I Want to Wait for Someone

The elderly man in a long robe spoke, and the golden-edged steps immediately glowed with golden light.

As soon as someone stepped onto the first step, they were astonished to find that under the illumination of this golden light, their body continuously replenished energy, healed injuries, and cleared impurities.

The test of talent was simple and straightforward.

All one had to do was dig their fingers into the steps and climb upward bit by bit!

Even if their fingers broke and bled, they would be healed in an instant.

Even if they fell a hundred meters and turned into a pile of flesh, they would be back to life and jumping around in ten seconds.

It was all about perseverance! It was all about strength!

Soon, people around them started scrambling up the wall, climbing upward.

"Wait, what? Just climb directly?"

Li Luo looked up, his face full of astonishment as he gazed at the towering hundred-meter-tall wall in front of him.

Just looking at it was already suffocating enough.

And there were a whopping ninety-eight of these hundred-meter-tall walls!

While Li Luo was still in a daze, Ye Wangchuan suddenly charged forward beside him, approaching the hundred-meter-tall wall.

As he got close, Ye Wangchuan dug his hand into the wall and used the force to fling himself upward.

Then, using that momentum, he ran up the wall like a wall-crawler.

When the force waned and he could no longer maintain the wall-running, he dug his fingers into the wall again to fling himself upward.

This cycle repeated...

With a smooth and effortless series of movements, in just ten seconds, Ye Wangchuan had already climbed fifty meters upward.

Compared to those around him who had only climbed a dozen meters, he was far ahead.

"Wow, the wall-climbing technique the old man taught me actually works."

Ye Wangchuan thought to himself.

After all, he was a wealthy young master. His father had taught him a bit of wall-climbing technique to help him climb the steps faster.

Wasn't that reasonable?

Below, Li Luo stared in astonishment at the scene above.

What the hell?

Weren't they all supposed to be unable to cultivate before the age of eighteen?

How did Ye Wangchuan climb so fast?

At that moment, Li Luo suddenly remembered his mission and slapped his hand on his forehead.

Damn! He had to climb higher than Ye Wangchuan to get the reward!

He had to catch up quickly!

Li Luo approached the hundred-meter steps and patted them.

Ninety degrees vertical...

How did Ye Wangchuan manage to run up the wall like that?

Li Luo tried to dig his fingers into the wall.

Surprisingly, it was quite easy.

It was like sticking his fingers into wet mud, soft but not so soft that there was no leverage.

After confirming that his fingers were firmly in place, Li Luo suddenly exerted all his strength, trying to fling himself upward like Ye Wangchuan and run up the wall.

Then...

Splat!

Li Luo fell flat on the ground, drawing a burst of laughter from the crowd.

"Get lost! All of you, get lost!"

Li Luo stood up, driving away the people who had laughed at him.

Then, he began climbing the steps honestly.

At that moment, an old man with white hair suddenly appeared beside Li Luo.

Of course, he wasn't intentionally approaching Li Luo.

The white-haired man had come to Li Luo's side to catch up with Ye Wangchuan.

He stepped onto the wall with his foot, bent his legs, and with a powerful leap, shot upward at an astonishing speed.

After the leap, the man jammed his hand into the wall to rest for a moment.

Once rested, he continued to leap upward, rapidly closing the distance between himself and Ye Wangchuan.

Li Luo: "..."

Were they really just ordinary people who hadn't started cultivating yet?

...

...

Two hours later.

"Whew!"

With a powerful thrust of his arm, Ye Wangchuan successfully hoisted himself onto the 34th step.

The 34th step—those who made it this far were considered to have average talent.

Ye Wangchuan exhaled and looked downward.

Below, a white-haired man was stuck in the wall, resting.

After the man finished resting, he kicked off the wall with a powerful thrust and leaped upward to the 34th step.

"Hmm? Ye Wangchuan, why aren't you continuing to climb?"

The white-haired man looked at Ye Wangchuan, who was lying on the 34th step.

Ye Wangchuan simply replied, "I'm waiting for someone here. You go ahead—there's still six days left in the competition."

"Alright. Don't get too relaxed. My father said that the difficulty of climbing beyond the 67th step is harder than the first 66 steps combined."

"Got it, got it."

Ye Wangchuan waved his hand, shooing away the white-haired man.

After confirming that the man had climbed far away, Ye Wangchuan began to think.

The white-haired man was named Liu Han.

He was also the heir of the Liu family.

According to the old man, the Ye and Liu families had maintained a friendly relationship for tens of thousands of years and often collaborated.

When Liu Han was young, Ye Wangchuan had often taken him out to play.

So Ye Wangchuan didn't want to suspect him.

But...

Was Liu Han really not the chosen one?

With such terrifying talent and a strong family background, he really seemed like the protagonist of a genius story.

Of course, he also seemed like a villain.

But Ye Wangchuan wouldn't think that there could be two villains with similar attributes in one region.

If Liu Han was the chosen one, would he attack him?

But right now, there was no reason for him and Liu Han to antagonize each other...

"Forget it, I'm overthinking. Just keep an eye on Liu Han later. Not every chosen one has to fight the villain. I've read novels where the chosen one and the villain get along just fine."

"Except for that loli chosen one—if she dares to get close to me, she must have some malicious intent. Gotta be careful."

Ye Wangchuan shook his head and lay down on the 34th step to sleep.

Although the Heaven Rank kept pouring energy into his body, making it impossible for him to fall asleep.

...

...

About half an hour later.

By now, Li Luo had reached the 33rd step.

After continuous climbing for several hours without a single break, Li Luo still felt relatively relaxed.

For him, each wall was as soft and easy to climb as wet mud.

As for the commoners, one by one, they fell behind Li Luo.

Because for them, if the first step was as hard as wet mud,

then by the second step, the wall became as hard as dry mud.

By the fifth step, the wall was as hard as wood.

By the tenth step, the wall had become as hard as stone.

But Li Luo's talent was top-tier, so he didn't feel any difficulty.

Besides Li Luo, only the wealthy young masters could climb upward with ease.

In this world, even talent was something the wealthy had in abundance, far surpassing the commoners...

As he thought about this, Li Luo was about to reach the 34th step.

He was quite excited.

Steps 1~33 were considered low talent, steps 34~66 were medium talent, and steps 67~99 were high talent.

As long as he climbed one more step, he would reach medium talent...

The next moment, Li Luo's smile suddenly froze.

Above him stood a young man.

The young man stood on the step, unmoving, letting the wind blow through his clothes.