Chapter 998 – Training Within the Hells of Flame
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“Humph, who cares if he provokes me? It isn’t that I fear any bet, but that I do not like others using me as a betting stake! Even if I know I will absolutely win, I still won’t agree to such a ridiculous proposition! Just because I am a girl doesn’t mean I am a pet nor am I an object, so why would I allow anyone to use me!? Even the Patriarch of the Ancient Phoenix Clan cannot do that!”
Yan Littlemoon coldly said. Her words were not spoken with a true essence sound transmission, but loudly shouted out for everyone to hear. She contemptuously looked at Lin Ming and said, “Lin Ming, I’ll make my own bet with you! If I lose to you, then I’ll be your slave for the rest of my life, so how about it?”
Lin Ming’s eyes twitched. He chuckled in response and said, “I have to say that I definitely won’t agree to something like that. Moreover, I think Miss Yan has misunderstood the situation. I certainly wouldn’t take Miss Yan as a betting stake; that is simply a joke of Elder Sun. And most importantly… I already have two wives, but they are living within the lower realms for now.”
Sun Cyprestar shook his head as he heard Lin Ming speak. This Lin Ming was really ruining his own stage. However, he was indeed just casually joking around to fluster Chu Redcloud, he didn’t have any hopes that Lin Ming would really marry Yan Littlemoon. Looking at the wider situation, even if Yan Littlemoon was naïve and gambled with herself on the line, the Yan Family definitely wouldn’t allow her to marry Lin Ming. A talent like Yan Littlemoon would likely marry a character on the level of the Ancient Phoenix Clan Patriarch’s son. Without mentioning that the child they produced would likely also have a perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline, just the advantages they could offer were far from what Lin Ming could compare with.
The only possibility was if Lin Ming made ridiculous achievements in the future, the kind that were nearly impossible to accomplish. At that time, if he could marry Yan Littlemoon and make love to her then that would be a great lucky chance for him. Yan Littlemoon’s perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline could not be compared to several drops of phoenix heart blood or even several spirit artifacts. And since Lin Ming’s bloodline was so light, the advantages would be even greater!
After hearing Lin Ming’s explanation, Yan Littlemoon coldly snorted and said, “You already have two wives and yet you allowed this misunderstanding to continue. It doesn’t seem like you’re a decent man or anything good at all. If you want to defeat me, then follow me to the third level. Let me take a look at just how strong the number one junior disciple genius of Phoenix Cry Palace is.”
Yan Littlemoon turned into a beam of red light that directly impacted towards the third level of the Hells of Flame. This time, her speed was even faster than before. It could simply be described as a thousand miles passed in the blink of an eye!
15,000 miles…
16,000 miles…
17,000 miles…
Yan Littlemoon rapidly reached the 19,000 mile distance and was nearing the third level of the Hells of Flame. She finally began to slow down, but she still continued downwards as before.
500 miles…
700 miles…
900 miles…
Bang!
Yan Littlemoon broke through the space barrier of the second level and officially entered the third level!
At this time, it wasn’t just Sun Cyprestar who was tracking her position, but also some powerful disciples of Phoenix Cry Palace. As they saw her break through to the third level, all of them had shocked expressions.
The third level! Yan Littlemoon had been able to break through into the third level from the very start!
The only reason Yan Littlemoon had stopped at the 19,000 mile distance of the second level was because she felt that was a good place to start training; it didn’t mean she couldn’t continue further. But just now she had been aggravated by Sun Cyprestar and thus she displayed her full strength to demonstrate how no one could mess with her!
After Yan Littlemoon entered the third level, the disciples of Phoenix Cry Palace were no longer able to track her. Perhaps the third level was not Yan Littlemoon’s limit. She might even be able to continue for several thousand more miles downwards. That was a depth that none of them could hold a candle to!
Of the remaining disciples of Phoenix Cry Palace, only those Ninefall middle or late Divine Sea martial artists had a chance of reaching the third floor. It was an impossible task even for a Ninefall early Divine Sea martial artist!
This didn’t mean that a Ninefall early Divine Sea martial artist had lower combat strength than Yan Littlemoon. It only meant that their understanding and control of the Fire Laws were inferior to Yan Littlemoon’s. The 18 Hells of Flame did not test strength, but rather a martial artist’s comprehension of the Fire Laws.
Yan Littlemoon had a perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline. The Phoenix Cry Palace disciples naturally weren’t able to compete with her in this regard.
“Haha, Apprentice Nephew Lin, I’ll be heading out first.”
Chu Redcloud smiled at Lin Ming and then led the disciples of Charming Phoenix Palace towards the third level. The Phoenix Cry Palace disciples that were left behind glanced at each other in trepidation. This was Yan Littlemoon’s first time coming to the Ancient Phoenix smelting trial but she was simply far too difficult to deal with!
If Lin Ming wanted to defeat her, it would just be far too difficult.
“Lin Ming, what do you think about your chances of winning?” Sun Cyprestar asked Lin Ming with a true essence sound transmission. Although he realized that it would be nearly impossible for Lin Ming to win, he did have a somewhat decent understanding of him. Since Lin Ming dared to take on such a burden and withstand such a pressure, he inevitably must be confident in himself. Otherwise, there would be no one to blame but himself.
“This disciple does not have a complete understanding of the perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline so I cannot guarantee anything. The reason I changed the rules of the bet is that I believe in my own strength more than the strength of others here.”
