Chapter 74 - Shock!

Amidst the towering mountains stands the Five Elements Sect, and deep within this range are five towering peaks known as the “Five Elements Peak,” mirroring each other. At the top of these peaks lay five enormous plazas.

These five plazas serve as the morning exercise grounds for the Five Elements Sect’s five branches, and suspended in the air between the peaks is a crystal mirror over a hundred feet tall.

This crystal mirror is a supreme-grade dao artifact and the sect’s treasured possession. Additionally, the mirror’s heavenly ladder serves as the Sect’s trial ground. Currently, Leng Yan is within this crystal mirror.

With the chime of a bell, colors rise in the sky, rapidly approaching-they are the disciples of the Five Elements Sect arriving via sword control. From a glance, there are at least a hundred thousand of them!

These disciples descend in an orderly fashion onto the five plazas, all sitting cross-legged to cultivate.

The simultaneous inhalation and exhalation of essence power by ten thousand people cause breezes between the peaks. The accumulation of essence power further clouds the plazas with mist.

After a night’s rest, Leng Yan has mostly recovered his strength, but he can still feel the soreness in his bones and muscles.

“I wonder how many levels I can ascend today,” Leng Yan murmured to himself while gazing at the endless staircase ahead.

Rising, a cracking sound came from his bones, and Leng Yan felt a rush of comfort following the pain.

Taking a deep breath, he raised his right foot and stepped towards the staircase, suddenly feeling a repelling force emanating from the steps, pushing back against his descent.

“It’s no longer just pressure, it’s a repellent force! Hmph! Let me step down!” Leng Yan exclaimed, exerting himself forcefully, as if to pierce through heaven and earth, he successfully repelled the force, stabilizing his foot on a step.

As his right foot landed, a storm erupted and spread outward, and a transparent wind blade sliced across the back of Leng Yan’s hand like a flash of lightning, a drop of blood fell onto the step and was absorbed.

“What speed!” Leng Yan exclaimed in shock as he observed the cut on his hand.

As Leng Yan’s essence blood soaked into the steps, the crystal mirror between the Five Elements Peaks suddenly emitted a series of rumbles. Two cloud dragons surged forth, letting out dragon roars that echoed through the mountains.

“Who is climbing the heavenly ladder? To have startled the spirit of the dao artifact-it seems they must be on at least the 1002nd step!” exclaimed a cultivator in the unification realm, his eyes snapping open in surprise as he looked toward the crystal mirror.

It wasn’t just him who was awoken by the commotion; nearly all the cultivators paused their cultivation to glance at the crystal mirror, eager to find out the identity of this person.

Anyone seeking to take on the heavenly ladder trial within the crystal mirror must have a cultivation level no higher than the primordial qi realm. Only a select few have ever managed to ascend a thousand steps, so the appearance of such a person once again naturally drew attention.

The two cloud dragons soared and then transformed into a mass of clouds, forming a giant screen that gradually displayed an image of Leng Yan.

“Who is this person? I’ve never seen him before.”

“Right! Such a figure wouldn’t remain unknown even with a true essence realm cultivation. Could he be a disciple from an affiliated planet?”

“How is that possible? Those planets are nearly defunct and have scarce essence power, let alone precious treasures. How could they nurture someone like him?”

The crowd buzzed with speculation, everyone eager to uncover the identity of Leng Yan.

Amidst the chatter, three individuals remained undisturbed, continuing their cultivation with closed eyes. These three were Sun Hao, Li Nan, and Wang Han.

Leng Yan took another step up the ladder, marking another breakthrough for himself.

Since he couldn’t further refine his essence blood, Leng Yan set his sights on the concept of battle faith. Last time, he successfully merged a trace of battle faith with external pressure aiding him.

If he could harness the pressure at this place to fully integrate battle faith with his own beliefs, he could command its power at will, potentially increasing his battle strength severalfold in a short time!

To activate battle faith, he needed to channel the pressure into his sea of consciousness, compressing the battle faith. However, this method carried a certain risk-how to control the pressure to incite battle faith without damaging his own soul.

All hypotheses paled in comparison to personal experimentation. With this thought, Leng Yan lifted his left foot. As it landed, he again confronted that repelling force.

