The excitement really did come one wave after another.
No sooner had the commotion over Ye Chen died down than a handsome man with an icy bearing entered the Mystic Ice Tower, holding a Mystic Ice Token.
“He’s here, he’s here! Liu Yuxuan has come to challenge Wen Qingxuan!”
“Liu Yuxuan really is a Battle Maniac! He’s always treated Wen Qingxuan as his opponent, and his determination to defeat him never fades. I really admire him!”
Yet the very next moment, Mu Guili also took out a Mystic Ice Token and entered the Mystic Ice Tower.
Everyone froze for a moment before being utterly shocked.
“Damn it, Mu Guili really isn’t here to look for Ye Chen. She’s actually here to challenge the Mystic Ice Stairway. Now that’s guts!”
“Give me a break. The only people who can come out of there safely are those heaven-favored prodigies or disciples from aristocratic families equipped with high-grade protective artifacts. She’s purely going in there to seek death!”
“She’s going to become an ice statue beauty. Just thinking about it is kind of exciting.”
No one mentioned how many steps she might reach, because nobody believed Mu Guili could set foot on the Mystic Ice Stairway—not even the first step!
‘Clang—’
A bag of spirit stones was tossed onto the betting table. Gong Yu'an said arrogantly, “Open another round. Bet on whether Mu Guili can come out alive!”
The bookmaker beamed. “You got it.”
The betting table became lively again, and the others joined in the excitement, all betting that Mu Guili would not come back out.
“I say, Gong Yu'an, aren’t you afraid of losing even your underwear?”
Gong Yu'an snorted. “This young master has money to spare. I’m betting that she’ll make it out!”
Then he turned around and began secretly pondering.
They had at least some acquaintance with each other. What kind of coffin should he use to bury her?
As soon as she entered the hall, a frightening chill swept toward her.
A thick layer of ice had formed over the surrounding walls, making the place resemble an ice cavern.
“This is merely a normal condition caused by ice element leaking out. But once you enter the Mystic Ice Stairway’s range, you’ll have to endure twice the danger. That is a true world of ice elements.”
“Miss Mu, are you certain you want to step onto the Mystic Ice Stairway?”
Mu Guili frowned and looked over. A flamboyantly handsome man with a pair of foxlike eyes curved in a smile was looking at her.
Wasn’t this the person beside Ye Chen?
In less than a second, her gaze turned disgusted, as if she were looking at some piece of trash.
Jiang Ze: “…”
He immediately put on a serious expression. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not the same sort of person as Ye Chen. Don’t lump me together with him.”
Mu Guili remained expressionless. “Aren’t you his follower? How dare you curse him behind his back?”
Jiang Ze: “…Miss Mu, your imagination is truly rich and colorful. I merely happened to travel the same route as him twice, and you happened to run into us both times.”
Seeing that she did not believe him, he closed his folding fan with a suave flourish and inclined it in greeting. “My name is Jiang Ze. Jiang as in the Yangtze River, Ze as in marsh.”
Mu Guili suddenly froze and instinctively looked toward the wall.
There was a ranking list hanging in the hall as well.
Third place: [Jiazi Class] Jiang Ze, ninety-three steps.
No wonder. No wonder Ye Chen had appeared to have only just recovered from serious injuries after returning from Youlin Forest, while this Jiang Ze did not look injured at all.
In a certain sense, this ranking could also be considered a symbol of the students’ strength.
“I reckon you didn’t even notice that Ye Chen isn’t on this ranking list.”
Jiang Ze said with a smiling face, “He was afraid he didn’t have what it took to make the top ten, so he simply never challenged the Mystic Ice Stairway at all, yet he tells everyone that he isn’t interested.”
“Besides, even though his strength is inferior to that of many people, he has never acted humble. It isn’t that he remains neither haughty nor servile—he simply thinks far too highly of himself, believing that everyone else will eventually become his defeated subordinates. The way he puts on airs is absolutely hilarious.”
Mu Guili interrupted him. “You like Ye Chen?”
Jiang Ze’s smile stiffened. “…Miss Mu, what do you mean by that?”
Mu Guili remained expressionless. “You mention Ye Chen every other sentence. How is that not love?”
“…”
He shut his mouth.
This girl’s tongue was truly poisonous.
After merely passing through the hall, it felt as though they had entered another world.
Along with the bone-chilling cold, an intense pressure swept toward them.
