บท 51: Misty Staircase Trial
The surroundings were a blur, everything was covered by a thick mist. It was difficult to see anything and left Yaan in a bit of a daze.
VRRRMM…
Forcefully ripped from his daze, Yaan suddenly stumbled as he felt a powerful force storming into his mind. His conscious blurred for a moment as this force seemed to linger around him, before leaving as quickly as it arrived.
He looked around a few times in bewilderment, but after finding nothing aside from the fog all around him and the staircase straight ahead, Yaan concluded that the force must have been a normal part of this trial.
WHOOSH!
Although he had seen it once already, the second appearance of the devilish spirit still startled him. His gaze was immediately drawn upwards, towards the ominous red figure that could somehow be seen through the thick mist.
"8,892 challengers remain and have made it into the second trial…this trial is a solitary one, but also competitive in nature. All challengers will have their cultivations sealed and need to walk up the misty staircase…ascend 100 stairs to pass the trial, and earn a reward for every consecutive 100 stairs you ascend….there are a total of 1,000 stairs, you have three days…"
The devilish spirit spoke more this time, but its voice was still gruff and filled with a cold killing intent. It spoke slowly, then as soon as it had said its piece, it vanished once again.
The instant the spirit vanish, Yaan felt his heart lurch as a powerful red light slammed into his body. The light seemed to penetrate his very blood, sealing away all of his vital energy and effectively removing his cultivation! An extreme feeling of weakness overcame him, he stumbled and nearly fell to his knees, but just about managed to stay upright.
"Hah…hah…"
Yaan slowly turned his gaze forwards after catching his breath and calming his heart. He took a deep breath, but didn't immediately move towards the staircase ahead, which was all he could see through this thick fog. Instead, he first closed his eyes and examined his current condition.
'I'm completely unable to cycle my vital energy, whilst my vital energy's benefit to my body has been entirely sealed away! However, as I expected…the improvements I have obtained for my flesh and blood itself are completely unaffected!'
Yaan's eyes shot open and his gaze shone brilliantly.
Before he entered this inheritance, he tried to learn as much as possible about the contents of the trials within. Since there weren't many body cultivators to begin with, it was somewhat difficult to be certain of this, but he strongly believed that this inheritance favoured those with strong fleshly bodies.
Now that Yaan was experiencing the complete sealing of his cultivation, he knew that this was true!
If others were experiencing something similar to this, then they would be struggling far more than himself! Even if there was by chance someone else with a 3-Star demonic body in this trial, which was beyond unlikely, Yaan was still confident that they wouldn't possess such a powerful physical body as him with their vital energy entirely sealed away!
Yaan had used all of the Rank 2 and Rank 3 unique body tempering pills, whilst his efficiency in using these pills was well above the norm!
After taking a deep breath, he took the first step forwards.
WAM!
Immediately, a heavy pressure slammed down into his body. Yaan paused for a moment, but in the end, he placed one foot down onto the first step before lifting up the second foot to follow. The moment he found himself standing on this first step, he realised that he was completely unable to see anything other than the step ahead. The fog rolled across the lands and the staircase. It was too thick to see through this fog even before his cultivation was sealed, no matter now.
Step…step…step…
Yaan walked up slowly. One foot at a time, step by step, pausing on each step for a second before continuing on to the next. He was cautious, since this trial was a known death trap, but he wasn't particularly afraid.
In fact, this trial made him feel thrilled.
Step.
Whoosh!
The fog around Yaan suddenly lit up with a blood red light as he reached the 100th step. The pressure he felt weighing down on his body increased with each and every step, this was the same for all of the challengers. For almost everyone, reaching the 100th step would be extremely arduous and would require many hours.
"Hah…hah…" Zue Yin panted heavily as she paused on the 10th step. The pressure on this step was strong and weighed down on her body, forcing her to rest for some time.
"Damnit, how could anyone climb up 100 steps with their cultivation sealed?! Sigh, thankfully my grandfather prepared talismans for me to resist this sort of thing beforehand, otherwise I really would die here…" After resting up for a few minutes, she contemplated whether or not to use the talismans right now. In the end, Zue Yin showed a fierce look, deciding to ascend as far as possible with her own efforts before resorting to this sort of trick.
