The rain of silver lightning presented quite a striking visual impact. They bombarded the person directly ahead of Xiang Shaoyun, and as the person's flesh and blood sprayed everywhere, he wailed in pain.

"Ah, damn it! Why am I being struck by lightning? It hurts!"

"Move away! Move away! Someone's summoning lightning bolts, and these aren't even regular lightning bolts! They are much more powerful!"

"That's a madman! Let him through or all of us will suffer! Damn it! Why am I so unlucky to stumble upon someone like this!"

"Piss off! Piss off! Ahhhh, it hurts! I'm going to die soon!"

...

Chaos erupted in Xiang Shaoyun's vicinity as the crowd scattered, worried that the silver lightning bolts would bombard them to death. With Xiang Shaoyun opening up a path, Tang Longfei, Ning Wenhuang, and Lady Shura followed behind him and quickly arrived before the first step of stairs.

There, Xiang Shaoyun dispersed his lightning power and said, "Let's go up together."

"Haha, Shaoyun is really full of vitality. I won't stand on ceremony, then," said Tang Longfei with a hearty laugh. His near 90 percent completion draconic aura swirled around him as he took his first step onto the stairs.

His leg landed firmly; he wasn't jolted off. Ripples of light flickered around him as a pressure was laid on him, forming some sort of resonance with the draconic aura around him. Ning Wenhuang and Lady Shura did not dare to be careless and quickly released their respective auras as well.

Ning Wenhuang's draconic aura was 40 percent complete, and she managed to take the first step as well. As for Lady Shura, she formed the apparition of a shura that overlapped with her body, granting her the strength of a War Emperor. With that, she easily took her first step as well.

It was apparent now that the stairs exerted different levels of suppression. Each of the 81 steps of stairs had a different level of suppression, and just because one could take the first step did not mean that one would be able to complete all 81 steps.

Xiang Shaoyun no longer waited and took the first step as well. A certain pressure surged out of the stairs as he felt a certain pressure bearing down on him. The pressure was equivalent to the presence of a peak King, capable of contending against the presences of any King.

Without overcoming this pressure, one would not be able to take the first step. A pressure of this level gave them some trouble, but it still wasn't that bad. Xiang Shaoyun completed the first step easily and continued to take the second step. The pressure exerted by the second step increased significantly, but it still wasn't able to trouble him too much.

Xiang Shaoyun climbed seven steps in a row. By then, the combination of the pressure and the weight of his armor caused him to slow down. Here, under the surface of the jade step were numerous crude runes that were pulsing repeatedly, exuding a pressure equivalent to the presence of an Emperor. At the same time, the gravity present at this step had also been enhanced. The combined pressure was enough to cause a regular King to directly collapse.

Xiang Shaoyun was forced to release more of his strength before he continued climbing. At this time, some people were starting to get far ahead of others. Of these people, some were Emperors that were also special-recruits. Some of them had draconic auras of around 95 percent completion, existences that had almost reached the Dragon Ascension Realm. These were the geniuses that had arrived from various places.

Tang Longfei wasn't too slow either. He had reached the 23rd step, and was the fastest of their group. But at this point, he was starting to have a hard time as well.

"How can I allow a tiny formation to stop me from becoming a Dragon Phoenix Academy disciple?" Tang Longfei roared as his draconic aura surged and instantly reached 90 percent completion. As if wind had gathered beneath his feet, he climbed more than 10 steps in a row before stopping again.

As for Ning Wenhuang and Lady Shura, they initially climbed side by side. But as they climbed higher, Lady Shura gradually pulled ahead.

This woman is already so powerful before even forming her draconic aura? thought Ning Wenhuang with shock as she gazed at Lady Shura's back. Her competitiveness ignited within her as she exerted even more strength to climb the stairs. The Han Clan sisters, who were watching not far away, were getting nervous.

"Big sister, look, Young Master Xiang has stopped. What's the matter?" Han Xuewei asked in a worried manner.

"I don't understand. With his strength, he should be able to easily reach the top. Is it due to his cultivation level?" Han Qianwei muttered in confusion. "Or perhaps he's trying to keep a low profile?"

"I doubt so. Perhaps something unforeseen has happened? I hope he can get to the top smoothly," said Han Xuewei, her eyes filled with hope.

Xiang Shaoyun had just arrived at the 16th step, and here, he had encountered something unforeseen. He found that the suppression it exerted helped him further compress his cultivation base, causing his foundation to become much firmer.

With the suppression of his heavy armor, his energy circulation had slowed considerably. However, that did not equate to a drop of cultivation speed. Rather, it helped build a thick and solid foundation.

In other words, with the armor on, a single round of circulation was equivalent to several rounds of regular circulations. He was able to gain much more strength from circulating his energy in such a condition.

With the pressure the stairs exerted, his circulation speed had dropped even further, but that also helped quickly compress his cultivation base. His energy composition, which was originally loose, became much more solid, causing a qualitative change within him, granting him a might far surpassing what he had in the past.

Additionally, the pressure had also triggered his devil blood to surge and squeeze even more of his potential from his physical flesh, allowing his physical flesh to grow rapidly as well. One could say that the 16th step's intense pressure had unleashed the potential of Xiang Shaoyun's freakish physique.

If that was all, he would still continue climbing the stairs rapidly. However, he had stopped climbing because he could no longer suppress his compressed cultivation base, which was on the verge of erupting into the eighth stage. It was at this moment that Di Tong and Di Shang surpassed him not far away.

Di Shang glanced over and sneered, "Taking the test with just this much? Heh, just wait for elimination, stray dog."

He was aware that even special-recruit disciples would be disqualified if they failed to get through the test. Xiang Shaoyun ignored Di Shang. With his eyes shut, he climbed a few more steps before suddenly sitting down cross-legged.

"Haha, it's always good to know when to give up. Just stay here obediently and wait for the test to end," Di Shang roared with laughter.

Beside him, a solemn look appeared on Di Tong's face. He frowned before his pupils suddenly shrank as he exclaimed, "No, h-he seems to be breaking through?"

"What? How is that possible?" Di Shang cried out in shock.

It did not matter if Di Shang was willing to believe it or not. Xiang Shaoyun's aura surged to the sky as the spiritual energy in the surroundings started converging around him before pouring into his body. It immediately caused an uproar.