Big Bodhi

The violent pressure swept in from all directions, and Ji Yue Nian’s long black hair tossed up, and his green robe rattled, as if he would be sent flying down the stone steps and fall into the clouds at any moment.

This was already the 247th stone step!

The dark spiritual fire within his soul suddenly burst into flame, dispersing half of the immense pressure Ji Yue Nian was under and giving him a moment’s respite.

The most mysterious thing about the Cloud Climbing Stone Steps is that they can detect the true rank of a spirit’s heart fire when the spirit has not yet ignited its heart fire, and the higher the rank of the sequence of heart fire, the further one can go on the Cloud Climbing Stone Steps!

The spirit fire is rare in the world and its magic is inexpressible. Ji Yue Nian had already sensed that he was able to slightly control the rank of the sequence of the spirit fire manifested outside.

He had been manifesting the sixth-ranked Heart Flame, but at this point he had reached his limit on the cloud-climbing stone stairs, so he simply raised it to the fifth-ranked external manifestation!

A pitch-black flame flared up from within his soul, and a bright blue light shone in Ji Yue Nian’s eyes as he rolled his sleeves and robe and stepped up the seventh stone step one after another!

The two hundred and fifty-fourth step!

An uproar rang out from the stone steps behind them, as countless beings looked up at Ji Yue Nian’s unstoppable progress, their jaws were dropping.

“When there are more than 200 stone steps, others have to pause for a long time every time they walk, but this person actually walked out of the seventh stone steps one after another!”

“He actually surpassed Xu Jing Shen of the Xu family!”

“Xu Jingshen is the fifth grade of the heart fire sequence of heavenly pride, but only just walked to two hundred and fifty-one steps, could this person also be the same fifth grade of the heart fire sequence!”

“This entrance examination is truly mind-boggling, there are already nine people of the fifth rank of the Heart Flame sequence!”

The man named Xu Jingshen, who was originally in eleventh place, was currently taking a rest at the top of the two hundred and fifty-first stone step, when he saw Ji Yue Nian stepping up, he couldn’t help but contract his pupils, and his gaze was filled with resignation.

He had already reached his limit and could not go any further, so he was only trying a few more times.

Although the rank of the Heart Flame sequence is not the entire test of the Cloud Ascension Stone Steps, it represents an upper limit in a way that is incredibly important.

Even the people at the front of the Cloud Climbing Stone Steps looked back at Ji Yue Nian, who was walking step by step, with puzzled eyes.

“The two hundred and fifty-fourth step, is it my limit below the fifth rank of the Heart Flame sequence?”

Ji Yue Nian gradually adapted to the violent pressure of the stone steps, and thoughts flowed in his heart.

But there were still less than ten people ahead of him, and most of them were ranked at the fifth rank of the Heart Fire Sequence. If the 254th step was his limit, then didn’t it mean that these people were quite a bit beyond him in the rest of the aspects?

Thinking of this, Ji Yue Nian’s face was expressionless as he forced himself to endure the excruciating pain deep within his soul and stepped up two stone steps in quick succession!

The 256th step!

There were two demons staying at the top of this step, but Ji Yue Nian did not give them a single glance, instead, he continued to step out and placed one foot on the two hundred and fifty-seventh stone step!

Boom!

A fierce and violent wind surged up and lifted his entire body off the stone steps!

In an instant, a brilliant golden light flowed around Ji Yue Nian’s body, and as the light and shadow scattered, he forcibly rolled backwards in mid-air several feet high, stopping again at the 256th stone step!

If it wasn’t for the extraordinary golden arcane power of the Great Compassion Mantra, Ji Yue Nian would never have been able to resist the wind that seemed to be as substantial as this!

The young man’s gaze was somewhat obscure, but his inner thoughts were surging rapidly.

What was the problem?

In terms of bloodline, he was of the highest grade; in terms of Heart Flame rank, he could be considered to be of the fifth rank of the Heart Flame sequence; in terms of cultivating his heart and understanding the martial art, he had never been weaker than anyone else.

In terms of heart cultivation and enlightenment, he had never been weaker than others.

On the stone steps ahead, several creatures have already passed the 270th step!

