Ximen Kankan, after finishing roasting, came into the cave cursing to call Duan Rong.
But he saw Duan Rong sleeping like a dead pig. Ximen Kankan pushed him up, and as soon as he let go, he slid back down.
Ximen Kankan walked to the entrance of the cave, tore off a greasy chicken leg from the roasted chicken.
Holding the chicken leg, Ximen Kankan walked to the stone bed and waved the aroma-filled chicken leg in front of Duan Rong’s face.
Yet Duan Rong still remained deeply asleep, without any reaction.
"What the hell happened to him, sleeping like this? I worked the forge all day, but I don’t sleep like this!"
Ximen Kankan slapped Duan Rong’s face and pinched his nose, but Duan Rong didn’t react.
After a while of struggle, seeing that he couldn’t wake Duan Rong at all, he gave up, biting the chicken leg as he left.
Meanwhile, inside Duan Rong’s Sea of Consciousness, at the southeast corner of the black land, the ground was filled with all kinds of weapons: knives, swords, hooks, maces, bows and arrows...
A dense mass like a graveyard of blades and swords.
Every weapon was emitting wisps of black mist...
The smoke rising from them all merged into the faint mist that rolled and surged in this space...
Ximen Kankan, after eating his fill, went to chat with a few acquaintances in the Weapon Workshop, and only then returned to the cave to sleep.
The stone bed wasn’t spacious, and Ximen Kankan was fat. Once asleep, he tossed and turned, squeezing Duan Rong against the stone wall.
Duan Rong hadn’t eaten, and Ximen Kankan had eaten a bit too much at night. In the latter half of the night, his farts were like rapid gunfire, nonstop...
But even under the successive bombardment of Ximen Kankan’s farts and snores, Duan Rong continued to sleep like a dead pig.
As dawn approached, Duan Rong suddenly opened his eyes in the deep cave.
By this time, Ximen Kankan’s farts had long stopped, but the snoring continued loudly.
Duan Rong was squeezed against the stone wall by Ximen Kankan’s big butt, unable to move.
Yet Duan Rong remained unconcerned, his eyes bright as stars. At this moment in his Sea of Consciousness, the southeast corner of the black land, where all kinds of weapons had been densely inserted, was now empty...
And above the sky there, a variety of weapon shadows hovered, almost doubling...
Duan Rong knew that those faint clouds-like weapon shadows floating at the southeast sky were all residual shades of artifact spirits after being completely absorbed.
Squeezed against the stone wall, Duan Rong’s gaze flickered.
He had devoured so many artifact spirits, and overnight, absorbed them all completely.
The speed at which he absorbed artifact spirits had clearly undergone a transformative improvement.
"It must be related to achieving the Eleventh Layer of the Fetal Concealment Scripture," Duan Rong thought.
Now, his Spiritual Power level had reached the twelfth grade, and the strength of his divine soul was incomparable to before.
To draw a food analogy, it’s as if his stomach not only enlarged but also enhanced its ability to digest food.
With the rise of tides, he surprisingly absorbed a massive amount of artifact spirits completely in one night.
Frankly saying, the speed had quite scared Duan Rong.
He originally estimated it would take a day or two of sleep to fully absorb them.
"Seems I underestimated the power of twelfth-grade Spiritual Power."
Duan Rong sighed, then struggled to squeeze out of the tight space between Ximen Kankan’s fat body and the stone wall. He angrily pinched Ximen Kankan’s nose, saying, "Look how you’ve squished me?! Really wanna sit on your face with my butt."
But Ximen Kankan slept deeply, hearing none of Duan Rong’s cursing. Only when Duan Rong pinched his nose did his snoring pause for a breath.
Duan Rong jumped off the bed and, using the faint morning light from the cave entrance, noticed a half-eaten roasted chicken on the stone table beside the stone bed.
Duan Rong knew it was what Ximen Kankan left behind, and although it had been out all night and was cold, he didn’t mind. He picked up the half chicken and sat at the cave entrance, finishing it.
After eating, Duan Rong wiped the oil from his mouth and stood up, heading towards the cave where discarded weapons were piled.
As daylight fully broke, Ximen Kankan finally woke from the stone bed. He wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, blinked around, and realized Duan Rong was no longer in the cave.
"That kid, did he leave?" Ximen Kankan muttered as he struggled to sit up, "Left without even saying goodbye to me."
Ximen Kankan faintly heard the noise from outside, and it was clear most of the Weapon Workshop folks were up. He crawled out of bed, grabbing a wooden basin and towel, heading outside in a daze to wash his face.
After freshening up, he returned to his cave’s entrance and paused in surprise. He saw a pile of newly spat chicken bones there.
Ximen Kankan went into the cave, put down the wooden basin, and turned to look at the stone table, noticing that the majority of the roasted chicken he saved for breakfast was gone.
He figured Duan Rong must have gotten up and eaten it.
Ximen Kankan didn’t mind, as he had eaten quite a lot last night, skipping breakfast wouldn’t be a big deal. He turned on his heel, preparing to head to the forge cave.
Ximen Kankan had just reached the vicinity of the cave entrance when he greeted a few fellow workers. Suddenly his gaze moved as he looked towards the direction of the cave where discarded weapons were piled.