Chapter 1008 - Preparing Their Ambush Inside the meeting room, one of the people there suddenly spoke after a long moment of silence in the room, "Is it true that my father is dead?" "Yes, it's true. His life tablet is destroyed, and news of what happened at the Stairway to Heaven has already spread throughout the entire realm; it will only be a matter of time before the people in the upper heavens learn of the massacre." "Have we notified our family in Third Heaven yet?" "No, not yet." "Then what the fuck are we doing here?! We need to notify them as soon as possible! We also need to have someone watching the Stairway to Heaven just in case he fails and stays down here for a little longer!" "If this Yuan is talented enough to slaughter the Seven Legacy Families and our Ji Family while we're working together, there's no way that he wouldn't be able to ascend the Stairway to Heaven." "I'm going to notify the family in Third Heaven! Time is of the essence right now! We cannot allow this criminal who has been sentenced by the Heavens to get away with his crimes!" The direct descendant of Lord Ji left the room shortly after while everyone else remained in the meeting room to discuss their future. "Now that the majority of our forces along with Lord Ji are dead, our family has practically become a chicken on the chopping board waiting to be slaughtered by our enemies. The moment our enemies learn the truth— that our family is defenseless, they will definitely attack us and try to replace us." "This is a disaster not just for us. Even those in the upper heavens will be affected by this mess." "What can we do? Go into hiding? How many years will it take before we can regain enough strength to manage this realm again? The Spirit Heavens will be destroyed by the wars that will soon plague this land before then!" "We cannot do this alone. We've sustained too much damage to survive by ourselves now." "Then we can only request for reinforcements and assistance from our family in the upper heavens for the time being." Meanwhile, the Six Spiritual Academies were also having a meeting of their own to talk about the recent events. "I don't want to make any speculations, but there is only one person that I can think of who could possibly make such a scene…" Sect Master Xiahou sighed. "Are you talking about Yuan? That was my first thought as well. He also slaughtered the Gu Family and the Universal Music Academy." Sect Master Li said. "According to our investigation, the corpses there belonged to the Seven Legacy Families and the Ji Family…" "Besides them, who else could possibly amass such a massive army?" "But why would they attack Yuan? Do you think it has anything to do with what happened at the Spirit Healing Academy?" "It's possible, but we won't know for sure until we speak with them." "Will they even tell us about it? I doubt they would want to talk about such a massive loss…" "They have to— if they want our support. I highly doubt they will be able to defend themselves after losing so many people. Their families are practically crippled right now." Sect Master Li said. "And when a family as prosperous as the Seven Legacy Families and the Ji Family suddenly become this weak, it's inevitable that they become the target of pretty much every power out there..." Bai Enjue sighed. "We should also prepare ourselves for some visitors from the upper heaven. I doubt they will stay silent after something like this happened. They will most likely come down here to assist their own families." Just like the Sect Masters had anticipated, the Seven Legacy Families and the Ji Family in the Third Heaven immediately started preparing to send experts to ambush Yuan at the Stairway to Heaven after learning of the situation. Furthermore, each family prepared a couple of Spirit Kings to send to Spirit Heaven to protect them while they recovered. Even though it will cost them an astronomical amount of resources to send so many experts, they couldn't allow their families in the Spirit Heaven to perish, not to mention that their techniques and secrets could be stolen by outsiders. The residents in Third Heaven were greatly alarmed when the Seven Legacy Families and the Ji Family suddenly gathered a massive army outside the Stairway to Heaven. When they eventually learned of the situation in the Spirit Heaven, they understood why such drastic measures were being taken, and the entire world held their breath while they waited for Yuan to come out of the Stairway to Heaven, where he would take his last breaths. Meanwhile, inside the Stairway to Heaven, Yuan opened his eyes after recovering from his exhaustion. "Thank you, Tian'er. I feel even better than normal for some reason." Yuan said to her afterward. "The spiritual energy inside the Stairway to Heaven is naturally pure, so you will gain more energy from it," she explained. "I am going to climb the Stairway to Heaven now." Yuan said a moment later. After approaching the staircase, he started climbing it, slowly ascending towards the next realm. Even though it may not seem like it, every step Yuan took inside the Stairway to Heaven was akin to traveling hundreds of thousands of miles in reality. Sometime later, Yuan arrived at the first trial. "For the first trial, you must defend the city and survive for 24 hours. If the casualties in the city surpass 60 percent, you will fail the trial." Tian'er explained to him. "A city-defending trial, huh? It's the complete opposite of the previous trial, where I had to kill the City Lord." Yuan smiled. A moment later, his scenery began to change. Once he could see clearly again, Yuan found himself inside the peak of a pagoda, and to his surprise, this was the exact same place that he'd fought the City Lord during the first trial in the past! "Since I am protecting the city and I am in this place… Does this make me the City Lord now?" he wondered out loud.