"Hah…" Ghu Nadda paused on the 15th step for a few minutes to catch his breath. He looked behind him, but sighed as he realised that he truly couldn't see anything here. Combined with the threat of death looming over his head in the event of failure, he felt stifled.
Of course, as a Ghu Clansman, he was far from weak willed. The stifling feeling was suppressed deep down in his heart, before he turned ahead and sighed exhaustedly again.
"Sigh…I should be better than most with my ghoul physique, but this is still a pain…lots of people will die in this stage, especially the women…"
Generally speaking, humans were not suited to body cultivation, but females were even less suited to such a practise than males. This trial was also unfair to them, who possessed weaker physical constitutions on average. With their cultivation, standing alongside men as their equals was not a problem, but after having their cultivations sealed, they would definitely struggle more on this trial.
"Fuu…" Ghu Lin stopped on the 50th step and took a deep breath. After glancing to the side, he seemed to ponder something for a moment, before continuing on up the stair case. It was unknown how he, a typical Qi Master, was able to resist the pressure of this staircase with such ease.
Naturally, Yaan had no idea how the others were fairing in this trial. He could guess that they were struggling of course, since even if they possessed slightly stronger bodies for whatever reason, they certainly wouldn't be like him, with a pure physical body rivalling the strength of some weaker demonic beasts.
As for Yaan's progress…
Whoosh!
He reached the 200th step within 15 minutes, stopping momentarily and catching his breath whilst cautiously watching the swirling red vortex that suddenly appeared a couple of feet in front of his face. He raised his guard and narrowed his eyes as an object slowly emerged from the vortex, but paused after it was fully revealed.
"A bag…?"
Yaan was dubious as first, but his eyes quickly lit up. However, he wasn't hasty, instead examining the bag from all angles before reaching out and carefully grabbing it.
"What sort of bag is this?" Yaan frowned, he had never seen a bag like this before. He shoved his hand inside of it, feeling stunned when half of his arm disappeared within!
"A spatial bag that doesn't require Qi to activate! This…isn't this another world treasure?!" Yaan gasped as he realised the value of what he was holding, but his expression became strange as he had the thought that this was way too perfect.
World treasures, such as the mysterious hat on his head, were treasures that could be used by anyone, even mortals. They required no energy to activate and there was little skill to their usage. In fact, when Yaan had researched about world treasures after forming an interest in this mysterious hat, he even learned of a shocking legend wherein a mortal killed an Origin Soul realm powerhouse using a terrifying world treasure spear! Though, the validity of this was very dubious, Yaan didn't believe it since he couldn't imagine any mortal having the courage to stand up to such a powerful Qi master. Anyway, the value of world treasures was highly variable, this hat which he was borrowing from Nadda was probably one of the least valuable world treasures out there.
"That force from before…could it be that it somehow searched my mind and found what it is that I need the most?!" Yaan felt stunned. As he thought back to the force that he felt storm through his mind before he began climbing the misty stairs, he couldn't help but wonder if this was truly what had happened. Only, this seemed to be unusual…from what he had learned until now, the inheritance didn't usually give people things that were particularly useful to them, right…?
"Perhaps it's because I'm a body cultivator?" His eyes lit up as he thought of this. Whilst he knew that this inheritance generally favoured body cultivators over Qi masters, there were simply too few body cultivators to confirm the extent of this favouritism.
But if it was like this, then the inheritance truly was overly designed towards helping body cultivators!
"What sort of cultivator left behind this inheritance? Could it be a fiend?" Yaan mumbled to himself, but he frowned and felt like this wasn't quite right. If a fiend left this behind, then why would they favour body cultivation so heavily? The Fiend Transformation technique permitted the dual cultivation of Yuan Qi and the body, up to a certain point at least. Besides, it made more sense for a fiend to cultivate Yuan Qi…
"It's impossible for me to speculate, since I don't even know of any other demonic races capable of cultivating the body. Also, there's the matter of other demonic transformations being rewarded throughout this trial, transformations into the ghoul and vampiric races…"
In the end, Yaan sighed and shook his head. Even the Ghu Clan didn't properly understand this inheritance, so what chance did he have of comprehending it? If he wanted to fully understand it, the only hope was to enter the 4th trial.
Yaan had no intention of entering the 4th trial blindly however, since nobody had returned from that stage ever since this inheritance was discovered by the Ghu Clan around 1,800 years ago.
