After walking through the dim, cavernous passage for a good five or six minutes, Shi Feng finally spotted a brilliantly lit hall up ahead.
The entire hall was roughly the size of a basketball court, completely empty of any furnishings or structures. And despite there being no visible light sources anywhere, the luminescent glow emanating from the hall's walls bathed everything in bright, clear light, making it feel as though he had stepped into a purely white space.
"So this is what they call the Path of Spirit?"
Shi Feng gazed at the staircase on the far side of the hall that descended straight into the earth below, a flicker of surprise rising in his chest.
He felt as though the staircase looked strangely familiar, yet he couldn't quite recall where he had seen it before.
The entire staircase was constructed from a white jade-like stone, radiating an indescribable sense of sanctity and comfort—like the warmth of winter sunlight or the coolness of a summer breeze.
The closer he drew to the white jade staircase, the more intense this feeling became, almost irresistible, as though every fiber of his being urged him to charge straight in.
The moment Shi Feng set foot on the staircase, an indescribable wave of euphoria washed over his entire body, as though he had been reborn anew.
But the very next instant, it felt as though a hammer had smashed into his brain. His mind went blank, his soul nearly torn from his body, and his limbs no longer felt like his own.
He nearly lost his footing, staggering backward.
"So this is the Path of Spirit?" Shi Feng retreated into the hall, staring at the white jade staircase in disbelief. "This mental impact is even more terrifying than the Divine Statues in the Forged Light City. No wonder the Green God Corporation sets the age requirement at under twenty."
If the divine will-impact from the Forged Light City was like a raging storm sweeping over the entire body, then the mental assault from this white jade staircase was a hammer striking with surgical precision directly at the deepest recesses of the brain.
Its penetrating power on the mind and will was simply incomparable to the divine will-impact.
While Shi Feng was marveling at the effect of the white jade staircase's mental assault, the newer recruits from the Green God Corporation filed into the hall one after another.
"That guy's still here, just as I thought."
"Of course. Did he really think the Path of Spirit was easy? If it were, the number of people who earned Upper District status each year wouldn't be limited to just three or five. There'd be hundreds or thousands by now."
"I wonder how far I'll make it this time."
…
None of the new recruits were surprised to see Shi Feng standing there in a daze. After all, when they had first stepped onto the white jade staircase themselves, they had been equally stunned by its power. The mental impact genuinely hurt—pain that burrowed into the very depths of the heart, so fierce you couldn't even cry out.
If they had any choice, they would never want to experience it a second time.
"Still, those few new recruits who came this time—one of them might actually pass on their own," said a white-clad girl of about nineteen, gazing at the white jade staircase with a sigh. "Meanwhile, this is my last chance. If I don't make it, I'll be stuck grinding it out in the city."
"You mean that special recruit?" A long-haired girl of similar age glanced over at a lean, short-haired boy of seventeen or eighteen not far away. "It really is a case of comparison being the thief of joy. He was only brought into the corporation a few months ago, yet he gets to jump straight to the evaluation. The higher-ups in the corporation are practically fawning over him. I seriously wonder if his head is made of stone—he shows absolutely no reaction to the mental impact at all."
"Who else could it be?" The white-clad girl stared at the short-haired boy, envy plain in her eyes. "If I had even half his talent, maybe I could pass this evaluation."
"A guy like that is definitely going to become an internal member. And he's not bad-looking either." The long-haired girl licked her lips. "I heard he doesn't have a girlfriend. If we seized the opportunity, maybe we could get into the Upper District too."
But while these two girls were whispering about the short-haired boy, he had already stepped onto the white jade staircase.
The boy moved forward at a steady, unhurried pace, one step after another, as though the mental impact simply didn't exist. From start to finish, there wasn't the slightest hint of discoordination anywhere on his body.
His composed performance sent a collective gasp through every recruit in the hall.
"No way! He really has no reaction at all!"
"Is his head actually made of iron?!"
Watching the lean, short-haired boy walk over a hundred meters without the slightest sign of fatigue or disorientation, every newcomer in the hall was stunned. Even Shi Feng couldn't hide his astonishment.
"His mental fortitude has to be at least fourth-tier by now."
After experiencing the white jade staircase's mental impact himself, Shi Feng now had a clear frame of reference. If the impact were several times weaker, it would roughly match the will-impact from the Divine Statues.
Yet this short-haired boy showed virtually no reaction or discomfort whatsoever, which meant the mental assault fell entirely within his tolerance—still a considerable distance from his true limit.
Such terrifying mental strength surpassed even Ziyan Liuyun, who was regarded as a prodigy in the realm of the mind.
"Heh heh, stunned, are we?" Ke Rui had caught up and entered the hall by now. Looking at the short-haired boy who had already moved far ahead, she grinned. "I already warned you—this Path of Spirit isn't nearly as simple as you think. And that short-haired boy you're staring at? He's a once-in-a-generation talent that the Green God Corporation somehow managed to discover. Yan Wuming—rated as the greatest prodigy the corporation has seen in decades. Even my sister can't hold a candle to him."
"Yan Wuming?" Something clicked in Shi Feng's mind. "He's Yan Wuming?"
"That's right, he's Yan Wuming. Why, what's wrong?" Ke Rui looked at Shi Feng's startled expression, puzzled by his reaction.
"So that explains it—no wonder his mental level is that high." Shi Feng shook his head with a laugh.
The name Yan Wuming carried a second title in the Divine Realm of his previous life—one that had thundered through the ears of virtually everyone.