Chapter 107: The Perilous Sky Ladder

Under the bitter gale, walking on this narrow sky ladder felt little different from walking on a tightrope.
Two thousand treasure-hunting disciples were divided into four groups, with hundreds of people each moving cautiously forward along each ladder.
The four paths seemed to lead in different directions, but perhaps the outcome was the same—death without return…
Su Che noticed that Fei Yun had also stepped onto this ladder, about thirty people behind him.
“I wonder what method she came up with to make the Illusion Demon Sect’s group choose this ladder as well.”
Su Che pondered inwardly. To be honest, he didn’t want her following him, as the idea of someone being able to sense his location always made him uneasy.
“Ah!”
Just as he was thinking, another scream echoed in his ears.
There was no escaping it—once inside the Little Immortal Realm, screams would inevitably become the theme music of this period.
Not far ahead, a young man was somehow cut in half from the waist, falling down the ladder. How did he die? Was it some unknown force at work?
This time, many people saw faint black threads drifting in the wind in the sky, barely noticeable, like dust. One of those threads blew toward the treasure hunter, who didn’t pay attention at first. Yet, that thread as thin as spider silk severed him in half.
“Ah! My hand…”
Another person, careless, was struck by an imperceptible thread on his right arm—below the elbow, his arm fell swiftly into the abyss.
“Be careful of those black threads!”
Someone warned their fellow disciples in a low voice.
Others, about to be hit by a thread, had no room to dodge on the narrow ladder, so they used their spiritual swords to cut the threads.
With a light clang, like the wail of a sword, the inferior-quality spiritual sword broke into two pieces like tender vegetables. The thread, unharmed, drifted back to the person’s face.
This person was indeed at the peak of the Qi Cultivation stage—quick-witted and agile. He exhaled a powerful gust of energy, deflecting the thread and sending it toward someone else.
Indeed, since these threads could drift with the wind, using the wind to counter them seemed to be the best solution.

Those around them followed suit, each using their own methods to generate strong winds to resist those black lines. Su Che did the same. However, the combined power of hundreds of cultivators at the highest level also created a formidable wind force that could not be underestimated, and this wind force ended up opposing the wild winds in the area. In the Immortal Prison, Lao He immediately warned, “This won’t work. We can’t defy the natural environment here.” “I know, but what else can we do in this situation?” Su Che thought to himself. “We can’t even touch those black lines; we can only rely on wind to blow them away.” Just as they were talking, the fierce winds in the sky suddenly stopped, and the sky darkened rapidly. The black lines that had been floating in the wind also disappeared instantly. The hundreds of people on the celestial ladder didn’t dare to pause. They took this opportunity to speed up their progress while constantly keeping an eye on the surroundings. Of course, some impatient ones kept urging those in front to move faster and faster… After walking only a dozen feet, they heard a strange sound and looked up. Dense raindrops were falling from the sky. Black raindrops! Undoubtedly, no one dared let such raindrops touch their bodies. In an instant, everyone summoned their defensive talismans. With a rustling sound, various colored protective shields appeared. From a distance, it looked like translucent ribbons adorned with colorful balls. Tap, tap, tap… The raindrops hit the protective shields lightly, and though the force wasn’t strong, they emitted a buzzing corrosive sound. Everyone immediately felt their vital energy beginning to drain at an alarming rate, indicating that the corrosive power of the black raindrops was terrifying. Their defensive talismans required a large amount of vital energy to protect them. Buzzzz… The harsh corrosive sound echoed in everyone’s ears, corroding their protective shields and producing smoke. Everyone was extremely panicked. At that moment, their thoughts were similar: This is bad. The vital energy is draining so fast. Even if we keep taking precious pills, it won’t be enough to make up for the loss… Indeed, using pills to replenish vital energy requires a process of dissolving, absorbing, and transforming the medicinal effects. The vital energy lost in fifteen minutes often takes one or two hours to be replenished, even with the best pills. The situation now depended on how long this celestial ladder was—whether they could reach a relatively safe place before their vital energy was completely depleted. Otherwise, everyone would be corroded into puddles of stinking water by those black raindrops.

