Thick violet thunder surged below the stairway like a tidal wave, rumbling violently.
On the three hundred and thirty-third step, Xu Cheng slowly stood up.
Clenching his fists, a hint of ecstasy flickered across his face.
In just nine days, with the shattering sound he had just heard, the bottleneck within him had also broken — he had reached Level 70.
All he needed now was a soul ring to officially become a Soul Sage.
Throughout history, the step from Soul Emperor to Soul Sage had always been a major hurdle — a true transformation. Changes in the body, in soul power, and most importantly… the awakening of the Martial Soul True Body.
"Once I obtain the soul ring and become a Soul Sage, I can begin condensing a soul core," Xu Cheng muttered, gazing over the churning sea of thunder below.
In the original story, Tang San took three full months to go from level 68 to 70.
Now, with the cultivation shared by Gu Yuena, the dual batteries of Ice Emperor and Skydream, and the Ten-thousand-year Ice Jade Marrow, plus perfect absorption efficiency — no energy wasted — Xu Cheng's cultivation speed had reached nearly ten times that of Tang San, the future God King.
"Phew… My speed is decent. But where can I find my seventh soul ring?" Xu Cheng stood with his hands behind his back.
Finding a soul ring that suited him was truly difficult.
Given what he could now withstand, if the seventh soul ring wasn't at least 100,000 years old, it would be a waste. But those over 100,000 years — in the current Star Dou Great Forest, either weren't compatible, or had far too long a lifespan to be killed.
And his teacher's artificial soul rings currently capped at 90,000 years — the 100,000-year threshold still out of reach. For most Soul Masters, that limit would be just fine…But for Xu Cheng, it felt like a chicken rib — tasteless yet a pity to discard.
"By the way, since you passed the God Exam, isn't there some kind of reward?"Skydream Iceworm had turned into a miniature silkworm, lying on Xu Cheng's shoulder with curiosity.
"A reward? From the God Exam?" Xu Cheng froze for a moment.
Logically, every completed trial should have its corresponding reward, right?Especially in the original story, whenever Tang San hit a bottleneck during the trials and performed well, the gods would bestow him with a God-bestowed Soul Ring.
So… what about him?
He tried calling for the God of Destruction.
But after a while, there was no response.
"My soul ring… wait a minute!"
Suddenly, he paused.
Since Destruction had handed over full control of the Destruction God Palace to him, didn't that mean he could operate it?
Xu Cheng slowly closed his eyes in focus.
The surroundings faded into darkness, and a miniature version of the Destruction God Palace hovered silently in his palm.
One by one, panels of light appeared:
[Examiner steps onto the first stair…][...][Examiner reaches the 123rd stair…][...][Examiner reaches the 333rd stair…][Examiner has completed the First Trial. Grant reward?][...][Examiner reached Level 70 during trial. Grant God-bestowed Soul Ring?]
Xu Cheng: ???He was stunned for a long time before finally recovering.
"I'm both the test-taker and the proctor?"
A wave of joy swept through him.No wonder Destruction had left with such confidence — he'd handed over the trial authority to Xu Cheng!
Taking a deep breath, Xu Cheng quickly turned his gaze back to the panels.
"So this is the examiner's interface in a God Exam?"
In the original, what Bo Saixi saw — it must've looked like this!
"Alright then, reward! All of it!" Xu Cheng grinned widely.
[Reward Options:]
Destruction Power Affinity (1% ~ 20%)
God-bestowed Soul Rings (1~2 rings)
Soul Bone Year Upgrade (10 years ~ 100,000 years)
All Soul Rings' Year Upgrade (10 years ~ 5,000 years)
Soul Power Increase (+1 ~ +5 levels)
Please select the reward to be granted to the examinee.
Xu Cheng gulped.
He remembered in the original story, during the Fifth Trial, Bo Saixi had only grudgingly given Ning Rongrong a 1,000-year increase to all soul rings as a reward. And for passing the First Trial, Tang San had barely gotten a 5% divine affinity increase.
And yet, this was just the First Trial!
"Max them all out! Full reward across the board!" Xu Cheng beamed.
As the rewards descended upon him:
Destruction Affinity +20% —His perception of the surrounding destruction power sharpened drastically, to the point where he could now manipulate small amounts of destruction force.Purple lightning crackled at his fingertips — a miniature bolt dancing across his hand.
All soul ring years increased by 5,000 —His Martial Soul's soul rings became uniformly black (as previously explained, due to the Ice Emperor's influence, his ring years had already been slowly increasing — even the first soul ring had reached 5,000 years pre-God Trial). Now, even that first soul ring had stepped into the 10,000-year category!
Soul bone year upgrade —
His sole head soul bone rose from 100,000 to 200,000 years, reaching the reward limit cap.
And then… the God-bestowed Soul Rings.
Xu Cheng's eyes lit up with excitement.
In the original story, a person only got one God-bestowed Soul Ring in their entire lifetime. Yet here he was, getting two right off the bat — what a haul!
"Who the hell would believe it? I just passed the first trial and already scored this much!"
This showed how much support the gods were willing to give their chosen candidates.But most gods, perhaps due to strictness or fear of spoiling their successors, had heavily limited the reward pool.
Xu Cheng now realized, looking at the full examiner panel — how miserably stingy the other gods were…
"The other proctors are all damn misers."
"Alright, time to absorb the God-bestowed Soul Rings!"
Xu Cheng took a deep breath.
God-bestowed Soul Rings, as the name implied, were divine artifacts, not bound by fixed year limits. The actual age depended on the strength of the receiver, with no upper cap.
Moreover, the skills granted were always perfectly matched to the receiver.(Although that part could be ignored here, since the seventh ring could only be the Martial Soul True Body.)
He had three of these rings now. He decided to save one for later and use the other two:One for Sun Martial Soul, and one for Heavy Pupils Martial Soul — just in time for this crucial seventh ring milestone.
"Phew…"
Exiting the "administrator mode,"
Xu Cheng took a deep breath.
Skydream Iceworm, on the side, was trembling slightly.
"What's wrong?" Xu Cheng asked in surprise.
"You just now…" Skydream's voice shook. "A colossal phantom figure appeared behind you, vast enough to blot out the sky. You held the entire Destruction God Palace in your hand… that pressure — it was no different from a true god. It felt like you were the master of destruction itself."
"I see…" Xu Cheng nodded slightly.
It appears that this was a side effect of temporarily using the admin account.
After a simple explanation, he cut to the chase:
"I'm preparing to absorb the God-bestowed Soul Rings. Guard me."
A golden beam of light descended from the heavens, wrapping around Xu Cheng.
A massive phantom of the Heavy Pupils Martial Soul appeared behind him.Golden light surged around him, continuously accumulating energy, reaching for the bottleneck…
Skydream and Ice Emperor looked at Xu Cheng as he absorbed the soul ring.
They exchanged a glance.
"I thought becoming a god… was supposed to be really hard?"
(End of Chapter)