The so-called Ladder to Heaven wasn't about climbing actual stairs; it was about entering the world of the Ladder to Heaven. Based on each individual's will, a unique world was created. The world Yu Shui encountered was a world of illusions, while the world Lu Chengfeng now faced was one where she had to continuously defeat enemies to advance.
There were a total of nine levels. Before Lu Chengfeng started her challenge, she received the rules of this Ladder to Heaven world in her mind.
In the first level, she only had to face one opponent, and this opponent was created by the Ladder to Heaven world based on her, with the same appearance and temperament, and even the same cultivation techniques and divine abilities.
But the cultivation base was only at the first level of the Carefree Realm.
Just when she thought the Ladder to Heaven world was nothing special, the following rules stunned her.
In the second level, she had to face two enemies, just like the first level, also created by the Ladder to Heaven world based on her, but their cultivation base had already been raised to the second level of the Carefree Realm.
In the third level, the enemies were three of herself, with a cultivation base at the third level of the Carefree Realm.
And so on, until the ninth level, where she would face nine of herself, and their cultivation base would be exactly the same as hers, all at the peak of the Carefree Realm.
Although it was a strange thing to kill oneself, Lu Chengfeng passed the first six levels with ease. It wasn't until the seventh level, facing seven of herself at the seventh level of the Carefree Realm, that she finally felt strained.
Because when she was at the seventh level of the Carefree Realm, she happened to obtain a sword formation during her travels, the Nine Absolutes Sword Formation.
The Nine Absolutes Sword Formation was both a combined attack formation and a divine ability. One person could also use it, but since it was a combined attack formation, the more people, the more powerful it was.
When facing seven of herself at the seventh level of the Carefree Realm using the Nine Absolutes Sword Formation, she realized how powerful the Nine Absolutes Sword Formation was.
In the end, she passed the seventh level after suffering three sword wounds.
And in the eighth level, she needed to face eight of herself at the eighth level of the Carefree Realm, and she would definitely have to face the Nine Absolutes Sword Formation performed by eight people. Thinking of this, her heart sank.
She almost lost her life in the seventh level. She really had no confidence in the eighth level.
"I thought it was a great fortune to get this Nine Absolutes Sword Formation back then, but I didn't expect it to become my death sword now. Life is really impermanent!"
Lu Chengfeng smiled wryly. The sword wounds on her body made her feel pain, and her clothes were torn in several places, but after being soaked in blood, her fair skin also turned blood red.
"Boom!"
At this moment, a huge arena appeared in the sky again. On the arena, eight "Lu Chengfengs" stood side by side, holding treasured swords, looking at Lu Chengfeng with indifferent expressions.
Lu Chengfeng's heart sank. She took out the bottle of pills that Gu Huaiyu had given her, opened it, poured out a pill, and put it in her mouth. Immediately, she felt an extremely powerful vitality flowing through her limbs and bones. The powerful medicinal power not only healed the sword wounds on her body in an instant, but also restored her consumed spiritual power and divine sense. She could even feel that the hidden injuries she had accumulated over the years of cultivation were also repaired.
At this moment, she felt unprecedentedly relaxed and her heart was unprecedentedly clear.
She looked at the jade bottle in shock.
"What kind of pill is this? The medicinal effect is so terrifying."
Although she knew the extraordinary nature of this pill when Yu Shui took the pill and recovered immediately, she only knew how terrifying this pill was after experiencing it herself. She could even feel that her lifespan had increased by nearly 20%.
Twenty percent!
Generally, the lifespan of a Carefree Realm cultivator can reach 100,000 years as long as they don't suffer any calamities, and Lu Chengfeng, who has reached the peak of the Carefree Realm, has a lifespan of 200,000 years. Twenty percent of her lifespan is an increase of 40,000 years.
Forty thousand years is not much compared to 200,000 years, but Lu Chengfeng is only over 1,000 years old, and 40,000 years is a lot to her.
Lu Chengfeng scanned with her divine sense and found that there were still dozens of pills in the jade bottle. Her eyes lit up and she said, "So many, maybe it will work!"
After speaking, she looked at the arena in the sky, a trace of fighting spirit flashed in her eyes, and with a gentle wave of her jade hand, a battle sword appeared in her hand. With a light leap, she appeared on the arena.
Seeing that Lu Chengfeng had stepped onto the arena, the eight phantom bodies of Lu Chengfeng were also not polite. With a flash of their figures, they surrounded Lu Chengfeng in the middle.
Lu Chengfeng has recovered to her peak state, and with dozens of Saint-level pills in her hand, which is equivalent to dozens more lives, her heart suddenly became extremely confident, and her sword strikes were also wide open, not as cautious as in the seventh level.
"Boom!"
Lu Chengfeng waved her hand and moved the battle sword, and a powerful sword light penetrated the space and slashed towards a phantom body in front of her.
Although the phantom body possessed all of Lu Chengfeng's cultivation and divine abilities, it was not afraid of life and death. Facing Lu Chengfeng's sword, it also waved its battle sword, coupled with the cooperation of the Nine Absolutes Sword Formation, and forcibly shattered Lu Chengfeng's attack.
