701 You are Sick

Sha.

A pair of feet wearily trudged on the dried, cracked and dusky yellow ground.A few clouds of dust rose along with his movements, and it felt as if even thedust itself did not have the slightly bit of energy.

Lin Dong raised his head and stared numbly at the unending barren land aroundhim. His originally keen and acute gaze unexpectedly turned somewhat blank atthis point in time.

He had already been travelling for a month…

After a month, all he saw was the same unending barren land. A dark and gloomyyellow seemed to bob up and down as it continuously reflected in his pupils. Itseemed that even the colour of his pupils was being changed due to this endlessbarren land.

After walking for a month, Lin Dong’s skin had already turned withered andtinged with yellow. His black hair had also dried up and turned yellow. If onewere to see him from far, he would look just like a terminally ill person.

Lin Dong licked his dry, rough and pale lips, before stretching out his hands.His originally slender hands had turned abnormally rough. Soon after, he slowlyclenched his fists. The abundant and vigorous energy they once held had alreadyfaded away…

This barren land was absorbing his energy.

Lin Dong could feel that as he was travelling across this domain, his energywas slowly fading bit by bit. He had previously attempted to quietly sit downin order to defend himself against this erosion. However, it was of no avail.Lin Dong knew that once his energy had completely dissipated, he would havefailed the trial. As for the Great Desolation Mysterious Scripture, that wassimply out of the question…

“As expected, this is not simple at all.”

Lin Dong murmured to himself while bitterly laughing. He looked down at astalk of withered grass below his feet, which still had a withered flowerattached to it. Bending down to pick it up, he touched it with his finger,causing the flower to transform into dust and scatter away with the wind.

“However…it would be too embarrassing to give up now…”

A somewhat ugly arc appeared from the corners of Lin Dong’s mouth. After awhile he spat out a mouthful of air before dragging his seemingly leadfilled-feet as he continued his slow walk forward.

Hu

As Lin Dong continued to trudge on, at another spot in this endless barrenland, stood a muscular and sturdy figure. Swaying to and fro, he finallycollapsed powerlessly with a loud thud. His entire body had withered, however,no fresh blood flowed out. Specks of light emerged from within his body as hisbody continued to disappear.

As the specks of light started to rise from between his eyes, an unwilling anddeeply tired expression filled Jiang Hao’s cracked face.

On the surrounding ground were a few cracks. Obviously, these cracks wereforcefully created by him. However, in this strange place, it was obvious thatusing force alone was not going to solve the problem.

“I’ve failed…”

Jiang Hao muttered to himself as his vision started to turn blurry. After awhile, his body finally turned completely into specks of light and disappearedfrom this boundless barren land.

Following his disappearance, the land turned even more deathly still, as adark and gloomy atmosphere filled the area, as if the land had died.

One month within the Great Desolate Tablet was equivalent to one month outside.

Although one month had past, the skies and forests surrounding the GreatDesolate Tablet were still filled with a large crowd of people. This crowdapparently did not disperse even as time passed. On the contrary, as timecontinued to pass, even more senior direct disciples arrived after hearing thenews. Currently, the entire spectacle was quite majestic and vast.

At this moment, every pair of eyes from the surrounding mountains and forestswere locked onto the five glowing pillars of light in front of the GreatDesolate Tablet. Within the five pillars of light sat five cross-leggedfigures. They were as still as monks in meditation.

Hovering in the sky, Chen Zhen, Wu Dao and the rest all had solemnexpressions. During the past one month, they did not move as well and continuedto observe the five as well as the Great Desolate Tablet.

Buzz!

A faint buzzing noise suddenly rang out within the quiet mountain range.Immediately, everyone’s attention turned to focus on one of the light pillarsin front of the Great Desolate Tablet.

The pillar of light gradually dimmed…

“Jiang Hao has failed…” said Ying Xiaoxiao in a low voice, while quietlyclenching her slim and tender lily-white hands after seeing this scene.

Upon hearing her words, there were a slight change in Ying Huanhuan and QingYe’s expressions. Only at this moment, did they finally realize thedreadfulness of the Great Desolate Tablet.

Under the attentive gazes of countless people, the pillar of light started torapidly weaken before completely dissipating with a cracking sound. Afterlosing the light pillar, Jiang Hao’s body fell, back facing the ground, hisface as white as sheet.

“Sigh.”

Chen Zhen gave a soft sigh before waving of his sleeve. A gentle wave ofenergy descended down towards Jiang Hao and supported him, before some DesolateHall disciples rapidly came forward to help him.

“They were able to endure for one month. That is already quite decent…”said WuDao after remaining silent for a while.

Chen Zhen laughed bitterly, before nodding his head and saying softly, “Let’swait and see…”

As they were talking, Chen Zhen’s eyes could not help but shoot a worried lookat Lin Dong’s body. With his shrewd and ruthless eyesight, he could tell thatLin Dong was not in good shape. However, at this moment, there was no way foranyone to help him. Within the Great Desolate Tablet, one could only rely ononeself…

Under the anticipation of innumerable people, time continued to pass quietly.Unknowingly, another half a month had passed.

During this half month, Chen Zhen, Wu Dao and the rest’s expression had grownincreasingly tense. From time to time, their actions revealed some impatience.It was obvious that their hearts were not tranquil and calm. That was because,Fang Yun and Song Zhou had also failed after Jiang Hao…

Furthermore, most importantly, Pang Tong’s light pillar, the disciple with themost experience in Desolate Hall, had started to dim. It was obvious that hewas about to fail too.

