Heaven or Hell 

The dragons looked at Bruce with killing intent before moving onto the stairs.

"You will wish that you had no tongue by the time I'm done with you" The leader of the dragons said to Bruce as he rushed toward the stairs.

"Bruce, why does that lizard keep talking to us?" Deion looked at the leader of the dragons like he was an idiot.

"It's because he's too weak and needs to overcompensate, hahaha" Bruce started to laugh.

"Bruce, why are you antagonizing the dragons?" Meredith whispered.

Seeing Meredith all tensed up, Bruce stopped laughing and touched her cheeks.

"Don't you remember that the exit will only spawn 15 minutes after the test is over?" Bruce reminded everyone.

"This test is not benign like it seems. The voice is telling us to tread carefully because the City of Rebirth will not protect us forever"

Everyone in the group began to understand what Bruce implied. Like the real world, strength is everything. They all would be wiped out in 15 minutes if they're too weak.

"But what would antagonizing the dragons give us?" Edward asked. He felt fear when he looked at the dragons, especially the young man in the front.

"Edward, how will you reach the peak if you're afraid of those who are more powerful than you?" Bruce turned around to look at Edward, who looked meek unlike his usual confident self.

"The dragons are powerful, and they want us to serve them in this trial. If we serve them then we will not get the inheritance."

"Everyone here is our enemies, and we cannot falter against them even if they're stronger than us."

"We might as well head back to the Imperial Academy if we have to be subservient to those stupid lizards"

What Bruce said enlightened the group and they regained back their confidence. Everyone knew they were risking their lives to attend this trial but seeing how powerful the other groups were, everyone became spiritless except for Sophia, Deion, and Bruce.

"Also, I already see the angels and the demons staring each other with great hatred so our only concern is with the dragons and the other group of humans"

The group turned to the angels and see them sending hostility toward the demons. The demons didn't respond in kind either and began to spew profanities.

"I think that the dragons, demons, and angels don't see us humans as competitors, so they chose to ignore us. If that dumb lizard didn't say anything, then I would have minded my own business"

"However, he had to open his stupid mouth which ensured his entire group demise" Bruce said confidently as the group reached the first step of the stairs.

Everyone looked up to see a golden door at the top of the sky. The goal of the first step is to reach the golden door by stepping through the staircase.

At the bottom of the stairs, a message was engraved.

'To reach the heavens, one must first walk through hell.'

"Well said" Bruce praised the message after reading it.

"Everyone, closely guard your soul as you walk up the stairs" Bruce reminded the group.

"Let's start"

The group began to walk up the stairs and found themselves struggle on the 20th step.

The dragons, angels, and demons also struggled after the 20th step, but they kept moving on.

Surprisingly, the second group of human led by a beautiful young woman didn't struggle much as they kept walking on the stairs.

Unlike everyone else, Bruce didn't struggle at all because the first test is a trial of the soul. After the 20th step, the surrounding began to attack everyone's soul to weaken their control over their own energies.

Deion, Edward, and Sophia didn't struggle as much while Meredith and Chelsey could barely move onto the 24th step.

Looking at the situation, Meredith and Chelsey would have to stay beneath the stairs at the first trial and wait for everyone else to return. Bruce didn't want to see that happen, so he decided to cheat.

The way to pass this trial is by blocking all the soul attacks coming from the surrounding. As one moves higher on the stairs, more soul attacks would be placed on him or her.

Bruce activated a soul barrier covering everyone in the group. Everyone looked at him in surprise when they felt the pressure on their bodies disappeared as they desperately tried to protect their souls.

With his perfect control over his soul and his soul being massively more powerful than any Soul Manifestation cultivators, Bruce could easily cheat the trial by placing everyone under his soul barrier.

"Everyone, let's rush ahead!" Bruce smiled at the group when nothing bad happened to him. It meant that the trial accepted his method to move the group along.

The group comfortably reached the same level as everyone as they struggled to reach the next step on the stair.

The angels and demons looked at Bruce's group with curiosity while the dragons looked at them with great hatred. Dragons prided themselves on their immovable bodies and powerful souls. Mere humans passing them in the trial was the greatest insult to their pride.

"Lizard, it's getting hot at the top of the stairs. Your body will smell if you reach the top, so I strongly recommend you stay at the bottom" Bruce grinned at the dragons as his group passed everyone and headed to the top.

"You stupid monkey! You'll pay for this" The leader of the dragons yelled at Bruce with great animosity.

"Lizard, less yapping, more walking" Deion looked back and taunted the group.

"Do you guys have to cause trouble everywhere you go?" Chelsey pinched Deion.

"What trouble? We're simply defending the pride of humanity" Deion puffed up his chest.

The group easily reached the top as Bruce managed to block every single soul attack with his barrier. Though Bruce felt a bit tired because he exhausted a large portion of his soul strength. Thankfully, the soul attacks stopped when the group reached the door.

Bruce popped a healing pill inside his mouth and waited for the other groups to get here. It's probable that only a few will manage to reach the top since not everyone has an abnormal soul like him.

What surprised Bruce the most is the young woman from the other human group reached the top as well. She was the second one to reach the top after him. Her facial features are absolutely flawless when he took a good look at her.

Beautiful pale skin, brown eyes, and luscious pink lips. She wore a white dress that outlined her beautiful curves. Bruce gulped the more he stared at the young woman.

"Stare enough?" The young woman asked with indifference.

"Ahem, I'm simply admiring your beauty" Bruce coughed and got goosebumps as Sophia and Meredith looked at him from behind.

"I'm surprised that someone at my age has a more powerful soul than me in this world" The young woman said as she walked pass Bruce.

"I hope that we won't be enemies in the future" She turned around to look at Bruce one more time before walking to a corner waiting for her group to reach the top.

Just before Bruce could chase after the young woman to admire some more, he was stopped by Meredith and Sophia.

"Hey girls, today's a nice day huh" Bruce coughed lightly as he stared at the two tigresses.

"Bruce, I didn't know you like to spread your seeds that much" Meredith said in a threating tone.

"What seeds are you talking about Meredith?" Bruce pulled out his pocket pants showing everyone that he had no seeds.

"Cut the crap! Focus on the trial and stop flirting with other women" Meredith angrily pinched his waist to give him a warning of what's to come if he tries to add more members to the harem.

Deion came near Bruce and quietly whispered.

"Bro, you should forget about her. Long distance relationship never works"

Bruce: "…."