"HRAAAGH!"
A cultivator roared, burning his Essence Blood. He scrambled upward with hands and feet, resisting the almost tangible, crushing pressure.
However, this final thousand-zhang stretch represented a qualitative change.
Even though he pushed himself to his absolute limit, leaving a bloody footprint with every step, he had only advanced a mere ten zhang after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
At this rate, climbing the final thousand zhang would require at least ten to fifteen days of painstaking effort.
"This is too hard... It’s like climbing a wall with a mountain on my back!"
As the crowd gazed at the unreachable summit, the heroic spirit that had just begun to swell within their hearts was mostly extinguished in an instant.
In the midst of this heavy atmosphere, where thousands of people struggled forward like ants...
A gentle breeze suddenly swept over their heads.
Everyone instinctively looked up, and what they saw was a sight they would never forget.
The figure in cyan robes wasn’t scrambling with his hands and feet like them. In fact... his feet weren’t touching the ground at all!
Chu Bai stood with his hands clasped behind his back, treading on the void.
The majestic Circulation Wheel Dao Foundation within his body slowly rotated, emitting a Five-Colored Divine Light. This light resonated with the imperial golden light of the Celestial Ladder. Far from being repelled, it was embraced as if a wanderer were returning home, cheered on and uplifted by the entire Celestial Ladder.
The terrifying pressure, enough to crush a Qi Cultivation Perfect Cultivator, was like a nonexistent breeze in the face of his Merit Golden Light, which outshone everyone present.
One step, one hundred zhang.
Two steps, five hundred zhang.
Watched by countless stunned, shocked, and awestruck gazes, Chu Bai moved as if he were taking a leisurely stroll in his own garden. Not even the hem of his robes was out of place.
In a mere ten breaths’ time.
He had already crossed the impassable chasm that held the others captive, arriving at the end of the Celestial Ladder to stand before the grand Light Gate leading to Dayuan Prefecture.
Above the sea of clouds, the astral winds howled.
Chu Bai turned and looked down from his lofty position at his fellow students, who were still struggling at the ten and twenty-zhang marks below.
Those former prodigies, in his eyes now, no longer belonged to the same world as him.
There was no mockery, nor any showing off.
Chu Bai simply wore a calm expression as he cupped his hands in a salute, his clear voice carrying down on the wind:
"My path forward is set. I shall go on ahead."
"Let us all do our best."
As his voice faded, he took a step forward, his figure vanishing into the brilliant Light Gate. He left behind only a silhouette that the thousands of talents from Qingzhou could only gaze up at in awe, and a five-colored Dao Charm that lingered long after at the end of the Celestial Ladder.
「At the end of the Celestial Ladder, above the sea of clouds.」
Like a divine dragon returning to the sea, the figure in cyan robes vanished into the brilliant Light Gate, leaving behind a crowd that could only gaze up at his departing back.
The undisputed first place.
In this brutal examination—a cataclysm marked by the revival of Divine Spirits—he had not only survived and saved everyone, but had also taken the top spot in a display of almost mythical prowess.
At nine thousand zhang, Xia Xing opened his mouth, wanting to shout something, but his throat was dry. A thousand words clogged his chest, finally escaping as a single, complicated sigh.
Before, he might have harbored some desire to compete. But now, watching that figure leave everyone else in the dust, all that remained in his heart was the reverence one feels when gazing up at a towering mountain.
’We’re still struggling in the mire, while he has already ascended and flown away...’
But then, Xia Xing’s bloodstained brow furrowed. Now that the life-or-death urgency had passed and his rationality returned, he immediately realized there was an extremely thorny problem.
’Immortal Chu forced his Foundation Establishment within this Secret Realm. Even though it was to save us, according to the Great Zhou Laws... that’s a major taboo.’
’To break through to a new Great Realm without first entering a Daoist School or Receiving a Talisman from the Court is to become a Wild Cultivator.’
’After we get back, the Examination Department, and maybe even the State Mansion, will likely hold him strictly accountable.’ Xia Xing worried. The Great Zhou’s control over Cultivators was extremely strict. Even if Chu Bai’s Merit was immeasurable, this procedural stain would become a massive problem if someone with malicious intent decided to exploit it.
Xia Xing clenched his fists, his gaze fixed on the despair-inducing stone steps below. The exhaustion in his eyes vanished, replaced by an unprecedented determination.
’If I can climb higher, if I can obtain the Cyan Talisman that symbolizes core authority!
’Once I reach Foundation Establishment and enter official service, even if I can’t influence the law, I’ll at least have a voice in the Court. I can put in a good word for him and testify to the danger we faced today!’
’I must strive onward!’
With that thought, Xia Xing no longer hesitated. He bit the tip of his tongue, squeezing out his last shred of Spiritual Power, and launched a desperate charge toward the next step under the crushing pressure.
「Meanwhile.」
Chu Bai felt golden light swirl before his eyes as the sensation of weightlessness that came with crossing between realms instantly enveloped him.
In the final moment before his consciousness left the Cyan Nether Realm, he glanced back at the world receding behind him.
Just as the grand celestial voice had proclaimed, with the connection node established, the Cyan Nether Realm was no longer collapsing.
However, the Secret Realm that should have been lush with Spiritual Qi now looked gray and hazy, suffused with the deathly stillness of something that had been completely hollowed out.
This was the aftereffect of Chu Bai having "packaged up and taken" the Divine Body, the Divine Corpse, and even the Heaven and Earth Origin with him.
’This clean, huh? Well, it saves the Great Zhou the trouble of future development. They can just use it as a Desolate Realm for stationing troops.’
Chu Bai felt no guilt in his heart, but rather a trace of relief:
’This way, the world is stable, so the Land God doesn’t have to be martyred. Protected by that Regular Seventh Grade divine position, he can sleep there for ten thousand years, and perhaps one day, he will truly see the light again.’
As his thoughts flowed, the golden light dispersed.
A familiar aroma, carrying scents of sandalwood and solemnity, wafted over him.

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