Form Tempering Pill

Step…

As Yaan stepped onto the 201st step, the pressure instantly doubled. However, he didn't so much as pause, continuing to walk up the stairs, slowly but steadily.

At this pace, he arrived at the 300th step half an hour later. The pressure on the past three stairs doubled with every step, until Yaan could now clearly feel the strain on the 300th step. That said, it still wasn't particularly taxing on him, so he stopped and rested here leisurely.

"It should be possible for a strong adult man with powerful willpower to ascend the first hundred stairs, but only someone with an extremely strong physical body and resolution could make it to 200. As for the 300th step…no ordinary mortal body could reach this stage! Only those with strength based constitutions, or other cultivation methods to strengthen their flesh, could hope to make it here." Yaan mused to himself as he eagerly watched the formation of another red vortex before him.

Whoosh!

Like before, an item slowly emerged from the vortex. After examining the book that appeared before him, Yaan blinked in surprise and took it into his hand.

"Fiend Alchemy?"

The title was simple, but it didn't really provide much information regarding the actual contents of the book, aside from the fact that it was related to fiends and alchemy. Although he was tempted to start reading this alchemy book here and now, Yaan resisted the temptation and placed the old-looking book into his spatial bag.

"Strange, Rui never mentioned that there was a type of alchemy specific to the fiend race. Well, maybe she doesn't know about this. But why is it not included in the Fiend Transformation Technique…?"

In the end, he put this matter out of mind. He only had three days to spend on this trial, and Yaan fully intended to make the most of this. This second item confirmed his speculation that the rewards in this trial were tailored specifically to his needs, making him all the more eager to push on!

Yaan couldn't help but imagine…what sort of incredible reward would he receive if he made it to the 1000th step?

Step…

Yaan paused after taking the next step as he felt the pressure become twice as powerful. After taking another step, the pressure increased again, but not by as much.

At the 325th, 350th and 375th steps, the pressure was also doubled! By the time Yaan stepped onto the 397th step, each consecutive step resulted in the pressure doubling yet again, until he finally reached the 400th step.

"Hah…" Yaan took a deep breath and exhaled. A bead of sweat was visible on his forehead, he was clearly starting to struggle. He wiped away the sweat as he caught he breath, his expression now becoming slightly serious.

"The pressure is becoming exponentially more powerful with each step. I doubt that anyone else will be able to reach this point, unless another 3-Star Realm demon is present…"

Naturally, only Yaan had managed to reach this stage so far, but he had still underestimated the Ghu Clan.

Just as Yaan reached the 400th step, Ghu Lin reached the 200th step not long after. His breathing was heavy, but his expression was calm. A pill slid out from a red vortex in front of him, which he placed into his pocket before continuing. He didn't even take a second glance at the pill.

Ghu Nadda struggled more than Ghu Lin, but he was still steadily ascending, reaching the 130th step before long.

There wasn't a single Ghu Clansman who failed to reach the 100th step within two hours. They all used various methods, either relying on their body, strength of will, or various unique items that could be activated without Innate Qi.

As for Zue Yin, she struggled more than the Ghu Clansmen. She only managed to reach the 70th step just before Yaan reached the stepped onto the 400th.

"Hah…hah…hah…" A wave of dizziness overcame her and she stumbled back. Alarmed, she hurriedly pulled out a talisman from her inside breast pocket, then quickly slapped it onto her forehead. A gold-red power wrapped around her body. She broke out into a cold sweat as she quickly regained her footing.

"Th-that was a bit too close!" She exhaled fearfully, knowing that if she had really fallen back, she would have failed the trial…which would most likely result in her death!

The punishment for failure was never explicitly stated, but given the ruthless nature of this inheritance, they would almost certainly be killed if they failed to reach the 100th step.

'It seems that 70 steps is my limit. Thankfully grandfather prepared this talisman for me so that I could survive through any solitary trials without the help of the elders….but even outside of this trial, the elders aren't here now, they almost all returned to the North! Nobody will be there to help me in the 3rd trial! C-can I really succeed…?'

Zue Yin swallowed fearfully and her heart skipped a beat. After a moment of worry, she showed a firm expression and resolutely shook her head.