“Brother Mountain Ghost, you’ve already made it to the top ten, there’s no need to fight anymore!”

The deer demon’s voice came from afar, and when Ji Yue Nian looked back towards him, a bolt of lightning suddenly exploded in his mind!

The Mountain Ghost Origin!

There was a Mountain Ghost Origin within his own soul!

The Mountain Ghost Origin of the Upper Realm of Reality had coincidentally remained in the depths of his soul for a long time, and was being consumed by the Spiritual Flame every moment to transform it into his soul’s essence.

The ordinary human bloodline plus the strange bloodline inherited from Zhao Yin Yue, combined with the mountain ghost Yin Force Origin that had mingled with the divine soul, was enough to be judged by the Cloud Climbing Stone Steps as an inferior bloodline!

As to why he was judged to be of superior bloodline in the second level, Ji Yue Nian was not sure, but could only guess that there should be some discrepancy between the first two levels and the criteria of the Cloud Ascension Steps.

The sixth spirit had walked up the 270 stone steps, while the first ranked demon girl had already stepped up to the 279th stone step!

Ji Yue Nian was silent for a moment and sat down directly on the 256th stone step, closing his eyes slightly, as if he had sunk into cultivation.

“What is that man doing?”

“Could it be that he is trying to make a breakthrough in the procession? But the first 300 steps of the Cloud Ascending Stone Steps are not affected by cultivation realms, could it be that this person doesn’t know about this?”

“How odd!”

Everyone on the back stone steps looked at Ji Yuenian who was sitting cross-legged on the ground and talked a lot.

The dozens of huge light curtains are arranged in the mid-air of the hall, clearly and incomparably reflecting the various scenes above the stone steps to ascend the clouds.

There were more than ten mountain peak masters sitting on the throne of the hall, talking and laughing with each other, all recording their favourite disciples in the jade talisman from time to time.

The top ten peaks of the Luoxia Mountain Range were gathered here, plus the peak owners of several other peaks with special properties, there were as many as 16 people.

The rest of the hundreds of mountain masters are not qualified to come to the Chaoxia Hall to select disciples, but can only look at the cloud climbing stone steps in the light curtain within the dojo of their own mountain peaks and secretly pay attention to them.

If a Heavenly Proud disciple was born in one of the many mountain peaks of the Outer Sect, after that disciple entered the Six Mountains and Three Realms of the Taichu Saint Sect, the peak master of that mountain would receive a generous reward, and this was one of the reasons why these peak masters were so active.

“Although Yuyan is the only one of the fourth rank of the Heart Flame sequence within the hundreds of thousands of living beings in this entrance examination, it is still quite difficult to walk past the 285th stone step.”

A peak master looked at the demon maiden at the highest point of the cloud ascending stone steps and spoke softly.

“That’s right, from the two hundred and eighty-five to the three hundred stone steps, the difficulty of these fifteen steps is as different from the previous two hundred and eighty-five steps as if it were heaven and earth, it is not comparable at all.”

“This is a good point.”

Several peak masters spoke out in agreement.

Another Peak Master’s gaze moved slightly and pointed at Ji Yue Nian, who was sitting with his eyes closed on the 256th stone step, and said, “Please look at this person, gentlemen.”

At once someone spoke up and said, “This person is a mountain ghost born out of the fifth grade of the heart fire sequence, with fair qualifications.”

That peak master shook his head with a smile and said, “No, because a junior of my Lu family was travelling with him, so I have been paying attention to him intentionally or unintentionally, I just noticed that this person’s sixth grade Heart Fire Sequence grade has actually become the fifth grade under the strong pressure of the stone rank!”

“What?!”

“Peak Master Xuan Yuan, are you really not mistaken?”

Several peak masters all had shocked eyes as they looked towards the Xuan Yuan Peak Master who had spoken out.

The Xuan Yuan Peak Master nodded and said, “The Heart Flame sequence rank cannot be changed, this is the most important principle of heaven and earth. However, there is a silver lining to all things, and under the most opportune circumstances, a living being may be able to raise the rank of his Heart Flame.

“I was only looking at the people at the front, so I let you steal the show!”

“This disciple is really good, but it’s a pity that he was taken by the Xuan Yuan peak master in advance.”