For now, Yaan pushed all of these thoughts from his mind. He entered this inheritance because he was a body cultivator, and given how this inheritance seemed to favour such cultivators, it should be possible for him to earn useful body cultivation resources beyond what others could hope to gain! Right now, Yaan was entirely aware that this second trial was basically tailored specifically for him!
If Rui were to see all of this, she would not just be suspicious, she would be extremely shocked for reasons that would leave Yaan in shock also. Unfortunately, Rui was still in a deep slumber, she was heavily injured after using that method to kill Yaan's old teacher. Yaan still had no idea how to awaken her from this slumber; neither she nor the stone ring would react, no matter what he tried.
After placing all of the items on his person into this spatial bag, Yaan continued on with the trial.
Step…
As Yaan stepped onto the 201st step, the pressure instantly doubled. However, he didn't so much as pause, continuing to walk up the stairs, slowly but steadily. At this pace, he arrived at the 300th step half an hour later. The pressure on the past three stairs doubled with every step, until Yaan could now somewhat feel the strain on the 300th step. That said, it still wasn't particularly taxing on him to rest here.
"It should be possible for a strong adult man with powerful willpower to ascend the first hundred stairs, but only someone with an extremely strong physical body and resolution could make it to 200. As for this 300th step…no ordinary mortal body could reach this stage! Only those with strength based constitutions, or other cultivation methods to strengthen their flesh, could hope to make it here." Yaan mused to himself casually as he eagerly watched another red vortex appear in front of him.
Whoosh!
Like before, an item slowly emerged from the vortex. After examining the book that appeared before him, Yaan blinked in surprise and took it into his hand.
"Fiend Alchemy?"
The title was simple, but didn't truly explain what was within. Although he was tempted to start reading the alchemy book here and now, Yaan resisted the temptation and placed the medium sized old book into his spatial bag.
"Strange, Rui never mentioned that there was alchemy specific to the fiend race. Well, maybe she didn't know. But why is it not included in the Transformation technique…?"
In the end, he put this matter out of mind. He only had three days to spend on this trial, and Yaan fully intended to make the most of this. This second item confirmed his speculation that the rewards in this trial were tailored specifically to his needs, making him all the more eager to continue on and see what came next!
Yaan couldn't help but imagine…what sort of incredible reward would he be gifted if he made it to the 1000th step?
Step…
Yaan paused after taking the next step. The pressure exerted from the trial onto his body immediately became 50% stronger. After taking another step, the pressure increased again, but not by as much.
At the 325th, 350th and 375th steps, the pressure was also doubled! By the time Yaan stepped onto the 397th step, each consecutive step caused the pressure to double yet again, until he finally reached the 400th step.
"Hah…" Yaan took a deep breath and exhaled, a bead of sweat visible on his forehead. He wiped away the sweat as he caught he breath, his expression now becoming slightly serious.
"The pressure is becoming exponentially more powerful. I doubt anyone else will be able to reach this point, unless another 3-Star demon is present…"
Yaan was naturally the only challenger to have reached this stage so far, but he underestimated the Ghu Clan somewhat. As he reached this step, Ghu Lin reached the 200th step not long after. His breathing was heavy, but his expression was calm. A pill slid out from a red vortex in front of him, which he dropped into his pocket before continuing, not even taking a second glance at the pill.
Ghu Nadda struggled more than the clan leader for this expedition, but he was still steadily ascending, reaching the 130th step before long.
There wasn't a single Ghu Clansman who failed to reach the 100th step within 2 hours. They all used various methods, either relying on their body, strength of will, or various unique items that could be activated without Yuan Qi.
As for Zue Yin, she struggled more than the Ghu Clansmen, only reaching the 70th step just before Yaan reached the 400th.
"Hah…hah…hah…" A wave of dizziness overcame her and she stumbled back. Alarmed, she hurriedly pulled out a talisman from her inside breast pocket, then quickly slapped it onto her forehead. She broke out into a cold sweat and paled as she quickly regained her footing.
"Th-that was a bit too close!" She exhaled fearfully, knowing that if she had really fallen back, she would have failed the trial, and…she would have likely been killed!
"It seems 70 steps is my limit. Thankfully grandfather prepared this talisman for me so that I could survive through any solitary trials without the help of the Elders….but the Elders aren't here now, they almost all returned to the North! Nobody will be there to help me in the 3rd trial! C-can I really succeed…?"
She swallowed and her heart skipped a beat. After a moment of worry, she showed a firm expression and resolutely shook her head.
"No matter what, I must survive! I snuck away from the Elders and entered alone this time because I didn't want to always rely on the clan, I wanted to experience the cruelty of the real world and overcome it with my own efforts!"
Like everyone else, Yaan was completely unaware of the efforts and struggles of the other participants. He had no clue that tens of people had already failed and died, whilst others had surpassed the 100 stair minimum progression point already. Even if he did know about all of this though, he wouldn't pay it any mind. This was a trial in which his rewards were solely reliant on his own efforts and unaffected by the success and failure of others, so he focussed only on his own progress.
At the 400th step, Yaan's eyes shone brilliantly. He watched as a small red pill slid out from the red vortex. His heart lurched and he wanted to grab it immediately, but he remembered to keep his cool and to remain careful. After closely examining the pill for a moment, Yaan finally grabbed it with a joyous laugh.
"To think I really gained this so easily!"
He knew this pill, because it was something that had been found by previous users! It was only a Rank 2 pill, but this was without a doubt the Rank 2 pill that any body temperer would desire more than any other!
In truth, there were actually six unique body tempering pills, not five. The sixth pill in this set could only be used after the other five of the same rank had been used, as it was a pill that took the lingering medicinal efficacy from those pills, and fully integrated it into the body as a whole! Unlike the other five pills, this pill affected the entire body…
Rank 2 form tempering pill!
Without needing to hesitate, Yaan threw the pill back into his mouth and sat down. He closed his eyes, showing a serious expression as he focussed.
BANG!
An explosive force resounded within his body, causing his body to tremble for a few moments. It didn't take long for Yaan to suppress the shocking effect, but his face paled ever so slightly. A couple of minutes later, Yaan opened his eyes and exhaled in shock.
"What a crazy pill! It really is true that to use the form tempering pill safely, you need to be at the rank above the pill…even this Rank 2 pill could have injured me if I didn't focus on subduing the effect! And this effect…"
Yaan became serious as he studied his body's condition. It was just like he'd heard, this pill provided zero effect on his vital energy cultivation, only tempering his fleshly body itself. Even though it was merely a Rank 2 pill, the effect on his flesh was even better than any of the individual Rank 3 unique body tempering pills!
After standing up slowly, Yaan flexed his hands a few times before letting out a satisfied smile. He could feel the power in his flesh, it was an incredible feeling, especially after he improved so rapidly.
"Let's go." Yaan muttered to himself and continued on.
From the 401st step onwards, there was a very obvious increase in difficulty. Even with Yaan's enhanced physical body, he was forced to stop for breath at the 450th step. He stopped again at the 480th, then continued to pause on each consecutive step, until he finally reached the 500th step after a few hours.
"Hah…hah…hah…" Sweat drenched Yaan's forehead as he gasped for breath. It was difficult to just stand on this step, the pressure weighing down on his body was immense and threatened to blur his consciousness. He swallowed slightly and gritted his teeth, staring forwards and waiting for the next reward.
"Another pill?" Yaan muttered, taking the light green pill which was no larger than a pea. Unlike many body tempering pills, its weight was hardly noticeable.
Yaan furrowed his brows. This pill…he had no idea what it was.
"Do I consume it, or not?" Yaan was unsure whether or not to eat this pill. For a moment, he looked away from the pill, towards the steps ahead.
He had the distinct feeling that the stairway up to the 600th stair would be beyond difficult to climb. In fact, he had no certainty that he could succeed with this task and continue to ascend higher, as even just standing there on this 500th stair was gradually wearing him down.
"The other rewards were all helpful things to the current me. This pill definitely has the aura of a body tempering pill, and since it should be something that I can handle right now…"
In the end, he showed a resolute expression. Whilst there was some risk in taking an unknown pill, when was there ever reward without risk? The life of a demon was a life filled with risk, to shy away from danger was to be a failure of a demon!
Well, Yaan was only truly willing to consume this pill because he felt that the pill's aura was neither poisonous nor overbearing. It was a Rank 3 pill, so he was certain that he could tolerate, or at least survive its effect.