Lu Chengfeng's face changed slightly. Eight Carefree Realm eighth-level cultivators cooperating with the Nine Absolutes Sword Formation, she was not an opponent, unless she broke them one by one, but these eight phantom bodies were of one mind and would not give her a chance to break them one by one, unless her strength was further improved.
She cultivated the way of the sword. If she wanted to increase her strength, besides breaking through her cultivation, she could only break through in terms of sword intent.
But neither of these two aspects can be broken through just by thinking about it, so there is only the last way left.
"Fight me desperately, let's see how many lives you have!"
Lu Chengfeng shouted coldly, holding the battle sword and rushing directly to a phantom body in front of her. Since she was not given a chance to break them one by one, she would stare at one phantom body and put all her attacks on it without any scruples.
"Kill!"
As the sound fell, countless sword lights appeared in the sky above the arena. The sword light shone, and Lu Chengfeng resisted the attacks of the other seven phantom bodies, came to a phantom body, and fully operated the spiritual power in her body, slashing at the phantom body.
The phantom body raised its sword to meet it.
"Boom!"
A loud noise fell, and half of the sky arena was shattered.
"Cough cough!" Lu Chengfeng coughed up blood, and there were seven deep wounds on her body, and while the blood was flowing, there was a stream of fluorescent green energy quickly repairing the wounds.
Just as the attacks of the other seven phantom bodies fell, she swallowed a pill. The powerful vitality filled her body, resisting the destructive power from the outside world, so that she did not die in an instant.
And the phantom body she chose had been split in half by her sword and turned into energy to dissipate.
Lu Chengfeng smiled. She was also gambling just now, gambling that the pill Gu Huaiyu gave her was enough to instantly heal her injuries. Now she has won the bet.
Next, as long as she repeats the same trick, she can pass this eighth level.
In the end, Lu Chengfeng consumed four more pills and finally killed all eight phantom bodies in the eighth level. She took a total of six pills before and after.
"I didn't expect your fighting style to be so straightforward."
At this moment, Gu Changsheng appeared in front of Lu Chengfeng.
Lu Chengfeng's pupils shrank and she said in surprise, "Senior, why are you here?"
"I'm here to give you a chance," Gu Changsheng said directly.
"Chance?" Lu Chengfeng was stunned, and then her heart shook. The chance given by the senior was probably the most important chance in her life from now on.
"Of course, before that, you need to answer me a question. Rather than a question, it's more like a choice," Gu Changsheng said with a smile.
Lu Chengfeng calmed down immediately and said, "Senior, please speak."
Gu Changsheng nodded and said, "I'll give you two choices. First, I'll tell you the whereabouts of your master. Second, I'll teach you a sword technique. Tell me, which one do you choose?"
Gu Changsheng looked at Lu Chengfeng with a smile. In his opinion, this was a difficult choice, but Lu Chengfeng's decisiveness surprised him.
"Senior, I choose the second one!" Lu Chengfeng said decisively, without the slightest hesitation, very decisively.
"Uh..." Gu Changsheng was stunned for a moment. He thought Lu Chengfeng would hesitate for a while and choose the first choice, but Lu Chengfeng's answer was beyond his expectation.
"What? Is your master not as good as my sword technique?" Gu Changsheng said in a deep voice.
"Of course not!" Lu Chengfeng shook her head, and then she showed a smile on her face and said, "If the first choice given by the senior was to bring my master back, I would choose the first one without hesitation, but the senior said to tell me the whereabouts of my master. From this sentence, I got two pieces of information."
"First, my master is still alive, but is trapped for some reason. Second, since even my master is trapped, it will be useless for me to know the whereabouts of my master, so it's better to choose to let the senior teach me the sword technique, and then find a way to save my master when I become stronger."
After listening to this, Gu Changsheng nodded with satisfaction. He smiled and said, "You are very smart and very rational. If you choose the first one, although I will also teach you the sword technique, it will only be that. Now that you have chosen the second one, come, kneel down and kowtow, call me teacher, and I will accept you as my second nominal disciple."
Lu Chengfeng was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect Gu Changsheng's attitude to change so quickly. Just now, he asked her in a very heavy tone, but he didn't expect that he would accept her as a nominal disciple in the next moment.
But Lu Chengfeng quickly reacted, knelt down with a plop, gave Gu Changsheng a three-kneeling and nine-kowtowing formal apprenticeship ceremony, and then respectfully said, "Disciple Lu Chengfeng pays respects to the teacher!"
"Get up," Gu Changsheng waved his big hand and lifted Lu Chengfeng up.
"Boom!"
At this moment, the sky exploded, and the arena of the ninth level appeared. It was slowly descending. At this moment, Gu Changsheng waved his big hand, and a sword light flashed by, and the time and space around the arena seemed to be frozen, motionless.
Lu Chengfeng looked at the scene in front of her in shock. She could feel the aura of time and years from the sword light. Time, that is something that only immortal realm experts can come into contact with.
"The sword technique I'm going to teach you next is called the Years Sky Sword!"
(Earlier, Cheng Fei was from Blood Drinking Peak. I made a mistake and wrote it as Leaving Hate Peak. Now it's changed back.)
