The eight-year-old sensed countless Divine Senses scanning her. But despite doing so, none seemed capable of detecting her.
This also included the ethereal giants.
As Krune and all the clones had shared thoughts, they were aware of the positions of each other, the actions they took, the actions other people took, the routes that were safer, and so on.
With that, they scattered throughout the foot of the mountain, intending to scale up from various paths.
The ethereal giants were just the first obstacle.
The moment the eight-year-old set foot on the mountain, she noticed a formless force slamming into her, causing her movements to become a tad sluggish. 'This is similar to the pressure I felt in the Immortal Staircase.'
She noticed quite a few cultivators grunting the moment they began to climb up, suffering from the pressure as their reactions became delayed.
Suddenly, when one of them arrived beside a boulder, the boulder revealed a set of teeth that clamped him, intending to sever him into two pieces.
However, the cultivator still had enough strength to resist as a layer of light formed around him, shielding him from the boulder's mouth when he pulled out his sword and hacked at it, nicking it continuously before destroying it.
"Haah, that was scary." He had just muttered when the ground underneath him opened when the gravity acting on his body multiplied thousands of times, slamming him into the depth of the pit where spikes jutted out of the ground, with each composed of a law.
The moment he slammed into them, the spikes with laws countering him stood up, impaling him, causing him to scream before his eyes lost all signs of life.
Hiss!
Those that witnessed the scene inhaled a sharp breath in shock, looking around in suspense, alert against anything that might attack them.
Though, as they continued to climb up, the pressure on their bodies caused their concentration to wear off a little. And as if they were waiting for this, traps sprang up on time, trapping them.
Some were injured, while the unfortunate ones died futile deaths.
'These were all that had successfully cleared the Realm of Sufferings,' the eight-year-old thought as she continued to climb up, not affected by the pressure as her figure flickered through the place at blinding speeds.
After Krune reached the peak of the Nascent God Realm, just his physique alone allowed him to fight an early-stage Semi-God Realm cultivator. So, the eight-year-old's figure couldn't be detected that easily.
Unless they had laws that amplified their sight, Divine Sense was the only way for most cultivators to sense her movement. But of course, they wouldn't be able to reach her, not unless they were ex-immortals that had reached at least the God Trial Realm and above.
Some traps did pop up on her, but they were easily evaded. But suddenly, she stopped, alarmed, breaking out into a sweat. Nothing happened to her, but the thing that happened to one of the clones caused everyone to experience fear.
"Brother, thank you for saving my life." A cultivator cupped his fists, bowing in gratitude.
"I'm only doing what I feel is the right thing to do," A wide-shouldered man with a red beard spoke, expressing a deep smile. "In our rush for treasures, we must always pay attention to our safety."
"You're right about that." The cultivator cupped his fists. He wore a grey robe, sporting a fan that he hung at the side of his hip.
Standing nearby was a lady that possessed an identical fan. They were a couple, bowing in response. Glancing at the wide-shouldered man, the lady thought for a moment before asking, "Sir, why don't you accompany us? The traps are risky, but we can share the burden."
"Sure, I don't mind." The wide-shouldered man nodded before accompanying the couple. Soon, they hit it off well with each other, joking from time to time as they struggled against the various tests.
The wide-shouldered man was another clone of Krune, having decided to take on a slower approach. As they continued their travel, an ethereal giant manifested before them, attacking them immediately.
"I'll defend against its attacks. The both of you, flank from the sides!" the wide-shouldered man shouted as he pulled out a pair of kite shields, causing them to glow with a faint radiance before a gust of wind was produced.
The winds slowed down the ethereal creature's attacks before a thick layer of wind over the shields absorbed all the power behind the attack, dispersing it to the sides as a powerful gust was produced as a result.
"Hiya!" The cultivator slapped his fan, producing a wind blade that slammed into the ethereal giant, almost severing its hand.
In retaliation to such a powerful attack, the ethereal giant opened its mouth and unleashed a beam of formless force onto the cultivator, intending to destroy his meridians first.
Alarmed, he was about to escape when the wide-shouldered man jumped in the fray, defending against the attack. "Just focus on attacking. I'll defend the both of you!"
"You're the best!" Shouting in response, the man rushed out and continued to slam attacks at the ethereal giant.
All along, the woman cultivator had been pouring her Godly Energy into her fan, accumulating power before unleashing an explosive shout as she swiped it at the ethereal giant.
Suddenly, a tiny tornado formed within the ethereal giant's body before expanding in size, destroying it from within. Within a minute, the ethereal giant was destroyed as the woman slumped on the ground, panting in exhaustion.
"If…not for this pressure, I would have defeated it easily…" she said, absorbing the abundant Godly Energy, beginning to recover.
"It was a great attack." The wide-shouldered man nodded in praise, retracting his pair of kite shields as he said, "Since all three of us use the Wind Element, it's easy to coordinate our attacks."
"Brother's defensive abilities are an eye-opener." The woman laughed while gazing at the wide-shouldered man. "I never thought it was able to brush off that giant's attacks so easily."
"Well, I did train…" The wide-shouldered man had just begun speaking when his expression changed, slowly sporting an expression of peace. Suddenly, his meridians had undergone a change while his body slowly turned transparent.
It looked like that, but in reality, it had only taken an instant before turning into a miniature energy sphere. And then…