194: Dr. Lin, a compassionate healer: I see your complexion is dark; you're iron deficient.

"Um..."

Lin Yuan slung the god slaying onto his back, producing a crisp clang.

He bent down and pulled a roll of insulating tape from his pocket.

"How about I tape it up for you?"

He tore off a strip of tape and measured it in his hand.

"German imported technology. Extremely sticky. It can fix anything except love. I guarantee it'll be stronger than the original."

Zero did not reply.

She raised her hand, her slender finger pointing at Lin Yuan once more.

Buzz.

The lightning slurry beneath Lin Yuan's feet instantly turned into stagnant water, losing all its vitality.

The lightning Qi inside his body seemed to have encountered a natural predator, retreating deep into his Dantian.

"Attack!"

Wei Qing seized the opportunity.

He stomped forward abruptly, pressing his hands down.

Boom!

Hundred-Fold Gravity descended again, this time layered with Zero's Silent Force Field, increasing its power exponentially.

Lin Yuan felt his legs sink, and his kneecaps grated.

Vajra, despite having lost an arm, became even more ferocious. His remaining left hand transformed into an Alloy Drill Bit, and he roared as he charged forward.

"Die!"

The drill spun, letting out an ear-piercing shriek, heading straight for Lin Yuan's heart.

A wolf in front, a tiger behind, and a little girl with cheat codes shutting down his abilities in the middle.

A desperate situation.

Yet, Lin Yuan sighed.

He stuffed the roll of insulating tape back into his pocket.

"Why don't young people listen to advice these days?"

He neither dodged nor tried to mobilize his suppressed spiritual power.

Instead, he made a move no one expected.

He raised his right hand, joining his index and middle fingers, and jabbed forcefully toward the sky.

"Aren't you serving the meal yet?!"

"If you don't serve the meal soon, the guest is going to flip the table!"

This shout was utterly inexplicable.

Wei Qing was stunned.

Vajra's drill was only three inches from Lin Yuan's chest.

Just then.

Rumble—!!!

The entire Trial Island shook violently.

Heaven and Earth changed color.

A terrifying shockwave swept across the whole island.

Vajra was thrown back by the blast. The Alloy Drill Bit scraped past Lin Yuan's clothes, sending up a shower of sparks, and he rolled into the sea like a rubber ball.

Wei Qing was forced to dissipate his Gravity Field and raise a shield to withstand the might of Heaven and Earth.

Even Zero was compelled to retract the finger pointed at Lin Yuan, instead pressing down on the stuffed bear in her arms that was about to be blown away.

"Warning! The Trial has begun!"

A grand voice echoed in everyone's ears.

The surface of the tall mountain in the center of the island began to peel off.

Countless fragments of rock rolled into the sea.

Revealing its true appearance.

It was not a mountain.

It was a Heaven-Reaching Giant Tower forged entirely from purple Lightning Crystal.

A winding staircase spiraled up the tower body, reaching straight into the clouds.

Every step shimmered with heart-stopping electrical arcs.

[First Trial: Heaven-Ascending Steps]

[Rules: Flight Restriction, Technique Restriction, Only brute force prevails.]

[The one who reaches the top lives. The loser dies.]

Several lines of large golden characters floated in the air, then burst into specks of starlight, merging into the giant tower.

Wei Qing stabilized himself, looking at the giant tower, a trace of fanaticism flashing in his eyes.

"This is the core Legacy of the Thunder Sea Mystic Realm..."

He turned to look at Lin Yuan, letting out a cold laugh.

"Consider yourself lucky."

"However, these Heaven-Ascending Steps prohibit all techniques; you can only rely on your Physical Body to resist."

Wei Qing adjusted his clothes, regaining his condescending posture.

"For warriors like us who have undergone a hundred refinements, this is a smooth road."

"But for trash like you who only hides behind lightning..."

He shook his head, leaving the sentence unfinished.

He stomped his foot.

Wei Qing was the first to rush toward the giant tower.

Shadow Fiend followed closely, turning into a black thread skimming along the ground.

Vajra, who had just climbed out of the sea, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, glared fiercely at Lin Yuan, and then strode after them.

Zero, holding the stuffed bear, didn't even look at Lin Yuan as she walked barefoot toward the steps.

In the blink of an eye.

The previously tense battlefield was left with only Lin Yuan.

He stood still, unmoving.

He was looking at the tower.

More precisely, he was looking at the electrical arcs leaping on the steps.

