"Strange?"
After Li Tianwei swallowed that pill, the Remnant Soul within Li Tianchen's ring immediately noticed that something was wrong with Li Tianwei.
"Teacher, what is it?"
Hearing the voice from the ring, Li Tianchen frowned as well.
"There's something wrong with your brother. When I sensed him just now, he was still a Pseudo-Spirit Root. But now, my divine sense tells me he has become a Heavenly Spirit Root—and a Pure Yang Spirit Root at that."
The Remnant Soul continued.
Li Tianchen's face filled with astonishment. "What?"
"It must be that pill."
The Remnant Soul seemed to have thought of something and explained the situation.
"I never expected your brother to have such methods, enough to make an elder of the Lingxu Sacred Land cover for him."
"Li Tianwei?"
After hearing the Remnant Soul's words, Li Tianchen turned his gaze toward Li Tianwei.
"I didn't expect him to possess such methods. I underestimated him."
The way Li Tianchen looked at Li Tianwei had completely changed. There was now gravity and seriousness in his eyes, without any of the previous mockery.
Li Tianchen had thought he would get to watch Li Tianwei make a fool of himself in the Lingxu Sacred Land. Instead, he had unexpectedly seen another side of Li Tianwei.
"Still, there are things even you don't know about me."
Li Tianchen stroked the ring on his hand.
As for Li Tianwei, he had no idea that his dear little brother's opinion of him had changed because of a single exchange.
"No effect?"
After swallowing the pill, Li Tianwei carefully examined his body. When he received no feedback whatsoever, he thought there was something wrong with the medicine.
"I understand. It must be because of my constitution. With a Heavenly Spirit Root, my fleshly body has long since transformed and become pure and flawless, so the Marrow Cleansing Pill is useless."
Li Tianwei quickly found an answer for himself.
No matter what Li Tianwei was thinking inside, he looked calm and steady on the outside. Nothing about him revealed any thoughts that differed from ordinary people's or any views that set him apart from the masses.
The only one who knew of Li Tianwei's bizarre and unique way of thinking was the system within his consciousness. Because of him, the entire system was on the verge of collapsing.
It regretted binding itself to someone like Li Tianwei. Unfortunately, it had chosen him, so no matter how bitter it was, it had to swallow it.
This was its last chance. If another problem arose, it would never be able to pass probation.
As it was thinking, Li Tianwei had already arrived before the Heart-Questioning Stairway.
At this moment, the Heart-Questioning Stairway was packed with several thousand people. One after another, they lined up and climbed the stairs.
For some unknown reason, everyone who stepped onto the Heart-Questioning Stairway visibly grew exhausted. It was as though some kind of pressure weighed upon them; otherwise, they would not be panting after climbing only a few steps.
Very soon, it was Li Tianwei's turn.
Looking at the Heart-Questioning Stairway before him, Li Tianwei stepped onto it without the slightest hesitation.
The instant his foot landed, a terrifying pressure swept over him, as though a tremendous weight had been pressed upon his body.
If one looked carefully, one would see that after Li Tianwei took that step, he did not lift his foot again. He stood completely motionless.
At this moment, the pressure brought by his Pseudo-Spirit Root aptitude revealed itself.
Although the Heart-Questioning Stairway had been built to test one's heart and character, from the moment someone stepped onto it, it would impose corresponding pressure based on that person's aptitude.
In other words, the better one's aptitude, the less pressure one would suffer and the easier the climb would be. Only later would the pressure gradually increase.
If one's aptitude was poor, the pressure one endured upon stepping onto the Heart-Questioning Stairway would be terrifyingly great. It meant that if one wished to grow stronger, the pressure one had to bear would be immense. At such a moment, one had to rely on one's heart and will. So long as one could endure it and climb higher, it proved that even with flawed aptitude, one could still stand at the summit in the future.
The Heart-Questioning Stairway questioned those with the most ordinary aptitudes.
