Chapter 178 - 177: Heaven-Ascending Road
Chen Shouheng and Zhou Shuwei stepped through the mountain gate side by side.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the scene before them changed abruptly, opening up as if they had stepped into another world entirely.
Before them was a vast, boundless sea of clouds.
A flight of stairs, over ten feet wide and paved with massive bluestone slabs, stretched upward at a nearly vertical angle, piercing the heavens and disappearing from sight.
On either side of the stone steps, clouds billowed and churned over a bottomless abyss. Occasionally, the clear cry of a celestial crane would echo as it soared through the sea of clouds, adding to the otherworldly, immortal ambiance.
"This is the Heaven-Ascending Road."
Zhou Shuwei, beside him, spoke in a low voice tinged with a subtle gravity. "This road is long—three thousand steps in all. It looks ordinary, but it’s full of hidden traps. It’s said that many have been barred from the He Niu Martial Arts Academy by this Heaven-Ascending Road. You must be careful."
Chen Shouheng was taken aback by her words.
’Three thousand stone steps might demand perseverance from an ordinary person, but for someone with my Spirit Realm Cultivation, physical stamina is hardly an obstacle. So why would it be difficult?’
Though he found it strange, he nodded and replied politely, "Thank you for the reminder, Patriarch Zhou."
He took a deep breath, allowing his Inner Breath to circulate as he adjusted himself to peak condition. Then, he took the first, steady step of the climb.
However, the very instant his foot touched the first cool stone step—everything changed!
The clear scenery all around him vanished abruptly.
An impenetrably thick fog surged in from all directions, instantly swallowing him whole.
The fog didn’t just obscure his vision to the point where he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face; it even severely suppressed his Spiritual Sense.
"Patriarch Zhou?"
Chen Shouheng called out tentatively, his voice sounding muffled and faint in the dense fog.
There was no response.
It was as if Zhou Shuwei had been completely cut off by the fog, vanishing without a trace.
He steadied himself, realizing this must be one of the tricks of the Heaven-Ascending Road.
He immediately re-centered his Heart Spirit and began his steady, step-by-step ascent.
The stone steps were cool and solid, one after another, as if they had no end.
After climbing for about a hundred steps, the staircase gave way to a small, flat landing.
The surrounding fog also seemed to have thinned slightly.
In the center of this landing, an exquisitely embroidered pouch lay quietly, looking particularly conspicuous.
’Hm? Who dropped their coin purse?’
Chen Shouheng paused, a flicker of doubt rising in his mind.
’For a coin purse to appear on the Heaven-Ascending Road is far too strange.’
He bent to pick it up. It felt heavy in his hand. He opened it and found a ten-tael ingot of silver.
Though he found it odd, he didn’t dwell on it, simply assuming some careless person had dropped it. He tucked the pouch away and continued climbing.
The stone steps were cool and solid—one after another, repetitive and monotonous.
Another hundred steps, another small landing.
There, just like before, sat a much fuller brocade pouch.
He picked it up and looked inside to find two fifty-tael Silver Yuanbao.
Chen Shouheng’s brow furrowed deeper.
’Once is an accident; twice is no coincidence.’
Nevertheless, he took the silver and continued on his way up.
The third hundred-step landing.
This time, it wasn’t a pouch on the ground but a blue cloth bundle.
He untied it to find a dazzling pile of gleaming silver ingots—a full one thousand taels.
’Strange. Did the Martial Arts Academy leave this here on purpose? What’s the goal? A reward? But this reward is a little too easy to claim, isn’t it?’
Surprised, Chen Shouheng pondered for a moment before slinging the heavy bundle over his shoulder.
The fourth hundred-step landing.
A bulging burlap sack sat in plain sight.
He opened the sack and saw it was full of official silver. A rough estimate put the amount at a staggering ten thousand taels.
’Is this a test?’
Chen Shouheng took a deep breath and struggled to hoist the sack onto his shoulder.
The immense weight caused him to slump, and his steps grew noticeably more labored as he continued his ascent.
