Chapter 99 [Ascending the Divine Staircase]

"Sis~!" Yan Dinghan's voice carried a hint of imperceptible guilt; his eyes dodged, not daring to look directly at Yan Shuangling.

"Hmm!" Yan Shuangling responded lightly, her tone calm and waveless, yet her gaze passed over Yan Dinghan and landed on Luo Yuerou beside Gu Ye.

Her eyes were clear and limpid, devoid of any superfluous emotion, as if she were examining an ordinary object, yet they faintly revealed a trace of imperceptible scrutiny.

Luo Yuerou also saw her and was startled in her heart, not expecting that there would be such a beautiful girl beside Gu Ye.

It seems Yan Dinghan was right; his sister is really beautiful.

Gu Ye, however, didn't understand the subtlety in their gazes at all, taking it for the usual curiosity of strangers meeting for the first time, and hurriedly stepped forward to introduce them with a smile:

"This is Luo Yuerou from the Imperial Capital!"

"This is Yan Dinghan's sister, Yan Shuangling."

"Hello." Yan Shuangling's expression remained unchanged; she only nodded slightly, her tone still cold, without unnecessary pleasantries, yet not lacking in politeness.

Luo Yuerou smiled faintly, nodded politely as well, and said in a gentle tone, "Hello."

Seeing this scene, a trace of regret flashed in Yan Dinghan's eyes; he didn't see the "shuraba" that the novels talked about.

He had even prepared his phone for this moment.

"Shuangling, what is that staircase for?" Gu Ye asked curiously, looking at the staircase in the distance that was already crawling with people.

"[stairway to godhood]!" As soon as Yan Shuangling's voice fell, Night Dwelling Phoenix's voice simultaneously rang in Gu Ye's mind. Her tone carried a rare shock and doubt, and she actually spoke in unison with Yan Shuangling, clearly echoing in his mind:

"[stairway to godhood]!"

Gu Ye's heart stirred. He subconsciously turned to look at Yan Shuangling and asked, "What is the function of this stairway to godhood?"

This question was asked both to Yan Shuangling and simultaneously to Night Dwelling Phoenix in his mind.

Luo Yuerou and Yan Dinghan looked at her simultaneously, wanting to hear the information as well.

Yan Shuangling parted her red lips, her voice as cold as jade striking stone, and slowly spoke:

"See that huge stone tablet in front?"

The three looked in the direction she pointed; there was indeed a giant stone tablet standing beside the staircase in the distance, surrounded by a crowd.

"The [stairway to godhood] in front of us is a test, and also an opportunity to obtain the [spirit sealing cauldron]. As long as you can climb to the very top, you can obtain the [spirit sealing cauldron] and dominate the fate of others."

Light shone in Yan Shuangling's eyes, and she stared tightly at the deepest part of the staircase.

Gu Ye saw that the personnel of every faction at the top of the mountain were maintaining a brief silence, precisely because no one had yet been able to obtain the [spirit sealing cauldron], and they were all still watching.

"I arrived two days earlier than you, and I also gathered some information." Yan Shuangling led the three toward the [stairway to godhood], speaking as they walked.

"Currently, the one who has climbed to the highest step is the Nine Lands Federation Examinee Nie Xinghe, at the 5467th step."

"Nine Lands Federation!"

The strongest force among all the federations, and not a native force of Blue Star either.

The Nine Lands Federation are the natives who walked out of the Card Domain when the "domain river" descended, the Card Domain fell, and invaded reality. After thousands of years of development, they absorbed countless natives from the Card Domain and combined them into the current Nine Lands Federation.

Yan Shuangling continued: "Second is Cui Lieqiong from our Yanxia Federation's Imperial Capital, at the 4978th step."

Hearing that it was someone from the Imperial Capital, Gu Ye turned to look at Luo Yuerou beside him: "How much do you know about Cui Lieqiong?"

