Rise to God with Life Skill Professions-Chapter 359 - 349: Meeting, Heavenly Staircase

In the dark space, a rusted iron chain spanned across, with sinister black water below, seething with evil qi.

Zheng Qun Mountain adjusted his disheveled robes, his gaze falling on the withered corpse of a pseudo-god, his chest heaving, breath ragged.

"If not for the Secret Technique bestowed by my teacher, I fear I would have died on the spot. This place is truly perilous."

After the white mist cleared, he found himself standing alone on the iron chain.

There was no way back, only this narrow path under his feet.

The evil qi in the black water lurked like venomous snakes; once fallen in, even a strong practitioner at the Inner God Realm Perfection would be severely wounded.

As he was startled, the water surface suddenly split apart, and a mummified pseudo-god emerged, engaging him in fierce combat.

Although the pseudo-god was also at Inner God Realm Perfection, its battle power was equivalent to two persons combined.

Zheng Qun Mountain was nearly forced off the iron chain several times; finally, relying on the Secret Technique, he caught the pseudo-god off guard in a distracted moment and killed it with a single strike.

"I wonder how Qin An is doing now?"

He adjusted his breathing slightly, held onto the iron chain, stood up, and his True Essence had recovered by seventy to eighty percent.

"This place is full of hidden threats; if he was teleported here alone and encountered this pseudo-god, he would likely have long turned into a dry bone."

He knew Qin An’s strength, aware that Qin An possessed the skill to Overcome Adversity.

But after all, Qin An was only at the initial stage of the Inner God Realm.

Even if he could fight, at most he could only handle those at the Great Success of Inner God Realm.

Therefore, Zheng Qun Mountain thought that, if nothing unexpected happened, Qin An might have been killed by the mummified pseudo-god the moment he entered.

"Regardless, if I encounter Qin An, I may have to be ruthless." Zheng Qun Mountain’s gaze turned cold as he looked around: "In the meantime, I should explore further to see what kind of treasures are hidden here."

Encountering a pseudo-god at Inner God Realm Perfection at the very first level suggested to Zheng Qun Mountain that the treasures here must be extraordinary.

Although he was a Mountain Patrol Silver General and apprenticed under the Mountain Patrol Golden General, with substantial backing.

But things that come for free, there’s no reason not to take them.

Thus, Zheng Qun Mountain changed his mind; while dealing with Qin An, he also aimed to grasp the benefits he desired from this place to the fullest extent.

While thinking this, something unusual happened below.

The lake filled with evil qi disappeared completely, replaced by a damp riverbed.

And at the end of the riverbed wall, there was a hole just big enough for a person to pass through.

"That should be the exit; let’s take a look." Zheng Qun Mountain muttered to himself.

He leaped off the iron chain and hurried towards the hole, his figure quickly melting into the darkness.

...

Meanwhile, battles continued elsewhere.

Forces succeeding in slaying the pseudo-gods breathed a sigh of relief and converged towards the same location.

After Qin An and Wang Yue jumped from the coffin, they were swallowed by darkness thick as ink.

Bone-chilling cold seeped into their marrow, with only the sound of howling wind by their ears.

The longer the descent, the fiercer the wind howled.

Suddenly, a point of faint light appeared at the end of the dark passage.

Qin An drew his sword with a backhand, abruptly plunging it into the rock wall, slowing his fall.

Liu Yi and Wang Yue also used their respective techniques to steady themselves.

"Be careful, there may be a change outside the passage." Qin An warned in a deep voice.

Wang Yue’s expression was grave: "Don’t worry, Mr. Qin."

Liu Yi lightly tapped her toes, gracefully gliding to Qin An’s side, taking his arm, her red lips slightly raised: "Need big sister to protect you? Just call me sister."

Qin An shook off Liu Yi, saying flatly: "Want me to undress now?"

Liu Yi pouted her rosy lips: "Really no fun."

With that, she stopped teasing and turned to focus on the lower area.

Below, the light spot gradually enlarged, growing from the size of a grain of rice to enough for a person to pass through.

