Battle pet aptitudes could be measured with testing pillars. After several tests, everybody confirmed that the stairs were indeed judging their aptitudes!
The more talented a person was, the fewer and weaker the Heavenly Tribulations they would endure. If they were untalented, they would be struck the moment they set foot on the stairs!
“Even the deities from the primeval times would be considered worldly in modern times.”
“That’s just the reality!”
“I think I’ve been scorned by the stairs.”
“Be more confident and drop the ‘I think’!”
“So to speak… They have the highest aptitude? In fact, all of them have become Star Lords before the thousand years of age. They’re equal to us now, truly talented!”
“Indeed. This one in particular is only 89 years old… Tsk, tsk. Even my great great granddaughter is older than her.”
Although the reason for the discriminating lightning strikes was discovered, nobody felt happy about it.
—-
Did those who were untalented had to be treated unfairly?
Why wasn’t strength the criterion, so that those who were weak would be eliminated? They would have a chance to fight!
Some people weren’t happy, but they couldn’t say anything. After all, it was a fact that they weren’t as talented!
“Damn it, I know the reason now, but how can I pass this place? There’s no time for me to improve my aptitude!”
“Is this the only way in? How did the three Ascendant experts go in? We might be able to take a shortcut if we figure out how they did it.”
“Don’t even think about that. Their methods are beyond our imagination. They could have torn their way into deeper spaces to enter. We can’t go into the spaces they can.”
“What do we do now?”
Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment. The stairs were so realistic that they could only sulk, even if they had known the reason already.
At this moment, a voice from one of the alliance members was heard. “Is aptitude the deciding factor?”
Two Star Lords looked at each other. Then, the purple-robed young man—who had previously crushed many Star State opponents—walked out of their small world.
He had been frustrated ever since he was defeated by Su Ping, thus losing the Tree of Laws. He was devastated.
However, he currently felt he had an opportunity.
Aptitudes were what mattered?
He admired very few people in that aspect, except the champions of the Universe Geniuses’ Contests, and the distinguished Ascendant State experts.
Some of the Ascendants had been born to be geniuses with top divine constitutions. They grew up rapidly and defeated every opponent in their way as legend went.
He admired those people.
However, the others were just mortals, not worth mentioning in his eyes!
“Mr. Xing, are you going there?”
One of the Star Lords was quite surprised to see him.
The other Star Lord quickly persuaded him, “Mr. Xing, the Heavenly Tribulations on the stairs should not be underestimated. You are indeed strong, but this is still an unnecessary risk!”
“Let me have a try. You can pick me up if anything goes wrong,” said the purple-robed young man.
He wasn’t blindly confident of his capabilities. After all, that ancient divine residence had a lot of weird things. The bodies in the void, for example, were extremely strange and wicked.
The two Star Lords looked at each other; they had no choice but to accept the arrangement.
The remaining Star Lords also noticed the purple-robed young man. He was only in the Fate State, but none of them dared to underestimate him.
They were treating a Fate State warrior with the utmost solemnity. If he were another person, they would have felt proud of this for the rest of their lives.
“This kid might be able to achieve something.”
“If aptitude is the only criterion, maybe he can climb forty steps, or even further.”
“Indeed. He’s even more talented than us. I’m sure there’s an Ascendant expert behind him!”
“Of course. No matter how talented you are, you cannot accomplish anything if you don’t have enough resources. You’d still starve if you don’t have food, even if you have an awesome constitution!”
The others looked at the purple-robed young man curiously, wondering how far he could go.
The leader girl slightly raised her eyebrows at him.
At that moment, the young lord reached the front of the stairs. Suddenly, he turned around and looked at the leader girl. Then, he gazed at the small world floating around her, or more exactly, at Su Ping who was inside it.
“Humph!”
The young man sneered, deciding not to say anything. He placed a foot on the first step.
Su Ping raised his eyebrows. Why did you have to smile at me before climbing the stairs? Do you suffer from epilepsy?
Su Ping was observing. It was better to let the man be the lab rat. He intended to find out whether the lightning he would invoke was in the Star Lord State or the Fate State.
If the lightning strikes on the stairs depended on each individual, maybe he could have a try too.
After all, such a requirement was too harsh for most people, but it was also an opportunity for others!
An opportunity must never be missed!
