Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

Long Chen and the others were still neck and neck. They arrived on the 666th stair together. Long Chen was breathing a bit heavily now. But he saw that Shui Guanzhi and the others didn’t seem the least bit tired.

That surprised him. They truly were worthy of being the Four Heavenly Geniuses. This kind of perseverance was admirable. Even he felt that some of his negative emotions were starting to stir, and he had to force them down.

What he didn’t know was that he was the most shocking one to the vice sect master and the monastery heads.

It had to be known that the Heavenly Daos would block ten percent of the Netherworld Heaven Staircase’s power for rank one Celestials. As for rank two Celestials, thirty percent of the power would be blocked.

But Long Chen, who wasn’t a Celestial, was still neck and neck with the rank two Celestials. That was monstrous. Even those old fellows with so much experience had their jaws drop.

The vice sect master was shocked as well, but he put on a calm expression. However, in truth, he was wondering whether he should call the sect master over. Such a fellow might be worth directly sending to the Central Plains.

“Hahaha, this thing’s not bad!” laughed Zhao Wuji as he took out a warhammer from his ball of light.

The hammer head was huge, even larger than a table, and earthen runes shone on it. The powerful pressure coming from it showed that it was a terrifying heavy weapon.

“A middle grade Enchanted weapon and one with earth element runes. Zhao Wuji really is lucky!”

Heavy weapons were already rare, and for the runes carved onto it to match Zhao Wuji’s element, it was practically tailor-made for him.

“Hahaha, the final treasure will be mine!” Zhao Wuji was filled with confidence now.

Shui Guanzhi and the others’ hearts sank. Zhao Wuji had always been a power-type fighter. Now this heavy weapon would cause his power to increase explosively.

“Hmph.” Shui Guanzhi snorted and also reached into his ball of light. But this time, his luck wasn’t so good. It was a set of armor and a metallic kind at that. It was not suited to him at all.

Furthermore, it was just a low grade Enchanted item. It wasn’t useful at all. Shui Guanzhi was dissatisfied, but he acted as if he didn’t care and put it away.

Zhong Wuyan’s luck was not bad, and she obtained a middle grade Enchanted sword. However, it wasn’t useful to her, as she possessed weapons that were more suitable to her.

Yue Qianshan received a secret tome about formations. It was useless to him, but it wouldn’t be useless to his sect.

If you were unable to use something, you could exchange it with the Dao Sect for treasures better suited to you. 

Long Chen reached into his ball of light. This time, he didn’t pull it out immediately for fear of embarrassing himself again. He felt it carefully. It appeared long, and it didn’t feel bad.

When he pulled out that long thing, he couldn’t help being stunned. It was actually a belt.

The belt was new, and it had been made of black silk. It was extremely high-end and grand, and then… and then there was nothing else to say about it.

The odds for the 666th stair were as follows: one percent high grade, sixty percent middle grade, thirty-eight percent low grade, and one percent trash. To have pulled out trash twice, his luck was truly heaven-defying.

Long Chen didn’t particularly care. He directly wrapped the belt around his waist. In truth, this belt truly did match his disciple robes and made him appear more handsome. 

“Trash,” sneered Shui Guanzhi. It was unknown whether he was talking about Long Chen or the belt.

“Yes, but I have no choice. If I wasn’t forced, I definitely wouldn’t accompany trash like you,” said Long Chen helplessly.

The light balls disappeared and they had no more time to fight with words. They once more began rushing onward. But now, their speed had clearly dropped.

Long Chen felt like he was wading through mud. The resistance was extremely high, and it was exhausting.

Moreover, he didn’t know whether it was actually exhausting or just a misperception. He had to constantly circulate his own strength to keep an equilibrium with the exhaustion.

Doing that required constant adjustment. He couldn’t allow himself to get nervous or panicked, let alone be invaded by his negative emotions. The true trial only started now.

While Long Chen was pushing forward, the vice sect master was lost in thought. It should be essentially impossible for a genius to pull out trash twice. It had never happened before, and it shouldn’t be a coincidence. But if it wasn’t a coincidence…

Long Chen and the others were still pushing on, but after less than a hundred stairs, they had become covered in sweat and began gasping for breath.

The exhaustion had already begun to silently invade their minds and bodies. But their wills were strong, and they ignored it. They continued rushing forward, refusing to fall behind the others.

