After Zhang Yifan entered the Miyun Pagoda, he found that he had come to a square, surrounded by dozens of cultivation huts for rest, arranged in a staggered manner, very exquisite.

At this time, the nine people who tried it were all in the square, and they were a little guarded from each other. From time to time, everyone looked around, looking a little puzzled, because there was nothing in the square, only a dim light gate in the center.

"Welcome to the first layer of the Miyun Tower, the main test of this layer is the heart of the trialists, the trial time is one month, if you choose to give up, you can crush the jade talisman in your hand. After an hour, the door of the assessment will open, please select the corresponding environment, and the assessment will officially begin. ”

"The heart of the Dao?" Zhang Yifan muttered to himself, and then began to meditate and adjust himself.

Originally, he planned to communicate with familiar friends, but the assessment was imminent, and no one had the heart to communicate, so they were adjusting their breath and adjusting their state to the best. Zhang Yifan gave up and began to meditate and pranayama.

An hour later, the light gate in the center began to bloom, and the nine monks were taken in by the light gate and disappeared.

Zhang Yifan felt that he had entered a space that seemed to have no edge, and the space was dim and traceless, which seemed very strange.

Then nine images appeared in front of him, each of which was very large, about two or three zhang in size. The scenes inside are different, and the scenes are constantly moving, not static portraits.

The swinging spring willows, the flowing rivers, even the ice and snow, the volcanic desert, each of them makes people feel a different atmosphere.

"Are the attributes of the five elements plus wind, thunder, ice, and a dark environment?" Zhang Yifan secretly guessed after carefully examining the nine images.

"Since you are looking for Sister Yuling, let's choose the image of the ice and snow. ”

Then Zhang Yifan approached the image of the ice and snow, and then was ingested by the image, and then his eyes went black and he didn't know anything.

When Zhang Yifan opened his eyes, he found that he had become a child, and he looked like he was ten years old.

At this time, he didn't have the slightest mana, and the storage bag and other items were not around, Zhang Yifan's expression moved, and he touched his chest with one hand, and then his expression eased.

"Illusion?"

Zhang Yifan observed the surrounding situation and found that he was in a small cabin.

Although the wooden house is simple, it is fully equipped with pots and pans and other utensils. In particular, there is still steaming on the stove in the corner, and the light of the fire in the stove reflects the wooden house, making the whole room warm.

The steamer on the stove seemed to be steaming delicious food, and the overflowing aroma aroused Zhang Yifan's appetite.

Zhang Yifan wanted to go and see what kind of food was in the steamer, but he was stunned halfway through, he rarely ate since he built the foundation and opened the valley, and even if he ate, it was just a nostalgia for worldly things, and he would never have such a strong appetite.

He stopped, seemed to understand, and turned his head to look no longer at the contents of the cabin.

The wooden door inside the wooden house is hidden, and the wind howling outside can be faintly heard. Zhang Yifan was about to open the wooden door a little more, wanting to see what was outside. But when he opened the wooden door a little, the cold wind made him shiver, and he couldn't help but want to close the door.

"This should also be a test, if you can't stand this cold wind, then how to pass the assessment. Zhang Yifan stopped closing the door, instead, he completely opened the wooden door and let the cold wind blow in.

Then Zhang Yifan began to think about the meaning behind this level of assessment.

Although he was in a fantasy realm, deprived of mana and treasures, and only had a very weak body, he did not lose any memory. Since this is a test of the heart of the Tao, it should be to get out of comfort and go outside to find an opportunity to pass the assessment.

But just as Zhang Yifan was about to go out, he found that a copy of "Dark Water Technique" appeared on the wooden table, which was the most basic Five Elements Exercise. He was sure that this exercise had appeared out of thin air, and he had not discovered it when he had observed the wooden house before.

Zhang Yifan flipped through the "Dark Water Technique" and found that this is indeed the real Five Elements Exercise, which can be used for practice. This was a bit weird, so he didn't know what the meaning of the appearance of this exercise was, but Zhang Yifan decided to follow his plan.

He didn't start to practice the exercises, but took them with him, walked out of the wooden house, and came to the icy and snowy world.

As soon as Zhang Yifan walked into the snow, he felt the cold to his bones, which not only brought the cold of his body, but even his soul would be frozen, making his head a little painful.

It took him a while to get used to the cold, and at this time, Zhang Yifan's eyes were fixed on the tall snow-capped mountain not far away, and he had a hunch that the opportunity to pass the trial was on that mountain.

Zhang Yifan moved his already stiff feet and began to move towards the snow mountain, at this time his body was weak and weak, and the cold wind blew so that he couldn't even open his eyes, causing him to walk very slowly, but this did not prevent him from walking towards the snow mountain firmly.

