As his qi and blood seemed about to burst, he took a step and landed on the sixth tier.
Just as Li Yan's mind relaxed, an unprecedentedly terrifying pressure descended from the heavens. Li Yan had no time to react. With a boom, he was directly pressed down onto the sixth tier.
Li Yan only felt a constant buzzing in his ears. Amidst a white light, the jade-like surface of the steps rapidly enlarged in his eyes, and then his entire face was slammed directly onto the ground. Instantly, his qi and blood surged up to his throat. He felt that his internal organs had all been displaced by this impact. A sharp pain shot through his entire body, causing him to let out a heavy, muffled grunt.
In the Secret Room, when Pingtu saw the sixth line of light instantly light up on Li Yan's forehead, he couldn't help but let out a knowing smile. But before he could smile, the smile froze on his face. The moment the sixth line of light appeared, Li Yan, who was sitting cross-legged, his body trembled violently, shook fiercely, and then a heavy grunt of pain came from his mouth. Blood flowed from the corners of his mouth and nose, and the sixth line of light on his forehead began to flash rapidly and unsteadily.
'Not good, he's about to be blasted off by the pressure.' Seeing this, Pingtu's heart tightened. He delayed no longer. The Foundation Establishment Pill had already shot out. The next moment, it was at Li Yan's lips. Pingtu waved his hand again, Li Yan's lips parted slightly, and the pill entered his abdomen directly.
The place where Li Yan had been slammed down was the edge of the sixth tier. At this moment, a small half of his body was still hanging off the edge of the staircase. A large, even more terrifying pressure descended from the sky with a roar. This caused Li Yan's body, which was lying face down on the edge of the steps, to continuously fall downward. Li Yan's abdomen was in severe pain, as if his intestines were being torn out, and his head was throbbing. When he was slightly more clear-headed, he found that half of his body had already slid off. What scared him even more was that the speed of his sliding was getting faster and faster. He was extremely anxious. He pressed his hands firmly on the ground, intending to get up and roll inward. But just as his body rose a little, the overwhelming pressure seemed to be filled with monstrous anger. With a faint roar and a boom, an even more ferocious pressure slammed down. The veins on Li Yan's forehead bulged high, but he let out another muffled grunt. His entire body was once again pressed firmly to the ground, and one of his legs and a small half of his body had already slid off the steps.
Li Yan was horrified. He knew that if he fell, it wasn't as simple as falling to the fifth level and being able to continue charging. Instead, he would fall directly off the entire Foundation Establishment staircase, and he would be stuck at the fifth tier. But at this moment, he had already used up seventy to eighty percent of his spiritual energy in that instant. It seemed his internal organs had also suffered serious injuries. The most terrifying thing was that the heavenly and earthly pressure on this sixth tier seemed to want to crush everything that dared to stand here into dust. For a moment, the pressure was like a furious wave, seeming to be more than ten times stronger than on the fifth tier, making it impossible for him to stand up. In his current state, let alone standing up, it was extremely difficult to even move a little finger. He could only watch helplessly as he continued to slide down. At this rate, he would slide off completely in just another five breaths.
Just as Li Yan was anxious, his mind racing, he suddenly felt an incomparably majestic power welling up from his Dantian. This power was so great that Li Yan instantly felt the ten-thousand-ton mountain on his back lighten. And this power showed no signs of stopping, continuously generating. This was like a dead tree finding spring for Li Yan. In just about two breaths, he felt his body filled with spiritual energy. Without time to think, he pressed his hands fiercely on the ground, and with the momentum, he rolled inward, his entire body instantly retracting into the sixth tier.
Li Yan slowly sat up, leaning against the steps, still panting heavily. He looked around and, after confirming that he was already sitting within the sixth tier, he finally relaxed completely. At the same time, that cold voice once again echoed between heaven and earth.
"Formation-Slaying Foundation Establishment, complete!"
