Chapter 130: Speed Increases Sharply

The audience below continued discussing Lu An.

"This person from Yongning County is truly ridiculous. He just stepped onto the second platform and is already exhausted?"

"Hey, I've seen him before. He was personally brought into the royal palace by King Huai."

"Really? Could King Huai be associated with someone like him?"

With King Huai's name brought up, whether people believed it or not, the discussions became much quieter.

As a result, more and more people focused on the water screen displaying Lu An.

At that moment, the water screen rippled suddenly, and the image began to blur.

Vaguely, only a shadowy figure and the step he was on could be seen.

The audience was immediately puzzled, causing quite a commotion.

"What's going on? Is the water screen broken?"

"Impossible! Surely some expert doesn't want us to see his screen."

...

The audience speculated endlessly, but no one came forward to explain.

Lu An sat cross-legged on the ground, continuing to cultivate the Carefree Extreme Intent Technique.

Just as when he was on the first step, he increased the extreme true intent within him to the point where he could move freely before he got up.

Now that he had stepped onto the second platform, he intended to do the same until he finally reached the summit.

As the Carefree Extreme Intent Technique circulated, the extreme true intent within him gradually increased, and the pressure from the second platform also intensified.

On his skin, a thin layer of black filth appeared once more; the second layer of the cleansing marrow and meridian trial had already taken effect.

However, no one in the audience noticed this scene.

Through the blurry water screen, they could only see Lu An sitting cross-legged on the steps, motionless once again.

In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.

The competition at the top of the Green Mountain rankings had reached an intense stage. The Seventh Prince seemed to be struggling and had fallen to second place.

The first place was now held by Wu Zisi of Zhao State.

Ji Xidong and the Korean envoy were in third and fourth place, respectively.

Apart from these four, the others had been left far behind; the fifth place contestant was nearly a hundred steps behind the Korean envoy.

This meant that, barring any surprises, the winner would emerge from among these four.

Now, all four had climbed over three hundred steps. Although they had received three instances of cultivation reinforcement, they were still struggling.

Ji Xidong, following behind the Seventh Prince, noticed that he was tiring and asked:

"Brother Gui, do you have any strength left?"

The Seventh Prince shook his head reluctantly, saying bitterly:

"My cultivation is still lacking, and I exerted myself too much at the beginning. I'm afraid I won't last much longer."

"Brother Ji, we must not let the Zhao State take first place!"

Ji Xidong nodded solemnly, and then suddenly released an astonishing aura, taking one step to stand on the same step as the Seventh Prince.

"Take care, Brother Gui."

His eyes focused, and with another step, he surpassed the Seventh Prince, moving into second place.

From his appearance, it seemed that he still had some strength left.

Seeing this, the Seventh Prince finally felt slightly relieved. If the Zhao and Han States were to win this time, Great Qi's reputation would be utterly tarnished.

Although he was unwilling, he had no other choice.

He took out a jade token from his chest, exerted a little force to crush it, and his figure disappeared from the spot.

As he was teleported away, the Green Mountain ranking locked in Gui Changqing's position at three hundred and twenty-five.

Wu Zisi, who was in first place, sensed this and looked back with a slight smirk.

Then, noticing Ji Xidong closing in, his expression grew serious.

"This person is even slightly faster than me. Hmph, if you seek death, don't blame me."

He sneered coldly, opened his mouth, and exhaled a black gas that spread onto the steps.

After that, with every step he took, he left a trail of black gas.

The audience below saw this and began to curse loudly.

"This Zhao State cultivator is so shameless, resorting to such despicable tactics."

"This is the capital of Great Qi, and he dares to behave like this. Does he really think he can walk out of Great Qi unscathed?"

On the viewing platform, Grand Marshal Zhuang's expression turned cold at this sight.

"Leaving baleful energy to obstruct those behind? Is this all that Zhao State cultivators are capable of?"

The Nascent Soul cultivator leading Zhao State was unfazed, saying calmly:

"The rules of climbing the Green Mountain do not prohibit fighting, and we are merely leaving some baleful energy to hinder others."

While this was true, climbing the Green Mountain had always been about relying on one's own strength, where the higher climber wins.

Using such tactics, although not prohibited, went against the spirit of this challenge and could be seen as an unworthy victory.

Grand Marshal Zhuang knew that saying more here would be useless, so he fell silent. However, his mind was already thinking about how to teach Zhao State a lesson and vent this frustration once he returned to Zhishang City.

The Qi Emperor waved his hand expressionlessly, seemingly unconcerned about the matter.

"It's fine; let's just follow the rules. The one who climbs higher wins, and the rest rely on their own means."

Before long, Ji Xidong arrived at the baleful energy.

He looked at the black mist before him, his brow furrowed tightly. However, seeing that Wu Zisi was getting further away, he no longer hesitated and stepped onto the platform.

As his body made contact with the baleful energy, a sudden cacophony of cries and screams flooded into his mind.

He felt as if he were surrounded by mountains of corpses and seas of blood, with all sorts of distracting thoughts flooding his mind.

His breathing momentarily faltered, and he immediately sat down cross-legged, beginning to circulate his heart-cleansing technique.

After quite a while, he stood up again, seemingly having adapted to the baleful energy, and proceeded to the next step.

However, this delay had caused him to fall further behind Wu Zisi.

Naturally, the audience below erupted in criticism, but it did nothing to change the situation in the arena.

Suddenly, someone with sharp eyes noticed something unusual and pointed at a spot on the water screen, exclaiming:

"Look over there! Why is his speed so fast?"

Everyone turned their gaze, and they saw that the water screen was incredibly blurry, but they could vaguely make out a figure rapidly ascending the steps, taking two steps at a time.

This person was Lu An, who had previously sat cross-legged at each step to cultivate the Carefree Extreme Intent Technique.

However, what he hadn't expected was that as he ascended, the increase in his extreme true intent accelerated to such a degree that, after reaching a certain threshold, he could traverse the steps without needing to cultivate.

Moreover, every time he stepped onto a new section of stairs, the effect of the cleansing marrow and meridian trial would immediately take effect.

If it weren't for his ability to perform the cleansing technique, he would likely be covered in a thick layer of black filth by now.

However, with the increasing steps, the effectiveness of the cleansing marrow and meridian trial began to diminish, as it seemed that there were few impurities left in his body.

In this situation, he naturally wouldn't waste time and instead strolled upward with ease.

Before long, he reached the ninety-ninth step.

Seeing this scene, the audience below was baffled.

"Could he have been hiding his cultivation level earlier?"

"I told you, someone brought in personally by King Huai can't possibly be mediocre! If he can maintain this speed, he might catch up with the leading group."

"I doubt it; the pressure increases significantly every hundred steps. How could he possibly maintain this speed?"

Opinions varied, but everyone's attention was drawn to Lu An's water screen.

The Qi Emperor and the National Master were no exceptions; they were also puzzled by Lu An's abnormal performance.

But the ninety-ninth step was not an easy hurdle.

"Brother Chongwen, you faced a setback at this step; you must have deep feelings about it."

"Do you think Lu An has a chance to surpass it?"