It took Su Ping less than one minute to climb all the stairs; he was so fast he seemed to be running on a flat field.
Everybody reacted after Su Ping disappeared into the mist on the other side beyond the stairs. They were green with envy.
If the stairs are set as a test of the divine residence, wouldn’t that Star State guy get all the treasures in it?
“There are so many Star Lords here, yet someone in the Star State is taking advantage of us?”
“It’s hard to say. The three Ascendant State experts couldn’t have missed the legacies here.”
“Cut the crap. The problem is, how are we going to get there?”
All the Star Lords felt a headache.
Up on the stairs—a grim purple-robed young man was trembling with fury. He could accept the failure of the competition for the Tree of Laws, since he didn’t want to expose his biggest trump card for something that wasn’t worthy enough.
However, he had failed again while his aptitude was being tested on the stairs!
There were no excuses this time. He had been completely crushed!
On the other end of the stairs.
Su Ping looked at the divine residence, which seemed so distant that it seemed as if it were thousands of kilometers away a moment earlier, but tangible and close at hand at that moment.
The construction was magnificent. Su Ping concentrated divine power on his eyes and saw traps in many places.
They were ancient traps built with arrays. He felt able to crack some of them, but the others were too perplexing.
Is this the divine residence? There are no legacies here?
Su Ping looked around and didn’t see any of the sort. If there were, shouldn’t there be some sort of guidance for him since he had passed the stair test?
He waited for a moment, but nothing happened; he couldn’t help but feel regretful.
But Su Ping wasn’t too sad. After all, the three Ascendants had entered that divine residence earlier, and might have already claimed the legacies.
It would be unrealistic to take advantage of experts of that caliber, finding treasures they missed.
Su Ping shook his head. It was fine if no legacies were available; any trip would be worth it as long as he could find anything valuable.
It would be even more profitable if he found something more precious than the Tree of Laws!
Su Ping looked at the other end of the stairs, only to find that the mist blocked his senses; it seemed to contain some sort of special energy.
He couldn’t see the leader girl or the other Star Lords. He shook his head, feeling lucky that the other treasure hunters had been unable to enter.
He withdrew his gaze and walked into the square up ahead.
The place was extremely vast and clean, surrounded by bodies floating all around like a hellish scene, but the square was in fact clean, with unworldly clouds drifting everywhere.
After he walked only several steps, a cold and angry roar came from behind him. “Hey!”
Su Ping looked back, only to see the purple-robed young man glaring at him by the stairs.
The poor sod looked truly wretched; his luxurious purple robe, which seemed to be a secret treasure, was already ragged. His neat hair also became fluffy, just like a rockstar. His pants had been torn apart too, revealing his blackened thighs and even part of his butt.
“Huh? What can I do for you?” Su Ping appeared to be absolutely harmless.
The young man’s lips twitched. What can you do? You surpassed me!
“Remember my name. I am Xing He!” said the haughty fellow with a gloomy expression, adding word for word, “One day, I will challenge you again and beat you!”
“Okay,” Su Ping replied, uninterested. He thought it was about something else.
You want to beat me? Not going to happen.
Also, why would I give you a chance to challenge me? Is there any bonus for beating you again?
Okay… The purple-robed young man almost vomited blood when he heard Su Ping’s reply. Is that how a man was supposed to reply to a challenge? Common sense dictates that geniuses should cherish each other. He should’ve said ‘I’ll wait for you to challenge me!’
If he were more arrogant, he could have added a ‘you’ll fail again when you meet next time!’
Although the young man would’ve been angered by that, he would have replied coldly, ‘Things change. Just you wait!’
Still, all I got was an “okay”? What’s the meaning of that?
The greatest insult was indifference.
“You will regret your arrogant attitude!” Xing He gnashed his teeth.
“?”
Su Ping felt a bit confused. Why am I arrogant? Who’s being arrogant here? You, a Fate State warrior, are challenging Void State guy like me, yet you’re saying I’m arrogant?
