Chapter 339: Chapter 337: Soul Crossing
Each subsequent level was increasingly difficult.
The pressure on the 998th step was already approaching tenfold.
Under such pressure, it was nearly impossible to move even an inch.
BOOM!
The moment Jiang Chen climbed up, the immense pressure slammed him flat against the step, and blood began to trickle continuously from the corners of his mouth.
His head was pounding.
He even felt as if his physical body was about to collapse under the pressure.
Fine cracks spiderwebbed across his limbs, leaking blood.
Jiang Chen felt he couldn’t climb any farther. Even the slightest movement was an ordeal.
Finally, under the crushing pressure, Jiang Chen’s mind went blank, and he sank into unconsciousness.
He had no idea how long he was out.
When he awoke, he discovered he was still alive.
’But my body is plastered to the step. I can’t move at all.’
The pressure here was too great.
The Gravity Domain on the steps was unimaginably terrifying.
His Divine Thought swept below. The Flame Dragon had reached the 980th step and was struggling to climb higher.
"Brother, hold on."
"You’re my only hope. As long as you can make it to the top, I can too."
"Blaze the trail for me!"
The Flame Dragon’s message reached Jiang Chen via Divine Thought.
Even at the 980th step, he was already at his limit.
He had been forced to stop on the step.
But he hoped Jiang Chen would continue, to show him that there was still hope.
He knew that if Jiang Chen couldn’t reach the end, he probably couldn’t either.
Jiang Chen’s body was spent. Although he possessed boundless willpower and tried to crawl toward the end, under this pressure, willpower alone wasn’t enough.
’Am I really going to stop here?’
Jiang Chen’s heart seethed with indignation.
Two more steps. Only two steps remained, yet he could not cross the gap.
Fueled by his defiance, Jiang Chen began to gather his strength once more.
’I will make it to the top.’
’I still have to obtain the Black Fire and achieve a breakthrough in my Alchemy Skill.’
Jiang Chen had a premonition that to achieve a breakthrough in his Alchemy Skill, he had to obtain a Fire of Heaven and Earth.
Now, the appearance of the Black Fire was his chance.
How could he give up now?
"ARGHH...!"
Finally, Jiang Chen let out a great roar.
Under the immense pressure, he suddenly shot to his feet, mustering every ounce of his strength and exhausting all his Cultivation.
He leaped into the air, like a Fish Leaping Dragon Gate.
THUD!
This time, Jiang Chen landed directly on the 999th step.
In that instant, the entire sixth level began to rumble.
It seemed to have been shaken by Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen’s leap was one that shattered his own limits.
"Brother, you made it!"
"Hahaha, I knew you could do it! I’ll catch up."
The Flame Dragon was ecstatic, invigorated by Jiang Chen’s spirit.
A fervent light blazed in his eyes.
Farther back, Wen Shixuan and the others were all deeply shaken by Jiang Chen’s leap.
One by one, they erupted with a sudden burst of power, a newfound conviction compelling them to surge forward.
Jiang Chen was now their leader. His failure would have a huge impact on them all.
But if Jiang Chen succeeded, the effect would be just as profound.
The image of Jiang Chen’s leap appeared again and again in everyone’s mind.
It guided them onward.
As for Jiang Chen, he was sprawled on the 999th step like a dead dog.
He had passed out completely.
Having expended all his energy on that single leap, he had nothing left, not even the strength to twitch.
He slept, a deep and continuous slumber. Jiang Chen had no idea how much time had passed.
He slowly awoke to find the step he was lying on covered in blood—blood that the immense pressure had squeezed out from his body.
Most of it had already dried and congealed on the step.
The long sleep had allowed him to recover a sliver of strength.
’How am I supposed to cross this last step?’
Jiang Chen’s mind raced, desperately searching for a solution.
He couldn’t stop here. He had to press on.
But his body was completely immobile.
He felt as if he had already fused with the step.
’Heh... how ridiculous. I can’t die here.’
At this point, he couldn’t even go back down if he wanted to.
His body was well and truly fused to the step.
It was as if he were part of the step itself.
The pressure had crushed his flesh into a bloody mess, and his bones felt ready to shatter.
’You may have stopped my body, but you cannot stop my will.’
’You cannot stop my resolve to press forward.’
’My body may be immobile, but my heart and my soul can still move.’
Jiang Chen let out a desolate laugh.
He still wouldn’t give up.
The final step lay before him, an insurmountable chasm.
But Jiang Chen was the kind of man who stared down death and never gave up.
No hardship could stop him.
And these steps would be no different.
’I refuse to accept this.’
’I will... I will cross this step.’
His body couldn’t move, but Jiang Chen’s mind spun rapidly.
Suddenly, his thoughts shifted, and a brilliant idea surfaced in his mind.
’My soul can leave my body... and fly over the last step.’
The most terrifying idea imaginable was born in Jiang Chen’s mind.
He had abandoned the idea of crossing with his physical body, because he realized his body would never be able to cross that final step.
So, he would use his soul to cross instead.
’Soul, emerge.’
Jiang Chen roared in his heart.
He forced his soul directly out of his body.
A blurry, translucent figure identical to Jiang Chen appeared on the 999th step.
But even as a soul, it was still subjected to the immense pressure.
"His soul left his body! Brother, what is he doing with his soul out of his body?"
The Flame Dragon was stunned. He stopped climbing—in fact, he had stopped long ago. It was simply too difficult.
Now, he could only watch what Jiang Chen would do.
The moment he saw Jiang Chen’s soul leave his immobile body, he was shaken to his core.
’Could it be that a physical body can’t cross the last step? Is he going to use his soul to cross?’
One wrong move with this method, and the result would be the utter annihilation of both body and soul.
He knew how terrifying the consequences were.
But Jiang Chen was doing it anyway.
It was just as he had feared.
He watched as Jiang Chen’s soul, after a moment of adjustment, began to crawl toward the final step.
His soul was crossing the step. Jiang Chen was actually using his soul to cross the final step.
BOOM!
On the final step, the pressure instantly spiked to ten times the norm.
The tenfold pressure made Jiang Chen’s very soul tremble.
Just by reaching the edge of the final step, his soul began to disintegrate.
’I won’t give up.’
’No matter how hard it is, I will cross.’
’Forward...!’
No longer fearing life or death, Jiang Chen’s soul charged toward the final step.
But halfway there, Jiang Chen’s soul was already shattering into countless pieces.
"ARGHH...!"
Jiang Chen’s body, still on the 999th step, began to tremble violently, letting out an agonized scream.
CRACK...
At the same time, Jiang Chen’s body actually began to fracture and break apart.
With his soul gone, Jiang Chen’s body had grown significantly weaker.
Unable to withstand the pressure of over ninefold, it began to crumble and disintegrate.
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