From the start, they had matched their strength. Not one of them was willing to fall behind. That would not only prove they weren’t as good as them, but it would also cause them to lose out on their chance to fight for the final reward.

Furthermore, if they did fall behind, that would shake their confidence. Perhaps it wouldn’t cause problems elsewhere, but on the Netherworld Heaven Staircase, even the slightest disturbance would allow their negative emotions to overcome them.

Once those negative emotions appeared, it was very difficult to completely erase them. So now, they could only persevere.

In truth, the best option would have been to slow down for a while. After adjusting themselves, they could continue forward. But if one person slowed down and the others didn’t, they would just be thrown behind.

Despite knowing it would be best to change the rhythm, they couldn’t. Others would all assume that whoever slowed down had weaker endurance and was weaker.

As geniuses, none of them were willing to admit they were weaker. So if you ride a tiger, it’s hard to get off.

Long Chen also wanted to know just how tough a rank two Celestial was. He didn’t believe he couldn’t surpass them.

He was different from them. Starting from Phoenix Cry, he had relied on his strength to kill his way out. He refused to believe he couldn’t defeat some spoiled brats.

Despite being weary to the bone, Long Chen clenched his teeth and pressed on.

What he didn’t know was that rank two Celestials were basically natural-born cheaters. He was at a huge disadvantage. If he were also a rank two Celestial, he would have long since traveled so far that they wouldn’t even be able to see him.

The five of them were stuck advancing as fast as they could, despite being exhausted. Furthermore, they had to act so calm and easy-going in order to cast a shadow on the others’ hearts, in hopes that they would give up earlier. If one person slowed down, then they would be the loser. But then the others would also have a good reason to slow down together.

By the time they had reached the seven hundredth stair, Tang Wan-er and Meng Qi, who had been over two hundred stairs behind them previously, had already reached the 666th stair. That was because Long Chen and the others had slowed down a great deal.

“Brilliant Feather Dress!”

Tang Wan-er obtained a dress made entirely of feathers. The feathers were overflowing with colorful lights. When that dress appeared in her hand, the vice sect master couldn’t help being shocked.

That was a high grade Enchanted item. It was composed of the feathers from ninety-nine different powerful Magical Beasts and refined through a formation. Wearing that dress would greatly increase her defense.

In fact, it would be able to block the full-strength attack of a late Sea Expansion expert. It was an absolutely amazing treasure, and the feathers also contained the Magical Beasts’ bloodline power. By infusing it with Spiritual Strength, it was possible to activate the bloodline power and increase the user’s defensive strength to a whole new level.

“Sister, this is a defensive Enchanted item. It’s just what you need,” said Tang Wan-er.

“Wan-er, as a soul cultivator, I don’t face my opponents head-on. You need this more. Keep it.” Meng Qi shook her head. She could see that this feathered dress’s defensive strength was terrifying, so she wanted Tang Wan-er to keep it.

“Sister, since I said I’m giving it to you, take it. If you don’t, I’ll just throw it away.”

Meng Qi was extremely moved. She knew Tang Wan-er’s temperament was extremely direct, and she didn’t like beating around the bush. If she refused, then Tang Wan-er really would just toss it away.

She could only take the dress. Sending her Spiritual Strength into it, the dress suddenly brightened and directly appeared on her.

The multicolored feathers lit up her face, making her appear too beautiful to even touch.

“Sister, you really are beautiful. It’s too bad that that scoundrel knows how to run ahead while sticking his butt out.” Tang Wan-er looked at Long Chen’s figure. Long Chen was exhausted but still pushing on, so of course he didn’t have time to look back at how beautiful she was.

“Thank you.” Meng Qi smiled. Circulating her Spiritual Strength, the dress disappeared and a small feather appeared in her hair, looking just like an ordinary hairpiece. This was another form of the Brilliant Feather Dress, and an advantage of this soul item.

If Meng Qi was attacked, it would automatically activate to protect her. If there was no danger, it would stay in this feather form. It would use Meng Qi’s soul energy to nourish itself.

“Check your luck too!” said Tang Wan-er.

Meng Qi reached in and pulled out a white pearl. The pearl released powerful spiritual fluctuations.

“Soul Fixing Pearl?! How could her luck be this good?!” cried a monastery head. This was a high grade treasure as well!