The group chatted and laughed, and soon arrived at the stone steps of the mountain gate.

They looked at the stone steps and couldn't help but exchange glances.

"Let's go up and see what's going on!"

Ning Qi took the lead and walked forward.

"Whoosh!"

As he took a step forward, a chilling pressure, like countless cold blades, immediately attacked him.

"Huh? Isn't it the same?"

Ning Qi let out a soft exclamation, immediately sensing that this was different from the oppressive aura of Ruoshui Sanqian.

The pressure here is not the kind of all-encompassing pressure.

Instead, it transforms this pressure into swords, relentlessly attacking the person's entire body.

This attack was continuous and had similarities to the oppressive aura of Ruoshui Sanqian.

"I'll give it a try!"

Xu Qingqiu listened to his words and stepped forward.

When she stepped onto the stone steps, she also felt a sense of unease.

"See? It's different, isn't it!"

Ning Qi glanced at the change in her expression and said in a deep voice, "However, there are also similarities."

"That's true. Trying to tough it out might not be enough."

"I was hoping to reach the summit, but now it seems a bit risky!"

Xu Qingqiu sighed softly and turned to Ning Qi as well: "Are you confident?"

"I don't know, let's find out when we get up there!"

Ning Qi shook his head.

If unexpected circumstances arise, then things might not be so certain.

However, we should at least give it a try. Otherwise, after going through so many trials and tribulations, it would be a waste to give up after coming all this way.

"Okay, I'll go with you!"

"Perfect, let me see the differences between them, maybe I'll make some new discoveries!"

Xu Qingqiu nodded and decided to go up with Ning Qi.

"And what about us?"

Seeing that the two were about to go up, Yao Ling quickly asked.

"You? You'd better not go."

"Just wait here for us to come down the mountain. Things have changed, and your comprehension abilities are not as high as ours!"

"It's very likely that the injury is on there."

Xu Qingqiu immediately reminded Yao Ling and the Nine-Tailed Cat.

"And what about you?"

The nine-tailed cat is worried about its owner.

He asked hurriedly.

"Me? Isn't that what's written on this inscription?"

Is it possible to exit within one hundred stages?

"I can't take it anymore!"

Xu Qingqiu thought for a moment, then said with a smile.

"Then I'll go up and give it a try, and come down when I reach stage ninety-nine!"

The nine-tailed cat didn't want to leave its owner.

"Then I'll go too!"

"If everyone else goes up and I'm the only one not going, it'll make me look disloyal!"

Seeing this, Yao Ling decided to give it a try as well.

"Alright, just treat it as fun. It's good to gain some insights!"

Ning Qi didn't stop them. Since they would have another chance to come down, he figured he might as well let them do as they pleased.

After he agreed, the group of people stepped onto the stone steps one after another.

"Set off!"

Yao Ling was the first to walk up to the second step.

"call!"

As soon as I went up, I was flattened on the stone steps.

"ah!"

Immediately following, a scream of agony came from Yao Ling.

"Smack!"

Ning Qi quickly picked up the medicinal spirit and unleashed a burst of immortal power at it.

He then threw it outside, saying, "You'd better wait downstairs."

"Then I'll go down too!"

Seeing the pitiful state of Yao Ling, the nine-tailed cat finally gave up.

"let's go!"

Xu Qingqiu snapped out of her daze and gave Lin Fan a serious look.

"Walk!"

Ning Qi nodded and continued upstairs.

"call!"

After he took a step, he felt the sword-like pressure increase exponentially.

It caused tiny drops of blood to be squeezed out of his muscles.

"So strong!"

Xu Qingqiu's pretty face immediately turned red.

Clearly, this kind of pressure was unbearable for her.

"Shall we continue?"

Seeing how uncomfortable she was, Ning Qi couldn't help but ask.

"Keep going, I want to see where my limits are!"

Xu Qingqiu shook her head, gritted her teeth, and continued forward.

"Okay! Keep it up!"

Ning Qi didn't ask any more questions and continued to follow them up.

One step, two steps, three steps.

Every step that followed was exceptionally difficult.

The oppressive force of each step increases exponentially.

His "Three Thousand Like Waters" is completely different.

The formation of Ruoshui Sanqian remains consistent throughout.

There were no fluctuations.