'No matter what, I must survive! I snuck away from the elders and entered alone this time because I didn't want to always rely on the clan! I wanted to experience the cruelty of the real world and overcome it with my own efforts!'

Like everyone else, Yaan was completely unaware of the efforts and struggles of the other participants. He had no clue that tens of people had already failed and died, whilst others had surpassed the 100th stair point already.

He didn't know how everyone else was doing, but nor did he care. In this trial, his rewards were solely reliant on his own efforts and unaffected by the success and failure of others.

As he stood there on the 400th step, Yaan's eyes shone brilliantly. He watched as a small red pill slid out from the third red vortex. His heart lurched and he wanted to grab it immediately, but he kept his cool and remained careful. After closely examining the pill for a moment, Yaan finally grabbed it with a joyous laugh.

"To think that I obtained this so easily!"

He knew this pill, because it was something that had been found by previous users! It was only a Rank 2 pill, but this Rank 2 pill was more desirable for body temperers than any other Rank 2 pill!

In truth, there were actually six unique body tempering pills, not just five. The sixth pill in this set could only be used after the other five of the same rank had been used, because this medicine took the lingering medicinal energy which remained within the body after using those five pills, and fully integrated it into the body as a whole! Unlike the other five pills, this pill affected the entire body…

This was the Rank 2 Form Tempering Pill!

Without hesitating, Yaan threw the pill into his mouth and sat down. He closed his eyes, showing a serious expression as he focussed intently.

Bang!

An explosive force resounded within his body, causing him to tremble for a few moments. It didn't take long for Yaan to suppress the unsettling effect, but his face paled ever so slightly. A couple of minutes later, he opened his eyes and exhaled in shock.

"What a crazy medicine! Even this Rank 2 pill could have injured me if my body wasn't so powerful! And this effect…"

Yaan became serious as he studied his body's condition. It was just like he'd heard, this pill provided zero effect on his Vital Energy cultivation, it only tempered his fleshly body itself. Even though it was merely a Rank 2 pill, the effect on his physical body was even better than any of the individual Rank 3 unique body tempering pills!

After standing up slowly, Yaan flexed his hands a few times before letting out a satisfied smile. He could feel the power contained within his flesh, it was an incredible feeling, especially since he had improved so rapidly.

"Let's go." Yaan muttered to himself and continued on.

From the 401st step onwards, there was a very obvious increase in difficulty. Even with Yaan's enhanced physical body, he was forced to stop for breath at the 450th step. He stopped again at the 480th, then continued to pause on each consecutive step, until he finally reached the 500th step after a few hours.

"Hah…hah…hah…" Sweat drenched Yaan's forehead as he gasped for breath. It was difficult just standing on this step, the pressure weighing down on his body was immense and threatened to blur his consciousness. He gritted his teeth, staring forwards and waiting for the next reward.

"Another pill?" Yaan muttered, taking the light green pill which was no larger than a pea. Unlike many body tempering pills, its weight was hardly noticeable.

Yaan furrowed his brows. This pill…he had no idea what it was.

"Do I consume it, or not?" Yaan was unsure whether or not to eat this pill. For a moment, he looked away from the pill, towards the steps ahead.

He had the distinct feeling that traversing the stairway up to the 600th stair would be beyond difficult. In fact, he had no certainty that he could succeed with this task, as even just standing here on the 500th stair was gradually wearing him down.

His previous thoughts of striving to reach the top of the stairway were pushed from his mind. After all, Yaan wasn't delusional, he realised that reaching the top was far beyond his current abilities.

"The other rewards were all things that were helpful to my current self. This pill definitely has the aura of a body tempering pill, and since it should be something that I can handle right now…"

In the end, he showed a resolute expression. Whilst there was some risk in taking an unknown pill, when was there ever reward without risk? The life of a demon was a life filled with risk, to shy away from danger was to be a failure of a demon!

In the end, he was willing to consume this pill because he could feel that the pill's aura was neither poisonous nor overbearing. It was clearly a Rank 3 pill, so he was certain that he could tolerate its effect.

Gulp!