Hearing this, a smile curved Li Yan's lips. Then his eyes narrowed, and he hurriedly inspected his body. At this moment, his body was full of vitality, and his spiritual energy was like a great river surging endlessly. The condensed liquid of spiritual energy had turned from a light color to a very thick one, as if every drop of water was heavy enough to pierce through stone. The five spiritual energy tanks were even larger, and the ancient runes on them were already clearly visible, as if they were cast on the body of the tanks, flashing with a mysterious halo, making the five spiritual energy tanks look ancient and vicissitudinous.
What pleased Li Yan was that the injuries in his body were completely gone, and he had fully recovered.
'This power came inexplicably and suddenly. It should be from the Foundation Establishment Pill. It seems I didn't use this pill for my Foundation Establishment before. Senior Pingtu used it at the opportune moment, which was truly an excellent move. But the power of this pill is not long-lasting; it's mainly used for breaking through. I can't waste it by delaying like this.' Thinking of this, Li Yan had already figured it out. His eyes narrowed, and all his spiritual energy surged again. With a long laugh, he actually stood up again against the howling pressure.
In the Secret Room, Pingtu saw that the sixth line of light on Li Yan's forehead had stabilized and couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. 'With the medicinal power of this pill, it should be no problem for him to charge up to the seventh tier. But this eighth tier will be difficult. I originally wanted to use this pill on the eighth tier, but it's a pity.' A trace of regret flashed in Pingtu's eyes. Li Yan had already used this pill on the sixth tier, so the eighth tier was basically hopeless.
Just as Pingtu was thinking, Li Yan's forehead suddenly lit up, and another line of light appeared.
Li Yan stood on the seventh tier, his hands on his knees. The wind above howled. The environment around the white jade staircase here had already changed drastically. Dense clouds hung low in the sky, and with every surge, a pressure that seemed to want to collapse the heavens was released. And it came one after another, layer upon layer. The pressure on this seventh tier was not constant, but was accumulating and getting stronger. This caused Li Yan, a moment after reaching the seventh tier, to be unable to stand straight and could only rely on his hands on his knees for support.
'This won't do. The pressure here is getting stronger and stronger. For every breath I stay, the difficulty will increase several times.' Li Yan's mind raced. In just a breath, he had already made a decision. He let out a loud roar, and his bones, amidst a series of alarming "ge ge" sounds, straightened up again. The "ge ge" sound became even louder, as if his skeleton would break at any moment and become a pile of flesh.
Li Yan once again slowly lifted his knee. The spiritual energy in his body instantly reached his current limit. The moment his spiritual energy circulated, Li Yan was stunned. He felt that the spiritual energy at this moment was completely different from before. It seemed to have formed several thick, rope-like strands twisted together. This made the spiritual energy more condensed. They shuttled through his meridians like sharp arrows, not at all like the gentle flowing water from before. The speed was simply incomparable. And the power of each twisted strand of spiritual energy was actually several times greater. This also seemed to speed up his knee-lifting action by a fraction.
Li Yan split off a wisp of his Divine Sense to quickly investigate. Only by knowing what was happening to his body could he make a better plan.
When he saw the spiritual energy tanks in his body again, Li Yan was stunned. The five spiritual energy tanks in his Dantian's Purple Mansion had disappeared. In their original place, five four-legged round cauldrons were floating. The five great cauldrons were emitting bursts of five-colored light, with runes crisscrossing on them. Thick streams of spiritual energy were flying out from one cauldron and falling into the next four-legged round cauldron, flowing endlessly in a cycle.
"This... this, this is 'Cauldron-Arraying Foundation Establishment,' the seventh tier?" Li Yan stared blankly at the five great cauldrons for a moment, thinking of the cold voice that had just disappeared. "Cauldron-Arraying Foundation Establishment, complete!"
But this was only a moment of daze. His knee-lifting action outside was not affected and was lifting bit by bit amidst the constantly descending pressure in the sky.
'Faster, faster, faster!' Li Yan roared in his heart. He wanted to step onto the eighth tier before the medicinal power of that Foundation Establishment Pill dissipated. Although his own strength surged with every tier he climbed, the pressure from above increased by an even greater multiple, which didn't solve the problem at all.
