Under the cliffs.

Following the artificially constructed ladder, Huang Yan successfully came to the vicinity of the waterhole below the waterfall, and just climbing down from the top had already consumed a lot of his physical strength.

Huang Shen sat on the ground and rested for a while, looking up - the waterfall from above fell like a torrent, and before it was close to the pool, the splash of water pierced his skin like an arrow.

With such a strong impact, if you stand directly under the waterfall with the body of a mortal, I am afraid that you will be blown into flesh.

Huang retracted his thoughts, got up and went to the edge of the pool, filled the bucket he had brought with water, and tied it tightly to his body with a rope.

The capacity of the bucket is not large, and it is almost impossible to put any pressure on Huang Shen, who has always had good physical strength. He raised his head again, looked at the cliff at the top, and suddenly felt that the road in front of him was too long, and the bucket that Lu Jin had found for himself was too small - at this weight, I don't know how many more rounds it would take for the tree to grow.

"Let's find a bigger one next time. Huang Yan thought to himself, and then grasped the ladder in front of him - the ladder was brownish-green, and he didn't know what material and method it was built from, but the moment he held it, Huang Yan immediately understood that it could even carry a thousand catties of weight.

――――

After all, he was accustomed to fighting, and Huang Yan's physical ability was much stronger than that of ordinary people, so when he climbed to the first stone platform for resting, he had no intention of resting at all, he was just anxious to let the "Night Bird's Nest" grow quickly, so that he could enter the next stage of cultivation as soon as possible.

With this desire, Huang Yan passed through the four stone platforms in one go, perhaps because of the exertion, a drop of sweat slipped down his face.

In order to increase the level of friction, each ladder is coated with a special material, which greatly improves safety. However, it was precisely because of this that Huang Yan's palm began to feel pain, and the pain deepened his anxiety.

At this time, Huang Yan had just passed the fifth stone platform, but his crawling speed was getting faster and faster, and he instinctively wanted to end this trip as soon as possible.

Another drop of sweat ran along Huang Yan's forehead across his right eye, and Huang Yan took out his right hand to wipe it, and the water behind him vibrated slightly backwards because of the slight tilt, and Huang Yan's left arm felt a tingling pain, and then he realized that his arms had begun to feel sore, so he had to stop on the sixth stone platform.

It should be because of the excessive momentum of climbing on the first few steps of the ladder, Huang Yu's hands were almost numb, and he froze on the gesture of holding the pole, and there were still a few blood marks oozing faintly from the palms of his hands.

After resting for a while, Huang Yan ripped off the sleeves of his arms, wrapped his palms, and continued to climb.

But after all, the fabric cannot be compared with human skin, so Huang has to use more force when holding the ladder to enhance the friction between the palm of the hand and the ladder. On top of that, his knees began to feel stiff as well.

On the seventh stone platform, Huang Yan stopped again, he tore off another piece of cloth from his collar and tied it on his forehead to prevent sweat from flowing down his eyes. Then he pressed his arm on his knee, and it was indescribably sore.

There are also six stone platforms.

Huang Ji set off again, and at this time he was already drenched in sweat.

Although he rested for a while, he still felt a burst of soreness in his arm from the first moment of exertion, and the presence of the bucket behind him, which was almost weightless, was significantly improved.

In the area between the seventh and eighth stone platforms, Huang Yan's legs were no longer strong, and the soreness in his arms began to spread to his chest, and his breathing became difficult.

Then a thought flashed through me - go back, back to the bottom of the cliff.

He looked down, and the road down was as headless as the road up, and an inexplicable sense of panic filled his heart.

"What a joke. ”

The thought of retreating made Huang Yan feel ashamed, and immediately forced himself to regain his senses, and his right hand seemed to cheer himself up, and suddenly buckled on the ladder of the upper level.

With determination and will, Huang Zheng finally reached the eighth layer.

He had begun to feel the heat from a lot of exercise, but instead felt cold from soaking wet.

Due to the lack of breathing before, after finally coming to the stone platform, he took a few breaths and finally felt alive, but after taking a big breath, a feeling of dizziness followed, and the things in front of him became blurry at this moment, and he even had a feeling of being in a dream.

Because of this trance, he had the illusion that his physical strength was already abundant, so he shortened his rest time and began to climb the ninth floor.

Although his body was numb to the pain, the feeling of weakness spread throughout his body, and he began to pull his body up by hooking his arm to the ladder.

In this way, of course, he will lose his balance, and the water behind him will continue to flow out.

Still, he felt as if he had a heavier and heavier rock on his back, and that he could be dragged off the cliff at any moment—fortunately not with a larger bucket—and he ironically rejoiced.

On this floor, Huang Yu climbed for almost half an hour.

