Shi Zhenxiang shared the same thought with the others in the team. "That's right. The first place should be ours, and so should the rewards. There are only fifty steps left on the stairs. We must find a way to secure the first place."
However, their so - called "way" was to cause trouble. They planned to block the path of Feng Yuqin and her two companions.
As a result, when Feng Yuqin took action, one of the people from the team that tried to stop them was directly knocked over. Fortunately, there were guardrails beside the gravity stairs. The person managed to react in time and used spiritual power to protect themselves when they were about to fall.
But precisely because they used their spiritual power, they failed at the first stage of the challenge. This was truly embarrassing, for so far, no one had failed at the first stage.
So the person glared at Feng Yuqin and her companions with a look that seemed to want to devour them.
"What are you looking at? Do you think you're in the right?" Zhao Yuanyuan snorted. "When you saw us overtaking you, it was bad enough that you accused us of cheating. Now you even want to plot against us. You've only managed to trip yourselves up. You deserve it."
"Zhao Yuanyuan, don't go too far!" Shi Zhenxiang roared.
"Are you out of your mind?" Zhao Yuanyuan looked at Shi Zhenxiang as if she were looking at a fool. "You came after us, and our counter - attack is going too far? Should we just stand there and do nothing to be considered normal?"
Shi Zhenxiang was so angry that her chest heaved up and down.
"Zhao Yuanyuan, let's keep going up. Don't bother with them," Dong Yaxian said. She thought that wasting more time on this would be detrimental to their challenge.
The people outside naturally saw what had happened, but everyone had different opinions. Some thought that Shi Zhenxiang's group were just sore losers. Of course, there were also those who were jealous because they couldn't figure out how Feng Yuqin and her companions could progress so quickly.
Feng Yuqin and her two companions were unaware of these people's thoughts. So the three of them quickly continued their ascent. This time, although their speed was a bit slower, they still completed the gravity stairs in a relatively short time.
When they took the last step, Zhao Yuanyuan and Dong Yaxian clearly felt the oppressive force disappear instantly. Their spiritual power also erupted at that moment.
"I'm going to level up," Dong Yaxian said and then sat down on the spot.
"Me too..." Zhao Yuanyuan said and also sat down.
Feng Yuqin glanced at the two of them, set up a barrier nearby, and then took out a temporary formation and placed it around the three of them. Only then did she sit down leisurely to start her own upgrade.
Shi Zhenxiang's group was blinded by jealousy. Feng Yuqin wasn't about to sit down and rest without taking precautions.
"That formation..." Some of the formation masters outside noticed that Feng Yuqin's formation was extremely powerful. A hint of doubt flashed in their eyes.
"Could Feng Yuqin be from the Nine Heavens?" Someone said after seeing that her formation was beyond their perception.
Even the teachers of the academy were stunned. Although not all of them were formation masters, as teachers of the Mountain and Sea Academy, they had enough insight.
"If she were from the Nine Heavens, why would she come to the Divine Realm and enter our Mountain and Sea Academy?" Lin Tianlong snorted. He didn't believe for a moment that Feng Yuqin was from the Nine Heavens. "There are so many powerful forces in the Nine Heavens. She could join any of them and have a stronger background than in the Divine Realm."
The other teachers shared similar thoughts. They thought that if Feng Yuqin were really from the Nine Heavens, there would be no need for her to enter the Mountain and Sea Academy.
"However, these three... they actually managed to level up after completing the gravity stairs," Kou Chengzhi said. "Their strength just now didn't seem to indicate that they were on the verge of a breakthrough."
Not everyone would level up after completing the gravity stairs. Only those who were just one step away from a breakthrough would level up. The onlookers outside might not be able to tell, but the teachers knew very well. So these three all had good talent.
The students outside saw Feng Yuqin and her companions sitting down to level up. Although they didn't understand the details, they knew that not everyone could level up after completing the gravity stairs. So they thought that Feng Yuqin and her two companions were just lucky to level up right after finishing the stairs.
When Shi Zhenxiang's group walked up and saw that Feng Yuqin and her companions were breaking through, they glanced at each other. They found that none of them showed any signs of leveling up. Their envious gazes were fixed on Feng Yuqin and the others.
"These two kids are really amazing. They managed to level up at this time," the people from the Dong and Zhao families didn't expect that Zhao Yuanyuan and Dong Yaxian would level up after completing the gravity stairs.
Uncle Zhao from the Zhao family chuckled. "If they had gone up on their own, it would have been very difficult."
Dong Yaxian's father, Dong Ruiming, also nodded. "That's right. The key lies with Feng Yuqin."
As parents, they knew very well about their own children. So they all cast curious glances at Feng Yuqin.
As time passed, the people behind gradually completed the gravity stairs. At this time, among all the participants in this challenge, except for Feng Yuqin and her two companions, no one else showed any signs of leveling up. So most of them had rather unpleasant expressions on their faces. Only a few remained expressionless and then entered the next formation to continue the challenge on their own.
"So what kind of luck do Zhao Yuanyuan and the others have? They all managed to level up!" Both Zhao Yuanyuan and Dong Yaxian were from the Divine Realm, and many people knew them. A small number of people had heard the name Feng Yuqin when the teachers called out the names during the registration. Now seeing that all three of them had leveled up, they didn't know what to say.
Shi Zhenxiang's group glared at Feng Yuqin and the others resentfully, then reluctantly moved on to the next challenge. The others also looked at Feng Yuqin and her companions with unwillingness and then continued the challenge. After all, they didn't know what challenges were waiting for them later. Most importantly, there were many people watching outside. Even if they wanted to do something, they wouldn't do it in front of so many people.
The spiritual power around Feng Yuqin soared, and she reached the eighth stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm. Zhao Yuanyuan and Dong Yaxian also experienced a rapid increase in their spiritual power and broke through their barriers.
Zhao Yuanyuan reached the sixth stage of the Earthly Yuan Realm. Dong Yaxian reached the fifth stage of the Earthly Yuan Realm.
"Hahaha... I've finally leveled up!" Zhao Yuanyuan laughed heartily after the upgrade. He had been stuck at the fifth stage of the Earthly Yuan Realm for a long time. Logically, he should have leveled up long ago, but he just couldn't break through. He didn't expect that this challenge would finally allow him to level up. He knew very well that his upgrade was largely due to Feng Yuqin. If it weren't for Feng Yuqin teaching him how to climb the stairs more effortlessly and changing his mindset, the bottleneck that had been holding him back would never have been broken.
Although Dong Yaxian didn't have a bottleneck like Zhao Yuanyuan, this upgrade was still a pleasant surprise. So when she saw that Feng Yuqin had completed her upgrade, she immediately stepped forward and said gratefully, "Aqin, thank you."