The purple-robed young man had already set foot on the stairs at that moment.
The first step!
Everybody narrowed their eyes.
However, nothing happened on the stairs. Not a single lightning bolt fell.
The two Star Lords—who were the purple-robed young man’s chaperons—were secretly relieved, but they still observed anxiously.
Their young lord raised his eyebrows and continued his walk forward.
He wasn’t met with lightning on the second, nor the third step.
All the way forward, no lightning strikes on the seventh, eighth… and the 25th step!
Such a smooth journey had never happened before!
Even a genius such as the leader girl had experienced her first lightning strike on the 23rd step!
“Humph!”
The leader girl was quite angry after seeing that.
Noticing the change, the deputy quickly consoled her, “No need to be angry, miss. You were as talented as him when you were in the Fate State. Aptitudes are tested based on your level. He will probably not be as talented as you are if he becomes a Star Lord like yourself; he’ll probably won’t be as talented a Star Lord as you are.”
“Humph!” The leader girl snorted, but finally looked better.
It was then that the first lightning fell over the purple-robed young man.
The lightning bolt grew above the stairs. There were no clouds, as if it would have been brewing in the void. It hit him the moment it appeared.
The young man had seen it coming. He raised his eyebrows and punched, shattering the lightning bolt—which was much less powerful than the first one received by a Star Lord.
“It seems that the lightning’s intensity depends on your cultivation.”
Someone exclaimed in shock and jealousy, “Oh my god. If that’s the case, he’ll go and go through the complete flight of stairs, won’t he?”
If the divine residence’s legacies were right on the other side… That guy would claim them all!
The other Star Lords also showed awful expressions. They felt the world was unfair. How could they compare to a man who was more talented than them, and who was about to have more treasures than they did?
On the stairs—
The purple-robed young man was finally relaxed after enduring the first lightning strike. He flashed an excited smile.
As expected, the stairs had been tailor-made for him.
Aptitude was the only criterion?
Mr. Deity, I do love you!
The purple-robed young man was agile as he moved forward.
Lightning constantly fell, and the purple-robed young man crushed them easily. They didn’t become as powerful as those in the Star State, not until after the 35th step.
However, that wasn’t a problem for the purple-robed young man, at all.
Being able to execute men in the Star State, he could easily make lightning strikes of his own.
He sprinted forward and soon crossed forty steps, breaking the current record so far.
Then, he dashed forward again and went to the 50th step!
He had already covered half of the stairs!
His fast progress made the Star Lords hold their breath anxiously.
They were even more uneasy to see that someone else was about to get the treasures!
Boom!
A chain appeared in the purple-robed young man’s hand and shattered a lightning bolt that contained powerful laws. Then, he continued moving forward.
He had to begin taking the lightning strikes seriously from that point onwards.
After the previous rest—and since he had taken more divine fruits—he had almost recovered.
Very soon, the purple-robed young man reached the 60th step. The lightning strikes became so powerful that he had to merge with his pet.
Then, he reached the 70th step—and the lightning was powerful enough to threaten those at the peak of the Star State.
Without a word, he activated his golden runes to block the incoming lightning. Then he kept on going.
Right when the purple-robed young man continued his ascent, Su Ping suddenly appeared next to the first step.
After seeing how the purple-robed young man was faring, Su Ping was also confident that he could also pass the stairs test!
He talked to the leader girl and asked her to release him from her small world.
The leader girl had already witnessed Su Ping’s extraordinary performance. Su Ping suppressed the purple-robed young man with a Star State cultivation; he was definitely a genius with his methods and power.
Given his aptitude, he might be able to reach the end of the stairs!
the leader girl waved her fist and cheered, “Keep it up! Suppress him for me!”
The others finally noticed that Su Ping was also on the stairs. All of them were shocked.
Without further ado, Su Ping simply moved forward.
Whoosh!
Like a wind, he quickly crossed almost thirty steps!
Behind him, the Star Lords’ eyeballs had almost popped out.
It was almost as if he were racing. What happened with the tribulation lightning? Were they asleep?
Whoosh!
Su Ping rushed forward and soon climbed to the 40th step.
No lightning attacks so far!
Some even suspected that Su Ping had walked too fast for the lightning strikes to react…
But that couldn’t be the case. How could the Heavenly Tribulations be that simple?
