Pivot of the Sky

On that night, Amon returned to the cold spring, but did not bathe as usual. He used to sit in the water on the edge of the spring, soaking his body and washing his face and hair, but this time the old lunatic asked him to dive deep into the spring and look for the spring eyes, where he had something special to take out and take home.

As for what it is, the old lunatic didn't say.

The cold spring ice stings, and the surface of the moonlight condenses a layer of fog, which appears to be hot air, but is actually a fine water bead condensed in low temperature air close to the surface of the water. In this pungent water, ordinary people go down for a few breaths and fight their teeth out. Even if Amon wants to dive deep, he needs courage.

Amon took a deep breath and dived silently into the spring water, trying not to think about the bitter cold, focusing on his body to feel the weak water flow under the water, looking for the spring eyes. The center of the cold spring is not too deep, it's about the height of two adults, and that's enough to leave Amon without a roof.

Deep in the spring water, the chills strike as if infinite, the heat in the body is rapidly losing, Amon tries to control himself not to tremble, but every pore is contracting chestnuts, every little fiber of the muscle is trembling rapidly and faintly.

It was difficult to concentrate in this situation, but Ammon did, and he felt a seemingly calm spring with a slow flow deep down, tracing the flow back to its origins. The source of this cold spring was overflowing in a pile of pebble seams at the bottom, and Amon suddenly felt deeper cold in a tingling chill.

This nuanced difference is hard to tell because the circumference is cold. Amon's hand touched a rock, very much like a core, and when he concentrated on the experience, his body suddenly fought a cold war without control, almost choking water. It was like being suddenly awakened by a cold that didn't care, crazily penetrating the body.

Instead of the spring becoming colder, Amon communicated as if the source of the cold, awakened and amplified that feeling. For a moment, he could hardly bear it. He just wanted to get out of here quickly, and even suspected himself of being frozen in the spring water.

But Amon did not leave, and there was a heat flow rising in his body, all over his limbs. This reaction usually occurred only when he left the spring to sit down and rest, but at this moment it appeared in the spring water, indicating that he had been staying long enough, that he was about to exceed certain limits, and that the body had developed instinctive self-protection and had awakened a force.

Amon grabbed a pebble the size of the core and didn't pick it up. It seems that a stone scattered beneath the water is fixed there by a mysterious force, glued.

Amon, holding his breath, concentrated all his spirit. For a moment, the chill and heat flow in his body seemed to be under his control. His whole body trembled in a hurry. His chest was very hard to hold, and his right hand emitted an astonishing force. It felt suddenly loose, the pebble was picked up by him, Amon's body jumped out of the water and pounced down again, holding the stone tightly in his hand.

He climbed back to shore, ignoring the pebble, but closed his eyes and sat there, seemingly motionless, but felt the blood flowing rapidly all over his body, and each pore trembled in a way that was not detected by the naked eye. The water beads on his body turned into hot gas and dried up, but the cold in his body slowly dissipated after a long time.

After only a short period of time, he was so tired that he stood up and moved his limbs, acting like a strange gymnastics, and began to weigh the pebble carefully after restoring calm. It looks very much like a kernel, but Amon has seen a lot of kernels, and it always feels different. Although this thing is similar to a natural pebble, it always feels a little artificially forged, though very clever.

When I sensed it in the spring water, it was so cold, but at this moment I held it in my hand, only one stone was normally cool, and I could hardly detect anything unusual. Thinking that Amon suddenly realized something was wrong, he dropped the rock and went back into the cold spring. The cold spring water is still cold, but as Amon guessed, the bitter chill is gradually dissipating.

So far, Amon should have accomplished what the old lunatic had told him, but he hadn't stopped and snuck into the fountain again. This time it was much easier than the last time. Soon he grabbed another pebble and threw it ashore. Then he took a different breath and dived. Twenty pebbles were thrown in succession, before climbing ashore again.

This time he was cold enough, his body was a little purple, his breath trembling like a sieve. At this point, he somehow felt the moonlight, a warmth swept over him and softened into his body. Looking up, there was a magical stone hanging quietly above, with a soft light, and then again, the old madman had stood behind him from time to time.

