New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live-Chapter 1091: Reaching The Sect

Alex was about to ask another question, when the fox raised a hand, interrupting him as he opened his mouth.

"Your questions will have to wait until we are in private. Some things are not for everyone to hear. I hope you understand," he said, looking at Alexander with his serene smile.

Alex couldn’t put his finger on what it was that made the smile irk him, deep down inside, but he was having trouble taking it seriously.

He felt like the fox was looking down on him. Maybe it was from being treated like royalty inside New Eden, but he had developed a hatred for being looked down upon.

Even if it hadn’t been long since this change happened, Alex had gone from being treated like shit by almost everyone he knew, to being looked up to, by both his subordinates and by his friends.

Every time the fox looked at him, he felt like it was looking at him like nothing more than a harmless bug which he had to slip out of his home delicately.

And this irritating feeling was itching the back of his mind. But he resisted the impulse to punch the smug face of his face.

After all, he was here to save Gu Fang. If there was a remote possibility that the fox had taken host inside Gu Fang’s actual body, and this wasn’t a masquerade, killing it would also kill his friend.

Once Elder Bai came back to them, bowing to the celestial fox he called master, the fox resumed his walking, headed toward a set of carved steps, which led to the mountain’s peak.

From here, it was a straight line toward the top, and Alex had to remember to breathe as he looked at the stairs. There were easily a few hundred of them, and with how pristinely white they were, he wondered if they cut from the mountain itself, or some other stone.

"I will meet you up there, master," Elder Bai said before looking at the group of intruders.

"You all should follow me on the alternate path to the top. The stairs are only for the master, and those he deems fit." freewebnoveℓ.com

Alex frowned.

"Fit to what? They are stairs. Do you need special permission to climb the stairs up here? What kind of backwater sect are you running, fox?" he asked, his tone mocking.

The edge of the fox’s mouth twitched, his smile wavering for a moment, as his eyes flashed with malice.

"If you want to climb them, be my guest. I couldn’t care less what happens to you," he said, regaining his calm and leaving ahead of them.

Alex watched him leave momentarily before turning his head back toward Bai Feng.

"What was that about? They’re just stairs..."

Elder Bai sighed loudly in exasperation at his ignorance.

Looking at David, he commented with disappointment.

"This is the man you wanted to raid the place with? You would have been better off on your own. Do you want to explain the stairs to him, if you even know, or should I?"

David scoffed.

"It’s pointless. He would only take it as a challenge. He’ll take them regardless of what I say. Lead the way, old man Bai."

Bai Feng let the age comment slide, shrugging his shoulders and giving up.

He pointed to the stairs, dreading his own climb, and said, "Please. After you."

Alex looked at Bai Feng, then David, and back to Bai Feng, unsure what the fuss was about, and then shrugged as well.

"Eh! Whatever."

Alexander walked toward the stairs with optimism, feeling eyes land on him as he walked through the sect’s main path.

No one approached him or tried initiating a conversation, letting him pass through while only looking with curiosity or disgust.

He could hear muffled whispers around him, from some of the younger disciples, but he couldn’t understand a word of what they said, given he didn’t speak Chinese.

Reaching the stairs, he stopped in front of them, his insides feeling weird.

’What the hell is this feeling?’ he wondered, as if his stomach was turning on itself.

The fox, who was already halfway up the stairs, stopped and turned to look at him.

"What’s the hold-up? Are you coming or not?" he mocked, before resuming his climb.

"Yeah, yeah. Cocky bastard," Alex muttered in response.

But Alex could tell there was something strange about the stairs. Just looking at them gave him a nauseating feeling.

It felt like he was looking at an optical illusion.

It all changed when he first stepped on a stair.

Instantly, his stomach churned, and he had to force himself not to throw up. His insides started burning, and he immediately started sweating profusely.

"Urgh... What the fuck... Is going on," he said, gagging repeatedly.

Elder Bai chuckled at his reaction.

"This is why I wanted to lead you through the alternate path. These stairs are not for people who don’t exercise Qi. It’ll feel like you’re getting ripped apart from the inside out. The higher you go, the worse it’ll get. Will you follow me now?" he asked, smirking.

Alex took a second to focus, and started rotating mana inside his body, focusing it on the area of his torso where the pain was most intense.

Immediately, the pain reduced, but it didn’t completely fade. Feeling better, he took another step.

But as soon as his foot landed on the next step, the pain grew again.

He stopped on the second step, focusing inward again, and pumped more of his mana in the rotation he was doing, easing the pain again, but still not erasing it.

"Are you going to be this stubborn the whole way?" Elder Bai asked, seeing the determination in his eyes.

David walked next to him, chuckling at the old man.

"He wouldn’t be Astaroth if he wasn’t. And I doubt any of us are going to follow you to the alternate path, either," he said, pointing behind him as the others made up their mind.

If Alexander wanted to climb those steps, even if he seemed in pain for doing so, then so should they.

Even Liu Yan, who was unsure this was a smart thing to do, decided to abandon his reticence and trust in his guild leader. Well, future guild leader, if they would have him.

They could all tell what Alexander was doing through mana sense, and they all began to cycle mana inside them, slowly at first, and then faster and stronger as they climbed the steps behind him.

Bai Feng looked at the dozen young men and women, some of them children, even, and his jaw went slack.

’These steps make even us elders queasy... What is up with those young people?’