Chapter 94: The Stairway in the Sky

On the small map in the upper right corner, a yellow marker appeared, two hundred meters to her left.

Yun Qing headed toward the place indicated by the system. When she was only a dozen meters away, she saw a white halo on the ground. The halo was empty, but that must have been where the stairs were.

She approached and touched it with her hand, only to discover an invisible ladder standing upright in the air, its top disappearing somewhere she could not see.

Yun Qing tried climbing upward and found that it could indeed be climbed.

“Senior, it seems we can go up from here.” She reminded Qin Feng, who was still using his spiritual sense to search carefully through every inch of the land.

In just a few breaths, Qin Feng rushed over to her. After a brief inspection, he praised, “A sky ladder forged from spirit-severing stone, with concealment runes engraved into it. Truly a lavish undertaking.”

The Celestial Alliance, of course, had spirit stones.

So this was spirit-severing stone. After Qin Feng spoke those words, the unknown stone Yun Qing had dug up in the mine finally acquired a name in her system bag.

Spirit-Severing Stone: Can isolate spiritual energy and spiritual-sense detection; an excellent material for refining artifacts and setting formations.

“By means of this ladder, we will surely be able to go up. If we can leave here safely, Qin will certainly repay you handsomely.”

Qin Feng's favorability toward you +20.

At last he had given her a surname. Yun Qing smiled. “Thank you, Senior Qin.”

“Miss Yun Qing truly has remarkable skill. Qin searched for a long time and failed to discover this ladder, yet you noticed it from a hundred meters away. It appears your talent is not limited to formations alone.”

Qin Feng's hatred toward you +5.

Yun Qing had already grown accustomed to Qin Feng’s favor and hostility increasing at the same time. She asked, “Senior, will you go up as well?”

“After you, Miss Yun Qing. I fear this spirit-severing stone ladder is too old to bear Qin's weight.”

Yun Qing nodded, grasped the ladder with her hands, and set her feet upon the invisible steps. With one hand she reached upward, feeling for the ladder above. About a foot up, she found it, and climbed with both hands and feet.

In the blink of an eye, after scaling dozens of steps, she had risen to the same height as Qin Feng and continued upward.

Suspended in the air, with nothing visible before, behind, above, or below her, Yun Qing felt her heart grow more and more restless as she climbed higher and higher. Her feet on the invisible ladder went weak of their own accord, as if she were stepping on cotton.

Climbing through empty air, with occasional brushes of a faint breeze, Yun Qing had the strange illusion that she was swaying in midair. With every beat of her heart, it felt as though it might leap from her throat; a sense of danger washed over her in waves.

She had to pour all her effort into focusing, into keeping only one goal in her mind: reaching the black platform above. And as she climbed higher, that platform gradually came into clearer view.

At last, after her hands and feet had been soaked through with sweat and begun to slip, and after she had climbed a thousand steps, she finally reached the platform above.

As for the all-powerful, white-furred little Liuli, it had not climbed the ladder at all, yet somehow appeared beside her.

There was a faint light on the platform. No red-named monsters were in sight, and the mini-map was utterly dark.

A little exhausted, Yun Qing panted heavily as she looked down. She could see the tiny glow of the luminescent stones in the medicinal field, and directly below her, Qin Feng was climbing upward at a speed she could not hope to match.

Thump, thump, thump, thump! Qin Feng was tall, with long legs and wide strides. In just a few heavy steps he had climbed halfway up, while Yun Qing had only taken three deep breaths before he had already poked his head up to the platform.

She hurriedly rolled aside and retreated several steps to make room for him to stand.

After Qin Feng came up, he first examined the surroundings with his spiritual sense and found danger nearby. His strength was not quite sufficient. He extended both feet downward, exerted a little force, and the ladder made of spirit-severing stone snapped from the bottom. He ripped the whole thing upward and stuffed it into his mouth.

Yun Qing could hear Qin Feng chewing noisily, but she had no idea he was eating the very ladder they had just climbed.

Thump! Thump!

At that moment, Yun Qing heard a booming sound drawing nearer and nearer. In the dim light, she saw something crawling toward them from afar.

Red name: Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm, level 70, with a long health bar.

A level-70 monster. Yun Qing was startled and retreated to the platform, feeling for the ladder as she prepared to back down. Seeing her reaction, Qin Feng said, “It is nothing more than a ninth-rank demon beast. Stay here and do not leave. I will deal with it first.”

With that, Qin Feng flew toward the level-70 Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm. He raised the four legs in front of him and unleashed the Cloudless Sword Art. In an instant, the invisible spiritual energy around them converged on him, forming sword qi that struck the Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm as it emerged.

The level-70 Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm leapt and flailed its legs in battle. As spiritual power condensed, it sealed itself off with impenetrable defense, then gathered more spiritual force into black spirit bullets and hurled them at Qin Feng.

Their battle moved too quickly for Yun Qing to follow. She could only see Qin Feng charge forward, while the two Iron-Blooded Spirit Worms, one large and one small, immediately became locked in fierce combat. She could not make out a single move, and could only judge who held the upper hand by watching the two health bars.

A ninth-rank demon beast was level 70. Yun Qing, still unclear on how levels, ranks, and cultivation corresponded, silently committed the number to memory.

The level-71 Qin Feng showed no fear at all before the level-70 monster, so perhaps the difference between levels 70 and 71 was another great realm entirely.

The level-70 Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm had more health than Qin Feng, yet its health was dropping far faster than his.

She could not help in the battle, but she wanted the experience and the monster drops.

Only when she stepped off the platform did Yun Qing understand what Qin Feng had meant by telling her to remain there and not leave.

So that was the safe zone. Once she left it, she could sense the full spread of spiritual power and sword qi from the battle. None of it was aimed at her, and yet her health was still falling, drop by drop, beyond her control.

From Qin Feng's perspective, the platform must have been protected by some sort of formation.

She needed to get back to the platform quickly, but she very much wanted the drops from a level-70 monster.

Fortune favors the bold, and the timid starve.

With a thought, Yun Qing held two stones in her hand and gathered her strength. She intended to strike the level-70 Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm.

A targeting reticle appeared, but she still found it difficult to aim at the rapidly moving monster in the midst of battle.

Seeing that her health bar had already fallen to 65, Yun Qing knew she had to return to the safe zone at once.

With no time to think further, she threw the stones and rushed back onto the platform. Her life was left at only 63.

-1!

Battle experience +100!

One of them had hit. She just did not know which one.

Watching the level-70 boss's health continue to dwindle, Yun Qing waited quietly for its death, hoping Liuli might fetch her something good.

The battle between the two monsters continued. In the struggle Yun Qing could not clearly follow, both health bars kept falling. In the end, Qin Feng had lost one-third of his health and had lost a leg on each side.

The level-70 Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm was completely emptied of its health bar, and all of its legs were torn off.

After the level-70 Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm died, Qin Feng remained where he was and fed, tearing the dead worm apart and swallowing large chunks of it.

It turned out that this Iron-Blooded Spirit Worm was not truly a spirit worm at all. Its body contained no flesh; it was entirely forged from ore, with array formations controlling it and natural treasures serving as its driving force.