"This is the Dragon Palace Tower of my Dragon Clan?" At this moment, Long Yuan suddenly flew out from Gu Yu's blood aperture. Looking at the Dragon Palace Tower in front of him, he also widened his dragon eyes, looking incredulous.

"Is this from your dragon clan?" Gu Yu shifted his gaze to Long Yuan.

"This is impossible, this is absolutely impossible." Long Yuan shook his head repeatedly as he looked at the Dragon Palace Tower.

"What exactly happened?" Gu Yu was puzzled. Long Yuan was once the leader of the twelve true gods of the dragon race. His strength was at the top of the entire world. How could he lose his composure like this?

“This Dragon Palace Tower is the ancestral artifact of my Dragon Clan’s Dragon Ancestor. Do you know what an ancestral artifact is? It is an existence that surpasses even divine artifacts. It is said that there are only twelve of them in the entire world. They are the foundation of the world and the pillar of all things. Legend has it that if you want to break through to the Ancestral Realm, you must obtain an ancestral artifact,” Long Yuan explained.

"An Ancestral Artifact?" To be honest, this was the first time Gu Yu had ever heard the term "Ancestral Artifact." He knew that the strongest weapon was a divine artifact. How so? If a King Realm cultivator possessed a divine artifact, it would be comparable to a True God and could make up for any deficiencies in their cultivation level.

But what if a King Realm expert possessed an Ancestral Artifact? That would probably be enough to kill a True God. This world is increasingly exceeding his expectations.

"Then why is it here? Why is it on Earth?" Gu Yu asked.

“I don’t know either. This thing should have perished with our Dragon Ancestor, but now it’s appeared in this place. Could it be?” Long Yuan suddenly thought of something.

"Did my human race's divine realm place him here?" Gu Yu asked.

“Impossible. A god-level being cannot move him even a fraction of an inch. He is probably an ancestral-level being from your human race,” Long Yuan said.

"The ancestral realm of my human race?" Gu Yu was taken aback. "Could there be an ancestral realm of my human race here?"

"It's hard to say, but there's a very high possibility." Long Yuan thought for a moment and replied. If all twelve Ancestral Realm experts were dead, that would be nonsense. There must be some alive. And to move the Dragon Palace Tower, one would need at least the strength of an Ancestral Realm expert. Therefore, Long Yuan felt that there was a high possibility that there were Ancestral Realm experts inside the Dragon Palace Tower.

"Is there a wise man who can solve all the difficult problems in cultivation? Could he be the ancestral master of my human race?" Gu Yu suddenly remembered what Qian Duoduo had told him before.

"Why think so much? Just go in and see for yourself," Long Yuan said.

"Hmm!" Gu Yu nodded. He moved as if to fly through the air, but the next second he crashed heavily to the ground.

"Can't fly?" Gu Yu frowned. He couldn't fly here; something was restricting him.

“I forgot to tell you, this Dragon Palace Tower is not only the ancestral artifact of my Dragon Clan’s Dragon Ancestor, but also an ancestral artifact for nurturing the next generation of the Dragon Clan. Here, let alone your current cultivation level, even if someone at the Emperor Realm came, they would not be able to fly through the air. They could only walk up one step after another.” Long Yuan explained, “There are ten thousand steps, also known as the Heavenly Ascension Steps, but my Dragon Clan prefers to call it the Dragon Leap Gate.”

"Leaping over the Dragon Gate? A carp leaping over the Dragon Gate?" Gu Yu was stunned when he heard Long Yuan's explanation.

"Pretty much! Although my dragon race is powerful, it is extremely difficult to reproduce. Each young dragon takes a long time from conception to birth, and they are also very prone to dying young. In the end, because we have to fight with other races, the birth rate of my dragon race cannot keep up with the death rate. If this continues, my dragon race may very well be wiped out. There is one race in my dragon race, the dragonfish race, whose reproductive ability is extremely strong, but they only have a small portion of the bloodline of true dragons, and their combat power is extremely weak. So my race tried every means and exhausted its resources, and finally built this Ascension Staircase below the Dragon Palace Tower. As long as a member of the dragonfish race ascends the Ascension Staircase and enters the Dragon Palace Tower, he can transform into a true dragon. However, although the idea was good, we never expected that almost no dragonfish race members could complete the Ascension Staircase." Long Yuan said this with some sadness.

