384: First layer

"Alright! Let's start climbing now!"

Wan Lin stood before the cliff, stretched his limbs, and a confident smile curled upon his lips.

The next moment, he leaped out fiercely, grabbed the rock face with his hand, pushed off the ground with his feet, and shot upward.

Then... swoosh!

His entire body quickly dropped back down to the ground.

"Huh?"

Wan Lin blinked, looking at his hands.

The spot he had grabbed just now was too smooth; there was no purchase point at all, making climbing impossible.

He tried again. The sheer rock face displayed a smoothness unlike fragmented stones. His hands instantly slid down when he touched it, and his legs couldn't find a fixed point for support.

It was impossible to climb.

The audience in the live stream also noticed this problem and began offering suggestions:

[Just jump up. It looks like it's only about four hundred meters. Relying on your Boiling Blood Hegemon Body, you should be able to get up in one go, right?]

Wan Lin pushed off the ground with his feet, his boiling blood ignited, the power of his Physique burst forth, and he leaped straight up.

His speed was fast, and he was getting closer and closer to the destination.

It might work!

Wan Lin's lips curled up, and the bullet screen in the live stream was filled with excitement.

A Cultivator should act like a Cultivator. It was only a few hundred meters; just jumping over it was enough, there was no need to climb.

Boom!

Suddenly, Wan Lin felt immense pressure on his body, heavier than ever before, instantly knocking him back down to the ground.

After struggling to get back up, the pressure slowly subsided.

"No, it seems jumping is specifically restricted."

Wan Lin shook his head and looked at the bullet screen, wanting to hear the audience's analysis.

[Is it possible that it's not specifically targeting jumping, but rather that the pressure increases the higher you go?]

[So, the layer ascension trial is about climbing a smooth rock face while under pressure?]

[Then how can that be done?]

[Wan Lin is still a Mortal, right? Although he has the Boiling Blood Hegemon Body, trying to redirect power mid-air isn't realistic. He'll fall as soon as the heavy pressure hits him.]

[So, he can't rely on jumping; he can only rely on climbing.]

[But the smooth rock face has no purchase points at all.]

[I get it! I know how to pass this stage now—smash out purchase points!]

Smash them out?

Wan Lin looked at the bullet screen, nodded in sudden realization, and turned to face the rock face.

Boom! Boom boom!

He slammed the rock face with punch after punch.

Soon, he smashed out a depression.

Next was a second depression, slightly to the upper right.

Wan Lin stepped into it and continued to smash out depressions further up.

At first, everything was normal. It was indeed allowing him to advance, much like using his powerful Physical Body to forcibly carve out a climbing route.

But as the pressure continuously increased, the hardness of the rock face also grew.

Initially, it only took a dozen punches to create a hole, but later, it required hundreds of punches just to crack it.

The skin on Wan Lin's hands was torn, exposing bloody bone.

If the self-healing ability of the Boiling Blood Hegemon Body hadn't been so strong, both of his hands would likely have been ruined.

Wan Lin even suspected he had misunderstood the method of passing the stage; perhaps there was a better way to clear this level.

However, he had already reached a height of over two hundred meters, and changing methods now would be too much of a loss.

Thus, he could only abandon all distracting thoughts and continuously punch, moving upward without stopping.

Finally, a bloody, bone-exposed palm pressed slowly and heavily onto the flat rock.

The next moment, Wan Lin's body leaped up and flew onto the new platform.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Gasps of air escaped him, and Wan Lin's vision was blurry.

He had expended too much physical strength. Under the heavy pressure, he felt he must be suffering from oxygen deprivation; his head was buzzing.

Unable to clearly see his surroundings, he numbly took a step forward, and then... the pressure on his entire body suddenly vanished.

Unable to immediately adapt to the change in gravity, Wan Lin stumbled and fell, his body collapsing onto a soft area.

"Hmm? Soft?"

The sensation, which absolutely should not appear on a mountain path, startled Wan Lin. His consciousness gradually cleared, and his eyes began to focus.

Squirming flesh.

"Holy crap!"

Wan Lin jumped up, only to find that his feet were also stepping on chunks of flesh. He quickly retreated a few steps, nearly falling again.

