After breaking the illusion, Zi Chen stood on the surface of the Blood Sea with the blood-colored stairs in front of him.
Zi Chen's mind was extremely firm and he had killed countless people along the way. A mere illusion that tested one's mind was nothing to him.
"You're awake." A voice came from beside Zi Chen.
He thought that he was the first person to cross the Blood Sea, but he didn't expect someone to be faster than him. It was Su Mengyao.
Su Mengyao cultivated the Dao of Ethereal Dao, which was ethereal and followed her heart. The test of one's mind was child's play for her. She had already crossed the Blood Sea without even seeing the illusion.
The waves in the Blood Sea surged like blood dragons and thunderous sounds echoed in the surroundings. After crossing the Blood Sea, Zi Chen heard the sound of the Blood Sea.
The demonic ape, Lv Peng, and the others were also moving forward at a steady pace. Their steps were firm, and their expressions were calm. Zi Chen believed that these people would have no problem crossing the blood sea, because if they couldn't, then how many people could cross the blood sea?
Since not everyone was here, they couldn't climb the stairway to heaven. While waiting, Su Mengyao suddenly asked, "What did you see in the Blood Sea?"
Zi Chen answered honestly, "I saw the Nimbus Martial Ancestor, blood and endless killing."
Su Mengyao nodded silently without saying anything.
A few minutes later, the Devil Ape arrived and successfully crossed the sea with a calm expression.
During this period, there were still people who fell into the sea. Some seemed to have retreated after seeing the terrifying scene and disappeared.
After a while, Lv Peng came forward.
Immediately after, some spirit bodies arrived and looked at Zi Chen with fear. Without hesitation, they stepped onto the stairway to heaven.
The Longhu and Spirit Devouring Rats also successfully crossed the sea. As Zi Chen's team arrived, more people succeeded in crossing the sea.
Unlike Zi Chen who chose to wait for their companions, they went to find their own opportunities and hurriedly climbed the stairway to heaven.
The original army had completely disbanded after passing the nine stages of the Human Path. Everything depended on luck.
The Stairway to Heaven was ten feet wide, and the stairs went straight into the sky. It was impossible to see how long it was. However, as many cultivators climbed up the Stairway to Heaven, it did not feel crowded at all.
Zi Chen raised his head and looked at the group of cultivators who were climbing the Stairway to Heaven. He realized that they were climbing the Stairway at a very fast speed. They did not stop at all and had already reached the tenth step.
One beam of light after another suddenly lit up. It was just like how some of the cultivators had retreated earlier. The moment the beams of light lit up, one cultivator after another disappeared. It was unknown where they had gone.
After more than ten steps, the figures that hadn't disappeared slowed down significantly. Some of them even stood still.
"Climbing the Sky Stairway is indeed not that simple. This is yet another test," Su Mengyao said from the side.
Zi Chen's group had successfully crossed the sea, and the next step was to climb the Stairway to Heaven. Obviously, they had to rely on themselves for this step, and they could only rely on themselves.
"See you at the end of the stairway."
Without any words of encouragement, Zi Chen nodded at the crowd and directly stepped onto the blood-colored stairs.
Everyone stepped on the stairs, and it was almost effortless for them to climb the tenth step. They predicted that the first ten steps would be the easiest.
However, he did not expect Zi Chen to stop after stepping on the first step.
"He stopped at the first step. Could it be that he encountered something?"
Everyone was very puzzled, but as mentioned before, they could only rely on themselves. Therefore, everyone stepped onto the stairs one after another, and then climbed the stairs as fast as they could, instantly overtaking Zi Chen.
Su Mengyao was the last to climb the stairs. Looking at Zi Chen's motionless figure, she could vaguely guess that Zi Chen seemed to have seen something.
To be precise, Zi Chen did not see anything, but met a person, a person who changed his destiny. Of course, this person was not a benefactor, but an enemy that Zi Chen had killed with his own hands.
Zhao Can.
After so many years, Zi Chen once again saw this young man who forsook righteousness for profit. The image of this young man in his mind had long been blurred. If he had not seen this face again, he would not have remembered this person.
Although he had changed Zi Chen's destiny, in the torrent of time, he was just a passing traveler who made a small splash.
Looking at Zhao Can now, he was still very young and tender. His expression was anxious, and there was also a trace of anger hidden within.
Zi Chen looked at Zhao Can and said seriously, "Perhaps you are right. The only thing that sustains this world is profit. Or rather, it is profit that connects all the people and things in this world."
Looking at Zhao Can reminded him of what Zhao Can had once said. It had to be said that Zi Chen had used hundreds of years to prove that Zhao Can's point of view was correct.
Profit. Everything was for profit.
He clearly had an irreconcilable enmity with the Five Elemental Powers, but he still chose to cooperate with them. Back in the Fringe, he did not have a good relationship with the Five Elemental Powers, but he had no choice but to cooperate because of profit. Thus, he used profit to bind them to him.
Everything was for profit.
Zi Chen had used hundreds of years to verify this matter, but Zhao Can had already understood this when he was in his teens.
"Zi Chen, what nonsense are you talking about? Let me ask you, is what you said about the snow ginseng true?" asked Zhao Can. His expression was constantly fluctuating.