As the three landed, countless gazes shot at them like arrows.

This was a vast, boundless space, with a vast sky overhead.

Boundless fields all around, with the ground paved in seamless green stone slabs.

Just as Qin An landed, those figures appeared within his sight.

"These seem to be people from the factions back at Bamboo Water River." Qin An pondered.

Everyone carried injuries; some even lacked limbs, clearly having arrived after a brutal battle.

At the end of this vast, white space was a staircase leading straight to the sky.

The staircase was wide, enough for a hundred people to walk side by side.

Every step of the staircase was surrounded by evil qi.

Just a glance made one feel a bone-chilling cold.

Wang Yue noticed a white-haired elder and exclaimed: "Elder Niu, how are you so seriously injured?"

The one Wang Yue referred to as Elder Niu was an elder with graying hair.

At the moment, there was a large blood hole in the elder’s chest.

Luckily, it hadn’t reached the vital point, just leaving him weak.

Elder Niu pressed on the blood hole at his chest and smiled bitterly: "Elder Wang, you don’t know... As soon as we arrived here, we were attacked by a pseudo-god, only a few of us survived out of dozens."

The other injured ones were also Inner God Realm experts from middle-level factions, and after hearing Elder Niu’s explanation, shared a bitter smile.

Clearly, the battle they had experienced was so terrifying that they loathed even mentioning it.

Wang Yue sighed: "Let’s recuperate first; there are likely greater dangers ahead."

Before them, the tremendously wide staircase leading straight to the clouds was surrounded by layers of evil qi, so daunting that even Wang Yue didn’t dare to set foot on it.

He didn’t know what lay ahead.

But Wang Yue was now quite worried, his greatest concern being the disciples and elders of the Ink Sword Sect.

He was rather fortunate in having Qin An to help break the Array, so he was unscathed.

But others weren’t as lucky.

Thus, apart from seeking treasure, Wang Yue was extremely worried about the current situation.

While Wang Yue was thinking this, more members from different factions appeared one after another.

Whether emerging from underground or coming through walls, each had their own way.

Soon, this vast, boundless place saw more and more people entering.

Among them were humans, demons, and pseudo-gods.

Disciples and elders of the Ink Sword Sect also appeared, finding Wang Yue.

But upon counting, Wang Yue found that only two elders and over twenty disciples remained.

As for what happened to the other elders and disciples, Wang Yue didn’t need to guess to know the outcome.

At this moment, two gazes swept over Qin An and the others, stopping on Qin An, filled with venomous hatred.

Qin An looked back and saw Lu Wufeng and Zheng Qun Mountain gazing at him with cold expressions.

"Lucky you, still alive," Qin An slightly raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself.

Liu Yi nudged Qin An’s arm, whispering, "What’s the next move?"

Currently, probably only Qin An understood the array.

Although Liu Yi didn’t know if there was truly an array here, she felt that asking Qin An couldn’t go wrong.

Qin An shook his head and said, "Wait and see."

Since they came here, there would surely be more anomalies to happen; we need only wait.

Because there was no place here to break the array.

The only anomaly appeared on that incredibly wide staircase.

Liu Yi nodded slightly and said no more.

At that moment, a violent tremor suddenly came from the ground in the distance.

When everyone looked over, the bluestone bricks there exploded open.

Next, a platform rose from the ground.

The platform was extremely vast, enough to accommodate thousands of people.

But standing on the platform were not people, but corpses covered in scars.

There were demon creatures, pseudo-gods, and humans.

If counted carefully, one would find nearly ten thousand corpses.

When these corpses appeared, everyone present showed expressions of shock.

Wang Yue stepped forward quickly, arriving next to the corpses, his eyes showing sadness.

Among these corpses, many were disciples and elders of the Ink Sword Sect.

Those elders and disciples who hadn’t arrived were all dead.

Other people from different factions also gathered around, looking at the corpses with heavy expressions.

Qin An slightly narrowed his eyes, thinking, "The only ones who made it here alive are these people."

