"I... I'll be your dog. Please, give a Demon Bone Spirit Plate."
With an extrely pale face, Qin Mutian looked at Tian Tao with desperation and pleading in his eyes.
At that mont, everyone was stunned speechless.
Tian Tao looked at Qin Mutian with a complicated expression. After a long while, he suddenly sighed, "Fine. Out of respect for the kindness the King has shown us, I'll give you this Demon Bone Spirit Plate."
Tian Tao tossed the Demon Bone Spirit Plate to Qin Mutian.
Qin Mutian weakly raised his hand, grabbing the Demon Bone Spirit Plate that had fallen onto his chest. His expression clearly showed his relief.
Only by obtaining a Demon Bone Spirit Plate could he enter the Championship Platform and escape Young Master Celestial Beast's slaughter.
For Qin Mutian, whether he entered the Championship Platform or not was no longer important. All he wanted now was to survive.
Secretly stealing glances at Hong Yu, a venomous and cold hatred surged in the depths of Qin Mutian's eyes. He thought to himself, 'Revenge is a dish best served cold. Hong Yu, you did this to . I will never forget this debt. Just you wait. Once we're back in the Qin Kingdom, I'll make you pay it all back, with interest.'
"Hm?"
Hong Yu frowned.
With his current strength, his spiritual perception had beco extrely sharp, especially his ability to sense malice, which was crystal clear.
Under Hong Yu's calm gaze, Qin Mutian trembled and felt a layer of fine sweat break out on his skin.
He swallowed hard, lowered his head, and said nothing.
'This guy is probably still unwilling to let it go and wants revenge. Looks like I'll have to find a chance to get rid of him for good,' Hong Yu thought, slowly retracting his gaze.
After that, Tian Tao distributed the remaining Demon Bone Spirit Plates.
Since even Qin Mutian was willing to act like a dog just to survive, the other experts from the Royal Family naturally didn't put on any airs. However, there were only a few Demon Bone Spirit Plates, and several of the experts who had previously antagonized Hong Yu failed to get one.
They all wore expressions of dejection and regret. 'Why did we have to target Hong Yu just to suck up to Qin Mutian?'
The situation with the Guiyuan Sect was much the sa.
When the distribution was complete, over thirty people in total ca to stand before Young Master Celestial Beast.
Young Master Celestial Beast stared at the group and nodded faintly. "You few have Demon Bone Spirit Plates, so you may ascend the Championship Platform. As for the rest of you... Hmph. You can accompany in death..."
With a single word, the world shook.
The twenty-odd people who were left felt the space around them crushing in on them like a pair of invisible, giant hands.
They could only watch as their bones and bodies were gradually squeezed, twisted, and deford, finally exploding with a BOOM into a fine mist of blood.
This made Hong Yu frown slightly, but he showed no pity.
If he had been one of those without a Demon Bone Spirit Plate, Qin Mutian, Zheng Tian, and the others certainly wouldn't have spoken up for him or expressed any regret.
This was the law of survival in a world where the strong were revered!
The victor thrives, the loser dies!
It was cruel and realistic, but also very practical!
After annihilating the twenty-odd people, Young Master Celestial Beast finally looked at Hong Yu and the others. He grinned, a particularly sinister expression on his massive face. "Congratulations on earning the opportunity to climb the Championship Platform. My remains are at the very top. Only the champion can enter and claim my bones."
After a pause, Young Master Celestial Beast continued his explanation, "This Championship Platform is a bit different from the ones you've encountered before. This ti, it's divided into two stages."
As Young Master Celestial Beast explained, Hong Yu and the others gained a relatively detailed understanding of the rules for this Championship Platform.
First...
Unlike previous versions where contestants fought directly on an arena, this Championship Platform had risen completely from underground. In the past, only the First Layer was ever exposed above ground.
Naturally, the qualifying events were also different!
For example, the first trial of the Championship Platform was now the "Heaven-Ascending Ladder"!
The Celestial Ladder has nine hundred and ninety-nine steps. Each step exerts gravitational pressure and a Spiritual Power assault corresponding to the challenger's strength.
In other words, the trial for a Celestial Soul Realm expert would be set at a difficulty based on the Celestial Soul Realm. For an Earth Soul Realm expert climbing the Celestial Ladder, their trial's intensity would be based on the Earth Soul Realm.
"Only after you finish climbing the Celestial Ladder can you enter the second stage—the Championship Arena!"
Young Master Celestial Beast said flatly, "After the tempering of the Celestial Ladder, most of you will be eliminated, leaving only the true elites. All experts who pass the Celestial Ladder can compete in the Championship Arena. Finally, I will rank you based on your performance and decide who receives a portion of my inheritance!"
"The Celestial Ladder? Senior, where is this Celestial Ladder?"
Soone asked curiously.
"The Celestial Ladder is behind you."
Young Master Celestial Beast said flatly.
At the sa ti, the entire Championship Platform began to vibrate violently. A speck of golden light shot down from the top of the platform, landing in front of Hong Yu and the others.
The golden light grew, gradually coalescing into a staircase one thousand five hundred ters long.
Each step was about one and a half ters long and twenty centiters high. It truly was a sky-piercing ladder that seed to lead straight to the ninth heaven!
"You may begin. Let's see which of you can reach the top of the Celestial Ladder!"
Young Master Celestial Beast said indifferently.
Everyone sprang into action, running toward the top of the Celestial Ladder at their fastest pace.
Only Hong Yu, Zheng Tian, and the three assassins from the Blood Killing Tower remained standing in place.
Zheng Tian shot Hong Yu a cold glance. "I'll be waiting for you in the Championship Arena at the top of the Celestial Ladder. Don't you dare die on the way up."