Gulp!
Once he decided on doing something, Yaan wouldn't hesitate and would follow through without thinking too much. This wasn't just because he had developed a sense of resolution, but also because he knew that overthinking things only led to uncertainty and nervousness, which would get in the way of his focus.
At first, he didn't feel any effect from the pill. It was only after a minute passed by that he began to feel a force expanding from the centre of his body. After the pill dissolved in his stomach, it formed a light green gas which gathered into a central location before slowly pressing outwards. This force felt very mild at first, and even after two minutes, Yaan frowned, thinking that this really was a bit of an anticlimax.
When the effect was still gradually building up after 5 minutes and the pressure became quite noticeable, Yaan's expression changed. After 10 minutes, he was breathing heavily. His face turned pale and his heartbeat sped up as he realised that this effect…didn't seem to be stopping its rise!
After 15 minutes, Yaan was somewhat panicking. His entire body was slowly swelling up, it felt like there was nothing he could do to combat the ever growing force pushing outwards from within his body. This force was now so strong that it threatened to tear apart his body in a pitiful explosion of flesh! Were it not for the inwards pressuring force exerted on him by the misty staircase, Yaan really might not have been able to handle the force at this point.
"Ah!" As the solution to this crisis naturally arose within his mind, Yaan's eyes widened and he gasped out loud. Without hesitating, he immediately stepped forwards onto the 501st stair.
The pressure instantly increased, weighing heavily on Yaan's body and driving him down into the ground beneath his feet. He felt such a massive weight pressuring every spec of flesh across his body that it felt like he was going to get crushed by his own body weight!
"Perfect!" Yaan happily exclaimed, then took another three steps in rapid succession. With every step, the pressure he was forced to endure increased dramatically. However, at the same time, this pressure that was trying to crush his body from the outside, was actually countering and almost balancing out the force within his body! The swelling within Yaan's body almost completely subsided by the time he reached the 510th step. He would have continued on further, but he was gasping for breath at this point and needed to rest.
"Phew…" After a few minutes passed by, Yaan realised that he didn't have the luxury to wait around. Unexpectedly, the force threatening to detonate his body from within was still building up! He was tired and wanted a break, but the adrenaline of having his life on the line kicked in, motivating Yaan to take the next step.
Each step became slower than the last. By the time he reached the 520th step, he was forced to stop to rest for a few minutes after each and every step. He ended up consuming multiple of his Rank 3 vital recovery pills just to keep his energy up and to boost his body's recovery rate temporarily.
Every ten steps, the exhaustion that racked his body became significantly worse. At least the pressure from the mysterious green pill seemed to have calmed down after a couple of hours, but Yaan was seriously wondering if he could travel up those final 50 stairs, towards the 600th step. No matter reaching the 1000th step, even the 600th was seeming like an impossibility…
No, he absolutely would succeed!
Yaan clenched his teeth tight enough to crush metal between his jaws, then took another step, continuing on with this herculean task.
Step by step, he rose up the misty staircase.
At some point in time, his mind became so blurred and dizzy that he lost track of his progress. The entire world was now shaking and his hindered vision distorted further into a blur of grey. Still, despite all of this, Yaan took another step.
"PEUGH!"
He choked and nearly fell, gasping for breath and forcefully stabilising himself. It would have been best to rest on this step for some time. Unfortunately, Yaan knew that he couldn't hold out any longer! The effect from the unknown pill was rapidly diminishing, meaning that he was now forced to endure the full brunt of the pressure from the misty staircase using his own abilities!
Step!
He took another step, ignoring the blood trickling down his chin. The stream of blood from his nose and mouth combined into one steady flow, dripping onto the step below.
Through the dizziness and burning pain sprouting throughout every inch of his body, Yaan somehow managed to take a step onto the 600th step! The moment he stepped onto the 600th step however…
BANG!
The pressuring force slammed into him, immediately throwing him backwards from the stair. Yaan wore a depressed smile as he caught a glance of the red vortex appearing in front of him. He reached out with his left hand, but he was unable to even reach it as he was thrusted backwards through the air.
In the end, he still failed, whilst he injured himself in the process.
As soon as he hit the first stair behind him, a red light wrapped around his injured body. Within seconds, Yaan vanished from the misty staircase.
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