In his previous life, Jiang Chen had gained considerable knowledge of the Metamagnetic Gold Mountain. He knew some of its secrets.
As such, he held a tremendous advantage on this Metamagnetic Gold Mountain.
Though the metamagnetic storms were terrifying, their arrival was always preceded by faint metamagnetic fluctuations. With sufficient foresight and vigilance, one could generally avoid the eye of the storm.
As long as one stayed clear of the storm's center, there was no need to worry about being torn apart.
Of course, if one's strength was overwhelming enough to disregard metamagnetic storms entirely, that was another matter altogether.
At the metamagnetic storm level of the eighth layer, an Earth Spirit Realm powerhouse could break free even if caught in the tempest.
Given Jiang Chen's cultivation, even if trapped by the metamagnetic storms, he was confident he could break free.
Of course, even if he could escape, being caught in the storms would drain his dantian enormously, and Jiang Chen had no intention of playing such a risky game.
At this point, Jiang Chen had abandoned any pursuit of speed in favor of safety.
As a result, the time he spent traversing the eighth layer of the Metamagnetic Gold Mountain increased dramatically.
When Jiang Chen reached the peak zone of the eighth layer, he looked around and found that the number of martial artists within sight could be counted on one hand.
Jiang Chen knew that even for Spirit Realm martial artists, reaching the peak zone of the eighth layer without at least second or third level Spirit Realm cultivation would be an almost impossible feat.
Having reached the eighth layer — where the heights grew bitterly cold — Jiang Chen naturally showed no restraint. He searched the area thoroughly and, sure enough, found quite a few good things.
"As expected, the treasures on each layer are of different grades. As the layer number increases, so does the quality. The eighth layer's offerings aren't quite enough to make me covet them, but they'll do well enough."
Since they were usable at least, Jiang Chen naturally didn't hold back and swept through them with abandon.
After completing his sweep, Jiang Chen didn't linger. The examiners had made it clear that staying in any peak zone for more than one shichen would result in immediate disqualification.
Without hesitation, Jiang Chen stepped directly onto the ninth layer.
The moment he set foot on the ninth layer, the oncoming currents hit like tangible blades and spears, a whistling storm of flashing steel.
To make matters worse, the metamagnetic force clung to him like invisible vines, gripping his entire body and making every step a laborious struggle.
Even Jiang Chen dared not be careless at this point, drawing the Nameless Blade for the first time.
Only by channeling the blade's power to cleave through the surging currents could he ensure steady forward progress.
Whoosh!
The Nameless Blade carved a path, slicing through small metamagnetic storms one after another as Jiang Chen pressed upward. Fortunately, his deep knowledge of the Metamagnetic Gold Mountain served him well.
When executing his blade techniques, he did his best to fuse them with the metallic affinity within his Spirit Sea.
Even so, every step in the ninth layer was incredibly arduous — like swimming against a raging ocean current.
The attacks continuously erupting from the Metamagnetic Gold Mountain became utterly erratic by the ninth layer, with danger lurking everywhere and trials awaiting at every moment.
Earlier, Jiang Chen had thought the eighth layer consumed too much time. But compared to the ninth layer, the eighth was practically paradise.
Jiang Chen didn't bother looking back, merely sweeping his peripheral vision left and right, but he couldn't spot a single other martial artist pressing forward.
"Could it be that by the ninth layer, everyone else had already been eliminated?"
Jiang Chen was mildly surprised. He knew that among secular martial artists, truly exceptional geniuses were exceedingly rare.
However, the dojos the four great sects had established in secular kingdoms nurtured countless outer disciples, and among them there were bound to be some geniuses.
Take the Tiangui Kingdom, for example. It hosted four major dojos — the Qianlan Northern Palace, the Qianlan Southern Palace, the Duobao Dojo, and the Qingyang Valley. These four dojos nurtured vast numbers of outer disciples, many of whom had reached the Spirit Realm.
These outer disciples were all required to participate in the preliminary selection as well.
The secular martial artists Jiang Chen had encountered on the seventh and eighth layers were mostly outer disciples from the four great sects.
Of course, Jiang Chen suspected that he probably wasn't the only one to have reached the ninth layer.
"Well, it doesn't matter whether anyone else made it or not. My goal is to climb to the very top and experience what it feels like to stand at the summit, where all other mountains appear small."
Jiang Chen cleared his mind and continued forward, one step at a time, one stair at a time.
Each layer had ten thousand steps. On the previous layers, those ten thousand steps had been effortless for Jiang Chen.
But on the ninth layer, each step was an ordeal of a thousand difficulties.
After an entire day of enduring countless metamagnetic storm trials, Jiang Chen finally set foot in the peak zone of the ninth layer.
"Hah!"
There were no metamagnetic storms in the peak zone.
The area was calm and peaceful, finally offering a chance to catch his breath. However, Jiang Chen knew that the absence of metamagnetic storms did not mean the metamagnetic force had vanished.
After all, this was still the Metamagnetic Gold Mountain, and the binding power of its metamagnetic force was omnipresent.