"Heh, you should be saying that to yourself!"
Hong Yu said calmly.
Zheng Tian snorted coldly and raised his right hand, making a throat-slitting gesture. A blade-like, chilling glint flickered in his eyes. "Just wait. I'll make you savor the agony of death. I'm going to snap your neck with my own hands."
He said no more, dashing toward the Celestial Ladder at extre speed.
Hong Yu stared at Zheng Tian's retreating back, then suddenly turned to the three Blood Killing Tower assassins. "You're—from the Blood Killing Tower?"
"Hmph. So what if we are?"
The three said coldly.
Hong Yu rubbed his nose. "I'd like to know who paid such a high price to hire the Blood Killing Tower to deal with !"
"Jiejie, you can ask King Yama!"
"After you're dead, I'll burn so paper offerings and let you know!"
The three sneered.
Hong Yu raised an eyebrow. "How about this? Let's make a bet. We'll see who reaches the Championship Arena at the top of the Celestial Ladder first. If any one of you three gets there before , I lose. I'll surrender and let you kill as you please. If I win, you tell the identity of the person who hired you!"
"Jiejie, you really are arrogant! You dare challenge the three of us at the sa ti?"
"Fine, I'll take that bet!"
"I refuse to believe that a guy who just broke through to the Celestial Soul Realm could be stronger and faster than the three of us from the Blood Killing Tower!"
None of the three believed it.
Hong Yu grinned. "In that case... I'm off!"
The mont he finished speaking, Hong Yu's feet crackled with Thunder as he charged toward the Celestial Ladder like a ferocious cheetah.
The three assassins roared furiously and gave chase.
Hong Yu's speed was incredible. In the blink of an eye, he had already surpassed many people, reaching the two-hundredth step.
His speed hadn't slowed in the slightest.
Behind him, the three assassins from the Blood Killing Tower had ugly, grim expressions. They were a full eighteen steps behind Hong Yu, and as the pressure and Spiritual Power assaults grew stronger further up, closing the distance would obviously beco even more difficult.
The three were extrely anxious, but there was nothing they could do.
anwhile, Zheng Tian was the first to break past the three-hundredth step.
He moved as if walking on flat ground.
The strength of the Guiyuan Sect's Chief Disciple was clearly not just for show!
As for Hong Yu...
As he reached the three-hundredth step of the Celestial Ladder, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. 'This... this feeling, the gravitational pressure, the Spiritual Power assault... Isn't this kind of training environnt the perfect opportunity to cultivate the Sixth Transformation of the Eight Desolates Saint Slaying Technique?'
At this thought, Hong Yu deliberately slowed his pace.
He quietly focused on comprehending the gravitational pressure and Spiritual Power assaults coming from the surrounding space.
Before, his speed was fifty steps every half hour. Now, it had plumted to fifty steps per hour.
With this drastic slowdown, the three experts from the Blood Killing Tower behind him gradually closed the distance.
PAT.
The three finally reached the sa step as Hong Yu.
Looking at Hong Yu, who stood with his eyes closed, sotis frowning, sotis in deep thought, their faces twisted into sneers of mockery. "Hahaha, so you're just all flash and no substance! You can't even make it to the four-hundredth step? You already have to stop and regulate your breathing?"
"How embarrassing. I'll be ashad to say we even took the mission to assassinate this kid."
The three of them taunted him one after another, trying to provoke Hong Yu.
From beginning to end, however, Hong Yu didn't even open his eyes.
This left the three of them utterly helpless...
They exchanged a look and said in low voices, "Never mind that. Zheng Tian has already reached the five-hundredth level. We have to catch up to him. Once we reach the Championship Arena, we'll have won the bet. Killing Hong Yu then will be child's play!"
"Let's go!"
The three struggled onward.
The difficulty of this Celestial Ladder increased every three hundred steps. Above the three-hundredth step, even people like Zheng Tian began to feel the strain.
As for after the six-hundredth step, "strain" was no longer enough to describe it. It was true agony.
Every step felt as if their legs were bound by boulders weighing tens of millions of pounds. So could no longer continue and could only support themselves with their hands, crawling slowly on the ground.
Climbing the Celestial Ladder seed easy, but the difficulty it contained was incredibly profound.
Especially upon reaching the nine-hundredth step, Zheng Tian was drenched in sweat. He fell heavily to his knees, gasping for air. "HUFF... HUFF... This... this Celestial Ladder is too terrifying. It was bearable up to the nine-hundredth step, but these last ninety-nine steps actually require the strength of a Half-step Primordial Pill Realm expert to endure."
"If... if my Master hadn't tempered my body using the thod for refining Primordial Weapons, making it far stronger than that of an ordinary Celestial Soul Realm expert, I'm afraid even I wouldn't have been able to withstand it."
Zheng Tian took a deep breath. Gazing at the Championship Arena, which was now within arm's reach, he revealed a confident grin. "But there are only ninety-nine steps left. As long as I endure this, first place is mine. Hong Yu, oh, Hong Yu, you may be a genius, but compared to , you're still a step behind."
On the eight-hundredth step, the three from the Blood Killing Tower supported one another, struggling forward.
They glanced at Zheng Tian, far ahead of them, then back at Hong Yu, far behind, and a look of relief washed over them. "It looks like Hong Yu has already given up. He's been on the six-hundredth level for a long ti."
"We can slow down."
The three advanced slowly, full of confidence.
But just then...
Far behind them, Hong Yu, who was sitting cross-legged on the six-hundredth step, finally opened his eyes...
'Ti to sprint!'
[The next chapter will arrive in 30 seconds!!!]
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