Someone at the summit

Along the path of stairs, the number of disciples that were quitting the core disciples from other minor factions did have the highest number. This however did not change the poor situation of the Nine Major factions either, after all apart from the Legacy Disciples, which seemed to have unnaturally strong wills, others eventually found it hard to continue climbing at some point. The reason for this was very simple, the voices in their heads seemed to become more difficult to ignore. 

Not everyone had reached a high stage of the mind, nor had a stronger will to resist the temptations or ignore the voices that kept making noise in their heads, and more importantly, it seemed to stem from their inner fears.