In the room filled with darkness, Lin Xun gasped heavily. There were unbearable pains like being punched by needles in every inch of his skin, his clothes being soaked by cold sweat.
"I never thought the second test would be so much more difficult than I expected…"
While murmuring, Lin Xun felt not that depressed in the heart because he had expected there would not be much of a chance to succeed in the first trial.
What he hadn't expected was that he failed so fleetingly at the beginning of the test, which was hard to stomach for him.
Shooting a glance at Shia Zhi in deep sleep, without drowsiness, Lin Xun went out of the room and intended to take a cold shower.
So he didn't notice there was a smile flashing by at the corners of her mouth.
She sensed the existence of Lin Xun again in sleep. Although she wasn't clear about what happened to him, she felt unprecedentedly settled as long as she could perceive the breath of Lin Xun.
……
It was late night already and the vast sky was brilliant with starlight.
Lin Xun soaked himself in a wooden vat in the courtyard, feeling the cold water running down and moistening his skin, reducing the pricking bit by bit.
"Three days later, there will be a second chance to do the test. However, according to my physical power now, it might end with failure again."
Leaning against the vat, Lin Xun gazed at the vast night sky in a trance.
The "Water Mountain" located in the sea was thousands of meters high and flowed down swiftly like a dragon, whose crashing power was beyond imagination. So it was nearly impossible to ascend to the top of the mountain against the huge waterfall.
Lin Xun even doubted that there wouldn't be much hope to pass the second test even though he reached the ninth level of Martial Realm and his physique was refined well, let alone with the power he possessed at the moment.
"It's really annoying."
Lin Xun thought it over but failed to come up with a solution. He sighed deeply.
However, Lin Xun suddenly noticed that his physical power was restoring at an unbelievable rate. A feeling of numbness generated from his skins, muscles and bones as if they were growing.
Lin Xun's heart and soul was immediately captured by that. Carefully perceiving, he found there was an extraordinary power that could scarcely be noticed and was integrated into his body. His strength in the stinging body not only recovered, but also became even stronger than before.
The unexpected change cheered Lin Xun up immediately and reminded him of the situation where he left the Heaven-accessing Place for the first time months ago.
At that moment, he thought the award was merely a volume of Meditating Magic after passing the first test. It never occurred to him that even the scars of his four acupoints of cardiac vessel would just disappear and the four spiritual vortexes were formed.
Moreover, his weak physique had been improved a lot since then.
"Is it that every time I enter the Heaven-accessing Place, my body will be improved a lot?"
"Or is there some connection between the change of my body now with my first try to pass Body Refining?"
Lin Xun thought fast in the heart. He had been sent to a spiritual tattoo battlefield called "Mille-Waterfalls" when doing the second test "Body Refining".
The overwhelming stinging pain he felt just now was the after-effects of being struck by the waterfall, which now seemed as a refining for the body.
It was possible!
As soon as Lin Xun recalled the name of the test, Body Refining, and the fact that he couldn't exert spiritual force but physical power when passing the test, he suspected the strange intangible magical force might come from the "Mille-Waterfalls".
The discovery immediately made Lin Xun feel excited again. He hurried to dry his body with a towel, wore clean clothes and stood in the courtyard, practicing Marching Boxing.
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Hu! Hu! Hu!
With his fists striking the air, Lin Xun did find his strength promoted a lot!
He could only shake the air with his utmost force previously, but now he could easily achieve that by an arbitrary strike.
"If so, even if I keep failing, I shouldn't give up. Each time I try, my body will be refined, and my power will become stronger, then it'll get easier and easier for me to pass the test…"
Lin Xun's thinking was clearer and clearer. "That should be it! It is the true purpose of the second test to refine body. So no matter how many times I fail, I only become calmer facing them!"
"For example, the requirement of the first test seemed to be simply uncovering the secret of the Flowing-light Spiritual Tattoo. Who could've ever thought the true secret of it all is the key to practicing Meditating Magic?"
"Looking back on it, I have underestimated the tests on the Green-cloud Path. Who can ever assume that there are mystiques beyond imagination behind each one?"
At this moment, standing alone in the darkness with bright eyes like stars, Lin Xun was suddenly as enlightened as beholding the sun blazing forth from a cloudy sky.
…
Another three days passed away.
Lin Xun entered the Heaven-accessing Place at night and started his struggle for passing the "Mille Waterfalls" again.
