Staircase

In a huge cave where the ceiling was over a hundred meters in height, a large rainbow staircase that was used to determine potential planted itself into the ground, allowing everyone in the cave to have their chance.

The first person to arrive in the cave was a man dressed in red. Judging by his clothes, he was one of the few remaining disciples of the Flame Mantra Sect. He stood in front of the stairwell, with everyone having their eyes on his back.

Without feeling nervous, he lifted his foot and gently placed it on the first step. Soon, a second step was taken, and so was a third step. The three steps were quickly taken in succession, providing no difficulty for this man.

Soon, the man in red arrived at the tenth step, which posed no problems for him. As he arrived on the twentieth step, he started to feel a little bit of pressure. Every step after this point increased in pressure that crushed him.

The higher he climbed, the more he felt his will was being weakened, as well as his Spiritual Qi. No matter his cultivation base, it wouldn't help him overcome this trial. Only with strong enough talent, or a strong enough mind, would it allow him to progress further.

Once he reached the thirtieth step, his expression changed as beads of sweat dripped down his head. The man in red felt as though he was being crushed by a large mountain, weighing down on him and preventing him from progressing.

By the time he reached the thirty-seventh step, he found that he could no longer climb any further. Disappointed in himself, the man in red turned around and stepped down. Of course, he didn't know whether he did good or bad, but he had barely gone past one-third of the stairwell before giving up.

Joining the crowd, the next person took his place at the bottom of the staircase. This time, it was a man who was close to thirty years old. Placed amongst those inside the cave, he would rank amongst the top in terms of age.

The man took his first step and proceeded to reach the twentieth step in one breath. As he stepped onto the twenty-first step, he began to feel the pressure. His climb was more difficult than the person before him, which meant that his future wasn't bright.

His journey ended on the thirty-second step, forcing him to get down for the next person. After him, dozens of people climbed up, with a majority reaching between the thirtieth and fiftieth step, nobody had managed to climb higher.

By then, there weren't many people left that had yet to take their turn. Only Yan Lenglei's group, as well as some more powerful individuals, were left. Apart from them, there were nine more.

Each of the nine had extraordinary temperament as well as a high cultivation base. Not only that, it was easy to tell that they were all under twenty-five years old, by looking at their features.

Yan Lenglei's group was sitting calmly without paying too much attention to what was happening. Just as Yan Lenglei opened his eyes, the cave became a little noisy.

Obviously, someone had managed to climb pretty high up the stairwell, which caused the commotion. "Who is that? He actually managed to climb to the seventieth step, and is still going!" someone shouted.

Looking up at the stairwell, it was indeed as that person had said. A young man dressed in grey had climbed past the seventieth step and was heading up to the seventy-fifth step.

His results were much more extraordinary than those before him. Since every step was as hard as ascending the heavens itself, getting increasingly tougher, it was easy to imagine just how far apart the seventieth and the fiftieth step was.

Seventy-one, seventy-two, seventy-three. After successfully taking the next three steps, the young man pushed on and made it to the seventy-fourth step. Lifting his leg, the young man frowned as his body felt incredibly heavy. He had struggled to make it to his current step, and may possibly be injured if he tried to make this next step.

After a few minutes, blood dripped from the side of his mouth, forcing him to stop there. As he climbed down, those that had gone up before him had praised him. Soon, another person had their turn.

This time, it was a young woman who carried a whip on her belt. It was a powerful Spiritual Tool which she had claimed on this trip to the Flame Marquess' Grotto. The young woman was naturally beautiful, with a decent height. From her clothing, she came from a respectable sect, amongst the many that had entered the grotto.

Her climb was smooth, below the fiftieth step, she had no problems and climbed without any struggle. Once he made it to the seventieth step, she was clearly sweating as it impacted her greatly. Seventy-one, seventy-two…

Seventy-five. Making this step, she had surpassed the man who had gone up before her by a single step. Even though it was a single step, the difference was extremely large.

After all, every five steps, there would be a qualitative change upon reaching it. Leaving the stairwell, the eight people managed to climb between the seventy and eightieth steps.

Soon, only Yan Lenglei's group and two more had yet to climb. Of the two that had yet to climb, one was the young man dressed in gold that Yan Lenglei had noticed a few days ago. His maid was also next to him, not caring about the looks people were giving her.

