"How did it feel?"
Dugu Yan, Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, Shui Bing'er, and the others exchanged glances. Then Dugu Yan spoke.
"It was hard. Harder than we imagined."
As she spoke, she slowly turned toward the staircase shrouded in golden light, her expression graver than ever.
"The pressure on the stairs increases the higher we climb."
"When I reached the sixtieth step, it felt like I had a mountain on my back."
The others nodded in agreement.
Xiao Wu, who had reached the seventieth step, had felt it most keenly.
They could hardly imagine it. If the pressure was already that strong on the sixtieth and seventieth steps,
how terrifying would it be past the hundredth?
Everyone was worried.
With Sea God's Light bearing down on them like that, could they still pass the trial within a year?
Jiang Liang smiled. "That's how it feels at first. This was only your first attempt. Reaching the fortieth, fiftieth, or even sixtieth step was already impressive."
"Sea God's Light puts you under immense pressure, but that pressure also tempers your bodies and Soul Power."
"As you grow used to it, you'll climb higher."
With that, he turned toward Ning Rongrong, who was hugging Zhu Zhuqing.
"And don't forget," he added, "we have Rongrong."
Everyone turned to Ning Rongrong at once.
Dugu Yan slapped her thigh. "Of course! How could I forget? Rongrong can boost us!"
"That's right! Rongrong's Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul can give us a seventy percent boost!"
Yu Hairou walked over and put an arm around Ning Rongrong's shoulders. "We're counting on you from now on, Rongrong."
"Rongrong, you're our savior!" the others chimed in, laughing.
Ning Rongrong blinked, bewildered. How had she suddenly become everyone's savior?
"What about me?" She pointed at herself. "Brother Jiang Liang,