Chapter 301: Heart in Turmoil

"Li Yang, I'll give you the Celestial Blue Stone after Ba Xu delivers it." Mute chuckled when he saw Ba Xu leave.

"Alright." Li Yang smiled and nodded.

'Strength test complete. Time to go.' Li Yang saw the growing crowd in the space of the Path of Deities' Steps. Noticing Dilunxi, Long Zhan, and the others staring at him, he decided not to linger and left immediately.

As he departed, news that he had passed the eighth step spread rapidly.

...

On a mountainside in the Lianyun Mountain Range, Lan Yu was silently comprehending the laws.

Unlike Li Yang, he frequently went to the Path of Deities' Steps to test his strength.

'The three Flame Demon Beasts in the space of the ninth step are too powerful. Even with my recent massive improvement, I estimate it will still take at least ten years to pass the ninth step,' Lan Yu thought.

He had tested his strength again just a short while ago, but he still failed without lasting very long.

'How in the world does Mixed Void cultivate?'

The moment he entered the Eternal Saint Hall of the Human Race, Mixed Void had already passed the eighth step of the Path of Deities—the same level Lan Yu was at now.

And in just one year, Mixed Void advanced from the eighth step to the ninth.

The speed of his progress was completely beyond imagination.

'By relying on simple cultivation alone, my rate of progress will never be as fast as Mixed Void's. My teacher told me that for a genius like Mixed Void—one of the top 100 in the history of the Human Race—their speed of improvement is inconceivable. Even peerless prodigies would be completely overshadowed by them.'

Lan Yu took a deep breath, a glint in his eyes.

Trying to compare his cultivation speed to one of the top 100 geniuses in the entire history of the Human Race was just asking for punishment.

'However, Talent is only one part of becoming a top-tier expert. Mixed Void will be my lifelong rival. If my rate of progress can't match his now, then I'll just have to cultivate for a thousand years, or even ten thousand years!'

When he first joined the Eternal Saint Hall of the Human Race, Lan Yu had been eager to quickly surpass Mixed Void. But as the gap between them widened, Lan Yu came to truly understand the terrifying rate of progress of a top-100 genius in the history of the Human Race.

The notion of quickly catching up to Mixed Void had vanished from his mind. Competing with Mixed Void... surpassing him in a short period was impossible!

It would take at least ten thousand years, perhaps even a hundred thousand or several hundred thousand years!

Only by thinking in the long term was there any chance of surpassing Mixed Void.

A light flashed in Lan Yu's eyes. He paid no mind to any other geniuses; clearly, Mixed Void was the only one in his sights now!

"Hm?"

Just as he was lost in thought, Lan Yu's wristband chimed.

A glance revealed it was a message from another genius from his own Star Continent.

"Lan Yi, what's the news?" Lan Yu asked his virtual assistant directly, not pausing his cultivation.

The virtual assistant appeared from his wristband and hastily reported, "Master, a message came from the Golden Tower. It says Li Yang just tested his strength on the Path of Deities' Steps and passed the eighth step."

As the words fell, Lan Yu froze. He then shot to his feet. "What did you say? Li Yang passed the eighth step?"

An expression of utter shock filled his eyes, as if he thought he had misheard.

He had stumbled upon a huge opportunity, and it still took him five years to get from the seventh step to the eighth.

Without that fortuitous encounter, he estimated it would have taken him eight years.

And now, Li Yang had passed?

How long did it take him? A year?

"How is that possible? How could Li Yang's strength improve so quickly?" Lan Yu was in disbelief.

When Li Yang had passed the seventh step, Lan Yu had started to take him a bit more seriously as a rival, but he hadn't given it too much thought.

The Path of Deities' Steps grew progressively harder. It was conceivable that by the time he passed the tenth step, a whole crowd of other geniuses would have passed the seventh and eighth steps.

That didn't necessarily mean the gap between him and the other geniuses had closed.

After all, it might take a century to pass the tenth step. In that same century, even the least talented geniuses could likely clear several of the initial steps.

'How did he do it?' Lan Yu's mind was in turmoil.

He recalled the scene from the genius selection's combat trial eleven years ago.

Back then, five geniuses—including Long Zhan, Mute, and Li Yang—had ganged up on him.

At the time, Long Zhan had been the strongest of the five. Li Yang was completely unremarkable, ranked tenth. Lan Yu hadn't even known his name.

And when faced with their five-person siege, he had launched a single attack, and all five of them, Li Yang included, were instantly defeated!

His and Li Yang's strengths weren't even in the same league.

Yet now, only eleven years later, the gap between them had shrunk this much?

He wasn't that much stronger now than he was a year ago.

His expression shifted rapidly. Suddenly, Lan Yu entered the Virtual World and sought out his teacher.

"Lan Yu."

A middle-aged, one-horned man in golden armor appeared before Lan Yu. "Why have you sought me out?" he asked.

This one-horned man was Lan Yu's teacher, the Dulun Emperor.

"Teacher, I just learned that Li Yang passed the eighth step of the Path of Deities. I want to see his battle on that step," Lan Yu said bluntly.

The Dulun Emperor didn't say a word. With a wave of his right hand, a video projection materialized.

In the video, Li Yang was wielding the Hexagram Spear, locked in a fierce battle with the demon beast inside, which he eventually killed.

Lan Yu watched in silence.

He knew the strength of the demon beast on the eighth step, and now, the power of Li Yang's Hexagram Spear had clearly surpassed it.

'Li Yang, you've already become this strong?' Lan Yu thought, clenching his fists.

When the video ended, the Dulun Emperor looked at Lan Yu and said in a cold voice, "What's the matter? Feeling the pressure now that Li Yang's strength is about to catch up to yours?"

This disciple of his possessed great Talent, far surpassing other geniuses.

It was just that during the genius selection, Mixed Void had appeared out of nowhere, pushing Lan Yu into second place.

But what kind of genius was Mixed Void? His Talent was considered by many high-ranking members of the Human Race to be enough to place him among the top 100 geniuses in their history!

Top 100 in Talent across endless ages—this meant Mixed Void was a monster. No matter how fast his progress, it was understandable.

No one thought any less of Lan Yu's Talent for being surpassed by such a genius.

Mixed Void's dazzling radiance couldn't completely obscure Lan Yu's own brilliance!

Previously, in the eyes of the other geniuses, Mixed Void and Lan Yu were in a class of their own—rivals they had no hope of ever catching.

Just as everyone had expected, upon entering the Eternal Saint Hall of the Human Race, Mixed Void was on the eighth step and Lan Yu was on the fifth. Of the nearly three thousand other geniuses, only ten had reached the first step, while the rest couldn't even ascend a single one.

Take Mixed Void out of the equation, and Lan Yu was still a figure everyone looked up to!

But now, a genius from the back of the pack had suddenly caught up at an incredible speed. Based on this trend, he was even poised to surpass Lan Yu. This was the same genius who, eleven years ago, had been instantly defeated by Lan Yu. The two of them hadn't even been in the same league.

Therefore, it was clear that Lan Yu had been affected.

His mind was in chaos.