’One of the suns in the sky dimmed... this happened shortly after the captain stepped on the tenth step. Her taking the tenth step caused for there to be a change in the environment?’

Grey said inwardly as soon as he noticed the change in his surroundings.

’In reality, there’s no way that the captain will be able to cause one of the suns to dim. It must mean that the tenth step has it’s own special properties. But that property will only appear once someone takes the tenth step?’

’Does it mean that I will also experience a similar thing when I reach the tenth step?’ Grey quickly deduced inwardly.

Right now, he was on the fifth step. Roxanne was on the third step ans the captain was still on the tenth step.

Because her back was facing them, Grey couldn’t see her facial expression. But if he could, he would see that it revealed surprise and slight shock.

The reason for her shock and surprise also caused her to remain standing on the tenth step for a very long time.

After stepping on ghe tenth stair, the captain’s figure became even more illusionary than before. It was like they were separated by a large distance that couldn’t be crossed immediately.

Although they were still in each other’s range, if any if them were to speak to each other, their words wouldn’t get through. It was like they were separated by a large distance.

Seeing the captain’s back figure gradually becoming distant and covered in fog, Grey’s guess became even more certain in his mind. He also had an inkling that they were closer to reaching the top than they had thought.

But of course, taking a step was still very hard even after the force suppressing them had reduced significantly.

But Grey still did not hesitate to raise his foot and climb forward.

Boom!

A loud booming sound rang out in his mind as he reached the fifth step. Grey wanted to stagger backwards, but he endured the feeling of weightlessness that was gradually overcoming him and took the next step. And then the next.

Two more muffled rang out as Grey advanced three steps in one go. His body shivered intensely as blood seeped out from both his nose and the side of his mouth.

His expression became deathly pale and his countenance revealed weakness. After taking two more steps, Grey felt as if all the power in his body had been completely drained as a sense of powerlessness spread across within him.

The muffled booms resonated with the amount of shocks that Grey’s mind had to endure as two overwhelming forces were seen charging into his sea of consciousness.

As the two booms rang out, Grey’s Spirit perforations also resonated and let out muffled booms as well. As if the resonance coming from the forces in his mind were helping him to break open spirit perforations.

It was only after a long time that Grey regained himself. However, the feeling of powerlessness was still strong in his body.

But five of his spirit nodes had showed signs of shattering and were already revealing cracks. If Grey took another step, there was a high chance that they would shatter on their own.

Hence, Grey endured the feeling of weightlessness in his body and forced himself to move up one more step. As his feet trembled and touched the next step, his other foot naturally followed.

But no matter how hard he tried, his other foot could not land on the next step. It was like an insurmountable distance was between them. A distance that Grey would never be able to cross.

Feeling this resistance, Grey knew that this was his limit. He couldn’t bring out more power and take another step forward. It did not have anything to do with cultivation, instead, it was about having a clear will and determination.

The captain was different from him because she had a clear goal in mind. Together with her high cultivation, she was able to power through using just brute strength.

But Grey did not have the same determination as her. Although Grey also had goals of surviving and finding his siblings as well as clearing the fog in his memories, those goals were not particularly clear.

And they did not have an overwhelming determination backing them.

’This is where I stop. I can’t go any further.’ Grey said inwardly as his other foot remained in mid-air.

Despite circulating his cultivation base to the maximum, Grey knew that he couldn’t move forward.

Hence, his right foot remained hovering above the next step. Yet, he couldn’t take that one step forward.

As this feeling of resistance became even more clearer, a trace of doubt he had harbored in his heart began to appear.

At first, this doubt was not noticeable and even Grey did not realize that he had doubt in his heart. It was only after he realized that he couldn’t progress forward that this doubt became clearer in his mind.

The previously exciting hope in his heart slowly shattered. As it shattered, Grey’s body trembled a little bit. His grey eyes that were muddled with fog seemed to have become even more muddled.

It was also at this moment that Grey noticed a problem with these stairs.

"The Soul Ascendancy realm is a realm where cultivators create realities within themselves. These realities differ from the real world and are bound by different rules and laws. Also, in the Soul Ascendancy realm, these realities are depicted as an eye."

"Each eye symbolizes the creation of a reality... If that is so, then these stairs... must belong to a particular reality. And so, they must be bound by a rule or a law." Grey said in a low voice as he suddenly realized.

When they entered the crystal palace, it felt as if it was a whole different world. The cold was so chilling that it could freeze a person in moments.

Despite the outward appearance of the crystal palace not looking any larger than it did, internally, it was like a work continent was contained here.

The bright light of the six suns were also shining their radiant light within here as well. Grey had not noticed it before because of the overwhelming pressure, but now that he was stuck and he had the time to think, he realized this problem.

It was also from this place, that they realized that they could reach the top of the crystal palace through these stairs.

"Could it be that this crystal palace is also another world created by the Soul Ascendancy realm cultivator?" Grey whispered in a low voice.