153: Chapter 153 People from Various Forces Arrive

The fiftieth floor of the Bone Platform.

Lin Mo had just stepped onto it and hadn't even fully steadied himself when a violent spatial fluctuation rippled behind him.

The entire Bone Platform trembled slightly.

The pressure wasn't coming from above.

It was coming from beneath his feet, from the direction of the Trial Gate's entrance.

Lin Mo turned his head, his gaze piercing through the suppression of the bone steps to land on the entrance at the very bottom.

The Trial Gate had been opened from the outside.

Moreover, it wasn't just one person.

On both sides of the bone-white light gate, space seemed to be torn apart by an invisible hand, rolling back to the left and right.

Beyond the light gate, a dense mass of figures stretched as far as the eye could see; at a rough glance, there were at least a thousand people.

Lin Mo's brow twitched slightly.

The clothing on those people was very familiar to him.

The silver-white uniforms of the Awakener Association.

The deep blue robes of Tianyan Academy.

The cyan martial robes of the Qingyun Ancient Martial Arts Sect.

The dark red battle suits of the Hunters League.

There were also some rogue cultivators dressed in various styles with fierce auras, standing in small groups on the outermost edge, their gazes equally sharp.

"Interesting."

Lin Mo said in a low voice.

He didn't continue upward.

Instead, he stood on the fiftieth-floor platform, turned around, and quietly watched the scene below.

At the entrance, the first person to step into the Trial Gate was a young man wearing a silver-white uniform.

Ji Wuchen.

He was the top prodigy of the Awakener Association and the son of Chairman Ji Yuanshan.

His features were extremely refined, and a faint, lingering curve hung at the corner of his mouth—a sense of superiority that seeped from his very bones.

When he walked in, he didn't even look at the skeletons on the Bone Platform first.

Instead, he looked up, scanned the people climbing the bone steps, and finally rested his gaze on Lin Mo at the very top.

"Is it them?"

Ji Wuchen spoke indifferently.

"They are merely early arrivals."

Behind him, Gu Yunting, the head disciple of Tianyan Academy, immediately followed up.

His gaze was more direct than Ji Wuchen's and even less concealed.

"We're just letting them lead for a while!"

Gu Yunting said plainly.

"True inheritance has always belonged to true geniuses. Getting a head start is nothing more than climbing a few extra floors."

After speaking, he didn't look at Lin Mo again and stepped directly toward the bone steps.

The third to enter was Lu Chenzhou of the Qingyun Ancient Martial Arts Sect.

He had a burly physique with broad shoulders and a thick back, standing there like a mountain blocking the road.

His aura was heavy and his steps steady; with every step he took, the ground shook slightly.

"Amateurs."

Lu Chenzhou looked up and scanned the people on the bone steps, saying only those two words.

There was no obvious mockery in his tone; it was as if he were stating a self-evident fact.

In his eyes, aside from the orthodox inheritance of the ancient martial sects, everything else was just amateurish and unorthodox.

And amateurs were not worthy of competing for the inheritance.

The fourth to enter was a woman.

Ye Huangyi.

The number one person among the younger generation of the Hunters League. She wore a dark red skin-tight battle suit, had a slender figure, and a cold, glamorous face.

She looked up at Lin Mo at the highest point of the bone steps, her expression indifferent.

Among the group that entered next, the man leading them was none other than Yan Shisan, who had been quite famous recently. He didn't wear the clothing of any faction, only a gray martial robe that had been washed until it was pale, with the cuffs already frayed.

No one knew what his trait was.

After walking in, he didn't look at Lin Mo either.

He didn't even look at anyone on the bone steps.

What he looked at was the Bone Platform itself.

The texture of every single step.

The positioning of the skeleton warriors.

Where the suppression flowed from and where it would land.

He watched for a full ten breaths.

Then he smiled.

"Interesting."

He said softly.

"This Bone Platform doesn't look at cultivation realm."

His voice wasn't loud.

But the few elders standing at the very back of the crowd all had their brows twitch at the same time.

Because they understood.

This wasn't a casual exclamation.

These were words that could only be spoken by someone who truly understood the underlying principles.

The elders of the major factions stood at the entrance, not in a hurry to mount the platform.

They first looked up and scanned the entire Bone Platform.

From the first floor to the fiftieth floor.

From those still testing the waters to those who had already charged to the front.

Everyone's position, state, and advancement speed were fully captured by their eyes.

A moment later, Lei Wanjun, the Deputy Leader of the Hunters League, was the first to speak.

"The one on the fiftieth floor, that's Lin Mo?"

Wei Qianshan, a director of the Awakener Association, nodded.

"It's him."