However, the “everyone” mentioned here does not include Su Che, as Su Che possesses a certain advantage that allows him to ignore such levels of true energy loss. In the Immortal Prison, Lao He sat on a black boulder, able to transmit both the Immortal Prison’s warm currents and the black stone’s clear streams to Su Che at the same time. The magical energy resulting from this combination could instantly activate the effects of the Earth Spirit Pill that was meant to swallow Su Che. Under normal circumstances, given Su Che’s current level of cultivation, it would take at least ten hours to fully absorb the effects of one Earth Spirit Pill. But with the stimulation of this magical energy, it took just over an hour to fully convert those effects into true energy. It was precisely for this reason that his cultivation progress during previous periods of seclusion had been so rapid. The same was true now—after taking an Earth Spirit Pill, Su Che quickly converted its effects, more than enough to make up for his true energy loss. He could continue like this for ten or eight days without any worries. Su Che handled things with ease, while the others suffered in silence, with one person being particularly hard-pressed. The guy walking in front of Su Che was a descendant of the supreme leader of the Tianxuan Sect. He was only at the ninth level of Qi Cultivation, making it far harder for him to cope with the current crisis compared to the others. The ninth level of Qi Cultivation and the state of complete mastery might seem only slightly apart, but in reality, the overall strength difference was more than twice as great. After walking under the black rain for a short while, this guy could no longer hold on. Suddenly, his face turned pale as he turned to Su Che and said, “Junior Su, I can’t go on. My true energy is about to run out. Please help me.” “Take a few pills,” Su Che replied indifferently. Su Che had not forgotten that just moments ago, as he stepped onto the ladder, he had almost been pushed into the abyss by this jerk. Although he wasn’t a petty person who held grudges, he certainly wouldn’t go out of his way to help him. The guy replied with a pained expression, “There are many pills. I just ate a bunch of them, but I don’t have time to digest them!” “Your poor digestion is none of my business,” Su Che retorted sarcastically, not even bothering to look at him properly. “You…” The guy was stunned. His already pale face turned completely deathly gray—both from anger at Su Che and because his true energy was indeed running low. “Hurry up and keep moving, or the people behind you might push you down,” Su Che said, unconcerned about his reaction and urging him on again. If he were a good person, and without harming his own interests, Su Che thought it wouldn’t hurt to help him out. But given his character, why should he?

“Okay, okay, okay!” Madness flashed in that guy’s eyes. Though he hadn’t stopped walking, he quickly took out a deep purple sphere from his pouch with a motion of his hand. Gritting his teeth, he snarled, “If you don’t help me, we’ll both perish together! Do you know what I have here?”
Su Che glanced at it briefly and guessed it must be some kind of highly powerful thunder pearl. Back then, it was with such a pearl that the severely injured Zhen Zhen blew up a bald demon cultivator whose strength was nearly at the Golden Core stage into black ashes. At this critical moment, such an object indeed carried the threat of mutual destruction.
Su Che’s expression clearly changed as he frowned, showing hesitation.
“Hurry up! I can barely hold on anymore,” the guy shouted hoarsely, lowering his voice. “I’ll count to three. If you still don’t help me, we’re both done!”
His words scared the few Tianxuan Sect disciples following Su Che, who immediately slowed down, trying to create enough distance to avoid being dragged down by his misfortune.
As these people slowed down, those behind them were naturally displeased, leading to a chorus of low curses and urgent demands.
In such a critical situation, everyone was struggling to keep going, eager to leave this damned ladder as soon as possible…
“Very well.”
Su Che finally nodded. “I can help you, but…”
The guy in front relaxed slightly, thinking Su Che had finally given in. But then…
Bang! Crash!
Su Che launched an sudden attack. Using his qi-based grappling technique with his left hand, he seized the thunder pearl from the guy’s grasp in a surprise move. At the same time, he kicked hard with his right foot, striking the guy’s protective energy shield.
“Ah!”
That guy’s cultivation level was already weaker than Su Che’s, and he was now completely exhausted. He couldn’t withstand Su Che’s fierce assault. Just that single kick sent him flying, and mid-air, his protective energy shield dissipated like foam.
“Ah…”
Intense black raindrops fell upon him instantly, causing thick black smoke to rise from his body in an instant.
By the time he fell into the abyss, surrounded by thick mist and out of sight, he had turned into a terrifying skeleton in black and red. Yet he still screamed desperately, as if slaughtering a pig—proving just how horrible the pain of his flesh being corroded must be…

“A short pain is better than a long one; this is the best I can do to help you…” Su Che kept moving, finishing his unfinished sentence, and at the same time, put the lightning pearl he had just seized into his pocket. The few disciples of Tianxuan Sect behind him also remained silent, having no objections to Su Che’s actions, because if it were them, they would do the same. Though that guy was a descendant of the sect’s supreme leader, he was nothing but a troublemaker who brought no benefits at all…