Here, the increase is doubled on every floor.

"call!"

The two of them gradually climbed to the eighty-odd steps.

Xu Qingqiu was already covered in sweat.

Blood was already seeping from his forehead.

"How about it?"

Ning Qi asked with concern.

He felt that Xu Qingqiu had reached her limit.

"call!"

"call!"

Xu Qingqiu let out a long sigh and shook her head helplessly: "Too strong. I'll rest here for a while and then go down!"

"I'll give it a try and see if I can understand anything!"

"The rest of the journey is up to you."

"Okay! Wait for me to come down!"

Ning Qi nodded and waved to Xu Qingqiu.

Then they continued forward.

He knew very well that Xu Qingqiu had come up here just to accompany him.

In fact, she had already reached her limit when she reached around the seventy-stage level.

However, thanks to his talent and understanding of formations, he was able to persevere for more than ten more levels.

Ning Qi had a strange feeling about her behavior.

However, he did not ask.

I just kept it to myself.

Then continue walking uphill.

After meditating for a while, Xu Qingqiu descended the mountain.

After she arrived at the foot of the mountain, the nine-tailed cat came forward.

"Master, are you alright?"

He asked with concern.

"fine!"

"However, I've done my best; the pressure from the stone steps here is very strong!"

Xu Qingqiu shook his head, revealing a solemn expression: "The lineage of this sect must be very powerful."

"These trials alone, plus the final test here, are already quite challenging!"

"Yes, I hope Young Master Ning can make it up there!"

The nine-tailed cat looked up at the mountain.

Ning Qi was resting on a stone step at this moment.

Clearly, the oppressive atmosphere here was becoming too much for him to handle.

"Master, if you can't hold on, get down!"

Seeing this, Yao Ling shouted towards the mountain.

"He has no chance to turn back."

"We're already halfway through the next phase!"

"If he doesn't come down this time, it's either up to the top of the mountain, or..."

Xu Qingqiu's words came to an abrupt end here.

They didn't continue talking.

However, everyone knew very well what it would mean if they gave up both opportunities.

"Master, you must persevere!"

Yao Ling started cheering Ning Qi on.

"Look, someone's coming!"

It was at this moment that the nine-tailed fox looked behind her.

Many people have already emerged from the different canyons that have been tested.

There seem to be dozens of people, but this is just the beginning.

As one group of people came out, another group followed closely behind.

"Oh no! So many people! Master has a rival!"

Yao Ling looked at these people and couldn't help but speak.

"Master!"

Xu Qingqiu's eyes suddenly lit up as he saw several familiar figures.

It was her master, Wang Zhenggan.

And there's my uncle-master, Wang Zhengxiong.

At the very back was a young man, her senior brother Gao Yunze.

Several people in the distance also spotted her.

So, he hurriedly arrived here with a group of disciples behind him.

If Ning Qi were here at this moment, he would definitely be able to recognize several people immediately.

Among them was his martial uncle, with whom he had a conflict.

The other few people were his fellow disciples whom he had met once before.

These people also arrived one after another.

"Master!"

When Xu Qingqiu saw Wang Zhenggan approaching, she respectfully stepped forward to greet him.

"How did you end up here? We've been looking for you everywhere!"

Wang Zhenggan looked at her and couldn't help but ask.

“Master, I came here in advance to check the situation and found this continent.”

"Then, I discovered this trial ground and came here!"

Xu Qingqiu kept it brief, explaining his experiences over the past few days to his master in just a few sentences.

What's going on here?

Looking ahead, Wang Zhengxiong couldn't help but ask, "What are those people on the mountain doing?"

"Uncle-Master, this is an introductory trial!"

"These stone steps are the final hurdle!"

"Once you reach the summit, you can become a direct disciple of this sect!"

Xu Qingqiu looked at the group of people and then said, "We've already tried. I can only go up to the seventy or eightyth step. I can't go any higher."

"Oh? Becoming a direct disciple means I can obtain the inheritance here?"

Upon hearing what she said, Wang Zhengxiong's eyes lit up.

"Let me see how this is described!"

Wang Zhenggan nodded, then walked over to the inscription: "Tsk tsk, it's still ancient script, but I can still recognize it!"

"Let me see what's going on!"

"Here I come!"

"..."

