“Feng’er, this place is the Chu Heavenly Clan’s forbidden area. There are people from the Chu Heavenly Clan monitoring this place. As I proclaimed that you’ve died, you cannot stay here for too long.”
“Furthermore, after returning to the Outer World, you must not tell anyone that you are my son. At least… you cannot mention it before I inform you that you can,” Chu Xuanyuan said.
“Father, please rest a.s.sured. The Chu Heavenly Clan has already abandoned me. From that very moment, I was already no longer a part of the Chu Heavenly Clan. Thus, I will not be so shameless as to proclaim myself to be a part of the Chu Heavenly Clan.”
“However, I will not change my name, the name of Chu Feng. After all, that is the name that you and mother gave me. While I might not care about it elsewhere, I am insistent on using this name to campaign in the Outer World.”
“However, I will comply with father’s instructions, and not declare who I really am,” Chu Feng said.
“Mn,” Chu Xuanyuan nodded.
“Merely, father, what must I do in order to let you leave this place?” Chu Feng asked.
“Feng’er, this place is simply unable to trap me to begin with. I have only come here for the sake of training.”
“Only by being here will I be able to comprehend certain things. Only by comprehending them will I be able to discover what I want to find.”
“Before attaining comprehension, I will not be leaving this place,” Chu Xuanyuan said.
Chu Feng was startled to hear those words. However, he soon revealed a smile on his face, and said, “I understand.”
Chu Feng truly understood. In other words, as not even the Chu Heavenly Clan could trap his father, no one would be able to harm his father. As such, the worry that Chu Feng had toward his father also vanished.
“Old Ape, are the preparations ready?” Suddenly, Chu Xuanyuan spoke toward the depths of the forbidden area.
“It’s ready,” The Old Ape slowly walked out from the depths of the forbidden area.
“Feng’er, this person here is called Old Ape. You should address him as Uncle Ape. Your Uncle Ape is someone who has campaigned all over the world with your father. Although he is much older than me, he is my closest brother,” Chu Xuanyuan introduced Old Ape.
“Chu Feng pays his respects to Uncle Ape,” Chu Feng hurriedly greeted the Old Ape respectfully. After hearing what his father said, Chu Feng felt a greater respect for the Old Ape.
“Your father has prepared a gift for you. I, as your uncle, will naturally also have to prepare you a gift.”
“Merely, this gift might not necessarily be something that you’ll like,” The Old Ape said.
“What is it?” Chu Feng asked.
“Follow me,” As the Old Ape spoke, he began to walk toward the depths of the forbidden area.
After they journeyed for a short moment, Chu Feng saw the blind old man and Zi Ling again. However, at this moment, the thing that caught his attention the most was an unusual flight of steps.
The reason why this flight of steps was unusual was because it was very large, and each step seemed to be made of gla.s.s. There were a total of nine such steps.
Chu Feng felt an usual power from this flight of steps. It seemed to be a kind of testing instrument.
“Feng’er, these stairs are known as the Nine Levels Heavenly Lightning Steps. These are the steps that all the Chu Heavenly Clan’s younger generation will have to ascend upon reaching twenty years of age.”
“The Nine Levels Heavenly Lightning Steps mainly tests the willpower of a wielder of a Heavenly Lightning Bloodline. The reason for that is because willpower is the most crucial aspect of a Heavenly Lightning Bloodline’s cultivation.”
“After all, what is required on the path of martial cultivation is perseverance. That is especially true for us, the possessors of Heavenly Lightning Bloodlines. As long as we train in the Self-punis.h.i.+ng Mysterious Technique, we will be punished by lightning with each breakthrough in our cultivation. While one’s body const.i.tution is one aspect to resisting the lightning punishment, one’s willpower is the most important matter.”
“As for this Nine Levels Heavenly Lightning Steps, it will resonate with your Heavenly Lightning Bloodline, bringing you great pain with each step that you ascend.”
“That pain will affect your movements. Retreating will be very easy. However, it will be very difficult to continue to ascend.”
“In other words, the more steps you manage to ascend, the greater your willpower is, and the higher your future accomplishments might be.”
“Although you have long since pa.s.sed the age when the test is to be conducted, it would still be fine to undergo the test now,” Chu Xuanyuan said.
“Father, in that case, what sort of result do people generally obtain from this test?” Chu Feng asked.
“Their results are all different. The majority of people will be able to ascend to the third step. Of course, there are those that are weaker, and cannot even ascend onto the second step. For the people of our Chu Heavenly Clan, they were all able to ascend to the second step. The great majority of them were able to ascend to the third step.”
“As for the fourth step, only about twenty percent of the people in our Chu Heavenly Clan were capable of that.”
“As for the fifth step, it is even lesser, numbering less than even ten percent.”
“It is much much fewer for the sixth step. Those that are able to reach the sixth step would all be emphasized by the Chu Heavenly Clan.”
“As for those capable of reaching the seventh step, they were known to be exceptional geniuses even in the Chu Heavenly Clan. They would be able to enjoy an endless amount of glory and obtain the best treatment from the Chu Heavenly Clan. After all, even the Clan Chief of our Chu Heavenly Clan only managed to reach the seventh step,” Chu Xuanyuan said.
Suddenly, Chu Feng asked, “Father, what about you then?”
“This… hehe…” Chu Xuanyuan seemed to not know how to respond and merely chuckled.
“Both your father and your grandfather managed to reach the ninth step. They are the only two people in the entire Chu Heavenly Clan’s history who have managed to reach the ninth step.”
“As for the eighth step, only a single person managed to reach that in the entire Chu Heavenly Clan’s history. That was the ancestor of the Chu Heavenly Clan, Chu Yetianhong.”
“Merely, as the eighth step remains the eighth step, it would naturally be inferior to the ninth step,” The Old Ape said.
“In that case, my father and my grandfather are even more powerful than the Chu Heavenly Clan’s ancestor?” Hearing those words, Chu Feng looked to his father. Pride filled his face.
“It’s merely a test. It wouldn’t be able to prove much. Regardless, the person that has contributed the most to the Chu Heavenly Clan remains our ancestor, Chu Yetianhong,” Chu Xuanyuan said.
“Father, in that case, can I attempt it now?” Chu Feng asked. He was filled with impatience to attempt that test.
“You can start whenever you’re ready. If you feel that you are unable to continue, then just come back. Although it is only a trial, it still possesses fatal danger should you force yourself to continue.”
“Practically every year, there are people who overestimate themselves, and they die on the Nine Levels Heavenly Lightning Steps,” Chu Xuanyuan warned.
“Father, please rest a.s.sured. I am not someone who overestimates my abilities,” Chu Feng nodded with a smile. Then, he stepped onto the first step of the Nine Levels Heavenly Lightning Steps.
“Step~~~”
“Roar~~~”
Right after Chu Feng stepped onto the first step, that gla.s.s-like step immediately let out a roar. Following that, lightning appeared from the step and entered Chu Feng’s body through his feet. The lightning connected with Chu Feng’s Heavenly Lightning Bloodline.
At that moment, a pain that Chu Feng had never felt before filled his entire body. Chu Feng felt as if his entire body was going numb.
He felt as if his entire body was being struck and tormented by lightning from inside to outside.
However, this sort of pain was something that Chu Feng could tolerate. He bit down upon his teeth and took two consecutive steps upward. In a blink of an eye, he arrived at the third step.
When he reached the third step, it was no longer a single bolt of lightning entering his body. Instead, there were three lightning bolts entering his body.
The pain and torment from the three lightning bolts was much stronger compared to that of a single lightning bolt.
However, they were still unable to stop Chu Feng; Chu Feng continued to proceed upward.