God Ascension Stairway

Because of Qian Renxue's special status, she lived and took her meals in the Worship Hall.

Besides the residences of the Seven Great Enshrined, the Worship Hall also had a residence set aside for Qian Renxue.

After Tang Feng arrived, a portion of her residence was partitioned off anew at Qian Renxue's request for him to live and take his meals.

According to Qian Renxue, this made it convenient for her and Tang Feng to spar and train together every day.

But in truth, Tang Feng's greater role in the Worship Hall was to give Qian Renxue motivation.

Both had Innate Level 20 Soul Power, so why was Tang Feng so strong, while you, Qian Renxue, were so weak?! (Tang Feng had never admitted to having Innate Level 20 Soul Power.)

Spirit Hall had a long history, and a god had even emerged among its ancestors!

As such, it had quite a few places for cultivation.

Spirit Hall also had something similar to the Sea God's Light on the 1,001 steps before the Sea God Hall on Sea God Island. More precisely, the Angel Clan had one too.

It was called the God Ascension Stairway.

It had 999 steps in total. Unlike the opposing force that rose from the bottom of the stairs before the Sea God Hall, however, the God Ascension Stairway exerted pressure from above.

Quite a few Soul Masters who lacked sufficient strength had been crushed to death on the steps.

Besides the God Ascension Stairway, there were other cultivation grounds, such as Death Canyon.

"This is our Angel Clan's God Ascension Stairway."

"It compresses Soul Power, aids cultivation, and tempers the body."

"Only Soul Masters who have contributed to the Angel Clan can cultivate here for a limited time."

"But you don't have to worry. We can cultivate here for as long as we want!"

Qian Renxue pointed at the hill before them, where 999 steps led up to a Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul standing at the end.

Tang Feng looked over and saw a handful of young Soul Masters scattered across the steps below the hundredth, sitting cross-legged and cultivating.

As for what lay above the hundredth step, Tang Feng could not see through it at present. It was as though a bank of fog obscured it.

"Oh, then let me thank you first, Sister Xiao Xue."

"Thanks to you, I can come here to cultivate."

Tang Feng meant every word. After all, a place like the God Ascension Stairway would be considered a forbidden area even on Sea God Island; no one would be allowed in unless a trial required it.

Now that he had a cultivation holy land where he could train for an unlimited amount of time, wouldn't his Soul Power shoot up?

"You're too polite, Little Brother Xiao Feng. You deserve all of this."

"Come on, let's get used to the intensity first."

With that, Qian Renxue led Tang Feng toward the God Ascension Stairway.

At the foot of the hill, Tang Feng stood with both feet on the first step. A faint pressure pressed down on him.

It felt much like cultivating in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well while enduring the Soul Power pressure Dugu Bo released.

But Dugu Bo's stamina had been limited, so it hadn't lasted long. Now Tang Feng had plenty of time to cultivate to his heart's content.

On the other hand, he probably wouldn't be able to hide his Soul Rings anymore.

Still, with his connection to Qian Renxue, it probably wouldn't be much of a problem.

Just as Tang Feng was pondering this,

Qian Renxue's voice came from above:

"Little Brother Xiao Feng, why did you stop? Have you reached your limit already?"

Tang Feng looked up. Qian Renxue had already reached the fifteenth step, and when she saw him look up, she turned and stepped toward the sixteenth.

Tang Feng smiled. She was only on the sixteenth step, and she was already calling out to him.

Just watch me leave you in the dust!

"Sister Xiao Xue, here I come!"

As soon as he spoke, Tang Feng climbed one step at a time as though walking on level ground. Qian Renxue had just set foot on the seventeenth step when Tang Feng reached the tenth.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Qian Renxue turned and saw Tang Feng hop lightly a few times on the tenth step before continuing his ascent.

When Tang Feng reached the thirteenth step, his body began to tremble. Qian Renxue was not surprised to see it.

By her estimate, Tang Feng could make it to the nineteenth step at most. If his Martial Soul's Soul Skills included one that enhanced his body, he might reach the twentieth.

But that would be his limit.

As for herself, she expected to reach the twenty-second or twenty-third.

Qian Renxue continued upward.

Eighteen, nineteen, twenty!

Once Qian Renxue had both feet on the twentieth step, her Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul emerged involuntarily, helping her ease the pressure.

Bent over with her hands braced on her legs, Qian Renxue was drenched in sweat. Beads as large as beans dripped from her face onto the step.

"Whew..."

Panting heavily, Qian Renxue turned to look again.

Tang Feng had reached the sixteenth step. His legs were shaking like a sieve, and he looked close to his limit.

