Chapter 155 — The Pressure Stair

CHAPTER 155

The Pressure Stair

The stair stood beneath an open-sided hall north of the arena.

Forty broad steps rose toward a blank wall. Each had a numbered plate set into its edge, and the formation posts beside them carried pressure down toward anyone who climbed.

Lu Yong waited at the bottom while the twenty-seven candidates gathered.

“Your score is the highest step held for three breaths,” Lu Yong said. “You may descend when you choose. Falling below your last completed step does not erase that score. The protective formation prevents a failed attempt from crushing you.”

He pointed to the measuring plates.

“They record position and duration. Nothing more,” Lu Yong said.

Shi Feng looked up the stair. Good. He could decide what result he wanted without giving the apparatus access to anything beneath it.

A small board displayed the previous gathering's highest score: thirty-seven.

Xiahou Lie grinned when he saw it.

“Solid enough?” Xiahou Lie asked, tapping the first step with his heel.

“Try climbing before you break my floor,” Lu Yong replied.

The body cultivator laughed and took his place.

Yuan Kuang went first among the favourites.

He climbed twenty steps without pausing. His black armour creaked as the pressure rose, and a thin gold light gathered close to his shoulders. At twenty-eight, he shortened his stride. At thirty-two, he stopped long enough for the crowd to begin counting his breaths aloud.

He reached thirty-eight—one step beyond the previous tournament's standing record of thirty-seven.

The third breath came through clenched teeth as the stone beneath his boots groaned. When the thirty-eighth plate flashed gold, the hall erupted in cheers for Great Qin's crown prince.

Xiahou Lie followed.

His broad shoulders rolled once beneath the crushing weight. He advanced with less grace than Yuan Kuang, planting each foot flat until he reached thirty-seven—tying the old record for second place before coming down with sweat pouring along his jaw.

“Good floor,” Xiahou Lie said, grinning at Yuan Kuang.

Bai Chenxi reached thirty-four with her face pale and her breathing steady. Gongsun Ce completed thirty-two, studying the formation posts at each tier. Duan Yichen held thirty and descended rubbing both knees.

Gu Zhan took the steps two at a time until Lu Yong reminded him that the three-breath count was mandatory. The one-eyed youth slowed, completed thirty-six, spotted Nie Wufeng holding up a parcel of steamed buns in the gallery, and came straight down for breakfast.

Ling Qingzhu climbed next. Her white veil stayed still as she rose smoothly to thirty-five, held for three calm breaths without a tremor in her shoulders, and descended to an approving nod from Mu Shuyun.

Shi Feng's turn came near noon.

Nineteen candidates had already climbed; eight remained. He ascended the first twenty-five steps at an ordinary walking pace. As the array pressure multiplied past the thirty-second tier, a faint, unseen hum answered inside his frame—all two hundred and six completed golden bones and three hundred and sixty-five meridians bearing the load as if it were a spring breeze.

He passed Ling Qingzhu's thirty-five. He passed Gu Zhan's thirty-six and Xiahou Lie's thirty-seven without his stride shortening.

The hall went quiet.

At thirty-eight—Yuan Kuang's new record—Shi Feng didn't pause. He lifted his boot and stepped cleanly onto thirty-nine, a single step below the fortieth summit.

Yuan Kuang's hand tightened on his spear shaft. Up in the sect pavilion, Wei Chengyuan and He Zhen both leaned forward.

Shi Feng stood on the thirty-ninth step for three unhurried breaths. His back stayed straight, his breathing didn't quicken, and when the plate blazed gold to mark a new record across the thirty-two kingdoms, he glanced once at the fortieth step, left it untouched, and walked down the stair.

An astonished roar broke across the hall:

“Thirty-nine! A mid Foundation Establishment cultivator took thirty-nine!”

“He passed Great Qin's prince and stopped one step from the wall!”

“He wasn't even shaking—why didn't he take the fortieth step?”

The last suggestion amused him. The crowd had no way to distinguish a chosen stop from an inability to continue, and he wasn't responsible for helping it guess.

He had taken first on the stair and still kept the fortieth step in reserve.

Duan Yichen handed him a water cup at the bottom.

“You looked comfortable,” Duan Yichen said.

“The steps were level,” Shi Feng replied.

Duan Yichen looked back at the stair, then at his own knees.

“I'll remember that comfort next time they make me climb something,” Duan Yichen said.

Sima Lan completed twenty-nine later in the session. She needed the full allowance between attempts and descended with one hand braced against her thigh. Her result left little room for error in the remaining trials.

She read the board twice, made no complaint and asked an attendant when the illusion garden would open.

That seemed more useful than blaming the stair.

By afternoon, every candidate had a first score.

Han Zheng stood outside the barrier with his arms folded. Qiao Ping had left the tea stall under his nephew's care and come to see whether the steward's twenty stones were becoming an easier debt to collect.

Thirty-nine blazed at the top of the column beside Shi Feng's name.

Han Zheng pointed toward the two unfilled trial columns.

“One result,” Han Zheng said.

Qiao Ping nodded pleasantly.

“One result,” Qiao Ping replied. “I'll keep the money dry.”

Shi Feng heard them while returning his cup. He didn't look back.

Two attendants inspected the thirty-ninth plate after Shi Feng descended. Neither found a fault. Lu Yong waited for their nod before entering the score in ink. Yuan Kuang watched the brush finish, then turned toward the next court without disputing it. Xiahou Lie rubbed his shoulders and laughed. Someone stronger had climbed the same steps; complaining wouldn't make his own result higher.

The line moved again. A candidate behind Sima Lan asked to repeat an attempt, but the attendant pointed to the completed score and the posted rule. He went down to wait with everyone else.

The next trial would ask for a different kind of control.