When he climbed to the stone platform on the ninth floor, as soon as he sat down, his body began to tremble violently, and his wrist could not return to its normal posture.

He had forgotten what floors he was on and how many floors he was still on, and his dizziness grew stronger and stronger from his heavy breathing.

Instinctively, Huang Yan leaned sideways against the stone wall, and lost consciousness in an instant.

――――

――

In the end, when Huang Yan climbed to the top of the cliff, he was already in a semi-comatose state, and even forgot how he climbed up in a blink of an eye, as for the image - Huang Yan's clothes were in tatters, his arms and knees were stained with blood, and he trembled, not to mention the severe pain that followed.

Huang Yan leaned against a tree, looked at the bucket with less than a third of the water left, couldn't help but smile bitterly, and fell asleep completely.

――

――――

I don't know how long I rested, but after Huang Ji returned to the Yingxian Inn, it was already dark.

When Lu Nan and Lu Jin saw Huang Yan coming back, they immediately greeted him, looking at him with a lively look on their faces.

"Oh, Brother Xian, we were about to leave to pick you up, but we didn't expect you to come back early. "Lu Nan Road.

"Alas, we are so busy this day that we can't spare time, otherwise we would have gone a long time ago!" Lu Jin said.

Huang Yan glanced at the stone table and the edge of the stone chair where the two had just stayed, and the ground was full of melon seed skins that had been dropped after chatting. Huang Zheng, who was physically exhausted, didn't bother to take care of these two people at the moment.

Just as he was about to go back to his room, someone stopped him.

"Sick brother. It was a child's voice, "Wash your face." ”

Huang Yan turned around, only to remember that the child he had saved before had also stayed on the mountain.

Lu Nan and Lu Jin also came over and said separately:

"This boy has not been idle since he heard our conversation today, running around, looking for clothes and fetching water for you, waiting for you to come back and serve you...... Virtuous brother, it would be nice if you were as grateful as he was. Lu Nan poked Huang Yan with his elbow and said obscenely.

"How do you know I need these?" Huang Yan didn't pay attention to Lu Nan, just asked the child.

"This afternoon, Brother Lu Nan and Brother Lu Jin are making a bet, one bets that you will come back when you are unitary, and the other bets that you will come back when you come back," the child said, "and then said, no matter when you come back, you must look very embarrassed, and then there will be a good show to watch, and they laughed vigorously after speaking." ”

Lu Nan and Lu Jin's faces changed instantly.

"Hah...... This kid is really ...... It's a joke, we're betting today, and we're really -- no, we didn't bet at all. Lu Nan said with nonsense again.

"Well, that's it, I see that you look a little embarrassed, ah no, you're a little tired...... Rest well, we'll see you tomorrow, tomorrow. Lu Jin said with a flickering look in his eyes.

With that, the two men scurried back into their room like rats.

"It's really a pest in the world...... Huang Yan looked at the backs of the Lu brothers fleeing in a hurry, and couldn't help but sigh to himself.

"What did you say, Brother Huang?" the child did not hear clearly.

"Nothing. Huang Yan shifted the question away and asked, "What's your name?"

"My name is Buddha Ling. ”

"Hmm. Huang Yan walked to the edge of the pool with the Buddha Bell, wet the towel that the Buddha Bell had handed him before, and asked, "How did you get caught by the insect keeper before?"

"Well, I forgot about it, I was dizzy at that time, I didn't know anything...... Just remember...... After waking up, he was pinched by his waist, kept running, and then ...... Then I saw you chasing after him. Buddha Ling said.

Hearing this, Huang Yu was thoughtful.

"What about your parents?" he asked.

"Parents...... I can't remember clearly, it seems that they seem to be ......" Buddha Ling lowered his head and tried his best to recall, as if it was quite painful, "They seem to be ......"

"Don't think about it. Huang Yan immediately interrupted Buddha Ling's thinking and said, "Hurry up and go back to rest, you have just recovered." ”

Buddha Ling is still thinking.

"In which room are you staying in, I'll send you back. Huang said.

"Don't send me, I'll live across from your room, on the right. Buddha Ling nodded and wanted to point out to Huang Yan.

Buddha Ling looks no more than eleven or twelve years old, with the common monk head of a young boy of this age, and his face is quite attractive and delicate, but he is slightly thin, and his body seems to be a little smaller than that of children of the same age. Perhaps because he was frightened before, or because he had not received a good education, Buddha Ling did not speak so smoothly.

"That's good, let's go back by myself. Huang said, then turned around.

"Suffering from elder brother...... Buddha Ling pulled Huang Yan again.

"What's wrong?"

"Thank you, save me. Buddha Ling said.

Huang Yan touched the head of the Buddha Bell, said nothing, and went back to the room.