Chapter 57

As the young man in the green robe fell, it made Lu Tianyu secretly alarmed. His strength was the same as that of the green-robed youth. If he continued up the steps, he wondered if he would end up the same way.

*Peng peng* At this moment, on the fourteenth step, two more people lifted their right feet, preparing to step onto the fifteenth step. Unfortunately, they were also flung away by the intense repelling force from the fifteenth step, drawing a beautiful arc in the air before landing heavily on the platform below, nearly dying.

"It seems the fifteenth step is not easy to climb," Lu Tianyu said, drawing a sharp breath. No matter how difficult it was, he had to persist. He had only climbed less than half the steps, and retreating when faced with difficulties was not his style.

Lu Tianyu immediately intensified the circulation of his dantian, channeling all his battle qi into his feet. Then, using the repelling force from below, he leaped up and quickly stepped onto the fifteenth step.

If he lifted his right foot alone, Lu Tianyu knew that the stability of his left foot alone would not be enough to stand firm on the fourteenth step. Therefore, he had to take a risk.

As Lu Tianyu's feet stepped down onto the fifteenth step, a series of *peng peng* muffled sounds immediately came from under his feet. The intense repelling force from the fifteenth step hit his soles like heavy hammers.

At this moment, Lu Tianyu was like a small boat in a raging sea, his body wildly shaking and bouncing up and down, looking extremely ridiculous.

The *peng peng* sounds immediately made everyone turn their heads in surprise. Seeing this bizarre scene, no one laughed at him because everyone on the steps knew how much repelling force Lu Tianyu was enduring.

"This kid won't last long. He will be repelled down because to stand on the fifteenth step, one must have the strength of a Battle Master. He is only at the late-stage Warrior level, so he definitely can't stand firm," a young man in a yellow robe on the twentieth step said, shaking his head and muttering.

"Yes, his strength is not enough. Reaching the fifteenth step is already his limit," a red-clothed woman beside him immediately agreed.

These two had both reached the peak of the late-stage Battle Master, which is why they could stand on the twentieth step.

At this moment, almost everyone who saw this scene thought that Lu Tianyu wouldn't last long and would roll down from the fifteenth step.

But the next moment, something that made everyone's eyes pop out happened.

Lu Tianyu's body suddenly moved, using the intense repelling force from below to leap up another step, landing on the sixteenth step.

*Peng peng peng* The repelling force on the sixteenth step increased by a factor of two, bouncing Lu Tianyu up like a ball.

Strands of fresh red blood instantly dripped from his soles. Under the intense repelling force, his soles were already bruised and injured, suffering internal injuries.

Using the repelling force from below, Lu Tianyu leaped up again, landing on the seventeenth step.

"Ah? This kid is crazy. With his strength, he dares to step onto the seventeenth step. Isn't this courting death?" Qian Sanguang, standing on the seventeenth step, immediately looked over in shock, his mouth wide open, unable to close it.

With his current mid-stage Battle Master strength, Qian Sanguang could only barely stand on the seventeenth step and had to be extremely cautious. The slightest carelessness would result in him being repelled and rolling down the steps.

Unexpectedly, Lu Tianyu was so reckless, trying to stand on the seventeenth step with only late-stage Warrior strength. What else could this be but courting death?

The reason no one dared to skip steps and instead chose to climb step by step was that everyone knew the repelling force increased the higher up the steps they went. If they advanced recklessly, they might be repelled and suffer serious injuries.

*Peng peng peng* As soon as Lu Tianyu landed, the repelling force on the seventeenth step immediately hit him like a tidal wave.

*Crack* sounds echoed continuously as Lu Tianyu's legs quickly broke. Losing his balance, his entire body suddenly lunged forward, crashing heavily into Qian Sanguang.

"Ah? You little brat..." Qian Sanguang was about to curse, but before he could speak, his body flew out like a scarecrow, tumbling down the steps and rolling all the way to the platform below.

"Damn it, you little brat, I won't let you off..." Qian Sanguang quickly got up with a somersault, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, and couldn't help but shout wildly.

But as he looked around and saw Lu Tianyu's current condition, Qian Sanguang quickly shut his mouth, deeply shocked.

Lu Tianyu's legs were broken, but his entire body was still tightly pressed against the seventeenth step, his hands firmly gripping the edge of the eighteenth step.

