299: Chapter 299 Reaching the Limit, Immortal King-Level Golden Dragon Disciple

Outside. The very top of the Heavenly Staircase.

Before the grand and vast gates of the Heavenly Palace, there was a deathly silence.

Chang Xiyue stared fixedly at the massive Water-Moon Light Screen before her. Every drop of color had completely drained from her cold, exquisite face. Her icy-blue eyes were wide and round, as if her eyeballs were about to fall out of their sockets.

On the light screen, the brilliant point of light representing Su Xuanchen's position wasn't climbing at all. It was an out-of-control bolt of lightning!

Step 9,100! Step 9,300! Step 9,500!

In just a few short minutes, that phantom had crossed half of the final thousand steps with an incredibly overbearing, completely irrational, and abnormal speed!

The light point came to a very steady halt at the 9,500th step.

Its light was at its Peak, without the slightest hint of dimming.

"This... how is this possible..."

Chang Xiyue gasped for air in large gulps. Her full chest heaved violently; even breathing had become extremely difficult.

She knew all too well how terrifying the trials of these final thousand steps were. Every single Formation Puppet here possessed abnormal combat power capable of killing enemies above their own level. The higher one went, the number and strength of the Puppets would explode geometrically.

Back then, as the most brilliant and talented Heavenly Dao Child of the Ancient Heavenly Court, she had spent three full days and nights just to reach this 9,500th step!

She had endured countless tragic and bloody battles. She clearly remembered that after reaching the 9,000th step, every single pace forward meant facing the frenzied siege of several True Immortal Peak Puppets. She had fought until her armor shattered, her trump cards were exhausted, her Origin was completely dried up, and she had even self-detonated three top-tier Immortal Artifacts. She nearly had her Divine Soul extinguished on the spot before she very barely managed to crawl to this position.

That was already the absolute limit she had reached by risking half her life!

But now, Su Xuanchen had only used a few minutes!

"Husband must have defeated those trial opponents extremely quickly..." Chang Xiyue's voice trembled violently, her hands gripping the white jade railing so hard her knuckles turned completely white. "Even... he triggered the hidden mechanism of the Heavenly Staircase and is conducting an incredibly insane cross-realm challenge!"

Other than a cross-realm challenge combined with instant kills all the way, there was simply no way to explain this common-sense-shattering clearing speed.

At this thought, Chang Xiyue's beautiful face was filled with a helpless, bitter smile.

"Too monstrous. With this kind of Heaven-Defying foundation that breaks eternal iron laws, the trial rules of the Ancient Heavenly Court are a complete joke before him."

Meanwhile.

Inside the trial space.

Su Xuanchen stood quietly in the center of the bluestone square, his white clothes pristine and unstained by dust.

"Rumble!"

The entire massive Trial Square erupted into a sudden and incredibly violent, frenzied vibration without any warning!

The indestructible bluestone ground heaved violently as countless bottomless cracks spread frantically like a spiderweb.

Directly to the north of the square.

A giant statue, three hundred zhang tall and forged entirely from rare Dark-gold Divine Stone, suddenly burst with countless dense cracks across its surface!

"Crack! Crack!"

The ear-piercing sound of shattering echoed through the clouds.

Massive chunks of dark-gold stone skin fell off frantically, slamming heavily onto the bluestone ground with deafening, dull thuds.

A blindingly bright pillar of pure gold light smashed directly through the Chaos mist above the square, piercing straight into the nine heavens!

Accompanying the descent of this golden light was a terrifying pressure that completely surpassed the limits of a True Immortal, enough to make the All Heavens and Myriad Realms tremble!

Immortal King Pressure!

This pressure was extremely overbearing, transforming into a literal golden storm that raged frantically across the entire square. The surrounding Void Realm collapsed in large areas under the squeeze of this pressure, revealing the pitch-black, deep spatial turbulence.

The golden light slowly dissipated.

A stalwart figure clad in dark-gold battle armor, with a nine-clawed golden dragon ostentatiously embroidered on the hem of his robes, stepped out through the air!

His expression was cold to the extreme, and his eyes were hollow and soulless. However, the Immortal King Aura radiating from his entire body was real and tangible, without any falsehood!

Ancient Heavenly Court Golden Dragon Disciple!

This was a peerless Prodigy second only to the Heavenly Dao Child! In the Ancient Era, every Golden Dragon Disciple was an invincible existence capable of suppressing an entire era!

Su Xuanchen stood in place. The gale made his clothes flutter loudly.

Feeling the Immortal King pressure rushing at him, Su Xuanchen's brow furrowed slightly.

"Immortal King Realm?"

Su Xuanchen's deep eyes were filled with doubt.

"No matter how wealthy and powerful this Ancient Heavenly Court was, it's impossible for them to use a genuine Immortal King as a trial Puppet. If they really had this many Immortal Kings, would the Heavenly Court have fallen back then?"

This was completely illogical.

Su Xuanchen did not hesitate.

"Immortal-Demon Eyes! Open for me!"

His eyes suddenly narrowed, and from the depths of his pupils, two brilliant black-and-white auroras shot out!

