Ascending the Staircase

John's hand sliced down incredibly fast, appearing like a blur to all watching from the sidelines.

Che!

His hand sliced directly into Grant's shoulder, severing his arm off completely.

"Gahhh," Grant cried out in pain from losing an arm.

John's counter attack had been so fast that he didn't even have time to react. Grant tried to pull his blade free from John's grip and retreat, but found that it wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pulled.

This delay was all John needed as his other hand, still holding the blade, suddenly pushed outwards with all his might.

Boom!

Grant's sword collided with his own body, its power overwhelming him. The sounds of bone's cracking rang out.

"Gah!"

Grant once more cried out in pain as he shot backwards like a broken kite, slamming into the hard ground. His body tumbled head over heels dozens of times as his body carved a long ditch in the earth. After tumbling backwards for over three hundred yards, Grant's body finally came to a rest.

Boom!

Another loud boom echoed out as John powerfully landed on Grant's ribcage, having just jumped over from his previous position. Blood spewed out of Grant's mouth as his ribcage shattered. The previous haughty and arrogant Bloodfiend Sect King now lay on the ground, ruined and half-dead.

Blood escaped from several parts of his body, and gurgled out of his mouth as he watched John stand above him.

"You might want to conceal your killing intent next time," John said to Grant, his cold eyes looking down on the dying boy.

Understanding washed over Grant as he realized the fatal flaw he had made, but it was too late to change anything. Even with that knowledge, Grant knew he was destined to die as soon as he had picked a fight with John. His power had been overwhelming, and there was no hope of victory.

Life faded from his eyes, and the former King of the Bloodfiend Sect soon ceased to exist. John looked down on his corpse with cold, unmoving eyes for a moment before he collected his corpse in his palace realm.

Grant had underestimated him, which resulted in his quick death. Had he taken John more seriously, the fight would have lasted a bit longer, but his only fate was death as soon as he challenged John.

"Let's see what his spatial ring holds," John mumbled to himself as he sent his divine sense into the spatial ring.

A soul seal was placed on the ring, preventing him from peering with. John sent a powerful wave of his soul power to wash over the seal, instantly shattering the seal. His divine sense peered inside the ring.

"Weapons, spirit crystals, cultivation scrolls…" John noticed quite a few valuables inside Grant's ring.

However, with John's incredible wealth, none of it truly enticed him.

"Hmmm?" John's interest was suddenly piqued as he noticed a large box, a dozen yards tall and wide, sealed in the corner of the spatial realm. It had a seal placed on it as well, hiding the contents within. John sent his power once more to erase the seal, and quickly opened the boxes to peer within.

His face instantly darkened, as the open boxes revealed several fresh corpses to him. This wasn't completely surprising to him however, as the Bloodfiend Sect was known to cultivate taboo arts which required human blood.

Two corpses belonged to disciples of the Divine Soul Sect, and John quickly recognized one as belonging to the girl he had met at the lake. He shook his head in pity. While he had some enmity with the girl, it wasn't to the point of life or death.

Another corpse belonged to a Supreme Battle Sect boy who John had never seen before. John suddenly spotted blue cloth on the bottom of the pile, and pushed aside the other bodies to reveal the source of the blue.

It was a Heavenly Lightning Sect member, and was one of the Inner Disciples John recognized from his classes. He had spoken with the boy once or twice, and had a rather good impression of him. John shook his head in pity as he moved the corpses to his palace realm..

'He must have been snuck up on by Grant, otherwise he would have crushed his talisman.'

Despite the safety of the talisman's, danger lurked all around. No matter how prepared one was, in the cultivation world, danger would always be present.

The corpse's blood essence, Grants included, was quickly separated from their bodies and sent to John's body. A surge of vibrant energy filled his dantian, raising its level once more. However, much to John's expectations, it still wasn't enough to break thorough.

'Each major realm truly does require a monstrous increase over the last realm's requirements.'

It appeared that each major realm increase required nearly ten times the amount of corpses as the previous realm. This scaling was massive, and John shook his head at the thought of how many bodies he would need in the future to level his body up.

However, John wasn't too disappointed. With how many Bloodfiend Sect youths were present in the ancient city, he knew he would advance sooner or later.

His soul suddenly left his spatial realm and returned to the real world. John brushed the dust off his robe and walked back towards the staircase. The crowd watched from a distance as John returned to his previous position, as if nothing had happened. His monstrous display of strength still left them speechless.

"Let's continue," John said to Adam as he took his first step onto the staircase.

