Open up and break into another world

Luo Feng, Chen Wansong, and Song Jiahai were the strongest among all the Innate-stage geniuses, except for Xu Ming; however, they were not in a hurry to distance themselves from the other Innate-stage geniuses.

Not only the three of them, but the other stronger Innate-stage geniuses were also tacitly suppressing their speed.

The Mountain Gate Trial's true difficulty lies in the later stages! The ranking will also be determined in the later stages!

These stronger Innate-stage geniuses were all clever enough to conserve their energy while it was easy, and then truly exert themselves and compete for rankings in the later stages.

Thus, the group of Innate-stage geniuses uniformly maintained a steady pace, and soon, they crossed the five-thousand-step mark.

"After passing the five-thousand-step mark, the difficulty suddenly increased a lot!" Luo Feng exclaimed, but judging from his expression, he didn't seem to be under any pressure.

The difficulty of the Mountain Gate Trial is determined based on the bone age detected by the formation.

Luo Feng was young and had a high cultivation level, so of course, he wouldn't feel much pressure after just passing the five-thousand-step mark.

"Oh my, this old bone is about to fall apart!" Chen Wansong cried out.

Chen Wansong was already twenty years old, but his strength was not much stronger than Luo Feng's, so the pressure on him was naturally greater than on Luo Feng.

However...

"Old Chen, stop pretending; don't we know your strength?" Song Jiahai laughed, "If even you can't pass this Mountain Gate Trial, I'm afraid not many of the people behind us will be able to!"

Song Jiahai still had the mind to chat and laugh, indicating that she wasn't under much pressure either.

In fact, all the Innate geniuses were not under much pressure. After all, it was only five thousand steps; they had only completed the easiest half of the journey.

At this time, many powerful Half-Innate individuals had also crossed the three-thousand-step mark.

Crossing three thousand steps meant that they were already qualified to become outer sect disciples of the Barbaric Sect!

However, how could these powerful Half-Innate individuals be content with just being outer sect disciples? Of course, they had to fight for a chance to reach the top of the mountain!

At the same time, some weaker Inner Strength Completion cultivators, upon reaching one or two thousand steps, were already starting to struggle.

Those who knew their limits, after looking at the distance between themselves and the three-thousand-step mark, immediately made the wise choice to give up and retreat safely.

As for those who were arrogant and unwilling to give up, even though they were clearly almost at their limit, they stubbornly insisted on going up. As a result, some vomited blood and fainted, while others fell directly off the steps, their fate unknown.

"Look, that 'Palm God' Xu Ming really has something special!"

"That's right! He's clearly not at the Innate stage, but he's able to keep up with the pace of the Innate geniuses! A well-deserved reputation; he really has some ability!"

Naturally, no one knew that Xu Ming was already an Innate martial artist, and a rather powerful one at that.

There were always some jealous voices: "I estimate that Xu Ming is just barely holding on and risking his life to keep up! Just watch, he'll soon be unable to keep up!"

"Unable to keep up? I hope he falls to his death!" Ma Wei Bai cursed viciously.

"He will fall to his death! He will fall to his death!" Ma Shaobai also gritted his teeth in anger.

In Ma Shaobai's view, if it weren't for Xu Ming, how comfortable would he, the young master of the Ma family, be? How could he have fallen to his current state?

Like his sister, he desperately wanted Xu Ming to fall down and die immediately, to relieve the hatred in their hearts.

"Die! Die! Die!" The Ma family head, Ma Shaobai, and Ma Wei Bai all silently repeated the curse.

At the end of the ten-thousand-step staircase, on the mountain peak, the young man hidden under the green robe, his eyes flashed with a fierce look: "Heh, he can actually keep up with the Innate team without showing any signs of strain? He does have some ability! But…"

Under the green robe, a mocking and playful expression appeared, and then, he glanced at Hu Zhenyu, who was controlling the formation.

Hu Zhenyu immediately understood.

"Hehe, kid, don't blame me for being ruthless! You can only blame yourself for standing on the opposite side of us; therefore, you should die!"

Hu Zhenyu manipulated the Mountain Gate Trial's grand formation, sensing every detail of the formation.

Every genius who challenged the Mountain Gate Trial was represented as a point of light, constantly moving on the formation. Soon, Hu Zhenyu locked onto the point of light representing Xu Ming.

"It's him!" Hu Zhenyu's eyes revealed a sinister look, "Let's choose the six-thousandth step as the location to strike!"

The six-thousandth step was another watershed moment.

Many Inner Strength Completion and Half-Innate martial artists would collapse upon reaching the six-thousandth step.

Therefore, Hu Zhenyu felt that choosing the six-thousandth step to strike was very reasonable.

"Haha, six thousand steps, I can indeed feel a little pressure now!" Luo Feng was the first to step onto the six-thousandth step.

This level of difficulty, which could only threaten Half-Innate individuals, was truly just a little pressure for Luo Feng, who was at the mid-Innate stage.

Luo Feng couldn't help but look back.

The Innate-stage geniuses successively crossed the six-thousand-step mark, all with normal expressions.

Chen Wansong and Song Jiahai couldn't help but look over as well; they also wanted to see if Xu Ming could remain calm and composed like the Innate-stage geniuses.

Xu Ming stepped onto the six-thousandth step.

But at that moment, Xu Ming's expression changed drastically!

"How can it be? How can it be so strong!?"

Xu Ming felt that the gravity exerted on him had suddenly increased by an unknown number of times. At the same time, the mental attacks that were originally like a gentle stream to him suddenly became like raging waves.

"Impossible!!"

Xu Ming's first reaction was that it couldn't be this strong!

If the six-thousandth step was this strong, Xu Ming really doubted whether anyone could pass this Mountain Gate Trial!

Moreover…

Xu Ming clearly saw that the Innate martial artists who had previously stepped onto the six-thousandth step all had normal expressions, indicating that they couldn't have encountered the same pressure as him.

After all, he should be the one who was passing the Mountain Gate Trial the easiest among all the geniuses!

Even he had a drastic change in expression and almost couldn't bear it; how could the other geniuses be safe and sound?

"Damn it!" Xu Ming immediately reacted, "Someone must be plotting against me!"

When both feet stepped onto the six-thousandth step, Xu Ming's entire body sank involuntarily, and his mind was even more dazed.

He seemed to feel that in the air above his head, there was something incomparably heavy and invisible, pressing down on him both physically and mentally.

Xu Ming's expression happened to be seen by Luo Feng, Chen Wansong, and Song Jiahai. The three of them revealed surprised expressions and secretly transmitted their voices to each other.

"It shouldn't be!" Chen Wansong was undoubtedly the eldest brother among the three, "This Xu Ming can even defeat inner sect disciples, he shouldn't feel such great pressure at the six-thousandth step! Even if he feels pressure, it should at least be at the nine-thousandth step!"

The stage from the nine-thousandth to the ten-thousandth step was the most difficult!

Even Innate martial artists would feel great pressure. As for Half-Innate martial artists, perhaps only one or two with extremely strong bodies and extremely tenacious wills could possibly pass.

"I also find it strange!" Song Jiahai also said, "Xu Ming was fine just now, not even panting. How could he change so much as soon as he stepped onto the six-thousandth step?"

Luo Feng sneered: "What's so strange about this? The situation must be like this—just now, Xu Ming was pretending to be strong! Now, once he reached the six-thousand-step mark, he could no longer hold on; the problems he was desperately holding back earlier all erupted at once!"