Shi Hou silently drew back his right foot, which had been hovering in midair.
The stabbing pain between his brows vanished completely, as though it had never existed.
The hairs that had bristled on his scalp settled one by one, while the salt left by the cold sweat drying on his back pulled his skin tight.
He drew a breath and plopped back down on the first black step.
The wild joy of tempering his body with blood qi had been doused ice-cold by this blow to the head.
Were they fucking screwing with him?
After all that effort, enduring gravity that threatened to crush him to pieces, inching his way here step by step.
And once he finally arrived, he wasn't even allowed up the steps.
He turned to look at the boundless ocean of white bones behind him, then tipped his head back to look at the grayish-white bead floating above the Nine-Tier Altar.
It was just like chasing a girl.
Dates, flowers, a confession-he'd cleared every hurdle, and she hadn't turned him down. All that remained was that last paper-thin window barrier-
Then the girl smiled sweetly and welded the window shut.
Shi Hou propped his chin in both hands, narrowed his eyes, and studied the bead from every angle.
Grayish-white, irregularly oval, pitted all over, without a hint of luster.
The longer he looked, the more familiar it seemed.
He tilted his head and continued examining it from another angle.
"Isn't that a fucking kidney stone?"
Disbelief was written all over Shi Hou's face.
What ancient powerhouse had passed a kidney stone in this godforsaken place, then enshrined it like a treasure at the very top of the Nine-Tier Altar?
Kang poked half a dark pig's head out of his clothes, followed Shi Hou's gaze upward,