Adam nodded his head and followed behind quickly. He was rather used to John's display of overwhelming power, and after watching him successfully complete twenty dantian compressions, Adam was no longer stunned silent by John's battles.

A unique pressure instantly descended on John and Adam, making them both pause for a second.

As John and Adam stepped onto the staircase, the crowd behind them suddenly exploded into an uproar.

"What the fuck just happened?"

"Did we see that right? Did Grant, one of the Four Kings of the Bloodfiend Sect, really die within thirty seconds to someone in the same cultivation realm?" another chimed up.

The youths soon turned to the nearby Heavenly Lightning Sect disciples, looking for more information on the mysterious youth who had shattered their reality of power. They all considered themselves impressive disciples, but compared to the scene they just witnessed, each disciple felt as small as an ant.

…

"No more…"

"I'm about to die, please let me go."

"Stop killing me! I'm really about to die"

Repeated cries of pain and desperation rang out loudly over the massive staircase, drawing the attention of those already on it. They were fully focused on the staircase in front of them, and had not noticed the incredible fight that had taken place behind them recently.

They struggled against the stairs with all their might, as the mysterious pressure that pressed down on them made it incredibly difficult to advance. However, each step they advanced, they could feel the pressure give great benefits to their cultivation.

The mysterious pressure seemed to act as a whetstone, further increasing ounces cultivation, as well as solidifying it even more. Not only that, but it also tempered their will giving an additional benefit. However, these benefits came at a cost, and that was resisting the immense pressure washing down on them. It took all their effort to resist it, and most who ascended the staircase did not make it to the top.

Mae, one of the Core Disciples of the Heavenly Lightning Sect was on the staircase as well, and her curious eyes also looked towards the source of the sound. Her eyes turned into ones of amusement, as she had witnessed such a scene before, while the eyes of the other cultivators bulged out in surprise.

"Ahhhh," Adam once again cried out in pain as he struggled against John's grip. John had his arm gripped like a pincer, refusing to let go as he forcefully dragged Adam up the staircase.

Although his own foundation was incredibly solid, he could still feel slight benefits from ascending the staircase.

"How mysterious," John couldn't help but mumble out loud as he continued further up it.

The pressure was almost insignificant to John, but he could tell that it was incredibly beneficial for almost all youths who ascended it. Adam continued to kick and scream as John dragged him upwards, increasing the pressure and pain on Adam.

Before long, the pain became too much, and Adam collapsed into unconsciousness. John didn't stop however, and continued steadily ascending the staircase, Adam in tow. He passed by the other cultivators one by one, shocking each with his speed.

They had been struggling against the stairs for hours, and John had passed that progress in mere minutes.

"Hi there," John suddenly greeted Mae with a smile as he passed her by. Mae returned John's greetings with a smile of her own, but didn't have the energy to respond verbally. Her eyes locked onto John's back as he passed her by.

"He truly is a monster." Mae had thought of catching up to John with hard work, but every display of his crushed these hopes.

John's pace didn't slow despite the pressure growing as he ascended further upwards, and he eventually reached the last step without too much strain. The pressure at the top was enough to make even him exert effort to move within, although he was still fairly relaxed. It pressed down on his dantian in a strange way, almost similar to his compressions.

John suddenly sat down on the top step and breathed out a breath of relief, as he plopped Adam on the step beside him on his back.

He suddenly took out one of the weapons he had found in Grant's spatial ring. It was a battle hammer which was quite heavy. John tested the weapon in his hands for a moment before he reached over and placed it on Adam's chest.

Several minutes later, Adam slowly regained consciousness, and began to scream out again from the pressure at the top step. He tried to stand up and leave, but the weight of the weapon pressing down on his chest pinned him to the earth.

"John...no more," Adam cried out in protest, but his cries fell on deaf ears.

John shut his eyes and focused on cultivating, as cultivating in this unique pressure was quite beneficial. Pained screams continued to ring out for several minutes before Adam once again passed out into unconsciousness.

Several minutes later…

"Ahhhh, John…..I'm dying."

The screams started again, but John ignored them once more. While he knew Adam was in pain, it was mostly theatrics. Adam detested feeling pain, and had an incredibly low tolerance towards it. However, the pain was not life threatening, and John knew Adam was far too soft to survive in the cultivation world with his current mindset. This was both cultivation training, as well as mindset and will training.

Screams!

Silence!

Screams!

Silence!

Adam continued to regain consciousness, before he passed out once more. This continued for quite some time, all while John ignored the pleas.

John sat there in silent meditation, when suddenly his eyes opened as he inspected Adam closely. His divine sense closely inspected Adam's dantian.

"It's about time."