9

"Damn it, when they say that second hurdle is about harmonizing with the elements, they never mentioned it will temper the body too." After hours of writing in pain, Lin Kai cursed before taking off his robe and clothes which were now completely drenched with his sweat. 

Even with the temperature constantly dropping, Lin Kai didn't feel any cold. On the contrary, he felt like his body was on fire. Gulping down a mouthful of water, Lin Kai exhaled as he observed the new changes in his body. 

His body was already well-built due to the years of doing chores. But it was only slightly better than a normal person. Now looking at the well-proportioned muscles and a streamlined body, Lin Kai was stunned. 

Poking his body constantly with a finger, the smile on his face grew wider and wider. Feeling a sense of power, Lin Kai walked towards his bed before grabbing it from the bottom and lifting it with both hands. 

The bed which was made from hardwood and weighed more than five hundred pounds was being lifted slowly. 

"Huff... Huff..." Sweating, Lin Kai tried his best. Exerting strength till veins were visible on his neck, he gave out a low shout before dropping the bed.

"BANG." 

The floor shook as soon as the bed was dropped. Lin Kai on the other hand was still breathing heavily as his eyes were stuck on the bed. Even in his wildest dreams, he did not expect the changes to be so drastic. Just the ten percent full elemental root brought such major changes to him.

"How much is my strength going to change once I completely fill the root?" Thinking about it, Lin Kai hurriedly threw the dice, hoping to get it to twenty percent. 

'9' - '16'

Looking at the first failure, he just shrugged it off before throwing it once again. However, it seemed that he had used up his luck for the day, as every throw resulted in failure.

"Never mind." Lin Kai remained unfazed by setbacks. In a mere day, he had achieved a level of strength that others took years to attain. Now all he needed to do was to be patient. With the way his strength was improving, it wouldn't take long before he finally stepped into the realm that countless people only dream of. 

"I should meditate." Even though he was gaining strength from the roll, he still wanted to immerse himself in the feeling of practice. If not for anything else, just the feeling of the passage of time was wonderful, otherwise he wouldn't know how to spend his time without any internet or games. 

As these thoughts flashed across his mind, Lin Kai sat naked in front of the fireplace, adjusting his breathing before closing his eyes and losing himself in meditation.

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While Lin Kai was practicing peacefully, a horrific event was unfolding in the Mystic Stream Valley. Hundreds of wild animals seemingly made from the mist were massacring the people who were running around like headless chickens.

The people who came to the valley for their jobs didn't know what these things were. These ungodly things were without flesh and blood. No matter what they used against these beasts, nothing seemed to work. Their weapons, talismans, martial arts, everything was as fragile as a thin piece of glass, breaking at the slightest touch.

It didn't even take ten minutes from the first death before the valley was overran by these beasts. The so-called stewards, who were here to keep order and peace were the first ones to run away. Even though they were the first to escape, only a handful of them were successful in getting out alive. The rest of them were lying dead on the ground; some with a complete body, while others in parts. 

Jiang Fengyi was one of the stewards responsible for the group that was here to plant and harvest the Aqua Grass, one of the treasures of the people with Water elemental root. 

His job was relatively easy, he just needed to order them around and make sure everyone was working. This was supposed to be a relatively easy job for a person like him. 

But what was supposed to be an easy task for him turned into a nightmare within moments. Jiang Fengyi was already a cautious man, so the moment he saw beasts forming from the fog, his first reaction was to run. Unlike other stewards who waited and used talismans and weapons to fight, he didn't even dare to throw a punch. And the outcome proved him right. He was the one surviving while the other stewards who overestimated themselves were dead. 

"ELDER...

ELDER BAI...

ELDER BAI!?" 

Shouting at the top of his lungs, Jiang Fengyi ran as fast as possible. It didn't take long before he reached the Elder's house. But the moment he reached there, his eyes widened in disbelief as pure terror ran through his body.

