The Sky Stairs had a total of ninety-nine steps.
This was a physical form of ‘nine and nine will return to one,’ which was also secretly the number of the grand dao.
The dao traces imprinted upon the stairs made it such that each step was filled with killing intent!
Dong!
Sharp, golden blades rained down from the sky, dazzling and blinding as they cut the land. However, it only took a few moments for everything to be smashed to pieces by a pair of fists, leaving behind a rain of light.
Lin Xun began to focus his senses, but ultimately sighed again.
So difficult!
Imago power felt impossible to comprehend and master.
“The thirty-ninth step forced me to use a five-layer fist force. It’s only going to become harder the higher I go…”
Lin Xun pondered for a while. He glanced up and saw a flash of white that resembled an eye-grabbing flying immortal.Gu Yunting was already on the eightieth step!
Lin Xun was taken aback. He withdrew his gaze and returned his attention to the path below his feet.
Time passed as he slowly climbed each step, overcoming illusory realm after realm and witnessing various types of imago powers.
There were fiery and destructive fire dao traces, wood traces that endlessly overflowed with life energy, peerlessly sharp metal imago power, etc…
Every type of imago power represented a particular type of dao aura that had originated from a different corner of the world. It was something that was too wonderful to be described in words.
The four seasons changed, living things wilted and thrived, the sun rose and the moon descended, night and day interchanged, and the tide rose and fell…there was a spiritual nature in all things which formed the foundation of the world. It was also the rhythm and nameless nature of the dao from which everything was derived and forever in constant flux.
In simple terms, it was the dao of the world!
Although it was an easy principle to understand, seeing and knowing were two completely different things. To learn and comprehend imago power was something different altogether.
Take now for example. Lin Xun was trying to comprehend imago power, but had made no headway despite trying everything he could think of.
Moreover, he was already on Sky Stairs Mountain which was filled with dao traces. If he were anywhere else, the dao would be even more ungraspable, making it far more difficult to sense and seek!
This was also one of the reasons why there were so few Heaven Ascension experts. The dao was just too endless and vast. Since the beginning of time, countless cultivators had found themselves unable to progress past this point and were ultimately forced to end their cultivation journey in regret.
As the saying went, there were countless bones and bodies buried under the path of cultivation! It was not an exaggeration at all. The boundaries between cultivation realms were often akin to an unsurpassable mountain that stopped numerous cultivators, rendering them incapable of climbing beyond.
If a cultivator failed to find a breakthrough at the end of their lifespan, they would naturally be unable to surpass death and sickness. Ultimately, they would return to the earth to be forever buried in the river of time.
Boom!
A raging sea rushed forth, transforming into spears, halberds, swords, blades, and other weapons as they charged through the air.
Lin Xun was like a bolt of lightning as he fiercely fought above the sea, his fists shining blindingly as they tore through the air.
Boom boom boom~
There were explosions everywhere as droplets of light splattered back into the water and were washed away by the waves.
The raging water imago power soon transformed into dragons, bird-like creatures, yakshas, sea elementals, and other terrifying creatures as its power grew increasingly horrifying.
He was on the sixty-third step, and the power from the dao traces had become increasingly frightening. The imago power they produced had also changed, gaining what seemed to be an untameable, spiritual nature.
Any other Spirit Sea cultivator would probably have been instantly destroyed!
That was indeed the case. For the past several thousand years, there had been no lack of heaven prides who had tried to climb the Sky Stairs, but only a handful could reach the sixty-third step.
It was because the dao traces’ power had become akin to the almighty force of nature and was no longer something a Spirit Sea cultivator would be capable of facing.
Even Lin Xun began to feel pressured at this juncture, so he did not dare to let his guard down. A faint azure glow swirled around him as if he were a Hornless Ice Dragon that could devour the clouds and overturn the seas!
Moments later, the illusory realm created by the water imago power turned into a rain of light.
That’s the sixty-third step. I had to use five-layer fist force and nearly half of my energy…
Lin Xun silently analyzed his current state.
If it was merely overcoming the illusory realm trial, Lin Xun would have long smashed it apart without wasting too much time and energy.
The crux was that he was also trying to sense imago power in the process, which naturally consumed far more time and energy.
If the other cultivators in Qinglu Academy were to know of this, they would definitely view Lin Xun as a freak. For people like them, merely climbing the Sky Stairs was already difficult beyond belief, and yet he was using it as a chance to sense imago power. It was honestly absurd, to say the least.
“Oh?”
While Lin Xun was focusing his senses, he suddenly caught a mysterious, indistinct aura.
It felt ungraspable as smoke, but was filled with the flavor of water!
He had done it!
Lin Xun’s heart shuddered in elation. When he tried to sense it more closely, however, the strand of mysterious indistinct aura disappeared.
It was nowhere to be found like a goose’s footprint left on the snow being brushed away.
