The three of them shared a look before Yu Liang picked up the bamboo scroll and unraveled it.

For the patient souls who waited

Three gifts are compensated

Climb up the stairs to twenty

One drop of bean is more than plenty

At the foot of two hundred steps

A secret bridge will form next

By the aid of two brilliant rainbows

Soar through the sky at fast tempo

She examined the poem once more — a satisfied smile graced her dainty face after she deciphered the meaning behind the words. Patience truly is one of the virtues!

They walked toward the cloud staircase and began their journey upward. The other fatigued contestants observed them curiously; they had all saw the glow of light and the few objects that appeared afterward. Thanks to Huo Wei Hu’s presence, none of them dare to rob her.

With each step taken, Yu Liang felt the pressure in the air pushed down on them harder and her legs turned heavier. Her body began to sweat and even some light perspiration was visible on Huo Wei Hu.

Yu Tian on the other hand, wasn’t influenced by the strange force of power obstructing them — almost as if he was unaffected by the restriction. Yu Liang arched her brows in surprised, but she was glad that her brother didn’t have to suffer on the way to the top and didn’t ponder deeper into this anomaly.

She halted her feet once they reached a total of twenty steps, exactly where Da Niu laid sprawled out in exhaustion. He looked at them wearily, but Yu Liang’s next word greatly surprised him.

“Da Niu, I still owe you a life-saving debt. Let me repay you now by bringing you along with us to the top. With this, our debt will be cleared and we no longer have anything to do with one another” Yu Liang offered.

Huo Wei Hu wasn’t pleased with adding a stupid ox to the party, intruding upon the time he could spend together with Yu Liang, but he remained quiet. Without waiting for Da Niu’s reply, he took out one of the rainbow beans and dropped it on the twentieth step.

Immediately, the clouds beneath their feet began to quake and stretch out, detaching themselves from the staircase. Yu Liang was stunned. The four of them were now on top of a floating golden cloud mount, moving rapidly through the sky. After traveling some distance, it hovered above the two hundredth step of the staircase before it dispersed into nothing.

Huo Wei Hu quickly grabbed both Yu Liang and Yu Tian before landing smoothly on the cloud staircase, while Da Niu plopped down and landed on his butt. He sent a look of injustice toward them, which got flat-out ignored.

From his wide sleeves, Huo Wei Hu took out the remaining two beans. Once again, he dropped them both into the two hundredth step and another quake trembled beneath them. This time, two beautiful beams of rainbow merged into one to create a bridge, connecting all the way to the top of the staircase.

She took a small moment to appreciate the breath-taking view, before the four of them stepped foot onto the rainbow bridge. At once, the colorful lights began to move beneath their feet and carried them forward to their destination. It was like taking a tour through the sky while flying on a dazzling rainbow.

Everything was so beautiful! From high above, she could see all the others scrambling toward the remaining baskets to sort the colorful beans, but not enough baskets were left for each one of them, unless they share — which was highly unlikely since they wanted to knock each other out of the competition.

The ride was over too soon and the rainbow bridge faded away once the four of them were safely escorted to the top. Yu Liang sighed in regret; truly a great experience! As they soared through the clouds and rainbow, no pressure was restricting their movement unlike when they were manually walking those steps.

Flashing them a bright smile, she was still happy Yu Tian got to enjoy something fun for a kid his age. Huo Wei Hu was dazzled by her beautiful smile as she dragged them toward the activated transportation seal.

The seal teleported the group inside a spacious chamber. Except for the paper screen door, the entire place was bared and empty. Da Niu, who had not spoken a word since he joined them for a free ride, released a raucous laughter, his voice echoed throughout the desolated chamber.

“Little girl, I didn’t actually expect you to repay the debt, but thank you human, for bringing me to the sixth floor and allowing me to experience such a fantastic ride!” He looked at her, eyes filled with mirth.

Yu Liang returned the ox’s gaze, and only gave a slight nod as a reply. With this, they are henceforth, even. Since no other contestants had shown up yet and the guardian was nowhere to be found, the four of them decided to take a break and relax.

The muscles in her arms and shoulders were stiff from hours of sorting through the beans. As she rolled her shoulders backward, a pair of large hands landed on her and began to knead the sore muscles. His hands worked like magic, massaging her with just the right amount of pressure.

By the time the others began to arrive, the bruised muscles were left with a comfortable ache through her body. She glanced at Huo Wei Hu and threw him a grateful smile. He returned her smile with a pleased gleam in his dark eyes.

“For this trial, you can work in teams or go solo, but if one of you fail, the rest of the members left in the team are also automatically disqualified. Register your teams or just your name if you’re going solo on this paper. You will enter the paper screen door once it’s your turn. Behind that door, lies your challenge for the sixth trial” Guardian Yin Mei paused, scanning the crowd and stopped once her eyes found Yu Liang.

“Choose your teammates carefully, make sure you don’t select those who can only drag you down!” Guardian Yin Mei emphasized her last words while giving Yu Liang a pointed look, as if those words were directed specifically to her.

Yu Liang scoffed, what a heart-warming warning! Guardian Yin Mei sauntered toward her and reluctantly threw something that landed on Yu Liang’s feet, before she disappeared behind the paper screen door.

She crouched down and picked up a jaded Guanyin pendant. For a moment, Yu Liang was slightly startled. Could this be the hint rewarded for arriving first?

A loud gong reverberated among the chamber, drawing everyone’s attention. The first contestant was called to enter. All of them had decided to tackle the challenge solo, besides Yu Liang, Yu Tian, and Huo Wei Hu who had decided to form a team together.

Using this opportunity, she decided to eavesdrop and gather as much information as possible. At first, the other end of the screen was deadly silent before a loud distressed scream echoed in all corners of the chamber. The contestants shivered, weary of what horrendous challenge laid ahead of them to produce such a distraught sound.

As more contestants entered, the same dreadful screams rang out each time. The panicked expressions were obvious on all of them besides Huo Wei Hu, who continued to remain aloof while staring at her with a charming smile.

This guy is seriously infuriating! Does nothing ever faze him at all? Even she couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious and all they have for a clue is a Guanyin pendant!

Ignoring him, Yu Liang heartlessly used all the previous contestants as test fodders to collect data and calculated the time between each person’s scream. One can never know if such information would ever turn out to be useful, but it was better to be prepared.

As the gong vibrated once more through the chamber, their group was finally summoned.