Chapter 3623 The Ninth Step
Her figure trembled even more severely as she had the thought of taking a step forward, and as she moved her leg, visions of her deep fears struck her, making her almost paralyzed from head to toe.
She couldn't move, and even if she wanted to talk, it felt like she was buried under the earth, suffocating to death.
She stepped back like she had been pushed, her legs severely trembling as she forced a smile while looking at the ninth step.
'This looks almost impossible…'
Fairy Thunderblaze wondered. Previously, the fears only increased in intensity when she stepped on the next step but now, even before she landed on the ninth step, the intensity exponentially increased.
The deepest parts of her soul were screaming at her not to tread to the ninth step, or something hideous and calamitous would befall her.
She had never felt such danger in her entire life, making her gasp for breath heavily.
Many saw that Fairy Thunderblaze was unable to reach the ninth step and this made some brave inheritors wonder if they could reach it.
They clenched their fists and began to climb up from the first step, taking it as a challenge.
Many inheritors gave up at the fifth step. They decided that sealing their cultivations to Level Four Immortal King Stage would be the best course of action so they could optimally be at a better place and still have somewhat of a better rate of survivability to escape from foes.
And just as Davis expected, many powers decided to follow the three-stage encompassing plan he thought of.
One inheritor was assigned to the first step, one to the third step, and one to the sixth step. This allowed them to have a powerful Level Eight Immortal King in the Late Stage, a Level Six Immortal King in the Mid Stage, and a Level Three Immortal King in the Early Stage, allowing them to encompass all kinds of difficulties and have each other's back.
Most of the major powers followed this plan since they had three or even four inheritors, like the Earth Dragon Clan and Fire Phoenix Clan.
If they had four inheritors, it allowed one of the four inheritors to do as they pleased.
But in truth, no one knew the Fire Phoenix Clan and the Ice Phoenix Clan had five inheritors each. This was due to Zahara and Yeyin or, in truth, Flamerose and Frostrose being reborn into this world, allowing them to have the right to the Candidacy.
The two of them still seemed to be on the first step.
They had their phoenix eyes narrowed. They were bent on being a support to Shirley, so they wanted to give up on the first step and conserve their cultivation in order to be of big help to her.
That thought didn't change after they saw her go limp on the eighth step, as they couldn't fathom how fearful it was to even be there.
Nonetheless, they looked around and saw that most of the inheritors out of the nine hundred and sixteen were still on the first step, around four hundred of them.
"It seems many of them realized that this is a team competition."
"Yes. There is no way one can survive after making it to the three upper steps unless we can hide. Even then, it would be truly difficult to survive."
Zahara and Yeyin communicated.
Now, all four hundred were a force to be reckoned with. If things were open season on the other side, then it was possible the strongest of the four hundred would control the situation in the beginning.
However, they didn't make the choice to give up now, watching if Shirley and the others could make it to the ninth step.
The others were also interested, wondering if the ones at the top could make it to the ninth step as no one managed to do it even after a few entered the seventh step and the eighth.
At this moment, Tahundra, Atsuo, and Fawain had already entered the eighth step along with the four beauties, proving that they were brave. However, Atsuo trembled heavily before he went limp like Shirley. However, worse than her, he fainted after a few seconds and got teleported to the platform.
It seems like fainting meant giving up.
When Atsuo woke up, he found that his cultivation had been sealed to Level One Immortal King Stage, making his expression churn in an unsightly manner, especially when he realized that he had fainted.
A bold and aggressive-tempered Fire Dragon that had never shied away from a battle or was less susceptible to fear had fainted. This was undoubtedly the most humiliating junction of his life.
He glared at the ones on the eighth step and wondered if their noble or regal blood allowed them to withstand such fears. Or was he the coward?
Atsuo couldn't accept such a result. He tried to go down but there was a barrier blocking him from leaving, causing him to harrumph with frustration before he turned around and walked towards the altar like everyone else, leaving the place after he entered the spatial vortex amidst laughter and scorn.
Shortly after, Fawain also fainted when he tried to enter the ninth step.
He had a similar experience as Atsuo, his expression unsightly, but unlike Atsuo, he didn't even show his face to the crowd and flew into the spatial vortex.
Many laughed at him but none looked down upon him as he proved himself that he was not afraid of challenges.
This only left Tahundra, Fairy Thunderblaze, Evelynn, Isabella, and Shirley on the eighth step. However, there were newcomers who leaped from the seventh step almost at the same time as though they were racing.
It was Daukran, a spirit inheritor from the Dynastic Evernight Phantasm Spirit Tribe. He could be said to be a manifestation of darkness and mostly invulnerable to fear, but even the eighth step made him shudder like any other inheritors present in the place.
There were three more inheritors who reached the eighth step.
It was none other than Rea Tyriel. She glared at Evelynn, Isabella, and Shirley, showing as though she wasn't any lesser than them when it came to bravery. However, she fainted three seconds later, getting teleported to the platform.
Then, there was a man who was none other than a Blaze Wolf Fey, his features sharp and handsome. His expression was clouded with fear, but he seemed to be faring well. He was none other than the Emperor-Tier Blaze Wolf Fey, who Davis pointed out.
Dewzai, the Devilish Flame Fox Clan's Emperor-Tier Fey inheritor, was also here.
Evelynn, Isabella and Shirley noticed that their husband was on point when he said to watch out for them. Even the Azure Tree woman was at the seventh step, contemplating whether to enter the eighth step or not since she was probably attending this competition solo.
As for the Lust Garden's male dual cultivator, they couldn't find him anywhere at the upper steps or even the mid steps. He was perhaps in the sea of inheritors at the lower steps.
Perhaps Davis was wrong about him, but then again, it wasn't like all powerful ones wanted to challenge the Stairway of Regression since it made them suffer a massive disadvantage by having their cultivations sealed.
Some powerful ones, like the Lunaris Family inheritor who had the Silvermoon Physique, and Chanon of the Goldlust Rat Clan with King-Tier Bloodline, remained at the first step, looking to increase their chances at the next few trials while having their cultivation base only regress a single level.
They seemed fine with only having one point from this trial.
"Are you ready?"
Taking in all this sight, Evelynn looked at her two sisters. They wanted to make it to the ninth step no matter what. Even if they failed to make it, they would only faint momentarily and appear on the platform.
They felt that it was better than giving up by themselves, although they certainly didn't want to embarrass themselves.
However, before they moved, Dewzai from the Devilish Flame Fox Clan took a step forward.
Her fine legs leaped into the air, but her jump didn't seem to allow her to reach the ninth step. Instead, she sank down and fell before the ninth step's wall as she crouched, trembling heavily as she went wide-eyed.
As her Emperor-Tier undulations spread with intensity, she let out a strange moan, one that was filled with embarrassment from the depths of her soul.
"…"
Evelynn and Fairy Thunderblaze noticed a puddle form underneath Dewzai before it swiftly evaporated.
They didn't know what to say and neither did the others as all the inheritors on the eight step noticed it before Dewzai managed to evaporate her pee. At that moment, she remained crouched, her eyes looking devoid of any liveliness whatsoever.
'Shit… I feel like leaking myself now…'
Everyone at the eighth step thought without fail. The fact that Dewzai embarrassed herself wasn't on their mind, but the sight of her peeing induced their own as they wanted to be released from this situation, making them look away and try to control themselves.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