Lin Xun took out the token and looked it over.
It was made of a special jade and embossed with an intricate spiritual tattoo, feeling a little heavy.
On the other side of the token curved three gilding words — Shi Dingzhai, namely Keystone Business.
If what Lin Xun assumed was right, the spiritual tattoo was a unique logo of the Keystone Business.
“This token can indeed save me a lot of trouble.”
Lin Xun carefully put it into the storing ring, thinking about exchanging goods and materials in the Green-sun Tribe.
Days ago, the prime director of the Wu Business, Wu Henshui, was killed by Shia Zhi. Lin Xun believed that they wouldn’t let it go easily.
Maybe he could use this token of the Keystone Business to solve the hidden trouble from the Wu Business.
“Anyway, I must go to the Green-sun Tribe,” said Lin Xun, looking thoughtful.
Green-sun Tribe was the nearest place to Donglin City in the Three Thousand Mountains. According to Shiao Tianren, the village head, it was a prosperous town.
Lin Xun must go there not only for the future livelihood of the villagers in Feiyun, but also for his own cultivation.
But there was one thing that Lin Xun must solve before this--to pass the second test of the Green-cloud Road of the Heaven-accessing Place!
......
Shia Zhi woke at night. When she walked out of her room, she saw Lin Xun busy in the kitchen. Then she said after a long silence, “Lin Xun, I want to be stronger.”
Lin Xun was shocked. He quickly served the finished dishes to the table, and asked Shia Zhi who was now looking serious, “Where did this come from?”
Shia Zhi said with her mouth closed slightly, “I don’t know.”
The little girl was calm and peaceful as usual, but there was a look of unprecedented persistence in her black eyes.
Lin Xun was silent for a while, thinking of what happened during the day. Then he seemed to understand something, saying, “The man and the woman weren’t bad persons.”
Shia Zhi shook her head, saying, “I don’t know who is good and who is bad. I only know that I will become very passive when I confront people stronger than me. And I would hate being passive.”
Lin Xun nodded, saying, “I got it.”
He indeed understood it. The way Shia Zhi looked at the world might be simple, but she was born with a keen insight. She knew clearly what she wanted.
Just like today, when the Master, Shi Shuan, came, Shia Zhi left her favorite dishes behind, going straight into her room.
At that moment, she must have realized that she was no match for Shi Xuan. Therefore, she chose to avoid them.
Lin Xun asked while filling her bowl with rice, “What’s your plan then?”
Shia Zhi picked up her chopsticks and thought for a long time. Then she said, “ I want to fight! I would become stronger more rapidly if I fight with the strong.”
Lin Xun’s eyes flicked. The answer wasn’t expected and made him feel sad somehow. It was a kind of desperate way to become stronger.
If there were masters who could instruct, powerful martial arts, masses of practicing resources, who would choose the means of fighting with others to get stronger?
Pitifully, both Shia Zhi and Lin Xun were on their own like orphans, who could only rely on themselves.
Lin Xun finally made up his mind and said, “Let’s leave it for now. I will give you a reply a few days later.”
Shia Zhi nodded.
She never doubted Lin Xun’s decision which was a complete trust..
It was also the trust that made Lin Xun decide to take her to Donglin Town and find her the best place for practicing no matter the cost, after everything in Feiyun Village was settled.
Lin Xun would never want her to fight with any strong enemy. That was too dangerous.
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......
Three days flashed by.
Shia Zhi fell into deep sleep at night. The starlight from the window reflected on her peaceful, beautiful and fair face, giving out an air of pureness and innocence.
Lin Xun sat down with his legs crossed, his handsome face emotionless like a dried-up well with no ripples.
In the Sea of his Consciousness, streams of thought flooded into the bloody and mysterious door that stood there silently, which was called the Gate to Heaven.
Just in a moment, the familiar feeling crowded in on him. It felt like walking in the space while the stars kept changing. Just for a moment, he appeared in the mysterious space again.
The straight Green-cloud Path prolonged into the distance, the end of which was a mysterious and lofty Gate to Heaven.
Lin Xun stood on the Path, looked at everything around him and couldn’t help sighing, “This is the Heaven-access Place. Who constructed it?”
After an unnoticeable fluctuation swept over Lin Xun, an icy and emotionless sound popped up.
“My practitioner, the second test is called ‘Body Refining’ and you have 108 chances. There will be three days for you to refresh after each failure. The Heaven-access Place would be closed again if you failed for 108 times.”
“I got it. Go ahead.”
Lin Xun was calm, with a decisiveness shining in his clean and deep eyes.
“The test starts.”
There emerged a screen of light on the Green-cloud Path along with the sound, inside which was seemingly an overwhelming and violently fluctuating ocean.
