Chapter 291

The blue water-heaven ladder was no easy path.

With each step Wang Ping climbed upward, he felt the surrounding heaven and earth's pressure grow heavier by a fraction.

This pressure was not mere gravity, but a compression of the chaotic aura and fragmented laws inherent in Heaven Pillar Mountain itself, acting directly upon flesh and soul.

Ordinary Golden Core cultivators would likely have their bones creak and souls grow dull after just ten steps.

But Wang Ping's steps were steady. The Earthborne Gravity Technique, activated after his Spirit Awakening, spontaneously operated, forming a gentle yet resilient force field around him that skillfully deflected, dispersed, and even partially assimilated most of the pressure.

The five-element Golden Cores in his dantian rotated slowly, in a cycle of mutual generation, providing an endless stream of spiritual power and resilience. His body, tempered by lightning and nourished by the essence of Wu earth, far surpassed that of his peers.

The true trouble came from attacks originating outside the ladder.

At the mountain's base below, the melee had already reached white-hot intensity. The starting zones of the four heaven ladders had become the most brutal meat grinders.

The heaven's pride, unwilling to be blocked outside the Myriad Laws Pool, frenziedly assaulted the ladders, attempting to intercept and slay the key-holders to seize the keys!

Hardly a hundred steps onto the ladder, Wang Ping was met with several fierce assaults from below that tore through the void! A baleful green netherworld ghost claw ripped open the air, lunging straight for his back heart.

Several flying swords and treasures, ablaze with different elemental flames, intertwined into a net, sealing off his upward path.

Moreover, a lurking, venomous soul-piercing needle silently assailed his sea of consciousness!

"Courting death!" Wang Ping's eyes turned cold, and he did not look back.

As his thought stirred, a yellow divine light flickered, and the phantom of the Heaven-Toppling Seal emerged above his head, instantly expanding into an ancient, heavy yellow great seal, which he pressed downward with a slight force!

"Gravity·Myriad Peaks!"

Hum! With the Heaven-Toppling Seal as its center, an extremely heavy force field crashed down! The netherworld ghost claw, as if striking an invisible copper wall and iron wall, saw its speed plummet, its claw image distorted.

The attacking flame treasures and flying swords also seemed to sink into a mire, their trajectories deviating, their power greatly diminished.

Simultaneously, Wang Ping's body flowed with crimson divine light as the embryonic form of the True Solar Fire condensed into a ring of gold-red fire, which burst outward explosively! The scorching, domineering aura of the true fire directly incinerated and purified the lingering yin evil ghost aura and part of the flames!

As for that soul-piercing needle, before it could even touch Wang Ping's sea of consciousness, it was easily crushed by the resilient radiance emanating from the will-star within his sea of consciousness, and by the potent soul power nourished by the Soul-Nurturing Wood Heart.

His steps did not halt; instead, he quickened his pace, continuing upward along the blue heaven ladder.

The ladder itself seemed to offer a certain protection; the higher one climbed, the more the long-range attacks from below were interfered with by Heaven Pillar Mountain's laws, growing weaker.

But the true threat came from fellow climbers on the same ladders.

The battles on the other three ladders were equally fierce.

On the golden ladder, the illusory forms of the Void Clan's yinying drifted unpredictably, sometimes solid, sometimes ethereal, toying with the number of experts trying to intercept him in the palm of their hand.

His attacks were strange and unpredictable, often appearing from unimaginable angles, striking once and then departing, never lingering, his speed extremely fast as he raced toward the summit.

On the green ladder, the Ancient God Clan's heaven's pride Wood Lan displayed formidable strength. Vines danced around him, life force surging, appearing gentle yet harboring terrifying strangling and draining power.

Several cultivators besieging him, once entangled by the vines, were instantly drained of vitality, turning into desiccated bones. His advance was neither hurried nor slow, yet extraordinarily steady.

On the red ladder, the Fallen Immortal Clan's holy maiden Jade Liuli seemed to be in the most "relaxed" situation.

She tread upon immortal clouds, immortal light swirling around her, her movements light and graceful. The spells and treasures attacking her often dissolved or deflected on their own before even touching the immortal light, as if possessing a "ten thousand laws do not adhere" quality.

Occasionally, she flicked a finger to release a strand of immortal spirit sword qi, easily throwing her besiegers into disarray. Her speed even faintly surpassed that of the yinying by a hair.