"Technique Restriction?"

Lin Yuan licked his lips.

"Doesn't that mean you can only take hits and not fight back?"

He walked over to a shattered Lightning Crystal, picked it up, and weighed it in his hand.

The purity was very high.

If he could take it out, this one piece would be worth two hundred spirit crystal coins.

"What a pity."

Lin Yuan threw the Lightning Crystal away.

He looked up at the four figures who had already rushed onto the first tier of steps.

Wei Qing was the fastest, having already crossed the first fifty steps.

With every step he took, the lightning on the steps would creep up his ankles and spread throughout his body, but a faint earthy yellow glow lit up around him—a sign of his extremely condensed Physical Body.

Vajra was not slow either; his skin was thick and rough, and the lightning strikes were like an itch to him.

Shadow Fiend struggled more, pausing with every step. Clearly, this pure Yang environment was extremely unfriendly to him.

As for Zero.

She walked very slowly.

But steadily.

The moment the violent lightning touched her bare feet, it instantly vanished.

"Is that the Seed contestant?"

Lin Yuan curled his lip.

He stretched his wrists and ankles, producing loud cracking sounds.

"Fine."

"Since this is a stair-climbing competition, let me show you what Jiang City's Number One Errand Runner can do."

Bang!

A deep pit exploded beneath his feet.

Lin Yuan's figure left an afterimage as he rushed straight toward the Heaven-Ascending Steps... The one-hundredth step of the Heaven-Ascending Steps.

Wei Qing stopped, breathing slightly heavily.

The lightning pressure here was ten times that of the starting point.

Even he felt a stinging pain on his skin.

"That's all there is to it."

He looked back.

Vajra was still huffing and puffing around the eightieth step, and Shadow Fiend was at the sixtieth.

That annoying little girl was at the fortieth.

As for Lin Yuan... Wei Qing curled his lip in mockery.

That piece of trash was probably still hesitating at the foot of the mountain whether to come up or not, right?

"Excuse me."

A lazy voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

Wei Qing was startled.

Before he could react.

A gust of wind swept past him.

Lin Yuan didn't even look him in the eye.

He was holding an Energy Bar he got from who knows where, tearing open the wrapper and stuffing it into his mouth.

"You..."

Wei Qing's eyes widened.

How could this guy be completely unaffected?

"What are you looking at?"

Lin Yuan mumbled back, chewing on the Energy Bar.

"Haven't you ever seen someone eat breakfast?"

He didn't stop moving, crossing three steps in a single stride.

The lightning that was supposed to harm him, the moment it touched his skin, happily drilled into his pores as if it had found its home.

If one looked closely.

They would notice that with every step Lin Yuan took, the steps beneath his feet dimmed slightly.

That was a sign that the energy was being drained.

"Stop!"

Rage rushed to Wei Qing's head.

Being overtaken by someone he considered trash was a humiliation.

He forcefully gathered his Qi, and his Gravity Field erupted, attempting to suppress Lin Yuan's speed.

"Gravity: Thousand Jun!"

Buzz!

A wave of pressure enveloped Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan's upward movement paused.

He stopped and turned around.

Standing on the one-hundred-and-third step, looking down at Wei Qing.

"I say."

Lin Yuan crumpled the finished wrapper into a ball.

"Do you misunderstand the words 'Technique Restriction'?"

"It forbids the use of technique attacks here."

"When you activate your Gravity Field, doesn't that count as violating the rules?"

Wei Qing sneered.

"Rules are dead, people are alive."

"As long as I don't directly attack you, merely changing the environmental gravity doesn't count as a violation."

"Besides..."

Wei Qing took a step forward, his Aura pressing down.

"If I kill you here, no one will ever know."

"Oh—"

Lin Yuan drew out the sound, looking enlightened.

"So you can exploit glitches like this."

He nodded.

"I've learned something new."

Having said that.

Lin Yuan suddenly grinned.

"Since it doesn't count as a violation."

"Then I won't hold back either."

He reached behind his back.

And grasped the hilt of the god slaying.

"What are you going to do?"

Wei Qing cautiously took half a step back.

"Technique Restriction is active here; you can't release your Sword Qi."

"Who said I was going to release Sword Qi?"

Lin Yuan drew out the immensely heavy dark gold longsword.

But he didn't hold the hilt.

Instead, he gripped the blade with both hands.

Using the broad hilt as a hammerhead.

"Your expression looks bad. You might be iron deficient."

"Let me give you a supplement."