“Mm… I understand… in any case, I was the one who agreed to this bet. As long as you try your best then that will be fine. Don’t feel burdened in your heart.” Sun Cyprestar nodded and said, “Lin Ming, the bet about Yan Littlemoon was indeed just me playing around, but if you really can obtain Yan Littlemoon then that would be a great shortcut to you becoming a supreme character! The perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline means to have a half phoenix bloodline and half human bloodline. Those with such bloodlines can inherit the powerful physique and different talents of God Beasts as well as retaining the learning and perception of mankind. If your bloodline is a degree less rich then that means you will be lacking, but if your God Beast bloodline is too high then you will become a monster. If you become a monster then it will be impossible for you to train in humanity’s cultivation methods.
“A person’s body has a total of 150,000-200,000 drops of blood. Someone having a perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline means that they have nearly 90,000 drops of Ancient Phoenix blood within their bodies. That is a thousand times what you have within you. A thousand times doesn’t seem that much; you probably think if you pay a high enough price you can accomplish the same state. However, the truth isn’t so simple. The purer your bloodline is, the richer it is and the closer to a perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline you approach, the more difficult it will be to enhance your bloodline. At that time, even if you absorb 100 drops of Ancient Phoenix blood into your body, it still won’t have the effect of a single drop! You must know that the reason Yan Littlemoon could do this was that she found a pool of Ancient Phoenix blood somewhere. Do you know how much Ancient Phoenix blood there must have been in there? It’s simply impossible to imagine! Thus, in the ancient Phoenix Clan, the perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline can only be obtained through a stroke of fate!”
As Lin Ming listened to Sun Cyprestar, he gained a deeper understanding of the perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline. The Ancient Phoenix Clan was indeed able to forcefully create a person with a perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline, but they simply wouldn’t do such a thing. The cost of doing that was just far too heavy.
As they spoke, Lin Ming had already penetrated 13,000 miles deep into the Hells of Flame. Here, Lin Ming could feel that his comprehension of the Fire Laws could not allow him to continue any further. The only way would be to use the power of the Heretical God Sprout.
However, that would almost be the same as cheating and it wouldn’t be too meaningful for Lin Ming’s training. That completely negated the effect of this smelting trial.
Thus, a 13,000 mile distance was Lin Ming’s limit.
“Mm? You’re stopping here?”
As Sun Cyprestar saw Lin Ming stop here, he was stunned. Huo Yanguang still had a good deal of energy left to spare, but Lin Ming had already reached his limits.
However, this was also reasonable. Lin Ming’s comprehension of the Fire Laws was inferior to Huo Yanguang’s to begin with. The 18 Hells of Flame was not a test of comprehensive combat strength, but of one’s understandings towards the Fire Laws.
In fact, the reason Lin Ming was able to arrive at this step was his thick true essence and solid foundation. Any other normal sixth stage Life Destruction martial artist could never come so deep.
As for Yan Littlemoon, she was already at the third level. Moreover, it was unknown how many thousands of miles more she had travelled into the third level. The difference between them was far too great.
If it weren’t for Sun Cyprestar knowing that Lin Ming had obtained the Phoenix Blood Spear and defeated Huo Yanguang, and had done so in a situation where no one believed he could to begin with, he would have thought Lin Ming was a moron who was blabbering nonsense.
“Good. You train here then. This Ancient Phoenix smelting trial will continue for another two years. You have plenty of time remaining. But, let me remind you that Yan Littlemoon’s training speed is even faster than your own. She is also two years younger than you, but her cultivation is at the seventh stage of Life Destruction, one stage higher than you.”
“Mm, I understand.” Lin Ming was well aware that his cultivation speed couldn’t be considered number one within Phoenix Cry Palace, but only at the peak. It was normal for him to be worse than Yan Littlemoon in this regard. After all, the first 15 years of his life had nearly been a complete waste in terms of cultivation. As for a talented disciple of the Divine Realm, from birth their body was bathed in all sorts of heavenly materials and they ate various spirit pills and luxurious spirit foods.
Lin Ming stopping here inevitably caused some of Phoenix Cry Palace and Charming Phoenix Palace’s disciples to glance at him with surprise. However, he simply didn’t care about them at all. He left the group and looked for a quiet place of his own to train. The 18 Hells of Flame had a radius of tens of thousands of miles; the interior was extremely broad and vast. One could casually fly several thousand miles and find any peaceful training location they wished.
Lin Ming soon entered the ethereal martial intent state. Although the fire origin energy here was wild and brutal, it didn’t make any sound at all; it seemed quite harmonious. Lin Ming felt as if he had entered his own world with a different space and time. The power of fire blazed through his body. Although he deflected the majority of the power of fire with his protective true essence, a small portion of it rushed into his acupoints and his meridians, burning through his body and blood vessels. If a non-fire-attribute martial artist were to withstand such a fire within their body and blood, they would have long since been scorched to death.
“Mm? This is…”
Lin Ming suddenly discovered that every wisp of fire energy that rushed into his body wasn’t strong, but they each contained exquisite Fire Laws. It might be the Concept of Burning Heat, it might be the Concept of Annihilation, it might be the Concept of Creation, or even the Concept of Manifestation… every small wisp of fire energy contained at least one kind of Concept.
Moreover, even for the same Concept, there were still subtle differences among them.
For instance, for the Concept of Annihilation, it could be the explosive force when a giant meteor crashed into the world, or it might be a wave of surging lava that swallowed up a forest and burned it down…
Each of these Concepts had to be resolved by Lin Ming using the corresponding Fire Laws. If he didn’t use the Laws then he could only do so with brute force. If he used brute force then he would have to use several dozen times the strength to do so. If he did that then he would exhaust his true essence in just an incense stick of time.
“This 18 Hells of Flame has such a mystical array formation within it. The senior who created this must have been a true genius. He actually devised such a method to allow trial challengers to comprehend the Concept of Fire…”