As Wang Ping climbed, he kept watch on the other three's conditions, silently comparing them in his heart. These three were undoubtedly the top-tier opponents, each with their own strengths: the Void Clan's eeriness, the Ancient God Clan's heft, the Fallen Immortal Clan's ethereality.

And he, Wang Ping, walked the path of the Five Elements' rotation, encompassing all phenomena.

In terms of frontal assault and fortification, he possessed the Wood Divine Thunder and True Solar Fire.

In terms of transformation and control, he possessed the True Yin Water and gravity field. In terms of extreme speed and sharpness, he possessed the White Tiger Slaughter Metal and Sword-Nurturing Qi. Though he seemed to lack a single outstanding specialty, he was instead the most well-rounded, with almost no weaknesses.

The climb continued for roughly the time it takes to burn an incense stick; Wang Ping had ascended over a thousand zhang. The clamor and attacks from the mountain's base below gradually weakened, but the pressure on the ladder itself grew stronger, and various chaotic law turbulences and illusion trials of mixed attributes began to appear.

At times, flames scorched the body; at times, icy cold pierced the bones; at times, gale winds blew like blades; at times, illusions proliferated, directly pointing to cracks in the Dao heart.

Wang Ping relied on the circulating mutual generation of his five-element spiritual power to hard-resist various attribute impacts.

With his resilient will and the clear Dao heart after Spirit Awakening, he broke through layer after layer of illusion. Though his speed was not as light and swift as Jade Liuli's or the yinying's, he won through solid, step-by-step progress, steady as a boulder.

Just as he was about to pass through a particularly violent ice-fire dual-heaven law turbulence, a silver star-light from the side-rear, like a meteor from beyond the heavens, struck with inconceivable speed and angle, ignoring part of the ladder's law interference, and suddenly attacked!

The star-light was condensed to an extreme, within it harboring the terrifying artistic conception of star extinction and spatial severance!

It was the Azure Profound of the Azure Heaven Clan! He could no longer restrain himself and personally intervened to intercept! Moreover, he chose to strike at the very moment when Wang Ping was dealing with the law turbulence and his mind was slightly divided, launching a lethal blow!

Wang Ping's heart alarm blared wildly! The power and timing of this strike were seized to perfection at the hair's breadth! If he fully focused on resisting the turbulence, he would surely be gravely wounded by the star-light. If he divided his attention to block the star-light, he might be swept up by the turbulence, with unpredictable consequences!

In the flash of lightning and stone fire, Wang Ping made his decision!

He fiercely stomped his foot, and the yellow divine light and the phantom of the Heaven-Toppling Seal blazed forth!

"Gravity Collapse·Fixed Point!"

Taking the incoming silver star-light as the center, gravity within a three-foot radius instantly collapsed inward in a frenzy, twisting and distorting! This was not defense, but interference! Attempting to warp the star-light's trajectory, making it miss the vital point!

Simultaneously, his left hand blazed with crimson divine light as the phantom of the Golden Crow let out a long cry, a condensed ball of True Solar Fire blasted toward the weakest point in the ice-fire turbulence, forcibly blasting open a temporary breach!

His right hand, without hesitation, swept forward, and white divine light suddenly blazed forth, its sharpness fully revealed!

"White Tiger Slaughter God Sword Gang!"

A dazzling sword gang, purely condensed from white-gold slaughter qi, tore through the air, bearing the sharp will to slay souls, and was not directed toward the silver star-light, but——straight thrust into a certain point in the void to the side-rear!

There, exactly where the faint aura of the Azure Profound came from! Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao!

Three-pronged attack, Wang Ping himself then leveraged the recoil force from the True Solar Fire blast opening the breach, as well as the partial deflection of the star-light by gravity, his form like a wandering fish, narrowly and perilously brushing past the edge of the silver star-light and the breach in the ice-fire turbulence, he shot forward explosively over ten zhang!

Boom! Crack!

The silver star-light, affected by the gravity collapse, had its trajectory slightly shifted, grazing past Wang Ping's protective spiritual light and passing over, silently cutting a bottomless smooth gash into a hard layer of chaotic rock behind him.

And Wang Ping's White Tiger Sword Gang, then thrust into that void, stirred up a violent ring of spatial ripples, from which a faint cold snort was heard, whereupon the Azure Profound's aura swiftly receded, and he did not continue pursuit, evidently also checked by Wang Ping's fierce counterattack and decisive response.

Wang Ping let out a muffled groan; the protective spiritual light on his left shoulder shattered, and the spot grazed by the star-light transmitted a burning, intense pain. A sharp, icy stellar force attempted to invade his meridians, which he swiftly exterminated with his five-element spiritual power. Though merely a minor wound, the terror of the Azure Profound's strike had already been deeply etched into his heart.

