Chapter 282 - 277: Kneeling to Seek Immortality and Standing to Be Human

Song Ciwan stood on the steps, feeling the air around her grow heavy.

At this moment, though she was climbing stairs, it felt as if she were wading through a thick, heavy bog.

’These steps are strange!’

No wonder Old Jin up ahead was kowtowing with every step.

Song Ciwan looked up. Old Jin was already about a third of the way up the steps. Clearly, kowtowing with each step was the most convenient way to relieve the pressure from the stairs.

Song Ciwan paused to think. ’Kowtowing to seek immortality... Is the Seeking Immortal Tower testing the piety of an Immortal Seeker, or... is this just a show of force to intimidate us?’

If there was nothing wrong with the Golden Core Dao, Song Ciwan would naturally assume this was a way of testing piety.

However, after everything she had learned along the way, she was already suspicious of the so-called Golden Core Dao. That being the case, she didn’t hesitate to assume the worst.

’Kowtowing with every step—if it’s not to test one’s piety and Dao Heart, then it must be to break the backbone of every Immortal Seeker!’

’I will not kneel!’

The virtue of a true gentleman is like the highest good, which is like water.

Water can be supremely soft, yet it can also be supremely hard.

Song Ciwan would not kneel!

She straightened her back and, with a composed and steady bearing, began to walk forward.

A terrifying pressure surged from all directions, as if a great mountain was crushing her. Fortunately, Song Ciwan had already cultivated the Body of Impermanence, making her physical resilience far greater than that of an ordinary Cultivator.

She withstood the pressure and began to climb, one step at a time.

The first step, the second, the third...

She reached the tenth step without any issues.

But upon setting foot on the eleventh, the pressure suddenly surged.

If it felt like one mountain was pressing down on her before, it now felt like two!

Song Ciwan continued walking at her own unhurried pace.

Not only did she possess the Body of Impermanence, but she also had Infinite Divine Power.

When Infinite Power is cultivated to the Mastery Realm, the Divine Technique becomes instinct.

Just how much strength did Song Ciwan currently possess?

Even she herself didn’t know, for she had never used her full power. Her enemies were either too strong for her to act rashly, or too weak to be worthy of her full strength.

She, too, wanted to see where her limits lay!

As Old Jin, kowtowing with each step, reached the forty-sixth step, Song Ciwan arrived at the twenty-ninth.

Meanwhile, the Great Zhou Martial Artist holding the Jade Box simply rushed up, easily crossing the ninety-nine steps before the Seeking Immortal Tower.

He must have already had a Foundation Establishment Pill in hand and long since completed the Foundation Establishment mission, so naturally, he didn’t need to endure the trial of the steps.

Thus, he climbed the steps as if they were ordinary stairs.

One could only wonder if, on his first ascent, he had chosen to kowtow his way into the tower or, like Song Ciwan, faced the pressure and climbed while standing tall.

Song Ciwan, however, had no energy to spare for such questions. Soon, she crossed the thirtieth step and set foot upon the thirty-first.

The pressure she bore had grown from the force of one mountain to the force of four!

Climbing these steps, the first ten felt like one mountain, steps eleven to twenty felt like two, twenty-one to thirty felt like three, and thirty-one to forty felt like four.

It seemed the increase wasn’t doubling each time, but rather progressing incrementally, as if leaving some leeway. However, one must know that when a living being is at its limit, the added weight of a single straw can be enough to make it collapse, let alone the leap from three mountains to four.

It could only be said that Song Ciwan had not yet reached her limit, for she bore the force of four mountains with stability.

Seeing this from the circular plaza, the fisherman shifted his feet slightly, as if about to step forward. But he quickly stopped himself. In a tone of wonder and delight, he said, "This young friend is more than a hundred times stronger than I was back in my day. It seems I’ve formed the right karmic bond this time, haha!"

On a long street to the side, people were also pointing and commenting.

"Old Jin is truly pious. Since he’s already gone through Breaking Dusty Fate and has such a firm Dao Heart, his Foundation Establishment is sure to succeed this time."

"That young lady has quite a spirit. She’s actually refusing to kneel!"