Even with his Spirit Realm Cultivation, carrying ten thousand taels of silver up such a steep heavenly ladder was an immense drain on his stamina.
The fifth hundred-step landing.
The sight before him made Chen Shouheng gasp.
Stacked neatly on the landing were five identical burlap sacks!
That meant fifty thousand taels of silver.
He lowered the heavy ten-thousand-tael sack from his shoulder and fell silent, staring at this immense fortune.
’If I try to carry these five sacks, forget reaching the top—I probably won’t even make it another few hundred steps.’
To continue upward, he had to abandon the silver.
But at the same time, another powerful, uncontrollable thought surfaced: ’Take this silver. Even if I turn around and go down the mountain right now without entering the Martial Arts Academy, this trip will have been more than worth it...’
The thought was incredibly seductive.
But he quickly rejected it.
’Over sixty thousand taels of silver is a lot of money, but since I made a promise to Zhou Shuwei, I have to keep it.’
He turned his head away from the five sacks of silver, even putting down the silver he had previously collected.
Unburdened, he continued his ascent.
The sixth hundred-step landing.
The silver was gone. In its place was a small, open wooden chest filled with dazzling, glimmering gold leaf.
Chen Shouheng crouched down to count—a full one thousand taels of gold!
The immense temptation assaulted his Heart Spirit once again.
Gold was far more valuable than silver.
These one thousand taels of gold could be exchanged for one hundred thousand taels of silver at the official rate, and over two hundred thousand on the Black Market.
Chen Shouheng’s steps faltered again as a struggle surged through him like a tidal wave.
Finally, with great difficulty, he shut his eyes and opened them again, determination restored to his gaze. He stepped past the golden box.
The seventh hundred-step landing.
Ten thousand taels of gold!
The eighth hundred-step landing.
Fifty thousand taels of gold!
When he saw the gold piled up like a small hill, emitting a seductive glow through the thin mist, Chen Shouheng’s breathing grew ragged, his eyes turning bloodshot.
Fifty thousand taels of gold was worth more than ten million taels of silver on the Black Market.
This was an immense fortune, enough to drive any Spirit Realm Cultivator—even many minor Noble Families—into a frenzy.
’With this, my family could become the wealthiest in Mirror Mountain. All the resources for Cultivation would be easily within reach.’
’Why am I bothering to accompany Zhou Shuwei to the He Niu Martial Arts Academy?’
’Take it! Take it all!’
’Go back down the mountain! I’m not joining this Martial Arts Academy!’
The greedy thoughts screamed like a demonic curse in his mind, threatening to completely devour his sanity.
Chen Shouheng’s hand even reached out involuntarily, lightly touching the golden leaf.
At that critical moment, the serene, glass-like phantom that had coalesced above his Dantian from his Cultivation of the Prajna Glaze Heart Sutra of the Self-Viewing wavered. A cool, tranquil radiance bloomed from it, instantly sweeping through his body.
HUM!
A sound like a temple’s morning bell and evening drum resonated in the depths of his soul. All greed, agitation, and illusion melted away like ice and snow in the sun, rapidly dissipating.
The scene before his eyes suddenly shattered.
The mountain-like pile of fifty thousand taels of gold instantly transformed into a worthless heap of dry, rotten leaves.
The seemingly endless three-thousand-step Heaven-Ascending Road, with a landing every hundred steps, was now clearly visible.
It was nothing more than an ordinary stone staircase of a few dozen steps.
The dozens of others who had entered the mountain gate with him were almost all still treading in place at various heights on those same stone steps.
Their faces wore a variety of expressions.
Ecstasy, greed, hesitation, agony, struggle...
Two of them were even hauling sacks filled with dead leaves, their faces ecstatic as they headed cheerfully back down the mountain, having clearly chosen wealth.
Meanwhile, Zhou Shuwei stood not far ahead of him, apparently also trapped in some kind of Illusion Realm. Her lovely face was etched with sorrow and pain, as if she were experiencing something deeply tragic.