As Victor’s gaze went to the sky, he spotted a bright light appear between the clouds that slowly illuminated everything around him. At that moment, as soon as the bright light appeared, Victor thought he saw the shadow of a palace in the sky.

It wasn’t long before he was convinced of what it was. It was a long staircase that led to the heavens, and its last step was on the road to the palace. The steps of the staircase were quite long and their color was unstained white.

‘System, this is the path to the legacy, right?’ Victor asked the system.

[Master, this is the first test of the ancient emperor, only the worthy can reach the top of the staircase.]

The moment the staircase was fully lined up and its structure was solid, Victor did not hesitate to step forward planting his feet firmly on the first step.

After stepping on the first step of the stairs, Victor suddenly found himself in another space. The forest he was in had disappeared from his sight, and only the clouds were left in his vision.

Victor anticipated that as soon as he took the first step he would feel a slight pressure falling on him or something like that, but to his genuine surprise he did feel…

Absolutely nothing.

It was an ordinary step and nothing more.  _.

Two steps… Six… Twelve… Forty-six…

The further he walked, the more surprised he became, the stairs seemed to make no effort to prevent Victor from ascending. He didn’t know whether or not the other contenders who had entered the secret realm were making an effort.

But his path turned out to be much smoother than he had previously anticipated.

Victor did not know that the first test left by the ancient emperor was not for each participant to make an enormous effort to reach the top, expressing their unbending will, but that it was a test of talent.

This test did not test one’s physique, but one’s talent for understanding. 

In order to enter the secret realm, the practitioner had to have a heavenly physique and in order to pass the first test he had to have a deep understanding, for the ancient emperor would not leave his heritage to a man who could not make full use of his heritage.

A few hours passed.

Looking at the long staircase leading to heaven, Victor sighed heavily, he had already walked at least ten thousand steps, but he had not yet met the end of the staircase. 

The stairs seemed endless.

‘I wonder how the others are doing.’ Victor thought before putting the thought out of his mind and continuing on his way.

**********

Victor didn’t know that the moment he found himself in the secret realm, he was lucky to be alone. Most of the cultivators from the previously gathered crowd were randomly forced to form small groups.

In some cases, it happened that one righteous cultivator was forced to pass the first test with several practitioners of the demonic path and bloodshed erupted as a result.

Just as demonic cultivators killed the righteous, so the righteous killed the demonic, sometimes it happened that the righteous cultivator killed their fellow cultivators of the righteous path and demonic cultivators killing other demonic cultivators wasn’t really anything weird either.

The thirst for inheritance and to freely swim across rivers like a crucian carp clouded the minds of many cultivators.

The cultivators of the demonic path could always be described as bloodthirsty, but the cultivators of the righteous way finally stopped being hypocritical at that moment and showed their true face.

Clearing a path through violence and killing was the easiest solution for many cultivators, who easily passed the first step.

BOOOMM!

There was a sudden scuffle on one of the many stairs, and everything would be normal, except that everyone on the stairs were cultivators of the righteous path, who rejected all evil.

“Damn it, take it! Ming Xiao, what are you doing?”

“Aren’t we on the same side?”

“Fucking hypocrite, if I survive everyone in this world will know your true face!”

Several furious screams fell on Ming Xiao.

The moment the practitioners found themselves in front of the stairs they were excited not only that the first test was much easier than they had imagined, but also that all the participants here were cultivators of the righteous path.

When the cultivators reached the hundredth step, most of them had already dropped out because they did not have enough strength and talent to pass. They felt as if something was blocking them and preventing them from rising further, all they could do was wait until the first step was over.

They were saddened to realize that it was only the first trial and that they had already failed, possibly forcing them to drop out so soon.

The remaining four contenders were beyond excited about this, even though they were the faces of the righteous path, the fewer rivals for the legacy the better it was for them.

Led by Ming Xiao, the three remaining cultivators continued on their way to the top of the stairs until they reached ten thousand steps.

At that moment, something happened that they could never have imagined.

The most righteous and kind-looking man suddenly killed one of them without any warning. It would have been all right if it hadn’t been Ming Xiao.

His usual calm expression suddenly changed to a bloodthirsty one, this man who seemed so familiar to them now looked like a stranger.

Ming Xiao snorted angrily:

“I didn’t want to do that, but now everything has changed. The demonic path has a genius who will soon shake the world and possibly unite the whole demonic path and bring a calamity on the common people.”

“I have no choice.”

The young cultivators looked at each other anxiously.

What he said made sense.

“Hahaha, are you trying to trick us? If you’re so righteous, why did you kill one of your own?” – The cultivator shouted angrily.

Ming Xiao’s words would have made sense if he had tried to knock out the people here or somehow immobilize them, but he chose the option that suited the people of the demonic path the most.

He killed him!

The remaining three cultivators were clearly shocked by what was happening, if they had been told about this before they definitely would not believe it, considering it a delusion but now they were wielding their swords and various other weapons against Ming Xiao, cautiously observing his movement.

Ming Xiao’s cultivation base was the strongest among those present, so the three cultivators gathered together, but even so, they feared not only that Ming Xiao would attack but also a sudden stab in the back.

This was the moment when their lives were hanging in the balance.

**********

Guys, I started writing my second novel “The Goddess Yandere Cursed Me” I suggest you read it!