Mountain of Power was much shorter than Mountain of Laws.
There were 100 steps leading straight to the summit. Each step was covered in strange patterns, and climbing one step represented an increase of one unit in force application.
Reaching the hundredth step at the summit meant achieving perfect force application.
"Junior Brother Jiang, don't get nervous. If you reach a point where you can't climb any higher, don't push yourself or try to force a breakthrough. Otherwise, you could injure yourself," Ji Chen warned him.
Jiang Luo nodded and headed toward the foot of the mountain.
Neither the Blood Demon King nor Marquis Huanming's summons had changed his plans.
If anything, they had only made him more anxious to act.
He had been constantly raising his status because he wanted to join the Giant Axe Arena or the Virtual Universe Company as soon as possible, gaining access to more resources and better protecting his territory.
The higher one's status, the greater one's power.
Someone at the Blood Demon King's level could even do as he pleased throughout an entire star region, beyond the reach of even a Universe Country.
Now, with the Blood Demon King threatening him, there was only one way to turn the tables.
He had to display as much talent and potential as he could, and keep rising in status!
Marquis Huanming must have recognized his potential to send the Huanming Guard to protect his home planet.
The moment Jiang Luo stepped onto the first step, the strange patterns beneath his feet suddenly lit up.
A moment later, an invisible force emerged from the void and pressed down on him.
The force seemed to seep into every inch of his skin, bones, and muscles.
Surrounded by it, he felt as if he were submerged in the deep sea, or trapped inside amber, unable to move.
"What a mysterious way to test someone..." Jiang Luo looked down at the strange patterns beneath his feet.
The patterns were so profound that he couldn't fully understand them, but he could vaguely sense that they involved the Space Law.
They even resembled the patterns recorded in Space Shatter, the Innate Secret Technique he had recently acquired through the Flame Star Behemoth's bloodline.
Though excited by the discovery, Jiang Luo remembered why he had come. He wasn't here to comprehend the secret patterns of the Space Law.
No matter how strong the body, this spatial pressure from the void could completely immobilize it.
Even though his body far surpassed that of an ordinary ninth-level Star Level warrior, he still couldn't move a muscle.
Only by using a force application technique to break through his limits and unleash strength greater than his body's natural power could he break free.
Jiang Luo used the force application technique from the Rainwater Sutra, easily breaking the restraint and stepping onto the second stair.
He climbed all the way to the thirty-third step before slowing down.
"It looks like Junior Brother Jiang's force application limit is around thirty-five units?" Eloise asked in surprise. "How could he have passed the third Trial Tower with that level of force application?"
Ji Chen also looked astonished.
For a spirit reader, reaching thirty-five units of force application was impressive. Among the Star Level disciples in Ancient Wheel Hall, such people were exceedingly rare.
But for a warrior, thirty-five units was nothing special among the Star Level geniuses of Ancient Wheel Hall. It was fairly mediocre.
They didn't know that Jiang Luo had relied entirely on King Kai Fist the second time he challenged the Trial Tower, using its amplification to overpower his opponents.
But King Kai Fist was useless on the Mountain of Power.
Once the Law Secret Patterns on each step activated, the spatial restraint that appeared out of nowhere was calibrated to his current physical limits.
If he used King Kai Fist, the spatial restraint would grow stronger as well.
Even though his body's genes were twelve times those of an ordinary human, that didn't help him with a challenge that tested nothing but force application.
Jiang Luo could feel that the thirty-fifth step really was his limit.
After all, he hadn't practiced the Rainwater Sutra much since mastering Thirteen Sword Phantoms.
After absorbing the Flame Star Behemoth's bloodline and obtaining the Flint Star Sector Lord's secret manual, Boundless, he had focused his efforts on the Flint God Weapon instead.
But that was only his limit, not the system's.
"Ultra Instinct!"
Jiang Luo's gaze suddenly turned tranquil, and his mind and will seemed to sink beneath the surface of a still pond.
No thoughts arose. Not a single thought stirred!
Then every muscle, every bone in his body seemed to awaken a divine will of its own.
Hundreds and thousands of divine wills converged into one detached, emotionless will.
Faced with the powerful spatial restraint, every part of his body instinctively found the most natural, perfect path to exert its strength and responded on its own.
His consciousness and brain no longer needed to direct his movements.
