Chen Mo placed his first dot on the bottom-right corner of the sheet of paper.
Looking at the paper, he couldn't find a second spot to place another dot without it forming a straight line with the first.
Then, to everyone's surprise, Chen Mo picked up the sheet of paper from the ground, flipped it over, and placed the second dot on its back.
"How about these two dots?"
Chen Mo chuckled, lifting the paper so The Forbidden One could see it.
The only difficulty with this puzzle was the limitation of conventional thinking. Once you broke free from that, the solution became clear. A single sheet of paper has two sides, so why not use both? The back was, after all, still part of the paper.
Clearly, two points on different sides of the paper could never form a straight line, as they didn't exist in the same two-dimensional plane!
"What a genius! Brave Hero, you've effortlessly solved a riddle I pondered for a century! You are truly wise; I am utterly convinced!"
"Can I activate the Divine Altar now?"
"Of course, Brave Hero."
The Forbidden One was thoroughly impressed by Chen Mo and respectfully ushered him toward the Divine Altar.
The Forbidden One took out a strange mirror and muttered an incantation.
The mirror instantly emitted a beam of light that struck the peculiar energy shield surrounding the Divine Altar. Instantly, the energy shield vanished.
"Brave Hero, the protective shield has been removed. You may now enter the Divine Altar."
Looking at the Divine Altar before him, which was about the size of a gazebo, Chen Mo asked, "Are there any specific procedures for activating the Divine Altar?"
"Nothing specific, Brave Hero. You just need to stand on the Divine Altar and place your palm on the Hexagram Array in its center."
"Is it that simple?"
Following the instructions, Chen Mo walked to the center of the Divine Altar and gently placed his right hand on the Hexagram Array engraved on the raised platform.
The moment his palm touched the Hexagram Array, it flared with light, and Chen Mo felt a surge of powerful energy flowing into his body.
"What is this!?"
"This is the energy feedback from the activation of the Divine Altar. It may help you unlock some special abilities."
As The Forbidden One finished speaking, Chen Mo received a hint from the Heavenly Dao.
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: You have successfully activated the Divine Altar. The Divine Power corresponding to this Divine Altar has been reclaimed. The 'Deified Body' divinity of the Pseudo-God Incarnation has been eliminated!]
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: You have successfully activated the Divine Altar, causing the stability of this space to decrease by half. You have 11 hours remaining in this space...]
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: You have successfully activated the Divine Altar and received energy feedback. You have activated the special ability—[Gift of Blessing]!]
After the three hints from the Heavenly Dao, Chen Mo immediately checked the attributes of the Pseudo-God Incarnation.
Indeed, with the Deified Body eliminated, the Pseudo-God Incarnation's attributes looked much more manageable.
[Monster Name]: Pseudo-God Incarnation
[Monster Rank]: God-grade BOSS
[Level]: 5
[Attributes]:
〖Life〗: 100,000,000/100,000,000
〖Energy〗: 100,000,000/100,000,000
〖Physical Attack〗: 405
〖Magic Attack〗: 405
〖Physical Defense〗: 675
〖Magic Defense〗: 675
〖Critical Damage〗: 135%
[Active Skills]: Heaven Shaking Divine Might, God Fist Shaking Earth, Pseudo-God's Fury
[Passive Skills]: The Primitive Aura, Aura of Fear
[Divinity]: Immortal Self-Healing, Unbreakable Golden Body, Thorny Body Guard, Deadly Force, Bloodthirsty Heart
This finally looks like a BOSS that can be defeated, though its Health is still a bit frightening.
After reviewing the BOSS's now much more manageable attributes, Chen Mo examined the new special ability he had just obtained.
[Gift of Blessing]: All friendly units (including yourself) within a 1,000-meter radius gain a 100% increase in attack speed, a 100% increase in movement speed, and one instance of damage immunity every 10 seconds. (Dungeon-specific special ability, disappears upon leaving the dungeon).
What a powerful area-of-effect buff! With this, defeating the BOSS will be twice as easy.
Chen Mo had already planned to rely on stacking the Skeleton Monster's corpse poison for most of the damage against this BOSS. Now that his attack speed was doubled, the rate of stacking poison would also double. This was simply exhilarating!
After bidding farewell to The Forbidden One in that stone chamber, Chen Mo left to search for the God Altar Space corresponding to the Thorny Body Guard divinity.
After carefully examining the stone doors, Chen Mo found a description related to the Thorny Body Guard divinity on the third door to his right. He pushed it open and entered.
This God Altar Space was laid out identically to the one for the Deified Body. As before, a figure—The Forbidden One—sat cross-legged before the Divine Altar.
This Forbidden One, however, appeared slightly chubbier than the previous one.
As Chen Mo entered the God Altar Space, the figure looked up at him. This Forbidden One didn't repeat the words of the previous one.
It seems these spaces are interconnected. Since I introduced myself in the previous space, the others must already know who I am.
With its face still shrouded in black mist, The Forbidden One looked at Chen Mo and said, "Although you have demonstrated your wisdom and capability in the previous God Altar Space, procedure dictates that you must still pass my test before I can permit you to activate this Divine Altar."
"Two choices again?"
"Yes. Given the wisdom you've already displayed, I wonder how you will approach my question?"
"Is your question more difficult then?"
"Correct. At least, I myself have not yet found a solution to it."
Hearing this, Chen Mo's interest was piqued.
Buoyed by his success with the previous riddle, Chen Mo wondered if this supposedly more difficult problem would be another one he already knew.
Meanwhile, The Forbidden One in the Deified Body's God Altar Space also grew interested upon seeing Chen Mo enter the Thorny Body Guard's God Altar Space.
Na Pa's riddle should be unsolvable. We've pondered it for so long without finding an answer. I wonder if this Brave Hero has a solution.
"If this question is as profound as you claim, then I'm quite keen to attempt it," Chen Mo said with a smile. "Please, present your riddle."
Knowing that he could opt for a trial of combat even if he failed to answer the intellectual challenge, Chen Mo felt quite relaxed.
At worst, I'll just have to pass the trial of combat. It would only mean spending a bit more time.
Previously, Chen Mo had been anxious about wasting time, but now he was at ease.
This was entirely due to the unexpected acquisition of the [Gift of Blessing] special ability.
This ability, which doubled the efficiency of stacking poison, meant Chen Mo could achieve his intended damage output in half the originally anticipated time.
This significant boost in efficiency had transformed his earlier tension about the time limit into a sense of ease.
Now, he was more curious about what kind of difficult riddle this Forbidden One would pose.
Under Chen Mo's expectant gaze, The Forbidden One slowly posed a question that took Chen Mo completely by surprise!