Chapter 707: Shrine

Regarding his new power, Ren Xiaosu had come up with many possibilities of what it might be. For example, he thought it could be a short-duration powerup like City Crusher, or a tool-type trap like the Brambles, or even something like the Potato Shooter.

But he really did not expect to get such a strange power.

Ren Xiaosu imagined a situation of himself in battle. While several hundred, or even several thousand people were fighting to the death, only he would be standing there calmly on the battlefield and picking his ears.

If he were the enemy, he definitely couldn’t stand the sight of this. Ren Xiaosu felt that if his enemy was still nonchalantly picking his ears while under attack, he would definitely get very angry as well.

‘Bro, what are you doing? We’re in the middle of a battle, so why are you picking your ears? Can you show some respect, please!‘

Therefore, Ren Xiaosu felt he had better be cautious when using this power in a group battle. After all, this was something that would surely attract a lot of hate.

Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin dropped to the back of the group as they walked. He wanted to test out how this power would work while the others were not paying attention.

“Punch me.” Ren Xiaosu said as he picked his ears, “Put some strength into it.”

Yang Xiaojin did not say anything when she heard that and directly threw a punch at Ren Xiaosu. But just as Luo Lan had tried to pat Ren Xiaosu just now, that tight fist was stopped by an invisible force when it was 30 centimeters away from Ren Xiaosu.

Ren Xiaosu thought to himself, ‘This girl is really ruthless. I only told her to punch me, but she’s going straight for my face.‘

However, the fist did not remain stationary when it came 30 centimeters in front of him. Instead, it bounced backwards, catching Yang Xiaojin off guard before she could dampen the force.

Ren Xiaosu was amused. This power actually had a counteraction too?

It seemed that Ear Picking was quite an effective defensive power.

“Try picking up a rock and smashing me with it.” Ren Xiaosu said proudly, “Use more force.”

“Mhm.” Yang Xiaojin nodded.

With that, Yang Xiaojin picked up a rock from the ground and threw it. Ren Xiaosu saw the rock coming closer and closer to him. When it was almost 30 centimeters away, he was just about to say something when he saw the rock break through the 30-centimeter barrier.

Thunk!

The rock smashed Ren Xiaosu’s chest and sent him flying backwards.

When the people ahead heard the noise, they quickly looked back and wondered if someone from the Pyro Company had come to ambush them. However, Ren Xiaosu quickly stood up and said, “I’m fine, I’m fine!”

Everyone looked at the rock that was still rolling on the ground, then at Yang Xiaojin. It turned out the couple was just having a lovers’ spat. Only then did they not pay any more attention to the commotion.

Ren Xiaosu frowned as he looked at the rock. So it seemed the rock could hit him once it left the hands of the thrower. In other words, Ear Picking could not block firearms and artillery fire.

“Hold the rock and hit me with it,” Ren Xiaosu said.

Yang Xiaojin held the rock and swung it towards Ren Xiaosu. This time, Ear Picking activated again and blocked Yang Xiaojin’s hand 30 centimeters away from him.

It seemed the power was still useful against melee weapons.

Yang Xiaojin asked softly, “Is it a new power? Whose power did you copy?”

“I didn’t copy it. It’s something that was awarded to me after the past few days of penalties I had to perform…. You can say it’s a form of compensation,” Ren Xiaosu explained. “It seems that this power is only useful in close combat. It can’t defend against firearms.”

But who still engaged in close combat these days? It was probably only supernatural beings that did that, right?

For example, the Pyro Company’s members, or people like Xu Xianchu and some others.

Therefore, this power could only be used against specific people in specific circumstances, so it was not as effective as the armor.

Of course, there might be other uses Ren Xiaosu had not discovered yet.

Cheng Yu, who was walking in front of the group, turned around at this moment. When he saw Yang Xiaojin holding a rock in her hand, he lamented to his assistant, “I really can’t grasp how young people interact these days.”

When the group finally crossed from Mt. Shenchi into the outermost perimeter of the Sacred Mountains, everyone stopped in their tracks.

That was because they were surprised to discover that all of the plants in the vicinity of the Sacred Mountains were extremely tall. Ren Xiaosu looked at a plant as tall as a person and said in a low voice, “That’s a coriander…. Why is it so tall?”

It wasn’t that Ren Xiaosu had never seen coriander growing in the wild before, but they would grow to waist height at most.

He broke off a coriander leaf and discovered a milky white liquid flowing out from the torn off part of the leaf.

“This can’t be eaten.” Ren Xiaosu said to Yang Xiaojin, “In the wilderness, nine out of ten plants that produce such a white sap will kill whoever eats it. The plants here have all evolved, but it’s not evolving in the way that humans wish to see.”

Plants also had their own defensive capabilities. For example, in order to avoid being eaten by insects, many plants would give off a strange smell or turn poisonous.

At this moment, something seemed to crawl through the dense foliage. Ren Xiaosu controlled Old Xu and directly rushed in while Cheng Yu and the others followed close behind.

But after pushing through the dense foliage for about a 100 meters, they lost track of whatever they were after.

“Look, there’s a shrine[1] here,” someone said in surprise.

When everyone turned around to have a look, they were surprised to see there was a shrine built from stone about half a person’s height at the feet of that person. A statue was sitting quietly in the middle of the shrine with its eyes closed and holding a seal in its hand.

“Does anyone know what kind of shrine this is? What god is housed in it?” Cheng Yu asked. He never really understood much about religion.

“Never seen it before.” Everyone shook their heads.

Luo Lan happily squatted in front of the shrine and made some observations. He said, “This thing here looks quite strange. See, it has six fingers on its hand.”

As he spoke, everyone looked. It was no wonder everyone was a little spooked out just now. So it turned out the hand of the statue in the shrine was a little deformed. There was actually another slender finger below its pinky finger.

Someone reached into the back of the shrine to see if there was anything there.

Typically, such shrines would be filled with items when it was being consecrated. The main contents of these items were jewelry, scriptures, jade artifacts, and gold and silver livers and lungs that represented the internal organs of the shrine.

Therefore, if these items could be found at the back of the shrine, they would be considered very valuable antiques if taken out to be sold.

At this moment, someone stepped back in panic and tripped over some grass. “Did you guys see that? I think the statue opened its eyes and looked at me just now?!”

Luo Lan turned to look at the statue’s eyes, but they were closed. “You must be suffering from a mental breakdown, right? Its eyes aren’t open.”

But suddenly, the person who had fallen to the ground grabbed his own throat as blood started seeping out from the corners of his eyes.

This person who was still alive and jumping a moment ago had died in the blink of an eye!

Cheng Yu was bewildered. His assistant wanted to check on the person but was stopped by him. It was only when Ren Xiaosu controlled Old Xu to check his pulse that “he” confirmed he was really dead.

The group who was chattering just a moment ago fell silent. Everyone looked at the statue in the shrine and noticed it apparently wore a strange smile.

[1] A wayside shrine is a religious image, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads, but often in the middle of an empty stretch of country road, or at the top of a hill or mountain. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayside_shrine