Lei Wanjun stared at Lin Mo for a few breaths and said plainly:

"His cultivation should be at the seventh level of the fourth rank. To be able to reach the fiftieth floor is quite decent. However—"

He paused slightly.

"Taking the first step doesn't mean one can reach the end."

Shen Guhong, the Vice Dean of Tianyan Academy, added:

"The Bone Platform inheritance will ultimately only fall into the hands of people at our level. For the younger generation, what they fight for is experience, not the result."

Daoist Master Yun Yao, an elder of the Qingyun Ancient Martial Arts Sect, didn't evaluate Lin Mo, only saying calmly:

"Let's see first."

The four elders exchanged a glance, then stepped forward simultaneously toward the bone steps.

They didn't mount the platform immediately.

Instead, they stopped before the first step and looked up to observe.

On the bone steps.

Azerbaijani own was standing on the fifteenth-floor platform, his chest heaving, sweat from his temples sliding down the side of his face.

He had just forced his way through the skeleton ambush on the fourteenth floor, adding three more wounds to his body, and the spiritual energy in his body was mostly depleted. Had he not gritted his teeth and endured, he might not have even stood steadily on this floor.

But at that moment, a subtle yet exceptionally clear fluctuation suddenly came from below.

Azerbaijani own frowned and looked down.

He happened to see the Trial Gate being pushed open from the outside again, and a group of figures stepped onto the Bone Platform from beyond the light gate.

The person who stepped in first was dressed in white with silver patterns, his aura condensed, and his eyes carried an almost innate coldness.

Ji Wuchen.

Azerbaijani own's gaze immediately darkened.

"Why is he here?"

Beside him, Zhou Jingyue on the seventeenth floor also heard the commotion and glanced back, his expression also changing slightly.

"Ji Wuchen?"

Zhou Jingyue said in a low voice, a hint of surprise in his tone.

"The people from the Awakener Association actually came in as well."

Azerbaijani own snorted coldly, his eyes clearly showing more displeasure.

"They really are like a ghost that won't leave."

He and Ji Wuchen were not strangers.

To be precise, the top disciples of the four major factions already knew of each other's existence.

Ji Wuchen, Gu Yunting, Lu Chenzhou, Ye Huangyi... which of these people wasn't a prodigy who was truly focused on being nurtured by their respective factions?

It could even be said that people like Azerbaijani own had long met and clashed with them on various occasions, sometimes gaining the upper hand and sometimes being suppressed.

It was just that in the past, everyone competed on their own turf.

But now, they had run into each other on the same Bone Platform.

Meanwhile, further up the bone steps.

Azerbaijani own's face had already darkened.

Zhou Jingyue, standing on the seventeenth floor, also didn't look very pleased.

"Ji Wuchen from the Awakener Association, Gu Yunting from Tianyan Academy, Lu Chenzhou from the Qingyun Ancient Martial Arts Sect, and Ye Huangyi from the Hunters League."

He spoke while frowning.

"These people are all the true core prodigies of those major factions outside."

Azerbaijani own snorted.

"I know."

"You know and yet you're asking?"

"I'm just pissed off."

He gritted his teeth.

"We're all from the same sects, who's more noble than whom?"

But despite saying that, he knew in his heart.

The arrival of this group wouldn't just be for show.

Like him, they were people who had been truly and significantly nurtured within the systems of the four major factions.

Only this time, everyone was no longer comparing themselves within their own sects.

Instead, they were truly standing together on the Bone Platform.

Comparing themselves now wasn't just about talent anymore.

It was also about who could understand the essence of this Bone Platform faster.

And this point was only just beginning to reveal its true cruelty.

On the fiftieth-floor platform, Lin Mo took in the reactions of everyone below, then stepped onto the fifty-first floor.

The fifty-first floor of the Bone Platform.

The moment Lin Mo stepped onto it, the entire floor suddenly sank.

It wasn't a change in weight.

But a change in aura.

It was as if starting from this floor, the Bone Platform was no longer simply 'blocking people' but had finally begun 'selecting people'.

The bone surface ahead cracked slightly, and five skeleton warriors slowly rose from the ground.

Unlike before, extremely faint golden patterns appeared on the skeletons of these five warriors.

That wasn't decoration.

It was residual martial intent.

Lin Mo's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Has it finally begun?"

He said in a low voice.

The fifty-first floor was no longer a simple ambush.

It was the true turning point of the trial.

The skeletons on this floor had already begun to possess the embryonic form of 'intent'.

They didn't fight with brute force but with a very strong combat habit; it could even be said they were the afterimages of a certain type of martial style.

Lin Mo was in no hurry to draw his blade.

He watched first.

He watched their positioning.

He watched the way their joints connected.

He watched how that extremely faint golden pattern guided their energy when they moved.

In the next instant, the five skeletons moved simultaneously.

