The 10,000th Stair

After hearing the voice, Xi Ansel was shocked. His face was giving an expression never seen before, his eyes wide open staring towards the peak which wasn't much far from where he was standing but the thing that stupefied the most, was the pressure that was crushing Xi Ansel earlier had dissipated.

This turn of events were the most astonishing. Xi Ansel shifted his gaze towards Gu Li and Wang Xiao but what he saw was even more baffling. Both of them seem to be struggling to move upwards. Nothing had changed for them, the pressure was still the same as before.

'Seems like only I have been affected and from the looks of it, it's definitely that voice's doing. Well, I'll know after I reach the peak', Xi Ansel thought.

Amidst the astonished looks of the crowd, he leaped towards the peak of the mountain. His speed faster than before.

This time Wang Xiao and Gu Li both were flabbergasted as Xi Ansel shot past them like a gust of wind.

"How is he doing it?", a thought passed across Wang Xiao's mind and her beautiful face had a bit of frown as she looked towards the back of the speeding Xi Ansel.

"No, way! This guy is much faster than before. How is it possible for him to move under this intense pressure?", Gu Li's mind was in turmoil seeing Xi Ansel cross him in an instant.

Gu Li immediately circulated all his energy around his body, clenched his teeth and stepped on the next stair.

Puch!!

He suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood. This was something that was bound to occur as he was forcefully trying to push his body. It was as if lightening struck him, Gu Li realised that it was his limit but he was still unable to accept this.

'How can a person with a lower cultivation than him move forward.....whereas he can't?', while thinking about all this he put his right foot on the next stair.

Crack!!

This time his right legs bones started to crack, it was at that time, a heavy voice could be heard in his mind, "STOP". Hearing this familiar voice, Gu Li immediately turned towards the crowd to look at the middle aged man with an upright face, his face full of surprise.

This middle aged man was the vice sect leader of cloud martial sect, who used telepathy to communicate his thoughts to Gu Li. Telepathy could only be used by those who have reached the higher realms of cultivation. Gu Li finally stopped and fell on the stair in exhaustion, it was at that moment he realized, if he were to move any further it would have resulted in grave injuries or perhaps death. He was completely blinded by his greed not realizing the situation, thinking about that, cold sweat poured down from his head. Gu Li was full of respect for the vice sect master as he bowed from the mountain, if he hadn't stopped him, then there Gu Li would have suffered a lot.

Gu Li suddenly remembered something and looked towards Wang Xiao, but to his surprise she had already stopped and was sitting on the stair in a meditative position with her eyes closed.

"Oh! how could I forget this?", it was at this moment Gu Li realized that all the examinees below the 5000th step had disappeared from the mountain only those above the 5000th step remained. This was a reward for the examinees, as the dense spiritual energy on the mountain would help them advance in their cultivation and the intense pressure would help them temper their bodies.

Gu Li quickly went into a meditative posture himself and started absorbing the spiritual energy.

Meanwhile the crowd was in total chaos

"What am I seeing?"

"Slap me! so that I can wake up from this dream.....Aah!.... Not kick me you BASTARD!", a man suddenly roared towards another and started a fight.

"Who the hell is this guy?"

"Why haven't I heard about him?"

"Whoever he is, I have decided, I'm marrying him", a young maiden with a beautiful figure said from the crowd.

"No, you don't he is mine....Weren't you saying, he was trash, when the test started but now as he is coming closer to the peak, you changed your opinion! What a Bitch!", another maiden was frowning as she replied.

"A legend is about to be created", an elder from the wind martial sect said. All the other elders agreed. Even those elders who were frowning earlier at Xi Ansel for nearly killing Ji Jian, were surprised and nodded in unison .

The two vice sect leaders of the sky and wind martial sects also had their jaws open wide. Even though they were vice sect leaders still they couldn't hold back their surprise. The only one unaffected by this sudden change was the vice sect leader of the cloud martial sect.

Xi Ansel had no time to look at the dumbfounded gazes of the mases as he continued forward.

Wooosh!

Finally he reached the 9999th stair.

The whole crowd held their breaths as this was the most exciting and wonderous moment they had seen in their entire life. They were all excited and curious to know what will happen as one reaches the 10,000th step.

"Fuu! It's time!", Xi Ansel released his breadth, his eyes full of excitement, curiousness and a bit of nervousness. Even though he was known as a death god in his previous life, he still felt a bit of nervousness as this was a completely different experience. This nervousness was actually excitement of gaining something.

Xi Ansel finally stepped on the 10,000th step.

BOOM!

As if a lightening stuck his entire body. Xi Ansel felt his whole body being sucked into a dark black hole, at the same time a huge red and black barrier of energy was formed around the area where Xi Ansel stood. This barrier of energy stopped everyone from seeing what was inside it.

"What happened? Where is he?"

"He suddenly disappeared!"

"I can't see past that red and black barrier, What is going on?"

The scene they all saw was creating a huge turmoil among the crowd. Everyone had a disappointed and unsatisfactory expression as they couldn't understand what was happening. They all wanted to see what would happen to someone who reached the 10,000th stair but now this red and black barrier, seemed to be stopping them from seeing anything. This made them extremely vexed. It was as if, you were given a drop of water while walking miles under the scorching sun in a vast desert but before you could drink that drop of water it suddenly disappears.

Among all the frowning, unsatisfied and tensed faces was a visage that had a faint smile. It was that of the vice sect leader of the crowd martial sect.

" Seems like my intuition was right! He really is the chosen one!", the vice sect leader sighed looking towards the red and black energy barrier at the peak of the ancient mountain.