Then a huge vortex appeared suddenly in the screen before Lin Xun could react, which looked like a black hole, and immediately swallowed up his figure.
“The test of Body Refining begins.”
“The place is Spiritual Tattoo Battlefield—Mille Waterfalls!”
“The standard of passing it is to break thousands of waterfalls and ascend to the top of the mountain.”
……
Shia Zhi suddenly opened her eyes from deep sleep and closed her eyes again when she saw Lin Xun sitting with his legs crossed in the dark room.
In a while, she opened her eyes again, with a blank face, for Lin Xun disappeared in her perception, seeming to evaporate without a breath..
However, it made Shia Zhi confused and gaze at Lin Xun for a long time with wide eyes when she found him right in front of her. She closed her eyes and continued to sleep after confirming his existence.
However, with her eyes closed, Shia Zhi couldn’t sense Lin Xun’s breath, which made her unsettled for the first time.
It was a long time before the little girl fell into deep sleep again.
……
Around Lin Xun’s ears sounded thundering noises of running water.
Opening his eyes, Lin Xun found himself in a mighty and overwhelming ocean, which intersected with the sky in the far distance.
There stood a unique mountain cutting into the sky less than thousands of meters far away. And streams of huge waterfalls that shaped like white dragons flowed down from the top of mountain to the surface of the sea, causing plenty of waves and ripples.
Looking far away, it was like a “Water Mountain” and was very spectacular with thousands of waterfalls curtaining from the top.
At the meantime, information about the test flashed swiftly in his mind, which made him clear that he must ascend to the top of the mountain against the heavy falling waterfalls if he wanted to pass the test.
Lin Xun suddenly put up a heavy look. It was not difficult to climb a mountain with his current cultivation—the forth level of Martial Realm. The real challenge was how to break up the waterfall pouring down.
There was no way to dodge.
Looking carefully, Lin Xun found the mountain was extremely tall and steep, which had a height of nearly thousands of meters. And the waterfalls poured down heavily from the top like roaring water dragons, so there was no way to get away from the strikes of them on the way to the top.
Lin Xun had 108 chances, which seemed a lot, but he was very clear that this could only prove the extreme difficulty of the test. So he wouldn’t waste any of them.
“Maybe the key to the test is how to resist the strikes of the waterfalls. As for climbing the mountain, it requires steadiness. If thrown down, I will fail.”
“Now that the name of the test is Body Refining, maybe I could make it with my physical power. As for spiritual force……I guess it’s no use here.”
Lin Xun stepped forward only to find there was no sense of sinking when standing on the surface of the sea. Even if he could not fly he felt like standing on the ground.
It might be the special allocation of the “Spiritual Tattoo Battlefield”. Lin Xun didn’t think further, or hurry to climb the mountain. Instead, he spent an hour watching around the mountain instead.
Having confirmed the fact that there was no shortcut, Lin Xun carefully came to the foot of the mountain.
Flowing down the mountain at an astonishing rate, the running waterfalls were like roaring dragons and splashed tens of thousands of waves.
Lin Xun felt a sensation of suffocating oppression just standing at the foot of the hill. He tried to drive his internal spiritual force only to find there was no way to make it as if it was sealed.
It further proved that the purpose of this test was examining the power of “Body Refining”!
Taking a deep breath, Lin Xun raised his head. Staring at the grand sight, his heart was full of pride.
How exhilarating it would be if he could conquer such a mountain and step on it!
Without hesitation, Lin Xun, whose muscles and bones were tight like a full bow, concentrated his physical power to the limit and then stepped forward onto a rough rock at the foot of the hill.
In a moment, a waterfall rushed down and struck on Lin Xun, nearly throwing him away.
The hit was even more powerful than that of a practitioner at the third level of Martial Realm!
Lin Xun was shocked. His toes were sharp like iron claws sticking to the surface of rocks. With a smart skill of exerting force, he kept his body steady.
But even so, he had to bear the striking of waterfalls every second, which felt like someone whipping on him with a huge hammer, causing intolerable pain.
Lin Xun knew it clearly that he couldn’t stop and he would be done soon if things kept going like this.
He gritted his teeth and stretched his arms, rushing against the waterfall. With all his fingers suddenly digging into the wall of rocks, he jumped and climbed upward.
Boom! Boom!
However, two waterfalls abruptly rushed to himin a row, knocking him away before he could react.
“Damn! It’s too difficult.”
Aloft in the air, Lin Xun couldn’t help spitting out dirty words. The next moment he returned to the Green-cloud Path of the Heaven-access Place.
“My practitioner, you failed for the first time.”
In the meantime, an empty and cold voice arose.