In front of him where the Elder Bai's house once stood, now lay its ruins. And in the middle of the ruins was the torn-out body of a man whose half-head was missing. 

"ELDER?" Jiang Fengyi felt the world around him spinning as he looked at the scene in front of him. And the more he looked, the more absurd he found the situation to be. The once mighty Elder, who governs over one of the twelve halls with an unfathomable strength was now lying dead miserably. His eyes which were still wide open, were showing the fear that he felt before his demise. 

"I need to get out of here." The only thought that came to Jiang Fengyi's mind was to get out of this accursed place as fast as possible. He wanted to rush to the Main Halls of the Evernight Sect as fast as possible. 

Looking around with a nervous face, he gritted his teeth as he took out a worn-out long blanket from his bag before laying on the ground and covering himself with it. After doing this, he slowly began to crawl towards the main hall without making any noise. 

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"It seems like it will take quite a few days before I adapt to it." 

Inside his room, Lin Kai who was still sitting naked exhaled a mouthful of air as he thought about the meditation. Just now when he tried to absorb the elemental energy, his body suddenly started aching as small cracks began to form on his elemental root. 

The minute he saw the cracks, Lin Kai gave up meditating. It seems like there were some drawbacks to gaining sudden strength. 

"Let's see what I can do tomorrow." Thinking about the bright future ahead, Lin Kai smiled as he put on a new set of clothes. Now that the influx of elemental energy into his body was over, he was beginning to feel cold.

"Still raining!?" Poking out his hand from the window, Lin Kai tried to feel the rain on his skin. But the moment he placed his hand outside, his eyes seemed to freeze.

"Gulp..." 

Lin Kai's face which was full of happiness and excitement before was now covered with cold sweat. Looking into the distance, his eyes were frozen, unable to move away.

In the distance which was usually covered by the fog, Lin Kai saw a small vortex that was forming slowly. With the vortex as the center, the fog rotated at a speed visible to the naked eye as it slowly began to form an outline of a giant figure. The rain in the area of two miles was seemingly attracted to it as it converged there, mixing with the fog, enlarging the size of the figure.

Within moments, the process was complete as the rain once again fell down to the ground. 

But Lin Kai who was standing still didn't seem to care about it all. His eyes were still fixated in front of him and with each passing second, his breathing was getting heavier and heavier. 

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" It took him great effort to even open his mouth, but the minute he did so, he shouted with all his strength. 

In front of him was a massive blurry figure in the shape of a two-legged animal. Lin Kai couldn't clearly understand what it was, but it seemed to be in the shape of a gorilla, except it had no face and four extremely long hanging arms that were almost touching the ground. 

But what terrified Lin Kai wasn't how it looked, but how massive it was. The size of the beast seemed to be even larger than the mountain he was living in right now. 

The blurry beast made of fog and rain seemed to notice something as it moved towards the mountain range that Lin Kai was living in. 

"FUCK." Cursing, Lin Kai could only see helplessly it inching closer to its home. It wasn't that he didn't want to do anything. He was just completely powerless at the moment. Even with the strength that he gained today, Lin Kai wasn't even confident in running away, much less facing this thing.

At this moment all he could do was to pray and hope that the beast would ignore him. Lin Kai even hoped that some elder or big shot from the sect could arrive and save him. But with each passing moment, the despair in his heart grew more and more. 

It didn't take long before the beast was in front of the mountain Lin Kai was staying in. Holding his breath, Lin Kai looked as the beast raised one of its hands before pulling it back and swatting it toward the mountains.

"I am dead." This was the last thought in Lin Kai's mind as he saw the hand crushing numerous mountains in its way before rushing toward him. At this moment, he was filled with deep regrets. Maybe if he didn't move here, he wouldn't be facing this. Or maybe if he didn't use up all of his dice rolls he would at least have something to fall back onto.

But Alas! No matter what his thoughts were at this point, there was nothing he could do. Helplessly, Lin Kai only saw the hand hitting the barrier of his house as a shockwave ran through him before everything went dark.