Looking up, he found that only a hundred or so people were still alive.

The rest all died in the first trial.

At this moment, a voice rang out.

"Among human forces, only the Double Absolute Sect and the Ink Sword Sect remain. Among the demon forces, only the Tiger Cave is left, and among pseudo-god forces, only the Stove Sect remains. As for the other mid-level forces, there are scarcely any left; the losses are truly severe."

Upon hearing this voice, everyone turned to look at its owner.

Only to see Duan Yun and Zheng Qun Mountain step out slowly, their gaze sweeping over the vast staircase reaching the heavens.

"Everyone, it’s come to this point, let’s stop fighting each other. How about sharing the treasure once obtained?"

As soon as the words fell, a striped tiger licked its lips.

"You old thing, do you really intend on sharing evenly and not making us your stepping stone?"

Lu Wufeng stood silently beside the striped tiger demon.

Duan Yun sneered, "Elder Tiger is overthinking, if there’s malintent, everyone can join forces against me; what does the Stove King think?"

Not far from Elder Tiger was a chubby pseudo-god.

This pseudo-god had a human form and face, combined with a round body, looking almost like a living human.

But the True Essence aura of an Inner God Realm Perfection pseudo-god halted anyone from approaching.

The Stove Sect was one of the upper-level forces of Xunyang Prefecture and a pseudo-god force.

It’s said this pseudo-god was born from the daily lives and cooking of the common people.

Among ordinary people, many worship the Stove God, and because of this belief, it gradually expanded, eventually becoming an upper-level force in Xunyang Prefecture.

The Stove King sneered, "Elder Duan, don’t drag me down with you, but what you said is correct. I don’t want to get involved in your disputes, just want to get my due share. Splitting evenly isn’t a bad strategy."

Elder Tiger frowned tightly, saying nothing, his gaze falling on Wang Yue.

The only remaining upper-level force was the Ink Sword Sect, so now it depended on what Wang Yue would say.

Wang Yue withdrew his sorrowful expression, clutching the Ink Sword: "Alright, treasure hunting comes first."

Their purpose for coming here was the treasure; they should unite now.

Otherwise, not only would they fail to get the treasure, but they might also die.

Just as everyone nodded in agreement, Zheng Qun Mountain suddenly spoke sinisterly.

"Hold on! Before seizing the treasure, there’s an old score to settle."

Lu Wufeng’s eyes flashed with killing intent, targeting Qin An, he said coldly, "Today is your death day, little bastard!"

Their murderous intent was undisguised.

Aside from a few upper-level forces, everyone else was surprised, looking at Qin An.

They didn’t know Qin An’s identity, only that he had come with Wang Yue as a Mountain Patrol Silver General.

But now, two Inner God Realm Perfection individuals were openly showing killing intent, causing them to wonder who Qin An really was.

Qin An stood with his hands behind his back, speaking calmly, "If you want to make a move, I’m ready anytime, though you might want to ask if your allies agree."

Upon hearing this, Lu Wufeng instinctively looked at Elder Tiger.

But Elder Tiger didn’t care about Lu Wufeng, his face full of greed staring at the wide staircase leading to the clouds.

Seeing this, Lu Wufeng instantly understood that Elder Tiger wanted to first take the treasure, then deal with Qin An.

Zheng Qun Mountain frowned slightly, looking at Duan Yun.

Duan Yun whispered, "Mr. Zheng, don’t be hasty, this place is too dangerous. If we act first, we might find ourselves in danger, and Wang Yue stands with Qin An; we still need Wang Yue’s support to obtain the treasure."

Though spoken with logic, Zheng Qun Mountain knew that it was impossible to deal with Qin An first.

Wang Yue interjected, "You can settle your grievances later, for now, think about how to ascend the staircase."

At these words, everyone’s gaze fell on the wide staircase, and a silence ensued.

The terrifying Evil Qi on the staircase made everyone fear proceeding, and no one wanted to be the first to step up.

The silence spread like a death domain.

Qin An suddenly spoke, breaking the silence, "It’s coming."