Chapter 42: Ascending to Heaven
Zhang Shan looked around and saw that others had already gone forward to receive their number plates from the attendants, leaving only the two of them whispering to each other.
The two of them no longer hesitated and hurriedly walked over to report their names. The two attendants each took out a square jade tablet with a pendant chain, wrote something on it with their fingers, and handed it over to them.
Zhang Shan took it in front of his eyes and looked carefully, and his own name appeared on the jade slip.
"This should be the way of the runes." He thought to himself.
"Alright, put the nameplate around your neck and you can go on the road. The nameplate must not be removed, or else you'll die and don't blame me. Finally, I'll give you a hint, this stone step is called the Road to Heaven, also known as the Heart-asking Road."
The old man said after finishing, waving his hand and shouting: "Set off immediately! Those who are still in the original place within 100 breaths will have their qualification cancelled!"
Everyone heard it and couldn't think much anymore, and they rushed towards the stone steps in a flurry.
Zhang Shan and Situ Qing nodded at each other and followed the crowd forward onto this heavenly path.
As he stepped onto the first step, everything went dark before his eyes, and then he saw the light again.
"Where is he?"
Zhang Shan looked around with wide eyes, earlier there were many disciples standing beside him as they stepped onto the stone stairs, but now not a single one was in sight, only he stood alone on the first step of the platform.
"This road to the heavens should have some restrictions or illusions, right? Outside, it's possible to see a group of people climbing the mountain, but inside, only one can be seen." Zhang Shan thought to himself.
He lowered his head to observe the ground beneath him, the steps were about three zhang long and one zhang wide, made of a single piece of unknown stone material, feeling warm and smooth like jade, shining brightly.
Looking up and gazing afar, after calculating in his mind, this heavenly ladder had a total of five hundred levels.
He tried to move his body a bit, everything was normal, didn't feel anything out of the ordinary.
He cast aside his doubts and took a step forward.
The body suddenly felt a little heavy, as if it had been pressed with a hundred-pound burden.
"Sure enough, there's a plot behind this. Is this a test of endurance?"
Zhang Shan flashed this thought in his mind and continued walking forward, stepping onto the second step.
His body sank again, feeling another hundred pounds of weight added on.
Zhang Shan walked forward at a steady pace, and after climbing up to the tenth step, he estimated in his heart that the weight on him had already reached over a thousand catties.
"The first step is one hundred pounds, and by the time you reach the five hundredth level, isn't that equivalent to carrying a weight of fifty thousand pounds? How can this be done?" Zhang Shan furrowed his brow involuntarily.
Generally speaking, a strong and healthy man can exert a force of 400-500 kilograms with one punch, but if you ask him to carry a load of 200 kilograms, he won't be able to do it.
Like Zhang Shan, his own strength now reaches four elephants with one punch, which is 48,000 catties. However, if he carries a heavy load, even if the true yuan reaches its peak, it would be absolutely impossible to reach 20,000 catties.
"I've cultivated the Indestructible Body of the Five Elements, so if I use my full strength to carry the weight, it's probably around 18,000 catties. Others might only be able to handle 10,000 catties. In that case, is it really impossible for anyone to walk up these 500 steps?" Zhang Shan thought to himself.
"Don't worry, host. In my opinion, this trial might just be the first hundred levels, and the gravity is only ten thousand catties." The voice of Ling Bei echoed in his sea of consciousness.
"That's possible, after all, if it's an impossible task, then this test is meaningless."
Zhang Shan nodded in agreement and continued walking forward with a steady pace.
The top floor of the grand hall at the end of the Heavenly Road offers a clear view of the entire scene on the Heavenly Road.
In the great hall, there were seven people observing the test of this group of disciples. Two of them were Xu Shenwei, the guardian of the Law Enforcement Hall, and Ma Chengxing, the supervisor of the Examination Hall. The other five were true disciples of the Five Peaks.
Five authentic disciples were naturally selected by various factions, the executive hall guardian was to supervise and test impartially, while specific testing matters were arranged by the head of the examination hall.
On the stone steps of the Heavenly Road, you can clearly see that 500 test disciples have formed a long dragon, and more than a dozen people with strong strength have quickly passed the 90th level.
For these newly promoted disciples who are around the third layer of Lingwu Realm, the weight they can bear has already reached 9,000 catties. Now, even these proud ones also look a bit overwhelmed, their footsteps slow like a snail.
"Xu Hu Fa, these dozen or so people aren't bad, about 200 breaths can reach the 90th level of the stairs." Ma Cheng Xing smiled and whispered to Xu Shen who was standing beside him.
Xu Shen was usually taciturn and rarely spoke. At this time, he just nodded slightly and didn't respond.
Ma Chengxing knew his temper and didn't take it to heart, but his eyes were fixed on Zhang Shan who was standing behind him. In his mind, he thought, "Is this kid the one who ruined Ben Feng's plan?"
A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and a jade token suddenly appeared on the palm of his hand hidden in his sleeve. Then, he lightly pressed down on an inscription-like protrusion on the jade token.
After finishing this small action, the jade token disappeared again. Ma Chengxing sneered in his heart, "If you want to oppose me, Ruo Yang Peak, then go and be a miscellaneous disciple for now, and I'll slowly deal with you later."
On the road to heaven, Zhang Shan had already walked up the 50th step at a steady pace, with a weight of 5,000 catties on his body, but for him it was just a small matter.
He didn't hear the old man say that there was a time limit for ascending to heaven, so he wasn't in a hurry either, and didn't know that he had already fallen behind.
At this time, the sign hanging from his waist suddenly heated up, and Zhang Shan felt that the weight on his body had suddenly doubled. Unprepared, he stumbled and almost fell to the ground.
After stabilizing his body shape, Zhang Shan furrowed his brow, "What's going on? The gravity increased by a factor of two at level 50, and now it's reached 10,000 catties, this doesn't make sense."
With a question in his mind, he stepped onto the fifty-first step, and then felt an additional two hundred kilograms added to his body.
"Before level 50, one level was a hundred jin, now one level has become two hundred jin? But at level 50, suddenly five thousand jin were added all at once, this is absolutely abnormal."
Thinking of the badge in his chest pocket, Zhang Shan's heart skipped a beat as he pulled it out, but remembering the old man's warning, he didn't dare take it off from around his neck.
He carefully observed the license plate, but didn't find anything.
"The host doesn't need to look anymore, this must be someone who has tampered with it. This Heavenly Road should be able to adjust the intensity of gravity, and the number plate serves as a positioning device, but the host can't throw away the number plate." said Ling at this time.
Zhang Shan's mind suddenly flashed with Ma Qingyi's face, and then he thought of Chi Yangfeng behind him.
"It must be those despicable people who are behind this."
Zhang Shan gritted his teeth and said, "Do you have a solution? If the weight continues to increase at this rate, by level 100 it will reach 20,000 catties. This is clearly trying to make me fail."
"This Heavenly Ascent Path is a formation spell, and with my currently unsealed abilities, it's impossible to break through." said the Monument Spirit helplessly.
"It seems I can only rely on myself."
Zhang Shan took a deep breath, then gritted his teeth and said: "You think it's easy to make me fail the test? You want to crush me? Otherwise, even if I have to crawl, I'll still climb up!"
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