"Oi, oi, oi, how the hell is he doing that!?" Tian Fang exclaimed in shock, eyes wide as he stared at the screen showing Gai's movements.
"Hmm… I have no idea what technique he's using either. The only thing I'm certain of is that it's martial arts," Lin Feng replied, stroking his chin as if deep in thought.
"Still, that technique looks seriously overpowered, right? I mean, he's not even visible on the screen anymore. Where the hell did he go?" Tian Fang muttered, like he was trying to reject the truth, even as he grudgingly accepted it.
*
At the center of the domain, where participants were racing up a seemingly endless staircase
Lin An was the closest to reaching the 750th step, followed closely by Elysia, Khalid, and Luo Jin, who was trailing behind.
Lin An, Elysia, and Khalid were almost neck-and-neck. But the moment they reached the 750th step, everything changed.
Khalid, the instant his foot landed on the 750th step, was suddenly crushed by a staggering weight. It was so heavy he couldn't move forward, even after pouring in all his strength.
On the other hand, Elysia's speed increased. The two people who had once been chains weighing her down were now pushing her forward, helping her accelerate. However
Even with the boost, her speed couldn't compare to Lin An's. Like Elysia, Lin An hadn't killed the illusions of those he held dear. But his speed skyrocketed because he had far more precious people than Elysia did who only had two.
While Elysia and Lin An surged forward and Khalid stood frozen in place, Luo Jin finally stepped onto the 750th stair.
There was a reason he lagged behind the others.
Unlike the rest, who used cheats, magic, or eliminated their illusions to remove their burdens and move unhindered
Luo Jin bore all of it.
Every step he took was grueling, but he carried the weight, one step at a time, pushing the limits of his special constitution.
And just as he reached the 750th step, all the pressure he had endured exploded into a powerful force, launching him forward like a cannonball.
"This feeling…" Luo Jin muttered, not finishing the sentence.
He could tell all the burdens had vanished, replaced by pure propulsion.
Without hesitation, he accelerated. Powered by his constitution, Luo Jin moved so fast he matched the speed boosts of Lin An's "cheats." In fact, he was even faster because the number of people precious to him was three times more than Lin An's.
In a flash, Luo Jin shot past Elysia and caught up with Lin An, leaving Khalid still stuck on the 750th step.
Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! Khalid screams internally.
His heart churned with frustration, rage, and fear. It felt like the heavens were mocking him, like fate itself was laughing at a man brought down by the shadows of his own past.
He wanted to move. To chase. To overturn the situation.
But his body wouldn't respond. The burden holding him down wasn't something that willpower alone could lift.
As they reached the 750th step, the burden from the mental acceleration began to fade.
Though the effects lingered, the candidates could now see and observe their surroundings more clearly.
Elysia, noticing that Luo Jin had overtaken her, clicked her tongue in frustration.
"Ugh, I knew it. I still can't compare to him…" she grumbled. Then, glancing at Lin An ahead of Luo Jin, she muttered, "Still, I didn't expect Lin An to have that kind of ability. Did I underestimate him?"
But she didn't let her annoyance linger. Elysia surged forward at full speed, chasing after the two vice generals whom she now realized were in a completely different league.
Moments later, Luo Jin caught up to Lin An.
What was supposed to be a test of personal agility had now turned into a race.
With fewer than a hundred steps remaining, both Lin An and Luo Jin would reach the top in just a few seconds.
Victory didn't matter in this phase.
As long as participants reached the summit within the given time limit, they would pass and receive the same number of points regardless of who arrived first or last.
Of course, those who failed to reach the peak in time would earn nothing.
Still, for Lin An and Luo Jin, who were now running side by side, a fierce rivalry had awakened.
Lin An glanced at Jin beside him. Jin did the same.
For a heartbeat, time seemed to pause, not in some cheesy "boys meet boys" scene some girls might imagine, but for rivalry.
At the same time, they both averted their eyes, facing forward and locking their gaze on one thing: the summit.
Their feet moved in unison, step by step, like a dramatic slow-motion sequence. And the instant they set foot on the next stair
"Thunder God Lightning Mode: Space-Shattering Bolt!" Lin An shouted.
At the exact same time, Luo Jin roared his own technique, as if refusing to be outdone.
"Voidstep: Heaven-Splitting Flash!"
In a blink, both of them vanished like bolts of lightning.
Voidstep: Heaven-Splitting Flash was an extreme-speed movement technique that utilized both physical and spiritual energy from the Heavenly Battle Body to leap through space, making the user appear to teleport faster than human perception. The dispersed energy around Luo Jin's body, which had reassembled due to the domain's nature, enabled him to perform the technique.
Thunder God Lightning Mode: Space-Shattering Bolt, on the other hand, utilized divine lightning flowing through the user's body to ionize the air, creating an electric path that the body could "ride" like a living rail of lightning. When activated, the user became a living bolt, appearing and vanishing in blinding flashes of light and sound.
Though their methods and principles were entirely different, both Luo Jin and Lin An reached the summit at the exact same time.
From their position, Elysia and Khalid saw it happen and stood in stunned silence.
Did they just disappear?
Even the generals watching were awestruck.
What they witnessed wasn't mere talent. It was a glimpse of two future war gods being born.
*
Beyond the veil of clouds, where golden mist shimmered like dawnlight, Lin An and Luo Jin appeared at the summit together.
The mountain's peak was a sacred haven.
Pale white stone paved the ground, polished smooth like jade. In the east, a gentle silver waterfall fed a crescent-shaped pool, lotus blossoms blooming on its calm surface. A single peach tree grew nearby, its petals falling in slow motion as though time itself respected its beauty.
Crane calls echoed in the distance.
A simple wooden pavilion rested by the water. Inside, a black-coated man sipped spiritual tea, relaxed and unconcerned.
Lin An and Luo Jin stood in silence, breathing hard not from exhaustion, but from awe.
The man, sensing their arrival, turned to them and greeted them with a relaxed smile.
"Oh, so you finally made it," he said, voice calm and commanding.