The power of the Myriad Tribulations Indestructible Primordial Demon Body and the Chaos Immortal Bone instantly gathered in his eyes.

The Immortal-Demon Aurora pierced directly through the dazzling golden light surrounding the Golden Dragon Disciple, overbearingly seeing through all of the opponent's reality.

His vision penetrated armor and flesh.

Su Xuanchen saw very clearly that the Golden Dragon Disciple's body was densely packed with countless complex Formation patterns. These patterns were directly connected to the spiritual energy hub of the entire Ancient Heavenly Staircase.

The Origin within this Golden Dragon Disciple had only reached the limit of the ninth level of the True Immortal Realm! There was still an insurmountable chasm between him and a true Immortal King Realm!

As for that terrifying Immortal King pressure, it wasn't something he had cultivated himself.

It was the Immortal King-level Formation inside the Ancient Heavenly Staircase forcibly extracting a massive amount of heaven and earth spiritual energy and crudely, temporarily injecting it into this Puppet's body!

A pseudo-Immortal King powered by a Formation!

Having seen through this layer of disguise.

The slight spark of burning anticipation that had just risen in Su Xuanchen's heart vanished instantly.

"Tch. After all that, it's just a paper tiger."

Su Xuanchen gave a disdainful cold snort.

He lazily withdrew his gaze, losing interest in even giving the Golden Dragon Disciple another look.

Su Xuanchen looked up, his arrogant gaze bypassing the Golden Dragon Disciple and casting directly toward the center of the square, at the aloof and peerless statue of Yun Lingxiao holding a long sword.

"Yun Lingxiao, you're using this kind of shoddy goods to fool me?"

Su Xuanchen mocked the statue of the Empress loudly in an extremely foul tone.

"Bringing out a fake Immortal King to play tricks... your breadth of mind as an Ancient Empress is truly an eye-opener for me. Hurry up and take this scrap metal back, and come out and fight me yourself!"

Faced with Su Xuanchen's arrogant insults.

The Empress statue had no reaction.

However!

The Golden Dragon Disciple suspended in mid-air completely awakened at this moment!

From those originally hollow and soulless eyes, two terrifying beams of crimson killing intent suddenly shot out!

Though only a pseudo-Immortal King, the terrifying power injected by the staircase's Formation was still vast enough to destroy heaven and earth.

"Zheng—!!!"

An ear-piercing, heaven-tearing cry of a saber echoed!

The Golden Dragon Disciple's right hand suddenly reached into the void. A narrow battle saber, entirely pitch-black with a dense Aura of destruction flowing along the blade, was violently pulled out by him!

At the absolute moment the long saber was unsheathed!

The Golden Dragon Disciple's Aura underwent a terrifying and extreme surge!

That pseudo-Immortal King level power poured out without reservation, all of it flooding into the black long saber.

"Slash!"

An emotionless, mechanical roar resounded through the square.

The Golden Dragon Disciple gripped the hilt with both hands and, from his high vantage point, slashed down at Su Xuanchen with extreme ruthlessness!

Boom!

A ten-thousand-zhang long black saber projection was born!

This Saber Qi was sharp to the extreme, overbearingly tearing the Void Realm along its path completely apart! The violent spatial turbulence mixed with the black Saber Intent, transforming into a black torrent that devoured everything. With an invincible momentum that could crush anything in its path, it smashed down toward the top of Su Xuanchen's head!

Before the black torrent even arrived.

The bluestone square below could no longer withstand this terrifying destructive force.

"Crack, crack!"

The incredibly sturdy bluestone arena was pressed by this Saber Qi until a hundred-zhang deep chasm split open down its center! The entire arena was nearly cleaved in two by this single strike!

Fortunately, the protective power of the staircase's Formation was extremely formidable.

"Buzz!"

Countless azure Formation runes flickered frantically within the crack. In just half a breath's time, that massive chasm—large enough to tear through a Star Domain—was forcibly closed by the Formation's power, instantly restoring it to its original state.

Facing this terrifying black torrent capable of instantly killing a True Immortal at the Peak.

Su Xuanchen's hands remained casually behind his back.

He didn't even move his feet; he simply tilted his upper body slightly with great composure.

The movement was casual and effortless, without a hint of strain.

"Swish!"

That world-destroying black saber projection whistled past the tip of Su Xuanchen's nose with extreme danger!

The violent wind from the saber blew a few strands of hair across his forehead.

The strike missed.

The Golden Dragon Disciple in mid-air did not pause for a second.

His stalwart body suddenly blurred and vanished from the spot!

Extreme teleportation!

The next second.

The Golden Dragon Disciple appeared abruptly right in front of Su Xuanchen! The distance between them was less than half a foot!

Holding the saber with both hands, the Golden Dragon Disciple's waist suddenly exerted force, driving the black long saber radiating destruction in a horizontal slash toward Su Xuanchen's face at an extremely tricky and ruthless angle!

The blade edge tore through the air, letting out an ear-piercing scream of death.

This strike's speed was at the absolute limit, and its angle blocked all paths of retreat, making it seem like a guaranteed hit.

But Su Xuanchen was not afraid in the slightest, because the opponent was not a true Immortal King; this strike was nothing to fear for him.