Maxing out my luck in a cultivation world

Illuminated Caverns

"Moving onto the final test, well.... follow me. I'll show you the way"

Following along a path with Elder Shoushan, they came upon a cave emanating a strange but powerful energy. It was both oppressive and impressive. Of course, the cave was exquisitely decorated on the outside, with carvings lining it's entrance.

The intricate carvings were those of intertwined snakes, similar to that one Greek god's scepter. The gaping maw of the cave stood around 4-5x taller than Deimos. She stood behind Elder Shoushan who walked to the very edge of the cave.

Turning around to look back at Deimos, Elder Shoushan told her, "Here, take this."

Handing Deimos a small token, he continued, "Your goal is to make it to the other side of this cave. Please do keep in mind it doesn't go too far, and the exit is on this side of the mountain as well. Try to go up as best as you can. You have one hour."

"Oh and that token? It's for us to find you if you get lost."

Deimos nodded, beginning to walk into the cave. She looked back at Elder Shoushan one time before fully walking back into the depths of the cave itself. Surprisingly, it wasn't completely pitch black. There was an abundance of luminescent crystals lining the walls and ceiling.

As she kept wandering the winding tunnels in the mountain, she couldn't help but notice a eerie feeling. Something was wrong, but everything looked normal. Deimos decided she wanted to speed up a little bit, but before she could, she heard something behind her.

Turning around she saw..... herself? It was an exact copy of her, or it looked exactly like her at least. Long spiky hair, toned features, muscles, everything. The only visible difference was her eyes. Jet black with red pupils, notably the markings of her divine form were way different.

Instead of smooth lines slithering around her body, they seemed more demonic in nature then what she currently had.... along with what looked to be a single demon horn stemming from the imposter's right temple. Leading up to the horn, the divine form's markings went straight up in a line over her eye.

She didn't understand what exactly was happening, but she knew it had to be part of the trial so she prepared herself to attack the imposter. Before she could really initiate an attack, the imposter dashed in front of her in an instant.

Face-to-face, the imposter had a manic smile with the face you'd expect a psychopathic killer to have after gutting someone.

In Deimos' voice, the imposter began to taunt her, "You're quite weak, aren't you~"

Deimos, as soon as she could, leaped backwards away from the imposter to create distance. Her efforts were futile because the imposter appeared in front of her the instant she touched the ground.

The imposter carefully grabbed ahold of her face and forced eye contact before Deimos could react. In the spit second where their eyes met, everything shifted to the burning ruins of the Great Dao Sect. Or at least she thought that's what it was, she only saw it for an incredibly short moment.

The imposter released its grip on her face and smirked at Deimos' confusion. In a devilish tone it remarked, "Are you curious to see more? Hmm~?"

Deimos thought to herself, 'This must be the test, fighting some sort of inner demon? But how would I do that.... its much faster than me.'

She didn't respond to the imposter so as to maybe keep it stalled for a little while as she thought about what she needed to do to get out of here. She knew she could very well be in grave danger, but she was kind of interested in the vision the imposter showed her......

The imposter didn't give much of a warning for its sudden advance other then a slight "Boooring"

It closed the gap between itself and Deimos, instantly putting its hand on the side of her face before she could react. This time, instead of showing her a mere moment of the vision, she was now practically living it.

Now it is confirmed. She was seeing the Great Dao Sect in ruins. She witnessed a familiar figure standing on a pile of bodies. A true devil, Asmodeus. In her mind, Deimos was telling herself that this was all a test, an illusion, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was real because of how real it felt.

With a single swift movement from his open hand, Asmodeus ripped out Elder Shoushan's heart and discarded his corpse on the pile with the rest of them. Deimos stepped backwards, attempting to get away from the imposter, but instead of moving in reality, she moved in the illusion.

She stepped backward, and began to flee as quietly as possible, but before she could, Asmodeus spotted her, and before her brain even registered it she was in a brutal chokehold.

The pain of his grip around her throat wasn't much, but her restricted breathing would begin to hurt her soon. Asmodeus began to slowly squeeze his hand harder and harder around her throat, causing cracking noises and sharp pains to spread. It was like she was dying a second time.

A burning feeling could be felt on her nape; it seemed Asmodeus was doing something more than just choking her to death. Right before she passed out in the vision, Asmodeus commented, "I think its about time we move onto stage two, eh?"

Asmodeus dropped her to the ground as she passed out in the vision. Returning to reality, the imposter was gone, and she was left with the dim light of the walls and her thoughts. She still had at least 45 minutes to make it to the end of this cave, and she wanted to succeed.

She knew that if she could feel a breeze from the end of the tunnel, that meant she was on the right track, so she kept pushing forward. She kept assuring herself that what she saw in this cave was nothing but an illusion and a test meant to break her spirit. With that, she continued walking.

When she turned the final corner, she saw a light and felt a breeze from the ending. She knew she had made it to the end. As she exited the cave, she squinted while her eyes adjusted. She noticed Elder Shoushan outside, waiting for her.

As he spotted her, he congratulated her on passing the final trial. He then asked her a question that caused her to be struck with fear: "What did you see in the cave of divination?"