On the stairs—Su Ping moved swiftly and confidently. He was quite surprised, since he hadn’t been hit by lightning yet. It seemed that he was more talented than he thought.
Unfortunately, the system could only rate the pets, otherwise he would have found out what aptitudes he had.
If his aptitude was to be judged, he had to compare himself with other humans.
It was a shame that he couldn’t appraise himself.
In the blink of an eye—Su Ping had reached the middle of the stairs!
By then, the purple-robed young man had already reached the 80th step. He heard the exclamations behind him and turned his head. Immediately, he saw Su Ping.
He felt slightly gloomy after seeing Su Ping there, but not too shocked. After all, the man had demonstrated enough strength in the previous battle.
Considering the man’s aptitude, he might even be able to reach the seventy-step mark.
“Humph!”
The purple-robed young man snorted and resisted the lightning strikes with the golden runes, which would save him time.
Once the young lord suddenly decided to accelerate, Su Ping raised his eyebrows and instantly shot himself forward.
Sixty, seventh, eighty!
In the blink of an eye, Su Ping had caught up with the purple-robed young man!
The Star Lords waiting near the stairs were astounded; his eyes were as wide as they could go, and their jaws almost hit the ground.
Are the Heavenly Tribulations broken? Su Ping didn’t trigger any of them during the first eighty steps?
There wasn’t even one lightning attack?
Whoosh!
The purple-robed young man felt a wind and then saw Su Ping easily surpassing him. His cold and determined face instantly lost its cool.
“Hurry up!” Su Ping turned around and chuckled.
Then, he dashed quickly and reached the 90th step.
The divine residence was right in front of him. Su Ping thought of the legacies too, so he didn’t waste any time. Soon after, he finished the hundred steps.
Once he set foot on the 100th step, a lightning bolt was gathered in the void, but it later dispersed, right after it took shape.
That was because Su Ping had already jumped off after the last step.
“!”
The purple-robed young man, who was on the 85th step, was stunned.
The lightning bolts were still striking him, and multiple golden runes were blocking them.
The dispersing lightning illuminated his head, but his heart was colder than ever.
He had walked for such a long time, but still, Su Ping had surpassed him that easily?
Damn it, you’re only in the Star State. You can’t even deal with a few Star Lords. Why are you more talented than me? Why?
The purple-robed young man then lost his cool.
He felt that he would be able to fight against Star Lords once he reached the Star State. Even if he was unable to win, he wouldn’t be easy to deal with, either.
Still, Su Ping, a man who hid in the small world of a Star Lord, had a better aptitude than him?
A Star Lord set foot on the steps suspiciously.”Did the Heavenly Tribulations lose effect?”
But then lightning fell after only a few steps. He crushed it and then retreated, at a loss for words.
The Heavenly Tribulations didn’t lose effect. That was awfully weird. Was Su Ping carrying any ultimate treasures that could prevent lightning strikes? They had never heard of such treasures!
Was he simply too talented? He only encountered the gathering, and dispersion, of lightning when he took the last step. As a result, nobody saw how powerful the lightning strike was.
“If he counted on nothing but his aptitude… he had surely hidden his strength in the previous battle!”
“Did he? So to speak, he could have easily defeated that kid but chose to play with him?”
“I don’t know what it means to simply walk to the end of the stairs, but he should be able to challenge opponents beyond his level! He has to be as strong as us!”
“Damn it, this is a ruthless man who likes pretending to be weak!”
The Star Lords looked at each other in bewilderment.
The man was only in the Star State, but was as strong as a Star Lord?
If the stairs hadn’t indirectly shown his aptitude, nobody could have figured out that he had never tried his best in the earlier battle!
“That guy…”
The leader girl was quite stunned, too.
Although she was quite proud, she knew she couldn’t cross the ancient stairs as easily as Su Ping did. The man’s aptitudes were unbelievable.
“Seriously? Brother Heaven Destroyer didn’t trigger any lightning?”
“He triggered one, but he left before it took shape.”
“Brother Heaven Destroyer is unbelievable. No wonder he chose such a name. He’s truly a Heaven Destroyer!”
“Tsk, tsk. Our leader is probably the only person who’s more talented than Brother Heaven Destroyer. He’s so awesome!”
All the members of the Alliance of Stars were whispering, overwhelmed with shock.
