Sweat dripped down on Yun Feng's temple as he followed the children from behind.
Seeing that the children didn't have much trouble aside from being just a little out of breath, Yun Feng was a little ashamed to admit that he was having a bit of a hard time climbing the staircase which he originally thought was going to be easy.
It all started when he stepped foot into the hundredth step. He suddenly felt some pressure on his body. At first, the pressure was pretty much nothing to him. It wasn't able to hinder him in any way at all. At most, it was merely an annoyance for him. However, with every step he took, the pressure on his body got stronger and stronger. By the time they reached the thousandth step, he was finally starting to sweat.
After reaching the three thousandth step, the children were starting to sweat whereas, Yun Feng was trying his best not to pant. If he panted right then and there while the children didn't, he felt that he would've lost his face as an elder to the children in front of him. Just like Yun Ling, he cared greatly about his face so he wasn't going to show them his weak side. He didn't want them to lose respect for him.
Nearly an hour and a half later, they finally reached the five thousandth step of the staircase. They had reached the halfway point of the staircase. It was at this point that the children realized that the children heard Yun Feng starting to pant heavily.
Snow Fang and the children looked back to check on him and saw his entire robe being drenched with sweat. It was as if he had poured a bucket of water on him with how wet his robe was.
"Is Uncle Yun Feng okay?" Yun Xia asked worriedly.
The rest of the children gave him a worried look. Yun Feng looked extremely tired. They were only at the five thousandth step and there were still another five thousand steps waiting for them. It would be unlikely for Yun Feng to climb to the top with his current condition.
Yun Feng forced a smile on his face as he tried to reassure his nephew and the children.
"I'm okay... I'm just a bit tired. Let's continue," he said, urging them to continue climbing.
The children tried to convince him to rest first but after seeing that he wouldn't listen to them, they had no choice but to continue climbing.
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At the side, Snow Fang remained silent as he eyed Yun Feng. He already noticed that he was having a hard time even before the children did but he didn't say anything. He could understand why Yun Feng was having a hard time though because even he felt quite a lot of pressure on his body while climbing up. It was only because of his abnormally strong physique as a lesser beast and his high cultivation realm that he could continue climbing without showing any reaction to anyone.
"Haaah... haaah..."
Yun Feng panted heavily as he tightly clenched his fist. His heart was beating wildly while his head felt hot and heavy. He couldn't understand for the life of him why he was having a really hard time while the children in front of him weren't. Though the children looked tired, they weren't as tired as him which didn't really make sense. He was more experienced and had a higher cultivation realm than all of them combined after all. If anyone was going to get tired, it should be them and not him logically.
'Wait... is it because of our cultivation realm?' Yun Feng thought in mind.
Was the staircase trying to suppress everyone who climbed it? Then the higher the cultivation realm of the individual, the greater the pressure on them would be? If that was the case, then Snow Fang should've been the one under pressure the most.
Yun Feng looked at Snow Fang intently and shook that thought out of his mind. Among all of them, Snow Fang was the one that seemed the most relaxed. It was unlikely that he was facing a tremendous amount of pressure.
He narrowed his eyes as he tried to think of another reason why he seemed to be the only one being pressured while climbing the staircase. If he managed to find out the reason, then he could start on working how to deal with the pressure on him.
At the top of the staircase, Yun Ling smiled as he closed his eyes.
He judged that Yun Feng was probably the one having the hardest time climbing the stairs because of his nature.
The more impure thoughts an individual had on their mind, the stronger the pressure on them would be. Also, the higher the steps they had climbed, the pressure would also get stronger.
Among the nine trying to climb the staircase, Yun Ling was sure that Yun Feng was the one with the most impure thoughts in mind. As for the rest...
They might still be children but they already have a mind of their own. They could already differentiate between right and wrong. All seven of them were no longer as pure as an infant. Even Yun Xia. They have their own mischievousness and were already capable of developing impure thoughts.
For example, Shi Zhong.
Yun Ling might have not shown it but he could see that the one determined to be the first to climb to the top among his students was him just so he could impress him, even if he had to beat his other friends for it. That could be considered an impure thought for he wasn't climbing for himself. He was climbing for a shallow reason which was to impress him, his teacher.
He let out a sigh.
Nearly everyone in the world who was capable of thinking had impure thoughts. It was just that... some had more impure thoughts than the others.
When Yun Ling had first climbed the staircase, he was having even more of a hard time than Yun Feng. It actually took him almost half a day to climb to the top.