Chapter 69 - The Misty Stairway
Everything in the 2nd trial was covered by a thick mist. It was difficult to see anything and left Yaan feeling disorientated.
Vrrmm…
Yaan was forcefully ripped from his daze, stumbling as he felt a powerful force storm 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 sighed and shook his head. This inheritance was far too mysterious, he couldn’t begin to guess what that force just now might have been.
Whoosh!
Yaan’s expression became serious and he silently stared up. Although he had seen it once already, the second appearance of the gigantic devilish spirit still made him feel solemn. His gaze fixated on the ominous red figure, which could somehow be seen through the thick mist.
“8,892 challengers remain in the 2nd trial. This trial must be taken individually, but it is also competitive in nature….”
Yaan, along with every other surviving entrant to this inheritance, listened in silence as the devil’s thunderous words boomed throughout the mist.
“For this trial, all challengers will have their cultivations sealed as they traverse the misty stairway. Ascend 100 stairs to pass the trial, and earn a reward for every consecutive 100 stairs ascended. There are a total of 1,000 stairs, you have three days…”
The devilish spirit said more this time, but its voice was still gruff and filled with a callous killing intent. 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 from above. The light descended from the hazy sky above so quickly that he was completely unable to react!
The light dug into his very blood, sealing away all of his Vital Energy and effectively removing his cultivation! An extreme feeling of weakness overcame him, causing Yaan to stumble once again. He nearly fell to his knees, but after gritting his teeth and exerting a large amount of effort, he barely managed to stay upright.
“Hah…hah…”
Yaan slowly turned his gaze forwards after catching his breath. He inhaled deeply after stabilising himself, but he didn’t immediately take the first step onto the staircase ahead, which was still the only thing that 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…my Vital Energy’s has been entirely sealed away! However, as I expected, my fleshly body itself is completely unaffected!’
Yaan’s eyes shot open and his gaze shone brilliantly.
Before he entered this inheritance, he made an effort to learn as much as possible about the contents of the trials within. Since there weren’t many body tempering 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 his deduction was correct!
If others were experiencing something similar to this, then they would be struggling far more than himself!
Even if there was someone else with a 3-Star Realm demonic body in this trial, which was quite unlikely, Yaan was still confident that they wouldn’t possess such a powerful physical body like himself after their Vital Energy had been 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!
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
After taking a deep breath, he took the first step forwards.
WAM!
Immediately, a heavy pressure slammed into his body, forcing the weight of his body to crush down towards the ground with an overwhelming force. Yaan paused for a moment, but in the end, he placed one foot 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 endlessly across the lands and the staircase, preventing anyone from seeing further than a few feet around them. It was difficult 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 caused his heart to beat wildly, because this trial….was too easy for him!
The fog around Yaan suddenly lit up with a blood red light as he reached the 100th step.
The pressure weighing down on his body increased with each and every step up until this point. Almost everyone would find it extremely arduous to reach the 100th step, and even if they did make it, it would take them hours to get there. Nobody would be as fast as Yaan, who simply walked up the stairway like it was nothing!
“Hah…hah…” Zue Yin panted heavily as she paused on the 10th step. The pressure on this step was strong that she was forced to rest for some time.
“Damnit, how could anyone climb up 100 steps with their cultivation sealed?! Thankfully, 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, Zue Yin contemplated whether or not to use the talismans now. In the end, she 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 in this place. His hindered vision, combined with the threat of death which loomed over his head in the event of failure, caused him to feel stifled.
Of course, as a Ghu Clansman, he was far from weak willed. He suppressed this stifling feeling, 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, the human body did not suit body tempering cultivation, but the female body was even less suited compared to the male body. This trial was unfair to the the female participants, who generally possessed weaker physical constitutions compared to the men.
With their cultivations, standing alongside men as their equals was not a problem, but after having their cultivations sealed, the female participants would definitely struggle more in this trial.
“Haa…” 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 was able to resist the pressure of this staircase with such ease, despite being a Qi refiner without any sort of body tempering cultivation base.
Yaan had no idea how the others were fairing in this trial. He could guess that they were struggling, because even if they possessed slightly stronger bodies than ordinary mortals, they certainly wouldn’t be like him, with a physical body rivalling the strength of some weaker demonic beasts.
Yaan continued on.
He reached the 200th step within a quarter of an hour. At this point, he stopped momentarily and caught his breath whilst cautiously watching the red vortex that had suddenly appeared right before his eyes. He raised his guard and narrowed his eyes as an object slowly emerged from the vortex, but after it was fully revealed, his gaze focussed.
“A bag…?”
Yaan was dubious as first, but his eyes quickly lit up. However, he wasn’t hasty, deciding to examine 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, but he was left feeling stunned when half of his arm disappeared within!
“A spatial bag that doesn’t require Innate 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 that he was currently wearing, were treasures that could be used by anyone, even mortals. They required no energy to activate and there was little skill to their usage.
“Could it be that the force which swept through me at the beginning of the 2nd trial actually searched my mind and found what it is that I need the most?!”
Yaan felt stunned as he reached this potential conclusion. 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, based on his understanding of the inheritance, it didn’t usually provide the challengers with specially tailored prizes…
“Perhaps it’s because I’m a body temperer?” Yaan’s eyes lit up as he thought of this.
Whilst he knew that this inheritance generally favoured body temperers over Qi refiners, there were simply too few body temperers to confirm the extent of this favouritism. However, he was now starting to realise that the inheritance had an extreme preference for body tempering challengers!
“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 inheritance behind, then why would they favour body tempering so heavily? The Fiend Transformation Technique permitted the dual cultivation of Innate Qi and the body, up to a certain point at least.
“It’s impossible for me to speculate, I don’t even know of any other demonic races which are capable of body tempering cultivation.”
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.
That said, Yaan had no intention of entering the 4th trial blindly, because 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 temperer, and given how this inheritance seemed to favour such cultivators, it should be possible for him to earn useful body cultivation resources!
Now that he understood just how heavily this 2nd trial favoured body temperers, he was filled with a newfound sense of resolve. Yaan was all too aware that this sort of opportunity was too rare to pass up on, he absolutely needed to do his best!
If Rui were to see all of this, she would feeling extremely suspicious about this ‘fortunate coincidence’. However, beyond this suspicion, she would also feel extremely shocked by this place.
Unfortunately, Rui was still in a deep sleep, she was heavily injured and showed no signs of waking up. Yaan was clueless about how to awaken her from her slumber - neither she nor the stone ring would react, no matter what he tried.
After placing all of the items on his person into his new spatial bag, Yaan continued on with the 2nd trial.