“I’ll be on my way if that is all.” Su Ping would rather spend the time on treasure hunting than chattering senselessly.
Su Ping wouldn’t have even minded finishing the guy off right then and there, so that he wouldn’t cause any trouble in the future—were it not for his big stash of lifesaving trump cards… It remained unknown if he could become a troublemaker.
“!!”
Xing He gloomily watched as Su Ping turned around and walked away. He clenched his fists so hard they almost broke.
He had never been completely ignored before; that was usually how he treated the proud talents he defeated. And yet, he was the one who became the object of ridicule that day.
How humiliating!
Xing He gazed at Su Ping’s back and swore, “Just wait for it! When I reach the Star State, I will step on your head, then have you kneel and beg for mercy!”
He didn’t waste any time, either; he turned around and left.
He suddenly thought of something after taking a few steps.
The stairs felt like a test. Then, where’s the reward for that test?
Did Su Ping already claim it?
That couldn’t be the case. Although surpassed, he used a lot of trump cards and quickly caught up to Su Ping; he didn’t see the latter picking up any sort of legacy.
“It seems that the stair test was not set to choose an heir, but just to screen out unqualified visitors. That makes sense. If there were any legacies available, the three Ascendants surely claimed them already.” Xing He was slightly relieved.
If Su Ping would have obtained a legacy, it would probably be impossible for him to beat him someday, and he would have bragged about it.
The more proud someone was, the less they would boast.
Only those who were incapable of achieving their goals could enjoy bragging about themselves.
Once he thought that, Xing He chose not to stay and moved to the opposite side of Su Ping’s direction.
“Huh?”
Su Ping walked for a moment and suddenly shivered. A mist appeared before his eyes; it soon disappeared, revealing that he was in the middle of a peach orchard.
Flower fragrances were intense in that spot. Su Ping was surprised by the relocation. Was that a hidden teleportation array?
Or is it an illusion array?
He observed the peach orchard and found it to be very real.
He cautiously moved forward, soon finding a tombstone; the place became creepy the moment he laid eyes on it.
Su Ping focused his eyes on the tombstone. He couldn’t read all the ancient divine characters inscribed, but he recognized one of them, which seemed to be “Heaven.”
The peace orchard suddenly faded when he gazed at the tombstone. The pink peach blossoms lost their color and became gray; an intense air of death arose from the bottom of the trees and turned into vague ghosts.
The pink blossoms instantly fell and withered on the ground.
Once the flowers fell, Su Ping immediately saw a lot of tombs in the peach orchard, besides the trees that looked like dry bodies.
The place was a graveyard!
Ghosts? Once he looked at the shape of a person that had just been consolidated, Su Ping frowned and summoned the Little Skeleton.
That place was a divine residence anyway. He wouldn’t dare to be careless, for he had but one life.
The Little Skeleton emitted a powerful aura like the king of the dead the moment it appeared. Crimson light surfaced in its eyes as it coldly looked down at the ghosts.
Still, the ghosts didn’t seem to be fazed by this, and continued to surround them.
Su Ping circulated his astral power, ready for battle.
But exactly at this moment, a feeble voice came from far away. “What year is it?”
The voice was uttered telepathically into Su Ping’s head; he was able to understand the meaning it meant to convey.
He was stunned for a moment, but then looked at a ghost who looked like a hunched old man. The voice originated from him.
What made Su Ping become solemn was that the old man was standing there like an indestructible mountain that could block anything!
“This is Year 5694, Seventh Eon of the Federal Calendar!” said Su Ping.
He had obtained the information via the Lord Badge back on Rhea. It was also the universal way of counting years for human beings.
“Federal Calendar… What’s that? Is the Twilight Deity King still alive?” asked the old man via telepathy again.
Su Ping was confused. “Twilight Deity King? Is he the master of this place?”
“That is correct.”
