Chapter 1692: One Step to Ascend

On the Ascension Battles Road, everyone was scrambling to reach its end. At first, the crowd was filled with excitement and passion, but energy soon faded away.

The road was far more difficult than they'd imagined. More and more people charged up the Ascension Battles Road, and just as many of them were eliminated.

At the very front, Shi Wu and Zhong Jin had already slowed down, though they had surged ahead tens of thousands of meters, far distancing themselves from the rest.

Behind them, Shendao Chen, Jun You, and others followed closely, though it was clear they too were starting to struggle.

As for Ye Guan, he was still moving slowly. Beside him were Xiao Yuanqi, Tuogu Yuan, and the Mu Xinghe siblings.

Mu Xingchen, wearing her Starlight Cloak, looked utterly excited, her little face glowing. She didn't seem tired at all.

Ye Guan suddenly said, "Don't rush."

The others looked at him.

Ye Guan was looking down at the Ascension Battles Road beneath their feet. This road was paved with countless Great Dao laws, radiating supreme power, intricately woven like a grand painting.

"Walk slowly. See if you can gain some insight."

Insight?

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

They all nodded and began to focus on the road itself rather than just rushing upward. They started sensing for the various laws and Daos beneath their feet.

Ye Guan closed his eyes. These laws felt familiar to him; he could sense spacetime, causality, fate, karma, virtue, and evil. All sorts of Great Daos flowed beneath his feet, converging into one vast river of the Great Dao.

The higher one climbed, the stronger and more terrifying these laws became.

Ye Guan could sense a progression—from weak to strong and from nothing to something. He also felt the overwhelming power of the Ascension Battles Road.

Who could have laid all the supreme Laws into this path?

The Supreme Will.

Ye Guan looked up at the end of the road. Without a doubt, these laws were placed here by the Supreme Will. But why?

What was its purpose?

Ye Guan fell silent, then returned his focus to the Dao. Whatever the reason, it would likely reveal itself today.

As time passed, more and more people were eliminated from the Ascension Battles Road; a third of them had already fallen.

The two front-runners, Shi Wu and Zhong Jin, had slowed to a crawl. Every step now took tremendous effort, and their expressions grew more grim.

Others were even slower, and some were now crawling.

The higher they climbed, the greater the resistance from the laws.

Ye Guan and his group had now passed tens of thousands of meters. Xiao Yuanqi and Tuogu Yuan were clearly reaching their limits; their legs felt like lead, and they could barely keep moving.

In contrast, Mu Xingchen was still energetic, walking briskly. She had already passed the three men and surged ahead.

Seeing that, Xiao Yuanqi and the others were stunned.

Soon, Mu Xingchen caught up to Shendao Chen and Jun You. The two looked shocked to see her.

Jun You glanced coldly at her, and then she looked down at Ye Guan, who was still far behind her.

Shendao Chen also looked at Ye Guan, took a deep breath, and pushed forward again. The humiliation from before... today, he would pay it all back!

Ye Guan, however, paid them no attention. He was attempting to fuse with the laws beneath him. Normally, this was impossible. However, the laws weren't resistin him for some reason. Instead, they approached him, welcomed him, and even embraced him.

Those outside, including Qin Guan, were stunned to see that.

Qin Guan's eyes flickered with uncertainty.

Time passed, and the number of people on the Ascension Battles Road dropped again. Only a few hundred remained.

Shi Wu and Zhong Jin were now at the 84,000-meter mark, inching ever closer to the legendary stele carved with Shendao Tian's name.

But their speed had dropped to nearly zero. Each step cost them immense strength.

Their eyes were fixed on that stele, the record left by the ancestor of the Divine Dao Clan. Their goal was to surpass it.

Shendao Chen, Jun You, and Mu Xingchen followed closely behind. All were clearly near their limits. Their faces were pale, and their legs felt like boulders.

Jun You turned to glance at the distant Ye Guan. She took a deep breath. Determination flared in her eyes again, and she pressed forward.

Shendao Chen did the same.

