At this point, the five of them could no longer advance. They all stopped as they had no choice but to adjust themselves first.

Here, their bodies, minds, souls, hearts, and wills were all enduring a harsh trial. This was the most ruthless moment.

After their fierce climb here, they had reached a limit. They had to take a breather, but at the same time, they had to endure the powerful pressure here and resist the encroachment of their negative emotions.

Long Chen took three deep breaths before directly stepping towards the 997th stair. Shui Guanzhi and the others’ expressions became ugly.

“This bastard!” They were infuriated. It was like Long Chen was intentionally opposing them. He refused to give them a moment’s rest.

If they allowed Long Chen to climb to the top before them, wouldn’t it signify that he was the strongest of them all?

Although they were furious, they also followed. However, the powerful pressure that descended upon them at the 997th stair caused their expressions to change.

“Cry of the Heavenly Daos!”

Shui Guanzhi, Zhao Wuji, Yue Qianshan, and Zhong Wuyan activated their Heavenly Dao manifestations at the same time. The pressure immediately lightened for them.

As for Long Chen, he vomited a mouthful of blood, his expression exceedingly ugly and furious.

“I refuse to believe I can’t get up!”

Long Chen was ruthless, and he forced his way up. Just like that, he forced his way onto the 997th stair.

But by the time he reached there, Shui Guanzhi and the others had already begun charging toward the 998th stair.

They were relying on their Cries of the Heavenly Daos for a spurt of energy, hoping to directly reach the end like this. But when they reached the 998th stair, they were forced back by a terrifying force.

Shui Guanzhi and the others were completely startled. They hadn’t expected the 998th stair’s difficulty to be several times that of the 997th stair. They didn’t manage to get up. Instead, the rebound force caused them to almost cough up blood.

“Water Waves Break the Heavens!” Shui Guanzhi suddenly was surrounded by water runes. They formed a channel in front of him that he directly charged through.

BOOM!

The entire Netherworld Heaven Staircase shook. Shui Guanzhi was the first to step onto the 998th stair.

However, people saw that the Heavenly Dao runes around him were constantly revolving and changing shape, as if they were currently being compressed by some invisible force.

“Good, Shui Guanzhi has done well. He’s the first to reach the 998th stair and has taken the lead,” laughed Shui Yuncong.

Suddenly, sword-light pierced forward. An ear-piercing sound rang out as Yue Qianshan took action. His aura completely erupted like a sword coming out of its sheath. He also stepped onto the 998th stair.

At the same time, Zhong Wuyan and Zhao Wuji took action as well. Zhao Wuji was covered in a layer of dirt-yellow light. It was like a set of armor, and with a single punch, it was like space had exploded. He relied on that to get up.

As for Zhong Wuyan, a blood-mark appeared on her forehead, forming a rune. However, only the more erudite people knew that it was no rune, but an immortal character: Zhong. This was Zhong Wuyan’s ancestral mark.

There were many kinds of ancestral marks, and any Xiantian expert’s descendants would inherit some bloodline power.

However, Zhong Wuyan’s ancestor had been a terrifying King. The power of her ancestral mark was on a completely different level than Gu Yang’s.

The instant the ancestral mark appeared, the void trembled. It was like some mysterious energy was coming from her forehead, one that suppressed the spatial fluctuations. She also reached the 998th stair.

Now, the only one left was Long Chen. He was panting for breath on the 997th stair. This scene caused people’s expressions to become a bit odd.

“Hmph, a bumpkin really is a bumpkin. Now you should understand the difference,” sneered Shui Guanzhi from above.

The others looked at Long Chen. They didn’t say anything, but the contempt in their eyes was clear.

“Wait, something’s wrong. When Long Chen fought Shui Guanzhi, that huge rainbow ring was so powerful. Why isn’t he using it?” wondered some people.

This was a perplexing question. What was Long Chen thinking? He had clearly reached his limit, but he was still holding back his trump card.