The spatial restraint shattered with a thunderous crash!
Jiang Luo climbed higher as casually as if he were taking a stroll up the mountain. He moved even faster and more easily than he had before reaching the thirty-fifth step!
At the foot of the mountain, Ji Chen and Eloise stared wide-eyed at the figure climbing step by step toward the summit.
"Is the Immortal Ladder... broken?"
No one else—not even Domain Lords or World Lords whose force application was close to perfect—had ever climbed the Mountain of Power with such fluid, effortless ease.
It was as if the spatial restraint on the Immortal Ladder didn't exist at all.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Luo had already reached the eightieth step.
Unconvinced, Eloise stepped onto the first step herself.
An invisible spatial restraint immediately enveloped her.
The Immortal Ladder... seemed to be working just fine!
Only after Jiang Luo left the ninety-ninth step and reached the summit did he emerge from Ultra Instinct.
There were two major hurdles to cultivating Ultra Instinct.
The first was the state of one's mind and will.
The second was physical strength, because in its early stages, Ultra Instinct placed an immense strain on the body.
Jiang Luo had no trouble with either.
So, before he went to the Flint Star World, he had already manifested this divine ability from Dragon Ball and taken his first steps in mastering it.
He had made very thorough preparations before going to the Flint Star World.
Unfortunately, even Thanses hadn't managed to force him to reveal all his trump cards.
Rumble~~~
The entire Mountain of Power seemed to tremble.
Jiang Luo was startled. "What's with all the commotion?"
At that moment, nearly every disciple in Ancient Wheel Hall—from World Lords down to Star Level warriors—looked in surprise toward the Immortal Sacred Mountain at the center of the continent.
"That commotion... Did a Universe Level warrior make it to the top of the Mountain of Power?"
"No. A Universe Level warrior reaching the summit wouldn't cause this much of a stir! Could it be a Star Level warrior?"
"A Star Level warrior achieving perfect force application? You've got to be kidding!"
Atop the Mountain of Power, Jiang Luo suddenly looked up at the distant sky.
A golden streak of light hurtled toward him at an inconceivable speed, as if tearing through the heavens.
A terrifying aura locked onto him from far away, making his whole body tremble and leaving him unable to move.
It was the divine might of an undying!
The golden light faded, revealing a tall man with steel-colored skin and cold, shadowed eyes.
"Greetings, Lord Marquis Mo Yan."
Jiang Luo recognized him at once. It was the lord of Ancient Wheel Hall, Marquis Mo Yan.
"You?!"
Marquis Mo Yan seemed even more surprised than he was.
Jiang Luo had been cultivating in Ancient Wheel Hall for only five years when he passed the third Trial Tower on his second attempt, soaring from the bottom of the rankings to somewhere in the top two hundred.
His rapid progress had already caught Marquis Mo Yan's attention.
But when he discovered that Jiang Luo had passed the third Trial Tower without making progress in the Origin Law, he had been somewhat disappointed.
He hadn't expected Jiang Luo to surprise him again just seven years later.
"Haha!" Marquis Mo Yan laughed heartily. "Not bad. A Star Level warrior who can pass the Mountain of Power and achieve perfect force application.
"You should know that plenty of Universe Level geniuses in the Core Layer of the Five Great Powers can't achieve perfect force application.
"The last disciple of the Sacred Hall to accomplish this as a Star Level warrior did so more than five hundred eras ago. And in the Genius Battle, he represented the Gulun Universe Kingdom and took first place in the final round!"
Perfect force application was an important threshold on the path to becoming undying. Although it was nowhere near as difficult as the Law threshold, it was generally only World Lords who reached one hundred units of force application.
For a Star Level warrior to accomplish it was an extraordinary achievement.
Though Marquis Mo Yan valued talent in Law Comprehension more, he was still delighted by Jiang Luo's accomplishment.
Anyone who could reach the pinnacle in any one area could be called an unparalleled genius!
"A Star Level warrior who passes the Mountain of Power receives ten thousand Hunyuan Units in Universe Coins, plus an additional reward. Come with me to claim them..."
Jiang Luo looked embarrassed. "Lord Marquis Mo Yan, could I challenge the Mountain of Souls before I collect the reward?"
Marquis Mo Yan paused and looked down at Jiang Luo. "Mountain of Souls? Aren't you a warrior?"
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