Just as Shen Tian stepped onto the fifth stair, something unexpected happened.
The totem on the sixth stair suddenly flickered. Then the phantom of a fierce beast appeared, blocking the sixth stair. It looked like a tiger, with a pair of wings and the bristly fur of a hedgehog. This was a member of the Qiongqi, one of the Demon Race's great clans.
At the same time, a Phoenix phantom appeared behind Shen Tian. Compared to Qiongqi's mountainlike bulk, the Phoenix behind Shen Tian looked rather small and adorable. Yet despite its diminutive size, it still gazed imperiously at the imposing Qiongqi phantom.
Shen Tian felt as though an invisible, mountainlike barrier stood before him, preventing him from setting foot on the sixth stair. And beyond it lay another nine hundred and ninety-four stairs.
Like a stubborn child, Shen Tian raised his foot, determined to force his way through this sixth step.
For a moment, some veteran ministers of the Demon Dynasty saw the Former Monster Emperor's bearing in the young Monster Emperor. Even the rather tiny Phoenix phantom now displayed something of an emperor's majesty, looking down upon the world.
The Qiongqi phantom faltered. Then beast phantoms of various forms appeared on the forty-third, one hundred and fifty-fourth, two hundred and forty-sixth, and four hundred and twelfth stairs.
Seeing this, Qian Honglang of Humankind curled his lips slightly, thinking to himself.
The Demon Race's Five Fiends are humiliating their new Monster Emperor.
You Lian of the Netherworld Ghost Race also wore an amused expression, but what she wanted to see more was how the Demon Race's Great Sage would respond.
Cheng Yu had been standing below the Heaven-Climbing Hall, resting with his eyes closed. Only when the Five Fiends' phantoms appeared did he open his eyes.
In the plaza