senior on the ladder!
Senior, you have great magical powers, shouldn't you be sitting in the front row to accept disciples? Why did you personally participate in this Ascension Gate assessment?
This... this is against the rules!
But he quickly put aside his doubts and focused all his attention on the picture in the cloud mirror.
He has practiced Taoism for decades and has reached the stage of building a foundation. He overcame the fear in his heart and fought his way out of thousands of troops.
But if he were in his shoes, and had faced such fear, he would most likely... have been eliminated.
Even now, he was not sure that he could overcome such terrible fear, and he had never thought that there could be such "fear" in the world.
It seems ordinary at first glance, but every single thing, every single minute and every single second makes one's scalp tingle and one's back feel cold. One feels as if the whole world is one of their enemies and there is no place to find safety.
The senior is worthy of being a senior. He remains so calm in the face of such fear.
Mei Yingliang was even more curious about how the senior would overcome this fear.
The next moment, the boy opened his eyes, and then the illusion formed by his fear disappeared, and milky white smoke filled the cloud mirror again.
Mei Yingliang was stunned.
Is this the end?
In order to overcome his fear of the bully who had bullied him since childhood, he struggled in the illusion for three days and three nights, and only after he killed the bully with a knife did he free himself from the illusion.
But the senior did nothing!
He just closed his eyes, and when he opened them the illusion disappeared!
Under Mei Yingliang's incredulous gaze, another old man appeared in the cloud mirror. The old man had white hair and a childlike face, and was wearing a gray robe. His temperament was ethereal, like a cloud of mist.
There were bursts of gasps all around Mei Yingliang, and even he himself was shocked.
This old man was very famous in their Linqing Sect. His Taoist name was Xingyuan Zhenjun. He was the elder brother of the sect leader and the supreme elder of the Linqing Sect. He had reached the Mahayana stage and was only one step away from ascending to heaven.
The illusion on the cloud ladder and the water mirror used to observe the mind are both the magical powers of the True Lord. However, over the past few hundred years, there have been countless candidates coming and going, but only a few can cause the True Lord to appear!
"Why? Aren't you afraid?" Zhenjun's question was also Mei Yingliang's question. He stared at the boy intently, hoping to get an answer.
"If I get scared, will the fear disappear? No, it won't. Fear will only feed on my 'fear' and grow stronger, slowly becoming the demon in my heart that controls my mind. So I don't have to, and I can't, be afraid of 'fear'."
Mei Yingliang was dumbfounded, and then he was full of admiration for his senior!
It was only then that he realized that the boy's eyes had been extremely calm and clear from beginning to end, so the senior didn't have to do anything and the illusion would naturally disappear.
It is easy to know "not to fear fear", but it is difficult to do it. Most people in the world know it but cannot realize it.
Even Mei Yingliang herself cannot say that she has completely overcome all her fears.
But the senior did it so easily.
This is the true style of a master!
Xingyuan Zhenjun also had an admiring look on his face, and asked almost eagerly: "Would you like to take me as your master?"
A burst of curses suddenly broke out from the seats of the leaders and elders of various sects in the front row:
"Hey! That old guy got there first!"
"How come Xingyuan is so quick!"
"This boy's way is freedom, which is in line with our swordsmanship. He deserves to join our Zixiao Sword Sect!"
"Bah! He should have joined our Tiandao Sect to learn the Way of Mercilessness! With this boy's rational and calm character, he will surely be able to reach the Nascent Soul stage within a hundred years!"
"No, no, this boy is very mature at a young age, and has a very thorough understanding of people and things. He should come to our Qingshan Academy to study Confucianism!"
Mei Yingliang was stunned to see that the old seniors from various sects, who were mysterious and had a profound temperament, were not polite enough to personally join the fight and start a unique verbal battle in order to compete for the ownership of Senior Le Jing.
The author has something to say:
①These four sentences are from George Orwell’s 1984
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