Luo Yuerou shook her head upon hearing this, "He is the top genius of the Imperial Capital University Affiliated High School. The Cui Family is very mysterious and protects him well; even the Luo Family hasn't been able to dig up much information."

Hearing Luo Yuerou's words, Yan Shuangling couldn't help but glance at her.

"Third is also Li Weihuan of the Yanxia Federation at the 4843rd step, fourth is Devon Dudley of the Meiying Federation at the 4814th step, fifth..."

Hearing the names of each genius and competing with them on the same stage made Gu Ye feel blood-boiling.

"Sis, what rank are you!" Yan Dinghan's eyelids twitched, his eyes full of curiosity.

"Thirty-ninth, at the 4543rd step."

Yan Dinghan gave her a thumbs up, "Awesome!"

Gu Ye also nodded; it was indeed awesome. With ten factions, one could imagine how many genius youths there were. Being able to rank thirty-ninth showed just how strong Yan Shuangling was.

"Sis, I want to hear what the rules of the [stairway to godhood] are. I'm going to participate and let them see what a genius of the Yan Family looks like."

Yan Dinghan interrupted Yan Shuangling, looking at the staircase in front with longing.

Yan Shuangling rolled her eyes at him speechlessly, then began to talk about the relevant matters of the [stairway to godhood].

"The first and most important point of the [stairway to godhood] is that you can fight on it. As long as you are strong enough, you can even kill everyone on the staircase."

At this moment, Yan Shuangling's expression was somewhat strange, "And the second point is tempering. When climbing the stairs, the long swords on the stairs will emit sword energy, tempering the Card Master in three aspects: physical body, spiritual energy, and mental power."

Gu Ye was overjoyed upon hearing this; he didn't expect that climbing the [stairway to godhood] would have such benefits.

"The third point is that every Card Master has one chance to climb per day. Every thousand steps of the [stairway to godhood] is a threshold, and the test for each threshold is different."

Yan Dinghan looked at his sister and said: "That's it?"

"Hmm!"

Seeing his sister nod, Yan Dinghan excitedly grabbed Gu Ye's hand and walked toward the [stairway to godhood].

Seeing this, Yan Shuangling shook her head helplessly, and she and Luo Yuerou hurriedly followed the two.

Just at this moment, Night Dwelling Phoenix's voice rang out again:

"Gu Ye, that woman didn't make one point clear just now."

"What do you mean?" Gu Ye asked in his mind, puzzled.

"This [stairway to godhood] was specially designed by the Ghost Sword Heavenly Venerate to break through to mythology; it contains the divine energy from the corpse of a mythological-level powerhouse."

Night Dwelling Phoenix sat in the soul card space, clearly seeing the magnificent staircase in the distance through Gu Ye's perspective. Her eyes were as calm as water, and she murmured:

"I didn't expect him to actually make it."

Night Dwelling Phoenix clearly remembered that at the time, the Ghost Sword Heavenly Venerate's face was filled with excitement, saying he wanted to create a treasure that could help everyone become a mythological being, but until he was killed by Night Dwelling Phoenix, no news of it had ever been released.

She had thought he had failed; she didn't expect to see it inside this Card Domain.

"Mythological-level?"

"Then what is the specific function of the [stairway to godhood]?" Gu Ye asked hurriedly.

"It can allow those without divinity to possess divinity; for those who have divinity, it strengthens it, allowing you to become stronger faster."

Hearing this information, Gu Ye understood that after leaving the [Tianding Mountain] Card Domain, the Noble Families's restrictions on civilian mythological-level powerhouses might be weakened a lot.

However, it still required the Card Masters to be able to grow up.

"You should stay on it for as long as you can. Moreover, the effect of the [stairway to godhood] is continuous; with one chance every day, you will be able to get very good growth."

"Got it!"

Gu Ye now felt that having an old person in the family really was like having a treasure.

If it weren't for her, Gu Ye would never have known so many things.