“Hmph, even you people can be called heavenly geniuses? This Netherworld Heaven Staircase is clearly a test for the will, physical body, and soul. But what you are doing is basically cheating, and yet you can still sneer at others disdainfully? I really have to admire you; how did you manage to cultivate your face to such a thickness?

“Today, I’ll display what it means to be a true man and what attitude a true cultivator should possess. Without any technique, I will rely just on myself to reach the 999th stair! I’ll let you idiots open your eyes to the world!” sneered Long Chen.

His voice contained a trace of anger. In truth, he was extremely angry. What he had just said were simply words of rage.

In truth, when they had summoned their Cries of the Heavenly Daos, Long Chen wouldn’t be so stupid as to still hold back. He had also begun to summon his divine ring.

But he had only just started and had yet to truly bring it out when the pressure on him suddenly increased by dozens of times. He had almost been crushed to death before he hastily stopped. Even so, he had still vomited blood.

Only now did Long Chen realize his divine ring was different from their Heavenly Dao manifestations. His divine ring was something that helped him absorb energy from the surroundings. As a result, the surrounding energy had been drawn toward him, energy that contained a powerful pressure had almost crushed him flat.

Long Chen now knew that he would probably be extremely miserable today. Now that Shui Guanzhi sneered at him, he had found a chance to counterattack, cursing them in such a melodramatic way without giving them any way to retort.

“You…! Fine, then let me see how you manage with no outside force!” raged Shui Guanzhi.

It had to be known that they had had to use their full strength with the Cry of the Heavenly Daos in order to reach the 998th stair. They refused to believe he could climb his way without any outside force. That would just be an idiot’s dream.

He was definitely just posturing. They couldn’t be bothered to say anything more to Long Chen, and they began to approach the 999th stair.

As they got closer, their expressions changed. They sensed endless pressure from the 999th stair, and that pressure contained a dense aura of death.

They sensed a mortal danger from that pressure. In other words, climbing to the 999th stair might kill them.

They had never dreamed that the 999th stair would actually pose a danger to their lives. If they messed up, they would lose their lives here.

“It’s definitely fake. How could they allow us to die here? I refuse to believe it.” Zhao Wuji snorted and charged toward the 999th stair.

When he stepped onto the 999th stair, a translucent flying sword shot toward Zhao Wuji. He hastily blocked, but that flying sword tore through his defense and left a foot-long wound on his chest.

They were horrified. When it came to physical defense, Zhao Wuji was the strongest. The runes revolving around him were even stronger than his spiritual qi armor.

But he had been injured after just one attack. Then they, who did not specialize in defense, would be slashed in two, right?

“Hmph, let me try it.”

Shui Guanzhi extended a hand. A water arrow shot toward the 999th stair, but he wrapped himself with endless runes first.

Another flying sword shot out, smashing apart the water arrow and piercing through Shui Guanzhi’s water runes.

Shui Guanzhi was appalled. He hadn’t expected that his water runes would be pierced as easily as paper in front of that flying sword. It hadn’t been able to resist at all.

“Skywater Shield!” He hastily formed three water shields in front of him. But that sword continued to pierce through them.

Just as the sword was about to pierce his heart, it lost its energy and disappeared. Shui Guanzhi’s face was pale.

“The four of us should go from four different directions to see if we can scatter its power,” suggested Zhong Wuyan.

The others nodded and spread out. But when they attempted it again, the four of them all received counterattacks, and the power hadn’t weakened at all.

“We have to take a risk! Don’t hold back. Charge with your full strength, or it will be impossible!” said Zhong Wuyan.

The others hesitated but nodded. The 999th stair was too difficult, and there was no room for technique. They could only go all-out.

From their previous tests, they had found this barrier to be incomparably powerful. Without going all-out, they wouldn’t be able to pass it.

“Attack!”

The four of them began to shine with runic light. Activating their strongest defense, they charged to the 999th stair.

BOOM!

The staircase trembled, and suddenly, thousands of flying swords shot out mercilessly at them.

Blood splashed. Countless swords pierced through their bodies, and they were sent flying back. All the Xuantian Dao Sect’s experts’ expressions changed.

“How could this be?!”