Jiang Ze had assumed that she would be forced to kneel by the crushing pressure as soon as she entered. After all, many people had experienced that before, and some had even had their kneecaps shattered.
But Mu Guili’s legs did not move in the slightest. She stood there like an unbending treasured sword that would rather break than yield, exhaled a breath that turned into white mist, and raised her eyes.
Beneath the dark sky, a Mystic Ice Stairway winding upward stood between heaven and earth, glowing with a faint, icy-blue radiance.
It was an exceptionally beautiful sight.
But the more beautiful a place was, the more dangerous it tended to be.
From a distance, each step looked narrow and steep, but up close, one could see that it was broad and enormous.
Mu Guili saw Liu Yuxuan, who had entered before her. In the short time since then, he had already climbed more than a dozen steps.
Despite his tall, imposing figure, he looked tiny standing on the stairway.
Perhaps he had heard the disturbance. Liu Yuxuan lowered his eyes and glanced at her, his expression blending with the scenery around him, devoid of all emotion.
It seemed that even if she died here, he would not so much as bat an eyelid.
Yet just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, Mu Guili stepped onto the first stair without the slightest hesitation.
In an instant, overwhelming pressure surged toward her from every direction, as though it intended to crush her into minced meat.
Her entire body trembled, and a powerful surge of spiritual energy rippled outward. The pressure eased in the blink of an eye.
“Ninth-Rank Soul Warrior?!”
Jiang Ze straightened abruptly and stared at her in astonishment.
To be honest, he had followed her inside purely to watch the excitement.
He had even imagined that she would either be frightened into tears and turn around to flee, or be left grievously injured and on the verge of death in front of him.
But he had never expected her to be a Ninth-Rank Soul Warrior cultivator!
After Soul Warrior came Soul Master, which was equivalent to officially stepping onto the path of cultivation. Most people could not reach this stage until they were in their early twenties, and even then, they would already be considered to possess quite good aptitude.
How old was Mu Guili? She was only fourteen—her potential was absolutely limitless!
Most students her age in the academy were below the fifth level of Soul Warrior, so with her aptitude, she could completely qualify to enter Jiazi Class!
How could someone like this possibly be a good-for-nothing?
Then he saw Mu Guili raise her foot again and step onto the second stair, then the third…
She continued until she reached the fifth step, where she stopped.
The first four steps of the Mystic Ice Stairway were filled with layers of increasing pressure, all while remaining in an environment of bone-chilling cold. The instant anyone could no longer endure it, they would be torn into flesh and blood.
The fifth step, however, was the most dangerous step of the first stage.
—The Mind-Seizing Formation.
It stimulated the cultivator’s Seven Emotions and six desires. Once the mind became confused and the Dao heart was no longer pure, there was a danger of giving rise to a heart demon.
It could be said that only after crossing the fifth step did one truly possess the qualifications to set foot on the Mystic Ice Stairway.
Jiang Ze felt that this was enough. Reaching this point should already be her limit, and it was more than enough to wash away the name of good-for-nothing!
Who could have known that the next moment—
‘Shing—’
A fearsome, vicious longsword was suddenly forced into existence. In an instant, it drew a circle of empty space around Mu Guili. Sword intent carrying an extremely violent force swept outward, nearly distorting the air.
Killing intent condensed into tangible form, creating a powerful barrier!
It actually forced the surrounding ice element away, making it unable to approach!
“What an ingenious protective sword technique!”
The two of them watched with their own eyes as Mu Guili passed the fifth step without changing expression and stepped onto the sixth.
It had taken Liu Yuxuan half an hour to pass the fifth step, while Jiang Ze had needed nearly an entire hour.
Yet now, she had forcefully prevented the Mind-Seizing Formation from activating, effectively stepping directly from the fourth step onto the sixth.
What a genius!
Liu Yuxuan’s pupils contracted slightly as he looked deeply at Mu Guili, as if he had only just begun to regard her seriously.
Jiang Ze stared at the scene in shock. After a moment, he suddenly laughed.
Ye Chen, Ye Chen, you truly are blind!
For the sake of the Chi Family behind Chi Roushu, you had always allowed Chi Roushu to draw close, smugly indulging in a man’s baser nature. Yet you never realized that you had mistaken a fish eye for a pearl—
You had genuinely missed a Phoenix that was about to soar!