“Son, you're going to hurt yourself. I didn't ask you to take out the entire magic array, just find the blue heart in the middle and use your strength to take it out.” As the old madman spoke, the holy stone hanging in the middle of the sky became brighter, as if the soft white light had turned into a dense fog, allowing Amon's body to gradually recover, while at the same time having a sense of oppression that prevented him from speaking.

“But you're better than I thought, you can take out the blue water heart, mainly to test two abilities. First, your body can withstand the aggression of this cold spring and still use its power undisturbed; and second, your spirit and will are strong enough to detect subtle changes in that environment. Only then will it be possible to awaken the power of the two sides. ”

The old madman spoke, the short cane in his hand waved, and the twenty pebbles on the ground broke silently, like the scene of mining the core with a big hammer, revealing the twenty sacred stones inside. And the earliest pebble that Amon took out, it fluctuated like a watermark, and then sanded like a current, and a dark blue stone appeared in the center.

The old lunatic went on to explain: "Thirty years ago, I laid a magic array here with a heart of blue water and twenty magic stones, creating this cold spring, and now its mission is complete. Those pebbles are not natural kernels, they're a disguise. It's no surprise that you found the blue heart, but it's a surprise that you found all the disguised pebbles. ”

After saying this, the half-empty stone fell and was caught by the old madman, only the tranquil moonlight reflected on the water. Amon stood up and held up the blue stone and asked, "Is it called a blue heart? ”

The old madman nodded: "Yes, all kinds of different colors of divine stones have their own names, and the blue is called the blue heart by the magicians. ”

Children growing up in Duke Town know, of course, that in addition to the colorless and transparent standard gemstones, there are four special gemstones: red, blue, black, and white, but this is the first time Amon has heard the name Hydra. These four special stones are not as rare as the tears of the gods, but they are also very rare. Even in a place like Duke Town, they do not produce a few a year. If you are unlucky, you may not see one in years.

Amon last mined the tears of the gods, but they were taken away by Fayor before he could even look closely. Today, for the first time, he had the opportunity to study special divine stones besides standard divine stones. He was moving the playroom, but found that the old lunatic had turned away.

“Where are you going?” Amon shouted in the back.

“Go home and sleep, of course! I was afraid something was wrong with you in the cold spring, so I came to see if I was ready to save anytime. Now that you're okay, I can get some sleep.” The old madman didn't answer either.

“Where are these stones, you won't take them?” Amon shouted again.

“I left them here 30 years ago and never wanted to take them away. What you took out was yours, and it would be useful to keep them. … it's still this time tomorrow night, and I'll be waking you up at this place, don't forget.” As the speech grew farther away, the old madman had vanished into the blackfire jungle.

After the old madman left, Amon sat at the edge of the spring to learn more about the blue blue water heart. When he concentrated on trying to get a closer look at it, he always felt a mysterious power fluctuating between the stone and the spring water. There was also something stupidly moving in his body, as if it was some kind of desire, and he was unconsciously distracted again.

……

The next night, the “Awakening of Power Ceremony” for Ammon by the old lunatic was a prayer. But unlike the rituals held by the magicians, the Great Magician did not ask Amon to pray to any particular god, but taught him how to focus more on his spirit, everything on the outside was between the seemingly invisible, thus clearly sensing his body and the subtle changes in his heart, condensing spiritual introspection and communicating with the original forces that symbolize everything.

This, of course, is much more difficult than the magician simply praying to the gods for piety. The old lunatic told Amon, and actually prayed to the gods, and explained with a laugh: “I heard you and Aristotle talking about the source of the gods that day, and if you can understand what he said, you can understand what I mean.... awaken strength, must be well prepared, otherwise this ritual will not succeed, and you, already well prepared, will not be enough. ”

The ceremony seemed to open a door and touch an unknown world. The old madman asked Amon to put that blue water heart in front of him and let him try to muster his spiritual strength, brokered by the blue water heart, to feel how to communicate with this unknown world. Amon truly felt a cool, seemingly nil, diffuse around without exact shapes.

When he experienced the cool, it seemed to turn into a cold, the most familiar feeling he had had had in a long time in the cold spring, and then felt the water around him fluctuate in resonance with it at a strange pace. This rhythm is not breathing or heartbeat, but a natural rhythm that is not clearly described.

