Douluo Dalu: The Legend of Heavenly Ruler

--- Chapter 165 ---

"This is... Floating Island?"

An enormous island quietly flowed above a vast golden meadow and serenely released a majestic yet grand atmosphere.

'To think, it would be this beautiful... What I've seen in the past was nothing but a picture. However, this is really a surprise.' Yunlong quietly thought while looking at the floating island.

Qian Daoliu smirked a little because he also had the same expression when seeing this floating island for the first time, which reminded him of the past.

'However, to think he'd disappeared before we even finished the bet...' Qian Daoliu silently thought while thinking about something.

Qian Daoliu released a small sigh and slowly moved his gaze to the vast meadow, which was gently fluttering because of a summer breeze.

"Follow me..." Qian Daoliu suddenly took a gentle step, and his figure flew toward the floating island, leaving Yunlong and Qian Renxue.

Yunlong slowly flapped his wings, and they followed Qian Daoliu slowly from behind.

As they landed on the floating island, the first thing Yunlong noticed was high-steeped white stairs, which looked like they didn't have an end.

Qian Daoliu took a single glance at something and then walked toward a beautiful six-winged angel statue, which is not far away from the white stairs.

"Renxue, come here." Qian Daoliu calmly said, to which Qian Renxue responded with a nod.

Qian Renxue also gradually moved toward the angel statue and felt a slight warm sensation on her forehead, which glowed with golden light.

"As expected." Qian Daoliu commented while looking at the six-winged angel symbol on his granddaughter's forehead.

A piercing golden light quickly emerged below Qian Renxue's feet and bathed her in a unique grand aura, which caused Yunlong to frown a little.

Bang!

The golden light became more intense, and Qian Renxue's figure disappeared from Yunlong's views. "Big Sister!" He worriedly shouted.

Qian Daoliu stopped him and responded, "Don't worry, Renxue was only baptized by the holy light so that she could start her trials."

"Baptized?" Yunlong tilted his head in confusion.

"When I came to this place for the first time, the angel god statue was the one who led me through every trial." Qian Daoliu naturally said while looking at the golden light.

"There are five levels of trial, which start from the lowest white, yellow, purple, black, and the highest red."

"Like spirit ring grade?" Yunlong nonchalantly asked, and Qian Daoliu casually nodded his head.

"However, the red level actually wasn't the highest because, for the inheritor, they'd go through a more difficult trial." Qian Daoliu naturally continued, which once again caused Yunlong to frown.

"The golden level..." Yunlong muttered with a solemn expression because this wasn't much different compared to the sea god trials.

Qian Renxue slowly emerged from the golden light, and there is something different from her because every inch of her body radiates a holy aura.

'My body felt so warm.' Qian Renxue thought while tightly gripping her hands. She couldn't tell if her strength increased or not, but something is definitely changing within her.

Qian Daoliu nodded his head in satisfaction and saw a golden halo floated above Qian Renxue's head, which caused him to smile a little.

"Renxue, you have received your first trial, right?" Qian Daoliu gently asked.

"Mhm." Qian Renxue positively answered with a slight nod. "In my first trial, I have to reach 690th of heaven's stairs."

Qian Daoliu's face immediately darkened when hearing Qian Renxue's answers.

"...Can you say your first trial once more?" He once again asked, which caused Qian Renxue to stare at him with a confused expression.

"I have to reach the 690th steps of heaven's stairs?" Qian Renxue answered while tilting her head. "Is there any problem, grandfather?"

Qian Daoliu released a heavy sigh and looked at his own granddaughter with a complicated gaze. "It might take a little more time than you had expected to finish your trial, Renxue." He said with a wry tone.

"Eh? What do you mean by that?" Qian Renxue was puzzled.

Qian Daoliu calmly led them to heaven's stairs and slowly pointed his finger at the last threshold of the stairs.

"That's the 700th step, which means you had to reach ten steps behind that." Qian Daoliu said, which caused Qian Renxue's eyes to widen in awe.

"Huh?" Qian Renxue's eyes gradually trailed from top to bottom and noticed just how many steps she must take to reach her goal.

Qian Daoliu solemnly added, "It might look easy, but with every step you take, the harder it is for you to move forward."

Qian Renxue frowned for a second and took a single step on the heaven's stair and didn't notice any difference, so she quickly continued to the 10th step.

"This..." Qian Renxue suddenly felt every single bit of her body crushed by something.

Even though this kind of pressure wasn't really a problem for Qian Renxue at the moment, when she took another step forward, her whole body was crushed by twice the amount of the previous pressure.

"Big sister, are you okay?" Yunlong asked while looking at her back, which slightly staggered because of the pressure.

"I-I'm okay." Qian Renxue responded with a smile, and she slowly took another step forward.

Qian Renxue firmly moved forward without any rest and felt her entire body succumbed to heavy pressure. "70th..." She muttered with a somewhat annoyed tone.

"I can take another step." Qian Renxue raised her head and looked at her goal with a determined gaze.

As Qian Renxue took another step, she instantly bent over the stairs and lost every single energy in her body.

"What happened... AAHHH!" Qian Renxue abruptly got blown away by an unknown force.

"Big sister!" Yunlong caught Qian Renxue's body, and her entire body lost its vigor for some reason.

"I-I can still go..." Qian Renxue said while struggling to break free from Yunlong's embrace.

"Be patient. You have to adapt yourself with every step you make, and don't just walk through like that. It would only consume your stamina poorly." Qian Daoliu commented while shaking his head.

"Big sister, eat this." Yunlong feeds Qian Renxue a recovery pill.

Yunlong moved his gaze to the six-winged angel statue and looked back at heaven's stairs with an observant look on his face.

"Can I also take the trials?" He muttered, which caused Qian Renxue and Qian Daoliu to stare at him with a surprised gaze.

Qian Daoliu was about to say something, but Yunlong had already disappeared from his view and appeared in front of the six-winged angel statue.

"Wait!" Qian Daoliu immediately wanted to pull Yunlong away, but it was too late.

BOOM!

A powerful surge of spirit energy burst from the six-winged angel statue, and a deep crimson light appeared.

"R-Red Level?!" Qian Daoliu looked at Yunlong with a shocked expression.

Yunlong closed his eyes for a moment because everything around him was too bright and suddenly heard a soft woman's voice.

"At last, you finally arrived."

Yunlong opened his eyes and saw a gorgeous golden-haired woman with six angel wings on her back, casually hovering in front of him.

"You are... God of Angels." Yunlong said while looking at the golden-haired woman, who indeed perfectly matched her title.

The woman laughed and gently nodded her head. "Correct." She replied with a not-so-surprised tone.

"Nice to meet you, Irregular."