Chapter 48: Climbing the Thousand-Step Rock

  However, Lu Yufeng immediately dispelled this doubt, because he had already changed his appearance and no one could recognize him.

  "Fellow Taoist, you originally saved my life, and the spiritual medicine on me should be given to you. However, this spiritual medicine is indeed of great use to me, my master is seriously injured, and I came out to find this spiritual medicine to help my master heal his wounds. Please bear with me, if there's an opportunity in the future, I will repay your kindness even if it costs me my life." The man in green clothes said solemnly.

  "Never mind, if we were to kill everyone who has seen the Wind Slasher's mark, wouldn't that lead to many innocent deaths?" thought Lu Yufeng.

  "I'm not interested in your elixir, leave early. They died here, and soon someone will come to check. Lu Yu Feng knew that if someone dies within the sect, the sect would know about it, and if a strong person intervenes, they can even calculate the location and time of death. Even stronger people can deduce who killed them, and at that time, they will definitely send someone to investigate."

  "Thank you so much, fellow Taoist! We'll meet again!" With that, he turned around and jumped away. He didn't tell Lu YuFeng his name, nor did he ask for Lu YuFeng's name. However, if Lu YuFeng were to encounter difficulties in the future, he would certainly come to his aid without hesitation.

  Lu Yu Feng turned around and left the small woods, found his Wind Chaser horse, and continued on his way. The trial of the Royal Sword Sect had probably already begun. Lu Yu Feng wasn't in a hurry, as he was only there to watch the last few rounds of the trial. As for the earlier selection rounds, Lu Yu Feng didn't have much interest.

  After a few hours of Lu Yu Feng and the man in green leaving, a flash of light descended upon the place where they had just fought. It was an old man with white whiskers, looking like an immortal with a noble demeanor.

  "Who killed my disciple, Tuan Jia Zong? The method is so cruel, I will not let you go." The old man looked at the three disciples who were cut in half and couldn't help but burst into a rage. This was the style of the entire sect, always thinking that when their own people suffered losses, it was the opponent's fault, as long as they weren't strong enough.

  "Is there another one? Isn't it four?" The old man released his divine sense, scanning the surroundings, and found a large pit nearby. At the bottom of the pit was a meat pie, which the old man recognized as the disciple of the Xuan Jia Sect from his clothes. Looking at the huge palm print, the old man was slightly stunned. Such a palm print, the old man thought he could also do it, condensing true yuan into a palm print would be enough, but his own palm print would definitely cause too much damage to the surrounding land, and the palm print wouldn't be as solid as this one.

  "No matter who you are, if you kill a disciple of the Xuan Jia Sect, I will chase you to the ends of the earth and the Xuan Jia Sect will not let you off." The old man said calmly, then stood up and flew away from here.

  ....

  "It's finally here! The Yujian Gate, one of the top three sects, is indeed worthy of its reputation!" After a period of rushing, Lu Yu Feng finally arrived at the Yujian Gate. Standing in front of the mountain gate, he couldn't help but marvel at the grandeur of the Yujian Gate. Surrounding Lu Yu Feng were many loose cultivators who had come from various places, some of whom had arrived late due to distance or being held up by other matters.

  Lu Yu Feng and his group are now standing outside the mountain gate of Yu Jian Men, waiting for someone from Yu Jian Men to come and receive them. If they were to force their way in, it would definitely not end well.

  "Of course, this is the Imperial Sword Sect, how can it not be grand?" said a loose cultivator standing next to Lu Yufeng with a sour tone.

  "Heh heh..." Lu Yu said with a faint smile, but didn't respond to the loose cultivator's words.

  "Are you all here to watch the Sect Competition? I am Ling Tongzi, the leader of Yu Jian Men. Please follow me." After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked towards Yu Jian Men.

  As they walked halfway, Lu Yufeng found that there were two stone ladders, both of which led directly to the top of the mountain. The leading child led Lu Yufeng and his party to walk on the left one.

  "Hey kid, why don't we take the path on the right?" someone asked among the group of scattered cultivators.

  "Is this your first time at Yu Jian Men?" The child turned around and asked, without waiting for everyone to respond, continued: "The stone ladder on the right is called the Tian Ti ladder, also known as the Thousand Steps Rock. It's a place where our disciples test their cultivation. This was left behind by one of our ancestors. From the first level onwards, each step bears different pressure, and the more steps you climb, the higher your cultivation will be. Based on this, we can test the cultivation of our disciples."

