By the time the two-hundred-and-somethingth batch was called, the entire atmosphere in Heart Mirror Hall had come to a standstill.

Countless gazes, thick with anticipation and awe, converged on the figure who had just calmly walked into the testing area.

He wore a simple training uniform, his posture as straight and tall as a pine, his temperament as serene as an ancient, bottomless well.

The moment he appeared, he needed no words, no explosive display of power. It was as if he had his own halo, instantly becoming the absolute center of attention.

One of the undisputed peak existences on the Blue Star Youth Platinum List—Du Yun.

He walked to the long weapon rack, his gaze sweeping over the dazzling array of arms. Ultimately, he too chose a long spear.

The instant Du Yun grasped the standard-issue spear, a sharp aura, condensed to its absolute limit and seemingly capable of piercing mountains, naturally emanated from him.

His expression was placid, like the still water of an ancient well. He slowly raised the spear tip, pointing it toward the vast, boundless array of golden Qi and Blood walls in the distance.

No running start, no roar.

He only took three steps forward.

The moment his third step landed, Du Yun’s waist, spine, and arms instantly formed a perfect lever for channeling power. All of his essence, energy, and spirit focused onto the very tip of the spear.

"Hah!"

A short, explosive shout, like thunder striking the ground, erupted from Du Yun’s chest, yet it seemed to detonate deep within everyone’s soul.

The spear shot forth!

In that instant, the spear tip seemed to vanish.

No, the entire spear had transformed into a beam of light, so condensed it looked solid, glinting with the cold sheen of metal.

It was no longer a spear, but the very incarnation of an indomitable will.

SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK!

The term "unstoppable" was insufficient to describe it. This was absolute annihilation, pure piercing power.

Before Du Yun’s spear, the layers of golden Qi and Blood walls seemed to have met their natural predator. They shattered and disintegrated, unable to offer even a moment’s resistance. A vast area was instantly cleared wherever the spear’s light passed.

The digital light screen flickered erratically, like a faulty bulb, completely unable to keep up with the speed at which the spear light tore through the barriers. In the blink of an eye, it had already broken through the hundred-layer mark.

A hundred and fifty layers... a hundred and seventy... a hundred and eighty... one hundred and ninety! It didn’t slow in the slightest.

"It... It broke past one hundred and ninety?!" someone shrieked involuntarily.

Its momentum hadn’t faded!

The spear light, condensed like a diamond, charged forward with relentless determination, brazenly shattering the mark that symbolized the absolute limit of power—

The two-hundred-layer mark!

In the end, after tearing through two hundred and nine golden barriers in a row, the spear’s terrifying power finally dissipated, albeit reluctantly, into the roiling, potent energy before the two hundred and tenth layer.

You could hear a pin drop in the Heart Mirror Hall.

The air seemed to have frozen solid.

Every genius, including Ron Zaka and Fang Chenghong who had delivered stunning performances earlier, held their breath. Their eyes were wide as they stared in disbelief at the digital screen, frozen on the number "209."

Li Wen’s pupils contracted sharply.

Two hundred and nine layers. That was more than a hundred layers beyond anyone else.

Du Yun’s power had already surpassed a level his peers could comprehend, reaching a pinnacle they could only gaze up at in awe.

"Du Yun... two hundred and nine layers—!"

The silence was shattered. The attendant responsible for recording the scores, his voice cracking with the effort, shrieked the result with unconcealable shock and fervor—a result that made every heart tremble.

ROAR!!!—

After a moment of stunned silence, the entire Heart Mirror Hall erupted like a volcano.

Cries of alarm, sharp intakes of breath, and disbelieving discussion reverberated off the high ceiling.

And now, upon the high main dais, the interest of every Marquis Level God and Demon was piqued.

Their previously languid, casual gazes—the kind that looked down upon all living beings—instantly sharpened like lightning, now filled with probing interest.

Dozens of powerful Divine Senses focused openly on the young man in the center of the arena. After his earth-shattering strike, he simply stood with his spear at rest, his expression as calm as ever.

Even in the depths of Chuhe King’s impassive gaze, a faint ripple seemed to stir.

Without a doubt, Du Yun had used this incomparably tyrannical strike to declare himself the undisputed emperor of strength in this assessment.

...

The assessment continued, batch after batch.

The shock from the strength test had long since subsided, and the waves stirred by Du Yun’s astonishing strike had been calmed by the long wait.

As the final participant stepped away from the Qi and Blood walls, the first test for the three-thousand-plus contestants was settled.

The light screen flickered, displaying the scores and rankings.

According to the cold, hard data, over two hundred geniuses who failed to break through thirty layers of the Qi and Blood wall were summarily eliminated, and they retreated from the hall in low spirits.

The atmosphere once again turned solemn.

Without giving the remaining prodigies any chance to rest or recover, a faint light began to swirl within Heart Mirror Hall.

The Marquis Level God and Demon with archaic features and a heavy aura, who had been sitting to Chuhe King’s right, slowly rose.

He just waved his hand lightly.

Instantly, a hazy mist billowed up from the center of the hall, rising from the previously empty jade floor.

The mist wasn’t heavy, but it swirled with a mysterious luminescence, seeming to seal off the space within and create a world of its own.

