Lin Xun held the token in front of his eyes as he carefully inspected it.

The token was made from some kind of special jade material and felt heavy in the hand. An intricate rune array had been carved onto its surface.

On the other side were three ancient gilded words——Stone Cauldron Alms.

If Lin Xun’s guess was correct, the rune array was a symbol unique to Stone Cauldron Alms.

“Several problems could be solved with this token…”

Lin Xun carefully kept the token in his storage ring as he began to ponder about his trip to the Qingyang Tribe and the bartering he would have to do.

A few days ago, Xia Zhi had killed the Wu Apothecary’s chief steward, Wu Henshui. According to Lin Xun’s understanding of the world, the other party would not take this lying down.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The Stone Cauldron Alms token he now had might hold a clue to resolving this problem.

“No matter what, I still have to make a trip to the Qingyang Tribe.”

Lin Xun’s eyes were deep in thought.

In the Three Thousand Great Mountains region, the Qingyang Tribe was the closest location to Donglin City. From what Village Chief Xiao Tianren had described, it was comparable to a bustling town.

It was a place Lin Xun needed to visit regardless of whether it was to solve the problem of the villagers' livelihoods or for his future cultivation progress.

Before all that, however, Lin Xun had one more matter he needed to attend—the second trial of the Omega Secret-Realm!

……

At night, Xia Zhi woke up and walked out of the room. She observed Lin Xun’s busy figure in the kitchen in silence for a long time, before she said, “Lin Xun, I wish to become stronger.”

Lin Xun was stunned. He swiftly brought out the cooked dishes one by one before earnestly looking at Xia Zhi, “Why do you wish so?”

Xia Zhi pursed her lips, “No reason.”

The young girl’s expression was as serene as usual. However, there was a never-before-seen determination in her pitch-black pupils.

Lin Xun was silent for a moment. As he recalled the events in the day, he seemed to understand something. “That man and woman aren’t bad people.”

Xia Zhi shook her head, “I don’t know who is good or bad. I only know that if I don’t become stronger, the initiative will never be mine when I encounter someone stronger than myself. I do not like that feeling.”

Lin Xun nodded, “I understand.”

He did understand. Xia Zhi’s views might be simple, but she could naturally see things very clearly and knew what she needed.

Like how Xia Zhi had to abandon her most beloved food and hide in the room when the first young master Shi Xuan and Mu Wansu arrived.

At that moment, she had definitely sensed that she was not Shi Xuan’s match and had no choice but to retreat for the time being.

Lin Xun filled Xia Zhi’s bowl as he asked, “How do you plan on growing stronger?”

Xia Zhi picked up her chopsticks and thought for a long time. In the end, she answered, “Battle! As long as I fight strong people, I will be able to rapidly grow stronger.”

Lin Xun’s eyes narrowed, not expecting this answer. It made his heart ache because it felt like a last resort to grow stronger.

If only they had a teacher’s or elder’s guidance. If only they had some kind of great inheritance. If only they had an abundance of cultivation resources. Who would voluntarily choose battle in order to grow stronger?

Unfortunately, Lin Xun and Xia Zhi were all alone in this world, like a pair of orphans who could only rely on themselves.

Lin Xun ultimately made his decision, “We can discuss this matter at a later date. I will give you a proper answer after a few days.”

Xia Zhi nodded.

She had never doubted or objected to Lin Xun’s decisions because she had complete trust in him.

It was this very trust that made Lin Xun secretly resolve himself to leave Feiyun Village with Xia Zhi after finishing their affairs here. He intended to head to Donglin City and find her the best cultivation venue no matter the cost or method!

Lin Xun absolutely did not wish to see Xia Zhi fighting against powerful enemies. It was just far too dangerous.

……

Three days passed in a flash.

At night, Xia Zhi was slumbering peacefully. Starlight sprinkled onto her fair and beautiful face from the window, bathing her in a pure and sacred glow.

Lin Xun was seated in a cross-legged posture with a calm and peaceful expression.

In his mind-sea, wisps of consciousness surged towards the silently floating mysterious blood-red door.

Omm~

A familiar feeling washed over his body as if he was strolling through time and space. Stars swirled around him and, when he returned to his senses, he found that he had already appeared in a mysterious domain.

The straight Great Azure Cloud Path stretched out into the distance, ending at the mysterious and majestic Omega Door.

Lin Xun stood on the path and took in everything, unable to stop himself from feeling overwhelmed. This was the Omega Secret-Realm. What kind of person could have created such an amazing thing?

A cryptic undulation stealthily approached and scanned Lin Xun in the blink of an eye. A split second later, a cold emotionless voice sounded.

“Dao Seeker, the Great Azure Cloud Path’s second trial is called body tempering and you will be given a hundred and eight attempts. There will be three days of rest between each failure, and if you fail all hundred and eight times, this trial will be considered a failure and the Omega Secret-Realm will return to a sealed state.”

“I understand. Let’s begin.” Lin Xun’s expression was calm. His clear and deep eyes shone with determination.

