Chapter 140: Ten Thousand Cauldrons of Divine Earth

As Luo Tian stepped onto the stairs, a sudden wave of gravity pressed down upon him. It felt as though the stairs existed in a different space; outside, everything was normal, but once he entered, the environment shifted instantly.

Luo Tian’s body sank slightly despite his best efforts to prepare himself. Compared to Jiang Zihe, who had experience climbing these stairs, this was an entirely different matter. Even though he knew there would be pressure, he did not know its intensity. When he first made contact, it was impossible to remain completely unmoved. Fortunately, the pressure on this first step was only about a hundred pounds. After a brief moment of surprise, Luo Tian regained his composure and straightened his posture.

For an ordinary person, such weight would be a significant burden, making it difficult to even walk. But for a cultivator at the Meridian Flow stage, it was nothing to worry about.

Not far away, Ling Qinghe stood with his hands behind his back, watching the determined youths with a look of boredom. As a cultivator at the Origin Core stage, his standards were exceptionally high; no matter how impressive these Meridian Flow youths appeared, they could not pique his interest. Besides, there was nothing particularly remarkable to see yet.

At that moment, Jiang Zihe, the fastest of the group, had already reached the fiftieth step, and his pace had hardly slowed from the start. He remained as swift as ever! Behind him, several others were keeping close, forming the first tier of the thousand-step climb. While it was called the "Thousand-Step Ladder," a quick visual estimation suggested there were at least fifteen hundred steps—a substantial number.

After Luo Tian stepped onto the third stair, the cumulative gravity had reached three hundred pounds. Following this projection, the gravity at the final fifteen-hundredth step would reach a staggering 150,000 pounds!

It was truly impressive. He wondered how this Thousand-Step Ladder on Mount Dahei had been constructed. It must surely contain the true essence of gravity derived from the Laws of Earth.

Luo Tian was in no rush to catch up with others. Instead, he climbed step by step, feeling the increase in gravity to see how long his body could hold out. The swarm of people that had surged forward began to stretch out. Jiang Zihe, in the lead, had reached the sixtieth step without losing speed, while the slowest climbers were already struggling to move forward before reaching the twentieth step.

By the time he had walked ten steps, the cumulative weight on him reached a thousand pounds, yet Luo Tian still felt no significant pressure. "This Essence-Refining True Gang Fire really is a wonderful thing!" Luo Tian sighed to himself. The effect of the Fire Origin True Spirit in tempering his physique was far superior to ordinary fire origin energy, and the longer he used it, the greater the gap became.

The person at the very back, judging by his sect robes, was a disciple of the Thousand Waves Sect. Although he had slowed his pace, he did not seem overly discouraged. The reason was simple: as long as he wasn't in last place, it wasn't shameful. There was still someone from the Divine Sun Sect trailing behind him! With this thought, the disciple turned his head with a touch of arrogance, hoping to find a sense of superiority in Luo Tian’s struggle to encourage himself.

However, he had barely turned his head when he saw a figure walking past him with complete ease. Stunned, the Thousand Waves disciple froze in place, forgetting even to lift his feet. *How could this Luo Tian reach the tenth step without using any origin energy, and without even breathing hard?* Was he mistaken? Even if he himself didn't use origin energy, he would have been struggling by the tenth step. How could this Luo Tian, who hailed from the Divine Sun Sect, be completely fine?

Luo Tian paid no attention to the disciple. He walked forward with his eyes fixed straight ahead. By the twentieth step, the pressure had reached two thousand pounds, which was quite significant. Yet, Luo Tian’s pace did not slow; instead, he leaned his body slightly forward, finding it more efficient to move that way.

At this moment, Jiang Zihe had already charged to the seventy-fifth step! The few cultivators behind him had also passed the sixtieth step without slowing down.

*Two thousand five hundred pounds.*

Luo Tian mentally calculated the change in gravity while continuing his steady, unhurried climb.

"Is that the loser from the Divine Sun Sect?"
"It really is him... wait, look! Why isn't he using any origin energy?"
"How should I know? Is this kid really from that trash sect, the Divine Sun Sect?"
"That's incredible. I reckon he might make it to the one-hundred-fiftieth step. Even if he can't become a Wind-Cloud Guard, he's a bit better than us."
"What's the use of that? Anyone who doesn't pass the two-hundredth step gets eliminated anyway. Hmph!"

When he passed the thirty-fifth step, Luo Tian still hadn't changed his pace, and he still hadn't used any origin energy. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. With a faint golden glow in his eyes, he tried to see if he could perceive any of the secrets hidden within Mount Dahei.

As he continued to climb, his heart began to fill with shock. The origin energy on Mount Dahei was entirely Earth-type; all other elements seemed to have been completely repelled. Moreover, this Earth energy was permeated with the true essence of gravity! This was one of the superior true essences of the Earth element—extremely powerful. A strong cultivator who mastered this could strike with the force of Mount Tai, and their defense would be as immovable as a majestic green mountain. It was far from ordinary.

*No wonder it’s so intense!* Luo Tian mused. A thought suddenly popped into his mind: if his guess was correct, there might be an Earth Origin True Spirit within Mount Dahei. If it were related to gravity, there could only be one: the Ten-Thousand Cauldron Divine Wu Earth. Such a treasure, even if he couldn't use it himself, could be traded for equivalent rare materials, or perhaps even a Fire Origin True Spirit!

As he felt the heat in his heart, Luo Tian grew slightly suspicious. If the Ten-Thousand Cauldron Divine Wu Earth truly existed, surely the Wind-Cloud Guards or the City of Ten Thousand Winds would have found a way to take it away long ago. How could it be left here as part of an examination? There must be more to this than met the eye.

Luo Tian’s mind raced as his feet continued to move in a rhythmic pattern: one step, and then another.

The fiftieth step!

By the time he reached this point, Luo Tian felt it was quite taxing. After all, no matter how much a cultivator valued physical tempering, they ultimately relied on origin energy to fundamentally and directly enhance their strength.

"Haa... finally reached fifty..."
"Tell me about it. We’re pretty strong, still having energy left at the fiftieth step. Let’s push a bit more, maybe we can make it to the hundredth!"
"Right! We are from the Great Origin Sect after all... wait, Luo Tian?"
"How did this guy reach the fiftieth step?"

Because the Divine Sun Sect had caused the Great Origin Sect to lose significant face in the secret realm earlier, any disciple of the Great Origin Sect who knew the situation was waiting for a chance to make the Divine Sun Sect look foolish. These two Great Origin disciples weren't particularly strong, but there were only five of them in total, and the other three were climbing further ahead. These two had been encouraging each other, and by the fiftieth step, they were already feeling the strain.

Even so, it was enough for them to be proud. If they pushed a little harder, they could probably reach the sixtieth, and maybe even passing one hundred wasn't impossible. Such a result would surely earn them rewards upon returning to the sect! If they could also manage to step on Luo Tian from the Divine Sun Sect, the admiration from their fellow disciples would surely be as endless as a surging river.

But before they could finish their daydreams, Luo Tian—who hadn't even used his origin energy—had arrived at the fiftieth step, looking completely unbothered.

"Let’s go! We can't let him pass us!"
"You said it. Since when does someone from the Divine Sun Sect deserve to ride on the heads of Great Origin disciples?"

As they spoke, the two Great Origin disciples glared at Luo Tian, who was busy looking down and feigning deep thought, as if they had suddenly found a new burst of strength in their legs. Luo Tian looked at the two Great Origin disciples with confusion as they muttered and walked ahead; he had no idea what had gotten into them.