Tian Yi and Yu Bing, side by side, flew past participants one by one with Tian Yi in the lead.
"Hahaha! This is fun!" Tian Yi laughed, dumbfounding both the participants and the spectators.
"Who the hell is that?!"
"How can he climb as fast as Divine Grace Yu?!"
"No, his climbing speed is actually a bit faster than Divine Grace Yu!"
The people thought a dark horse had appeared, one with talent similar to Yu Bing, but little did they know that Tian Yi had sealed his cultivation base before the even stepping onto the stairway!
He was not climbing with Spirit Qi, but with his own fleshy body! However, even then, he was still limiting his pace!
Ten minutes into the race and the two was already near the 5th level where a giant wall of cultivators blocked the path.
When they reached the great wall of cultivators, Tian Yi simply jumped over the people, dumbfounding the people there.
For him to be able to jump at this level so easily when the rest of them couldn't even move— the difference was too clear.
Yu Bing bit down on her teeth and a blue light flashed through her eyes.
"Azure Phoenix Feather Steps!"
A transparent pair of azure-colored wings appeared near her feet, and her speed exploded the next moment, overtaking Tian Yi by a few steps!
The invisible chains that chained the others down meant nothing in the power of these two!
"Hahaha!" Tian Yi did not mind her overtaking him and just casually laughed.
'Good! At this rate, I will—' Yu Bing thought, but halfway through her thoughts, a shadow appeared right beside her. When she turned to look, Tian Yi was beside her looking at her with a provoking smile!
"You…" Yu Bing couldn't believe her eyes. A Monarch that was younger than her was actually provoking her! How shameless!
"Senior… I have a question…" Tian Yi suddenly asked her.
"What is it?" she wondered what he wanted to ask at such a time.
"Isn't this competition for those who are below the age of 21? How come you and the other three at the top are able to enter?" he asked her.
"Ah…" Yu Bing had totally forgotten about the competition between the four direct disciples because of the chaos the past few days.
Although this competition was meant for those below the age of 21, the direct disciples of the Four Ancient Lands were given a special medallion that allowed them to enter without exploding to death to challenge each other.
Before the competition had even begun, the Four Ancient Lands had made a bet against each other.
"The Four Ancient Lands made a bet with each other that if their best disciple would take first place, then the other three sects will have to give up one-tenth of their overall resource to the winner!"
"Because of Tian Long's death, this competition took a weird turn. Although the competition was over before it even started, the three up there still wished to challenge each other."
"They are not fighting for the reward but for themselves!" Yu Bing explained to him.
"Not fighting for the reward but for themselves? I like that!" Tian Yi laughed even louder, and his speed suddenly took a sharp rise, overtaking her by 100 steps.
"Come! Our challenge has only just begun!" Tian Yi said, knowing very well that she wasn't using everything at her disposal.
Yu Bing nodded and her cultivation base along with her speed exploded.
Now, she was beside Tian Yi again.
"Is that all you've got? How about this?!" Tian Yi's speed took a sudden boost again, separating their distance some more.
Yu Bing used another cultivating technique that boosted her speed, closing their distance.
The spectators were mesmerized by the two's race against each other, ignoring everybody else including the three at the top.
"They are already at the 6th level!"
"What a crazy race! This stairway means nothing to them!"
Upon reaching the 6th level, imaginary blades appeared around them and would shoot at them every once in a while along with the chains on their legs.
However, just like the chains, these blades meant nothing in the eyes of these two as Yu Bing would casually wave her hand to destroy them while Tian Yi just dodged.
"How about it, senior? Can you increase your speed even more?" Tian Yi asked her.
"Soaring Azure Phoenix!" Yu Bing shouted, and a pair of phoenix wings appeared on her back.
The wings flapped once, and as though she teleported, Yu Bing appeared a thousand steps ahead of Tian Yi.
"This is what I am talking about!" Tian Yi laughed, and he exerted some more strength into his legs.
Woosh!
His shadow suddenly disappeared from the spot and appeared 100 steps behind Yu Bing!
"If that is all you've got, then I will overtake you soon!" Tian Yi's voice resounded behind Yu Bing.
Yu Bing smiled bitterly at his provoking. She knew that there was no chance in hell she could beat him, but she didn't give up and continued to climb the stairway with everything she's got.
Using every cultivating technique she knew, her speed exploded to the limit, and she quickly distanced herself from Tian Yi with an advantage of over 5,000 steps.
Tian Yi smiled at her efforts. He knew that it wasn't fair for her nor everybody else in this competition, but he did not care and still wanted to have some fun.
The two continued to climb the stairway for many hours, but oddly enough, Tian Yi did not shorten their distance during the time.
Yu Bing quickly they entered the 7th level. She is now only a few hundred steps behind the top three.
Yu Bing's eyes flashed with a profound light, and her cultivation base rotated to the maximum.
Whoosh!
Those few hundred steps advantage the top three had over her were gone in the blink of an eye.
"Yu Bing!" Lu Sei growled upon feeling her presence.
"Senior apprentice-sister Yu!" Mei Mengzhi was pleasantly surprised by her appearance, too.
"You… I thought you weren't going to compete?" Luo Fang said.
The three of them were too engulfed in their own little competition that neither of them noticed Yu Bing's presence until she was right behind them!
However, Yu Bing did not answer them and directly soared past them and disappeared even further into the clouds.
The three of them were dumbfounded by her power, especially Lu Sei who knew very well the difference between them! He wondered where her sudden power spike came from, unaware of what happened between Tian Yi and her inside the carriage.
"W-What happened to her?" Luo Fang asked. "I couldn't see her face, but I could feel the seriousness in her aura…"
"I-I don't know either… I have never seen her this serious before…" Meng Mengzhi said.
And just as Mei Mengzhi finished her sentence, another shadow flew past them. This time they were surpassed so quickly that they couldn't even distinguish the shadow's gender!
"W-What the fuck?!" Lu Sei cried out loud, and the three of them came to a halt for the first time since they started climbing the stairway.
"Did anyone of you managed to see that person's face?"
"N-No…"
"Is that why senior apprentice-sister Yu was so serious? Because she was being chased by that shadow?"
The three took a moment to digest that information, and when they finally came to, their spirits exploded with enthusiasm!
"Ahhhhhh!"
The three of them shouted. They no longer cared about trying to hide their secrets and used them at their disposal, increasing their speed by many folds.
Senior Yu and the sect masters watched with wide eyes. Such a fierce competition had caused even their blood to boil! They also wanted to be there! They also wanted to climb the stairway!