Hong Chaoyang tried to step onto the stairs, but the ice covering them was so slippery that after only two steps, she slipped and fell.
Shen Qing was quick - witted and caught her in time.
Hong Chaoyang was so frightened that her face turned pale. She patted her chest with lingering fear. "Shen Qing, luckily you caught me. Otherwise, I would have been badly hurt."
When climbing the steps, one couldn't rely on spiritual power or fly on a sword. If one flew on a sword, thick fog would appear near the mountaintop, making one lose their way and unable to find the divine platform.
If one used spiritual power to climb, the higher they went, the heavier their body would become, as if being crushed by huge stones. Eventually, they would lose control of their body and fall off the steps.
So Hong Chaoyang didn't use spiritual power or summon her sword when climbing the steps.
"Let this little monk give it a try," Xue Ling slowly stepped out from beside Li Xian. He put his hands together, closed his eyes, slightly lowered his head, and murmured something.
Shen Qing vaguely recognized that he seemed to be chanting scriptures.
After a while, his chanting made the other three people present feel drowsy. Only then did he stop.
Shen Qing saw Xue Ling elegantly lift his cassock. Then, with a determined look on his face, he raised one foot and steadily stepped onto the first step.
His figure was steady, unlike Hong Chaoyang who had been staggering and making people feel anxious.
Then, Xue Ling raised his other foot and stepped steadily onto the second step.
He proudly looked back at Hong Chaoyang and said in an annoying tone, "You're not Buddhist cultivators after all. Your minds aren't as steady as mine. Just watch how I'll be the first to reach the divine platform."
Then he turned around and steadily climbed the third and fourth steps. But when he reached the fifth step, he slipped, fell heavily on the steps, and slowly slid down.
He slid to Li Xian's feet. Li Xian took a step back expressionlessly. Everyone gathered around and looked down at Xue Ling who was still lying on the ground, speechless.
Xue Ling relaxed his toes that had been gripping the ground, suddenly propped up his body, and jumped up. Then he pretended nothing had happened and tidied his cassock.
"Amitabha. Forgive this disciple, Buddha. My mind was unsteady. I've made a fool of myself."
Hong Chaoyang almost couldn't hold back her laughter. Her face turned pink from trying to suppress it.
Shen Qing and Li Xian exchanged a helpless look and couldn't bear to look anymore.
The two walked to the steps and carefully observed. They found that the ice on the steps had made the originally flat stone surface curve.
The ice was already slippery. When a person stepped on the steps, the tip of their foot was raised by the ice, making it difficult to stand steadily.
Li Xian attacked the ice covering the steps with his sword energy, but found that the ice was extremely hard. Not even a scratch was left.
"It seems that neither bare - handed nor using tools will work. He just wants to stop us from reaching the divine platform," Li Xian said in a deep voice, analyzing the situation.
"Or perhaps, he doesn't want us to save the Ling family."
"Let me try," Shen Qing took over from Li Xian, walked to the steps, squatted down, and put one hand on the ice.
The ice was bone - chillingly cold. As soon as Shen Qing's hand touched the ice, she felt a cold chill coming from her palm. She couldn't help but shiver.
"Shen Qing!" Li Xian exclaimed when he saw Shen Qing's face turn pale in an instant.
Shen Qing raised her other hand to signal Li Xian to calm down. She was okay.
Only then did Li Xian calm down, but he still had a tense face and never took his eyes off Shen Qing.
Even Xue Ling and Hong Chaoyang, who had been joking with each other just now, held their breaths, afraid of disturbing Shen Qing.
With such thick ice, Shen Qing thought that only Han Ze, who could control the power of ice, could create it.
Hua Ying had said that Shen Qing was from the dragon clan and had an ice spiritual root. If what Hua Ying said was true, Shen Qing guessed that there might be a certain connection between her and Han Ze.
This connection was probably not small.
Recalling Han Ze's previous actions and words, Shen Qing increasingly felt that this guess was possible. If there was a connection between her and Han Ze, she might be able to break the spell set by Han Ze.
After the bone - chilling cold, Shen Qing felt the aura left by Han Ze.
That aura wasn't as cold as ice. Instead, it made Shen Qing feel warm, familiar, and nostalgic, which surprised her.
Strange. Why did she have such a feeling?
This feeling might appear towards relatives, lovers, or even close friends.
But Shen Qing had always regarded Han Ze as her enemy, and she believed Han Ze felt the same. So why didn't Han Ze's aura reject her at all?
Although puzzled, Shen Qing still found the weakest point on the ice. She transmitted her spiritual power there and then exerted force. The ice covering the ninety - nine steps cracked in response.
The originally indestructible ice instantly turned into countless small fragments, and those small fragments turned into water vapor in an instant.
Shen Qing's body went limp, and she fell heavily to the ground. Seeing this, Li Xian quickly and steadily supported her.
Hong Chaoyang's eyes were full of admiration. She took out pills and fanned Shen Qing, complimenting her in a tone full of flattery. "Shen Qing! You're so amazing!!"
"I used to think you were a waste and that you were taking up the resources of the direct disciples. Now, compared with you, I'm the real waste!!"
Shen Qing's hands were trembling, and her meridians still ached. The feeling of exhaustion made her unable to even lift her arms. That was a symptom of excessive spiritual power consumption.
But when she heard Hong Chaoyang call herself a waste, Shen Qing still subconsciously retorted, "Chaoyang! Don't say that about yourself. You're very powerful."
Hong Chaoyang smiled happily and nodded heavily.
She had witnessed Shen Qing transform from a novice cultivator at the Foundation - Establishment stage into a capable cultivator.
Before, she had been bewitched by Wang Youfeng and the others and had a bad attitude towards Shen Qing. If it weren't for the subsequent series of events, she and Shen Qing wouldn't have become good friends.
Hong Chaoyang was also very lucky. She was lucky that Shen Qing wasn't a narrow - minded person and could forgive her previous mistakes and treat her without any grudges.
Of course, she envied Shen Qing's rapid progress, but she wasn't jealous. She would take Shen Qing as a goal and continue to strengthen herself.
Li Xian took out a pill to restore spiritual power and stuffed it into Shen Qing's mouth. Shen Qing chewed it twice and swallowed it.
After her spiritual power recovered a little, Shen Qing's face was no longer so pale.
"Can you still hold on?" Li Xian was really worried and couldn't help asking.
Shen Qing nodded, and her eyes drifted towards the divine platform along the steps. "This is just the beginning. If I can't even hold on now, how can I even think about going to the mortal world?"
Han Ze must have set more than just this one obstacle. Maybe he was waiting for them on the divine platform.