At this moment, Li Yan did not dwell on the strange changes in his body. Instead, he withdrew his Divine Sense and focused all his attention on charging to the next tier. As the sole of his foot lifted bit by bit, time seemed to freeze at this moment.
"One inch."
"Two inches."
"Three inches."
...
'Faster, faster!' Li Yan roared in a low voice. He could already feel that the spiritual energy in his body had reached a peak. He knew that once the spiritual energy reached its peak, the medicinal power would dissipate, and his spiritual energy would drop sharply. At that time, he would have no chance of breaking through at all.
Pingtu looked at Li Yan, whose chest had been stained red with a large patch of coughed-up blood. A trace of anxiety began to appear in his eyes. 'It's been thirty breaths since he swallowed the pill. At most, another twenty breaths. If he can't reach the eighth tier, it's truly hopeless.'
At this moment, although he had many divine abilities, he was helpless in this matter. At this time, besides the Foundation Establishment Pill that had just taken effect, breaking through the ladder relied on the cultivator's own cultivation.
Although Pingtu knew that besides the above two methods, there was also a seventh-grade medicinal pill in the Spirit Immortal Realm called the "Nourishing Void Pill," which could increase the spiritual energy of a cultivator who had just established their foundation, formed a core, or condensed a Nascent Soul, while also nourishing and healing the body damaged by breaking through a realm. But this pill was extremely precious even in the Spirit Immortal Realm, and he didn't have it on hand now. Other medicinal pills were either not of a high enough grade and would have no effect, or were of too high a grade and their medicinal properties were too domineering. The fragile, newly expanded meridians of a cultivator who had just established their foundation or formed a core could not withstand the erosion of those medicinal powers and might directly turn the newly expanded meridians and Dantian in the body into a mess.
Another way was for a cultivator at the Spirit Transformation stage or above to use their own great cultivation to assist in breaking through the ladder. But no matter which way, in the end, it still relied on the cultivator to step on the ladder themselves. These external forces were ultimately just external forces.
Li Yan's eyes were fixed on the sole of his foot. Although he couldn't sweat here, he could already feel that his physical strength consumption was extremely huge. He watched as he raised the sole of his foot a little bit, as if he were trapped in a swamp of great force. It felt as if ten great mountains were hanging from his foot. A "kaka-ka" sound kept coming from his knee. With every sound, he felt as if his leg bone would snap into several pieces like a sugarcane in the field in the next moment. The feeling of his muscles being torn apart almost wanted to pull every piece of his flesh and every inch of his tendons from his leg. This huge pain made Li Yan's eyes red, and his whole body trembled like a sieve.
In order to lift his knee and take a step, he was no longer supporting himself with both hands on his knee, but was standing on one leg. The pressure on his body increased sharply. He watched as the sole of his foot lifted bit by bit, the spiritual energy in his body surging through his whole body like a tide. In the fight against this invisible pressure in the air, Li Yan could even hear the series of dense explosions produced by his own spiritual energy and the surrounding pressure.
The moment the tide of spiritual energy in Li Yan's body reached its peak, his eyes looked as if they would split. Amidst a series of loud roars, the sole of his foot suddenly rose two inches, and then he took a heavy step out.
The moment his foot stepped onto the eighth tier, the wind and clouds in the sky here changed dramatically. An even greater pressure descended directly, almost blasting Li Yan, who had just set one foot on the eighth tier, directly off the entire staircase.
Following this, a scene that terrified Li Yan even more appeared. The entire staircase began to shake violently, as if the apocalypse had come, making Li Yan, who had not yet set foot firmly on the eighth tier, on the verge of falling. With a "hua-la-la" roar, Li Yan looked down and saw a scene that made his heart and soul turn cold. Starting from the first tier, the staircase, which was originally carved like white jade and was indestructible, was breaking into pieces and falling into the endless void below. The speed of its spread was extremely fast. In the instant Li Yan looked down, the sound of the staircase breaking below had already spread to the sixth tier. In an instant, countless cracks appeared. The seventh tier he was standing on also had fine stone chips falling into the endless void.