Zi Chen looked at Zhao Can seriously. He saw the anxious expression on Zhao Can's face, the trace of panic in the depths of his eyes, and that trace of murderous intent. This was something that had happened many years ago, and now it was happening again.
However, Zi Chen did not expect that the excited and agitated expression he had back then would reveal so many complicated emotions.
How could a youngster hide anything from Zi Chen, who had lived for hundreds of years? But this youngster had managed to deceive Zi Chen back then.
Zi Chen suddenly chuckled and said, "Almost all of my current achievements are thanks to you. If not for what happened back then, perhaps there would only be a mediocre Zi Chen who could not even break through to the Xiantian realm, instead of the current Zi Chen."
Seeing that Zhao Can's expression was gradually becoming stunned, Zi Chen continued, "Back then, you were my greatest enemy. I couldn't wait to kill you. But now that I think about it, I should be thanking you. It was your selfishness back then that made me who I am today."
Zhao Can's expression changed again. He looked at Zi Chen as if he was looking at an idiot. "Zi Chen, are you sick? Why are you spouting such nonsense? I'm asking you if the snow ginseng you mentioned really exists."
Zhao Can's expression was extremely serious. It seemed that he was also extremely nervous about the matter of the snow ginseng. Zi Chen had almost forgotten what a five hundred year old snow ginseng looked like.
Zi Chen smiled meaningfully and said, "Of course it's real. Five hundred years old is very sufficient."
"That's good. We can exchange it for a few Zhen Qi Dans. There is hope for us to enter the inner sect. Right, when are we going to look for it?" Zhao Can anxiously asked.
"You can look for it whenever you want." Zi Chen smiled and said, "But you can inform Wang Xiong."
Zhao Can's expression changed. He forced himself to calm down and asked, "Zi Chen, what do you mean by this?"
"Nothing, I'm just asking if you can inform Senior Brother Wang Xiong and find shelter. If you can inform him and find him, then we can go. When we reach the place, you can kill me."
Looking at Zi Chen's extremely calm eyes, Zhao Can's expression became extremely flustered. He subconsciously retreated a few steps and said in a panic, "Zi Chen, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"This is not nonsense, it's the truth. Because this matter has already happened, and I was almost killed by you. But in the end, I survived and you died."
Looking at Zhao Can's panic, confusion and confusion, Zi Chen explained, "There is no snow ginseng, there is no Wang Xiong, and there is no Nimbus Martial Ancestor. It's fake. Everything is fake. You are also fake. There is only me."
Zi Chen looked at himself. He was wearing a blue robe and his body was slightly thin. He could only sense the fourth layer of Zhen Qi in his body. He paused and said, "Only I am real."
"Crazy, you're really crazy. Zi Chen, you're crazy." Zhao Can had already retreated to the door in fright. He could run away at any time.
Zi Chen stared at the flustered Zhao Can and smiled calmly. He said, "You don't have to be nervous. Everything is fake. No matter how real it is, it is still fake. The reason why I've been talking nonsense with you for so long is because I hated you many years ago. I wanted you to die. Even after killing you, I still hate you."
"But now I want to tell you that as time passes and I become stronger, I no longer hate you. In fact, I am somewhat grateful to you. Because if it weren't for your stab, Zi Chen would probably no longer be Zi Chen."
"So, in order to thank you, I have decided to kill you with my own hands and pierce your heart with my own hands."
Zhao Can's face became even paler. But facing the threat of death, his frightened face suddenly showed a hint of ruthlessness. He suddenly stood up and shouted at Zi Chen, "Zi Chen, you want to kill me? You have forgotten the rules of the Nimbus Martial Ancestor. Even if you have forgotten the rules, you can't forget my strength. In a battle of life and death, the winner is sixty to forty. I get sixty to forty, you get forty to forty."
"I only need one strike to kill you." Zi Chen said seriously. Then, he stretched out his hand and a short dagger appeared in his hand.
Seeing this short dagger, Zhao Can lost his composure. "This is mine. Why is it with you? When did you steal it?"
Zi Chen didn't say anything and walked straight towards Zhao Can. Zhao Can retreated in fear. He wanted to escape, but he suddenly found that there was no path. The place where the door should have been was gone.
The door was gone, the window was gone. Seeing Zi Chen walking towards him, Zhao Can felt as if he was looking at a vicious beast. He lost all will to fight and his face was filled with fear.
"Zi Chen, you can't kill me. We are brothers." Zhao Can said in fear.
Zi Chen suddenly laughed. His smile was somewhat sinister. "Brothers are used to betray others when there are benefits. Although I still don't agree with your point of view, I have to say that in this situation, this sentence is still somewhat useful to me. Because killing you will allow me to take a step forward. It can be considered to be beneficial to me."
"So, go die."
Zi Chen stabbed the short dagger in his hand towards Zhao Can's chest.
Zhao Can was stabbed to death.
On the blood-colored stairs, right after Zhao Can's death, Zi Chen took a step forward. Then, another step, another step.
After walking up more than twenty steps, Zi Chen said, "This illusion is really boring."