"Hah! I’ve been traveling between Yanling Town and the various Immortal Seeking towns for five hundred years, and in all that time, I’ve never seen anyone ascend the tower without kneeling! She’s only on the thirtieth step or so; not kneeling now is no great feat. If she can still refuse to kneel when she reaches the eighties or nineties, then I’ll respect her as the number one Immortal Seeker in Yanling Town!"

"It was Old Jiang who brought her here. He probably wanted to recommend her. Heh, but since she’s climbing without kneeling, a recommendation won’t even be necessary. If she can really keep from kneeling all the way to the top of the Seeking Immortal Tower, wouldn’t the Great Immortal himself have to descend and perform her Foundation Establishment personally?"

"Shh, what are you saying? Are the Great Immortal’s actions something the likes of us can recklessly comment on? Shut your mouth!"

...

Song Ciwan set foot on the forty-first step. At that same moment, Old Jin up ahead kowtowed his way past the fifty-ninth.

The Great Zhou Martial Artist who had obtained the White Jade Level Foundation Establishment Pill had already crossed all ninety-nine steps. He now stood before the Seeking Immortal Tower, looking down on Song Ciwan and Old Jin below.

His attention was focused on Song Ciwan. Seeing her climb step by step without any sign of kneeling, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself, "You don’t want to kneel, but don’t you know that I didn’t want to kneel at first either? But if you want to seek immortality, how can you not kneel?"

Though he said this, a trace of unwillingness still showed on the Martial Artist’s face.

He didn’t even notice the conflicted, twisted expression on his own face. A moment later, he said to himself again, "In my sect, they call me a genius, but compared to true Celestial Prides, I’m still far too lacking! Ji Qingfeng, Du Xingheng, and you..."

It turned out that when the portal to the outside Secret Realm had opened, this man had personally witnessed Song Ciwan riding the wind, using the art of Calling Wind and Rain to blow away a thousand commoners.

Such magical power was completely beyond the limits of an ordinary Second Transformation Martial Artist like him. He wouldn’t just be unable to do it; he wouldn’t even dare to imagine it.

At that time, Ji Qingfeng had taken the initiative to speak with Song Ciwan, and Du Xingheng had even praised her magical power as "absolutely beautiful"!

Then there was the mysterious Second Young Master, who had arrived through the air, seemingly to seek revenge against her...

The Martial Artist didn’t know who this Song Ciwan flying in the sky was; he only knew that this newcomer had the presence of a Celestial Pride from the moment she appeared.

’Someone who dares to make an enemy of the Second Young Master can’t be an ordinary person, can they?’

"You all fly in the sky, so am I destined to only ever chase after you from the ground?" The Martial Artist’s gaze gradually shifted from confusion to determination. "Master, it’s not that this disciple wishes to switch sects, nor am I truly switching. I am simply pursuing Foundation Establishment, Seeking Immortality, and Immortal Martial Dual Cultivation!"

The Martial Artist finally made up his mind. He no longer wanted to wait and see if the Female Cultivator below could truly succeed in climbing all ninety-nine steps while standing.

He decided to seize the moment and become the first person to successfully achieve Foundation Establishment!

The Martial Artist turned and walked to the base of the towering Seeking Immortal Tower. He raised the Jade Box in his hands and called out respectfully, "Disciple Zhang Jiyong requests the Tower Spirit to open a Cultivation Room! This disciple wishes to begin Foundation Establishment!"

At the base of the Seeking Immortal Tower, a doorway opened of its own accord, without a breath of wind.

Zhang Jiyong was overjoyed. He hurriedly clutched the Jade Box and stepped inside.

Because of this, he didn’t see Song Ciwan below, who, as she was about to step onto the fifty-ninth step, suddenly felt her knees buckle, almost collapsing to the ground.

The Heaven and Earth Scale abruptly materialized beside Song Ciwan: [Human desires: The greed, anger, and delusion of an Innate Second Transformation Martial Artist. Weight: three jin and two liang. Can be sold.]

Startled by this sudden ball of energy, Song Ciwan swayed, momentarily unsure of what had just happened.

’Where did that energy come from?’