This young man gave him a strange feeling. He thought that this young man who was at most two years older than him would be able to climb far. The young man in gold told his maid to stay, as he began to climb the long stairwell.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The young man in golden robes climbed at a fast speed, much faster than those who climbed before him. Once he reached the seventieth step, everyone was shocked. After all, those that had gone up before him knew the difficulty it was to reach that step.

Even the few who had gone before him and did exceptionally well struggled hard to reach that point. The young man in gold simply brushed past and reached the eightieth step in no time. Of course, his momentum from the beginning was no longer there, once he had made it to the seventieth step, even he began to feel pressured.

His long jet black hair was gently held by his long golden robe, making him look extraordinary. He had now broken the record made by the people in the cave during this moment.

On the eighty-first step, sweat began to drip down the side of his forehead. Each step he took now was slow and steady, but he managed to withstand the pressure in order to advance.

His advance was quite smooth, with a good pace, allowing him to climb with greater ease. On the eighty-fifth step, his hair was soaked in his sweat. Now, it was many times tougher to advance than before.

On the eighty-sixth step, he arrived with sheer willpower. Once he made it, he no longer had any more thoughts of trying to climb higher. He knew that it would be pointless if he did so, he had already done his best when he made this last step, he clearly knew his own limits.

As he turned around to climb back down, many of the people below looked at him as though they had seen a monster. After all, he had made it the furthest on the stairwell. His maid quickly wiped his sweat once he made it back down, sitting in his previous seat.

Now, only four remain. The next person to climb was a young man who had a golden sword on his back. The sword was extraordinary, clearly being one of the many great treasures left behind by the Flame Marquess.

If those that he had defeated saw him, they would know that he was the one who had suddenly appeared in the middle of an intense battle between two sides, taking advantage of this to pull the sword out of the ground.

Since he was here, it was obvious that he had defeated the many people who had put away their grievances temporarily and joined forces to take him out. Taking his first step, he climbed smoothly without rushing.

Even though it was slower than the young man in gold, his climb was more steady and also faster than others before him. Reaching the sixtieth step was no problem for him, it took a while because of the steady pace at which he was climbing.

Even on the seventieth step, he was still going at the same speed. Upon reaching the eightieth step, his speed was greatly diminished along with his steady climbing. Clearly, he was struggling now.

Still, he was steady and didn't give in as he arrived on the eighty-fifth step. Now, he could attempt the eighty-sixth step, which was the record held by the youth in gold. Taking a step forward, his eyes opened wide as he stepped forward with all of his might.

Tap!

After five minutes, this young man successfully made it to the eighty-sixth step. He even wanted to attempt to take the next step further, breaking the record. His right foot was lifted up, as he immediately felt pressure that was almost two times heavier than his last step, his veins bulged as his blood vessels could almost be seen through his skin.

Ten minutes later, his foot was extremely close to touching the eighty-seventh step. One foot was already planted firmly, while the other was just an inch away. If he successfully makes this step, he would break the record held by the youth in gold.

From below, many looked at the young man with great expectations. They were excited since they had seen two geniuses who had actually made it so far up the stairwell.

It was obvious that their futures would be bright, on the premise that they would be able to grow. Some of them already thought of plans to bootlick and hang onto their thighs once this was over.

Tap!

From the sound heard, the young man had successfully made it to the eighth-seventh step. He was sweating greatly, while his veins looked like they were about to explode. Clearly, he had been exhausted and could no longer go any higher.

With no choice left but to climb down, it took just over a minute for him to return to his previous spot. Now, only three people had yet to climb the stairwell. They were Yan Lenglei, Mo Jidong, and Long He Yu.

With those three left, everybody in the cave was waiting to see how far they would be able to climb. The crowd thought that they should be able to climb pretty high, just based on the temperaments of this small group who were clearly together.

Yan Lenglei stood up and walked to the front of the stairwell, followed by Mo Jidong and Long He Yu. As everyone was prepared for him to climb, Yan Lenglei took the first step with Mo Jidong and Long He Yu climbing along with him.

Unlike what people thought, they weren't going to climb one at a time, instead, all three of them would go up at the same time!