Previously, Li Chen had felt that it would be a challenge to obtain the top spot for the Trial of Blood. After all, Xie Bufan from the Devil Palace and Tan Juan of the Clear Snow Palace were comparable to him when it came to combat prowess.
However, after obtaining the Eight-Sided Desolate Beast Ring, he had managed to receive the assistance of the holy spiritual light contained in it. With the boost provided by the ring, he was sure that no one would be able to challenge him for the top spot.
One month passed by in the blink of an eye.
During the month that passed, Huang Xiaolong didn’t swallow Star Transferring Holy Pills when cultivating. Instead, he cultivated normally. Even so, his speed of improvement was shocking.
With his three complete saint godheads, the Holy Mandate Imprint, and the Inextinguishable Dao Heart, Huang Xiaolong’s speed of swallowing holy spiritual qi was comparable to a Fourth Heaven True Saint!
With his current cultivation level at the Fourth Tribulation half-True Saint Realm, there would be a serious problem if his cultivation speed was slow.
In the month that passed, Huang Xiaolong’s comprehension of the holy dao deepened with the assistance of the Inextinguishable Dao Heart.
It also went without a doubt that he managed to strengthen his Dao Heart by quite a bit.
The Dao Heart was like his holy souls. He could constantly strengthen it by absorbing the pure holy spiritual qi contained in the core of the Holy World. Comprehending the grand dao was also another way he could do so.
In the past, Huang Xiaolong had known that it would be impossible to enter the Fifth Tribulation half-True Saint Realm even with the assistance of his three Saint godheads, and his Holy Mandate Imprint. Everything had changed when he had successfully formed the Dao Heart.
Since there were several years before the Trial of Blood started, Huang Xiaolong felt that it was possible to enter the Fifth Tribulation half-True Saint Realm. Even though it was a pipe dream for anyone else, they didn’t have the advantages Huang Xiaolong did!
When he wasn’t cultivating, he would stroll around the streets of the Holy Heavens City with Di Huai, Feng Tianyu, Zhang Wenyue, Ji Cai, and the others. Occasionally, he would purchase several items that caught his eye.
Other than that, Huang Xiaolong asked Di Huai to pay attention to Li Chen’s actions.
However, Li Chen, Fu Yunjie, and the others seemed to have hidden themselves the moment he had returned.
They were blatantly inviting experts of the various factions over, but Li Chen stopped his celebrations the moment Huang Xiaolong returned. It seemed as though he had hidden himself in his palace to cultivate in peace.
Both Huang Xiaolong and Li Chen had cultivation caves in the Primal Ancestors’ space, but neither of them bothered staying there.
The holy spiritual qi was denser there, and it was the dream of many disciples to cultivate in the Primal Ancestors’ space. No matter how they pined for it, it was impossible for them to cultivate there. However, Li Chen and Huang Xiaolong were the complete opposite. Regardless of what happened, they remained in the city.
Another month passed and Huang Xiaolong brought the others out to stroll about the streets.
Since there were only a few years left until the Trial of Blood, it was impossible for Huang Xiaolong to leave the Heavenly Master Holy Grounds. He could only choose to shop around in the city.
“Elder Brother, why don’t we visit the Divine Tuo Continent?” Ji Cai suggested.
The Holy Heavens City wasn’t the only hub in the Heavenly Master Holy Grounds. There were tons of continents, and the Divine Tuo Continent was one of the largest ones.
The fame of the Divine Tuo Continent didn’t come from its size. Instead, it was because of the extremely mysterious Divine Tuo Mountain located on the continent!
There were 100,008 steps that led straight to the top of the mountain. However, there hadn’t been anyone who had managed to arrive at the top. Even Primal Ancestors weren’t able to ascend the steps.
According to the legends, one would be able to receive a heaven-sent opportunity the moment they ascended to the 100,008th step. Of course, no one knew what the opportunity would be.
“Alright! Let’s go to the Divine Tuo Continent!” Huang Xiaolong agreed immediately.
In fact, he had long since wanted to experience the Divine Tuo Mountain.
He had asked his masters about the Divine Tuo Mountain in the past, and the Heavenly Master had claimed to have discovered it. However, none of them knew how it had come into existence. The only thing they knew was that the mountain was extremely sturdy. Even Primal Ancestors would only be able to shatter a tiny rock off its surface with a single palm strike.
One had to know that a Primal Ancestor could crush an entire Holy Ground with a single palm. However, they would only be able to scratch the Divine Tuo Mountain at best. That alone proved the sturdiness of the mountain.
Little has to be said about the weight of the mountain. Even if the Heavenly Master pushed himself to the limit, he would only be able to shift it by half a foot.
Eventually, the Heavenly Master had decided to build the Heavenly Master Holy Grounds around the Divine Tuo Mountain.
Ever since the existence of the Heavenly Master Holy Grounds, all four Primal Ancestors hadn’t given up researching the structure. However, they had failed to find any clues on it.
The Heavenly Master made a conjecture once, and it was that the secret of the Divine Tuo Mountain would only be revealed when someone managed to walk from the bottom of the mountain to the peak.
Since none of them had managed to arrive at the peak, he couldn’t verify his guess.
Just as Huang Xiaolong and the others left for the Divine Tuo Continent, Fu Yunjie passed the news to Li Chen, and the others.
“What’s he doing now?” Li Chen was stunned for several seconds as he looked at Fu Yunjie with a doubtful expression. “Does he wish to attempt to climb the mountain?”
Xie Yao sneered in response, “He’s dreaming if he thinks that he can arrive at the peak of the Divine Tuo Mountain.”
Since people like the four Primal Ancestors were not able to arrive at the peak of the mountain, it was impossible for someone like Huang Xiaolong to accomplish the task. Xie Yao felt that Huang Xiaolong had overestimated himself by attempting to do what the Primal Ancestors couldn’t do. In fact, a trace of despise formed in his heart.
However, he completely ignored the fact that he had the same delusions when he had entered the Divine Tuo Continent in the past. He had even tried to ascend the mountain multiple times!
Li Chen merely smiled and spoke to Fu Yunjie, “Report back to me if he manages to climb a thousand steps. If he fails, there’s no need to disturb my cultivation.”
According to him, there was no way Huang Xiaolong could even break the one thousand step barrier.
After all, Li Chen himself had only managed to climb up to the five thousandth step. Huang Xiaolong’s strength was nowhere near him, and a thousand steps had to be his limit.
One had to rely on their comprehension of the grand dao, and understanding of the world in order to climb up the Divine Tuo Mountain.
Normally, one’s comprehension of the grand dao, and their understanding of the world was proportional to the time they spent cultivating. The higher their cultivation level, the higher they could climb.
With the dozens of years Huang Xiaolong has spent in the Holy Heavens, coupled with his Fourth Tribulation half-True Saint Realm cultivation base, he shouldn’t think of ascending more than several hundred steps.
Those were the thoughts that ran through Li Chen’s head.
Thinking that there was no longer a need to pay attention to Huang Xiaolong, he entered his secret room to continue cultivating.
A month later…
“What?! What did you just say?! Huang Xiaolong managed to climb a thousand steps?!” Li Chen left his secret room and stared at Fu Yunjie and the rest with a look of disbelief.
According to the report he had received from Fu Yunjie a moment ago, Huang Xiaolong had stepped onto the thousandth step.
“Yes….” Fu Yunjie nodded quickly. He had received the news several moments ago, and he couldn’t hide the shock he felt. He had only received news that Huang Xiaolong had started climbing the mountain the day before! In a single day, he had climbed a thousand steps!
