Senior Sister Is Waiting for You Up There

Lin Qi and Luo Ci simultaneously raised their heads to look at Zonglei Peak, so steep it was nearly a straight line. Their mouths hung open in shock.

What made True Monarch Qingyun think two children only a few years old could climb such a high mountain?

True Monarch Qingyun calmly added another condition. "Whichever of you reaches the summit first will be the elder."

Lin Qi instinctively looked at Luo Ci, and Luo Ci looked at Lin Qi at the same moment.

Fierce battle intent blazed in both their eyes.

True Monarch Qingyun patted their heads, her smile gentle and warm. "Your master will wait for you at the finish line. Begin."

The moment she finished speaking, True Monarch Qingyun vanished from where she stood.

Luo Ci shot out like a bolt of lightning.

He was half a head taller than Lin Qi, so climbing the Stone Steps was easier for him.

By the time Lin Qi slowly clambered onto the first step, Luo Ci had already nimbly reached the fourth.

He even stood above her and arrogantly declared, "I've practiced martial arts and swordsmanship since I was little. I'm strong and healthy—I'll definitely surpass you this time!"

"Just wait to call me Senior Brother!"

Watching his little stubby legs bounce about, Lin Qi could not help shaking her head.

Zonglei Peak soared beyond sight. What use was running fast now?

She silently gripped the steps, swung up one leg, and hauled her entire body upward.

After exhausting herself, she finally climbed onto one step.

"Were these Stone Steps really made by people?"

Lin Qi could not help lifting her head to glance at the neighboring Ascension Ladder.

Though it too pierced straight into the clouds, at least it had steps meant for normal people to walk on.

Lin Qi did not know why her eyesight was so good, but she could actually see people on the Ascension Ladder.

Several little children of five or six strode briskly along the Ascension Ladder. The ladder seemed to extend by itself, and as they walked, the expressions on their faces gradually changed.

Some cried, some laughed, and some hugged people and kissed them fiercely.

Lin Qi recalled the usual tropes from novels. There was probably some kind of illusion trial on the Ascension Ladder.

She could not help raising her head to look again at the steep Stone Steps on her side.

Damn it, she would rather climb the Ascension Ladder!

An hour later, Lin Qi, neither breathless nor weary, caught sight of Luo Ci.

He lay sprawled across a step, panting with his tongue out, looking as though he was about to collapse.

When he casually looked up and saw Lin Qi catching up on her little stubby legs, his tiny face immediately tightened. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to climb again.

"I'll never let you surpass me!"

His little face flushed red as he continued climbing upward while gasping for breath.

Lin Qi generously raised a hand at him, signaling for him to go first.

Seeing that she had not even shed two drops of sweat, Luo Ci became so anxious that he did not know where he found the strength. He climbed upward at top speed.

He had probably even squeezed out the strength he used for nursing.

Yet not long after, Lin Qi still overtook him.

Lin Qi gladly accepted Luo Ci's terrified, shocked, disbelieving gaze.

She even smugly patted his shoulder. "Senior Sister is waiting for you up there."

She simply liked squabbling with children over every little thing.

Bullying children felt ridiculously satisfying!

After climbing for so long, Lin Qi herself was puzzled.

This body was only four and a half years old. Although she had eaten quite a few Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, she had definitely never trained and had always been pampered.

Yet this time, she had climbed for so long in one breath without even panting.

Was this really something a human could achieve?!!

Could it be that the ancient Ice Phoenix Bloodline within Lin Qi had already awakened, allowing her to unleash inhuman strength?

She could not help looking upward again, but the summit remained out of sight.

She did not know when she would reach the finish line...

Lin Qi sighed. A belated wave of soreness and exhaustion washed over her, and she did not know how much farther she could keep going.

True Monarch Qingyun's first trial was simply too monstrous!

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Qi could no longer see Luo Ci.

But whenever she turned her head, she could see the neighboring Ascension Ladder. As Lin Qi climbed higher and higher, there were fewer and fewer people left on it, with only a scattered handful still persevering.

Judging by their expressions and postures, it seemed as though their shoulders bore a weight of a thousand jun, and every step was incomparably difficult.

Lin Qi had a fiercely competitive nature.

She had already left Luo Ci far behind. Since her opponent was not giving her enough pressure, she would find motivation herself.

Her gaze settled on the girl at the very front of the Ascension Ladder.

The girl wore a plain robe. Even from such a great distance, Lin Qi could feel the cold, resolute aura emanating from her.

Everyone else struggled through each step, but she alone kept her back straight and climbed at a steady pace, utterly unaffected by her surroundings.

Lin Qi immediately gathered her thoughts and focused wholeheartedly on climbing the mountain.

The Stone Steps of Zonglei Peak were not only steep and high, but also rough.

After climbing for so long, Lin Qi's hands and feet were covered in painful scrapes.

She was short, so every time she climbed a step, she had to use both hands and feet.

Whenever she climbed, one glance downward revealed unfathomable depths below. Amid the swirling clouds and mist, it was like a bottomless abyss of ten thousand zhang lay hidden there.

Anyone with even slightly weaker nerves would probably have their legs turn to jelly from fright.

Lin Qi took a breath, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and continued climbing upward with bated breath and focused concentration.

By the end, even her hands and feet had begun to go weak.

When she looked at the neighboring Immortal Ascension Ladder, she discovered that she had actually drawn level with the girl in first place.

Strength instantly surged through her!

Lin Qi panted heavily and gritted her teeth as she persisted upward. Her mind had gone numb, leaving only the thought of moving forward, while a ring of red tinged her eyes.

She finally climbed onto a step and was about to swing her leg up when all strength suddenly left her body, and she slipped downward.

Lin Qi was so frightened that she immediately clutched the steps with both hands. Her legs nearly crashed to their knees on the step below.

In an instant, the pain twisted Lin Qi's face.

Her ten fingers, strained with excessive force, nearly sank into the Stone Steps, blurring beneath a layer of blood.

She swiftly glanced at the abyss behind her, then hurriedly withdrew her gaze.

Her heart thumped wildly, nearly leaping from her chest.

She truly wanted to ask True Monarch Qingyun whether such a monstrous trial was not afraid of shattering her young heart.

Catching sight of the girl on the Immortal Ascension Ladder kneeling on one knee from the corner of her eye, Lin Qi gritted her teeth and struggled back to her feet.

Continue!

Supporting herself with bloody, mangled hands, she panted harshly and continued climbing upward.

Sweat blurred her vision.

The unyielding fire in her chest supported her as she pressed onward.

Lin Qi found amusement amid bitterness and comforted herself. Compared with having her golden core dug out and being thrown into an Alchemy Furnace to be roasted alive, this pain was nothing.

She continued silently counting the Stone Steps in her heart. A faint taste of blood filled her throat, and everything before her eyes gradually blurred.

Suddenly, celestial music rang beside her ears. In her daze, she almost thought she was on the Immortal Ascension Ladder as well.

Lin Qi vaguely guessed that the girl had reached the Immortal Ascension Gate, but she no longer had the strength to look.

The world spun around her, and Lin Qi collapsed helplessly onto the Stone Steps.

In the moment before she lost consciousness, she was still thinking that she should have reached the height of the Immortal Ascension Gate a few steps before that girl.

Rounding it off, she counted as the first to reach the Immortal Ascension Gate too.

She had won!