Chapter 150 A Marathon
As the crowd witnessed Jiang Ming and Yang Liqin's shadow slowly vanishing from sight, they no longer dared to idle around.
"Hmph, if those two can run up casually, then this golden staircase might not seem as fathomable as it looks."
"You're right, why are we still idling around like some idiots? They already got a head start whereas we are still in the bottom."
With the crowd snapping out of their daze about the sudden test, everyone hurriedly agreed that they needed to chase after them.
Thus, one by one, the crowd started taking their first step on the golden staircase.
However, the moment they did that, they instantly regretted their action for believing the test to be easy.
Upon placing their foot on the staircase, some directly coughed up a mouthful of blood as they were swung outside. There were others that got a bit lucky and only had their face fall flat on the staircase.
"This- what the hell is going on?" An elder from the Lei Clan held a dumbfounded look as he caught up to the person that was swung away.
The person belonged to their Lei Clan, so he needed to make sure his condition was fine.
"What happened, Lei Hontei? Why were you thrown aside?" The elder asked in a panicked tone.
"T-The pressure was so strong when I took my first step…" Before Lei Hontei could relay his entire experience, his eyes turned white as he died on the spot.
His death shocked the crowd completely as they didn't expect the test could be so deadly.
Lei Hontei was just the first victim because, in the next minutes, numerous others had also been swung by the golden staircase and displayed the same result; vomiting blood and proceeding to speak a few words before dying in regret.
The scene was horrifying, to say the least. Never in their mind had they expected the test to be so deadly with such a high casualties rate.
"Just how did Jing and Yiqin manage to run like a marathon in such a deadly test?"
"As expected… they really aren't your typical cultivators. Their master must have been some peerless cultivators in the past and decided to go into hiding to avoid the public."
While the crowd was in awe of their skills, Jiang Ming and Yang Liqin were already at the top level of the Golden Staircase.
"Jing, is that the best you can do? I think another 30 or 50 steps more and I'll be at the finish line." Yang Liqin turned around and started teasing him.
Although there were only the two of them here, she didn't dare to risk it and call his real name aloud. Otherwise, it would be a huge blunder if someone were actually skillful enough to catch them. At that time, the only option for them was to kill the person who overheard their conversation or place him in mind control.
"Ugh, you are really terrible right now, Yiqin." Jiang Ming panted heavily as he placed both his hands on his knees, clearly trying to catch his breath.
"The pressure is nearly crushing my skulls, and here you are, still in the mood of teasing me." He added.
"Tch, don't try to fool me, Jing. You might look like you're dying from the pressure, but I'm sure you are just trying to distract me and make me lower my guard down." Yang Liqin sneered coldly.
She placed her hands on her hips and smirked, "I'm not dumb enough like that old fool Di Tianluo, who would fall for your act."
Hearing that, Jiang Ming casually wiped off the sweats on his forehead and sighed in defeat.
"Just how is this possible?" He pouted in annoyance. "I was pretty sure that you would definitely be concerned about me and come to assist me."
That's right, Jiang Ming was pretending to be overwhelmed by the gravitational pressure to earn some pity from Yang Liqin. Since she had taken a head start and retained her pace, it was near impossible for Jiang Ming to be able to overtake her.
After all, whenever he tried to increase his pace, Yang Liqin would increase her speed as well, maintaining the gap between them.
He crossed his arms and stood in place, "You're cheating, Yiqin. You should make this fair and come back down here, so we can restart the race."
Yang Liqin shrugged her shoulders.
"No can do, Jing. I'm going to continue running up, so you can stay there and pout like some kid." She said calmly.
She then turned around and began running up, not waiting for Jiang Ming any longer.
'Aunt, you are really ruthless and cold-blooded. How could you really ditch me when I'm acting all pitiful and sorrowful?' Jiang Ming twitched his mouth in disbelief.
He wanted to stop her with some more fake acting, but Yang Liqin's figure was slowly vanishing from sight, prompting him to hurriedly chase after her.
Seeing how she was being serious in the marathon, Jiang Ming could only try to ask the GLCS to boost his speed.
Ding!
<Player Jiang Ming should play the bet fair and square. Asking the GLCS for help is immoral of you>
–
"Immoral? Are you seriously joking with me right now?" Jiang Ming cursed while ascending the staircase.
How was he being immoral for trying to gain some boost?
It was clearly Yang Liqin who had cheated from the beginning.
Alas, there was no more response coming from the GLCS, so Jiang Ming could only reluctantly run the staircase, only to see Yang Liqin yawning at the finish line.
A deadly test that was dangerous for other people below was merely a walk in the park for Yang Liqin.
'Seriously… just how many secrets is aunt hiding from me?' Jiang Ming wondered silently. He couldn't help but recall the day when he had detected the Blood Curse on her body and used a pill to cure her.
'Did she even need my help to nullify the Blood Curse back then?'