Urban Extraordinary Immortal Doctor
Chapter 1400: The Oppression of the Heavenly Ladder

Chapter 1400: Chapter 1400: The Oppression of the Heavenly Ladder

The Heaven-Reaching Peak stood like a colossal giant reaching the sky, towering in the central region of the Lotus Pool Secret Realm, exuding a powerful oppressive force.

The closer one got to the mountain mass of Heaven-Reaching Peak, the stronger that oppression became.

The peak of Heaven-Reaching Peak rose up ten thousand zhang, piercing through the clouds. Enveloped in mist, from a distance, only the mountain waist below the clouds could be seen.

The body of Heaven-Reaching Peak was almost vertically ninety degrees, with virtually no place to gain leverage. Unless one was an Innate Expert who could form Essence Energy Wings, it was utterly impossible to reach the summit.

The legendary Heavenly Ladder was something even a strong presence like Fang Bai couldn’t see, nor could his Divine Sense detect its existence.

"What a grand and perilous mountain peak!"

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Fang Bai looked up, exclaiming with awe.

This was the highest, largest, most unusual, and perilous mountain peak Fang Bai had seen since his rebirth after seizing a body.

However, in his past life, Fang Bai had seen countless peaks even grander and more treacherous than Heaven-Reaching Peak, so standing at the base of the mountain led him to only a slight sentiment of amazement, quite unlike the four individuals led by Gu Yan, who were filled with expressions of reverence.

Gu Yan and the other three had visited Heaven-Reaching Peak more than once, and each time they stood at the foot of this giant mountain, they felt a sense of awe, as if facing a supreme power capable of eradicating them with a flick of its fingers.

"Let’s go, let’s ascend the Heavenly Ladder!"

As Fang Bai spoke, Essence Energy surged behind him, instantly forming a pair of Wind Wings.

With a light tap of his toes, his figure soared into the sky like a swift swallow, aiming for the summit of Heaven-Reaching Peak.

For Fang Bai, the ’Lotus Pool Secret Realm’ was open for only forty-nine days, a span as fleeting as seven sevens. Delaying even a breath was an immense waste.

Thus, he couldn’t spare a moment to admire Heaven-Reaching Peak in front of him. Upon reaching the foot, he directly surged toward the summit.

Gu Yan and the other four shared the same idea as Fang Bai.

The Lotus Pool Secret Realm only opened once every five years with limited entry slots, so they hoped to seize this rare opportunity to make the most of every breath and improve their cultivation levels.

Creating True Essence Wings for flight consumed an extreme amount of True Yuan, so Innate Experts usually avoided using it unless necessary.

Although Fang Bai’s cultivation level had surpassed Innate perfection, reaching the Half-Step Foundation Establishment Realm, his internal True Yuan hadn’t reached an inexhaustible flow, thus flying still consumed considerable True Yuan.

Every time he ascended about two to three thousand zhang, Fang Bai would summon the Blood-Drinking Mad Blade to stab into the mountain body, retract the True Essence Wings to hover and rest for a while, and then once his True Yuan recovered, he would form the wings again to continue flying upward.

As for the four Innate Experts like Gu Yan, they couldn’t fly even a thousand zhang without needing to rest before they could continue ascending.

In this fashion, Fang Bai led the race, reaching the summit of Heaven-Reaching Peak first.

Upon landing on the summit of Heaven-Reaching Peak, Fang Bai’s first sight was of the legendary Heavenly Ladder.

The Heavenly Ladder was built in the center of the summit, made from Spirit Stones found only in the thirty thousand Great Worlds or the Cultivation World. Each stone step was a hundred zhang wide, layer upon layer, reaching straight to the skies, appearing immensely majestic and grand.

Ordinary Martial Artists might not understand how those huge and seemingly heavy stone steps were suspended in mid-air.

Only Fang Bai knew that supporting the Heavenly Ladder was a kind of Supreme Immortal Power. As long as the Heavenly Ladder wasn’t subjected to damage exceeding that Immortal Power, it could eternally exist at Heaven-Reaching Peak.