"Little Brother Xiao Feng, are you no good? How come you've only reached the sixteenth step?"

Perhaps to provoke Tang Feng, Qian Renxue even gave him a flirtatious glance as she said it.

With that, Qian Renxue, possessed by her Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, straightened up and headed for the next step.

On the sixteenth step, Tang Feng saw Qian Renxue turn away. His legs, which had been shaking like a sieve, immediately stopped. He simply rested with his hands on his legs, waiting for her to reach her limit.

Then he would overtake her in one fell swoop!

Twenty... three!

Twenty... four!!!

I made it!

With a triumphant roar in her heart, Qian Renxue, now on the twenty-fourth step, turned and used her hands to show Tang Feng the number twenty-four.

Once she was sure Tang Feng had seen it, she slowly retreated down the stairs. Too much was as bad as too little, and this was not the best step for cultivating Soul Power.

When she reached the sixteenth step, where Tang Feng currently stood, Qian Renxue smiled and said:

"Looks like you can't go any farther, Little Brother Xiao Feng."

"Sister Xiao Xue."

Tang Feng's tone was even and his voice strong, with not a trace of exhaustion.

Qian Renxue froze.

Tang Feng revealed a confident smile and said:

"Actually, I haven't even started trying yet."

Under Qian Renxue's astonished gaze, Tang Feng took firm, forceful strides and climbed quite naturally to the twentieth step.

Then came twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three!

He was only one step short of the limit Qian Renxue had reached.

Even now, Tang Feng had not activated his Martial Soul.

Seen from behind, he only seemed to be breathing a little heavily.

"This is my limit without activating my Martial Soul."

Tang Feng took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Turning to the still-stunned Qian Renxue, he said:

"Sister Xiao Xue, what comes next will be dazzling."

"Make sure you watch closely!"

The God Tree Martial Soul emerged from Tang Feng's right palm, accompanied by two Soul Rings, one yellow and one red.

The blood-red Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring was dazzling against the steps of the God Ascension Stairway.

"This is..."

"A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!" Qian Renxue exclaimed.

"How is that possible?!"

Qian Renxue could rack her brains and still never have imagined that Tang Feng's Second Soul Ring was a hundred thousand years old!

Although no one had ever seen Tang Feng release his Martial Soul before, everyone had assumed his first two Soul Rings were both hundred-year rings.

After all, Tang Feng was so close to Dugu Bo that he surely wouldn't have a white Soul Ring. (There was no need to display one's Martial Soul when registering at the Great Soul Arena.)

But now, Tang Feng's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring had left Qian Renxue's jaw on the floor.

Did it have to be this outrageous?

Just how did Little Brother Xiao Feng do it?

Qian Renxue pursed her lips, deeply interested in how Tang Feng had absorbed a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.

She no longer cared which step Tang Feng could climb to.

Little Brother Xiao Feng really has so many secrets.

Under Qian Renxue's gaze, Tang Feng used his first Soul Skill, shedding his earlier fatigue and charging up another five steps.

On the twenty-eighth step, Tang Feng laboriously took another step to the twenty-ninth. The bones throughout his body creaked and ground under the immense pressure.

This time he really had reached his limit—well, without using the skills of his Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and Soul Bone.

Always keep a trump card up your sleeve.

Besides, he had already surpassed the step Qian Renxue had reached, so Tang Feng began to retreat slowly.

Back on the sixteenth step, Tang Feng stretched his body, and crisp cracks like beans popping rang out from within him.

"Sister Xiao Xue, twenty-nine steps, a full six higher than you!"

"So who's no good now?"

Tang Feng stood before her, his cheeks flushed red with exhaustion from the climb, yet wearing an excited smile.

Qian Renxue raised a hand and ruffled Tang Feng's hair, smiling as she said:

"I admit defeat. You really are amazing, Little Brother Xiao Feng. You even surpassed me."

"Come on, let's go down and cultivate." Qian Renxue took Tang Feng's hand and led him down.

When they reached the third step, the two sat down side by side.

Tang Feng was the first to enter a state of cultivation. Qian Renxue remained somewhat distracted by the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring he had released earlier.

After hesitating for a moment, she asked:

"Little Brother Xiao Feng, was that red Soul Ring just now a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring?"

As the young master of Spirit Hall and a genius with Innate Level 20 Soul Power, Qian Renxue's pride would not allow her to bow her head.

But faced with a genius like Tang Feng, Qian Renxue felt she was good for nothing. If she was a blazing fire, then Tang Feng beside her shone like the sun.

It forced Qian Renxue to bow her head.

"That's right. It's a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!" Tang Feng replied.