"Then why not let the Dragonfish Clan enter the Dragon Palace Tower directly? That way they could get the help of the Dragon Palace Tower and transform into true dragons?" Gu Yu asked in confusion, in his eyes this was the most convenient method.

“Hehe…” Long Yuan gave a bitter laugh. “The methods you can think of, my dragon clan can think of as well. They’re useless. No dragonfish clan member can withstand the direct help from the Dragon Palace Tower. Do you think the Ascension Steps are a challenge? No, the Ascension Steps divide the help from the Dragon Palace Tower into ten thousand parts and accept it little by little. In fact, the help from the Ascension Steps is undoubtedly a baptism and stimulation of the bloodline. So every step is a stimulation of the bloodline. This is why we have devoted all our efforts to forging the Ascension Steps.”

Gu Yu seemed to understand that the Tower of Ascension was like eating; you have to eat one bite at a time. No one can become fat overnight, and eating too much at once will make you bloated.

“By the way, these steps might also be useful to you,” Long Yuan suddenly said. “Their function is to stimulate your bloodline. Each step you take is a baptism of your bloodline, and it might even help awaken your divine and demonic bloodline.”

"Really?" Gu Yu was overjoyed when he heard Long Yuan's words. If it also had a baptismal effect on his divine and demonic bloodline, then he would have the opportunity to awaken his divine and demonic bloodline a second time.

The next second, he stepped onto the stairs, and immediately felt a force sweep over his body. It was a kind of pressure, a pressure on his blood vessels, and he felt that his blood flow seemed to speed up.

“The higher you go on this Heavenly Staircase, the harder it becomes to walk, and the faster your blood will flow,” Long Yuan said. “Many members of the Dragonfish Clan have died from their bodies exploding up here. Be careful. If you can’t take it, go down immediately and don’t go any higher.”

At this moment, Gu Yu was somewhat excited. He could feel the divine and demonic power pulsating in his bone marrow, which proved that the Heavenly Ascension Steps had an stimulating effect on his divine and demonic bloodline.

He strode forward abruptly, ignoring Long Yuan's warning. In just over ten minutes, Gu Yu had climbed over a thousand steps.

He was already panting heavily, his blood was flowing faster and faster, and his body was trembling slightly. He suddenly sat down cross-legged, and clusters of life essence appeared around him, and he began to recover. He had moved too fast. Even though he was a cultivator with an exceptionally strong body, the Ascension Staircase was no ordinary staircase. For him now, climbing the Ascension Staircase was more difficult than climbing stairs for an ordinary person.

The divine and demonic power within his bone marrow was now surging violently; he could even feel a faint trace of divine and demonic power seeping out of his blood.

"You only stopped at the thousandth level. Your body has already surpassed that of many members of the Dragonfish Clan." Long Yuan said to Gu Yu. Although the Dragonfish Clan is said to be weak in combat, it is compared with the Dragon Clan. You should know that after the Dragonfish Clan reaches adulthood, their bodies alone have the strength of an elephant.

"Hoo!" Gu Yu had been cultivating for about three hours. He got up again and headed towards the Heavenly Ascension Stairs, but this time he was much slower.

As he climbed step by step, he reached the top of the Dragon Palace Tower. At the very top level, bathed in light and radiant with the glow of dawn, stood an elderly man with white hair and beard, exuding an air of otherworldly wisdom, his eyes wide open.

"Is it him? Or is it him? Who exactly are you? How can you possess the bloodline of gods and demons? The stalemate that has lasted for tens of millions of epochs is finally about to be broken," the old man murmured.

Gu Yu was drenched in sweat, his veins were bulging, and even the blood vessels in his eyes were very visible. He struggled to climb each step.

"Huff huff..." Gu Yu was panting heavily. He had already climbed more than five thousand steps. At this moment, he felt as if his blood was no longer his own. It was flowing extremely fast, which made him feel pain all over his body. If he hadn't been forcing himself to stay upright, he probably would have fainted.

