Chapter 881.1: A ten-thousand-year life in one minute (Part 1)

Bai Zemin didn't care if the treasure waiting for a worthy master at the top of the Staircase to Heaven was a sword, a chest armor, or a seemingly useless stone. All he needed to know was that at the top was a Demigod grade treasure, that alone was enough for him to know that he needed to get it no matter what.

More importantly, what Bai Zemin could not allow at any cost was allowing the Demon Lord or any of his lackeys to obtain the treasure at the peak of the staircase. Even if the treasure was not intended for direct battle, neither Lilith nor anyone else could rule out the possibility that the treasure had some skill attached to it capable of tilt the balance of the combat towards its owner.

He glanced over his shoulder at Seraphina and the rest of the evolvers before calmly saying, "I'll go first. You guys follow close behind me."

Most humans had already charged towards the staircase, some of them had already failed once or several times but still continued to try, repeatedly failing each time faster than the previous attempt while others were still persisting and advancing at their own pace.

Behind Bai Zemin, there were only a handful of soul evolvers compared to the hundreds before. King Philip, King Felix, Queen Eloise, King Edward, King Antson, King Antony, King Antony, Queen Ingrid, King Colin, Princess Dianna, Princess Bianca, Princess Seraphina, Princess Ellis, Zilug, Mei Lin, Liam, Evans, Gu Lim, and two more princes and two more princesses.

When Bai Zemin took the first step forward, many eyes that were already paying attention to each of his every move immediately focused completely on him.

"Look, Bai Zemin and his main group are advancing to challenge the staircase!"

"How far do you think they will go?"

"I don't know, but I don't feel like risking them taking the treasure."

"Same here, I'll go first."

The different groups began to talk to each other, but 90% of them immediately took off walking towards the staircase.

"Hmph, showing off. Didn't even stop to study the situation for five minutes but already wants to rush into battle? As if it was that easy." sneered the demon general Dezgard, feeling that Bai Zemin and his group would surely be humiliated soon for trying to be the center of attention.

Actually, Dezgard was one of the demon generals who hated Bai Zemin the most. He was among those with the most explosive temper among the demons, but Bai Zemin had humiliated him a week ago and therefore he couldn't wait to see his hated human enemy fail miserably at every step he took.

"Idiot, do you think a little general demon like you can comprehend the greatness of big brother Bai? Before you criticize others get to thinking if you have the qualifications to do so!" Gu Lim spat on the ground and raised his middle finger towards the group of demons.

Gu Lim deeply admired Bai Zemin in addition to feeling tremendously grateful to him. Bai Zemin not only stepped forward to help in a battle that did not concern him at all but never put on airs despite his strength but was in fact humble enough to offer to stand guard all night all for the sake of letting others rest comfortably.

Princess Bianca, who also felt deep admiration for Bai Zemin, as well as gratitude, looked at the demon general Dezgard over her shoulder and said with a complicated expression on her face, "Those who like to be posers are usually just pitiful existences who feel inferior and are afraid that others will think of them as insignificant."

She was saying those words from her own experience, because she used to be that kind of person until she met Bai Zemin and began to change.

Demon general Dezgard was furious. Two little Second Order soul evolvers were trying to give him life lessons and humiliate him? The world might collapse too! It seemed that the demon race was losing too much prestige to the point where the ants were now openly challenging them!

Just as Dezgard was about to say something else, a cold voice stopped him from continuing.

"That's enough, Dezgard."

Dezgard looked to his side in surprise, "Your Majesty..."

The Demon Lord watched as Bai Zemin and his group stepped onto the first, then the second followed by the third step of the Staircase to Heaven with no apparent problem. His expression was as cold as ice and the more he looked at that person's back the more the feeling of discomfort grew in his heart, something he hated even more than being challenged.

"Let's move." The Demon Lord commanded, taking the first step forward and beginning his own trial

All the demon generals followed closely behind him, even the giant wyvern had no trouble as the staircase was truly enormous to the point where the beast whose width was even larger than Zilug's body looked small in comparison.

Bai Zemin had disregarded everyone and everything, his only focus was the step in front of him and nothing but the step in front of him. He forgot his enemies, he forgot the treasure, he forgot the steps he left behind.

He didn't realize when, but at some point, he had stepped over 2000 steps and at this moment he was first. It was then that his foot steps stopped for the first time since he stepped on the stairs when he felt two strange fluctuations in his body, one of those fluctuations pointed to his heart and the other to his soul.

Raising his head, Bai Zemin saw that there were no more backs to see on the upper steps, and looking back over his shoulder, he saw that some of those who had been following him had stayed behind.

Bai Zemin didn't know if it was because of those two fluctuations that assaulted his body and spirit, but for some reason he couldn't help but, for the first time since the beginning of the apocalypse, felt a little lonely.

Even though he didn't know the princes and princesses who had been left behind, even though he shouldn't care if the others were able to keep up with him or not, a strange glint flashed in his eyes as he saw Gu Lim, Princess Bianca, Princess Dianna, and some kings of kingdom gritting their teeth as they struggled to take one more step.

It was then that Bai Zemin finally understood part of the reason why the Soul Record put them to this test. He looked down further, and noticing the expressions of surprise and admiration on the faces of some of the soul evolvers, he couldn't help but sigh.