However, Lin Xun did not feel frustrated. Instead, his black eyes shone brightly as his heart churned with excitement.
That split second earlier had felt like a sudden ray of light in the darkness, allowing Lin Xun to finally see a glimmer of hope!
In the past, countless examples had proved that it was a hopeless endeavor in the Spirit Sea stage.
However, the fleeting event that had just occurred undoubtedly proved to Lin Xun that it was not impossible to comprehend imago power at the Spirit Sea stage. The great wall that had separated the Heaven Ascension and Spirit Sea stages was not insurmountable after all!
“Water imago power…”
Lin Xun took a deep breath to regain his calm. Although he had witnessed various dao traces along the way, he had only succeeded in sensing the flavor of water imago power.
It was only an indistinct sliver, but it showed him a clear direction and path he could now follow.
Without hesitation, Lin Xun continued his climb.
This time, he did not waste any effort on the other dao traces and instead sped through them!
Only when he encountered a step with water traces would Lin Xun slow down and restrain his power in order to prolong the battle such that he could further comprehend water imago power.
For a time, Lin Xun seemed to sprint up the stairs, making his progress more than twice as fast as before.
On the ninety-first step, Gu Yunting was resting after breaking through a terrifying illusory realm. By this juncture, he was feeling rather hard-pressed and had no choice but to rest to recover his stamina.
“Oh?”
Gu Yunting suddenly seemed to sense something and glanced back to find that Lin Xun was already at the seventy-seventh step, which made him frown.
He recalled that Lin Xun should have been much further behind. It had been less than ten minutes since the last time he checked. How had Lin Xun shortened the distance between them so quickly?
Could he have been holding back all along and was only now going all out to catch up?
Gu Yunting withdrew his gaze. His handsome face remained composed.
He had indeed wanted to compete with Lin Xun previously because he had also noticed yesterday that Lin Xun had caused a grand phenomenon while attacking the Spirit Sea Gold Rankings.
It had left Gu Yunting slightly confused, hence why he wished to use this chance to probe Lin Xun’s abilities.
However, Gu Yunting was quickly disappointed. Lin Xun’s performance was far too ordinary and was nowhere near as amazing as Gu Yunting had imagined.
Originally, Gu Yunting had already forgotten about Lin Xun. Who could have expected that he would suddenly catch up so rapidly?
This made Gu Yunting wonder if Lin Xun was trying to use such a strategy in order to overtake him.
“All strategies are ultimately insignificant in the face of absolute strength. Even if he chooses to go all out at this juncture, his defeat is already written in stone.”
Gu Yunting soon put aside these thoughts and continued to climb the stairs.
In his heart, Lin Xun might be an incredible individual, but he was still unable to induce any competitive spirit from Gu Yunting.
In front of the hut, the slovenly old man exclaimed, “Eh, the little guy is starting to ramp up his engine.”
The principal replied, “I told you that he isn’t inferior to Gu Yunting.”
After all, he had personally witnessed Lin Xun’s performance on the Spirit Sea Overall Rankings yesterday. The youth had not left his name in the end, but his final result had been better than Gu Yunting’s!
“Doesn’t that mean the kid is amazing? He would be called a little monster even in the Ancient Wasteland Domain.”
The slovenly old man’s eyes flashed as if they were reflecting the sun as dao aura began to swirl within them.
The slovenly old man asked, “Senior Brother, since you do not plan on interfering, how about you leave him to me?”
“No!”
The principal decisively rejected that proposal.
The slovenly old man chuckled in disapproval.
After some time, the principal and slovenly old man seemed to sense something and abruptly raised their heads to look at the peak.
Gu Yunting was standing on the ninety-ninth step as blinding scarlet flames surged around him like a flaming halo. The flames enveloped his body as they pulsed with a mystical aura.
Rumble~
Black clouds had appeared in the sky as thunder boomed across the land. In the blink of an eye, a lightning bolt descended from the clouds like a giant python and swallowed Gu Yunting.
“He has succeeded. As expected of the famous Dao Fire Golden Body. That’s a heavenly tribulation that would rarely be seen even among ten thousand cultivators.”
The slovenly old man’s clear eyes shone brightly.
“That’s the foundation of a true heaven pride. The heavenly lightning tribulation will refine his dao body. It is an unparalleled opportunity that other cultivators will never possess.”
The principal could not help but sigh deeply.
Both of them knew that once Gu Yunting overcame the lightning tribulation, he would become a formidable Heaven Ascension expert!
However, the two of them had failed to notice that while Gu Yunting was undergoing the heavenly tribulation, on the eighty-eighth step, water-like ripples quietly rose around Lin Xun and poured into his body through his pores.
It was an unremarkable scene that was overlooked due to the huge disturbance Gu Yunting had caused. Space continued to shake around Lin Xun as ripples spread.