C31 - Stairs of the Dragon

"Now, before we leave," Yin Kai intoned, slapping his hands and rubbing them together, "What is the name of my woman?"

"Lao Bo." She shyly replied.

"Lao Bo," he said lovingly, "Let's get out of here."

Lao Bo threw a seed on the ground. It quickly grew through the ceiling and beyond. After a time, Lao Bo wrapped herself around Yin Kai. Feeling his heartbeat with her face and the monster against her knee, she tempted fate and freed a hand to touch the vine.

They flew at the speed of light onto a tree at the top of the island. Unfortunately, it was the only tree on the island.

Shots rang out as various secret arts and treasures slammed against the tree. However, once Lao Bo took out a flying carpet they quickly managed to escape their pursuers.

Shortly after this the sound of a bell tolled across the islands, shaking the very ground itself, nearly wrenching them from the sky.

Another tone rang as a light appeared above the center island.

Golden stairs descended from the heavens, curling around it.

A gray mist covered all of the islands and stopped the perception of the cultivators. It began to shrink, taking the cultivators and the islands along with it.

Yin Kai shook his head. Lao Bo had disappeared along with everyone else. He had been teleported.

Two silver dragons marked the sides of the golden stairs. As Yin Kai took the first step, he steadied his heart. This was most likely a test of willpower and endurance.

He began to take each step assuredly, and powerfully, matching his rhythym to the powerful suppression force beginning to ease into his bones.

Soon, he had reached the 100th, 200th, and 1000th steps. Soon he realized that with every 500 steps, the suppression force doubled.

Luckily for him, his powerful Golden Vajra bones kept him from being smushed into paste.

He continued climbing the stairs. He never stopped. Not when his toes began to freeze off on the 4500th set. Not when an angry bull blocked his way on the 6000th. Not even when he slipped on the banana peels of the 8,000th through 8,499th set of stairs.

Yin Kai continued to climb, no matter what the stairs held against him. He persevered.

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Elsewhere on the stairs, the contestants started to back out. The moment they fell down a stair, they were instantly teleported down the space. Several stood out among their competitors.

Ling Yin'er got past the 5000th step, but faltered facing the asura pressure on the 5500th step.

Lao Bo passed the trials with ease, but accidentally slipped backwards on a banana peel when she was unprepared. As such, she was teleported out of the inheritance space.

Cao Tian had managed to make it past the bulls and was still making his way forward. A layer of metal surrounded him and blocked the horns as they glanced off to the side.

Two of the competitors stood at the forefront. One crazy, and unyielding; the other, solemn and dutiful.

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After 10,000 steps forward, Yin Kai finally made it to the top of the stairs. With a click, he took the final step.

The mist disappeared. In front of him was a large red gate. The golden signpost upon the gate read the words, "Moon-Shattering Manor."

In front of the gate lay a large palace fit for a king. Large red pillars marked the outside, and a carefully manicured garden lined the pathways.

In the center, the house was open to the air.

After perusing the land, Yin Kai stepped into the open room marked by pillars at the center of the palace.

A large throne sat in the back, fit for a man 10 times Yin Kai's height. With a leap, he jumped onto it.

Crossing his legs, be began to cultivate the Ancestral Origin Transformation Art. A soul-rending pain appeared between his eyebrows, and just as suddenly disappeared.

He found himself huddled in a black space. He didn't feel trapped, but more like he was in a comfortable blanket.

This being said, he was truly in stasis; his body couldn't move an inch. No matter what he did, he was unable to budge his body.

He tried using his qi on his surroundings; unfortunately, he still couldn't do so.

After a moment, he tried pushing his spiritual qi through his finger into his spatial ring.

With a flicker of light, his spiritual energy reached in. If he could grin, he would.

In moving his qi over the scrolls inside his ring, he was able to find where the ink lay. With the use of such a technique, he began to process his gains.