He stopped, sat down cross-legged with trembling legs, and several more bursts of life essence emanated from him, quickly nourishing his body.

“6999 steps.” Long Yuan murmured as he looked at Gu Yu. There were only a handful of Dragonfish Clan members who could reach this point, but they still existed.

This time, Gu Yu took three days to recover before he could stand up. Although his blood flowed extremely fast and the divine and demonic power in his bone marrow was stirring, it was far from enough. He still needed to move forward.

This time, a layer of Origin Qi emanated from his body, constantly nourishing it, and he took another step upwards.

Suddenly, I felt a sense of suffocation. Every thousand steps of this Heavenly Stairway is a hurdle. As long as you can withstand 7,000 steps, you can basically reach 7,999 steps.

He lingered at the 7000th step of the ancient universe for a long time, seemingly adapting. His blood flow accelerated significantly, and the divine and demonic power within his bone marrow stirred even more noticeably.

He took another step, paused for a few moments, and then took another step. At first, it was very slow, but then the pauses became shorter and shorter. In the end, he stopped pausing altogether, and although his steps became much slower, he still moved forward in an orderly manner.

“7990………7995…………7999……………” Looking at the 8000th step in front of him, Gu Yu took a deep breath. This time he did not stop and took a step. As soon as his right foot stepped onto the step, Gu Yu felt the blood in his right leg suddenly increase several times, and the divine and demonic power in the bone marrow of his right leg suddenly surged.

Although it had some effect, Gu Yu felt as if his right leg no longer belonged to him, and he couldn't exert any force on it. He remained stuck there for a long time.

He was taking deep breaths, adjusting his state, and adapting to the blood flow in his right leg. In the next instant, he suddenly exerted force with his left leg, and his whole body fell up the 8,000 steps. The blood flow in his body suddenly accelerated, and a surge of power rushed into his blood. He felt dizzy and just lay on the ground, panting heavily.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he was able to stand up with great difficulty. Looking ahead, he gritted his teeth and moved forward again, this time at an even slower pace.

With each step he took, he felt as if his body was filled with lead, heavy, swollen, and about to explode.

"Most of the geniuses of the Dragonfish Clan in the past made it here, but they were unwilling to give up! In the end, they all died by exploding." Long Yuan sighed. As he walked here, he seemed to see countless young figures, all of whom were geniuses of the Dragonfish Clan.

"If Gu Yu can't go on, he should rest for a while longer."

"It's okay! I can do it." Gu Yu said stubbornly. He could feel the benefits of the Ascension Steps for awakening the divine and demonic bloodline. His blood was almost boiling, and even the divine and demonic power in his bone marrow was slowly flowing into his blood.

When he first awakened his divine and demonic bloodline, he felt his bone marrow boiling; this time, it was his blood that was boiling.

As Gu Yu struggled to take each step, he suddenly spotted a figure. The figure was quite conspicuous; he was wearing a Zhongshan suit, his back was hunched, and he was sweeping the steps with a broom in his hand.

Gu Yu had already reached step 8323, while the hunched figure was at step 8400. The figure looked frail and old, and although the sweeping motion was slow, it had a sense of ease and control, which stunned Gu Yu.

"What's going on?" An old man sweeping the stairs at the 8400th step.

"I don't know." Long Yuan was equally shocked. It knew better than anyone the terror of the Heavenly Ascension Steps. It was one of the creators in the past. This place was definitely not something an old man could set foot in, but there really was an old man in front of it.

“He…” Gu Yu was utterly shocked.

“Perhaps he’s not an ordinary person,” Long Yuan said. How could an old man who could sweep the floor with ease at level 8400 be an ordinary person? Who would believe it if I told them? But Long Yuan couldn’t sense any cultivator’s aura from the old man.

"Could he be the wise man inside the Dragon Palace Tower?" Gu Yu suddenly thought of something. Qian Duoduo said there was a wise man inside the Dragon Palace Tower, and this old man might be him.

“It’s possible.” Long Yuan nodded. “I can’t sense his aura. There are only three possibilities: one is that he is just an ordinary person, another is that he may be a god or even higher, and the third is that he is not a living being.”

"Not a living thing?" Gu Yu was taken aback.

