Chapter 231: The First Step

After saying something so monumental, Yan Sun nodded and headed up the stairs as if it were nothing. He didn’t forget to greet everyone who was trying to climb, however, even encouraging them and giving them tips so they could climb faster.

From afar, I could tell that Yan Sun did actually genuinely care for everyone in their household, but when it comes to those not part of it, he becomes unnecessarily hostile towards them. I don’t know how he managed to survive for so long with that kind of mindset.

After donning on the robe and regulating my breathing, I decided to commence my journey towards the top of the rock formation which would get me to the main building of the Gulong Household Despite not knowing what awaited me up there, I still went through the trial, thinking that I’d find the answers once I get there… well, I guess it’s still pointless though since the Black Spirit Tournament would be tomorrow… and I don’t think I’ll be able to reach the main building of the Gulong Household at that point.

“Hui-ying, System, how many Shop Coins do I have at the moment?” I asked out of the blue.

“About three billion shop coins,” Hui-ying answered. “Why, Yongrui? Do you need additional skills before you climb up?”

“Mmm… I don’t know, but I think I’d be needing a lot of skills. I don’t think all of my skills are enough to take me to the top.”

<Notice: Yongrui, Hui-ying, you’re forgetting something>

<The System has detected three shop tickets from your inventory. These shop tickets could be used to get the most premium of skills or items in the System Shop>

“Oh yeah, I quite forgot about that! Oh well, I could use that later. I guess I could use it after I reached the maximum level of my System Shop. That way, I’d be able to access all the items or skills available in it.”

I didn’t press the matter any further and decided to just go through with the trial. a few black-robed cultivators, who were climbing up like me, eyed me with disappointment, shaking their heads before going about their business. They must’ve thought that I’m stupid enough to go through this pointless trial just like them suffice it to say, they weren’t far off the mark, I guess. I do think that this trial is pointless as well, especially because not all cultivators are equal. I’ve met countless cultivators who didn’t have a decent amount of Qi Energy in their body but their control over it is a monstrosity. I even know of a handful of people who were able to defeat cultivators which are five or six realms higher than them with ease! Simply put, a ‘Qi Energy Ladder’ test is not an accurate way of measuring someone’s strength. Why is this even a thing in the first place?

Never mind, let’s just get this over with.

Before I could even step foot on the first step of the stairs, a huge gust of wind swept me off my feet, sending me flying a good hundred or so meters away from the Gulong Household. And since I wasn’t expecting that sort of thing to happen, I wasn’t able to react on time. I didn’t manage to activate my Time Stretch nor any of my skills as well. Needless to say, I hit the ground with a thud, making me wheeze in shock.

“What was that?” I asked myself out of the blue. I could see the other black-robed members of the Gulong Household snickering as they looked over in my direction. Of course, I just had to embarrass myself in front of everyone in my first few minutes after meeting all of them.

It was a great blow to my pride. After all, I was looking down on everyone who climbed less than ten steps. I underestimated their cultivation level. Even though they were in the Astral Plane, I thought that maybe they were weaker than me and I was sure that I’d be able to do better than them. But as it turned out, I was just deceiving myself.

My change in thinking probably started back when I fought the guardian in the Void Tower. Since then, I heavily relied on my skills and I’ve gotten comfortable using them. That’s why when I decided to not use any, I was blown away like a feather in the breeze.

“Kid! Don’t push yourself too hard!”

“Yeah! It took us at least three months before we managed to get through that first step!”

“Take your time man! You don’t have to rush through it.”

“Don’t think too much about it. We were like you back then. Now we’re just trying to reach the next threshold and be done with it.”

The reason why they were snickering was probably that they were reminded of their own naivety in the past. I couldn’t blame them though. I brought it upon myself to be jeered at. Honestly, I should’ve used some of my skills first… but oh well, let bygones be bygones. Besides, these guys are good people. They weren’t lying when they tried to encourage me through their words.

“Yongrui, Yongrui,” Hui-ying called out, interrupting my line of thought.

“Yes? Did you find anything?”

“That’s correct!” Hui-ying sounded rather excited so I keenly listened to her input. She continued. “The staircase is actually surrounded by a strong barrier that negates almost 100% of someone’s cultivation level. It’s a barrier that allows one to rely on physical skills to climb up.”

“So… it’s a barrier that limits the cultivation of someone and forces a cultivator to rely on his or her physical level?” I was astounded. How could this even be a test of strength in cultivation? Why don’t they just hire a bodybuilder or something?

“Not quite, the barrier just covers the first step of the staircase. After that, you’d have to rely on both your physical strength and cultivation. If there’s an imbalance between the two, or maybe one is weaker than the other, then you’ll have great difficulty climbing up. It’s an ancient way of filtering through hundreds of candidates in one go. I remember going through a barrier same as this back when I was still a human. Back then, we also use these types of trials to test someone’s strength and power.”

“Thanks for the explanation, Hui-ying,” I said, clenching my fist. Once again, I approached the staircase, my determination renewed. I want to redeem myself in front of everyone who snickered at me. And in order to prove to them that I’m the real deal, I decided to brute force my way through the first step of the staircase. That way, I won’t be laughingstock or worse.

Without further ado, I stopped accessing my Qi Cores and reverted to my fragile human form. Without my Qi Energy Shield temporarily blocking the pressure of the potent Qi Energy in the atmosphere, I was instantly brought to my knees, but I held on. I know that I can do this!

“Yongrui, what are you doing?” Hui-ying asked, surprised. “You’re going to die at this rate.”

“Just watch,” I said. This was one of the rare times wherein I decided to challenge myself. There’s no way I’d back down now!

I took my first step.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep