445: Chapter 445 The Path of the Great Dao

Thud! Thud! Thud—!

Heavy sounds of falling to the ground, one after another, dull like war drums beating on one's chest, or the slow and oppressive heartbeat of an ancient giant beast, crashed thunderously into the hearts of every onlooker who had not yet managed to step onto the Cyan Heavenly Ladder.

Just the moment when nearly half the figures, filled with determination and longing, placed their feet onto the first step of the Cyan Heavenly Ladder—

An indescribable, terrifying Dao pressure descended with a boom!

It was not a simple weight, but rather as if primordial stars had collapsed, the will of the prehistoric era when Chaos first opened, descending from the high heavens with a coldness that ignored all living things.

"Wah—!"

"Urgh, ah!!"

Fresh blood, like cheap cinnabar ink, suddenly exploded in the Void Realm into miserable and fleeting flowers.

Those Prodigy figures, who had been full of momentum just a moment ago, were now like dolls struck by an invisible giant hammer, thrown backward and sideways in various twisted postures.

They dragged long trails across the hard ancient battlefield, or fell directly into the crowd, causing Chaos.

Their pale faces were distorted by extreme pain and unbelievable shock, and their pupils reflected the cold cyan light of the ladder, filled with bewilderment and terror.

"What... what is this?!"

A trembling roar, as if squeezed from the depths of the throat, rang out.

An alien Prodigy, his upper body almost pressed against the cold stone steps, his arms desperately supporting his weight, remained "nailed" to the first step in a half-kneeling posture.

Every bone in his body groaned under the unbearable weight, his legs trembling like withered leaves in a gale; thick, knotted veins bulged on his forehead, neck, and arms, as if they would burst in the next second.

The invisible pressure did not come from above, but seeped out from the stone steps themselves, squeezing every inch of his flesh and every wisp of his Divine Soul from all directions.

It wanted to crush him alive and grind him into this eternal bluestone.

However, the purgatory had only just revealed the tip of the iceberg to him.

When his eyes were about to split, a strange rattling sound issued from his throat, draining the last bit of Qi from his Dantian, squeezing out the last shred of persistence from his Divine Soul, and he finally lifted his right leg—which felt as heavy as if an entire galaxy had been poured into it—off the first step, trembling, inch by inch, moving toward the second step within reach—

Hum...

A visible, water-like cyan ripple rippled silently from the moment his foot touched the stone step.

It was no longer a pure suppression of brute force.

A completely different, bone-chilling Dao charm that penetrated straight to the Origin of the Soul, like the deepest nightmare, like a viscous, inescapable tide, instantly submerged his five senses and his spiritual focus.

Before his eyes, illusions sprouted!

In the depths of his heart, demonic sounds roared!

Every hesitation on his past cultivation path, every wavering of his Dao Heart, every wisp of greed, anger, and ignorance, was now infinitely magnified and twisted by that cyan Dao charm, turning into thousands of baring, clawing Heart Demon phantoms, pouncing and crazily biting at the Dao Heart he struggled so hard to defend.

It wanted to drag him into boundless Chaos and self-doubt.

"Dao Heart?! This is... an interrogation of the Dao Heart?!"

He let out a roar filled with horror and fear, like a dying beast. Just one step away, yet the essence of the trial was already worlds apart!

And at this moment, higher up, those figures who had luckily stood on the third, fourth... or even more distant steps, were enduring horrors that words could not even begin to describe.

The third step, resonance of the Dao! The power of the Law, tempered a thousand times within the cultivator, was like cold water thrown into a hot wok, instantly going berserk, boiling, and roaring!

They seemed to possess their own will, crazily impacting the Meridians, tearing at the Dao foundation, wanting to break free from the shackles of this body and return to the embrace of the Origin of the heavens and earth.

This pain of power spiraling out of control and backfiring on its master caused many to turn pale as gold paper on the spot, their Dao foundations shaking, spitting out blood mixed with fragments of the Law, stumbling backward, or even rolling down from the heights.

The fourth step, manifestation of the Origin!

The cyan stone steps beneath their feet seemed to turn into a ruthless and cold mirror that shone through to reality.

Everything in the deepest part of each person's Dao foundation—the shallowness left by seeking quick success, the flaws produced by opportunism, even the slightest impurity or stray thought in the Dao Heart—was reflected with absolute clarity, down to the finest detail.

And these "discords" were infinitely magnified by the Dao charm of the ladder, turning into the most intense, targeted Dao Fire, crazily burning and backfiring on its master from the inside out.

Miserable screams rose one after another; some had cracks spreading on their Dao foundations, making light sounds like breaking porcelain, nearly collapsing on the spot, their cultivation path ruined.

The fifth step, the sixth step...

Each step was an unprecedented purgatory!

Each step was the most extreme and cruel interrogation and crushing of a certain aspect of the "Dao"!

It was as if an ancient will sat high on the clouds, coldly examining these later climbers, using the most stringent and ruthless method to strip away all their luck and pretense.

"I... I understand now!!"

A hoarse, agonizing cry came from the edge of the third step.

A Prodigy with tattered robes, covered in blood, and with an Aura withered to the extreme, used his last bit of strength to lift his face, which was completely swallowed by despair, and looked at the Cyan Heavenly Ladder that extended into the clouds, seemingly endless. The last light in his eyes extinguished completely:

"This... this is not some ordinary trial path at all... This is... the 'Path of the Dao'!!"

"Every step... represents the ultimate interrogation of a Dao Origin! Power, Dao Heart, Law, Origin, Karma, Time and Space, Life and Death..."

"To ascend, one must... must use the meager 'Dao' we have comprehended, persisted in, and believed in, to head-on clash against this complete and vast 'Dao' that has been branded here since the primordial era!"

"One step, one Dao. Then, above these ten thousand steps... could it be... the convergence of ten thousand Daos?!"

The last four words, as if exhausting all his life force, drifted into the air filled with painful groans and the roaring of Dao charms, carrying endless trembling and horror.

Silence.

A heart-stopping silence, like a cold tide, instantly submerged the vast area of the Heavenly Ladder.

Countless gazes, filled with indescribable shock, bewilderment, and a deep sense of powerlessness, slowly lifted to look in the direction where the cyan stairs extended.

The steps went up, one by one, disappearing into the misty clouds of the immortal palace. At the end of the line of sight, the cyan light seemed to be connected to the eternal starry sky itself, boundless... truly, boundless.

Three thousand steps? Five thousand steps? Or... ten thousand steps?

No one knew where the end was.

And what about them?

Exhausting everything, some could not even stand firmly on the first step, shaken off like stray dogs.

Some had their Dao Heart damaged on the second step, their eyes unfocused, like walking corpses; some were backfired upon by their own Laws on the third step, vomiting blood and fainting, their lives hanging by a thread.

Even those who were occasionally stunningly talented, hailed as the pride of a region, barely struggling to the fifth or sixth step, had long been tortured by the layer-upon-layer, unpredictable Dao pressure until they were gaunt and thin, their Divine Souls swaying like candles in the wind. There was no longer any of their past sharpness or spirit in their eyes, only numbness and pain deep in their bones.

"One step, one Dao... ten thousand steps, ten thousand Daos..."

A Prodigy, slumped on the first step, having lost even the strength to stand, smiled miserably, face ashen, muttering to himself, his voice as light as a dream:

"This is no Opportunity... this is clearly a... dead end."

"No—!! I don't believe it!! Open for me!!"

An unwilling roar suddenly tore through the silence!

Some figures burned their life essence, the brilliance of secret arts soaring to the sky, carrying determined madness, rushing to higher places regardless of anything!

Then, on the seventh step, their Physical Body burst with several terrifying bloody cracks that went deep to the bone, even reaching the internal organs, with a "pop" sound, and they were wrapped in an even more violent cyan Dao charm, thrown away like a broken sack, falling into the distance, gasping for breath, life or death unknown.

Some had solemn faces, gritting their teeth while silently reciting ancient scriptures, protecting their bodies with the radiance of Legacy treasures, climbing step by step, forcefully.

Yet, on the tenth step, their protective divine light shattered like glass, and their Dao Heart seemed to be hit hard by an invisible heavy hammer.

A mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of their own Dao Laws sprayed out, their eyes instantly lost focus, as if all their energy and Divine Soul had been drained, and they collapsed limply, making no more sound.

One, two, ten, a hundred...

On the Cyan Heavenly Ladder, more and more figures struggled, and more and more figures fell.

Desperate roars, collapsing groans, the crisp sound of bones breaking, the mournful cries of Dao foundations shattering... intertwined into a cruel and cold movement, echoing on this ancient battlefield.

Those who could barely stand on the dozen or twenty steps were already the best of the best, rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

They panted like oxen, sweating like rain, looking up at the still unreachable, cloud-shrouded top, their eyes filled only with deep, almost tangible powerlessness and horror.

And on those hundred steps higher up, almost completely shrouded in clouds, the seven figures belonging to the top young Supremes of this generation, although their steps were no longer as relaxed as at the beginning, becoming heavy and sluggish, their Auras no longer as steady as before, and everyone's face as grave as ten-thousand-year black iron, they... were still moving upward!

Every step they took, the cyan stone step beneath their feet would erupt with an even more intense roar of Dao charms, cyan light soaring to the sky, as if they were engaged in a silent but intensely fierce confrontation and resonance with the entire Heavenly Ladder.

...

"Go."

Chen Shenhuang suddenly withdrew his gaze from the seven blurred figures at the end of the high ladder.

In the depths of his double pupils, the phantom of the Universe's birth and destruction flashed rapidly for a moment, then returned to a cold determination.

Without a shred of hesitation, he turned, his robe brushing against the cold air, and stepped onto the branch staircase leading to the towering ancient immortal palace on the side.

His pace suddenly quickened, carrying a sharpness that could split the path ahead.