While he was assessing the situation, people gradually arrived.

"Uncle-Master, how did you get here so quickly?"

Xu Qingqiu looked at the group with some confusion and said, "Don't you still have a large area that you haven't explored?"

"It's already half a month out of date; we've already finished exploring it!"

Gao Yunze came over, looked at her, and said, "We noticed a lot of people had come here, so we followed them!"

"What trials did you encounter when you came in?"

Xu Qingqiu looked at him and asked curiously.

She wanted to see if they were all encountering the same thing.

"We encountered a fiery mountain and a swamp!"

"And there are glaciers!"

Hearing her question, Gao Yunze couldn't help but look at her curiously: "Junior sister, what happened to you?"

"It really is different. We encountered man-eating trees and some moving dense forests!"

After listening to his words, Xu Qingqiu said seriously, "I think that the different canyons we went to will lead to different results!"

"That's right!"

After Wang Zhengxiong agreed, he looked at the stone steps ahead and said, "However, the final result will be the same."

"We will all eventually come here to face the trials!"

"Master, shall we give it a try?"

Gao Yunze became curious, his eyes fixed on the stone steps above, already eager to try.

"You don't need to go up; these stone steps are dangerous."

"You only have one chance to get down. If you want to get down again, you'll have to go halfway down!"

"Junior brother, let's go up and give it a try!"

"We'll be halfway there when we enter the inner sect. Let's see what rewards we can find!"

"The rewards from a sect of this caliber must be very generous!"

At this moment, Wang Zhenggan came back and looked at Wang Zhengxiong and said.

"Alright! Let's go up then, you guys wait for us here!"

Wang Zhengxiong nodded in agreement, then turned towards the stone steps: "I want to go up and see what treasures are up there."

"Uncle-Master, you must be careful, I won't even last a hundred!"

Seeing that they were about to go up and try it, Xu Qingqiu quickly reminded them.

"It just means you're not strong enough!"

Wang Zheng glanced at her and said, "However, I will be careful. You can wait here for us to come down!"

"good!"

After Xu Qingqiu agreed, she watched the two of them go upstairs.

After they went up, more and more people arrived one after another.

After learning about the situation, some people went up with them.

Gradually, more and more people appeared on the stone steps.

Some people gave up after climbing more than ten stone steps.

Some of them were supported by dozens of stone steps.

Those experts at the ninth rank of True Immortal, or even the level of Celestial Immortal, continued to ascend.

Ning Qi had already climbed about two hundred steps.

He turned around and looked down again.

He discovered that quite a few people had already followed him up.

However, their speed was much slower, while some were faster.

But compared to him, it's still very slow.

"They don't know the Daoist principles of Ruoshui Sanqian and Shuiwen."

"If you want to catch up with me, you'd have to be someone whose strength surpasses that of a Golden Immortal."

"As it stands, there are no experts with that level of skill here."

Ning Qi was very confident that they would not catch up with him.

If I fail, then let them do what they want.

However, it's safer to be far ahead when you have the ability to go up.

With that in mind, Ning Qi continued walking upwards.

"call!"

"Buzz!"

Next, he walked up more than twenty stone steps in one go.

He eventually collapsed on the stone steps, panting heavily.

By this time, his clothes were completely soaked.

It wasn't just sweat; it was mixed with blood.

His clothes stuck to his body while he rested.

It made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

However, there were too many people below, and he was too embarrassed to take off his clothes.

"My bones are about to break! If it weren't for my previous experience fighting against Ruoshui Sanqian's formation."

"I'm afraid they can't hold on any longer."

Ning Qi took a breath, then sat cross-legged and began to sense the changes in the surrounding pressure.

Once we arrived here, the landscape was completely different from that at the foot of the mountain.

At this stage, it is no longer the oppressive force of sword light, but has become the oppressive force of a heavy hammer.

Each time, it felt like being hammered hard by countless heavy hammers.

It made his bones creak and crack.

However, even so, Ning Qi still refused to admit defeat.

They've persevered until now.

He did not offer no resistance; as he came up, he also activated his water-pattern Daoist energy.

Resist the oppressive attacks here.

The resistance and penetration of the water ripples greatly reduced the oppressive atmosphere here.

Otherwise, his bones would have been crushed long ago. (End of Chapter)