After a brief glance towards the demon race group, Bai Zemin did not bother with them and instead looked at Seraphina and the rest.

"I will continue forward."

"You go ahead, don't worry about us." Seraphina had a bright smile on her face for some reason.

"Mm." Bai Zemin nodded, and as he turned around, he threw something back.

Gu Lim was surprised to see the small shiny object flying in his direction and subconsciously reached out a hand forward to catch it. However, when the records of the object flashed in his retina, he couldn't help but gasp and look at Bai Zemin's back in shock.

"Big brother, you..."

"Don't forget our conversation earlier, Gu Lim." Bai Zemin said stepping on step number 2002 now. "I can count on you, right?"

Gu Lim's expression became as serious as never before in his life. He tightly clenched the small object and shouted loudly, "Leave it to me! Even if I die, I will definitely do it!"

This was the first time Bai Zemin asked him for help regarding something, Gu Lim was determined to succeed even if it cost him his life in the end.

"I'd rather you didn't die though." Bai Zemin muttered, now stepping on step number 2005 and continuing forward.

Ellis looked at Gu Lim and said a little jealous, "Why is Bai Zemin entrusting something to you and not me?"

"Or better yet, to me!" Seraphina was not willing to be left behind.

Gu Lim laughed dryly and said in a mysterious voice, "I'm afraid this is something that only I, the great and super mega handsome Gu Lim is capable of doing!"

"We better not waste our time with this guy." Princess Bianca rolled her eyes and continued to move forward albeit with some difficulty.

"Haha..." Seraphina laughed in a good-natured chuckle and with her eyes fixed on the person leading the way she settled to follow him to the bitter end.

Ellis simply shook her head and as she raised her head to look at Bai Zemin beyond step number 2015 she also got ready to continue.

Those who could no longer continue looked at the advancing group with surprised expressions on their faces.

"Don't they feel fear in their hearts? Especially the human named Bai Zemin and Demon Lord Ar'gon, their steps are as firm as the first one they took." Murmured a pixie who after reaching the 1500th step was forced to stop.

They had all felt a kind of terrifying aura cover their hearts as soon as they stepped on the Staircase to Heaven, and from the first step they had to exert a lot of effort to continue moving forward. However, Bai Zemin and the Demon Lord never wavered with every step they took.

"The concept of fear is different for everyone, there is no way to explain what is happening exactly." Said the pixie king, patting the shoulder of his companion who could no longer continue before moving on.

"I wonder who will be braver between the two of them hehe..." The pixie princess directly ran past her father as she flapped her wings happily.

"Scarlet, you..." The old pixie king really didn't know what to do with this daughter and so while sighing he had no choice but to continue in silence as he struggled against the two fluctuations, still trying to figure out what the purpose of the fluctuation sweeping his soul was.

By the time he reached the 3000th step, Gu Lim was sweating all over. He gritted his teeth and continued to push himself, but when he stepped on step number 3012, a strong pressure flooded his body and his knees were about to touch the ground as his bones creaked.

He was in some sort of illusion with his body surrounded by flames that devoured his skin and flesh, causing his brain to interpret it as something real that was causing him a great deal of unimaginable pain.

"Hey, are you okay?" Princess Bianca asked, her body was also bathed in sweat but she seemed to be able to keep going.

"Agh, damn it! Forget it, I'll stay here. You guys go on, go on without me!" Gu Lim waved his hand in shooing and was about to let himself fall when he heard a voice beside him.

"Heh, trash is still trash after all."

Demon general Dezgard muttered through gritted teeth. He stepped on step number 3012 with great difficulty and sneered at Gu Lim, but when he stepped on step number 3013 his expression changed as he was engulfed in an illusion where thousands of mutant beasts were biting and tearing at his body, which made him kneel down heavily.

Gu Lim was stubborn despite his mischievous attitude. Hearing the demon general's taunt, he gritted his teeth and with great difficulty crawled on the ground, he ignored his appearance and gritted his teeth to the point of bleeding as his bones creaked for every millimeter he advanced.

"Idiot, stop!"

"Gu Lim, stop!"

...

Gu Lim didn't seem to hear the voices of his teammates. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the demon general Dezgard who glared at him from above.

He refused to let a demon defeat him, he could not allow his race and above all the person he admired to be humiliated like this!

The demon general Dezgard's expression changed when the human managed to put a hand on step number 3013.

"Give it up already, you stubborn good-for-nothing." He mocked trying to disturb his opponent: "If you keep fighting against the staircase you will die not before you pee in front of everyone. Do you want to put all your human friends to shame just before they are all get buried forever?"

Gu Lim felt as if his whole body was going to turn to dust soon even though there was actually no wound at all. Even though his subconscious knew it was all an illusion, when the fear and pressure reached a certain point it was hard to distinguish between the real and the fake. Even then, he persisted and as he stared at the demon general Dezgard crawled like a broken worm until he was face to face beside him.

"This... is the most... you'll ever get against me.... a draw.... " Gu Lim gritted his teeth, and just as his body was enveloped by a golden light and ejected from the staircase, he reached to say his last words, "Because soon I will personally take it upon myself to rip your head off!"

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