Despite his body being battered and bruised by the intense repelling force from below, and his hands bleeding profusely, Lu Tianyu did not let go, continuing to grip the edge of the step, unwilling to let go.

This scene shocked everyone. They all looked at him with deep respect in their eyes.

Although Lu Tianyu's strength was weak, he had an indomitable spirit, a spirit that deeply moved everyone.

At this moment, no one laughed at his overestimation of his abilities. Everyone silently cheered for him in their hearts, hoping he could persist and climb higher and farther.

Even if Lu Tianyu failed and rolled down the steps, no one would laugh at him because his spirit of fighting to the death had deeply impressed everyone.

Strands of blood dripped from Lu Tianyu's body. He was already covered in injuries, and intense pain, like waves, continuously assaulted his nerves.

Under the repelling force from below, Lu Tianyu's body slowly lifted off the ground, seemingly about to be repelled.

But his unwillingness to give up grew stronger. He was not willing. This was only the seventeenth step. If he was defeated here, how could he have the right to talk about becoming an inner disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect?

"Roar!" As Lu Tianyu's body was about to be repelled, he let out a loud, indignant roar.

In the next moment, Lu Tianyu frantically circulated his battle qi, forcefully colliding with the barriers around his dantian, attempting to break through to the initial stage of Battle Master.

In Lu Tianyu's view, only by reaching the Battle Master level could he possibly climb higher steps. With his current strength, it was definitely not enough.

Although this move was extremely dangerous, it was not impossible. Therefore, he was willing to take the risk.

*Boom* The dantian vortex immediately emitted a thunderous sound. The battle qi Lu Tianyu used to break through the dantian barriers was immediately repelled, and his attempt to break through failed.

It seemed that his internal battle qi was still insufficient to meet the requirements for breaking through.

*Gag gag* Lu Tianyu couldn't help but open his mouth and spit out several mouthfuls of blood. Under the condition of insufficient internal battle qi and a forced breakthrough, he had suffered severe backlash.

At this moment, Lu Tianyu felt extremely uncomfortable. His internal organs seemed to be displaced, as if they were about to burst out of his body. The repelling force from below only made things worse, continuously hitting his body, turning Lu Tianyu into a blood-soaked figure, with no part of his body left unscathed.

"I won't believe it. Today, I, Lu Tianyu, will not fail to reach the top." In his roar, Lu Tianyu immediately circulated his battle qi, opening all his pores, allowing the intense repelling force from below to surge into his body.

*Whoosh whoosh* The repelling force from the seventeenth step, which was the battle qi energy of the senior who had used great power to create this golden path, surged into Lu Tianyu's body like a vast sea, transforming into violent battle qi, rampaging inside him.

As the battle qi energy gradually weakened, the golden path under everyone's feet also became increasingly illusory, shaking continuously, as if it might collapse at any moment.

Seeing this scene, the people on the steps, who had their eyes wide open, almost burst their eyeballs. Everyone could see that Lu Tianyu was trying to use this external repelling energy to forcefully break through to the initial stage of Battle Master.

This was a spectacle unprecedented in history.

Because this move was extremely dangerous. The repelling energy was not his own; it was someone else's energy, completely out of his control. The slightest mistake could result in his body being torn apart, leading to a violent death.

At this moment, on the peak of the Flowing Cloud Sect, a gray-robed old man was sitting in meditation. He also noticed Lu Tianyu's abnormality and immediately opened his tightly closed eyes, filled with deep shock.

"If this kid can survive this great calamity, I will immediately report to the sect leader and take him as my last disciple," the gray-robed old man muttered, then waved his hand. Countless golden rays immediately emerged from his right hand, surging into the golden path ahead, quickly restoring its original state.

At this moment, Lu Tianyu was at the critical moment of breaking through.

To break through from the late-stage Warrior to the initial stage of Battle Master, he first needed to break through the barriers around his dantian. Once the barriers were broken, his dantian would rapidly expand, allowing him to store more battle qi in the future.

The second step of breaking through was the process of forming an inner core. At the Warrior level, the dantian only had a single qi vortex, which could store a limited amount of battle qi. But once the inner core was formed, the amount of battle qi it could store would be several times more than the qi vortex.

This was the difference between the Warrior level and the Battle Master level.