In the crowd, Lan Chudie was completely purple, shivering from the cold, yet her beautiful eyes shone with an unyielding will. That gaze was somewhat similar to Yang Kai's at times, only hers held an extra touch of chill and lacked much of his fierce edge.
"Did I... fail?" A bitter taste filled Lan Chudie's heart. With her cultivation at the eighth level of the Qi Movement Realm, she had climbed over three thousand steps. This achievement was unheard of among the disciples of the three sects.
She had relied solely on her unyielding heart and her obsession with becoming stronger.
But now, she had been sent down by an irresistible force. How could she accept this?
Why did it have to be this way? Given enough time, I would have reached the summit. Why cast me out? Lan Chudie clenched her fists, her slender nails digging into her palms.
Only pain could calm her emotions a little.
"Sister, are you alright?" Hu Jiao'er noticed Lan Chudie's state and asked with concern.
Lan Chudie slowly shook her head, and from beneath her lowered lashes, a tear of frustration slid down.
Yang Kai had been pressing onward this whole time, his eyes fixed only on the summit hidden in the clouds. He hadn't noticed what was happening with the Hu sisters behind him.
No need to worry about others anymore, Yang Kai's pace suddenly quickened.
This section was bombarded with cold-attribute energy. He stepped forward swiftly, almost without pause. The cold energy invaded his body, refined by the True Yang Technique through a full cycle, and then absorbed by his Proud Bone Golden Body.
After passing the five hundredth step, the energy changed, and Yang Kai moved even faster.
The cold energy needed to be tempered, but the yang energy was simply absorbed, a much simpler process.
Step by step, layer by layer, he climbed closer and closer to the cloud-shrouded peak.
But with each step, the internal pressure grew stronger. Every step he climbed increased the energy flooding his body by a significant margin.
If it weren't for Yang Kai cultivating the correct technique, and if his dantian hadn't stored so much Yang Liquid, he wouldn't be able to remain so calm.
As he went higher, Yang Kai felt something was slightly off.
The trial was indeed getting harder, but not to the point of making one stop. If this was truly an inheritance trial, it shouldn't be this straightforward.
After thinking, Yang Kai made a decision. He unsealed the Earth Demon, whom he had locked within his body. Earlier, the Earth Demon had been incessantly chattering, trying to tempt Yang Kai into using the Hu sisters' virgin bodies to cultivate evil techniques. Yang Kai, furious, had sealed his consciousness away until now.
Predictably, the Earth Demon dared not mention the matter again. Yang Kai voiced his suspicions, but even the demon couldn't explain it.
To prevent further chatter from disturbing his state of mind, Yang Kai resealed him right after asking.
No matter what other trials lay ahead, he would face them when the time came. Overthinking now wouldn't help.
Understanding this, Yang Kai's heart instantly relaxed, and his body felt lighter, too. It was as if his shift in mindset had made the trial here simpler.
Day after day of climbing, and after resting three times, Yang Kai finally reached the position of the absolute summit.
Mist swirled all around, making it feel like he was in a celestial realm. Looking back, the path of steps he had just ascended stretched out before him, ethereal and dreamlike, giving Yang Kai a sudden sense of unreality.
Before him remained the final ten steps. Once he climbed these, he would reach the summit.
He lifted his foot and stepped up.
Nine steps, eight steps, seven steps...
Memories of the journey flashed through his mind: the joy of the first few days, the determination of the later ones.
Six steps, five steps, four steps...
His memories traced further back, and Yang Kai thought of how he had changed after obtaining the wordless Black Book.
Three steps, two steps...
A scene from three years ago surfaced, stirring the calm of his heart.
Yang Kai's raised foot hovered in the air above the final step, frozen there.
Just one more step to reach the clouds.
But Yang Kai didn't dare bring it down.
He couldn't say why, but he felt with certainty that if he maintained his current state of mind, that one step would either kill or gravely injure him.
It was pure instinct.
He took a deep breath, silently circulating the True Yang Technique, and held his position, motionless. He felt the breeze brushing his face, felt the turmoil in his heart slowly subside, and the fragments of memory within him settle once more.
He didn't know how long it passed before Yang Kai opened his eyes again. In them, there was no longer a trace of hesitation or fear, only resolute determination.
He stepped down.
The heavens and earth hummed. An invisible pressure instantly descended upon Yang Kai, a kind of majesty, like a king surveying his domain.
Yang Kai's body sagged, his knees buckling as he nearly collapsed to the ground. But when his knees were just half a foot from the surface, he stopped himself.
Sweat instantly soaked his clothes. Every muscle in his body contorted and twisted in a grotesque manner, trembling and writhing. This pressure was comparable to the heavenly pressure he felt while cultivating the Tempering Body Chapter.
However, it lacked a certain essence. Comparing them, the sensation during his Tempering Body Chapter cultivation was actually stronger. That had been a rebellion against the shackles of heaven and earth, whereas this was merely the pressure of a superior being.
In his mind's eye, Yang Kai sensed a giant eye in the sky slowly opening, gazing down upon him.
His bent body gradually straightened. Veins bulged on his forehead, his face flushed crimson. As he resisted, the pressure he sensed only grew fiercer.