-Volume Six: Summary of "Ascending the Heavenly Ladder"
As usual, let's tally the numbers. From July 10 to today, October 10, from July's waning summer heat to October's golden autumn, exactly three months have passed. Eight hundred thousand Chinese characters, nearly nine thousand a day on average-every character poured into "Ascending the Heavenly Ladder."
Ascend the heavenly ladder, soaring ninety thousand li on the wind.
I. The volume's title carries its own meaning:
1. The Gaoying Tournament's National Semifinals were the "battle to ascend the heavenly ladder": the arena was the staircase, each match another step, until a king was crowned.
Remember the original publication website's domain.
2. The open rivalry and covert struggle with the Clear Sky Sect were the "sects' contest for the heavenly ladder": the Chen Clan leaped from overlord of Fasinuo Province toward becoming a continental superpower, challenging the established order of sects and vying for the ladder to supreme standing.
3. The life-and-death struggle against the Crimson Church-the Blood Desire Cult's counterattack-was about "severing the ladder of calamity": cutting off the steps by which its infiltration spread, ending a regional threat, and protecting hard-won gains.
Thus, "ascending" signified that victory or defeat in the crucial battles had been decided, while the "heavenly ladder" implied that the road ahead remained long and higher peaks still awaited, avoiding a sense of finality.
The previous volume, Volume Five, "Dragon Raises Its Head," this volume, Volume Six, "Ascending the Heavenly Ladder," and the next, Volume Seven, "Soar Above the Nine Heavens," form the trilogy of the Chen Clan's formal rise. The Gaoying Tournament is the brilliant thread running through them and the backdrop of their era.
II. As usual, I'll divide this into two parts: the clan and the individuals.
1. The clan: stepping beyond Fasno and spreading its