Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Ten Thousand Step Heavenly Stairway

***

“No, I should still develop myself cautiously. It’s not too late to repay favors after I’ve grown stronger.”

Lin Muyu encouraged herself in her heart. She had never been someone who liked owing others favors.

Before she could rest for long, the aged voice entered her ears once again.

“After registration is complete, come to the foot of the mountain.”

Hearing this summons, everyone wasn’t as panicked as before.

Following the guidance of the crane, they walked toward the designated location.

Lin Muyu glanced once at Su Wanqing’s expressionless face.

She patted the dust off her body and reluctantly left the cool shade of the tree.

The scorching sun blazed down on Lin Muyu once again, but this time she felt much better and no longer felt dizzy.

She quickly caught up with the bustling crowd, walking toward the direction the crane indicated.

Before them was a misty area that seemed to contain nothing at all.

Everyone looked at the fog before them with confusion and began chattering about it.

“What’s going on? There’s no path ahead?”

“Right, there’s nothing there. Why did they tell us to come here?”

…

Lin Muyu remained silent, carefully observing the mist before her.

Could this be an illusion?

Her guess seemed to be confirmed.

As more people gathered and waited, the mist before them became thinner and thinner until it disappeared completely.

Only then did everyone discover that before them was an endlessly long heavenly stairway that seemed to have no end in sight.

It appeared to lead straight to the clouds, disappearing into the misty depths above.

Many elders who had come to recruit disciples were hiding in the clouds in the sky, carefully observing their future disciples.

Searching among them for promising candidates.

“Silence!”

The aged voice rang out clearly and solemnly, echoing in the ears of every young man and woman who harbored dreams of cultivation.

The crane-riding elder quietly appeared on the celestial stairway, his wide Daoist robes flowing down to the ground.

Instantly, nearly ten thousand young men and women fell silent. Not a single person spoke again, and everyone held their breath in concentration.

The crane-riding elder kindly opened his eyes and swept his gaze around the area.

He spoke calmly.

“This time, the examination content is the ‘Ten Thousand Step Heavenly Stairway’!”

The elder’s voice was clear and powerful, and everyone was unconsciously drawn to it, focusing their attention.

“Ten Thousand Step Heavenly Stairway?”

This stairway has ten thousand steps?

Lin Muyu wiped the nervous sweat from her forehead. Looking at the stairway before her that seemed to have no end, her legs immediately went weak.

Thinking back to her previous life, her classroom was on the sixth floor, while the office was in another office building. Going up and down exhausted her to death.

Back then she was still a young man, but now she had become a delicate and cute girl. She wondered if she would collapse on the spot after climbing up.

“Those without cultivation talent cannot step onto the Ten Thousand Step Heavenly Stairway. The worse one’s talent and the better one’s physical condition, the greater the resistance they will face. Conversely, the lesser the resistance.”

“Remember, on the path of cultivation, talent and perseverance are both indispensable!”

“Those who reach the end within 6 hours may enter the sect. Those with excellent talent may be taken as disciples by the elders.”

As the crane-riding elder recited the rules, the young men and women began discussing among themselves again.

“We just need to climb ten thousand steps? Then I can definitely do it.”

The speaker was a dark-skinned, burly man who was flexing his muscles with confidence, as if the ten thousand steps posed no difficulty for him whatsoever.

“Give it up. With your low-grade bloodline, you won’t even have a chance to step onto the stairway.”

A young master holding a feather fan and considering himself elegant mocked him.

His expression was full of disdain.

The burly man’s face darkened upon hearing this. Well, it was already dark to begin with.

It just changed from grayish-black to deep black, black upon black.

He was about to lose his temper, but seeing the four unfriendly-looking burly men beside the young master, he snorted coldly. After thinking it over, he still didn’t explode.

Beside Lin Muyu, at some point, stood a girl wearing luxurious clothing with delicate features.

She looked at the young master, rolled her eyes, and mocked him mercilessly.

“A pale weakling like you also claims to have high-grade bloodline?”

This description was very apt. With the young master’s slender and pale physique, he really did look like a pale chicken.

This caused everyone to suppress their laughter.

“What did you say?!”

The young master seemed to have heard her and walked toward Lin Muyu’s direction with his four bodyguards, looking menacing.

Lin Muyu also wanted to laugh, but seeing the girl who had suddenly appeared beside her, she quietly shifted her steps.

She silently moved away. She was just a weak civilian and couldn’t get involved in this kind of noble conflict.

However, the four bodyguards beside the young master looked somewhat familiar…

She felt like she had seen them somewhere before.

Seeing the young master approaching with clenched fists, the girl in luxurious clothing said calmly.

“You wouldn’t want to hit a woman, would you?”

“Hitting might not happen, but teaching you a lesson is possible.”

The young master smiled wickedly, lightly waved his feather fan, and commanded the four big men to step forward.

The girl remained calm and unhurried, calmly pulling out a golden, gleaming token from her bosom.

The token was carved with many ornate patterns.

Lin Muyu was standing relatively close and took a careful look. On it was clearly a golden dragon.

“Wait… a royal token?!”

The young master froze on the spot, and even the four big men stopped in their tracks.

He no longer advanced, his eyes full of wariness toward the token.

This made Lin Muyu take a few more glances at this girl.

She wore luxurious clothing, and above her delicate features were a pair of extremely dignified phoenix eyes that naturally possessed the oppressive aura of a superior.

She had the imposing presence of a phoenix ruling over the world.

“With this aura, she’s probably not an ordinary NPC. I should stay away from her.”

Lin Muyu thought to herself.

She seemed very satisfied with her analysis and nodded silently.

Another person to stay away from!

“What, bullying the weak and fearing the strong?”

The girl curled her lips with a disdainful expression, looking down on him.

“Hmph, just you wait!”

The young master was so angry he stamped his feet, but couldn’t do anything about it. He looked around and spotted Lin Muyu, who was silently nodding.

Seeing Lin Muyu’s delicate appearance, she looked easy to bully at first glance.

“And you. If I can’t deal with her, do you really think I can’t deal with you?”

Following the direction the young master was pointing, Lin Muyu looked left and right, only to discover he was actually pointing at her.

“Me?”

“That’s right!”

“…”

Lin Muyu was a bit speechless. She was just watching the show, so how did all this trouble find its way to her?

Using her as a punching bag again?

Indeed, she shouldn’t have too much contact with story characters.

Faced with the young master’s harassment, Lin Muyu was about to use her old trick and pull out a talisman from her bosom.

“Wait.”

The noble girl called out.

“I’m covering this little sister now. Go do whatever you need to do. If you don’t want your family to suffer, get lost quickly!”

Hearing this, the young master immediately lost his fire, his face turning red like a cooked pig.

The black-faced big man who had been mocked earlier also had his face turn red from suppressing laughter, making him exceptionally conspicuous.

However, Lin Muyu looked at the girl in luxurious clothing who had stood up to speak for her with a question mark.

“?”

Wait, do we know each other?

How did she end up being “covered” by her?

She clearly didn’t need her protection. How did she get dragged into this again?

Just then, the aged voice once again echoed in everyone’s ears.

“Begin when you’re ready.”