The Great Ruler

Chapter 410 – Nine Heavenly Steps

The most central region of the Divine Spiritual Mountain range.

This was the most central region within the Divine Spiritual Mountain range. At this very moment, it was filled with a sea of humans, while erratic Spiritual Energies rushed towards the skies. In the skies, on the earth, battles between figures raged on everywhere. As countless Spiritual Energies rushed out and converged together, they caused the heavens and earth within this region to appear exceedingly gorgeous and magnificent.

This was the end point of the Divine Spiritual Mountain, and also the terminus of all of the massive battles that raged everywhere.

Experts from various parts of the Northern Heavens Continent would all converge at this place. If one wanted to distinguish oneself and rise above the rest, one would need to display one’s true strength to obtain the qualifications to climb the “Nine Heavenly Steps”. In this place, the only way to get one’s message across was by showing true strength. If not, regardless of having a powerful background, the various experts whose eyes had already turned bloodshot by the enticement of the Divine Spiritual Baptism wouldn’t bat a single eyelid to kill anyone. Since this was the case, one should just kill, since this was the rule in this place. That year, even the participants from the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy were buried at his place. Compared to them, what would other people amount to?

Without strength, one could only obediently cower and hide!

Within this chaotic region in the centermost position of this area stood a majestic mountain. Dazzling brilliance radiated from the air above its peak. If one was to take a closer look, one would see a set of incomparably massive cloudy steps present within the rays of brilliance. There was a total of nine cloudy steps, with each step containing a dozen stone platforms.The number of stone platforms progressively reduced the higher the step was. At the very top, there seemed to be only five to six platforms present.

Those were the “Nine Heavenly Steps”!

That was the place within the Divine Spiritual Mountain that caused the eyes of countless experts to turn bloodshot. That’s because, that was the only place where one could receive the “Divine Spiritual Baptism”!

However, if one wanted to stand on the Nine Heavenly Steps, one would need to possess absolute strength, since there would be countless people with bloodshot eyes battling out like mad men for the opportunity to stand there. If one’s strength wasn’t sufficient, there would only be one ending! Being killed and sent away from the Nine Heavenly Steps!

Only the true experts would be able to stand on top of the Nine Heavenly Steps. Overlooking the countless others battling it out below, like gods looking down on ants, they would receive the greatest honor and glory the Divine Spiritual Mountain could give, the Divine Spiritual Baptism!

At this moment, there were already a few figures standing proud at the bottommost few steps of the Nine Heavenly Steps, while combatants continuously battled to rush up from below. On the top three steps, however, there was an entirely different scene present there.

On the top three steps, there weren’t as many people as below, with the total number not even exceeding thirty. As for the top two steps, there were less than ten people present there…

At this moment, those few figures had occupied the most perfect positions on the top of the Nine Heavenly without the slightest bit of restraint. Standing proudly like valiant heroes, there was not a single person that dared to change and vie for their supremacy.

On the third step from the top, few experts were staring towards the figures positioned on the second step with complicated expressions present in their gazes. Being able to stand at those positions whilst the bloodbath below continued were clear indications of that they weren’t ordinary people. Nevertheless, they were still unable to make the step up, since the place above them wasn’t somewhere that they could squeeze themselves in.

That was the place where only the most elite of the geniuses from the young generation of the Northern Heavens Continent would be qualified to contend for.

At this moment, although appearing as if everything was calm and tranquil, a rather peculiar atmosphere was present within the second highest step of the Nine Heavenly Steps, which had captured all of the attention of the countless experts below. Seven figures, with each taking a corner of their own, were present there. Although not a single one had sent their Spiritual Energy or aura bursting out, the atmosphere resulting from their presence alone was enough to cause people to be stifled to the point of gasping for air.

An ordinary-looking male dressed in hemp clothing stood at the front-most position with his hands slightly hanging down by his sides. Appearing as if none of the peculiar atmosphere within this step was felt by him, his eyes were even faintly shut, as if he was resting and recuperating his strength. Despite that, however, the gazes sent by the other six people present were brimming with dread as they looked towards him.

That was Mo Xingtian.

Currently the genuine number one figure within the younger generation of the Northern Heavens Continent.

Standing in a corner platform, a solemn expression hung on Xia Youran’s face as she stared at Mo Xingtian. Turning her head around, she shot a look at the ground below, where the fires of war and bloodshed were so ever present. Countless people continued to fight and battle, with figures dropping left, right, and centre. Nevertheless, she still wasn’t able to spot the figure that she had wished to see.

“Exactly where…did that fellow, Mu Chen, run off to?”

Xia Youran muttered to herself, a shadow of worry appeared on her lovable face. She and Mu Chen had originally planned to meet up together as soon as possible. However, in the end, she had waited at this place for a day’s worth of time, with Mu Chen’s figure yet to be seen. Therefore, the only thing she could do was the take the lead and head up here. She never imagined that not a single presence of him could be found since he left her the day before, causing worry to surface within her heart. Could it be that Mu Chen had met with some unfortunate circumstances?

“Haha. Are you still waiting for that brat to appear?” A sneer rang out from a place not far from her, causing her to look over, only to see a sinister smile that had blossomed on the face of the speaker, Liu Ying. After noticing that it was him, she gave a sneer in response, being too lazy to care about him.