This time Lin Xun managed to climb nearly seven meters due to his stronger physique before he was thrown away by three torrents of waterfalls forcibly.
However, Lin Xun paid more attention to the change of his body rather than the failure. Feeling carefully, he found his previous speculation was confirmed and that he became stronger after the struggle as expected!
If he could do the test every three days for 108 times, it would cost him 324 days, which was nearly a whole year!
Then the benefits would be beyond imagination if he would become stronger each time.
Besides, he could also refine his body by various means in daily cultivations. With all included, it would not be hard to imagine how powerful he would be then!
The thought aroused the ambition of Lin Xun to conquer the second test of the Green-cloud Path again.
"Unfortunately, I have to go to the Green-sun Tribe because of the over-accumulated stuff. Otherwise, I really want to engage all my time in practicing."
Lin Xun let out a sigh in the dark night. He had promised the village head Shiao Tianren to set off for the Green-sun Tribe one hundred kilometers away.
……
Lin Xun rode a tall and sturdy scaled-horse, waving goodbye to villagers at the entrance of Feiyun Village in the morning.
"I will wait for you here."
Standing by the scaled-horse, Shia Zhi said seriously, "I will go to look for you if you don't come back."
"I get it."
Lin Xun beamed with a brilliant smile under the morning sunshine.
The scaled-horse neighed and galloped away with Lin Xun on his back.
Shia Zhi gazed at his shadow for a long time until it couldn't be seen anymore and then returned home alone with a very lonely figure.
Some villagers wanted to invite Shia Zhi to their home, because no one would make meals for her after Lin Xun left, which might be too pitiful for a little girl.
However, shaking his head, Shiao Tianren stopped them and said, "There is no need to do so, for she is different from others. What we should do is to keep an eye on her."
Thinking for a while, the villagers accepted it. Shia Zhi was completely different from other kids, since even Lin Xun couldn't fight against her. In addition, an aura of indifference and alienation she projected made all dare not approach her.
"I only hope that Lin Xun will come back soon."
Shiao Tianren took a deep breath, murmuring to himself.
…
Like the spine lying across the earth, boundless mountains stretched up and down continually, dotted with rivers and streams. Looking across, it was a really desolate place.
This was called the Three Thousand Mountains. Located in the southwest frontier of Ziyao Empire, it had been given the name of "Natural Moat" since ancient times.
It was said that common people would have a narrow escape if stepping in the Three Thousand Mountains where lots of horrifying beasts and numerous dangerous regions would be encountered.
Burdened with a hide pocket of three-meter height which contained at least 50 kg of goods, a scaled-horse ran swiftly with rumbling sound, curling up flying dusts.
There were some skins and furs, muscles and bones, sharp claws of beasts, as well as some spiritual medicines and materials grown in deep mountains and so on inside the pocket.
Of course, compared with these visible materials, the stuff in Lin Xun's storing ring was the most valuable.
There were 150 kg of Feiyun Fire-copper!
It wasn't the ore but refined Feiyun Fire-copper, whose worth was astonishing.
Lin Xun on the back of the scaled-horse didn't hurry on with his journey at full speed since there were so many dangers and risks in this perilous region with poor mountains and torrential rivers.
Moreover, as this was his first time to the Green-sun Tribe alone, Lin Xun wasn't clear about the specific road condition at all, although he roughly knew he should run in the north direction all the way for three days to arrive the destination.
Naturally, he should be cautious in this condition.
Luckily, he didn't encounter other dangers except some beasts along the way until noon.
Seeing the sun scorching and his horse panting, Lin Xun searched for a large shadow with a thick forest and then stopped and dismounted to have a rest.
In order to replenish his physical power, he took out some dried venison and chewed, while reflecting on what to do when reaching the Green-sun Tribe in his heart.
Noticing the horse refreshed, Lin Xun rode on the horse at once and continued his trip after resting for a short period.
Boom!
At this moment, the ground far away suddenly shook violently, as if there was an earthquake, and blocks of rocks flowed down a hill afar.
Meantime, a burst of terrifying roars of beasts resounded in the forest.
Even the horse became relentless.
A strong feeling of danger struck Lin Xun, making him anxious. However, he found nothing abnormal when glancing around.
What happened?
At this moment, a brilliant light rose and rushed out from the remote deep mountain, which seemed like to be a huge golden claw!