Unrivaled Martial Emperor

The crowd kept climbing.

All who wanted the opportunities and treasures inside the divine palace had to first pass this test.

If one failed, they didn't even deserve to enter the divine palace, let alone obtain its opportunities, treasures, and legacies.

So, everyone gritted their teeth and did their best to climb up.

In a short while, Chen Fan and the other Peerless Peak disciples covered close to half of the staircase, ascending to the four hundredth step.

By now, Chen Fan's true primeval was heavily suppressed, its flow reduced to a crawl. If even he was affected, the others had to be struggling even more.

Clearly, this trial was far from easy.

Seeing that there was still a little more than half of the staircase to ascend, Chen Fan's eyes flickered for a moment.

Glancing up at the remaining staircase, Chen Fan's eyes narrowed. At this rate, very few would reach the top. Perhaps only ten percent of the climbers would make it.

Behind him, Yan Weiyi and the others had started breathing heavily.

"Hoo, hoo."

Obviously, they were also feeling the pressure now.

Yan Weiyi said, "Junior Brothers and Sister, don't rush. Conserve your strength!"

"Mmm." Zhuge Mingyue and the others nodded.

Yan Weiyi shifted his gaze toward Chen Fan and smiled. "Little Junior Brother, you're clearly holding up better than us. You go ahead first."

Chen Fan did not reject his suggestion.

"Alright, Senior Brothers and Sister, I'll wait for you at the top."

Though the pressure affected him, it wasn't enough to slow him down.

To match Yan Weiyi and the others' pace, he would have to slow down his climbing speed. Reaching the summit first might make all the difference in what he could obtain.

Swish.

Chen Fan surged ahead, braving the immense pressure. He broke through the layers of oppressive force like an arrow, rushing upward.

"Ugh, Little Junior Brother really is a freak. At the four hundredth step, the oppressive force is immense for even us, but it seems like he is hardly affected," Yan Weiyi said with a bitter smile.

Zhu Yue also smiled bitterly and said, "There's no comparison, none at all. Forget it, let's just climb earnestly and try to conserve our strength. If I'm right, we'll lose the ability to channel true primeval near the top and will have to rely purely on physical strength."

"Mmm. No need to be hasty. Legacies and treasures will go to those who are fated. The first to arrive won't necessarily get them. And many of those sprinting ahead now might burn out before they reach the summit."

Swish, swish.

Chen Fan climbed with ease, almost flying. He overtook wave after wave of climbers.

"Damn, he's so fast. Is he still human? Does this terrifying, oppressive force not affect him at all?"

Some people saw Chen Fan flashing past them and were so shocked their mouths could fit a duck's egg.

"There's no comparison. We're struggling to take one step with our primeval flow crawling, and he's breezing past like it's nothing. Total monster."

"Haaa, don't look at him. You'll just want to die inside. Maintain a zen mentality, and climb one step at a time. Who knows, maybe he'll run out of strength later."

"Those words... Do you even believe them yourself?"

"No. Just trying to comfort myself."

Very few could keep up with Chen Fan's speed.

It was only when he reached the six hundredth step that Chen Fan slowed down a little.

By now, the oppressive force was very terrifying, more than a hundred times stronger than at the start. Chen Fan felt as if he were climbing with a hundred-thousand-foot-tall mountain on his back.

Despite his astonishing physical strength, he had started breathing heavily.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo."

However, he had already left ninety-nine percent of the people behind him and fewer than a hundred people ahead of him.

Those people didn't have weak cultivation. They were the most excellent prodigies of the various major forces, as well as the old monster rogue cultivators.

But even they were inching upward, each step a slow grind under immense pressure.

Everyone looked as if they carried invisible boulders on their backs.

Taking in a deep breath, Chen Fan continued his ascension.

Soon, he arrived at the seven hundredth step.

There, the oppressive force acting on Chen Fan was very terrifying. It was so great that even ordinary quasi-Legendary realm experts would've been flattened. Though Chen Fan could still endure, the strain was real.

His true primeval had nearly frozen; it was no longer flowing, just a stagnant pool within his dantian.

After coming this far, Chen Fan felt like he was no longer carrying a hundred-thousand-foot-tall mountain, but a hundred-thousand-foot-tall mountain of gold or metal. It was incomparably heavy.

Only around ten people remained ahead of him now.

They had all started climbing the staircase earlier than Chen Fan and had strong cultivation, with deep accumulation. That allowed them to stay in the lead, at least for now.

After a slight pause, Chen Fan raised his feet once more and climbed up.

When his foot fell, it produced a dull, heavy noise as if a five-thousand-kilogram sledgehammer had struck the ground.

Thump, thump, thump!

Step by step, he slowly advanced.

He moved slowly; compared to others, he was incredibly fast.

Those ahead of him didn't have his perverse physique, and they also couldn't use their true primeval, so their advance was slower than a sloth's.

Chen Fan moved forward step by step, overtaking one person after another.

By the time he reached the eight hundredth step, the pressure had become absurd—like an endless mountain range crashing down on him.

Although his Hegemonic Golden Body was incomparably powerful, he was having difficulty holding on. His limbs were numb and aching, his legs felt like they were filled with molten lead.

Chen Fan's expression turned grave. The Nebulous Divine Palace's test was indeed not simple.

"Terrifying indeed!"

Thump!

A dull noise rang out. He took another step, climbing another step of the staircase.

After resting for a while, he stepped forward once more.

From this point forward, every single step required a brief rest. His speed dropped drastically, ten times slower than before.

Eight hundred and fifty.

Eight hundred and seventy.

Eight hundred and ninety-eight.

Now, no one remained ahead. Chen Fan had passed them all. He was now at the front.

However, at this point, the terrifying pressure could no longer be described in words.

The veins on Chen Fan's forehead were bulging. Sweat poured down in streams. His legs trembled uncontrollably, barely able to support his weight.

Even so, he did not stop.

Nine hundred.

Nine hundred and ten.

Nine hundred and thirty.

Nine hundred and sixty.

Nine hundred and ninety.

There were only nine final steps to the gates of the divine palace. It seemed almost within reach.

Many people had stopped on the staircase, resting to recover their strength. Looking up at Chen Fan's back, who was the most outstanding of them all, everyone was in awe.

At the seven hundredth step, Yan Weiyi and the others stopped to rest.

"Little Junior Brother is about to reach the top!"