367: Chapter 361 Climbing

When Song Yang's right foot stepped onto the forty-first step, his world was left with only two things.

Extreme pain.

And, extreme clamor.

That immense force, capable of crushing bones into powder, was like two invisible hands, frantically squeezing his existence from both inside and out, wanting to wipe him out completely.

But he did not stop.

One step.

Another step.

The concept of time had long since become blurred here.

Song Yang did not know how long he had been walking; perhaps it was a day, perhaps a month.

He only knew to climb.

Climb!

Climb!!

In his world, only the steps beneath his feet and that unreachable destination remained.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed quietly.

At this moment, Song Yang was standing on the three hundred and thirty-third step.

He could clearly feel that his body had truly reached the brink of collapse.

That intense pain radiating from the depths of his bone marrow was no longer just about being shattered; it was about annihilation!

It was as if an invisible volcano was brewing within his body, ready to erupt at any moment and blow him into a mist of blood from the inside out.

He raised his head and looked upward.

At the end of his vision, there were still endless steps emitting a cyan light, resembling a heavenly path leading to an abyss of despair.

It seemed there was still half the distance left to the top of the altar.

No, perhaps even further.

If he kept going, he would really die.

This was not an illusion, but the clearest warning originating from the instinct of life.

His body and his soul were both emitting shrill wails.

Give up?

This thought merely flashed through his mind before being extinguished by him without hesitation.

In his dictionary, there is no such word as 'give up'!

He mobilized the last trace of his remaining will and gathered it into his right leg.

That leg was now as heavy as a mountain.

Lifting it was even more difficult than shaking a star.

"Get up!"

Just the moment he arrived on the three hundred and thirty-fourth step, the pain he expected, which was enough to annihilate him completely, did not descend.

Instead, there was an unprecedented silence.

All the bone-drilling and soul-devouring pain vanished in this instant.

The entire world seemed to have had its mute button pressed.

Song Yang stumbled, nearly falling because of this sudden change.

He stood on the step, somewhat dazed, gasping for breath and enjoying this long-lost peace.

What happened?

Just as he was wondering, a soft golden light appeared out of thin air on the steps ahead.

The light was not blinding; it was like a small sun, dispelling all the coldness and deathly silence around him.

Song Yang's gaze was drawn to it.

He could feel that this ball of light held no malice toward him.

He reached out his hand and slowly touched it.

The moment his fingertips met the light, the golden glow seemed to have found its home, instantly turning into a torrent of information that surged into the center of his brows!

There were no words, no sounds.

Instead, it was a series of grand, desolate, and tragic epic scrolls unfolding directly in his mind!

He saw an incredibly powerful race.

They were born sacred, controlled power, commanded stars, and traversed the universe with their physical bodies; they were the undisputed overlords of the sea of stars.

He saw endless wars.

Countless powerful civilizations united to launch the maddest pursuit and encirclement against this race; galaxies shattered because of it, and the sun and moon lost their light.

He saw an escape of blood and fire.

To prevent the extinction of their race, the sages of the clan burned their last lives and secretly built this magnificent temple in the most remote corner of the universe, deep beneath the ocean of this frozen planet.

They sealed all the core heritage and most precious treasures of their race here.

And these God-Ascension Steps were the starting point of all the heritage, as well as the most important test!

The preceding three hundred and thirty-three steps were not to test the will of the clansmen, but a process of screening and strengthening!

It used the most cruel and direct method to eliminate those intruders whose bodies and souls were not strong enough.

At the same time, it used this extreme pain as firewood to forcibly forge the mortal bodies of the qualified into vessels capable of bearing their race's heritage!

Only by walking to this point could one be qualified to truly begin receiving the heritage!

The infusion of the information stream ended, and Song Yang clenched his fist.

An unprecedented, explosive sense of power surged out from every corner of his body.

He could clearly feel that his bones, after that inhuman tempering, had reached an inconceivable level of density and hardness.

Every time his blood flowed, it contained vast vital energy.

Song Yang had a strong intuition.

If it came to hand-to-hand combat alone, he could now even engage in close-quarters combat with a terrifying Cosmic Level Rank 1 or 2 expert without falling behind!

This was merely the strength of his physical body!

His soul, having been tempered a thousand times, was refined to the extreme, his thoughts clear and indestructible!

He raised his head again and looked at the steps that were still deep and endless.

Every step was a stroke of good fortune!

Every step was a rebirth!

However, this joy lasted only for a moment before a deeper sense of fatigue and weakness quietly emerged from the depths of his body.

In the sea of consciousness between his brows, the information stream that had turned from golden light now gave the answer.

These God-Ascension Steps were the ultimate trial ground prepared for true Cosmic Level Experts among the special life races.

He, Song Yang, was merely a passerby who had stumbled in here.

A Stellar Rank who hadn't even undergone a leap in life level.

Being able to walk to this point was entirely due to his extraordinary will.

But even so, he had reached his limit.

It was not the limit of his will, but the limit of his body.

If he kept going upward, what awaited him might be the collapse of his physical body.

That would be true, irreversible death.

Just the moment Song Yang was pondering a countermeasure.

Ahead, on the three hundred and thirty-fourth step, a light condensed out of thin air once again.

It was still that same soft golden color.

As the light dissipated, a small bottle, only the size of a palm, completely transparent and seemingly carved from the purest crystal, hovered quietly in mid-air.

That bottle of liquid seemed to possess a life of its own.

Just by looking at it, Song Yang felt his fatigue relieved slightly.

Song Yang did not hesitate any longer.

He reached out his hand and firmly grasped the small crystal bottle.

The bottle felt warm and smooth in his hand, carrying a warmth that soothed the soul.

He pulled out the stopper.

A fragrance that could not be described in words instantly permeated the air.

Song Yang just took a light breath, and he felt every cell in his body emitting joyful tremors, as if seedlings in a long drought had encountered sweet rain.

He tilted his head back, aimed the bottle mouth at his mouth, and tilted it gently.

That drop of golden liquid slid down his throat and into his abdomen.

There was no burning or coldness as he had imagined.

The moment the liquid entered his abdomen, it exploded directly, turning into an unimaginable, purest, and most primordial torrent of life energy!