The Dead Flesh Layer was a wide platform, but it was not composed of rock; instead, it was made of constantly squirming chunks of flesh.

Looking around, chunks of flesh covered the mountain path, forming trees and turning into the mountain itself.

Most horrifying was that these chunks of flesh were constantly squirming, a sight that made one's hair stand on end.

"This is the Dead Flesh Layer?"

Wan Lin's scalp tingled.

Although these chunks of flesh were squirming, there was no trace of intelligence. Instead, they looked more like bricks and tiles made of flesh, artificially stacked together. Because they could not be meticulously combined and stacked, the joints were constantly squeezing and deforming, thereby causing all the chunks of flesh to squirm.

Wan Lin found this place somewhat unbearable.

Many players in the live stream were even more shocked, nearly having their eyeballs pop out.

[Seriously? Is this still a Xuanhuan World?]

[How can a Xuanhuan World have such a bizarre place?]

[Is this bizarre? I think it's okay. The dead people pit piled up by the Great Love Sect before was weirder than this, right?]

[I see, is this what the Dead Flesh Layer means? Completely composed of dead flesh?]

[The Sage Emperor's taste is too bizarre.]

[None of that matters. Didn't they say there would be the first Legacy reward upon reaching the Dead Flesh Layer?]

That's right, the reward!

Wan Lin quickly surveyed his surroundings, trying to find his reward.

The live stream also had bullet comments discussing the rewards after the trial.

Since Sacred Emperor Mountain was the first trial scenario involving players, the information the players possessed actually came from records or legends circulating among the natives.

Therefore, opinions varied, and there was no definitive answer.

Some said that the voice of a Senior suddenly appeared, followed by the mysterious appearance of the reward.

Others said that a reward area would rise up, allowing participants to acquire it themselves.

Of course, some also said that beings like Puppets or Spirit Beasts would distribute the rewards, and might even communicate with the trial participants before bestowing a Legacy.

Regardless of what it was, at least a trial participant would definitely receive a reward once they passed the trial.

Before Wan Lin entered Sacred Emperor Mountain, the Sheep Demon who brought him here had also said that there would be rewards on every layer.

In fact, no one in the entire Yao Race had successfully reached the highest layer; they all obtained rewards on the preceding layers.

But... "Where is my reward?"

Wan Lin waited and waited, but no reward appeared.

[Wan Lin, look over there, there's a stone.]

It wasn't uncommon for a normal mountain to have stones.

But for a mountain composed entirely of chunks of flesh to have a stone was truly bizarre.

Wan Lin quickly looked in the direction indicated by the bullet screen and indeed found a stone standing at the edge of the platform.

It was about dozens of meters high and dozens of meters wide, yet only dozens of centimeters thick, perfectly square, like a large stone monument.

It was neatly carved with characters from top to bottom, the handwriting varied, and a lot of blank space was left at the bottom, suggesting different people had carved them at different times.

Wan Lin jumped up and examined it carefully from top to bottom.

Inscription One:

[This is the Dead Flesh Layer? The difficulty is lower than expected, but... where is the Legacy?]

Inscription Two:

[According to records, the Legacy of the Dead Flesh Layer is hidden and unknown to others. I believe I should be able to find it.]

Inscription Three:

[Although the Seniors have all provided methods for obtaining the Legacy, I cannot achieve it no matter what. I apologize, Father, I must give up on the Dead Flesh Layer.]

Inscription Four:

[Why must it be chunks of flesh like this... No, I absolutely cannot accept this...]

Inscription Five:

[Damn it, I could accept it even if the shape was just a little more normal, but these things, these things...]

Inscription Six:

[March 6th. My Senior Brother and I arrived here together. My Senior Brother wanted to accept the Legacy. I killed him.]

Inscription Seven:

[No, what have I done? I actually did it.]

Inscription Eight:

[The Sage Emperor is a ruthless character.]

Inscription Nine:

[Abandoning the Dead Flesh Layer, I think the living flesh layer will be better.]

Inscription Ten:

[For this day, I have already practiced for ten years. I think I am fully prepared... My descendant, it will definitely obtain the Legacy.]