Eternal Thief
chapter-678

At this moment, Ace climbed the 1001st step, and only half an hour had passed since the trial had started. So, Ace decided to slow down on the third level and 'use Qi,' or it would be too absurd if he passed the entire trial without using Qi.

'Qi Radiation!'[1]Ace was astonished as he didn't even see any traces of the radiation; only after stepping on the 1001st step did he feel it.

(AN: Qi Radiation will refer to both Soul and Martial Radiations)

Still, Ace showed a pale face under 0.01-point Qi radiation and started emitting faint soul Qi undulations equivalent to a peak soul gates realm cultivator.

After 'catching his breath' for around five minutes, he took the 1002nd step and climbed it. He again stopped for another one or two minutes before stepping forward.

In this exact pattern, Ace climbed to the third level. Sometimes, he fumbled as if he was going to fall, and sometimes he emitted a strong soul undulation before going back on climbing.

Everyone was watching him with complex emotions, while the humans were clenching their fists as they watched a fellow human keep climbing without looking back.

They were all climbing between step ten and hundred, and their blood boiled as they gritted their teeth and climbed like the white hair human youth. They knew today would be a history in which a human climbed the ascension stairway in one try and probably at the fastest speed ever.

Everyone wanted to know his name, but they had lost their chance and won't get it anymore because now there was no coming back from level three. He will either pass or die trying.

Even those ten invigilators were looking at Ace with different emotions. Joseph was fully anxious since he had seen with his own eyes that the 'one month' recorded in White's token.

If he died on the third level, it was a huge sin for humility since such a genius who could advance to peak soul gates realm in one month only appeared once in ten thousand years.

Even among the top three races, these kinds of genius could be counted on one hand, and they were all among the top figures in the union and qualified to vie for the Union Leader position.

Humans didn't have such a figure among them, but now Joseph saw hope in White, but the problem was he wasn't the only one aware of it.

While Willie was happy for Joseph since their races had excellent relations, the others were not as kind as him. They were all hatching a different scheme to pull this human into their ranks, suppress his growth, or get rid of him entirely.

However, where the former was the easiest way, the latter was too difficult because they couldn't openly kill or harm a fellow union member, especially if the other party was a once-in-a-ten-thousand genius who hadn't appeared in the union for over a thousand years.

It would be far better to have a good relationship with this kind of person than a grudge, or it won't end well if you plant a seed of hatred and then fail to get rid of him.

"What a good lad. Even under 1-point Qi radiation, he's never lost his mind and moving forward despite overdrawing his Qi. His determination alone can lead him very far in the path of cultivation. How about we report it to High Elders?" Willie suddenly spoke. Ace was now only fifty steps away from reaching the clouds.

Although he looked exhausted, and the steps were fumbling, he always managed to step forward, almost making Joseph and Willie's hearts jump a few times while others were disappointed.

Clarence gave Willie a side eye before he coldly spoke, "Do you really want to disturb High Elders? It is still not clear if he's a ten millennia genius. Unless he showed the same cultivation speed in the 2nd and 3rd cultivation realms, we can't jump the gun and disturb high elders."

Clarence knew once this matter reached the ears of the High Elder, especially the High Elder of the Human Race, the other race won't even get a chance to interfere and 'invite' him to their side.

The Union territory above the clouds was known as the 'Cultivation Domain,' and there were also different ranks like the mortal domain. Furthermore, the Cultivation Domain was divided into Sun Domain and Moon Domain.

Sun Domain was where men cultivated, while the Moon Domain was for women. But ranking was the same for everyone.

The lowest rank was Union Student, followed by Union Scholar, Union Instructor, Union Elder, and Union High Elder. Above these five ranks were Two Union Domain Lords (Sun Lord & Moon Lord) and One Union Leader.

Hundreds of thousands of union students were in both domains, and Ace would get this rank when he ascended the stairway.

Union Scholar rank was given to those students who reached the Soul Realm, while the Union Instructor Rank was for those who reached the early stage of the Soul Manifestation realm. In contrast, the Union Elder rank could be achieved upon entering the quasi-law awareness realm state.

The Union High Elder were authentic Law Awareness Realm cultivators. There were 28 of them, and there was a ranking system for those High Elders. The humans have a High Elder backing them by some miracle, and he ranked Eighth. That's why no one dares to seek trouble with them.

However, this didn't mean they were strongest because devils had eight high elders, and three of them were ranked among the top five, while demons had six and hunters four.

The reaming ten belonged to; three magic beast races, three from the elven race, one dwarf race, one from the Tree Race, one from Stone Golem Race, and the last was from Myriad Bee Race.

As for the two domain lords and the union leader, they were both mysterious figures and only High Elders had ever seen them. No one knows their race or cultivation ranking, and they never interfere with day-to-day union matters.

That's why the High Union Elder Council controlled the Union and made decisions.

Furthermore, when a race creates a High Elder level union member, they are given their own sector in the union, which is like having their own private territory, which is rich with cultivation resources.

There was no limit to how many sectors a race could collect from the Union, but the more sectors they had, the more and richer resources under their control.

Races without a sector lived in 'common union grounds,' and the difference between a sector and common grounds was like day and night. Just Qi in them was like sky and mud.

Lastly, a High Elder had another authority they could use three times in their life. It was they could take three students from their race whenever they wanted, and other races couldn't interfere nor the selected person.

It was another story that if the selected student was fancied by more than one high elder of its race. Then they can select between one, but the rejection was not an option.

However, those High Elders seldom use this authority since they only want the best of the best, and these kinds of genius only appear on a blue moon.

Not to mention, the Eighth High Elder of the human race was an ascetic, and he could care less about material matters and his race. He never showed any interest in their matter and had only appeared on three occasions among the humans since he became High Elder.

Although Joseph's eyes brightened by Willie's suggestion, he knew the Eighth High Elder too well, and there was less than a one percent chance he would show any interest in Ace.

They had previous try introducing some geniuses of their race to the Eighth High Elder, but he mercilessly rejected them all.

'Still, it was far better than letting him end up in some other race's hand. From what I've seen, he seemed to crave power, and he might flip to the other side if they offered him more benefits than us. Or it was only my imagination, but I can't take rise he had to join our human race sector!' Joseph thought.

He then glanced at Clarence and others, who were clearly not pleased with Willie's suggestion since there was a chance that the eighth high elder really took interest, and this would be over for them at that time.

Joseph pulled a cold smile as he replied to Willie, "I think your suggestion is not bad. As for consequences, I'll handle it!"

Without hesitation, a yellow talisman appeared in his hand, and he used his Qi. The talisman started to burn, and he quickly transmitted his thoughts before the talisman was fully burned.

The next moment, a yellow streak materialized as soon the talisman was completely burned, and like lightning, it vanished!

The other three elders snorted before they also took out yellow talismans, and like Joseph, they also sent messages to their races' High Elders.

They knew there was a chance the eighth high elder won't react, but their races' High Elders will!

[1] (AN: Qi Radiation will refer to both Soul and Martial Radiations)