"The Azure Heaven's Hand, indeed lives up to its name……" Wang Ping's eyes grew colder, he swallowed a healing pill, his speed undiminished, and he continued upward. After this obstruction, the distance between him and the other three seemed to have widened somewhat again.

The climb continued. The higher one went, the steeper the ladder became, the law turbulences grew more violent, and the illusions appearing became more vivid and terrifying, directly pointing to the deepest hidden fears and desires within the heart.

Along the way, Wang Ping again encountered several instances of interception or sneak attacks from other top-tier heaven's prides: there was the death-qi curse of the Netherworld Abyss, there was the dragon breath impact of the Monster Clan's Azure Dragon, there was the axe-light from War Without Extremes cleaving through space……

All were dealt with by him relying on the versatility of his five-element divine light and the clever maneuvering of his gravity technique—either hard-resisting, evading, or counterattacking to repel—but his body also accumulated several wounds, and his spiritual power and divine sense consumption was enormous.

But he was not fighting alone. Occasionally, when a key-bearer on a certain sky ladder encountered a siege and danger, other key-bearers would also quietly lend a hand.

Not out of affection, but to maintain a delicate balance—no one wanted a key-bearer to be eliminated before their own ascent, which would prevent the opening of the Myriad Laws Pool.

After an unknown amount of time, as if a long century had passed, when Wang Ping felt his spiritual power and will were nearing their limits, the scene ahead suddenly brightened!

At last, the end of the blue sky ladder!

Here, already the summit of Heaven Pillar Mountain. A relatively flat platform, about a hundred zhang in radius.

The platform ground was not rock, but a kind of warm, jade-like yet extremely hard chaotic crystal, its surface naturally flowing with seven-colored law light halos.

At this moment, three figures were already on the platform.

The Void Clan's Yinying arrived first, standing silently in a corner of the platform, his deep gray cloak fluttering slightly in the chaotic currents, his face indiscernible, only his eyes—like the void, indifferent—scanning the newcomers.

The Ancient God Clan's Mulan arrived second, sitting cross-legged slightly left of the platform's center, emerald spiritual light flowing around him, evidently the ascent had taken its toll on him too. The jade-green wooden key in his hand emitted soft life fluctuations.

The Fallen Immortal Clan's Saintess Yuliuli nearly stepped onto the platform at the same time as Wang Ping. Her immortal grace remained, though her immortal light was slightly dimmed, showing she too had not come easily. She landed on the other side of the platform, her crimson fire key jumping with scorching flames.

As Wang Ping stepped onto the platform, he felt the pressure on his body suddenly lighten.

He quickly scanned the surroundings, confirmed safety, then found an open spot, immediately sat cross-legged, took medicinal pills, and began full recovery.

Though the four were in the same place, they were far apart, mutually wary, with no communication—only the law fluctuations emitted by their respective keys subtly resonating and intertwining on this summit platform.

Beyond the platform, below remained the bottomless chaotic void and violent law turbulence.

Only four sky ladders, like four thin ribbons, connected to the distant world below. One could imagine the battle at the mountain's base must be even more brutal, but those who could finally break through layers of obstruction and reach this summit platform were likely few and far between.

Indeed, after about half an hour of the four resting and recovering, the chaotic airflow above the platform violently surged.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several disheveled yet still powerful figures broke through the sky ladder's final barrier one after another and landed on the platform!

The first to arrive was Leizhen, his body wrapped in blazing white thunder, his clothes stained with blood, yet his fighting spirit high.

He held no key, relying instead on a domineering thunder force and tenacious will to fight his way up! "Hahaha! Wang brother, didn't I come just in time?"

He laughed loudly, seeing Wang Ping unharmed, obviously relieved, then rudely walked over to sit near Wang Ping, began recovering, and gave the others a hostile glance.

Next, the Sky Azure Clan's Cangxuan descended with his cold, silver silhouette, breath steady, as if climbing the sky ladder was merely a leisurely stroll for him. He landed at the platform's edge, eyes closed, standing still.

The Netherworld Clan's Mingxue appeared as a shadow, silently emerging in a corner of the platform, deathly aura thick.

The Five Elements Clan's Yan Jin landed heavily on the platform, bearing scorching heat and fury, his eyes fixed on Yuliuli's fire key, then sweeping over Wang Ping—clearly extremely unwilling.