“Yes! For example, an illusion, or some kind of projection,” Long Yuan explained.

At this moment, Gu Yu had reached step 8399, exactly one step behind the old man.

For some unknown reason, ever since Long Yuan said that the old man might not be a living being, the old man stopped moving, which made the man and the dragon even more puzzled.

Gu Yu and Long Yuan scrutinized the old man's back. At this moment, the old man was lifeless, like a wax figure.

"He's dead?" Gu Yu blinked. "But he was clearly sweeping the floor just now!"

"Hmm! Maybe he was dead, but some mechanism made him move occasionally," Long Yuan explained after thinking for a moment.

Gu Yu and Long Yuan stepped onto the 8400th step. The two looked at the old man's face. The old man's pupils were very bright, but he did not move. His white beard fluttered in the wind, making him look like a wax figure.

Suddenly the old man's eyes moved, which startled Gu Yu.

"You...you're not dead?" Gu Yu asked.

“You’re the one who’s dead! You’re so young, yet your mouth is as loose as a pair of cotton pants, you can’t keep it shut,” the old man said.

“Uh…” Gu Yu was taken aback. This old man was quite good at cursing.

"What are you 'huh' for? Lower your head, open your eyes and take a good look. Where do I not look like a living thing?" the old man said incessantly. "And you, you half-dead, stinking bug, spouting nonsense."

"Uh!" Long Yuan and Gu Yu exchanged a glance. This old man is irritable! He has a bad temper.

"Gu Yu, let's go!" Long Yuan reminded him.

"Hmm!" Gu Yu nodded. Clearly, the man and the dragon had been thoroughly humiliated by the old sweeper. He hadn't said a word, just received a barrage of insults. It was too awful; he didn't want to stay any longer.

"You? So young, and you can't even climb a flight of stairs? You're so weak! Your legs aren't even as good as mine." The old man continued relentlessly.

"You are a venerable elder, still vigorous and strong with age. I am truly no match for you, so please don't take offense." Gu Yu was genuinely afraid of this old man; he was too good at cursing.

"You're lucky you know your place." The old man felt a little better after hearing Gu Yu's words.

Gu Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't know why there was an old man on the Heavenly Ascension Stairs, he didn't dare to ask. If the old man confronted him again, it would be like asking for trouble. The most urgent thing was to climb the Heavenly Ascension Stairs and awaken his divine and demonic bloodline for the second time.

Gu Yu took another step, perhaps to shake off the old sweeper. Although he felt very uncomfortable, he quickened his pace and climbed more than ten steps in one go. Gu Yu was already panting, but when he looked back, he was stunned.

The old man sweeping the floor was right behind him, broom in hand. He stopped, and the old man sweeping the floor stopped as well. He was out of energy, but the old man sweeping the floor was full of energy. He swung the broom in his hand quickly, sweeping the steps.

"Hey kid, can you hurry up? Don't keep me from sweeping the floor," the old man sweeping said to Gu Yu.

“I…” Gu Yu was very frustrated. This was the most frustrated he had ever been since his previous life. Was it because he didn’t want to hurry up?

"What do you mean, 'you'? A few years ago there was a piece of trash who wasted my time and only made it to the 8999th step before he couldn't climb any further. And now this year another piece of trash like you has appeared. I really want to sweep you down with a broom!" the old sweeper cursed.

"Uh!" Gu Yu really didn't know what to say, so he could only grit his teeth and take another step forward. He really wanted to get rid of this old sweeper, but the circumstances didn't allow it!

Whether he was fast or slow, the old man could keep up steadily, and he even swept the steps away.

This made Gu Yu seriously suspect that the old man was mocking him! He was trying to undermine him.

"Hey! Are you coming or not? I could have finished this work in a minute, but you've made me waste several days." The old man sweeping the floor said irritably to Gu Yu, who was still not moving.

It wasn't that Gu Yu was unmoved; he had already reached the 8999th step. The next step would be the 9000th, and the Ascension Steps would add another level of baptism to his bloodline. He needed to be well-prepared before he could step onto it.

At this moment, the blood in his body was almost boiling, and even blood was seeping from his blood vessels. Strangely enough, the old man swept away the blood that dripped onto the steps.