Huang Xiaolong inhaled deeply, bracing himself, and approached the first step. When his foot landed on the first step, an overwhelming space power and chaos law power rushed towards him from the top of the mountain. Then, gravity joined the party. Huang Xiaolong felt his body sink due to extreme gravitational pull.

Streaks of chaos divine lightning rained down from high above, followed by ripples of mysterious lights that appeared out of nowhere, jarring Huang Xiaolong’s soul as they moved.

Poisonous fog, a sea of fire, and hail thunderstorms all bore down simultaneously. This was not the average sea of fire. This fire could forge bones and burn the soul, and the hails’ frigid coldness could penetrate deep into the soul.

After fire and hail came endless sword qi attacks that could kill an early Emperor Realm expert on the spot from every possible angle. These sword qi attacks blocked Huang Xiaolong’s every possible escape route, not giving Huang Xiaolong the chance to retreat.

After the sword qi, space shook again as devil giants took shape and joined in the fun medley, attacking Huang Xiaolong.

Each giant devil had the strength of an early First Order Emperor Realm expert.

If an average First Order Emperor Realm expert faced this situation, he would have been terror-stricken, but Huang Xiaolong remained calm. His three supreme godheads spun simultaneously, sending robust godforce that roared out of his body.

Leading in front was the Archdevil Supreme Godhead’s devouring power.

In a split second, Huang Xiaolong cleanly devoured the space power and chaos law power pouring from above. He also parried the numerous chaos divine lightning punishment, the surrounding poisonous fog, sea of fire, and hail thunderstorm.

The shocking sword qi that could easily kill a First Order Emperor Realm expert slashed on Huang Xiaolong’s body as if it cut onto a thick chaos wall—zheng! Crisp buzzing noises rang endlessly.

Yet there was not a scratch on Huang Xiaolong’s skin.

With Huang Xiaolong’s current True Dragon Physique and the Black Dragon Divine Armor, these sword qis had no way of breaking Huang Xiaolong’s physical defenses.

At the same time, Huang Xiaolong did not dodge the ferocious giant devils’ attacks. His Archdevil Supreme Godhead’s devouring power intensified, forming a massive whirlpool in the air, sucking all the giant devils into its belly. These devils were crushed and turned into pure devil energy and absorbed by Huang Xiaolong.

These giant devils didn’t have a body of flesh and blood. They were condensed out of pure devil energy. Thus Huang Xiaolong wasn’t worried about swallowing these giant devils and affecting his bloodline.

After devouring the giant devils, Huang Xiaolong reached up with his arms and tightly gripped onto the second step with all of his ten fingers. After that, he jumped and landed on the second step.

These steps were extremely slippery due to their smooth surfaces. With a small mistake, he would tumble down.

Huang Xiaolong didn’t dare to be careless.

He climbed up cautiously, maintaining the speed of one step per second. He was slow but steady.

An hour later, when Huang Xiaolong reached the sixtieth step, he had to stop to rest and restore his exhausted godforce.

After being tempered by the devilish lights at the top of the first eight floors, Huang Xiaolong’s cultivation had advanced to the mid-Eighth Order Heavenly Monarch Realm. Even so, the pressure did not diminish when he climbed the ninth floor’s steps. He was consuming his godforce faster than the previous eight floors.

Four hours of rest later, Huang Xiaolong stood up once again and resumed climbing up the steep stairs.

There were nine thousand steps on the ninth floor, and the higher the steps, the harder it was to climb up. This had gone beyond testing a person’s talent and strength; this was a test of will.

Hindered by various resisting forces, the smallest carelessness could cause Huang Xiaolong to fall to the mountain foot and start climbing from zero. He could be injured and maybe even die here.

As Huang Xiaolong continued to climb one step every second, the experts on the square outside the Devil Tower from all corners of the thirty-six regions watched with bated breaths. Their eyes stared unblinking for the slightest change in the Devil Tower.