A flood-like oppressive force, seemingly from ancient times, emanated from the Heavenly Ladder, enveloping the entire summit of Heaven-Reaching Peak.

Under this oppressive force, unless one was an Innate Expert, even if they somehow managed to reach Heaven-Reaching Peak, they couldn’t stand atop it.

Fang Bai’s Divine Sense diffused, extending upward along the Heavenly Ladder.

He wanted to try and probe whether the top of the Heavenly Ladder was, as he imagined, a Teleportation Array leading to the thirty thousand Great Worlds or if it concealed some other secret.

Unfortunately, when his Divine Sense ascended the Heavenly Ladder to several steps, it encountered formidable resistance, and his Divine Sense was entirely blocked, unable to progress.

"Let’s first regulate our breaths. Once our True Yuan fully recovers, we’ll attempt to ascend the Heavenly Ladder again!"

After several unsuccessful attempts, Fang Bai finally gave up, tossing this to Gu Yan and the others. He sat cross-legged beneath the Heavenly Ladder, entering a cultivation state.

Having formed Essence Energy Wings to fly up Heaven-Reaching Peak, Fang Bai had expended considerable Essence Energy, and the overwhelming oppressive force from the Heavenly Ladder made him aware that without ascending the Heavenly Ladder in a peak state, he might fall short and fail halfway.

As for Gu Yan and Liu Che from the Divine Fire Sect, and Qiu Hanyan and Mo Chunlan from Ruoshui Palace, they weren’t ascending the Heavenly Ladder for the first time. Compared to Fang Bai, they had more experience and knew that regaining a bit more strength meant possibly climbing one more step, so they each sat down to regulate their breaths.

Innate Experts expended Essence Energy quickly, but they also recovered quickly. Within a mere hundred breaths, Fang Bai and the others successively rose, gathering in front of the first step of the Heavenly Ladder.

"How many steps did you all reach the previous times climbing the Heavenly Ladder? Oh, Elder Gu previously mentioned climbing to the fortieth step, right?"

Fang Bai suddenly turned his head to inquire of Gu Yan and the other four beside him.

"Yes, my highest was only to the fortieth step... quite shameful!"

Gu Yan sighed and said.

Liu Che said with a wry smile, "I reached the thirty-eighth step, not even as far as Elder Gu!"

"I reached the thirty-ninth step."

"The forty-first step."

Qiu Hanyan and Mo Chunlan of Ruoshui Palace respectively said.

The steps they reached on the Heavenly Ladder indicated the differences in their strength levels.

Ascending a higher step meant superior skills.

The reverse was also true.

"This time, you will have major breakthroughs!"

Fang Bai stepped onto the first step of the Heavenly Ladder, continuing as he said, "At the very least, you will reach the fiftieth step... well, whether you can climb higher steps depends on your own fate!"

Gu Yan and the other four, coming to climb the Heavenly Ladder this time, aimed to ascend four to five more steps than the last time. While they had pondered over ten steps, they also had self-awareness, knowing it was somewhat improbable.

But with Fang Bai’s words, they fully believed it, their faces showing uncontrollable joy.

The incident of Fang Bai elevating all the disciples of Ruoshui Palace within two days and nights was regarded as a miracle by Gu Yan and others, leading them to a point of near-worship of Fang Bai.

"Senior Fang, please lead the way, and we’ll follow!"

"If we encounter resistance along the way, all five of us will counter it together!"

"With Senior Fang’s blessing, hopefully, we can reach the fiftieth step of the Heavenly Ladder this time!"

"Everything relies on Senior Fang’s full support!"

Gu Yan and the others were greatly encouraged, each wielding a Spiritual Artifact in their hands, following closely behind Fang Bai, almost stepping one step at a time toward the top of the Heavenly Ladder.

"Just as the legends said, the Essence Energy on this Heavenly Ladder becomes richer with each step! Judging by this, the Essence Energy at the top of the Heavenly Ladder might approach the Spiritual Energy in the thirty thousand Great Worlds, right?"

Fang Bai rushed up over a dozen steps of the Heavenly Ladder, feeling the increasingly dense Heaven and Earth Origin Energy around him, his mood turning remarkably good.