At the same time, the old madman saw the blurred water shining in Amon's body and sighed: “If this ceremony is carried out through the tears of the gods, it will be much easier to wake up the power, and the blue water heart will merge. Even without the help of any foreign object, you will succeed. However, this is better, and it will be easier to master the specific divine art. ”

Amon didn't hear the old lunatic, he was immersed in a novel world, is this the power of the so-called gods? Or is it a force of natural origin, or perhaps a latent force in the body? He feels more than just the strange fluctuations of the outside world; his body also has an unspeakable sense of relaxation and pleasure, feeling that he has never been so strong.

He somehow felt so powerful that he seemed to be able to control or defeat everything. When the spirit focused on introspection, he did feel the power of both sides.

Whereas desire is always accompanied by power, the greater the power, the greater the desire. For example, a hungry person may think only of a meal, whereas an emperor may think of conquering an entire continent with endless wealth and power.

Seems tranquil, all kinds of desires and desires appear quietly, not knowing whether they come from the body or the mind. Perhaps it can be suppressed during focused prayer ceremonies, but Ammon quickly feels this distress in every ordinary word and line.

……

The ceremony was just the beginning, and the old madman told him to gradually grasp it until the sensation was completely controlled before he could truly study theology and body surgery, which I'm afraid would take a while. For the next few days, Amon would come to the springs every night to focus on prayer, but for most of the day he was still a miner in town, looking no different than before.

He often remembered Maria, remembered the other night, remembered her body and lip kiss, felt her hand reach into her neck on her chest, and had made some subtle changes in her mind. He would indulge in a fantasy - gaining invincible power, defeating Gabriel, driving Rod Dicker away even the pro-guard, leaving him and Maria behind, and...

He does possess unprecedented power, but with the emergence of power and subtle changes in mentality, desire and desire expand and fly like wings.

When he concentrates his mind, mind, and senses objects every night, he becomes very conscious of these, as if he were enduring a kind of suffering. A voice is like, "Have power, go get everything you want!” Another voice is like saying, "How ridiculous, you weak can only be ridiculed!” And Amon's own soul seemed to stand idly by outside these two voices, unconsciously involved.

When Maria was experiencing all this, Gabriel told her to look at it with pure tranquillity, not around her. And the old lunatic didn't say that to Amon, he just told Amon that it was a test, depending on how he faced it.

In addition to the disturbances that disturb the soul, Amon's body also reacts abnormally. He has the illusion that he is getting stronger every day. His footsteps are so strong and steady as he walks. Every bone and every muscle is making a slight noise, seemingly infinite energy. He even has the urge to hold his fist and beat people.

The son of an alcoholic has been laughed at in this town since he was a kid, at a time when Ammon has a desire to beat whoever sees him or catches him, his body is like a fierce and fighting beast lurking in. Amon didn't fight in town, but he did something that made the whole town stare and envy.

As a result, Lord Xiao Gu, Temple Priest and Registrar, fainted and vomited blood in public.

The reason for this was the stones he had taken out in the cold spring, and Amon had been very careful to carry them with him. The day he passed through the Temple of Mu Yun, he saw Xiao Gu with his servant registering the taxes paid by the townspeople in front of the door, and the mayor stood beside him. I don't know where the impulse came from, Amon turned around with a grin and said out loud: "Lord Mayor, I'm paying my taxes! ”

Mayor Dasti hasn't answered yet, and Xiao Gu is somewhat disturbed and curiously asked: "Amon, what taxes are you paying? Your family hasn't picked up a mine core in the last few days? ”

The removal of the sacred stones from the core is only the most critical last step, and the mining site is the one north of the village, on the edge of the high mountains of the Syrian plateau. It is impossible for a person to complete the work of opening mountains, digging rocks, excavating mineral nuclei, which are the collective work of the town's miners, and supervised by the people who have obtained the nuclei allocated to their families in terms of their contribution. He is also pleased that the Registrar, Xiao Gu, has not recently registered that the Ammon family has received a mine nuclear.

Ammon replied: "Dear Priest and Registrar, I occasionally found a bunch of mineral nuclei washed down by mountain floods in a stream in the Black Fire Jungle, as if the gods had given them to dig mountains that did not require artificial mining. I took them home and opened them and took out a bunch of sacred stones, which, according to the town's ordinance, were also taxable. ”

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