Apotheosis

"It looks like if I fail or even flutter, I'm going to die," Zen muttered softly.

"Humph!" The strong men across the ravine grabbed the rope, drew a circle and tied it around their shoulders. Then they motioned Zen to tie himself with the rope, just as they did by imitating their actions.

"Is the test of strength a tug of war? How could I possibly match the strength of 100 men all by myself?" Zen, grasping the powerful men's intention and the test's concept, gently swung the rope and tied it around his shoulder in a strong loop.

Then Zen tugged at the rope and nodded at those men. The test of strength had been initiated.

"Hey-oh!"

With a sudden roar, the hundred intimidating men began to pull at the rope as hard as they could.

Even though Zen was well prepared, he suddenly lost his strong footing due to the sheer force of the hundred mighty men and slowly slid toward the cliff's edge.

After being dragged six or seven steps toward the opposite side, Zen put an end to it with all the strength he could muster. His feet gripped the ground, like a bull, and he stopped sliding as he adjusted to the steady position.

"This strength test is not so easy to pass and is deceptively tough!" Zen tried to lean back, stretching the rope straight and asserting more strength.

The collective strength of a hundred men was so great that despite his best efforts, Zen was dragged towards the cliff's edge.

Zen had not launched the power of dragon scales just as yet. He relied solely on his own strength against the strong men.

He gritted his teeth, flexed every muscle and every tendon bulged. However, even with all his strength, he could not hold his ground and slid toward the cliff's edge inch by inch.

'This is the limit of my physical strength, ' Zen realized. 'I'm only two or three steps away from the drop. If I don't utilize the power of dragon scales, I'm afraid I will fall into the ravine!'

"Come on!"

Zen shouted, and the dragon scales lit up in his head, giving off a green glow. Then, a rush of strength pushed into every muscle of his body like a sudden surge of electricity.

In a flash, Zen's power had exp

tails?

There are a hundred mighty men...

When I pull the rope hard, they too pull it with equal might. The only difference is when they all tug at the rope together they all let out a roar.

Why must they always roar?

The roar... This difference doesn't enhance their strength. The immortal would not add any unnecessary element when setting the dreamland, so this was deliberately arranged and placed here. Everything has meaning and significance.'

The thought of that terrifying roar reminded Zen of a story he read as a child.

It was the tale of Lancang River. There was a shallow section of the river which small boats could cross, but big ships could not maneuver through.

In order for the big ship to pass smoothly, it must be pulled by men. Boat trackers pulled a ship along the shore with ropes on their backs, assisting the ship to move forward through the shallow water slowly yet steadily.

But despite dozens of men were towing a ship, their power was uneven and insufficient. If there was no unified force, it was impossible to drag the ship deep in the mud.

In order to combine the power of dozens of people, they would sing songs, which were actually some rhythmic slogans driving motivation and synchronous movements!

These slogans were used to synchronise their movements and combine their forces to ensure mobility and success.

At the thought of this, an idea suddenly occurred to Zen!