This Heart-Questioning Stairway had been forged by the first patriarch of the Lingxu Sacred Land, who had ascended to the Immortal Realm nearly ten thousand years ago. It was undoubtedly a supreme treasure. Even if Li Tianwei used a pill to conceal the truth and create a false Heavenly Spirit Root, he could not deceive the Heart-Questioning Stairway.
When the system in Li Tianwei's consciousness saw this, it was instantly overjoyed. At last, it had seen its host suffer a setback. This was also its chance to verify that he was a Pseudo-Spirit Root.
Host, host, I told you that you were a Pseudo-Spirit Root, but you refused to believe me. Look, even the Heart-Questioning Stairway has noticed it. You can never reach the top. You won't even make it to a hundred steps.
To make Li Tianwei even more certain, the system poured all the information about the Heart-Questioning Stairway into Li Tianwei's consciousness in one go.
"Shut up..."
Feeling the pressure sweeping in from all around him, as well as the system's clamor in his consciousness, Li Tianwei was unusually furious.
He did not care what was going on with this Heart-Questioning Stairway. In Li Tianwei's eyes, this was no more than a little wind and frost. It only showed that the Heart-Questioning Stairway had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai, narrow-minded and inexperienced, having never seen a Five-Colored Heavenly Spirit Root like his. It had mistaken him for a Pseudo-Spirit Root.
What could he do? He was simply too gifted, while the world was too ignorant!
As for the system's information, he would not believe a single word of it.
"I am a Heavenly Spirit Root. I am a Heavenly Spirit Root, destined to sweep through this age..."
"You Heart-Questioning Stairway, don't fail to appreciate kindness."
Li Tianwei silently recited those words in his heart. His conviction that he possessed a Heavenly Spirit Root grew ever stronger, ever firmer.
Perhaps because Li Tianwei's resolve had strengthened, his entire body suddenly felt lighter.
Li Tianwei slowly took another step.
"If heaven had not birthed me, Li Tianwei, the Great Dao would have remained a long night through the ages."
"Even if this Heart-Questioning Stairway has a problem, I, a Heavenly Spirit Root, can still bear this pressure and reach the summit."
"First there was Li Tianwei, then there was heaven..."
"When I open my eyes, heaven brightens. When I close them, heaven darkens. If I am not a Heavenly Spirit Root, then who is?"
"Are those who reached the summit before me early birds taking flight, or do kings simply refuse to see kings?"
Li Tianwei kept shouting his own supreme maxims within his heart, taking step after step without pausing in the slightest.
Under this frenzied self-hypnosis—no, it was not hypnosis. Li Tianwei had decided it was the truth, so there was no need for the process.
At that moment, it was as though the pressure that had nearly crushed him after his first step had only been an illusion. In an instant, Li Tianwei had climbed more than a hundred steps.
What was going on...
Within his consciousness, the system looked at the sudden change and the various embarrassingly childish declarations Li Tianwei was shouting in his heart. No matter how it thought, it had never imagined that things could be operated like this.
As Li Tianwei continued advancing, he encountered no obstruction whatsoever. Or rather, it was not that there was no obstruction; the Heaven-Questioning Stairway had exhausted everything it had, continuously increasing the pressure.
Yet when that strange pressure fell upon Li Tianwei, it seemed to have no effect, as though Li Tianwei had simply ignored it.
As Li Tianwei advanced, he gradually left the people ahead of him behind. At this moment, he truly moved with the ease of someone possessing a Heavenly Spirit Root.
"I told you! I'm a Heavenly Spirit Root! It's this Heart-Questioning Stairway that has a problem. Once I reach the summit and become the Sacred Land's master, I'll tear you apart. How dare you slander me."
Li Tianwei glanced at the Heart-Questioning Stairway beneath his feet and snorted coldly, looking utterly domineering.
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. There was something wrong with this host.
At this point, the system within Li Tianwei's consciousness also discovered that something was off about Li Tianwei. It immediately conducted a comprehensive scan of him.
It would have been better if it had not scanned him. The scan nearly caused the entire system to crash.
There was actually someone so shameless.