“Well, I don’t think so. This divine residence was already abandoned long ago. I heard that it surfaced from deep space because some barriers loosened. This place has nothing but ruins,” said Su Ping truthfully. Since the ghosts were willing to communicate, he preferred to avoid wasting his astral power to fight them.
“Abandoned?”
The ghosts around him seemed to tremble in shock after his response.
Aura of death rippled on the old man, as if feeling greatly disturbed. It wasn’t until a moment later that he finally calmed down and said, “So, you’re an intruder that’s here for treasures?”
Intruder?
Su Ping found the word aggressive and had a bad feeling about it. He quickly said, “I’m not an intruder, and I didn’t come here for any malicious purposes. Allow me to apologize if I disrupted your rest.”
“I see refined divine power in you, and you’re also a human. Don’t worry; we won’t give you a hard time,” said the old man.
His voice carried the tone of death, but he sounded gentle and caring. “Human beings should be united now that we’re on the decline. We mustn’t fight amongst ourselves. Now that you’ve come here, it is your fate to inherit whatever legacies the Twilight Deity King left behind. It will be great if another Deity King emerges and leads the rise of humankind!”
Su Ping was a lot more relaxed to find that he wasn’t malicious. He asked curiously, “Human beings are declining? Right now, we’re the strongest species in the universe; we’ve colonized countless planets and turned beasts, ghosts and aliens into pets. We’re not as weak as we used to be.”
“The strongest species in the universe?”
Not just the old man, the other ghosts were obviously stirred, too. They didn’t know what “universe” meant, but they understood that it was the greatest world through their telepathic communication.
“The strongest species” was easier to understand. Did human beings already become the strongest species?
“Are—Are you serious?” The old man rippled and spoke in a trembling voice.
Su Ping was stunned. “Yes.”
That was what he had learned from the Lord Badge.
Humankind was the dominating race of the whole universe at the moment!
“I didn’t know that the day would really come…”
“Finally, the long-awaited age of prosperity has arrived…”
“Our sacrifice was not in vain!”
“The Twilight Deity King is gone. He must have blocked the Heavenly Pit by sacrificing his life in the end. He exchanged himself for this age of prosperity. Haha…”
All the ghosts trembled violently at that moment. Some were letting out creepy noises that sounded both like sobs and laughter, but what they said was quite touching.
Some were also laughing madly as if they would have lost their minds.
“Human beings are no longer as insignificant as ants. We don’t have to look up to other species anymore. Hahaha…”
The old man laughed and then wiped his tears; although he didn’t have any, being a spectre. He was simply doing it unconsciously.
Su Ping was shocked by their reactions. He could deeply feel the excited atmosphere amongst them.
Learning about the age of prosperity is this shocking?
After regaining control of himself, the old man thanked Su Ping, “Thank you. Thank you for bringing such good news to us…”
The other ghosts also offered their thanks.
Su Ping was overwhelmed; he had expected a fierce battle, not a joyful celebration.
“I didn’t expect that I could get to see the age of prosperity in the future. We can die without regrets!”
“Yes, no more regrets!”
“Our lives were worth it!”
All the ghosts declared in excitement.
“This is the Divine Peach Orchard where the Twilight Deity King buried us. Unfortunately, all the peach trees withered over the years while nurturing our souls. We’ll soon be gone and enter the Otherworld,” said the old man to Su Ping.
Su Ping then realized what had happened to the dry and blackened trees.
“Senior, do you know how I can leave this place?” asked Su Ping courteously.
“That’s easy.” The old man raised his hand and waved. Then, a crack appeared, showing the divine residence outside. He looked at the magnificent divine residence with affection in his eyes. “Given our ghostly nature, we dare not taint the Deity King’s place of rest. You can get out through this passage.”
Su Ping then relaxed and quickly thanked him.
“Now that you’re here, the Twilight Deity King must be truly gone, but his divine residence still stands. I know where his treasury is. You can go there and see if there are any treasures that haven’t been worn out by time yet. You would be doing those marvelous items a favor if you can make them glow again.” The old man heaved a sigh.