Leng Yan slowly channeled the force downward, using his own cultivation level to guide it from his left foot into his sea of consciousness.

As soon as the force entered his sea of consciousness, it headed straight for Leng Yan’s body of belief. Since battle faith and Leng Yan’s belief were essentially intertwined, this force also exerted pressure on it.

Faced with external pressure, the battle faith, provoked, shone with a golden light and began resisting the external force.

However, the force was only sufficient to provoke a reaction from the battle faith, not to pose a threat that would allow it to merge with Leng Yan’s belief. This could only mean that the pressure was still too weak.

Outside, the ten-thousand-strong crowd watched Leng Yan intently. Suddenly, Leng Yan paused, motionless, leaving the crowd wondering why.

“Is this as far as he will go?”

“I don’t think so. Look at his calm expression. He might be contemplating something, which is why he hasn’t moved yet.”

“That might be true! Reaching this far is remarkable. Even if he stops here, he’s someone worth recruiting.”

“You have a point. If we team up with him in the competition, we might stand a good chance against the senior brothers in the Heavenly Realm.”

“He’s moving!” someone exclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention back to Leng Yan.

“If the pressure falls short, I’ll just let it all into my body. I want to see just how powerful this battle faith truly is.”

Opening all his pores, Leng Yan stopped resisting the force with his physical body. His left foot descended effortlessly as all repelling force had been drawn into his body.

As the pressure sharply increased, the battle faith finally began to dissolve, a thread of golden light merging into Leng Yan’s body of belief. Leng Yan felt an overwhelming surge of battle intent flowing through him.

Without pausing, Leng Yan climbed twenty steps consecutively, and the vast, ocean-like repelling force poured into his sea of consciousness, all pressing towards battle faith.

As more and more battle faith merged with Leng Yan’s belief, his soul became increasingly solid, almost resembling a genuine primordial spirit.

Leng Yan had not anticipated the extent of astonishment he would evoke. To ascend another twenty steps beyond the thousandth level in one go was nothing short of extraordinary!

“My goodness! Is he really in the true essence realm? Senior Brother Sun Hao took ten days to cover these twenty levels back in the day. How could he do it all at once?” exclaimed a woman in disbelief.

Her exclamation reached Sun Hao in the distance, causing a flicker of surprise to cross his otherwise calm face. He finally opened his eyes to gaze at the cloud screen above.

“Who would have thought there would be such a talented disciple in the Five Elements Sect? I stopped at the 1,080th level back then. I wonder if he can surpass me? Walking those 20 steps in one go… he must be at his limit now!” Sun Hao stated with a smile.

Nearby, Li Nan and Wang Han were also roused by the surrounding murmurs. Although they hadn’t reached the 1,080th level like Sun Hao, and had stopped at 1,030th, this only increased the pressure on them. They had continually pushed themselves to surpass Sun Hao and become the leading talents among the newcomers, aiming to secure the best resources. If Leng Yan surpassed them, they wouldn’t even retain the second position, and they would have to give up the best cultivation rooms!

Such a scenario was unacceptable to them, making them the most anxious in the crowd. Leng Yan was just eight steps away from overtaking them.

“This must be his limit; he absolutely cannot surpass me!” Li Nan whispered nervously, his face tense.

“Do I really have to rank below him? He cannot survive! Absolutely not,” Wang Han muttered, eyes filled with malice as he looked at Leng Yan on the cloud screen.

“This pain… it’s my limit. If I continue to channel the pressure, the battle faith might not merge before I’m overwhelmed!” Leng Yan pressed his temples, halting the flow of repelling force. The internal pressure was quickly neutralized by the battle faith, bringing him some relief.

However, as the pressure receded, the battle faith once again receded into his belief.

Although he didn’t achieve a complete fusion with the battle faith, Leng Yan still sensed a powerful force of “battle” surging within him.

With this newfound strength, Leng Yan’s combat abilities had increased significantly-he could likely defeat two typical Late Stage Heavenly Realm cultivators. However, he was still far from being able to contend with those in the unification realm, let alone challenge Jin Kuang!