The pages of the book turned automatically without wind, and as they turned quickly, two completely different lights, one gold and one blue, burst out from the book.
On the left, there is pure holy light that is warm, soothing, and can dispel nightmares, like the first ray of dawn.
On the right side, it is deep and distant, as if it can accommodate the brilliant starlight of all things in the universe, with the whispers of the stars.
The power of the [Chapter of Dreams] and the [Chapter of Stars] intertwined and resonated, like two huge halos, instantly enveloping Mark completely!
“Buzz!”
The holy light flowed into Mark's frozen limbs like a warm current, forcibly dispelling the starlight coldness and fatal numbness that penetrated into his bones.
The gentle starlight was like an invisible giant hand, gently but firmly covering his soul, cutting off the mysterious call of the ice wall to his spiritual core!
“Ugh—!”
Mark seemed to be forcibly dragged back to reality from a nightmare that had suffocated him for a thousand years. His body convulsed violently, and a short, inhuman gasp came from his throat!
The cross ice pick slipped from his completely exhausted hand with a "clang" and hit the ice surface.
The dilated pupils suddenly contracted and focused, and clarity returned in an instant!
Extreme fatigue, the excruciating pain of torn muscles, and the dizziness of mental exhaustion instantly overwhelmed his newly regained consciousness like a tide, making his vision go black.
The whole person collapsed backwards as if all the bones were pulled out, and fell heavily on the cold and hard frozen ground.
He was gasping for breath, the cold air filling his lungs and irritating him to the point of coughing violently, his saliva containing ice chips.
He lay on his back, staring blankly at the faint blue starlight that filled the air above the ice cave, his body shaking uncontrollably.
Every breath and every heartbeat is accompanied by the intense throbbing of surviving the disaster and the fear that goes deep into the bone marrow.
It was towards the wall, and also towards his own state of complete loss of control and self-destruction.
Collapsing exhausted on the ice, Mark gasped violently. Every breath he took felt like swallowing an ice needle, piercing his lungs and causing him pain.
The extreme cold mixed with fear was like a maggot in his tarsal bones, drilling into his frozen bones.
The undershirt soaked with cold sweat instantly froze, sticking to the skin and bringing a new round of icy stinging pain.
His consciousness sank in and out of pain, exhaustion, and shock, his mind desperately replaying the danger that had just occurred.
The temptation from the source of the starlight was almost like the deepest nightmare, instantly shattering his will and driving him into a puppet that blindly knocked against the ice.
If the Holy Scripture hadn't spontaneously protected its master at the last moment and forcibly severed that strange connection...
He couldn't imagine what kind of eternal ice sculpture of shame he would become on the ice wall.
“Hmm…”
Xiao Mu curled up beside his neck, making an inaudible moan. Her soft body had almost lost its elasticity, and the originally active magic fluctuations became as weak as a candle in the wind.
In order to awaken his deeply eroded main consciousness, Xiao Mu exhausted his last bit of original magic power. At this moment, it was extremely difficult for him to even maintain a complete spherical shape.
Mark wanted to raise his hand to soothe it, but found that he didn't even have the strength to lift a finger.
His whole body felt like it was hit by a huge hammer, his bones and muscles groaned, and the severe pain from his palm reminded him that the crazy swinging of the pickaxe had already caused damage to his body.
The depths of his soul felt like a drained sponge, empty and stinging. His perception of his surroundings became blurred, and only the cold ground and the increasingly rich starlight in the air continued to impact his remaining consciousness.
In this suffocating silence, a strange sound suddenly tore through the heavy air.
Xisuo...
The sound was extremely faint, and it did not come from the giant blue ice wall behind him, but from a corner deeper in the ice cave that he had not noticed or was no longer able to explore.
It sounded like the rubbing of boot soles against broken ice, or the scraping of clothes against a rough ice wall, coming slowly from far away.
Mark's heart suddenly tightened, as if being grasped by an invisible hand.
Danger! A cold warning instantly overwhelmed the fatigue in his body.
Is it the sound of the wind?
Or are they those special ice monsters lurking in the shadows?
Or are they the dark cultists who are pursuing us?
He wanted to roll his eyes, to tense his muscles, or even just shrink into the shadows, but all his efforts were in vain.
His body betrayed his will, feeling as heavy as another piece of ice embedded in an ice cave. Even opening his eyelids became a luxury.
He couldn't even accurately determine the source and quantity of the sounds.
Xiao Mu seemed to sense it as well, and made a low "woosh" sound that was almost desperate. He instinctively shrank deeper into Mark's arms, but was also unable to offer any effective resistance.
The footsteps stopped nearby.
The dead silence fell again, more oppressive than before.
Mark felt several sharp gazes falling on him, like real icicles sweeping across his limp body, scraping his disheveled cheeks, and even penetrating the weak Xiao Mu.
That gaze was filled with scrutiny, inquiry, and a kind of... special magical energy scan that made him feel an inexplicable throbbing in the depths of his soul.
Mark was waiting, waiting for the cold weapon to fall, or the curse spell to strike, completely erasing him as an intruder.
However, the anticipated attack did not occur.
A few breathtakingly long seconds passed, and a low, hoarse voice broke the silence. The tone was rich and deep, with a kind of indescribable fatigue and vicissitudes of life, unique to dwarves:
"He...stopped before God's temptation."
Another, slightly younger but equally subdued voice responded, "Yes, Master. He endured the strongest impact of the 'Star Skeleton Heart' and even attempted to break through the 'Star Skeleton Barrier', and surprisingly... he regained consciousness on his own."
"This slime is almost exhausting its essence in order to protect its contractor..." another voice added.
The hoarse voice at the beginning remained silent for a longer time, as if weighing the pros and cons of something.
The only sounds left in the ice cave were Mark's heavy but weak breathing and Xiao Mu's faint whimpering.
Finally, the hoarse voice sounded again, with a tone that was neither sad nor happy, and announced in a low but clear voice:
"He has passed the Star God's test... Bring him in. Move gently, so as not to disturb those brothers who were blessed by the starlight but temporarily lost."
As soon as he finished speaking, Mark felt several pairs of rough, calloused hands grabbing his shoulders, back, and knees.
The hand was unusually strong and steady, with a hard texture that had been rubbed against ice crystals and rocks—it was a dwarf's hand!
He was lifted carefully but effortlessly and gently placed on a crude stretcher that seemed to have been made temporarily from tough ice vines and thick canvas.
The coldness and roughness of the stretcher poked him through his frozen clothes, and a bumpy feeling of movement followed.
"Mum..." Little Mu seemed to be picked up gently and placed on his chest, where there was still a faint warmth of his body temperature.
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