Trench-Coat Man's expression changed drastically, disbelief written all over his face.
Less than half a minute had passed since the Mountain Echo for the five-thousandth step rang out, yet the Mountain Echo for the six-thousandth step had already sounded?
Didn't that mean the newcomer had taken only half a minute to climb from the five-thousandth step to the six-thousandth?
That meant this fellow had covered roughly... thirty-four steps per second!
Everyone gasped!
Thirty-four steps a second, under more than five thousand times normal gravity—was he even human?
While these geniuses ranked among the stone tablet's top fifty reeled in shock, the uproar outside Sky-Piercing Mountain had already risen to the heavens, deafening everyone.
"Ha... hahaha, surely one person couldn't have done all this, right?" A martial artist with fine beads of sweat covering his forehead forced a smile and glanced at his companions, seeking an answer.
None of his companions answered. More accurately, they didn't know how to answer.
Under these circumstances, anyone who wasn't a fool knew that a single person was climbing Sky-Piercing Mountain.
The Mountain Echo continued to reverberate everywhere. It seemed that, ever since five minutes ago, it hadn't stopped at all.
Soon, the Mountain Echo for the seven-thousandth step rang down from Sky-Piercing Mountain.
There was no warning, no ostentation, yet it still shook heaven and earth, stunning everyone in every direction and leaving them trembling with horror in their eyes.
On the seven-thousand-five-hundredth step, Trench-Coat Man and the others looked grave. They all turned to look behind them, knowing the newcomer would soon arrive.
At that instant, they could hear one another's heartbeats. It was fear of a Heavenly Prodigy, the dread of being surpassed.
Whoosh!
A dark figure flashed past them without pausing, moving like lightning and giving them no time to react.