Path to Heaven and Bloodstains (II)

If she had not been carrying Long Haochen, this situation would not have been likely to arise until at least after two hundred steps. It might even have lessened as she slowed down.

But Cai'er had Long Haochen on her back—he weighed over one hundred and sixty pounds! She herself weighed less than a hundred. Under such an overload, the burden her body bore was simply far too great.

Yet Cai'er never paused. The pain wracking her body did not affect her resolute heart in the slightest. Step by step, kowtow after kowtow, she moved forward slowly but steadfastly.

Thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven... forty-two, forty-three, forty-four...

"Look, what's that?" Sharp-eyed Chen Ying'er suddenly cried out.

Everyone looked in the direction she pointed and saw that two faint traces of red had appeared on those crystalline golden steps at some point.

The red was very pale; one would not notice it without looking closely.

"There's more," Chen Ying'er cried again. As Cai'er climbed another step, two more pale-red marks appeared on the step above.

Han Yu raised his clenched fists to his chest. Even his voice trembled despite his strength. "Cai'er's knees have been scraped raw."

That was right. Those pale-red marks were blood—Cai'er's blood.

After more than forty steps, carrying Long Haochen's body of over one hundred and sixty pounds, her long dress had already been worn through. Blood seeped from the abrasions on her knees and stained the stairs, leaving those marks behind.

Everyone's hearts clenched for Cai'er. Though they did not know what sort of agony she was enduring on this Path to Heaven, they could tell from what they saw that this road was anything but ordinary.

Though the Path to Heaven had stripped her of all spiritual power, it could not shake her will. From childhood to