The night came and left before anybody realized it, and the time for the Stairway to Heaven competition begins today.
The center of the Soaring Sun City was crowded with countless people. If one saw the crowd from the sky, it would look like a black sea to that person.
As for the people outside of the Soaring Sun City, all people could see was a gigantic stairway extending from within the city to the heavens.
The majority of the people outside the Soaring Sun City was currently experiencing regret— regretting that they had decided to leave at the last minute. Because none of them expected the sudden change in the competition schedule, they decided to wait until the last minute before leaving their home. That decision, however, pretty much took away any chance they had to climb the staircase and win anything.
Many were angry, and even more were feeling regret, but alas, who can they go to complain? Complain to the Four Ancient Lands for suddenly changing the schedule? Hell, news had spread that one of the four ancestors actually came to witness the competition! Who would dare cause ruckus with such an ancient monster around?!
Currently, in the center of the Soaring Sun City where the competition would be held, Lu She and the Heavenly Tiger Sect's Sect Master, Luo Fang, sat beside Senior Yu in the sky.
And standing behind Senior Yu was Yu Bing who was wearing a veil that covered her face to prevent any unnecessary distraction during the competition.
However, despite having her face blocked by the veil, the people below still could not help but to glance at her every so often.
A massive crowd of young men and women under the age of 21 stood a few meters away from the stairway, and in this crowd included disciples from the Four Ancient Lands.
They are participants who will be climbing this stairway, and there were at least 10,000 of them.
The three supreme elders from the Four Ancient Lands suddenly appeared before these participants.
"Listen up as we will only say this once!"
"The rules are simple and straightforward. Once the competition officially starts, you will all climb the stairway as far as you can endure. Each floor will have a different challenge awaiting you, and the higher you climb, the more rewards you will receive!"
"Every participant here was given a talisman after they applied. That talisman has a defensive mechanism that will automatically activate itself and teleport you to a safe location if you become unconscious during the climb. You can also activate it yourself if you are in a near-death situation or wish to give up. However, just know that once the talisman is activated, you will be instantly disqualified from the competition, and your rewards will no longer be handed out." The supreme elders took turns speaking.
"There will also be no fighting or anything that will hinder another's performance amongst the participants. If we catch any of it, you will instantly be disqualified, and depending on the severity…" The supreme elder narrowed his eyes at that point, sending chills down the participants' spine. Some participants that had such intentions instantly threw away the thought and pretended they never even thought of it.
"The duration of the competition will be 7 days. When the sun rises on the 8th day, that will be the end of the competition. Anybody can participate in this competition at any time during the duration of the competition as long as their age is below 21. However, just be aware that if you have a cultivation base below the Heavenly Spirit Stage or is a mortal and try to enter, your body will explode into pieces. You have been warned."
"Also, if you are over the age of 21, then the stairway will automatically kill you, so be aware of that, too."
The fact that the stairway will kill somebody if they are over 21 years old dumbfounded many people there and shocked the ones that were over the age of 21 that had planned to try and sneak it.
Now knowing that they will die, the majority of them sighed inwardly and gave up trying to sneak it.
"As for the rewards… If you manage to get up to the 3rd level, then you will be awarded a Tier 3 Oversea Spirit Pill of High-Grade and 100 High-Grade Spirit Stones."
"At the 4th level, you will be awarded a Tier 4 River Spirit Pill of Medium-Grade and 1,000 Medium-Grade."
"If you are able to step onto the 5th level, then one of current three Ancient Lands here will accept you as an Outer Court Disciple along with a Tier 5 Immortal Ascending Pill of the low-grade."
Many participants' eyes shone with excitement upon hearing the reward for stepping onto the 5th level. Not only will they get to join one of the Four Ancient Lands as disciples, but they will also get a Tier 5 Immortal Ascending Pill that will greatly assist them in breaking through to the Immortal Realm!
"If you manage to step onto the 6th level, then you will be directly promoted to an Inner Court Disciple!"
"Reach level 6 and you will be awarded a Tier 6 Sovereign Ascending Pill of Low-Grade!"
"Reach level 7 and you will be promoted to a Core Disciple!"
"If you can step onto level 8… then you will become a Direct Disciple and will study directly under the Sect Master's tutelage! There have been only 8 people in the last 10,000 years that have achieved such a feat!"
"Upon reaching level 9, you will get to study directly under the Ancestor and will be flourished to the highest quality by the Sect without being humble on the resource!"
The crowd barely reacted after the 6th level rewards. None of them had enough ambition or confidence to see themselves reaching that level.
As for level 9, only Yu Bing and the now dead Tian Long was able to reach that point in the last 10,000 years. Which of these participants would dare say that their talent is on the same level as Yu Bing? Even if somebody did, others would never take it seriously and would only laugh at that person for being a fool.
"As for level 10… The last time somebody reached level 10 was 21,000 years ago. That person became a famous general for the Qing Dynasty soon later, so if you manage to get there, I wouldn't be surprised if the Qing Dynasty were to show up then."
"The final level is the 11th level. Nobody has been able to touch that step since the ancient times and I do not have any expectation that one of you would be able to leave your footprint on that step today. That is all."
"The competition will officially begin once the sun fully rises!"
The participants waited with anticipation with many feeling butterflies in their stomach.
The wait for the sunrise was long, and after what felt like an eternity later, the competition officially starts.
"The competition officially starts now!"
A loud battle cry resounded, and the participants all rushed towards the first step of the stairway, looking as though a black sea was flooding the staircase.