At the very moment the ice barrier shattered, a roar of fury and unwillingness echoed from the endless stairway—it was Xie Hongchen.
He had exhausted his mind and body, and after all that effort had finally been on the verge of reaching the summit. The end was only a hundred zhang away, and victory had seemed within his grasp—only to feel a gentle breeze drift toward him. Under that breeze's influence, just like the Hu sisters a few days ago, he was swept away and carried downward.
"No!" Xie Hongchen screamed, reaching out both hands as if trying to grab that final step and hold himself in place. But in his vision, the top of the stairway only grew farther and farther away.
"No!" Xie Hongchen howled at the sky!
How many days of perseverance and struggle, and the goal had been right there—only to fail at the very last moment. This wasn't his fault. Someone had reached the end before him.
Only one person could receive the legacy. Because he had been marked as the loser, the gentle breeze had sent him down.
Who was it? One face after another flickered through Xie Hongchen's bloodshot eyes, and in the end he concluded that Su Yan was the most likely candidate.
Was it her? The resentment in his heart eased slightly, though it still burned fiercely.
When he came back to his senses, Xie Hongchen found himself in an unfamiliar place. He looked up at the sky—this was still within the Inheritance Grotto-heaven, but not a single soul was in sight. He stood there thinking for a long time before a cold smile crept across his lips. "Su Yan, if you really did obtain the legacy here, then I absolutely cannot let you off."
Sent down by the gentle breeze alongside Xie Hongchen were many other disciples from the three sects. Without exception, all of them were men—just as the female disciples of the three sects had experienced a few days prior.
But unlike those girls, the men were scattered across every corner of the Inheritance Grotto-heaven. Many brooded in gloom for a while before rising to their feet and setting off on the search.
Since they couldn't obtain the legacy, they might as well see what other benefits this place had to offer.
Above the clouds, the magnificent palace now stood before Yang Kai. Its towering gate, over ten zhang high, stood wide open as if welcoming Yang Kai's arrival.
He did not advance. Yang Kai stood rooted in place, closing his eyes to reflect on what he had gained and lost along the way.
If the first floor's endless stairway had tested a person's willpower and mental fortitude, then the second floor's hundred steps had tested one's mastery over Yang-attribute energy.
Only by completely controlling the red-line energy within those ninety-nine steps could one shatter the ice barrier of the final floor in a single effort.
After a long while, Yang Kai smiled faintly and stepped forward. At that moment, he distinctly felt the True Yang Energy within his body undergo some subtle change.
Passing through the open gate and into the palace, the Yang Source Seal on his chest suddenly erupted with an intense, almost violent reaction.
In the past, whenever the Yang Source Seal detected Yang-attribute energy, it would respond to varying degrees depending on the energy's strength—but never had it reacted this powerfully, so powerfully that Yang Kai's chest actually felt scorching hot.
His expression grew solemn as he followed the direction indicated by the Yang Source Seal.
Before long, Yang Kai spotted a massive energy sphere hovering in midair, roughly a dozen zhang above the ground. It was a swirling mass of red and white.
It was this sphere—over three chi in diameter—that had triggered the Yang Source Seal's reaction.
But what puzzled Yang Kai was that the sphere did not contain only blazing Yang-attribute energy. There was also an ice-cold Yin-attribute energy interwoven within it.
Two diametrically opposite energies mingled together, yet merged in perfect harmony without any conflict.
Within the sphere, hazy patterns flashed now and then. Looking more closely, Yang Kai's expression turned to shock.
They were the patterns of a dragon soaring through nine heavens and a phoenix crying across nine skies—the Dragon Seal and the Phoenix Seal. They appeared and vanished in a blink, exactly like the scene that had manifested when the Inheritance Grotto-heaven first appeared.
This was the legacy? Yang Kai narrowed his eyes.
Just as he was scrutinizing it carefully, a flicker of white caught the corner of his eye. An instant later, two gazes landed on him.
Yang Kai quickly looked toward the white figure and froze on the spot.
Four eyes met, and a look of disbelief surfaced on both their faces.
"Su Yan?" Yang Kai had never imagined that besides himself, someone else would be here—and that someone turned out to be Su Yan.
She was seated cross-legged beneath the energy sphere, her robes white as snow, her entire presence radiating an immaculate, crystalline purity.
"It's you?" A trace of surprise flickered through Su Yan's beautiful eyes, along with a hint of relief—as though a question that had long troubled her suddenly became clear the moment Yang Kai arrived.
He smiled faintly. Running into this senior sister here was unexpected and oddly comforting. He walked over, stopped before her, glanced up at the energy sphere in midair, then looked back at her. "How long have you been here?"
"About four or five days," Su Yan replied coolly. Her voice was still icy, but it no longer carried that remote, impenetrable coldness from before.
Four or five days! Yang Kai secretly clicked his tongue in admiration. As expected of Lingxiao Pavilion's prodigy—four or five days ago, he had only just parted ways with the Hu sisters, at which point he had been barely halfway up the endless stairway. Yet she had already made it here.
Her speed was far, far greater than his.