Dual Cultivator with a cultivation system-Chapter 575: Ch-574: Second Round (2)

"While you are climbing, you will be relentlessly attacked by attacks made by various weapon auras, and to resist them, you need to have reached the intent phase of a weapon. If not, you won’t be able to resist and will end up like the last person."

The woman said calmly, and several of the participants’ expressions turned ugly and pale.

"The higher your comprehension, the higher you can climb the stairs and the higher the ranking you will get. And like the previous round, the highest is A Rank."

"Now, if you understand, you can start," the woman said as she gestured for them to begin climbing the stairs.

As soon as the words left the woman’s mouth, everyone hurried towards the staircase.

Wu Jing saw everyone start walking up one by one, so she also took her first step. As soon as she placed her foot on the second stair, she felt a crushing pressure trying to force her onto her knees and a prickling sensation trying to pierce her skin.

"What the fuck?" Wu Jing cursed. Some people noticed her struggle and began to mock her.

"Isn’t it the princess? Looks like she is just so-so," someone sneered. Wu Jing gritted her teeth as she tried to resist the pressure.

Tang Ning and Tang Nian, who were about to climb up, also noticed Wu Jing and raised their eyebrows.

’Is it really that difficult?’ Tang Ning frowned.

’Impossible. The others in front of her have weaker cultivation,’ Tang Nian thought.

’No... wait, this idiot forgot to coat her body with intent,’ Tang Nian realized.

"Huff... Huff..." Wu Jing panted heavily, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead as she hurriedly covered her body with sword intent to resist falling to her knees and getting sliced into pieces.

As soon as she did this, the crushing pressure vanished immediately. Wu Jing wiped the sweat from her forehead and stood up once again.

"Damn, I nearly got crushed," Wu Jing said as she stood up and started walking up the stairs. This time, she did not feel any pressure at all. It seemed like it did not exist in the first place, seeing how easily she was climbing up.

Wang Ming, who saw this, smiled and nodded before resuming his climb. But not everyone was having an easy time climbing the stairs.

"Ahhhh!" As Wang Ming continued walking, he heard someone shout. He turned and saw a young man struggling to climb to the 13th step from the 12th step. Despite his body being covered with sword intent, he looked to be the first person who was having difficulty. The young man’s face was drenched in sweat, as if he had just run a marathon or been splashed with a bucket of water.

The man shouted desperately while slowly lifting his leg, clearly struggling to take another step. His face turned bright red as he gritted his teeth and used all his might. The crowd watched in pure disdain—if he couldn’t even climb past the 14th stair, it meant his sword intent was very low. They assumed it was half-intent instead of full.

On the staircase, the stronger your intent, the less pressure you felt and the higher you could climb.

"FAIL."

Wang Ming saw the sign appear above the young man’s head. Suddenly, an invisible and powerful force hurled him backward, and he plummeted straight back to the starting line.

Tap... Tap... Tap...

Ninth step, tenth step, eleventh step.

Wang Ming easily climbed over ten steps without any effort and without breaking a sweat.

Twelfth step. Thirteenth step.

’This was the step where the first guy got flung out,’ Wang Ming thought, pausing for a second before taking the next step.

Fourteenth step.

Shing!

Wang Ming did not feel anything at all and kept walking. He looked ahead and saw many were already ahead of him.

Wang Ming shook his head and continued climbing until he reached the 51st stair, where people began paying attention to him.

"Hey, look! That guy reached the 51st stair but doesn’t look affected."

"No, I haven’t seen him before. Does he belong to one of the top families?"

"He looks young, and by the ease with which he’s climbing, I’d guess he has a high weapon comprehension. If he were from the top eight families, he’d be well known."

"Could he be a genius from some hidden clan, or maybe even of commoner birth?"

"Hah, you filth sure love to imagine things. How could someone like him be a commoner? He must be from a noble family like me—maybe a secluded one."

"Heavens, look! He’s just one step away from reaching the 60th stair, where the genius of the Xu Family, Xu Zhang, stopped."

Wang Ming ignored all the chatter and stepped onto the 60th stair, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the man.

’Wasn’t this the bastard who mocked Wu Jing a few moments ago?’ Wang Ming clicked his tongue. The sound did not escape the young man’s notice, and his expression darkened.

’Wasn’t this guy a representative of the Wu Family? How did this bastard get here? I won’t let him get ahead of me, or it’ll be a mockery,’ Xu Zhang grimaced as he heard people comparing him to Wang Ming. He couldn’t confront Wu Jing openly because of her background, but he was confident he could threaten Wang Ming since the latter didn’t seem to belong to any noble family.

"Hey, bastard—don’t you dare take a step forward. You’re from the lower floor, right? I’ve seen your face. If you take another step, I’ll make sure the Xu Family hunts you down like a rat," Xu Zhang hissed in a whisper. Wang Ming stopped, a mocking look appearing on his face.

"Trash," Wang Ming sneered, and continued up the stairs. He was sure he had just made an enemy of the Xu Family—judging by Xu Zhang’s red face—but was he worried? No. He was confident he could wipe the entire family out.

Moreover, he also had the backing of the Wu Family and was sure even the Min and Tang families would support him. Even the Xu Family Patriarch, if smart, wouldn’t meddle with him. This was just a minor disturbance before he resumed climbing again.