The more steps he took, the greater the pressure on his body. He felt heavier with each and every step of the way. By the time he made it to the sixty-third step, he was starting to sweat.
The only thing on his mind at this moment was, "I must go up."
He forgot about the world, his wife, his parents, everyone and everything around him. His only thought was to climb higher.
With the sixty-fourth step, the stars grew brighter. They came close to his body as if they were observing him, as though each of them carried life within themselves.
"Your majesty, the prince consort is indeed talented. He has already made it to the sixty-sixth step. Even amongst the figures of the past, there has only been a handful including yourself and me who have made it that far." Yang Xinyue said.
"That's good, the greater his talent, the longer he can stay by my side." Bing Yi Jian nodded.
By the end of their short exchange, Wu Dong Yi had already approached the seventieth step. With each step being harder than the other, he adjusted his breathing and calmed himself.
Step! Step!
His foot landed on the seventy-second step. He was already close to the end. With just another nine steps, he would reach the very end of the path ahead.
By now, his body had been sweating profusely. His clothes were stuck to his body, revealing his toned body. Far away, if one were to look at him, rather than being disgusted, they would think that he looked quite handsome.
Step! Step!
Seventy-fourth.
Seventy-fifth.
Seventy-sixth.
Eightieth!
He had finally reached the end. With just one more step, he would achieve the end, which few throughout history had ever been able to achieve. This staircase, which could be found in every nation, was a natural treasure that formed from the Martial Path.
It is said that such treasures were born from the path itself and that no man could ever replicate them. They were simply used to test the potential of anyone on the Martial Path and predict the stage that they would achieve in their lifetime.
Every nine steps correspond to each of the nine stages before the Immortal God stage. Since he was approaching the final step, Wu Dong Yi has the potential to reach the Immortal God stage and would be at least on the Heaven Immortal stage.
With each stage, one's lifespan would increase by a large margin. Just by reaching the Body Tempering realm, one would have a lifespan of 150 years. Upon reaching the Qi Condensation stage, one would live for 300 years, with each stage doubling in the number of years.
Once Wu Dong Yi reaches the Heaven Immortal stage, his lifespan would be 38,400 years! Of course, if he were to breakthrough to the Immortal God stage, his lifespan would be infinite and would never die.
Of course, that is just a rumor since in the past millions of years, only one person had gotten to the peak of the Heaven Immortal stage.
As he arrived at the eightieth step, he calmed himself and had a short rest for a quarter of an hour. He had regained his breath and his sweat stopped. Every time he arrived at a step, the pressure would be released immediately, making him feel nothing at all.
But as soon as his feet are lifted up, the pressure of the previous floors would all come up and attack him at the same moment.
Wu Dong Yi opened his eyes. "This is it. The final step."
He moved his foot as the pressure of eighty steps all tormented him at once. His body began to sweat once again, while his heart was beating incredibly hard. His breathing was also ragged, while his clothes were blowing along with the wind, rather than sticking to his body.
His hair tie unraveled itself and was blown away, leaving his hair dancing along with the wind. The number of stars and lights had increased around his body.
Of course, he himself didn't notice that. All his attention was focused on taking the last step. Once he has taken the last step, he would immediately be released from the pressure.
Within his mind, it was like a mantra that was repeating itself over and over. The words, 'Final step' repeated itself infinitely.
His right foot was lifted in the air, but it couldn't come down. The pressure he felt was unlike anything he had felt before.
Down below, Yang Xinyue and Bing Yi Jian were watching while biting their lips. The two of them who had grown up together shared the same thought.
Only a single thought occupied their mind.
"Will he make it?"
As for Wu Dong Yi, his body slowly began to feel lighter. His eyes changed and looked somewhat cloudy. His clothes danced against the wind, as his foot slowly came down.
Once his foot made contact with the final step, the pressure intensified as though it were denying him from taking the last step. A visible barrier could be seen, facing off against his foot that was determined to take the last step of the staircase.
His forehead became clear, in between his eyebrows, a small golden dot could be seen being released. His body became lighter and lighter, while the pressure was being lessened. Wu Dong Yi himself didn't know what was happening, all he knew was that he was just an inch away from his goal.
The golden light intensified, while the pressure was released slowly. Finally, after his body was frozen for tens of minutes, he landed safely on the eighty-first step.
Ding!
A soft noise was heard as he took the final step. Wu Dong Yi lifted his left leg which arrived next to his right leg, on the final step.
The golden light disappeared, and his eyes returned to normal. In front of him, millions of stars could be seen.
The stars had all come close to him, before beginning to disperse. He could sense that each star represented a cultivation technique as well as many martial art manuals.
Only nine stars had remained behind, which most likely represented the eighty-one steps.
"Your majesty, he did it!" Yang Xinyue said.
"Looks like he had done so indeed." Bing Yi Jian replied.
"To think one could actually be more talented than your majesty, who had taken a total of seventy-nine steps." Yang Xinyue continued.
"You yourself took the seventy-sixth step, your talent of the Martial Path is obviously high." Bing Yi Jian replied shaking her head.
"Alas, we have found a man who is worthy of your majesty. In the past, I had been a little skeptical despite knowing his talent in the arts, it seems that I will have no more worries and will whole-heartedly serve him as your husband from now on."
Bing Yi Jian didn't say anything. She had simply nodded in silence as the two women looked above the stairwell.
Wu Dong Yi was looking at the nine stars before him. He could tell that each of the nine represented a formidable technique that was equal to the other eight.
Since he knew this, he only needed to choose the one that suited him the most. In this world, despite techniques of a higher grade, the best technique for anyone is one that suited them the most.
This was proven by a man in the past, who had cultivated until the peak of the Yin Yang Transformation stage with a low-grade technique. Since then, many have no longer cared about the grade of techniques and only sought the one that suited them the most.
As for Wu Dong Yi, he could sense that each of the nine suited him, with none being better than the other. It was strange, as though every technique under the heavens could be cultivated by him.
His eyes moved to the very center of the nine stars. He could sense a peculiar feeling that slightly differed from the others. He reached out his hand as a scroll appeared in his hand as though it had a life of its own.
Wu Dong Yi opened the scroll and read the technique.
'The Golden Immortal Deity', was what he read. Even though he had only read those few words, all the knowledge of the technique had appeared in his mind.
The golden dot in between his eyebrows had absorbed the information inside the scroll automatically.
The eight other techniques knew that they were not chosen. However, they were not sad. Instead, they were happy when their comrade was chosen. The eight moved backward as the chosen technique returned into a star and flew off with its friends.
Wu Dong Yi opened his eyes, he turned around and descended down the stairwell that gave him an incredible experience that could only be described in novels back on Earth.
With each step he took, the steps starting from the top began to disappear. By the time he arrived at the bottom, the stairwell was gone, leaving behind only an endless stream of stars.
Standing by his side, Bing Yi Jian spoke, "Congratulations, you made it to the top."
"Indeed. Let us head back," he replied.
"There is somewhere else we must go, prince consort." Yang Xinyue suddenly spoke her mind.
Wu Dong Yi looked at her with confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"You will know when we arrive." Bing Yi Jian answered for Yang Xinyue.
Wu Dong Yi shrugged before agreeing. "Alright let's go then."
The stars behind him dimmed as they headed back out. The space changed back into an open courtyard filled with nothing but concrete. The door was opened, as the group of three headed in another direction.