“It has been a very long time since that fellow was present. There’s only two reasons that can explain this. Firstly, he’d been killed by someone. Secondly, he was sufficiently satisfied after obtaining that small Spiritual Treasure and didn’t dare to show up here, then immediately ran off the mountain,” said Liu Ying, his smile growing deeper, while contempt and disdain were shining within his eyes. “However, he’s truly smart for knowing to not come here. If not, it won’t be so simple to just leave this place like that.”

“Shut up!” Xia Youran gave a cold roar in reply.

Hearing her roar, a chilling glint flashed within his eyes, before replying with an indifferent smile, “You don’t believe what I’ve said? Alright then, let’s wait and see. If he truly dares to show up here, please be at ease, for I’ll properly give him a welcome, before asking him to hand over the Spiritual Treasure. After that, I make sure he obediently leaves this place!”

Hearing his taunts, Xia Youran gave a furious clench of her teeth, while her loathe towards Liu Ying rose to the extreme of her limits. However, due to the current unclear situation, rashly taking action wasn’t a rational choice. Therefore, the only thing she could do was to sneer back at him. “What’s the use of you feeling satisfied, huh? You’ve started cultivating much earlier than Mu Chen, and even swallowed all of the resources of your Umbra Chamber of Commerce just to reach this level of cultivation. If you wait one or two more years, I’m afraid that you might not even have the qualifications to hoot in front of him!”

Liu Ying’s face instantly turned dark as he heard her ridiculing words, before sending a sinister smile back as he replied, “Oh? It seems that you’ve actually held that little brat with such high regard. Since he’s such a menace, I’ll wait for him to appear and kill him. That way, everything will be okay, right?”

As he spoke till here, the ridicule appeared even more prominent in Liu Ying’s eyes as he continued speaking, “Naturally…we’ll have to see if that brat will even dare to appear in this place. From what I can see…”

Roar!

However, just as Liu Ying was about to finish his sentence, a ferocious dragon roar resounded across the horizon. Everyone turned around, only to see rays of brilliance sparkling from the distance, with what seemed like the shadow of a giant dragon soaring through the air, with a slender figure standing tall on its back.

“Mu Chen!” Spotting that familiar figure, elation and happiness gushed out from Xia Youran’s beautiful eyes.

“He really does have the courage…” muttered Liu Ying as his gaze grew increasingly dark, while a sinister smile appeared on his face. This brat actually has the guts to show up here. Since that’s the case, don’t blame me for being merciless!

At this moment, Mo Xingtian slowly opened his eyes, his deadpan eyes, looking at the giant dragon shadow with an indifferent gaze, muttering, “Dragon Soaring Technique? He’d actually cultivated to the “Dragon Soaring” phase. This truly is unexpected…”

Roar!

Standing on the back of the giant dragon shadow, Mu Chen looked towards the earth filled with chaos and disorder, before turning his sight towards the Nine Heavenly Steps at the peak of the mountain.

“That’s the place to accept the Divine Spiritual Baptism?”

Looking over there, Mu Chen gave a stomp, causing an astonishing dragon roar to erupt from the the giant dragon shadow, while its speed furiously increased. Rushing straight across the battle-strewn skies, he shot up towards to the skies, heading straight towards the Nine Heavenly Steps.

“That’s the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy’s Mu Chen?”

Mu Chen’s actions immediately attracted the attention of everyone present. Noticing his attempt to scale the Nine Heavenly Steps, the faces of a few experts slightly changed, wanting to take action to stop him. However, upon remembering the news about Mu Chen causing Wu Dong to lose an arm, hesitation momentarily filled their hearts. Although Mu Chen appeared to possess only the strength at the Heavenly Completion Stage Initial Phase, there was no one present that dared to belittle him. If they were to take action without care, they might have to pay quite a high price for that.

As those experts were hesitating, the giant dragon shadow carrying Mu Chen had already rushed up the mountain peak. With a stomp of his feet, he transformed into a bolt of lightning, rushing up the Nine Heavenly Step, rushing up step after step of the stone platforms at lightning speed. In front of the attention of all those experts, he rushed straight towards the highest step!

The gazes of the numerous experts present started to fluctuate, while their Spiritual Energies rushing out in their attempts of wanting to take action. However, they finally restrained their urges in force, sending their gazes aiming straight at Mu Chen’s figure. All of them wanted to see exactly how many steps that man could rush to!

Whoosh!

Shooting up at an extremely fast speed, Mu Chen had crossed multiple steps, already reaching the fourth highest step. Akin to a legendary roc spreading its wings as it flew, Mu Chen proceeded to head up towards the higher steps.

On the second highest step, the seven figures present were all staring at him; however, the feelings present within their gazes were different.

Whoosh!

Landing on a stone platform at the third highest step, presently there were a dozen figures. All of them were clad in powerful Spiritual Energy fluctuations, with not one of them actually appearing weaker than Wu Dong.

Despite that, Mu Chen only spared them a glance, without showing the slightest sign of coming to a stop. Moving, his figure Mu Chen headed straight towards Xia Youran, aiming towards the second highest step where Mo Xingtian and the rest were present.

However, just as Mu Chen had shot across the third highest step, an explosive roar rang out akin to a clap of lightning, resounding across skies.

A long-haired male in green robes had a cold and fierce expression on his face, while boundless Spiritual Energy erupted from him. Shooting out, he appeared akin to a falcon lunging towards its prey. In the next instant, a suffocating shadow enveloped across the entirety of Mu Chen.

“Remain here for me!”

Finally, there was an expert who was unable to endure Mu Chen’s straight-line rush! Attempting to take action, he wanted to knock Mu Chen down from the Nine Heavenly Steps!