Summit

Three suns hung high in the cloudless sky.

The bone-touching assessment had concluded, but the crowd remained lively, with many who hadn’t qualified lingering to watch the spectacle.

Before the newly accepted disciples stretched two mountain paths leading to the summit of Qingyuan Mountain.

One was the ordinary route used by sect members for daily travel.

The other was overgrown with weeds, yet exuded an ancient and extraordinary aura.

This was the famed Stairway to Heaven.

Legend held that it was an incomplete treasure acquired by the founding patriarch of the Clear Abyss Sect—a relic from an ancient sect of bygone eras, used to test disciples.

"Climb ten steps, and you may enter as an outer disciple," declared the stout elder standing before the Stairway.

"Fifty steps grant entry to the inner sect."

"Eighty steps, and you become a true disciple."

"What if one reaches the summit?" came a confident voice.

Who else could it be but Wang Hu?

The elder’s lips curled slightly, as though he’d answered this question many times before:

"The founding patriarch decreed that whoever ascends to the peak shall be the personal disciple of the sect master."

"Yet in all our history, only two or three have ever achieved this—each a prodigy of Heaven-grade aptitude. Do not overreach, lest you falter where others might climb higher."

He paused, then added,

That advice was for the majority.

This year, there was that exceptional girl, wasn’t there?

"Elder, wouldn’t those with strong physiques or prior martial training have an advantage?" another voice inquired.

The elder replied patiently,

"Worry not. The steps suppress physical strength."

After this brief explanation, he waved his hand.

"You have one hour. Begin."

As his words fell, a disciple lit a thick stick of incense in a bronze censer.

The countdown had started—yet the disciples hesitated, none willing to be the first.

"Spineless cowards! I’ll go!"

Wang Hu swaggered onto the steps with unrivaled arrogance.

Instantly, the boiling energy in his body stilled, no longer granting him superhuman strength.

Yet he strode forward undaunted.

Ten steps... twenty...

By the thirtieth, his body swayed unsteadily.

A faint tiger’s roar echoed from within him, resisting the immense pressure—allowing him to push past the fiftieth step.

Gasps rose from the onlookers.

Inner sect.

With the ice broken, others followed, mindful of the burning incense. Every second wasted could cost them a step.

Some climbed swiftly, others slowly—but none wore an easy expression.

The pressure intensified with each step, crushing breath from their lungs.

"That’s Lin Jiang, isn’t it? He’s moving fast."

"Murong Xiao is faster!"

"How are they so at ease?"

Most, however, focused solely on their ascent.

Then Ying Bing stepped forward.

All eyes turned to her.

Everyone wondered:

How far would this aloof girl—rated as a Heaven-grade talent—go?

"A complete Stairway would test one’s will as well," Ying Bing mused, feeling only faint resistance.

Moreover...

This Stairway was ancient.

Soon, it might lose its power entirely.

Her figure, cold as a frost-lotus, rose higher.

Ten steps... twenty... thirty...

As if walking on level ground!

She left the others far behind.

The crowd was stunned.

This wasn’t about whether she’d reach the top.

She was shattering records.

Her talent might rank among the greatest in the sect’s history.

Ying Bing ascended.

Fifty-fourth step.

"Hm?"

Wang Hu noticed the sudden silence behind him. Turning, he froze.

The girl’s gaze was like snow beneath ice—

A cold moon gazing down upon mortals from the heavens.

For an instant, he couldn’t meet her eyes and stepped aside.

"All eyes on her," Li Mo murmured.

Some were cold outside, warm within. Others warm outside, cold within.

But this ice-block? Cold outside, domineering inside. A first for him.

With that thought, he moved.

Holding back?

No point.

The higher he climbed, the greater his standing—and the easier to encounter those blessed by fate.

He wasn’t done plucking wool from this ice-block yet.

Besides...

He wanted to see how far he could go.

A third-grade aptitude in the bone-touching test?

He still had no idea what his true potential was.

How did an immortal physique fare in this martial world?

The answer was urgent.

One step forward.

"Huh?"

"These are just normal stairs."

Li Mo tilted his head, then took three steps at once.

......

On the high platform:

"That girl Ying Bing’s temperament suits me!"

The palace-robed woman’s eyes gleamed as she watched the girl surge ahead like a snowstorm.

Her movements made her already striking figure even more... pronounced.

"Could these two end up together?"

Xue Jing stroked his beard, thoughtful.

In his letter, Li Mo’s father—his former disciple—had hinted at hopes for Ying Bing as a future daughter-in-law.

