The steps of the Thousand Cliff Stone Steps were uneven and extremely steep. On one side was a straight, smooth cliff face, and on the other was a bottomless thousand-zhang abyss. A slight misstep would send one plummeting down.
Wang Fu even saw stark white bones lying on the branches of trees that stubbornly grew on the cliff face.
He had walked for less than half a day when he felt his legs were filled with lead, each step incredibly difficult. Sweat had long soaked his clothes, and he was panting, unable to catch his breath. At the foot of the mountain, using the sunlight that had not yet completely disappeared, looking from afar, this stone staircase leading to the clouds didn't seem this long. But actually walking on it, this small stone path seemed to have no end. Ahead were only stone steps, only gray mountains and rocks, devoid of life, stretching endlessly.
In the dark night, on the stone staircase, it was terrifyingly quiet. The endless path ahead seemed like a deep abyss and a ghost realm. Besides Wang Fu, there was no other life. He seemed to have been forgotten, stumbling forward with the faint, thin starlight and moonlight from the sky.
Wang Fu gritted his teeth. He knew this was his last chance to become a formal disciple. He hadn't expected his Spiritual Root to only qualify him as a miscellaneous disciple. But what did a miscellaneous disciple do? Didn't they just do the dirty and tiring work for the sect? Spending the whole day doing things unrelated to cultivation, how could one achieve anything?
He envied Zhou Peng and Wang Feng, who possessed Spiritual Roots that even Shishu Wu Jianyang found amazing, and directly became Inner Sect Disciples. He couldn't become an Inner Sect Disciple, but he had to at least enter the Outer Sect. Only by becoming a formal disciple of the Luo Yu Sect could his ambition, his dream of flying, Earth Escape, and eliminating demons, be realized.
He didn't want to live a mediocre life. He wanted to be like the Immortals in the stories, achieving eternal life.
He wanted to be like Senior Sister Yun Ning Shuang, eliminating demons and defending the Dao with a raise of her hand.
He didn't want to become a useless failure.
Late at night, Wang Fu was already crawling, using both hands and feet.
Gurgle gurgle!
His empty stomach had long been rumbling. Fortunately, his father had packed roasted peanuts in his bag. Wang Fu grabbed a handful and ate the roasted peanuts while climbing the stone steps upwards.
At dawn, a moment later, a ray of sunlight tinged with purple fell on the continuous steps, reflecting on the blood on the steps, emitting a captivating glow.
After a night, Wang Fu was already exhausted. He couldn't even feel the passage of time; only one belief supported him: he must climb to the end of the steps, he must become a formal disciple of the Immortal sect.
Although his hands and feet were covered in blood blisters, every movement caused piercing pain, and every step upwards was torture, he still persisted in climbing, using both hands and feet, even his knees and elbows.
His skin was broken, and the steps behind him became captivating.
The clothes on his chest were soaked with blood, and Wang Fu's vision became blurry. However, he didn't know that inside the blood-soaked clothes, a little cauldron, about half the size of a fist, was covered in blood, and this little cauldron was undergoing an astonishing change.
It was the little cauldron that Wang Tong had compensated him with.
The originally pitch-black little cauldron seemed to shed its skin, revealing a bronze color. Magical patterns like ravines became clear, and the mud inside the cauldron flowed out, revealing a faintly glowing green color within the little cauldron.
A sound of surprise came from the clouds.
"Oh? I didn't expect someone to be climbing these Thousand Cliff Stone Steps today..." An aged figure drifted down, his hair and beard white, his body thin. He landed steadily on the stone steps, his cloudy eyes looking at Wang Fu, who was covered in blood but still climbing upwards, and he sighed faintly.
It was also at this moment that the little cauldron in Wang Fu's clothes turned into an almost imperceptible bronze light, hiding in his chest, leaving only a cauldron-shaped pattern like a tattoo.
"The Thousand Cliff Stone Steps, grinding away bones..."
"Cough cough..." The Old Man didn't notice anything unusual. He put one hand behind his back and held a fist to his mouth with the other, coughing lightly. Looking at Wang Fu, whose legs were bloody and mangled, he couldn't help but speak, "Kid, although there is an end to the road ahead, it is far beyond your reach."
"Why bother? It's better to give up now and descend the mountain..."
Wang Fu's consciousness was already blurred, only a single will supported him to climb upwards, to reach the top, to become a formal disciple, to roam the world freely, and to eliminate demons was the last thought in his mind. He didn't hear the Old Man's words at all. In his blurry vision, there was nothing but the endless stone staircase.
The Old Man was slightly moved. His cloudy eyes seemed to recall something, and he couldn't help but chuckle lightly. He stretched out his bony hand and pressed it on Wang Fu's head: "Fine, I'm just passing by anyway. Since I met you, I might as well take a look."
The next moment, the Old Man's expression was strange.
"Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root, yet eight spiritual apertures have opened. Heaven has really played a huge joke on you."
He released his hand and took a deep look at Wang Fu.
"No wonder you have such perseverance... What a pity, what a pity..."
"However, meeting is fate. I will not be stingy in bestowing upon you a chance encounter. As for whether you can grasp it, whether it is a blessing or a misfortune for you depends on your destiny..."
"Fortune is based on misfortune, misfortune is hidden in fortune... Haha..."
With that said, the Old Man's figure gradually disappeared, as if he had never appeared, leaving only a stream of air, difficult to discern with the naked eye, silently drilling into Wang Fu's right palm.
Deep within the clouds, a burly Middle-aged Man stood suspended with his hands behind his back.
"Heh, this old fellow traded a piece of information for two three-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs from me, and he still wants to abduct a disciple from my sect? He's just a Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root, only his perseverance is decent..." The Middle-aged Man sneered and no longer paid attention, only a murmuring sound remained before he disappeared.
"However, this information is indeed important. I need to prepare well..."
The sun was high, noon arrived, and the scorching sun roasted Wang Fu. He still hadn't given up.
Many Cultivators flying in the sky above the Luo Yu Sect discovered Wang Fu, but not a single one showed sympathy, only disdain.
"Huh? Why is someone on the Thousand Cliff Stone Steps?"
"How miserable, he's all bloody and mangled. But this person is really foolish..."
"Absolutely ridiculous. This person must have extremely poor aptitude, attempting to reach us through the Thousand Cliff Stone Steps, not knowing his own limitations."
...
The sun set, and dusk fell. Wang Fu's breath was already extremely weak, as if he would lose his last breath at any moment. Fortunately, he vaguely saw the end of the steps, which gave him the motivation to continue climbing.
It was a palace radiating light, surrounded by colorful clouds.
In front of the palace, Zhao Zelin was lying on a chair, occasionally picking up fruits from beside him to eat.
A smile was on his lips as he looked down at Wang Fu on the stone steps, his eyes full of mockery.
"I didn't expect you to be able to climb here. Your perseverance is good, but it's a pity... Time is up. You are still a hundred steps away from me, so..." Zhao Zelin's voice suddenly became violent.
"Failure!"