446: Assessment ended

Dao Zang Academy, Mingxin Hall.

All Elders and deacons, including Dean Immortal Master Xuanji, stared blankly at the scene frozen in the water mirror: the summit, five people, resonance of phenomena.

"They succeeded, all five of them..."

The black-faced Elder's lips trembled, repeating these words as if he had lost his soul.

The crane-haired, youthful-faced Elder's face lost all color, then flushed with excitement.

"Heaven protects Xuanhuang, Heaven protects Dao Zang! Such a magnificent sight—let alone seeing it, I wouldn't even dare to imagine it!"

Deepest part of the academy, blue stone platform.

Old Dean Qing Xuzi watched the scene on the dao zang heavenly ladder, extremely excited.

"Hahaha, they reached the top! All of them reached the top! Five people! Hahaha! Revered Master! Do you see this?! Throughout history, only two or three people have explicitly stepped there, and never in the same era. Now, not only are there five in the same era, but all five have ascended together! Xuanhuang shall rise! Dao Zang shall rise! Hahahaha!"

On the stone stool, Xing Tianao remained seated.

But in his mind, that white-clad figure, those calm eyes, and that unfathomable aura appeared involuntarily.

"Is this the Disciple of the Revered Master?"

This thought silently crossed his mind.

Beneath his calm exterior, within his Emperor's heart, a storm capable of overturning the star sea surged!

One must know that those who have truly reached the summit of the dao zang heavenly ladder, throughout the endless ages of history, are few and far between in recorded history!

Each one eventually became the most dazzling, invincible supreme existence of their era.

But now... his Disciple not only reached the top, but five of them ascended together!

With a posture that crushed the past and present, resonating with heaven and earth, they had brazenly stepped onto the summit!

Even more terrifying was that the Kirin Son was merely a follower of his Disciple, yet he too reached the top.

Merely a follower, yet his Aptitude was already this terrifying.

Above the summit, it had turned into an ocean of primordial Chaos and the source of Law.

Vast and endless light rain of creation, containing the most primitive vitality and Dao fragments, poured down from the depths of the Void Realm, completely submerging the five.

This was not a simple infusion of energy, but heaven and earth's recognition and gift to those who reach the summit and forge an supreme dao foundation.

The five sat cross-legged, suspended in the center of the ocean of light, their figures looming in the majestic energy, their auras undergoing earth-shaking transformations at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Five Sages shining together, the Dao resonating!

Five equally brilliant yet distinct, majestic auras intertwined and resonated above the summit; the thickness of their Foundation and the magnitude of their potential made heaven and earth cast a sidelong glance!

The gazes of the crowd below remained fixed on the shocking scene at the summit for a long time, almost forgetting the passage of time.

Until an exclamation of disbelief broke this brief stagnation.

"Look! Who is that?!"

"Heavens! Someone else has ascended the nine-thousandth step!"

"It's those seven people! Those seven strangers who rushed up later!"

"When did they go up?!"

Countless gazes subconsciously followed the exclamation.

There, on the nine-thousandth step platform, seven straight figures had appeared at some unknown time! It was Li Xuanfeng and the other six!

"Seven people! Seven people again!"

"Adding the previous ones, there are more than ten people who have ascended the nine-thousandth step!"

"How did these seven get up there without a sound? Just now, everyone's attention was drawn to the summit, and no one noticed!"

"Terrifying! What is going on with this batch? When did the nine-thousandth step become so easy to ascend?!"

If Xiao Ruobai and the other four's ascent was a myth to be looked up to, then the silent achievement of Li Xuanfeng and the other six brought a deeper, more chilling sense of fear.

Time passed quietly amidst these continuous shocks.

The rosy clouds at the top of the dao zang heavenly ladder began to recede at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The remaining Prodigies on the ladder unleashed their final potential, charging toward their respective limits.

Wang Zhan let out a sky-shaking roar, his Azure Saint blood burning to the limit, hard-carrying the pressure that had almost turned into a crystal wall of Chaos, stepping up, one step at a time, to the nine thousand nine hundred and fiftieth step!

