Chapter 271: Chapter 56: Big Hammer 80?
Wan Lina hadn’t specified where or what the clay dolls looked like, only mentioning that they would appear later.
Since he couldn’t find the clay dolls for now, Chen Jiuge decided to take a stroll. The so-called Origin Land sounded quite high-end. Moreover, Wan Lina was a Heavenly Immortal, which piqued Chen Jiuge’s curiosity even more.
The entire path was made of black soil, with nothing else on the ground, not even a boundary. This left Chen Jiuge utterly confused.
Refusing to believe it, he flew several times, checking the marks he left. Chen Jiuge roughly understood that an Array Barrier was probably set up here. At least with his level of Cultivation, he couldn’t discern any issues.
He pulled out the stick-like Magic Artifact he had stuck in the ground, which suddenly brought up a large batch of "potatoes."
Round-headed, round-bellied, with yellowish skin—had it not been for their short limbs, Chen Jiuge would have really thought they were actual potatoes.
"OUCH, what are you doing?" one of the potatoes complained.
"I should be asking you what *you’re* doing. This is my stick," Chen Jiuge recalled Wan Lina’s mention of conversing and playing games with the clay dolls to gain insights.
"You’re the one who left it here! If nobody claimed it, then we found it, so it’s ours now," the potato argued loudly.
That actually makes sense, was the first thought that popped into Chen Jiuge’s mind.
"But I merely placed it here as a marker, so strictly speaking, it’s still mine," Chen Jiuge shook his head as he explained.
The clay dolls quietly huddled in a circle, whispering among themselves, "What do we do? He has a point."
"No way! We finally have a toy. We can’t let it go."
"But we have to be reasonable."
"How about we trade something with him for it?"
"Good idea. You go do it."
Although the clay dolls were speaking softly, Chen Jiuge heard them clearly.
One of the clay dolls reluctantly extracted a yellow crystal from its belly and offered, "I’ll trade this with you."
"What is that?" Chen Jiuge didn’t accept it immediately.
"Aren’t you here to comprehend Laws? This might be a crystal of the Earth Law," the clay doll that had pulled out the crystal said unhappily.
"How about this: I don’t need the crystal. You could just teach me instead," Chen Jiuge suggested.
The crystal seemed very important to the clay dolls. Chen Jiuge knew he couldn’t comprehend the entire Earth Law from just one crystal, so he thought swapping it for a learning opportunity might be better.
The clay doll that had taken out the crystal heard this and immediately shoved it back inside. "I think that’s acceptable," it said.
"Why did you put it back? Teaching someone is a lot of trouble," another clay doll complained.
"Then you provide the crystal."
The scene quieted for a moment. Then the very same clay doll reluctantly agreed. It sat on the ground and said, "Human, I’ll teach you, but the stick is ours."
"Fine," Chen Jiuge wasn’t opposed to the idea.
As soon as he spoke, the other clay dolls excitedly carried the stick away and disappeared underground. Only the one who had promised to teach him remained.
"Hey, human, do you want to learn the Earth Law, the Earth Law, or the Life Law? You can only choose one, and I’ll only teach you for a few days," the clay doll inquired.
"Three Laws?" Chen Jiuge was shocked. The clay doll in front of him looked to have no Cultivation, yet it claimed to know three Laws. That seems rather exaggerated.
"Do I have to choose just one?" Chen Jiuge tested.
"That won’t work. I only know the Earth Law," the clay doll quickly shook its head.
"You don’t know the others, so why did you even ask about them?" Chen Jiuge was quite speechless.
"Well, I had to ask anyway," the clay doll grinned, its potato-like face splitting into a smile.
"Alright, let’s begin now."
Chen Jiuge watched as the clay doll started muttering and digging into the soil. This went on for quite some time. It even unearthed a small black snake, which it quickly tossed aside.
Picking up the dazed black snake, Chen Jiuge examined it. My goodness, why does this snake’s face look so human?
The little snake, upon recovering and seeing Chen Jiuge, a stranger, let out a scream akin to a woman’s. It instantly escaped from Chen Jiuge’s hand and disappeared into the ground.
Earth Snake-man Clan, with a deficient Bloodline? This was the Bloodline information of the Snake-man Clan that the Golden Finger had just decoded.
"That’s the Earth Snake-man Clan. They’re nearly extinct, but you’d better not provoke them, or you could easily be rejected by the Origin Land," the clay doll warned.
"Okay," Chen Jiuge agreed.
A full hour later, the clay doll finally stopped digging.
Three identically sized and shaped balls made of Source Soil appeared before Chen Jiuge. The clay doll, with its short arms akimbo, announced, "These are three balls made from Source Soil. You need to merge them."
"Each contains three aspects of the Earth Law that you must perceive and shout out. You must continue until you can successfully perceive all three aspects at once. Only then will they automatically merge. Oh, and if you fail, the aspects will swap among the three balls."
"If you fail, the great Stone Hammer will strike you, embodying the characteristic. Let’s begin."
"Ah, that’s it? You’re not going to teach me anything?" Chen Jiuge was visibly perplexed.
The clay doll didn’t explain further. Instead, it waved its small hand, and a stone platform appeared, carrying itself and the three small Stone Balls, materializing at Chen Jiuge’s waist level.