Following, the Qinglong Heavenly Pride, the Tianfeng Bloodline woman, the Giant Spirit and Wu Clan alliance, Li Dao Yi of the First Dao Institute, Zhan Wuji of the Second Dao Institute, Xuanxuan of the Third Dao Institute... and another two or three unknown to Wang Ping, extraordinarily powerful lone experts, totaling over ten, successively reached the summit.

These people were all survivors of the brutal melee below and the harsh trials of the sky ladders—the strongest! Each exuded formidable aura, bore wounds, and their eyes were sharp as blades.

The tiny summit platform now gathered over twenty of the contemporary Golden Core Heaven's Pride from the Spirit Realm! The atmosphere instantly became immensely heavy and oppressive, swords drawn and bows bent!

Everyone's gaze focused on the platform's center, on the four key-bearers.

The entrance to the Myriad Laws Pool clearly required these four keys to open together.

But how to open it? And after opening, how to allocate entry qualifications? Did key-bearers have privileges? All this remained unknown.

Silence lasted for several breaths.

Finally, Mulan of the Ancient God Clan opened his eyes first, slowly rose. His voice was calm yet carried an undeniable power, echoing across the platform:

"Four keys united, Heaven Pillar's summit. The Myriad Laws Pool entrance shall be opened by us key-bearers, resonating the keys. As for entry qualifications..."

His gaze swept over the other ten-plus people on the platform, "The Heaven Pillar's will shall decide. Those who obstruct the opening may face disaster."

These words were both explanation and warning, reminding those with ill intentions that if they now attacked the key-bearers, they might trigger Heaven Pillar Mountain's punishment mechanism.

The Void Clan's Yinying said nothing, merely stepped forward a few paces to the platform's central area, where the ground faintly showed four recessed slot marks.

Yuliuli nodded slightly, also gliding forward.

Wang Ping and Leizhen exchanged a glance; Leizhen grinned, voice low: "Go ahead, Wang brother. I'd like to see who dares cause trouble now!" His body faintly crackled with thunder, eyes tiger-like.

Wang Ping nodded, took a deep breath, suppressed his injuries and fatigue, and stepped toward the center.

The four each took a position, forming a square, spaced several zhang apart.

Without further words, the four almost simultaneously produced their law keys.

Golden sharpness, emerald life, icy blue vastness, crimson fervor—four-colored light blazed forth simultaneously!

The moment the four keys appeared, the four recessed slot marks on the platform ground suddenly erupted with strong suction!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The four keys flew from their hands, automatically toward their corresponding slots, fitting perfectly!

Hum——!!!!

The entire Heaven Pillar summit suddenly trembled!

With the four keys as center, four thick pillars of law light—corresponding respectively to gold, green, blue, and red—shot up into the sky, piercing the churning "Heaven's Dome" above!

Next, the four-colored light pillars converged and fused at great height, forming a grander, more brilliant seven-colored light pillar, which thunderously descended, completely enveloping a ten-zhang radius area at the platform's center!

Within the seven-colored light pillar, countless fine law runes flowed and reorganized like a waterfall, space violently twisted and folded, forming—a massive vortex channel emitting an ancient, vast, almost source-of-world aura—gradually taking shape!

Inside the channel, seven-colored flowing light rotated, obscuring concrete sights, but the extremely rich, mixed-attribute yet highly harmonious law source aura surged like a tide, causing everyone on the platform to shudder in mind and spirit, their pores involuntarily opening, greedily drinking it in!

The entrance to the Myriad Laws Pool had opened!

At the moment the channel stabilized, the venerable Heaven Pillar Will descended again:

"Channel opened, key-bearers priority. Others may enter only with channel approval. Obstructors, annihilated!"

As the words fell, a soft yet resilient seven-colored light halo rippled at the channel's mouth, like a threshold.

Wang Ping, Yinying, Mulan, and Yuliuli, holding keys, immediately felt a gentle pulling force from the channel, their keys slightly heating, resonating with the channel.

"Go!" Mulan lowly shouted, transforming into a blue light and shooting into the seven-colored channel, his silhouette instantly swallowed by the flowing light.

Yinying's form became illusory, closely following.

Yuliuli's immortal light flashed, and she also entered.

Wang Ping hesitated no longer, nodded to Leizhen, and leapt into the seven-colored light flow!

At the moment his body entered the passage, the Water-Traveling Key in his arms emitted a soft blue light shield, wrapping him; the violent law turbulence and spatial tearing force inside the passage were immediately blocked by more than half, while only the pure law aura continuously seeped in.