Whenever he felt like giving up, he would look at Ye Guan, and his fighting spirit would ignite again.

Outside, all eyes were on Ye Guan.

Many were puzzled.

Why was he so slow?

He was still more than twenty thousand meters behind Shi Wu and the others.

Only people like Shendao Zong understood. Ye Guan was merging with the laws of the Ascension Battles Road.

Time went by just like that, and Shi Wu and Zhong Jin were now only three thousand meters from Shendao Tian's record. They stared at the stone stele, their faces filled not with determination but despair.

They hadn't moved for a long time.

The pressure was binding not only their bodies but even their own Daos.

"Brother Ye..." Xiao Yuanqi suddenly spoke, his voice weak. "Tuogu Yuan and I... we can't keep going."

With that, the two of them sat down, and the moment they gave up, their bodies relaxed and they slid back down the road...

No matter what path it is, persevering is hard, but giving up is easy.

Ye Guan continued forward. His pace was the same, neither fast nor slow.

At first, people thought he was being pretentious. But gradually, they saw something strange.

Wherever Ye Guan walked, the laws of the Dao rippled like water, surrounding him, resonating with him.

Outside, Shendao Zong stared at him. "Why... are the laws not rejecting him?"

He turned to Qin Guan.

Apo and Hou Ci also looked toward her, equally confused.

Qin Guan smiled. "Maybe... he's just too exceptional?"

The others were speechless.

Back on the Ascension Battles Road, Jun You and Shendao Chen also noticed something unusual. Ye Guan was getting closer and they felt growing unease, and unwillingness.

Their instincts screamed at them. Ye Guan might surpass them.

They clenched their teeth and pushed forward again.

Not just them, Shi Wu and Zhong Jin, though frozen in place, refused to give up. They stared at that stone stele just ahead. If they could pass it, they would set a new record.

More importantly, the one who reaches the furthest might become the Chosen one of this era, destined to inherit the Dao's full fortune, becoming the strongest.

This was the struggle of the Great Dao.

No one wanted to surrender.

Everyone wanted to reach the end.

Mu Xingchen kept walking, and she passed by Shendao Chen and Jun You.

Everyone was shocked. They didn't know much about Jun You's strength, but Shendao Chen was a top genius of the Divine Dao Civilization!

Yet Mu Xingchen had surpassed him?

The elders of the Stellar Civilization were ecstatic. Their original hope had been her brother, Mu Xinghe, but who could've imagined this carefree little girl would go so far and even pass Shendao Chen?

An unexpected blessing indeed.

But just then, Mu Xingchen suddenly sat down. She wiped the sweat from her face and said, "Not going any further. I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep..."

Then she lay down and promptly fell asleep.

What the hell?!

Everyone was dumbfounded.

She just... went to sleep?

And the most unbelievable part was that the laws of the Ascension Battles Road hadn't rejected her. They allowed her to sprawl out there and sleep.

The elders of Stellar Civilization looked at each other. One of them wanted to wake her up and urge her to go a bit farther to bring glory to their name, but Clan Leader Mu Ling stopped him. He looked at the sleeping girl, his eyes full of gentle affection. "She's tired. Let her rest."

The other elders nodded in agreement. They truly loved and cared for this girl.

Just then, Ye Guan walked past Mu Xingchen.

He looked at the sleeping girl and smiled. Then, he looked up at the end of the Ascension Battles Road and understood something.

This life... is exhausting. We chase too much, for ourselves, for our families...

We spend our whole lives rushing, laboring, even to our deaths, still unable to let go.

The road of the Great Dao. Giving up is easy, persevering is hard, but...

Letting go is also hard.

Sometimes, maybe we can

l

et go, just like this little girl did.

What Dao? What Ascension Battles Road?

I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep.

It is just that simple.

Ye Guan laughed, and his laughter grew louder.

Then, he took a step forward.

The moment his foot landed, he reached the very end of the Ascension Battles Road.

One step to ascend!

Woaaah!

The crowd erupted into stunned cheers.