He was covered in blood, his aura turbulent.

Just as he was preparing to catch his breath and launch a final charge at the last chasm.

"Hum—!"

A magnificent, vast Dao sound that spread throughout heaven and earth resonated.

The dao zang heavenly ladder's rosy clouds were completely withdrawn, the pressure dissipated, and the phantom of the golden long river that spanned the firmament slowly faded, eventually disappearing completely into the Void Realm.

The seven-day deadline had arrived!

The dao zang heavenly ladder assessment officially ended!

"No! Give me a little more time!" a Prodigy near a Breakthrough point roared unwillingly.

"My eight-thousandth step! I'm still a few steps away!" a Cultivator stuck before a critical threshold cried out in agony.

However, the rules of the heavenly ladder were cold and ruthless, moving for no one's will.

Wang Zhan's body felt light, and the pressure that had almost crushed him instantly disappeared.

He took one last look at the final forty-nine steps that were within reach but had begun to become illusory, a trace of regret in his eyes.

"A bit late, what a pity."

He whispered to himself, his voice very soft, only he could hear it.

These few days of late arrival had caused him to fall behind the top tier at the beginning of the climb.

Although he later pushed horizontally with shocking speed, catching up to countless people, in the end, at the last moment, he was limited by these cold rules.

"But, it is enough." he thought silently.

This trip, he had seen the scenery of the summit and understood his own path.

Lei Dong, relying on his violent thunder, rushed to the nine thousand seven hundredth step.

Qin Wuye, with surging Battle Intent, stopped at the nine thousand six hundredth step.

Chu Daolin and Jiang Ruofeng both stopped at the nine thousand five hundredth step.

Li Xuanfeng finally stopped at the nine thousand eight hundredth step, failing to surpass Wang Zhan.

Mu Chenyu, Shi Jingxian, and others were distributed between the nine thousand four hundredth and nine thousand seven hundredth steps, their results equally dazzling.

All Cultivators still on the ladder who had not reached the top were wrapped in a gentle force and transported back to the Dao Yuan Mountain square.

In this heavenly ladder test, five people reached the top. Twelve people reached the nine-thousandth step. Twenty-seven people reached the eight-thousandth step.

Each one was a peerless Prodigy who had obtained the qualification for the Dao Zang Academy's true inheritance!

The noise below the mountain gradually subsided, but a deeper anticipation and tension permeated the air.

Dao Zang Academy, Mingxin Hall.

Immortal Master Xuanji and the Elders exchanged glances, all seeing the excitement and gravity in each other's eyes.

"Dean, this heavenly ladder..."

The crane-haired Elder's voice still carried a trace of trembling.

Immortal Master Xuanji raised his hand to interrupt him, his gaze sweeping across the crowd below, speaking slowly, his voice calm but spreading across the entire Dao Yuan Mountain:

"The dao zang heavenly ladder has closed, the assessment is over. All those who have stepped above the eight-thousandth step have obtained my qualification for true inheritance."

"Your performance during the climb, the height of the steps, the resilience of your Heart-Nature, the depth of your potential—the heavenly ladder has recorded it with its own spiritual rhyme, and we have also seen it all."

"Three days later, when the morning sun rises, before Mingxin Hall, enter the academy!"

"For these three days, rest well and consolidate what you have gained."

As the words fell, the crowd in the square reacted differently, some excited, some thoughtful, some secretly comparing.

However, just as Immortal Master Xuanji was about to announce the dismissal and the crowd's spirits relaxed slightly.

"Hum..."

An oppressive feeling originating from the Laws of heaven and earth itself, making the Divine Soul tremble, descended without warning!

It was as if the time and space of the entire Dao Yuan Mountain had frozen!

Immediately after—

"Boom!!!!!!"

A loud noise, more terrifying than thousands of thunderbolts exploding at the same time, full of the will of destruction and termination, brazenly came from above the Nine Heavens, from the depths of the Void Realm where the summit was located!

"What?!"

"What's going on?!"

"Heavenly Tribulation?! It's a Saint-making Heavenly Tribulation!"

"At this time?! On the summit?!"