Step by step, Zhang Yifan walked very hard, and the big snow mountain looked very close, but it was actually very far away. And what's worse is that the cold wind and freezing snow seem to be bigger, making it more and more difficult for him to walk.

At this time, Zhang Yifan remembered the warm wooden house again, the tempting steamer food, and his feet unconsciously slowed down.

"Why bother so hard, you can still practice this exercise in that wooden house, and you can also cultivate spells. Zhang Yifan had such a thought in his mind.

"No, give up this little difficulty, it's not me!" Zhang Yifan was suddenly stunned, abandoned all kinds of cowardly thoughts in his mind, gritted his teeth and insisted on walking forward step by step.

The weak body was almost unable to walk due to the cold wind, and Zhang Yifan began to crawl on the ground. Hands leave shallow palm prints on the icy snow.

Not long after, his hands were frozen and cracked, blood flowed, and the clothes on his body could not withstand the biting cold wind, Zhang Yifan felt that he seemed to be unable to do it, and he could freeze to death in this ice and snow at any time.

But he still persisted, still crawling forward, and more than twenty days passed like this.

At this time, Zhang Yifan looked at his palms that had been frozen to the point of white bones, tattered clothes, and the whole person was completely stiff and speechless for a while.

These days, he used all his strength, and the distance he crawled every day was only a few miles, and the further back he went, the more difficult it became, and in the end the distance he crawled every day was less than a hundred feet, and every step seemed to use up all his strength, leaving bright red blood stains on the road.

And the big snowy mountain in front of him is still in front of him, but it is as far away as a chasm, and he still can't get close after traveling for so long, Zhang Yifan can't help but feel a little desperate in his heart.

No matter what happened to him before, he had resentment, self-blame, and even the danger of death, but none of the things he had put in a lot of effort had no effect at all, and this invisible despair overwhelmed him.

It was an experience he had never experienced before, and it was something he had never thought about.

Giving will be rewarded, this is the truth he has always believed. The previous experiences made him convinced of this truth, the high harvest after each adventure, and the achievements after the arduous cultivation of the refining weapon. He was convinced of this truth and was always motivated to work for it.

But now this truth was shattered before his eyes.

Although what he is doing now is forward, and the long bloodstained road is proof of him, there is no gain, or no hope of harvest.

Maybe it's a lifetime of exhaustion, and you can't see the gains, although you know the results are ahead.

Isn't this just like cultivating the Tao, those monks with average qualifications have been stuck in a realm and have never been able to break through, and their ascetic life has passed like this, wasting their life's time in vain.

Even if you are a monk with excellent qualifications, if you have cultivated to a very high level, you will get stuck, and you will experience working hard all the time without getting anything in return.

Zhang Yifan has seen or heard many stories, and knows that some of them gave up their cultivation and began to participate in the world, some of them were in love with the mountains and rivers, and began to enjoy themselves, and some even took revenge and completely fell into demons. Of course, there are also those who have been practicing penance all the time, and finally end up depressed.

If you have been working very hard and diligently to cultivate the Tao, but you have never been able to reach that realm, what should you do? How should you choose? This thought hovered in Zhang Yifan's heart, lingering.

"If the cultivation path is like this, how should I choose? How should I choose?" The question that came to Zhang Yifan's mind made him fall into torment, and at this time he was still crawling forward numbly, as if he could no longer feel the pain on his body.

The endless darkness enveloped him, so that he could not see the way forward, Zhang Yifan knew that as soon as the day dawned, the one-month trial deadline would be up.

"Do you really want to give up? Sure enough, can't you?" Zhang Yifan inexplicably took out a jade talisman from his body, looked at the jade talisman in a daze, and couldn't speak.

At this time, faces appeared in his mind, "Mother, uncle, aunt, Uncle Chen, San'er, Brother Wang..."

"No, even if it doesn't work, I can just give up. I'm going to move forward until I actually die, and I'm going to finish that. Nothing can stop me!"

Zhang Yifan was hideous, throwing away the doubts, doubts, retreats and even cowardice in his mind, and those figures in his heart seemed to give him infinite strength to make his heart full of faith, move forward bravely, and even do whatever it takes.

At this time, he no longer felt numb, hesitant, his eyes were clear, and although the road ahead was dark, he still crawled forward. Although the pain he endured was so clear and complete, he began to be truly fearless, moving forward with both hands and feet.

Suddenly, Zhang Yifan felt the darkness in front of him dissipate, and then his eyes lit up, and he found that he was at the foot of the Great Snow Mountain.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Yifan's white light flashed and disappeared into the wind and snow. Then he found himself in a hut, and at the same time, he received the news in his head, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously smiled.

"Congratulations to the No. 11 trialist for passing the first layer of the trial of Miyun Tower, and his evaluation is excellent. ”