Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Auspicious Pills could help an advanced god become a King of God. Duan Ling Tian was naturally interested in this reward for the person who ranked first in the Heavenly Stairs Battle’s division for gods.
He had seriously weighed the pros and cons of participating in the Heavenly Stairs Battle. Although he was just an intermediate god, he was confident about winning the battle. However, it would draw a lot of attention for an intermediate god to rank first. Even among the advanced gods who were inner disciples, there were not many who had comprehended triple Fused Profundities. People would definitely wonder how an intermediate god like him managed to rank first. Nonetheless, in the end, he decided to take the risk for the reward. He thought he had made the right decision when he heard the reward was going to be an Auspicious Pill. Imagine his feelings now that he discovered the Zhong clan had not only given him piles of divine rocks and other valuable things, but they had also given him more than one Auspicious Pill.
‘Five Auspicious Pills!’ Duan Ling Tian could barely contain his excitement when he discovered five Auspicious Pills in the pill bottle. With these pills, he did not have to take the risk and rank first in the Heavenly Stairs Battle.
‘I didn’t expect the Zhong clan would give up five Auspicious Pills,’ Duan Ling Tian thought to himself. It seemed like the Zhong clan was sincere about compensating him. The other things aside, with just a glance, he could tell the Zhong clan had given him at least 1,000,000 taels of divine rocks.
‘A king-rank force like the Zhong clan likely possesses 2,000,000 taels of divine rocks at most. These divine rocks here should be half of their fortune. Apart from that, they could have just given me one or two Auspicious Pills, and I would be none the wiser. Why did they give me five? Are they afraid of incurring my wrath?’ Duan Ling Tian wondered curiously. He had never met Zhong Da before, but he was truly impressed by Zhong Da’s generosity.
“Young Master Duan,” Zhong Tian Nu said respectfully, “My godfather wants me to ask you if you’re satisfied with this compensation?”
“Yes.” Duan Ling Tian nodded. His eyes glinted as he thought to himself, ‘I was planning to annihilate the Zhong clan, but since your leader is so sincere, I’ll only kill those who tried to kill me.’
Although the instigator, Zhong Ke Qi, was dead, Duan Ling Tian did not have any intention of letting the others who were involved go. He would return to seek revenge once he had grown strong enough.
“Thank you, Young Master Duan,” Zhong Tian Nu said as he sighed in relief. Then, he moved to the side to make way for Duan Ling Tian. Following that, he sent a message back to Zhong Da.
Meanwhile, some of the inner disciples discussed among themselves as they watched Duan Ling Tian.
“Who’s that? Is he a newcomer? I’ve never seen him before.”
“Based on how respectful Zhong Tian Nu was to him, he must have an extraordinary background.”
At this time, someone said, “What? You don’t know him? Haven’t you heard about the newcomer who joined us recently? You know, the person whom Senior Brother Qi has been challenging over the past months?”
Qi Yu was one of the top strongest gods among the inner disciples. He was famous as well during his time at the Hidden Fog Academy.
Someone exclaimed, “So he’s Duan Ling Tian from Skywind City’s Hidden Fog Academy?”
“Duan Ling Tian? The person Vice Sect Leader Murong recommended joining the Hidden Fog Sect ahead of time? It’s said that his innate talent and strength are extraordinary. He’s not even 3,000 years old, but he has already an intermediate god and has comprehended triple Fused Profundities.”
“It’s not just that. The law he comprehended is the law of space, one of the Four Supreme Laws. If I’m not mistaken, no one in our sect who’s below the age of 4,000 has comprehended a triple Fused Profundity from any of the Four Supreme Laws.”
“Duan Ling Tian is truly a monstrous prodigy. I heard he’ll be taking the core disciples’ test as well. Initially, Vice Sect Leader Murong recommended that the sect make him a core disciple.”
“Not all inner disciples are qualified to take the core disciples’ test. I didn’t expect Vice Sect Leader Murong to recommend him. After all, there’s a limit to how many times the high-ranking officials can recommend someone to be an inner disciple or core disciple.”
Although Duan Ling Tian was a distance away, he could still clearly hear the conversations in his surroundings. He only just found out that inner disciples could only take the core disciples’ test if they had a recommendation.
Soon after, Duan Ling Tian came to a stop with the others.
A flight of brightly lit stairs hung in the air.
A person hovered in front of the stairs, receiving a token from an expressionless old man. Then, that person disappeared up the stairs.
Not long after, a spot of light lit up on the first step when the disciple entered it. Then, the the spot of light vanished from the first step and appeared on the second step. However, when he reached the spot of light reached the third step, the light dimmed. Soon after, he exited.
At this time, a young man standing near Duan Ling Tian shouted, “Hu Jun, you still can’t pass the third step of the stairs?”
After returning the token to the old man, Hu Jun approached the young man. His expression was dark as he tossed a few divine rocks over to the young man. Then, he said, “Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’ll have to return these divine rocks to me if you can’t climb up to the fourth step of the stairs.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely succeed!” the young man said with a smile. Then, he flew over to the old man. After receiving the token, he began to climb up the stairs. Light began to light up in his wake as he climbed the stairs.
‘Is the stairs part of a Formation?’ Duan Ling Tian wondered inwardly. Then, he extended a strand of his Divine Consciousness to probe the stairs only to discover his Divine Energy was blocked by another force.
At this time, while Duan Ling Tian was deep in his thoughts, a figure appeared next to him and called out, “Duan Ling Tian.”
Before Duan Ling Tian could respond, the people in the surroundings began to whisper among themselves.
“It’s Tang Wu Yan!”
Not only was Tang Wu Yan among the top three strongest female inner disciples, but she was also acknowledged as the most beautiful female disciple in the Hidden Fog Sect. She was even more famous than Qi Yu in the Hidden Fog Sect.
Duan Ling Tian nodded with a smile on his face at Tang Wu Yan.
When Tang Wu Yan saw the confused expression on Duan Ling Tian’s face as he watched the Heavenly Stairs Battle, she was reminded of herself when she first watched the battle. She naturally knew what was going on in his mind so she said, “Duan Ling Tian, the Inner Disciple Manual only briefly describes the history of the Heavenly Stairs Battle. I bet you don’t know much about the stairs, right?”
Duan Ling Tian nodded.
Tang Wu Yan continued to say, “The stairs might look like it’s from an Illusory Formation, but that’s only partially true. It only looked like stairs outside; it’s just an illusion. However, when you climb up the stairs, you’re led into many small independent realms in there. These small realms are guarded by inner disciples who committed crimes. Some of them have been imprisoned there for 100,000 years when the sect itself isn’t even 200,000 years old. In order to climb up the stairs, you’ll have to defeat those in that independent realm.”
Duan Ling Tian nodded as he listened to Tang Wu Yan’s explanation. In other words, the Heavenly Stairs were just a prison for those disciples of the Hidden Fog Sect who committed crimes. They were isolated in small realms and could not raise their cultivation bases in there. To him, death was better than being imprisoned in such a place.. The prisoners had nothing to do, and their interactions with the outside world were only with inner disciples who participated in the Heavenly Stairs Battle.