At this time, devilish lights were spinning on the ninth floor’s surface, indicating that Huang Xiaolong had long stepped on the ninth floor and was climbing up the ninth floor’s steps.

“Lord Archdevil, if that kid passes the Devil Tower’s ninth floor, would he really be our Devil World’s new Archdevil Lord?” The Devil Ape Cult’s Leader Zhao Chengyu asked tensely.

Stone Ape Archdevil remained stoic, his gaze filled with complicated feelings.

Violent Lightning Archdevil sneered, “That’s just a rumor circulating outside. Do you believe in a mere rumor? Even if he passes the Devil Tower’s ninth floor, that doesn’t mean he could become our Devil World’s Archdevil Lord! The only way to become our Devil World’s Archdevil Lord is to gather all six devil steles. I don’t believe that kid can gather all six devil steles!”

The Devil Ape Cult’s Leader Zhao Chengyu took a quick glance at Stone Ape Archdevil, then ventured hesitantly, “But, it’s said if you can pass the Devil Tower’s ninth floor, there is a very high chance of obtaining all six devil steles.”

Violent Lightning Archdevil harrumphed with dissatisfaction, “It’s nothing but wishful hope. It’s not guaranteed. Moreover, after he comes out from the Devil Tower, he won’t have a chance to leave the Eternal Devil Lands alive, with all our power, we’ll slaughter him like the dog he is!”

However, Stone Ape Archdevil’s response was a low, heavy sigh.

“Old Ape, are you getting cold feet now? Don’t forget that he killed Wu Jingnan! Also, we had sent people to kill him. If he becomes the new Archdevil Lord, do you think he would forgive us?” Violent Lightning Archdevil went on, “Therefore, no matter what, he must not be allowed to leave the Eternal Devil Lands alive.”

Stone Ape Archdevil’s gaze once again fell onto the Devil Tower’s ninth floor, and his unhurried reply sounded profound and otherworldly, “Perhaps.”

Perhaps? Violent Lightning Archdevil’s brows furrowed into a deep frown.

.....

Soon, five days went by.

By this time, Huang Xiaolong had already passed the one thousand and four-hundredth step.

At this height, the boulder at the mountain foot was small as a grain of sand.

A little after the one thousand four-hundredth step, the space power and chaos law power’s resistance, extreme gravity, poisonous fog, a sea of fire, a thunderstorm of icy hail, sword qi formation, and giant devils’ attacks increased in power.

At this point, Huang Xiaolong had already activated one of his archdevils’ bloodline power, still keeping his pace of climbing up one step every second.

Although he could continue to climb upwards without activating any archdevil’s bloodline power, it would slow his progress to a great extent.

Huang Xiaolong repeated the movements tirelessly, and ten days later, he reached halfway up the mountain slope.

As most of the mountain was enshrouded in devilish fog, he had lost sight of the mountain foot a long time back. Looking from this height, it inevitably gave the feeling that the universe was boundless, and a person was only a speckle of dust.

Inexplicable loneliness that transcended time and space washed over Huang Xiaolong. Even though he looked ahead, he couldn’t see any future. Hope was obscured in the sudden sense of helplessness.

Huang Xiaolong greedily took several big breaths, and determination shone anew in his eyes as he continued to climb up.

To maintain his speed, he had already activated two of his three archdevils’ bloodlines’ powers.

Another ten days went by.

Huang Xiaolong got closer to the peak, but the closer he was, the harder it was to advance another step.

At one point, Huang Xiaolong had to push his three archdevils’ bloodlines’ power to the fullest, and at the last ten steps, his sixteen wings spread out.

When Huang Xiaolong leaped up onto the nine thousandth step from the eight thousand nine hundred and ninety-ninth step, he stood straight on the mountain top, and he had entered a completely different space. An awe-inspiring pavilion stood in front of Huang Xiaolong.

Looking at the huge pavilion, Huang Xiaolong blanked for a long time.