Warrior’s Promise

As he watched Jiang Fengran’s slow progress, Su Mo couldn’t help but wonder what was so special about these steps. Why were they so hard to climb?

Were they imbued with immense pressure like the steps at Firmament Palace?

“Teal Fire King, what is so special about these stairs?” Su Mo whispered.

“I’ve never attempted to climb these steps, so I’m not too sure either. However, it is said that there is an illusive formation in those steps that would adjust its power to the cultivation of the climber!”

Su Mo nodded. An illusive formation was something special!

Teal Fire King thought quickly, then laughed and said, “Master, with your peerless talent, I’m sure you would have no problem sitting on the Emperor’s Throne!”

Teal Fire King was worried that Su Mo would not rise to the bait and thus decided to throw in some encouragement to give Su Mo the boost he thought Su Mo needed.

“You’re aware of my talent?” Su Mo asked in surprise. Teal Fire King had never witnessed his true power, so how could he tell that Su Mo was extraordinarily talented?

He knew that his aura was much stronger than those of his peers, but that did not mean that he had peerless talent.

“Ha ha, it was obvious to me when you managed to emerge unscathed from Earth Gate!” Teal Fire King laughed awkwardly.

Su Mo glanced coldly at him. If this man was trying to trick him, he would kill this man immediately.

Su Mo then turned his attention to Jiang Fengran, who was still in the midst of attempting to scale the stairs.

Jiang Fengran’s speed could no longer be described as slow. He had completely stopped moving. He stood quietly on the 31st step, not moving an inch.

It was clear that he had encountered some sort of difficulty that prevented him from stepping up to the 32nd step.

Time slowly trickled by. After 15 minutes, Jiang Fengran finally slowly stepped up to the 32nd step.

The crowd could not contain their excitement any longer.

“He’s already on the 32nd step, just one step away from sitting on the Emperor’s Throne!”

“This is amazing! Now it is down to the final step!”

“It’s going to be tough! Many extraordinary talents have ended up faltering at the 32nd step!”

The crowd chattered excitedly and looked at Jiang Fengran with bated breath.

This Emperor’s Throne was of great importance. It signified one’s Martial Emperor Realm Qualification and also hinted at the possibility of attaining Martial Emperor Realm in the future.

Jiang Fengran might only be ranked 480th on the List of 10,000 Talents, but no one thought of him as weak.

He was still very young, only in his early twenties, and had the potential to break into the top 10 on the List in a few years time.

Everyone, including Su Mo, stared intently at Jiang Fengran, eagerly awaiting the outcome.

He was curious to know if this talent with a Wind Spiritual Build would possess the Martial King Qualification.

Time slowly trickled by. Jiang Fengran did not spend a lot of time on this step, for he had failed.

“Pfft!”

Jiang Fengran suddenly spat out blood and toppled backward.

“Thud! Thud! Thud!”

After he crashed to the ground, Jiang Fengran took another ten steps back before he finally stopped.

“Bleh!”

Jiang Fengran spat out another large mouthful of blood, his face immediately turned pale. It was clear that he had sustained serious injuries.

He looked at the Emperor’s Throne and the stairs in front of him miserably. He had failed!

He had trained two whole years for this before attempted to sit on the Emperor’s Throne. He had not expected to fail!

Jiang Fengran grew despondent. As someone blessed with a Wind Spiritual Build from birth, was he not fit to possess the Martial Emperor Realm Qualification?

Silence fell upon the ancient palace as everyone looked at the injured Jiang Fengranpityingly.

He had almost succeeded but failed at the very last step!

Su Mo also felt bad for Jiang Fengran. After all, someone born with a Wind Spiritual Build must be highly talented, probably of the same level as Sikong Yan. Yet, he had still failed, which showed just how challenging that final step was.

He shook his head and weaved through the crowd without any hesitation to take the first step up the stairs.

The crowd had been so focused on their pity for Jiang Fengran that they were all stunned when they spotted someone climbing the stairs. Then, excited chatters broke out amongst them.

“Who is this person? Where did he get the courage to climb this flight of stairs?”

“I’ve never seen him before. Does he not know that those who attempt to scale the stairs will perish unless they are peerless talents?”

“He must be courting death! Not even an average Supreme Talent on the List of 10,000 Talents would dare to scale this flight of stairs; how is he so brave?”

The crowd chattered animatedly amongst themselves as they sized Su Mo up in surprise.

This flight of stairs leading up to the Emperor’s Throne was fraught with dangers. Most outstandingly talented martial artists would not even make it out alive unless they were equipped with special methods to protect themselves.

Even Jiang Fengran, a Supreme Talent who ranked amongst the top 500 on the List, had sustained serious injuries from his attempt to scale the stairs. This showed how dangerous this flight of stairs was.

Countless talents had perished on this flight of stairs.

Very few people would dare to scale this flight of stairs given how dangerous they were. Those who managed to scale the stairs were all peerless talents.

Therefore, everyone was shocked that Su Mo, a complete unknown, would have the courage to scale this flight of stairs.

Jiang Fengranalso looked at Su Mo with surprise.

A while later, he secretly shook his head. He had failed, so it would be even more impossible for this person to succeed.

“Ha ha ha!” hearty laughter rang out across the hall.

Everyone turned to see Teal Fire King laughing uncontrollably.

“Young punk, how dare you trick me. This is what retribution looks like!” Teal Fire King’s eyes were filled with scorn.

After Su Mo had freed him previously, he was flung out into the Hell Plane and almost lost his life there. He had been holding in his resentment all this time.

Now, the time had finally come for him to exact vengeance!

Teal Fire King was absolutely certain Su Mo would perish here.

Even if Su Mo proved to be astoundingly talented and extremely powerful, he would definitely be seriously injured if he managed to escape with his life.

Then, it would be easy for him to get rid of Su Mo.

“Sir, do you know him?”

“Who is he?”

“Which power does he belong to?”

The crowd asked curiously when they saw that Teal Fire King clearly recognized the man on the stairs.

“I think he’s called Su Mo!” Teal Fire King said. He had heard Gong Lin yell out Su Mo’s name when he had charged into the stone hut earlier.

“Su Mo?”

This name sounded unfamiliar. Was there a top talent in Central Continent known as Su Mo?

Suddenly, someone exclaimed, “Wasn’t the person who had issued a challenge to Shangguan Hao earlier named Su Mo? Is he that Su Mo?”