Nightmare’s Call

The taxi drove slowly along the road.

Soon after they made the U-turn, Lin Sheng saw the scene of the accident from the vehicle.

A massive truck carrying a full load of metal pipes had crashed into a small black sedan.

The front of the sedan was crushed, and faint traces of blood could be seen on the driver’s seat.

“Looks like he’s a goner.” The taxi driver sighed. “The truck driver’s gone, probably ran away. Not sure if the police will be able to track him down, damn… Sigh.”

“Has this been ongoing?” Lin Sheng sensed that something was wrong from the driver’s tone.

“Pretty much,” the taxi driver said as he turned the steering wheel. “The current political situation is tense for a border harbor like this. Security has always been lacking, there are too many foreigners, and Xilin’s putting pressure…”

“Putting pressure?” Lin Sheng asked.

“The matter regarding the mining of red neephite [1]. Xilin and Redwin have been tugging at it for so long, and the chasm is getting worse.”

“Plus, there are reports that many Redwinian spies have infiltrated this port city. Enforcements would catch a few of them every now and then.”

The driver explained in a hushed tone.

Lin Sheng demurred.

They had a peace that was without any weapons of mass destruction, and a mere rare earth deposit was enough to get two countries to be at each other’s throat.

Xilin’s science and economy were lagging behind, and that was the cause of its internal instability. Another reason was due to the country’s own weakness. It was a country with rich resources, and powerful nations had been eyeing its rare earth deposits, thus the infiltration.

All along the way, the driver rambled on nonstop as he went from politics down to local gossip without having to catch a breath.

A moment later, they arrived at the park.

Lin Sheng paid the fare and got off the taxi before he walked on the familiar path into the park.

He had practiced his swordplay for quite a while now and had already selected a fixed spot for it.

This time around, however, he came without his sword and was mainly there for meditation.

As he strolled along the pebble path, he took several lefts and rights to reach the deeper parts of the park.

Then, he followed a flower-lined pathway, snaking across the area into a deserted field.

The tuff on the field had already been trampled flat as one end of the field lined up against the Ring River. The airflow was good.

Best of all, there was a rather spartan pavilion for people to rest.

Most of the time, Lin Sheng would practice on the field before taking a break in the pavilion when he was tired.

It was no different this time around. He placed his school bag on the stone bench in the pavilion and began to do some warm-up exercises.

Soon, he was standing still. His eyes were closed as he started to meditate on the Ashen Seal.

The weather was cool, neither too hot nor too cold. Standing in the middle of the field in his uniform, he did attract the attention of a few passers-by.

However, Lin Sheng did not mind it.

What he was most concerned about was the purpose of the Ashen Seals.

Not long after, he completed his first round of meditation.

He slower opened his eyes, and a tinge of fatigue appeared in them. Then he made his way to the pavilion to rest.

“Ever since I obtained the Ashen Seal, I’ve been practicing for a few days now, but why am I not seeing any visible effects?”

He was confused.

He had placed a huge focus on the Ashen Seal, spending a lot of time meditating on it.

“It’s a shame that the tome didn’t mention what it was for. It only briefly touched on the practices and stuff.”

“But thinking again, after a few days of meditating, it does feel like training has become much easier now. Am I just getting used to it, or did the Ashen Seal take effect?”

He frowned a little as he was slightly at a loss.

Without a precision-monitoring device, he was not able to compute the minor changes.

“Based on Blackfeather City’s standards, I’m probably a Level 1 warrior. For a Level 2 one… my body strength probably isn’t up to par yet.”

He was very clear about it even when he had managed to kill the elite Level 2 rotten swordsman in the dream realm.

In actuality, he had simply acted smart. When it came to his physique or technique, he was still far, far away.

After some thought, he felt that he had rested enough. He pressed his hand onto the bench to push himself up to continue his meditation.

However, the moment he used some strength, he felt a sudden pricking pain.

“Hmm?”

Lin Sheng quickly pulled his hand back and looked at the stone bench.

There was a nail on the bench!

It was a silver nail with its tip pointing upward, and it was slightly rusted. God knew how long it had been there.

Lin Sheng looked at the rusted part and quickly turned his palm over.

What surprised him was that he felt the prick, but how come there was no wound on his palm?

“What’s going on?” Lin Sheng was astounded, and he carefully inspected his palm.

Once he confirmed that there was no injury, his vision returned to the nail.

“Could it be?” He suddenly thought of something.

Without any hesitation, he clenched his fist and punched the wooden pillar inside the pavilion.

*Bam!*

The pillar did not move…

But his fist did not hurt also.

“It feels like I’m wearing a thick glove or something,” Lin Sheng said in surprise as he ran his hand over his knuckle.

Only then did he realize that his skin had toughened up and was not so susceptible to wounds.

Elated, he got out of the pavilion and smashed his fist into a massive tree with all his might.

*Bam!!*

The tree shook a little as a couple of leaves fell.

Lin Sheng remained were he stood and looked at his fist. It did not turn red at all!

“That’s quite the defensive power…”

He could feel that the moment he struck the tree, the impact completely recoiled against the surface of his knuckle.

Yet, in the end, not only did his fist not hurt, but a shallow mark also appeared on the tree instead as layers of dead bark fell away.

“Okay, how about this!” Lin Sheng picked up a rock and grabbed the sharp edge of the rock, smashing into the back of his hand.

*Crack!*

The sharp edge chipped away.

Lin Sheng raised his hand and did not feel any pain. He felt that even his bones were being protected by something.

The only thing on the back of his hand was some dust left by the stone.

“This defensive capability… sure is something! I’ve only spent a few days meditating, and it’s already…”

Lin Sheng was astonished.

He now understood what that sanctuary was all about.

Since he was excited now, he was no longer in the mood to practice. So, he quickly packed up his things. He left the empty field and bought a small knife from a convenience store near the park.

He then returned to the empty field.

He pulled out the knife. It was a palm-sized fruit knife, about a finger wide.

Lin Sheng grabbed the handle hard as he slowly pricked his palm.

There was nothing.

He proceeded to increase his strength and push the blade against his palm.

There was now some prickling sensation.

He further increased the strength of his stab by about 78%.

The edge of the knife bit into his palm.

Now, Lin Sheng felt pain.

He lifted the knife and saw a tiny wound in his palm, which was bleeding.

“This is super effective!”

Lin Sheng was truly astonished now.

It was a proper knife, and with his strength, against any normal folk, that stab would have sent the blade at least halfway through a person’s palm.

It also pays to remember that he had been practicing for a while with a five-and-a-half-pound metal blade. It was little wonder that his strength had increased.