"The second assessment is a test of mental fortitude!" the Marquis’s voice was deep, yet it carried clearly to everyone’s ears, filled with an undeniable authority.

"The rules are the same as before. You will enter in batches. This array is larger, so we will take one hundred at a time."

His gaze swept over the teeming crowd below before finally resting on the area in front of the mist.

"Enter this mist and just walk forward. The farther you go, the higher your score. Every step brings a mental illusion. Ten steps, you’ll be lost in a bewildering maze. A hundred steps, and you’ll face a true tribulation. Those who cannot hold on will be protected by the array and removed."

"Begin."

With the command given, the hundred geniuses at the front of the line stepped out and walked toward the mysterious wall of mist.

At that moment, the eyes of almost every spectator were fixed on the tall, powerfully built, blond-haired figure around the ninety-something position: Ron Zaka of the United States of America.

This prodigy ranked second in strength... how will his mental fortitude fare?

One hundred people stepped into the thin mist together. Their forms immediately blurred, and only their silhouettes could be seen moving through the haze at varying speeds.

From the outside, their movements seemed perfectly normal, only their pace was somewhat sluggish.

But inside the array, the world had already been turned upside down.

The mist seemed alive, stirring the deepest emotions, memories, desires, and fears within each person who entered the array.

Every wisp of mist that drifted past them wove a bizarre and fantastical illusion.

These illusions weren’t conjured from thin air; they were rooted in each person’s own experiences and emotions, meticulously crafted to strike at the very heart of their being.

With each step forward, the surrounding illusions intensified, and the force eroding their willpower doubled.

Soon, the disparity in progress among the hundred people in the array became clear.

Some had barely taken a dozen steps before their faces turned deathly pale, their features contorted in agony, as if they were enduring the torture of being flayed alive. Silent screams formed on their lips.

Others managed over twenty steps; though their pace was slow, they were still able to maintain a calm expression.

But the performance of Ron Zaka, the one with such high expectations, was surprisingly mediocre.

He wasn’t leading the pack, or even in the top thirty. He lingered in the lower half of the group, having taken just over twenty steps.

His powerful frame appeared somewhat rigid in the mist, and his knitted brow revealed that his mental journey was far less "unobstructed" than his display of physical strength.

Suddenly, a muffled groan emerged from the mist.

A figure near the edge swayed violently, his eyes instantly consumed by a deep blackness. His consciousness vanished, and he was about to crumple to the ground.

"SWISH!" On the main dais, the presiding Marquis casually flicked his finger.

A gentle but irresistible force shot through the mist, precisely wrapping around the unconscious youth. With a soft tug, it delivered him safely back outside the testing area.

Freed from the illusion array, the young man quickly regained consciousness. He looked around, bewildered. Realizing he was the first one to be eliminated, his face flushed beet-red. He was so ashamed he couldn’t even raise his head as he quickly scurried back into the crowd.

It was as if a chain reaction had begun. After him, a succession of geniuses found themselves stuck, unable to escape the vortex of illusions, and were ejected by the array’s power.

In just a few minutes, the entire first batch of one hundred had been removed from the test.

Ron Zaka’s final result was thirty steps. While not at the very bottom, compared to his incredible strength, it could only be described as unremarkable.

The top performer of this batch, conversely, was an ordinary-looking young man from an unknown small city. He had gritted his teeth and managed to reach seventy-three steps, sparking some discussion from the observers.

The second, third, and fourth batches of geniuses entered in succession.

The scores mostly ranged from the twenties to the high sixties. The top performers continued to be unknown but determined geniuses, just like the one in the first batch.

This seemed to confirm a unique quality of the mental fortitude test: talent and background were no guarantee of passage through the illusory mist.

Until the fifth batch. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

After a brief silence, a small stir went through the crowd.

On the light screen, the number at the top of the step-count rankings had stunningly surpassed one hundred.

The contestant was from some obscure, small nation and had an unremarkable appearance. He was currently gritting his teeth, his steps deliberate and heavy as he approached the one-hundred-and-five-step mark.

Although he eventually stopped at one hundred and seven steps, it was enough to make him the temporary focus of everyone’s attention.

For the first time, the brilliance of mental fortitude had outshone pure strength.

Soon, the list of one hundred names for the sixth batch lit up on the screen.

In the area where the geniuses from Jiangnan Province had gathered, Li Wen, who had been sitting quietly and meditating, opened his eyes. They were clear and calm.

He rose and walked unhurriedly toward the mist-shrouded testing area.

Chu Feng and Nangong Xue were in the same batch, but right now, most people’s eyes—including theirs—were fixed on the simply-dressed figure whose aura was like that of an ancient, sheathed blade.

"Li Wen’s got this mental fortitude trial in the bag," Chu Feng whispered to Nangong Xue next to him.

"Considering what he went through before his awakening... that level of desperation... he wouldn’t be here today if his will wasn’t unshakeable."

"Mm," Nangong Xue nodded, a hint of admiration in her cool, clear eyes.

"Mental fortitude like his isn’t something you can find in the sheltered prodigies who were raised on endless resources. Mental fortitude carries immense weight in the Kindling Fire assessment; it can even determine your ultimate potential. The eliminations in this round are likely to be even more brutal."

The other geniuses from Jiangnan Province who were nearby overheard them and couldn’t agree more.