Following closely behind them, the other heavenly pride on the platform also moved!

Cangxuan flashed his figure, silver radiance protecting his body, attempting to pass through the seven-colored light halo threshold. The light halo flickered slightly, as if making some judgment; after a moment, Cangxuan's figure successfully passed through and entered the passage.

Mingxian turned into a shadow, trying to blend in; the light halo flickered, and the deathly aura was repelled, but he seemed to have used some secret method, his shadow forcibly distorted, and he also squeezed in.

Yan Jin roared, five-colored flames enveloping his entire body, and charged in hard; after the light halo flickered violently, it reluctantly allowed passage.

Leizhen bellowed, blazing white thunder light exploding, arrogantly crashing into the threshold; the light halo trembled, but did not block.

Li Dao Yi was dotted with starlight all over his body, his steps calm, and he easily stepped in.

Zhan Wuji shouldered his giant axe and strode in with large steps.

Xuanxuan's agile movement, starlight protecting his body, also smoothly entered.

The Qinglong heavenly pride, Tianfeng bloodline, Jiling tribe witch tribe combination, and another two or three strongest-aura lone strongmen also each employed their methods, fast or slow, successively passing through the seven-colored light halo's judgment and rushing into the passage.

Finally, about fifteen or sixteen people successfully entered the seven-colored passage. While on the platform, three or four heavenly pride with slightly weaker aura or more serious injuries, unable to pass the light halo judgment, remained.

Their faces were ashen, eyes full of unwillingness, yet they dared not forcibly attack; they could only watch helplessly as the passage entrance, after everyone entered, the seven-colored light halo gradually contracted, and the passage itself began to become unstable, as if it would close at any moment.

Inside the seven-colored flowing light passage, it was not a straight forward path, but a spiraling route constantly rotating and extending toward unknown depths. Around them, law fragment light shadows, condensed into various strange forms, flashed by at high speed, gorgeous beyond compare, yet also extremely dangerous; without the key's light shield or overwhelming personal strength, one would easily be swept into them, lose direction, or even be assimilated by the laws.

Under the protection of the blue light shield, Wang Ping's mind was tense. He felt that within this passage, the auras of other entrants had not drifted away; everyone seemed to be advancing along the same path, merely separated by the flowing light, making direct contact or attack difficult.

After about the time to finish a cup of tea, the front suddenly opened up!

The sensation of rotation and tearing abruptly vanished; Wang Ping's feet stood firm, and he appeared in a strange space difficult to describe in words.

Here, it seemed like the true core of Tianzhu Mountain, yet also like an independent small world outside the secret realm.

The sky was a sheet of soft and bright chaotic-colored light halo, without sun, moon, or stars, yet naturally emitting light that illuminated everything.

Underfoot was a similarly chaotic-colored ground, like warm jade, smooth and hard.

And in the center of this space was a……"pool"?

This was not an ordinary water pool, but a diameter of about a hundred zhang, formed by countless colors and countless forms of "light" converging into a slowly flowing, rotating "ocean of light"!

Crimson like magma firelight bands, azure like deep-sea water light clusters, emerald like jade life-light trees, platinum like sharp swords' keen light rain, dark yellow like earth's heavy light mountains……the five elements, wind, thunder, ice, light, darkness, and even countless other rare, indescribable law origins, here all became visible to the naked eye, seemingly alive "light"!

They intertwined, collided, merged, separated, interpreting the supreme truth of the Dao's birth and destruction, all things' reincarnation.

Merely standing at the "pool's edge," the surging, extremely pure, mixed with myriad laws yet strangely harmonious origin aura, made all who arrived have their minds sway, their spiritual power cheer and leap, their bottlenecks loosen, as if they had seen the true face of the Great Dao!

Wan Fa Pool! The true Wan Fa Pool!

After enduring countless hardships, breaking through numerous obstacles, defeating many strong enemies, they, at last, reached this secret realm's legendary ultimate opportunity site!

Everyone's breathing unconsciously became rapid. Their eyes filled with shock, desire, and the fervent light of determination to win!

Opportunity lay before them. And how much they could gain from it depended on their own abilities.

Wang Ping clenched his fists; the Five Elements Golden Core in his dantian began to rotate at an unprecedented speed, five-colored divine light faintly flowing within his body. His eyes reflected that magnificent, vast law light sea, filled with determination and anticipation.

The Way of the Five Elements, the source of myriad laws. This place was exactly where he could perfect his Dao foundation and condense the supreme Nascent Soul!