With another wave, a giant Stone Hammer, as tall as a person, also appeared, quietly leaning against the edge of the platform.
"YIKES, that hammer... it’s a bit big, isn’t it?" Chen Jiuge’s eyes twitched unnaturally.
"By the way, you only have thirty minutes for each ball," the clay doll reminded him.
Hearing this, Chen Jiuge had no choice but to grit his teeth and proceed.
Carefully picking up a Stone Ball, Chen Jiuge was about to probe it with Mana, but realized that his Mana couldn’t be used, nor could his Divine Sense. What kind of trick is this?
"Use your heart. Perceive with your heart," said the clay doll with its hands behind its back, sounding mature.
"Use my heart? Use my heart for what! What does ’perceive with your heart’ even mean!" Chen Jiuge exclaimed, on the verge of going crazy.
"I don’t know either, but that’s how all the other humans do it," the clay doll responded innocently.
Chen Jiuge reluctantly suppressed his dissatisfaction. If others can do it, so can I.
Thirty minutes passed quickly. As for perceiving with his heart, Chen Jiuge had no clue. All he did was hold a soil ball, feeling only its rough surface.
The Stone Hammer lit up with a yellow halo and slammed mercilessly toward Chen Jiuge.
BANG.
Chen Jiuge was slammed completely prostrate and felt like his bones were about to shatter. As for why he didn’t dodge? Obviously, because he couldn’t. Otherwise, who would be foolish enough to take a hammering?
Lying on the ground, a thought suddenly struck Chen Jiuge: An eighty-pound sledgehammer?
"That’s heavy," the clay doll offered an explanation. "Carry on."
Thirty minutes later.
BANG.
"This is vitality."
...
"This is vitality."
"This is heavy."
"This is nurturing."
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
「Three hours later」
With furious eyes, Chen Jiuge stared at the soil ball in front of him and shouted at the bored-looking clay doll, "This is absolutely heavy!"
The Stone Hammer smashed down unforgivingly.
The clay doll, looking at the human sprawled on the ground, sighed, "You’re so dumb. It’s been such a long time, and you still can’t perceive it."
Chen Jiuge shakily extended a hand, still holding a Magic Artifact stick identical to the previous one. "Please, guide me."
The clay doll happily took it. "You should have brought this out earlier," it said.
"To perceive, the main thing is to understand the Earth Law. I see you haven’t cultivated the Earth Law, so you can only perceive the Power of Laws carried by the hammer at the moment it strikes you."
Chen Jiuge, who was just getting up, froze. "So I was getting hammered for nothing all this time?" he asked in disbelief.
The clay doll said somewhat sympathetically, "No worries. It’s only been a few hours. Normally, it takes a few months of getting hammered to start feeling it."
"Oh, by the way, this is just the first level. There are more little games below—good luck!"
Looking at the clay doll playing with a stick on the stone platform, Chen Jiuge felt distressed. Maybe I should just go to the Sect’s Secret Realm and slowly comprehend things there? No. I’ve been hammered so many times. If I go back empty-handed, I’d be a laughingstock.
"I refuse to believe I can’t do this!" Chen Jiuge’s eyes flashed with stubbornness.
After countless blows from the Stone Hammer, Chen Jiuge finally felt it—a profound weight, like that of the earth itself. However, the moment of realization was fleeting, not enough for him to grasp anything more.
Picking up a soil ball again, he coincidentally got one that was heavy. Feeling the familiar essence, Chen Jiuge exclaimed excitedly, "This is heavy!"
BANG.
The Stone Hammer struck down as usual. Chen Jiuge yelled in confusion, "That was definitely heavy! It couldn’t be wrong!"
"It is heavy, but you only guessed by feeling. You didn’t truly comprehend it, so it doesn’t count as correct," explained the clay doll, who had tired of playing and sat on the stone platform.
Chen Jiuge’s mouth twitched. This is torture! Understanding Laws usually takes centuries. If this hammer keeps hitting me for a hundred years, wouldn’t my Power Dao have reached an introductory level by then?
"Settle down, settle down. You seem pretty sturdy; it’s nothing."
"That doesn’t mean I enjoy being a punching bag!"
"I remember the man who came in with you. He got through this by being hammered just like this. They say he was hammered for a good hundred years and didn’t utter a single complaint," the clay doll encouraged.
So Wan Hao comprehended it this way too? But can my body compare to that tough guy’s? Chen Jiuge wondered.
Although it was distressing, since he had come, Chen Jiuge naturally wouldn’t give up easily. Besides, the Great Elder had said this was the most suitable place for him.
「Three years later,」
Chen Jiuge could now endure the Stone Hammer’s blows without collapsing completely.
Pulling his knees out of the ground, Chen Jiuge scoffed, "Hmph. Mere kneeling."
「Ten years later.」
Chen Jiuge pulled one knee out of the ground and scoffed, "Hmph. Mere kneeling on one knee."
「Thirty years later,」
Chen Jiuge pulled both feet out of the ground and laughed heartily. "Hah! A mere attack!"
Has this human gone mad? The thought flashed across the minds of several clay dolls on the stone platform.
Over the years, many batches of clay dolls had come to the platform to watch Chen Jiuge’s performance. Except for the very first one, the other clay dolls had only arrived recently, which explained their confusion.