But now...

That prospect seemed shaky.

A third-grade aptitude was unlikely to become a true disciple... Wait—

Xue Jing’s eyes landed on a figure sprinting up the steps.

"Sect Master, let me take that girl! I’ll train her well!"

The palace-robed woman thumped her chest, her words slurred with drink.

The elders groaned.

"Twelve hours a day, you spend six sleeping and six drunk!"

"Junior Sister Shang Wu, spare the poor girl. Don’t ruin a genius."

"Over my dead body! I’ll never agree!"

All harbored thoughts of taking her as a disciple—

But on this, they stood united: Anyone but the Ninth Peak’s Shang Wu.

Then—

A clear phoenix’s cry split the heavens.

Ying Bing stood at the Stairway’s peak.

Crows, magpies, geese, eagles—countless birds swarmed from all directions, circling her in submission.

The crowd stood dumbstruck.

But the sect’s elders saw more.

Behind Ying Bing, they glimpsed a moon-white avian figure—its feathers resplendent, its presence majestic and mysterious.

The sect master, who had remained silent until now, rose abruptly.

"This girl can manifest the forms of a hundred birds, condense the aura of a phoenix, and summon the vision of the Great Moon!"

Shangguan Wencang’s eyes burned with intensity.

......

Those still on the Stairway couldn’t see the vision—

But they heard the cry that shook the skies and saw the birds’ reverence.

Wang Hu’s disbelief turned to greed as the celestial figure stood just forty steps ahead.

Just as he prepared to charge upward—

Tap.

A footstep sounded behind him.

Li Mo?

How did he get up here?

"You must have used some trick to cheat the Heavenly Ascension Steps!"

"You still want to stand beside her? Get the hell down!"

Wang Hu's eyes were bloodshot, his face dark with fury.

Barely enduring the pressure, he reached out to grab Li Mo's collar and throw him down.

Li Mo: "?"

In his eyes, the other's movements were as slow as a turtle's crawl.

Even now, they still wouldn't let it rest?

Honestly, Li Mo had no interest in humiliating others.

"Heh heh... The rules never said we can't take action on the steps..."

"Oh? What was that?"

"I said—"

Thwack!

Young Li delivered a swift kick to the groin.

Some pains are so severe that even bystanders wince.

Every young man who witnessed the scene felt a sudden chill below the waist.

"Ugh..."

Wang Hu's face instantly turned the color of liver.

The searing agony made it impossible to stand—let alone on the Heavenly Ascension Steps, where the pressure was already immense.

"Aaaah—!"

His screams and the sound of his tumbling faded into the distance.

"Move aside!"

Someone shouted a warning, and fortunately, the crowd dodged in time, avoiding the human bowling ball that was Wang Hu.

"Peace at last."

Li Mo shrugged and continued his ascent.

Earlier, Butler Han had glanced at him but said nothing.

Seemed Wang Hu was right—there really were no rules against interfering with others on the steps.

But since this wasn't a competition, wasting energy to spite someone else was pure idiocy—a classic case of mutual destruction. No one had ever been shameless enough to try it before.

"That kid looks all sunshine and smiles, but damn, his strikes are vicious."

"Wait, that's not the point."

"Wasn't he ranked third-tier talent?"

Someone voiced the question, and the crowd froze.

Right—that didn't add up!

How had he climbed past the fiftieth step... no, he was already past the eightieth!

And he moved as casually as if he were strolling through a garden.

If Ying Bing's performance had left them in awe, then Li Mo's was downright baffling.

This is what you call third-tier?!

"Butler Han, are you sure you didn't misjudge this boy's bone structure?" A short, rotund elder muttered, skeptical.

The elderly woman who had assessed Li Mo earlier paled but could only admit, "Perhaps my old eyes deceived me."

Her words left the elders deep in thought.

That steward was famously sharp-eyed and experienced.

How could she misread something as basic as bone structure?

In the time it took for those few exchanges—

At the summit, a lone figure was now joined by another.

Ying Bing's eyes flickered with surprise.

Reaching the peak?

To her, it was hardly difficult.

Even on the complete Heavenly Ascension Steps, she had met countless capable of the feat.

But he had never been among them.

A breeze stirred, making Li Mo's robes flutter as he grinned.

"What a coincidence—you're here too."

Standing above the world, his chest swelled with exhilaration.

A perfect moment—ruined when a crow, utterly lacking in tact, landed squarely on the young man's head.