Within a short half a month, four out of the five senior direct disciples inDesolate Hall had already failed miserably!

Crack.

The pillar of light around Pang Tong’s body finally dissipated completely. Adisciple was already prepared as he immediately rushed over and carefullysupported his body. Looking at Pang Tong’s deathly pale face, feelings of dreadinevitably surfaced within his heart. The Great Desolate Tablet was trulydreadful… even the most talented Desolate Hall direct disciples had failed oneafter another…

After Pang Tong was carried away, the originally peaceful and quiet atmospherestarted to turn sad and depressive. It felt as if the air had solidified.

“Only Lin Dong is left…” said Ying Xiaoxiao with a soft sigh.

Ying Huanhuan gently nodded her head as she bit her red lips. Her fine andslender hands were already twisted together, causing a dark green colour toappear on her originally semi transparent jade-like skin.

Two figures were standing at a mountain peak some distance away from the GreatDesolate Tablet. Both of their gazes shot through space and looked at the areawhere the vast crowd were waiting.

“Lin Dong doesn’t seem to be in good shape…” said the blue-robed old man whowas standing beside Ying Xuanzi.

“He might be able to endure five more days.”

Ying Xuanzi said with a soft voice before giving a helpless sigh. Were theyall going to fall again this time?

After five days, it was still the same…

On the fifth day, when the scorching sun was rising towards the centre of thesky, a pale white colour suddenly appeared on Chen Zhen, Wu Dao and the rest’sfaces, while an uproar started to rapidly spread across the vast crowd.

This was because the pillar of light enveloping Lin Dong had started to dim.From their previous experience, this was clearly an omen of impending failure.

Ying Huanhuan’s jade-like hands started to clench tightly, before she tightlygripped Ying Xiaoxiao’s wrists and her big eyes started to turn red. Althoughshe was extremely confident in that fellow’s resilience, she knew that thissetback was not something that Lin Dong could easily disregard. She couldalready imagine his forced smile in the near future…

“Big sis.”

Ying Xiaoxiao looked at the young lady beside her, who could not bear to seeLin Dong fail, before she sighed and shook her head. This matter… perhaps thiswas how it would end…

Under the regretful gazes of innumerable people, Lin Dong’s pillar of lightslowly started to grow dimmer.

Bang!

As an uproar was stirred in the outside world due to the weakening of thepillar of light. Lin Dong’s body finally collapsed heavily onto the ground inthe endless barren land. A painful sensation spread across his entire body.

Right now, Lin Dong’s skin was thoroughly cracked and he looked extremelyhideous. Furthermore, the energy within his body had disappeared completely.There were even specks of light floating out of his body from time to time.

Lin Dong’s mouth was shaking as he fuzzily stared at a stalk of withered grassin front of him. He knew that he was already at the end of his limits and didnot have the energy to continue walking forward.

He stared at that stalk of withered grass for a while, before reaching outwith his hand and inserting it into the withered and yellow ground. Heproceeded to grab the whole withered plant including its roots.

When the withered plant left the ground, lin Dong stared at the roots thatwere hidden beneath the surface. Reaching his finger out to touch it, theentire plant and even its roots completely turned to dust and floated away.

The dust floated and scattered in front of Lin Dong’s face. His face turnedgloomy with uncertainty as he stayed in this way for close to half an hour. Theonly thing he heard was his hoarse voice which rang across the silent domain.

“The Desolate Spirit shouldn’t be like this…”

Lin Dong slowly raised his head and looked towards the grey and dusky sky.From its colour, it was as if even the sky had died. Looking once again at thispiece of land, although there were withered grass around, all of them were dead…

However, desolation was not like this. After desolation, life would stayhidden, waiting for the time to bloom. After desolation, there would also be anabundance of life…

However in this land, even the sky and earth were dead.

Lin Dong lowered his head and suddenly extended his hands to dig the ground infront of him, causing dried dust and sand to fly into the air. Although he hadhardly any strength left, by relying on sheer willpower, he was able tobrandish his palms mechanically.

Pop!

Another lump of dull yellow dust was clawed up from the ground by Lin Dong.The dust scattered before his eyes. Yet, in that moment, his pupils had shrunkinto the size of a needle as he scanned the dust. Within the dust, he had seena floating black dot…

This black dot gave him the same feeling as the black dot on the surface ofthe tablet. It felt mysterious and sinister and seemed capable of swallowingall life from the heavens and earth…

Without even blinking, Lin Dong’s gaze followed the black dot as it fell tothe ground before disappearing. Immediately following its disappearance, LinDong turned as still as a statue, and he did not even move a single inch.

Specks of light started to scatter from within Lin Dong’s body. Half of hisbody had already turned to light and scattered away. However, as his body wasscattering, a fierce glint suddenly reappeared in his blank and dead eyes.

Huff!

Taking in a deep breath of air, Lin Dong lifted his head and stared at theendless stretch of land. Although there was no one here, an extremely earnestexpression appeared on his face. Soon after, a youthful voice consisting of asingle chain of words started to ring out.

“Return my strength to me… Great Desolate Tablet… you are sick, you must betreated…”