"But... with your current physique, you shouldn't be able to absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. Unless a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast willingly sacrificed itself." Qian Renxue voiced the question in her heart.

Tang Feng opened his eyes, stopped cultivating, and looked at Qian Renxue.

"Sister Xiao Xue, you guessed right. It was a sacrifice!"

"But it wasn't a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that sacrificed itself. It sacrificed itself after taking human form!"

Under Qian Renxue's curious gaze, Tang Feng told his story at length.

"A month ago..."

"There was a Soul Master who had killed countless people and once possessed at least the strength of a Titled Douluo..."

"Through a strange twist of fate, I saved that young woman from him..."

"At the time, I didn't know whether she was at death's door or what..."

"She still chose to sacrifice herself to me willingly. That's how I came to have this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, along with the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone that came with it."

"I still remember her telling me to live well with her Soul Ring and Soul Bone..."

"Sigh..."

Tang Feng sighed softly, his eyes full of sorrow and grief. The sight made Qian Renxue feel a little sad herself.

She hadn't expected the story behind Tang Feng's Soul Ring to be so full of twists and sorrow.

Moved, Qian Renxue embraced Tang Feng and held him tightly against her.

Pressing Tang Feng's head to her chest, she comforted him:

"It's all right now, Little Brother Xiao Feng. I'm here."

"Tell me, where is that Soul Master?"

"I'll send someone to kill him right away!"

Feeling the warmth and softness against his cheek, Tang Feng nearly lost the sorrow he had worked so hard to build up.

He rubbed his face against Qian Renxue's chest again before saying:

"I only remember that he travels around Fasinuo Province year-round, has blue hair, and likes to use some very unusual weapons to kill without a trace."

"He's also skilled at using poison."

"Oh, right!"

"He also has a blue belt around his waist. It seems to be a Storage Soul Tool, and he hides many of his weapons inside it."

"Mm, I've remembered it all. I'll send a Titled Douluo to capture him as soon as we get back!"

After who knew how long, Tang Feng began to get restless in Qian Renxue's arms.

Well, look at that! And here I was, so worried about you.

Qian Renxue reached out, pinched Tang Feng's cheek, and lifted him aside.

She took out a handkerchief and wiped the drool off her chest, then said irritably:

"What a little lecher!"

"Go cultivate over there!"

After cultivating on the God Ascension Stairway for three shichen, Qian Renxue and Tang Feng returned to the Worship Hall. (One shichen is two hours.)

(Sea God Island's Third Trial, Tidal Body Tempering, left me dumbfounded. They had to endure twelve shichen on the Silver Pillar every day, yet Tang San and the others still had time to rest.)

After returning to the Worship Hall, Qian Renxue did not let Tang Feng's behavior in her arms make her forget to send people to search for the blue-haired expert.

"If you find a Soul Master who matches the description, don't act on your own. Return to Spirit Hall and report first, then we'll dispatch a Titled Douluo!"

A year later.

Tang Feng's Soul Power Level finally reached level thirty, rising by two levels.

After the Soul Power in his body had been compressed by the God Ascension Stairway, although Tang Feng had only gained two levels of Soul Power, his reserves were at least three times those of an ordinary level-thirty Soul Master.

Not only that, each time Tang Feng broke through his limits on the God Ascension Stairway, his spiritual power kept growing. In the end, the Great Evolution Art broke through to the first layer, and his spiritual power increased by another fifty percent.

As a result, Tang Feng discovered that he seemed able to conceal his presence.

That presence included not only the outward manifestation of his Soul Power Level, but also the presence of his Soul Rings.

In practice, he could change the color of his Soul Rings. White, yellow, purple, black, red, gold—a whole rainbow of colors. As long as Tang Feng wished it, they could become any color.

Besides that, he could also conceal the presence of the Soul Beast within a high-level Soul Ring, making his Second Soul Ring, for instance, appear to be a white Ten-Year Soul Ring in both appearance and presence.

So far, Tang Feng's experiments had shown that even Dugu Bo could not see through this ability.

It was downright broken.

Over the past year, Tang Feng had returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well once a month.

He went to see Ah Yin and chat with her, then shoot the breeze with Dugu Bo for a while.

Dugu Bo was very surprised that Tang Feng had actually joined Spirit Hall.

But on second thought, it made sense. After all, wasn't Spirit Hall the number one power on the continent today?

After returning from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to his residence in the Worship Hall.

Tang Feng looked at the system panel before him.

[Current available fishing attempts: 15]

I've saved up a year's worth of fishing attempts. I hope I can fish up some good things.

With a thought from Tang Feng, all fifteen fishing attempts instantly dropped to zero.

I wonder what I'll fish up this time.