One slashed horizontally.

One blocked the left.

One suppressed the right.

One thrust straight through the middle.

The last one didn't attack but stood in the back, as if waiting for Lin Mo to reveal a flaw.

This wasn't a simple skeleton siege.

This was tactics.

It even carried a bit of the flavor of a 'martial artist'.

Lin Mo's eyes moved slightly, and his feet performed a slight shift of the Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps.

His whole person was like following an invisible wind line, forcefully weaving out from the four-sided encirclement.

Ssh!

The Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash was unleashed in tandem.

The blade light flashed and vanished.

The bone arm of the first skeleton was severed.

But the moment the blade light dissipated, Lin Mo's heart suddenly stirred.

The lingering charm of the blade's momentum didn't scatter immediately.

Instead, under the guidance of his will, it followed the trajectory of the slash and pushed forward once more.

Crack!

A second wave of damage exploded directly inside the first wound.

The golden pattern on that skeleton's chest trembled slightly, and then the entire skeleton shattered.

Lin Mo watched this scene, a bright light flashing in his eyes.

"As expected."

"It's not that the Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash isn't strong enough."

"It's that I didn't truly understand its second layer of power application before."

He began to understand.

The true core of this blade technique wasn't just 'slashing open'.

It was 'after slashing open, how to let the power continue inside'.

The first layer in front was sharpness.

The second layer was force.

The third layer was the killing intent itself.

Lin Mo didn't stop for a second, his blade momentum rising again.

The five skeletons on the fifty-first floor shattered one after another in a very short time.

And ahead of him, the fifty-second floor had already begun to light up with dull bone patterns.

Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Bone Platform below.

Ji Wuchen looked up at Lin Mo's back, and his brow finally furrowed slightly.

"He's starting to move up?"

Gu Yunting's eyes narrowed.

"The skeletons on the fifty-first floor have already begun to carry traces of intent. This Lin Mo is somewhat interesting."

Lu Chenzhou snorted coldly.

"He just started a bit earlier, that's all."

Despite saying that, his pace was half a beat slower than before.

Because he also saw it.

The difficulty of the Bone Platform was rising rapidly.

This wasn't a place where one could just push through with cultivation alone.

It required understanding.

It required comprehension.

It required truly mastering that level of power in every single battle.

Ye Huangyi remained silent throughout.

She just looked up at Lin Mo, then at the residual bone pattern traces left after the skeletons on the fifty-first floor shattered, and her expression changed slightly for the first time.

She began to re-evaluate Lin Mo.

And behind them, several elders also noticed this scene at the same time.

A light flashed in Shen Guhong's eyes.

"That strike of his just now had a second layer of force."

Daoist Master Yun Yao sighed softly.

"It's not just using momentum; he's already begun to send power inward."

Wei Qianshan remained silent for a moment before saying:

"This Lin Mo's understanding of combat is deeper than we expected."

Lei Wanjun didn't speak, but his gaze grew a few degrees heavier.

If just now they still felt that Lin Mo had merely 'taken the first step'...

Then at this moment, they had vaguely realized—

This person didn't just have good luck.

But he had truly polished himself step by step on the Bone Platform.

What Azerbaijani own felt first was pressure.

Not the pressure of the Bone Platform.

But the sudden competitive pressure among peers.

"Ji Wuchen, Gu Yunting, Lu Chenzhou, Ye Huangyi, and the others have already begun to challenge the Bone Platform, and their speed is alarmingly fast!"

He gritted his teeth.

"These guys are indeed strong!"

Zhou Jingyue's gaze was calm, but he slowly tightened his grip on his sword.

"It seems that for the next opponents, we've gained a few more!"

Shen Zhihan stood on the twentieth floor, her expression indifferent.

She only glanced at the entrance once, then withdrew her gaze.

"Just in time."

She said softly.

"Just in time for me to see if these so-called top prodigies can truly comprehend the intent of the Bone Platform."

After speaking, she closed her eyes again and continued to organize the Xuanqing Palm secret pattern in her palm.

To her, the outsiders weren't a threat.

They were a better reference.

And a more cruel touchstone.

And Lin Mo had already stepped onto the fifty-second floor.

There were only three skeletons on this floor.

But each one was much stronger than those on the fifty-first floor.

The golden patterns on them were no longer just embryonic forms but had begun to faintly form complete combat cycles.

Lin Mo looked at them, his eyes darkening slightly.

He knew that from here on, the true test of the Bone Platform had officially begun.

The fifty-second floor, the fifty-third floor, the fifty-fourth floor...

It would only get harder and harder.

But it would also get closer and closer to the true answer.

And what he had to do was to melt all of his power, layer by layer, into his bones and blood on these increasingly difficult steps.

...