Chapter 17 Ascending the Mountain

Ascending the Mountain of Vitality, Wang Tian moved forward at full speed as he sped through the forest. The dense shrubbery slowing him down somewhat as he ran through the terrain. 'I hope the treasure here is good.' He mused as he looked backward.

Following close behind were 10s of disciples who like Wang Tian, were seeking the treasure at the peak of the mountain. The man following Wang Tian most closely behind was a core disciple of the Mountain Shaking Sect.

Donned in red robes, the burly man charged forward, his hair short almost completely shaved off, while his bronze skin glowed vigorously. 'Seems I have to speed up a bit.' Wang Tian thought before increasing his pace.

Naturally this infuriated the other disciples as they too sped up to catch up to Wang Tian, after all who was this trashy Outer Disciple of the Skyward Sword Sect to stand at the forefront? Who gave him such a right?

Unfortunately for the other disciples this was too little avail as Wang Tian shot through the forest at unprecedented speeds until a sign came into view. "Go down this path to find what you seek." Reading this Wang Tian followed its directions and soon found himself in front of a cave.

Hearing the approaching disciples Wang Tian decided to charge into the cave without giving it much thought. Throwing caution to the wind may not be the wisest move, but time was of the essence, and Wang Tian believed that for a trial such as the "Mountain of Vitality" physical capabilities would be naturally more important than mental capabilities.

A few minutes later Wang Tian found himself in front of pedestal with a scroll laying atop it. This time he was suspicious, after all why would this scroll be just lying there for the taking. 'Whatever, I've gambled this far, what's the harm in picking up this scroll.'

With that thought, Wang Tian reached for the scrolls and opened it up immediately delighting in the fact that he decided to charge through head first no holds barred. Smirking for a moment, Wang Tian kicked the altar crushing it before a rumbling sound echoed throughout the cave.

The wall at the end of the cave collapsed revealing a path back up to the surface. "Seems that Fruit of Might already has my name on it." Wang Tian chuckled before charging forward once again, at this rate no one would even see the hem of his robes from now on.

Naturally Wang Tian only had such an advantage due to this being not only about top speed, but endurance on top of it. While others had to expend qi constantly to continue at top speed, Wang Tian only required his physical body to match them while boosting himself with qi was merely the icing on the cake.

Exiting the cave, Wang Tian found himself on a small patch of flat ground on the mountain. Along this patch of ground 10 humanoid looking figures stood, each with a different number on their forehead.

Ranging from 0 to 9 the figures stood space out in a line as they faced the exit of the cave. 'Which puppet you defeat directly impacts the amount of trouble you will have to face later. According to the scroll Puppet 0 is actually the strongest and will drop the access key.' Wang Tian mused as he faced Puppet 0.

The problem now was he wasn't confident if he could finish up the battle before the others arrived, but after giving it a moment of thought Wang Tian decided to fight. This entire time he charged ahead atop this mountain and he had never been wronged. Also if worst came to worst, Wang Tian doubted anyone could catch him if he truly wished to run, after all if they could they wouldn't have lagged behind for so long.

Standing before the puppet Wang Tian smiled before cracking his neck. He then took a stance, pulling his fist back as he focused on the puppet.

"Target locked. 6th Layer Qi Refinement, adjusting strength." The puppet said mechanically, causing Wang Tian to look at it in confusion. Pausing for a moment, Wang Tian then realised what was happening before he smiled.

"Unstoppable Tiger's Dominating Fist, 1st Technique! Tiger's Ferocious Charge!" He roared as he shot forward, his fist hurtling toward the puppet as an outline of a tiger appeared over it.

In response the puppet hurriedly unsheathed its sword attempting to block the attack, but to no avail. Wang Tian's fist shot into the puppet caving its chest in before sending it flying. He then rushed towards the puppet as it began to creak. "You have passed, accept your token." The puppet's voice resounded as a token exited from its forehead. Grabbing it Wang Tian placed it in one of his pouches before continuing onward.

According to the scroll after one defeated a puppet and acquired a token they could then make their way towards the peak of the mountain and go through the final trial for the Fruit of Might.

So far Wang Tian's journey had been without issue, from the race to the cave, to the scroll, to even the puppet. From what Wang Tian suspected, each puppet was set to a certain level in Qi Refinement while Puppet 0 was set to adjust to the competitors strength. Naturally Wang Tian didn't know how it adjusted, for all he knew it could adjust to the level of a regular 6th Layer Qi Refinement like himself, or it could adjust to the level of a genius in the 6th Layer, but Wang Tian would never find out.

This was because, unless an opponent was a few minor realms higher than Wang Tian, they had no chance at withstanding his blows his Dracodevil's Heavenly Body was simply that strong.

Some time later Wang Tian reached the top of the mountain as he looked on in awe. "Now this, is exciting!"