Chapter 36: Courting Death to Survive Death
'Two more steps.' Yu Nianzhen thought.
He took a deep breath, lifted his right leg and climbed to the ninth step.
'As expected, the pressure is half a point more than the eighth step.'
Although his expression was normal, his face was weirdly flushed.
His bones were creaking loudly, and he stooped so low that his head was almost touching the ground.
He took a trembling breath, clenched his hands, and gritted his teeth.
"Do you want to give up?" A voice sounded in his head.
The voice sounded like his own, and it carried a heavy sense of ridicule.
Yu Nianzhen twisted his features but didn't answer.
This was not the first time that he heard the voice.
It had appeared at the beginning of the test when he stepped on the first step.
At that time, Yu Nianzhen sneered and didn't pay much attention to it.
He was Yu Nianzhen!
The invincible heir of the Yu family.
It may be a different life, but he was the same person.
Failure was never an option, and he didn't plan on failing the ten-storey pagoda test.
All he needed to do was climb ten steps and walk through the door at the top of the stairs.
However, Yu Nianzhen had taken the test too lightly.
On the first step, his body experienced pressure equal to a force value of eight thousand kilogrammes.
This amount was equal to his force value, and Yu Nianzhen didn't struggle.
He didn't waste any time on the first step and quickly climbed to the second.
However, the second step was different from the first.
The pressure increased to a force value of nine thousand kilograms, but Yu Nianzhen could still handle it.
What he couldn't handle was the unease that appeared in his heart and mind.
Since he received the inheritance of the black sword, Yu Nianzhen felt that he was cultivating toward death.
Every bit of progress was a step closer to a terrible death.
Although he had tried to suppress this feeling, the test brought it to the forefront.
With every step he climbed, the trepidation would intensify, and Yu Nianzhen was at the breaking point.
His mind was filled with fear, and his body couldn't stand the pressure on the ninth step.
"I will try to adjust my condition."
Yu Nianzhen sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath and tried to empty his mind.
However, it was easier said than done.
A million thoughts ran through his mind, and it was difficult to calm down.
He would banish one thought, but two more would take its place.
"It is easier to give up." The voice in his head said.
"Shut up."
Yu Nianzhen was frustrated.
He had always been able to do everything well, but he now felt helpless.
He took another breath and once again tried to empty his mind.
However, the result was the same.
He couldn't focus and the pressure on his body made the situation worse.
"Do I really have to give up?" He wondered and then laughed in self-mockery.
"Why should I give up?"
He cruelly bit his tongue, and the intense pain forced out the random thoughts in his head.
Yu Nianzhen used this chance to calm himself and enter a meditative state.
Soon after, his body relaxed slightly, and his flushed face returned to normal.
"I can't go on like this."
The more he climbed the stairs, the more he realised that things couldn't stay as they were.
His cultivation had stagnated because he was subconsciously afraid of death, but staying in the same place wasn't a solution.
If he didn't make progress, he would remain in the meridian awakening realm.
However, the lifespan of a meridian awakening realm cultivator was only one hundred years.
In a few decades, he would grow old and eventually decay.
Yu Nianzhen didn't want this end.
If he had to die, it was better to do so while fighting fate rather than waiting helplessly for death to arrive.
'The only way to survive death is by courting death.' Yu Nianzhen sighed, and a smile appeared on his face.
All this time, he had been suppressing the trepidation in his heart, but he let go at this moment.
Dread filled his being, but he didn't fight it.
Instead, he began to examine it and feel it at a more intimate level.
Time passed in this way, and Yu Nianzhen realised some things.
The trepidation didn't point to certain death, it was a premonition.
It was a warning that he would soon experience a life-threatening event.
However, the event wasn't necessarily bad.
When he probed further, Yu Nianzhen felt that the life-threatening event was also an opportunity.
If he could safely survive the event, he would receive unprecedented blessings, but failure would lead to death.
'As long as there is a chance, I won't fail.'
At this time, Yu Nianzhen realised the cause of his confusion over the past few months.
It wasn't that he was a coward who couldn't face death, he was just afraid of having no options.
When he first felt the trepidation, it gave him a sense of inevitability.
He felt that there was nothing he could do to avoid his bad end, and Yu Nianzhen couldn't accept this.
He couldn't accept that he had to follow a predestined path that led to his destruction.
This helplessness was what gave birth to fear.
In his previous life, he would never have allowed himself to fall into such a situation, but this life was different.
In that life, the world was ruled by science, but this world had cultivators who were better than the gods mentioned in his old life.
Although Yu Nianzhen had quickly adapted to the Cangxing world, he was after all not from this world.
A part of his mind still resisted the supernatural and wanted to conform to the logic of the previous world.
It was because of this that he became confused when he first felt the trepidation.
Rather than examine it, he chose to fight against it blindly.
He failed to realise that the heavens were fair in the most unfair ways.
If his future was filled with danger, then there was a corresponding blessing alongside the danger.
When he thought of this, the weight that was pressing on his heart lightened.
Cultivation was a path to defy the heavens, and it was filled with endless danger.
Since he had chosen this path, he needed to face it head-on.
He would accept danger as part of life and death as a transition to life.
Yu Nianzhen laughed, and for the first time, he looked his age.
As his mood lightened, everything about him relaxed, and he discovered a few more things.
"This pressure can help me refine the residue stone milk in my body." He said excitedly.
Although he had done his best to refine all the stone milk in his body, it was impossible to fully do it.
There was still a lot of residue stone milk hidden in his body, and the pressure had forced it out and collected it in his meridians.
"I will refine it first."
Although he had gained immunity, and refining the stone milk wouldn't increase his force value, he couldn't leave it alone.
This is because this unrefined stone milk was a kind of impurity within his body, and if left alone, it would pose a hidden danger.
Yu Nianzhen took time to carefully refine it, and when he was done, he exhaled a foul breath and opened his eyes.
He tried to stand up, but the pressure on his body was still too much, and he couldn't stand it.
His face turned solemn, and his eyes were filled with unwillingness.
Climbing to the tenth step wasn't what he could accomplish with a strong will. Alongside will, he needed a strong body, and his current couldn't withstand the pressure.
He sighed and closed his eyes.
"My only option is to connect all my meridians to try and increase my force value."
Ten days had passed since the test began.
This meant that he only had twenty days to connect his five remaining meridians.
Normally, connecting five meridians couldn't be done in twenty days, but Yu Nianzhen was confident.
He was in peak mental state, and the heaven and earth qi was very rich.
More importantly, the pressure on the stairs had helped him refine the excess stone milk.
This had not only removed the hidden danger within his body, but it had also unclogged his meridians which was beneficial to his cultivation.
"Failure is not an option."
Yu Nianzhen sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.
As expected, he didn't encounter any problems while connecting his remaining meridians.
Although he still felt the looming disaster, it didn't distract him.
He accepted the danger as a companion on his path and used the approaching disaster as motivation to get stronger.
Seventeen days later, Yu Nianzhen opened his eyes.
'I only have three days to get on the tenth step and get through the door.'
After thinking this, Yu Nianzhen didn't hesitate.
He stood from the ground, and this time, he didn't stoop.
He still felt a lot of pressure, but it was within his tolerance limit.
A relieved look crossed his face, but he wasn't complacent.
The pressure on the ninth step was already his limit, and he didn't know how to deal with the tenth step.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Muthoni_Murira
Muthoni_Murira Hello everyone,
I had trouble with this chapter and it took a while to sort it out.
I am sorry for the long wait and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter.
Anyway, thanks for your support and see you in the next chapter.
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