26、Bone (lower)

  Xue Dingyuan seemed a bit unhappy, put down the bone, turned around and ran down the mountain wall. He quickly jumped up again, opened his mouth and spat out the Earth's Pupil. Ah Meng hastily picked up the Earth's Pupil and shouted: "Xue Dingyuan, let's go quickly!"

  The thicket of trees at the foot of the mountain wall again transmitted the angry roar of the Iron Armor Beast King, mixed with the sound of shrubs and short trees being broken and swept away. It seemed that this fierce beast was not small in its anger. Amun turned around and disappeared into the heights, while Xue Dingyuan reluctantly picked up the bone-like thing as he left and jumped into his leather pouch.

  When the beast king returned to the edge of the pool, the four iron-armored beasts cautiously poked their heads out from the thicket. In front of them were only the frozen pool water and the entrance to the nest exposed above the water. The iron-armored beast king crawled across the ice surface into the nest, immediately followed by a thunderous roar that shook the surrounding ice layers, causing faint cracking sounds to emanate from them.

  ……

  On the small path in the dense forest of high mountains shrouded in clouds and mist, Lin Ke's face was pale, gritting his teeth, and discussing something anxiously with Mei Danzuo: "That guy is really formidable, chasing us for so long. Fortunately, he didn't run as fast as us on the mountain road. Once we leave our territory, he shouldn't chase us again... Mr. Armon is still by the water pool, what should we do? Should I go back to gather all the brave warriors of our tribe to escort him?"

  Mei Danzuo: "Can you still gather the people from your tribe? Besides, can those so-called brave warriors in your tribe withstand even one of the Beast King's tails? We'll lure the Beast King away, and the remaining four Iron Armor Beasts are something Amun can handle. Escaping shouldn't be a problem; his abilities far surpass ours."

  Lin Ke panted and said: "What you said is also right, Mr. Amun has no problem dealing with the four big iron armored beasts, but I'm afraid he will encounter the Iron Armored Beast King again on his way back."

  Mai Danzuo scolded him with a mouthful: "Do you think Ah Meng is as stupid as you? The Iron Armor Beast King ran and roared all the way, making such a big noise that it could be heard from far away. They had already avoided it by taking a detour."

  Lin Ke wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked back in a tone of discontent: "What makes you say I'm stupid?"

  Mai Dianzuo grabbed his animal skin collar: "Who's stupid if you're not? Who told me that the Iron Armor Beast King is about as powerful as four large iron armor beasts combined? The two of us couldn't withstand its one blow, luckily Amun covered for us and we ran away."

  Lin Ke leaned against a stone by the side of the road, his body shrinking downwards: "You're being too rough, I'm injured! ... It was an elder from our tribe who told me, I didn't know it would be like this!"

  "Old man? How old is he? Did he even fight against the Iron Armor Beast King? You're spouting nonsense, and you, the tribe leader, believed it. We almost lost our lives because of that! When we get back, I'll call him over and ask him what exactly did he say?"

  Lin Ke's five senses were all scrunched up: "Can't ask anymore, the person who told me died last year...... Don't mention this for now, Amon hasn't come back yet, should we quietly go back and meet him?...... I feel that just now was a loss due to not understanding the situation, with your sword skills, you should actually be able to withstand it for a while."

  "If you two are well-prepared, you can indeed hold out for a moment, but you still have to run quickly, or else you'll be dead!…… Lin Ke, where did you get the news that the Iron Armor Beast King is not difficult to deal with?" Ameng's voice suddenly came from behind the stone, and as he spoke, he walked around the stone onto the small path.

  "You're back! I knew you'd be fine with your skills!" The two exclaimed in surprise and delight. Lin Ke, still holding his arm and gritting his teeth, added, "Messenger of the gods, no, Ahmon god! I already explained it to that old man who told me how formidable the Iron Armor Beast King was, but he died last year!"

  ……

  Originally wanted to go to the waterside to practice and show off, but ended up getting into trouble. Link's arm was broken, fortunately Medusa had already fixed it with a splint on the way back, so now just need to take care of it slowly.

  After Lin Ke went back, he fell ill. He hummed and murmured day and night, not only was his arm uncomfortable, but his whole body seemed to be out of sorts, as if there wasn't a single good spot left. Ah Meng had been teaching Lin Ke simple low-level healing magic for some time now, and these past few days he often helped Lin Ke treat his "illness".

  He found that Link's "illness" was very strange, and his healing magic could only alleviate his suffering, but not eliminate his symptoms. Link's troubles continued, with pain in one place today and another tomorrow, as if he had been cursed by some kind of divine being. Amun recalled his own experiences in Douke Town, where old wounds had repeatedly flared up for a time, and even the old madman couldn't cure them.

  This is not a disease, but a test of physical purification that a first-class warrior must face after awakening the power of both sides and advancing to a second-class warrior. This test has come with the promotion of a first-class divine technique master to a second-class divine technique master at this moment. Link's test came so quickly, of course, it is related to his incomplete earth element divine technique learned since childhood, but the foundation is still good.