“The trial shall begin.” As the voice echoed, a light screen surged out from the Great Azure Cloud Path. Within it was a sea where endless waves raged violently, even reaching all the way to the sky.

Before Lin Xun could react, a giant vortex suddenly swept out from the screen and instantly swallowed his figure like a black hole.

Body tempering trial will start.

Venue: rune battle realm—Thousand Heavy Wave Sea!

Pass condition: break through the waves and ascend the peak.

……

In the dark room, the sleeping Xia Zhi suddenly opened her eyes. When she saw Lin Xun’s seated figure, she could not help but close her eyes again.

However, she opened them a split second later as frustration emerged within them. Within her senses, Lin Xun seemed to have completely vanished, not even leaving a sliver of his presence behind.

However, when she opened her eyes, she found that Lin Xun was still seated in front of her. This confused Xia Zhi. Her pitch-black eyes widened and concentrated on Lin Xun. After she was certain that he was real, she shut her eyes again to sleep.

However, she immediately lost Lin Xun’s presence again. This made Xia Zhi feel an unexplainable frustration for the very first time.

It was a long time later before the little girl fell asleep again.

……

Rumble~~

The thunderous sound of rapidly flowing water boomed in Lin Xun’s ears, nearly bursting his eardrums.

When he opened his eyes again, he discovered that he had appeared in an endless sea. The sky-blue waters stretched out into the horizon, seemingly merging with the sky itself.

Less than ten thousand feet away stood a mountain that reached straight into the heavens. It was an extremely unique mountain; giant white-dragon-like waves poured down its peak and crashed into the sea below, lifting numerous waves.

From a distance, it looked like a water mountain made from hundreds and thousands of waves falling from the sky. It was magnificent.

At the same time, information about the trial appeared in Lin Xun’s head, allowing him to instantly understand that he had to push through the falling waves and ascend the peak!

Lin Xun’s expression turned exceedingly grave. He was currently at the True Martial fourth layer. Although it was not difficult to climb the mountain, the challenge lay in how he would overcome the torrential downpour!

It was unavoidable.

Lin Xun carefully observed the mountain. It was tall, likely reaching ten-thousand-feet in height. An endless waterfall poured down from its peak, roaring like water dragons. There was essentially no way to avoid the powerful force of the falling water to ascend the mountain.

Although a hundred and eight attempts seemed a lot, Lin Xun understood that this only proved the insane difficulty of the trial.

He decided that he would not waste a single attempt.

“The key likely lies in how to face the battering force of the waves because stability is required to climb. Being washed away will probably result in failing the attempt. Since the trial is called body tempering, it likely means that I’ll have to challenge it using only my physical power. As for aeth power…it’ll likely be of no use here.”

Lin Xun began walking and discovered that although he was unable to fly, he could walk on the surface of the sea as if it were land. There was no sign of him sinking into the water.

This was probably some special rule of the rune battle realm and Lin Xun did not dwell on it. He did not immediately rush to climb the mountain either and instead spent two hours circling the mountain as he closely inspected each inch of it.

There was no shortcut!

After ascertaining this, Lin Xun extinguished all thoughts of trying some kind of bypass and cautiously advanced towards the foot of the mountain.

The surging waterfall roared like an angry dragon, crashing down with a terrifying force that raised thousands of waves on the sea.

Although he was only at the mountain’s foot, Lin Xun could already feel a suffocating pressure. He tried to circulate the aeth power in his body and, sure enough, he found that his aeth power seemed to be restricted, making it impossible to use.

This further proved that the trial was a test of his physical power!

With a deep breath, Lin Xun raised his head to gaze upon the magnificent scene before him and could not help but feel confidence rising within him. How exhilarating would it be to conquer such a mountain?

There was no more hesitation. Lin Xun’s muscles tightened like a bowstring, swelling as he concentrated his physical power to the max. He pushed a foot back as his other foot stepped onto a protruding rock.

Rumble!

The wave of water mercilessly slammed into Lin Xun’s body, causing him to stagger as he was nearly sent flying.

It was more powerful than the full-power blow of a True Martial third layer cultivator!

Though alarmed, Lin Xun executed the thousand catty drop[1] technique with his toes, firmly gripping the rock as if he had metal claws to stabilize his body.

However, he still had to endure the constant battering of the falling water. It felt as if someone was ruthlessly smashing a giant hammer into his body again and again, inflicting unbearable pain.

Lin Xun knew that he could not stop here. If this continued, it would be over sooner or later.

He gritted his teeth, stretched his arms in front of him, and pushed against the falling water. His fingers dug into the stone wall, his body hugging the rocks as close as possible as he began to climb.

Thud! Thud!

Moments later, however, two consecutive waves slammed into his body, sending him flying before he could respond.

“F*ck! Isn’t this way too difficult?!” Lin Xun could not help but curse in the air. A split second later, he returned to the Omega Secret-Domain’s Great Azure Cloud Path.

At the same time, the robotic ice-cold voice rang out, “Dao Seeker's first attempt: fail.”

1. a technique of the plum-blossom martial art that makes it very difficult to lift the user from the ground—https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meihuaquan) ?