Chapter Fifty-Two: Resonance of the Human Ladder
Unlike spiritual cultivators, who are divided into inner and outer disciples based on their cultivation realm, body cultivators are judged solely on the strength of their physical bodies, measured by their progress on the Three Steps of Heaven, Earth, and Man.
Those striving on the Man Step are all considered outer disciples; those who can withstand the Earth Step become inner disciples. Should one, by their own strength alone, ascend the Heaven Step, it signifies that their fleshly might is enough to rival spiritual cultivators at the Golden Core or even early Nascent Soul stage. Armed with weapons made for body cultivators, they could even battle mid- or late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators with nothing to fear—such is their terrifying combat power.
Just as in the recent outer sect competition, when Shang Yu and Lu Zifeng, both unarmed, fought to a draw, their cultivation level, if measured by spiritual standards, would be at most the eighth layer of Qi Refinement. Yet, simply because they were monstrous body cultivators, they managed to break through layer after layer of challengers, making it to the top ten amidst countless ninth layer and even consummate Qi Refinement teams.
Of course, body cultivation comes with obvious drawbacks. Besides the hardship and pain, their progress is much slower than that of spiritual cultivators.
...
With his cultivation sealed by Elder Qing, Gu Xiaopang had already been training in the Body Pavilion for over two months without returning to either the Pill Pavilion or the Artifact Pavilion.
During this period, Master Mu Laohuo of the Pill Pavilion, Master Nangong Xun of the Artifact Pavilion, Elder Gu Lao Wu of the Five Peaks, and several other high-ranking figures had all, more than once, cast their gazes this way, but none had disturbed him in the slightest.
Even Pavilion Master Chen Shiming of the Body Pavilion, who had not paid much attention to Gu Xiaopang’s efforts at first, now looked at him with a markedly different expression.
...
The Three Steps of Heaven, Earth, and Man had existed since the founding of the Misty Sect, created at great cost by the sect’s founding ancestor, who had commissioned a famed array master within the region specifically for a beloved disciple unable to practice spiritual cultivation.
Each step consists of a hundred broad stone stairs, laid from the base to the summit of the Six Peaks in three great segments.
At this moment, Gu Xiaopang stood on the ninety-ninth stair of the Man Step—a threshold that had halted nearly ninety percent of the Body Pavilion’s disciples.
Counting Gu Xiaopang, there were no fewer than a hundred people at the ninety-ninth stair: some sat cross-legged to adjust their breath, others tentatively reached a foot toward the hundredth stair, probing its challenge...
When Gu Xiaopang, a spiritual cultivator, first came to attempt the Man Step, not a single body cultivator believed he would succeed.
A day passed, a week, even half a month, and still, no one held out hope.
But after nearly a month, Gu Xiaopang struggled past countless peers and set foot on the watershed ninety-ninth stair. From that moment, no body cultivator dared look down on him; all were moved by his perseverance.
Only those who trained their bodies knew just how hard, how nearly impossible, it was to set foot on that ninety-ninth stair.
“Do you think Senior Brother Gu will trigger the resonance of the Man Step again?”
“I don’t know. He’s been stuck on the ninety-ninth stair for three days now.”
“It’s not so easy to trigger the resonance. Even stepping onto the hundredth stair is a feat. To stand there and endure the crushing weight for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense—no one dares even dream of it.”
...
Watching Gu Xiaopang rise from his meditative adjustment, countless body cultivators murmured and speculated.
After casting a solemn glance at the nearby hundredth stair, Gu Xiaopang raised his leg once more and, with great effort, stepped upward.
...
Like the repulsion of two magnets, Gu Xiaopang’s foot, descending in midair, shook violently, his teeth grinding audibly.
His flushed little face was tight with strain; in his heart, he roared with determination. Finally, after a fierce tremor, his foot landed solidly on the hundredth stone stair.
Resting for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Gu Xiaopang began to lift his other leg, poised for the final push.
“Look! Senior Brother Gu is trying again!”
“Will he be thrown off like before?”
“Let’s hope not.”
...
Under everyone’s gaze, Gu Xiaopang’s raised leg hovered in the air, trembling, muscles twisting and knotting.
With a shout, his face now drained of color, Gu Xiaopang’s teeth nearly shattered with the force, but with great difficulty, he set his other foot on the hundredth stair...
One breath, two breaths, three breaths... eight breaths passed—and then, his violently shuddering figure was once again flung dozens of meters down.
“What a pity.”
“Senior Brother Gu, are you all right?”
“He’s already much stronger than before. This time, he lasted a full eight breaths!”
...
Thrown to the bottom, Gu Xiaopang was helped up by fellow body cultivators. Swallowing a healing pill, he began adjusting his breathing once more...
Two days later, recovered, Gu Xiaopang launched himself at the hundredth stair again!
...
Time flew by. After attacking the hundredth stair more than twenty times, though his spiritual energy had been sealed for three months and he had not cultivated it intentionally, Gu Xiaopang’s spirit—already far surpassing his peers—could clearly sense that as his meridians were further tempered, his reserves of true qi were growing thicker than before, and the speed at which his spiritual energy condensed into liquid had multiplied many times over under the constant pressure of the Man Step.
It seemed Gu Xiaopang’s relentless efforts had sparked something in the others. Countless body cultivators, previously occupied with other matters, now flocked to the Man Step. Like men possessed, they threw themselves into repeated attempts, adjusting their breath, and trying again...
Driven by this sense of competition, an untold number of body cultivators broke through their previous limits in a short span, reaching two, three, even seven or eight stairs higher than before...
At this time, disciples from the other seven peaks, both inner and outer sect, were once again awed by Gu Xiaopang’s relentless spirit!
“Senior Brother Gu, I’m coming!”
“Senior Brother Gu, me too!”
...
Countless spiritual cultivators, whether stuck at a bottleneck or simply wishing to follow in Senior Brother Gu’s footsteps, also joined the ranks at the Man Step where Gu Xiaopang was striving.
...
Time slipped by like a white horse passing a crack.
Half a year later, one morning as the purple qi drifted in from the east, Gu Xiaopang stood once more, and in silence, solemnly raised his leg toward the hundredth stair.
Countless disciples watched as, with his first step, Gu Xiaopang—his body seemingly coated with a thin layer of golden lacquer—calmly lifted his other foot again...
“One breath, two breaths, three breaths...”
“How long do you think Senior Brother Gu can hold this time?”
“I don’t know. Let’s watch carefully.”
“Mm.”
...
“Boom!”
With a deep, resounding peal of an ancient bell reverberating across all seven peaks, there was no one in the sect who did not know—at the Body Pavilion, another formidable cultivator had triggered the resonance on the Man Step with sheer physical might, drawing all eyes in awe.
As the bell sounded, they saw Gu Xiaopang standing steady atop the hundredth stair, his fleshly aura visibly rising, a dark golden radiance enrobing him, making all who saw it burn with envy.
“Well done, Senior Brother Gu!”
“Incredible!”
...
In that moment, countless disciples on every stair—spiritual or body cultivators alike—witnessed the scene with their own eyes, and the entire sect erupted in thunderous cheers.
...