  "Then can we go and try?" another person asked.

  "Of course, anyone who wants to try is welcome, we won't stop them." The Taoist child said calmly.

  Upon hearing Dao Tong's words, many people turned around and headed towards another stone staircase, apparently preparing to test their own cultivation.

  Lu Yu Feng also walked towards another stone staircase, intending to try out his own abilities. Of course, Lu Yu Feng had not thought of using his true yuan, but rather wanted to test the cultivation of his physical body. Since breaking through with his physical body, Lu Yu Feng did not know what kind of level his physical body had reached, and now that he encountered this stone staircase, it was just right for him to try it out.

  Lu Yu Feng stepped onto the stone stairs, which were very spacious and could accommodate six or seven people passing through at the same time.

  "Ah, I see!" With a slight sense of it, Lu Yufeng understood the effect of this stone staircase. If he used his true yuan, the stairs would transmit a pressure that suppressed his true yuan. Now that he was using his physical body, what was transmitted was a pressure that suppressed his physical body. Lu Yufeng felt as if he had fallen into a swamp, with a force in front of him and a pulling force behind him, preventing him from moving forward. Both forces contained a strong sword intent, which was the unique manifestation of the Yu Jian Men's true yuan.

  Lu Yu Feng only felt that the two forces were very small, Lu Yu Feng slowly stepped on the stairs and continued to move forward. When Lu Yu Feng took his tenth step, he suddenly felt that the two forces had increased a lot, and he already felt that his footsteps were somewhat heavy, but this bit of power still couldn't stop Lu Yu Feng's advancing footsteps.

  Luyu Feng had already taken twenty steps, and on this step, there were two more people standing here, just like Luyu Feng, their whole body was covered in sweat, even their shirts were soaked. In the front few steps, they were densely packed with people, probably over a dozen, basically all the people who were climbing the stairs were standing in this area, only now each and every one of them had pale faces, it was clear that resisting this pressure was extremely exhausting.

  Their cultivation was all in the early stages of Huayuan, and it was already very exhausting. Lu Yufeng felt a slight swelling in his body since he stepped onto the 20th step, as if something was about to burst open. However, Lu Yufeng thought he could still endure it, so he stretched out his right foot and took another step up. As soon as his foot landed, Lu Yufeng felt an explosive sensation, and a series of cracking sounds came from the bones in his right calf. A piercing pain spread through his body.

  "Hmph... This step, I must take it!" Lu Yufeng's right foot exerted force, heavily stomping on the 21st step. Then, his right foot used force again, propelling his entire body upwards. A creaking sound of bones being compressed echoed within Lu Yufeng's body, a sound that was suppressed by the overwhelming pressure and could only be heard by himself.

  "Fellow Taoist, if you can't make it, don't force yourself." The few scattered cultivators on the stairs above looked at Lu Yu Feng's painful appearance and advised him. They only knew that their true yuan was exhausted, but they didn't know that Lu Yu Feng had only relied on his physical body to get here, thinking that he was suffering so much because he was overdrawn from his true yuan.

  "Yes! Yes! It's already difficult for us to cultivate on our own, if we ruin the foundation because of this, it won't be good." Several others echoed in agreement.

  Lu Yu Feng turned his head and gave them a grateful look, Lu Yu Feng was relying on his physical body to walk, his mouth couldn't speak like theirs, so he could only express gratitude with his eyes.

  Lu Yu Feng looked up and saw that the person who had walked the farthest had already reached the twenty-seventh step, with a cultivation level of Hua Yuan middle period. Just by looking at the person's appearance, it was clear that they had also exhausted all their strength. People had begun to slowly retreat, their cultivation having been tested, and from this side, it was definitely impossible to reach the top, so they could only return to the left side and climb up from there. Lu Yu Feng also followed the crowd in slowly retreating down the stone stairs.

  "What a strong physique, what a thick true yuan." After Lu Yufeng and the others left, in the depths of the Imperial Sword Sect, someone opened their eyes and said languidly. After finishing speaking, they closed their eyes again and continued to cultivate.