  However, Link's physical foundation is relatively poor, and his body is not as strong as Armon. Armon's robust physique benefited not only from the miner's training in Dokko Town but also from the mysterious cold spring bath purification. The harsh environment of the dwarves' outdoor life had caused countless injuries, some of which seemed to have healed on the surface but still left hidden problems in his body, which broke out continuously during this trial.

  It's fortunate that Link was the son of the previous chief from a young age, and in the dwarf tribe, he didn't have to go through too many dangers, otherwise this pass would be even harder.

  Since Ah Meng had thought of the reason, he told Lin Ke the truth: to overcome all kinds of hardships and troubles with perseverance, don't give up on body technique training. This is a test and a threshold, after passing which you can achieve the accomplishment of a second-level spiritual master, and also cultivate second-level body techniques.

  Link was originally very afraid, suspecting that the Iron-Tail Beast King's tail had some kind of strange poison or that he himself had been afflicted with an unknown curse. It wasn't until Amun said this that he finally put his mind at ease. Although he still held onto his arm and groaned, Link continued to practice his physical techniques every day and often went to find Medan to ask for guidance.

  Lin Ke brought "illness" to practice, and Mai Dangzo has not been feeling well for the past few days. He actually caught a cold. Mai Dangzo really got a small illness, feeling that everything was wrong with him, always having a sense of weakness, which was completely different from his energetic appearance in the previous few days. Since Ah Mon could treat spiritual techniques, he also came to find Ah Mon for treatment.

  Mai Dianzuo's situation had Amon pondering for most of the day, and he finally vaguely confirmed one thing - that he too had encountered the "Purification of the Body" trial.

  Maidanzuo was already a fourth-level warrior, and he had unintentionally passed this test long ago. When he was awakened to the power of both sides, re-experiencing this test was much easier than Link's, it was just a minor illness from catching a chill by the water pool a few days ago. Ahmon told Maidanzuo similar words, persisting would make him a second-level divine sorcerer, and Maidanzuo was overjoyed.

  The second trial of these two people came so quickly, making Amun slightly unexpected, but thinking carefully is not unreasonable. They have been cultivating incomplete divine techniques and regular physical techniques for a long time, and once awakened, the power of both sides can reach the peak of first-class achievement without difficulty.

  As the two "students" were about to reach his level, Ah Mon, this "teacher", also had worries and troubles. The disaster predicted by the old madman had not appeared yet, and he couldn't see any information left in the Earth's Pupil either. Both second-level divine techniques and second-level body techniques had long been cultivated to their peak state, but he was still waiting for the "Faith Consolidation" trial.

  Was the old madman's guess wrong? Ah Meng also felt a little uncertain in his heart. In the past few days, when practicing the most basic meditation of Shentong, he was always restless and couldn't calm down, and his power had almost no growth, as if the achievement of Shentong would never go further.

  It's Xue Dingyuan who has been having a great time these days, always running around in the village during the day. People have a lot of respect for this cat, regarding it as an attendant of the gods, and it goes without saying that it eats and drinks well. The fat cat from Du Ke Town, which was both lazy and gluttonous, finally had its moment of glory, living a comfortable life in the Hole Dwelling Savage tribe, even its fur becoming shiny and clean.

  Xue Dingyuan picked up a bone-like object from the Iron Armored Beast King's lair and brought it back to his own nest, even using one of his paws to press down on it while he slept. Ah Mon also took it out to examine it, and the object was flat, round, thin, and curved, with one end sharp and the other blunt, making people think of the boat shapes in the temple murals.

  Seeing this thing, Ah Mon subconsciously touched his own ribs, it was too much like a human rib! Looking at its texture, it was completely different from ordinary bones, light and airy with almost no weight, but incredibly hard, even the sharp iron knife couldn't scratch a mark. Its surface was smooth like polished white stone, if it were bone, it should have rotted away long ago and shouldn't be in this state.

  Armon didn't bother to examine it closely, anyway it was something Xue Ding brought back, so he just put it in his grass hut. If it were a different time, Armon might have tried to study it using various methods, but recently he hasn't been in the mood, and everything seems to be done absent-mindedly, easily getting annoyed and distracted, even seeing a bird flying by while walking would make him think wildly, yet somehow also thinking of nothing.

  In this state, it was impossible to cultivate divine techniques. Was it because the first time he took action, he suffered a setback at the hands of the Iron Armor Beast King, which dealt a blow to the young man's confidence? One night, Amun sat in his room again, practicing meditation, but couldn't calm down and enter that focused state. All sorts of chaotic thoughts flooded his mind, and he couldn't help but think back to all sorts of things about Faraway Du Ke Town.

  He wondered how his father's life was, and how much wine he had drunk during this period. What kind of disaster did the old madman predict, and what would happen to Du Ke Town in this disaster? Thinking about it, he naturally couldn't cultivate his spiritual skills. Realizing this, Ah Mon sighed, but then heard Xue Ding'an also sighing in the grass hut.

  This sigh seemed to remind Ah Mon of something, and he suddenly slapped his forehead and muttered to himself: "How stupid am I! Isn't this a test of cultivating divine skills? The firmness of faith is the stability of the soul, and also the firmness of conviction!"

  **