Chapter 321 - Chapter 321: Chapter 23: The First Trial, Failure (1/2)

Chapter 321: Chapter 23: The First Trial, Failure

Lin Jing took two steps forward and arrived beside the stele.

This stele had been damaged by someone unknown; its upper half had already broken off and vanished.

Of the lower half, Lin Jing could only make out the two characters ‘之地’ (this place); the rest was no longer there.

Turning his head, Lin Jing looked again at the stone platform built up from large rocks. From the message left by the Lin Family’s ancestor, Lin Jing knew that to leave, one had to reach the summit of these steps.

At the top of the stone platform was the Teleportation Array to leave Immortal Crossing Island.

Of course, the Lin Family ancestor hadn’t been able to reach the top and hadn’t seen the Teleportation Array with his own eyes; he had also received this information from elsewhere.

Moreover,

the Lin Family ancestor had left a warning not to attempt to force one’s way through recklessly.

Because within the Trial Grounds, bans and restrictions were everywhere; a moment of carelessness could trigger a chain reaction of these prohibitions, and it might turn the entire Trial Grounds into a deadly battlefield.

And the people within the Trial Grounds, needless to say, would not be spared.

Now with his condition not at its best, Lin Jing intended to return to the System Space first to recuperate.

At the same time, he wanted to see if being inside the Trial Grounds had any effect on entering the System Space.

Afterward,

Lin Jing silently thought to himself, “Enter System Space.”

After a moment of the scenery shifting, Lin Jing found himself within the System Space.

Immediately, countless streams of Spiritual Power surged towards him, rapidly replenishing the Spiritual Energy that had depleted within the Trial Grounds.

Lin Jing didn’t immediately heal his injuries; instead, he summoned the System and entered Observation Mode.

He wanted to see what exactly was at the top of the mountain.

After entering Observation Mode, when Lin Jing looked towards the Trial Grounds again, there appeared to be no change inside.

Lin Jing then controlled the observational viewpoint and continued his exploration.

However, when Lin Jing tried to explore the mountaintop, he discovered something extremely abnormal.

It was as if the stone platform, which should have been right in front of him, couldn’t be explored no matter what he did.

It was as if the stone platform didn’t exist at all.

After pondering for a while, Lin Jing decided that it was better to heal first. After recovering from his injuries, he would climb the Trial steps.

After his reflection, Lin Jing exited Observation Mode.

Inside the System Space, he sat cross-legged and began to heal his injuries.

The injuries were not severe, so Lin Jing didn’t take any Elixir Medicine.

……

Four hours later, Lin Jing’s injuries were healed.

And his condition had recovered.

Thereafter, Lin Jing left the System Space.

Back within the Trial Grounds, Lin Jing looked around before stepping decisively onto the staircase in front of him without any hesitation.

Just stepping onto the first step, Lin Jing felt his body suddenly become much heavier, and innumerable pressures squeezed him from all directions.

This sudden onslaught of pressure almost caused the unprepared Lin Jing to kneel.

And this was not all…

In addition to this pressure, a majestic Divine Sense pressure struck, forcing Lin Jing to gather his Divine Sense to resist forcefully.

Along with the pressure from all sides, and the Divine Sense pressure, from the front came a strong force trying to push Lin Jing down the steps.

Feeling this pressure, Lin Jing couldn’t help but frown.

He had already known about this from the message left by the Lin Family’s ancestor.

But, he hadn’t expected

that just the first step would have such a powerful pressure.

Lin Jing then lifted his head to look ahead.

He saw that there were a total of 81 steps from bottom to top.

Ahead, the mist around the mountaintop had dissipated.

At the summit, Lin Jing could clearly see the edge of a Formation.

It seemed that what the Lin Family ancestor said was correct; there indeed was a Formation at the top.

After surveying for a while, Lin Jing again took another step upward.

This second step’s pressure was greater, but Lin Jing had already prepared himself.

So, nothing unexpected happened.

After stabilizing himself, Lin Jing then stepped onto the third step; this step was not much different from the previous ones and within his range of endurance.

After adjusting for a while, Lin Jing stepped onto the fourth step…

The fifth step…

The sixth step…

…

…

In the end, Lin Jing directly ascended to the ninth step.

The pressure on this ninth step had almost doubled compared to the first one.

Overall, it was still tolerable for Lin Jing.

If it continued like this, the trial should not be too difficult.

Lin Jing felt that many people should be able to get past it.

But since no one had ever left Immortal Crossing Island before, it was evident there was more to come.

And it had also been mentioned in the message left by the Lin Family’s ancestor.

Every nine steps, the difficulty would escalate to a new level; the exact increase was related to the Cultivator’s level of Cultivation who entered the Trial Grounds.

Therefore, Lin Jing was unclear about the exact intensity of the next level of steps.

He could only step on it himself and personally test it out.

Afterward,

Lin Jing prepared himself thoroughly on the ninth step and, after making all necessary preparations, he stepped firmly towards the tenth step.

No sooner had he set foot on the tenth step than an extremely strong force tried to push him down from the steps.

However, fortunately, Lin Jing had made ample mental preparation; thus, he landed firmly on the step and was not pushed down by that fearsome force.

As Lin Jing steadied his footsteps…

Next, that terrible gravity struck again; the pressure on the tenth step was overwhelming.

Lin Jing felt as though his whole body was being tightly constricted by something, nearly suffocating him.

At the same time, that dreadful Divine Sense pressure returned once more, equally terrifying. The dual pressure on both body and spirit made Lin Jing dizzy for a moment, almost causing him to fall from the step.