Once he decided on doing something, Yaan wouldn't hesitate and would follow through without thinking too much. This wasn't just because he had developed a sense of resolution, but also because he knew that overthinking things only led to uncertainty and nervousness, which would get in the way of his focus.

At first, he didn't feel any effect from the unknown medicine. It was only after a minute passed by that he began to feel a force expanding from the centre of his body.

After the pill dissolved in his stomach, it produced a light green gas which gathered into a central location before slowly pressing outwards. This force felt very mild at first, and even after two minutes, Yaan frowned, thinking that this really was a bit of an anti-climax.

After five minutes, the internal pressure became quite noticeable, causing Yaan's expression to change. After ten minutes, he started breathing extremely heavily. His face turned pale and his heartbeat sped up when he realised that this medicine's effect seemed to be growing stronger and stronger by the minute, showing no signs of relenting any time soon!

After 15 minutes, Yaan's heart was now racing erratically. His entire body was slowly swelling up and it felt like there was nothing he could do to combat the ever-growing force which ceaselessly pushed outwards from within his body. This force was now so strong that it threatened to tear apart his body in a pitiful explosion of flesh! Were it not for the opposite force exerted on him by the misty staircase, Yaan would have seriously struggled to endure to this point!

"Ah!" As the solution to this crisis naturally arose within his mind, Yaan immediately stepped forwards onto the 501st stair.

The pressure instantly increased, driving Yaan down into the ground beneath his feet. He felt such a massive weight pressing down against every spec of his flesh that it felt like he might get crushed under his own body weight!

"Perfect!" Yaan happily exclaimed, then took another three steps in rapid succession. With every step, the external pressure increased dramatically. However, at the same time, this pressure, as it attempted to crush his body from the outside, was actually countering the force within his body! The swelling within Yaan's body almost completely subsided by the time he reached the 510th step. He would have continued on further, but he was gasping for breath at this point and needed to rest.

"Phew…" After a few minutes passed by, Yaan realised that he didn't have the luxury to wait around. Unexpectedly, the force within his body was still building up!

Each step became slower than the last. By the time he reached the 520th step, he was forced to stop to rest for a few minutes after each and every step. He ended up consuming multiple Rank 3 Vital Recovery Pills just to keep his energy levels elevated whilst boosting his body's recovery rate temporarily.

Every ten steps, the exhaustion that plagued his body became significantly worse. At least the pressure from the mysterious green pill seemed to have calmed down after a couple of hours, but Yaan was seriously wondering if he had it in him to climb the next 50 stairs, towards the 600th step. No matter reaching the 1000th step, even the 600th was seeming like an impossibility…

No, he would definitely succeed!

Yaan clenched his teeth tight enough to crush metal between his jaws, then took another step, continuing on with this herculean task.

Step by step, he rose up the misty staircase.

At some point in time, his mind became so blurred and dizzy that he lost track of his progress. The entire world was now shaking and his hindered vision distorted further into a blur of grey. Still, despite all of this, Yaan took another step.

"Peugh!"

He choked and nearly fell, gasping for breath and forcefully stabilising himself.

It would have been best to rest on this step for some time. Unfortunately, Yaan knew that he couldn't hold out any longer! The effect from the unknown pill was rapidly diminishing, meaning that he was now forced to endure the full brunt of the pressure from the misty staircase using his own abilities!

He took another step, ignoring the blood trickling down his chin. The stream of blood from his nose and mouth combined into one steady flow, dripping onto the step below and forming a crimson puddle beneath his shaking feet.

Through the dizziness and burning pain, Yaan somehow managed to place one foot onto the 600th step!

However, as soon as his one foot landed on this step…

Bang!

The stairway's force hit him like a collapsing mountain, immediately throwing him backwards from the 600th stair. Yaan wore a depressed smile as he caught a glance of the red vortex appearing in front of him. He reached out with his hand, but he was unable to reach it as he was thrusted backwards through the air.

As soon as he fell back onto the first stair behind him, a red light wrapped around his injured body. Within seconds, Yaan vanished from the misty staircase.

Sometimes in this life, even if your determination pierced into the heavens, you would still fail to reach your goals.

Such was the life of a demon.