Chapter 689 – Meeting Once Again
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Deep within the South Sea, 70 thousand feet underwater in an underground trench, the water pressure reached a terrifying level. Even a Revolving Core master would find it difficult to protect themselves with their true essence this far down. If their bodily true essence were to be broken then their mortal body would suddenly be exposed to the entirety of this horrible pressure. Their eardrums would shatter, their organs would rupture, their heart would stop beating, and finally they would die a miserable death.
In the deepest parts of this trench, there was an artificial space opened up by an array formation. A thick shield of energy isolated all of the seawater outside. A dim light emanated from here, seeming particularly bright in the deep darkness.
Within this space, a man was sitting naked on a bed made of polar jade, in deep meditation.
His left and right arms had been turned into ground meat and even his bones were shattered into a fine powder. But, what was strange was that there wasn’t any blood leaking out.
If one looked carefully, one could see that this ground meat was actually constantly growing. From its mashed face, it slowly reorganized itself…
This was Xuan Wuji, who was currently crossing the fourth stage of Life Destruction.
He had now been in closed-door seclusion for over four months. His legs and waist were already completed, and now he was in the process of reforming his arms. As for the riskiest part of breaking his core, he still hadn’t yet started that.
Although Xuan Wuji was in closed-door seclusion, he was still well aware of every matter occurring in the South Sea Demon Region!
At the time when Lin Ming had ridden the Giant Leviathan and shattered apart the South Sea Demon Region’s great protective array, recklessly killed the Demon Region disciples and even pillaging and razing all of the South Sea Demon Region’s resources, all of this had fallen into Xuan Wuji’s eyes.
Even though Xuan Wuji was deep in meditation, he was still angry to the point of nearly vomiting blood!
The anger had nearly led to a mental breakdown, causing the fires of anger to reverse the energy in his body and have him fail in breaking through the fourth stage of Life Destruction. At the time, he was fortunate that he was in the relatively simple process of reforming his arms. Xuan Wuji had crossed through Life Destruction three times before and thus he was very familiar with restructuring his flesh. Only by suppressing this sudden anger had he been able to safely continue through Life Destruction. If Lin Ming had crashed into the South Sea Demon Region during the more dangerous reconstruction of his core, then he might have fallen into depravity because of this.
Xuan Wuji certainly wouldn’t let the situation in the South Sea Demon Region affect his fourth stage of Life Destruction. After that event, he simply shut off all his perception, completely focusing on passing through this process. Now, his two arms were already 30% complete. In 10 more days he would finish, and then he would begin the most difficult process of remolding his core.
“Lin Ming, I will tear you to pieces, suck out your marrow, and refine your soul!”
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Over one million miles away, Yin Yang Profound Palace –
A spirit boat slowly descended. Atop this spirit boat was the mother and child, Xing Can and Xing Yang. They had originally wanted to go and meet the Divine Kingdom Crown Prince, but soon after they embarked they had received the news that this Divine Kingdom Crown Prince had already left Divine Phoenix Island.
And looking at their direction they had flown towards the Five Element Region. Divine Phoenix Island and the Profound Province were separated with the Five Element Region in between them. In order to reach the Profound Province, one first had to cross through the Five Element Region.
After having the initiative taken by someone else, Xing Can and her son were both feeling depressed.
Xing Yang Said, “Great Mother, if the Five Element Region’s Storm Valley first contacted the Divine Kingdom Crown Prince, what sort of flowery sweet words did they use? Why would the Divine Kingdom Crown Prince leave Divine Phoenix Island now? Is he planning on going to Storm Valley?”
“Humph, such a small sect like Storm Valley is even inferior to Divine Phoenix Island; how could they possibly have anything that can attract his attention? The Divine Kingdom Crown Prince must have come to the South Horizon Region to accomplish some special goal. If we can learn what this goal is and help him complete it, then perhaps we might be able to win his favor.”
In Xing Can’s opinion, there was naturally no need to question the Divine Kingdom Crown Prince’s strength. But, if there was some information he needed or if he was looking for something in particular, then it was best to ask a sect that had been established for thousands of years in the south of Sky Spill Continent.
If they could be this sect, then that would be perfect.
“We’ll put that matter of the Divine Kingdom Crown Prince on hold for now. First, we must tighten our grip on Divine Phoenix Island.”
As Divine Phoenix Island was brought up, Xing Yang’s eyes flashed with an avaricious light. He had long desired Divine Phoenix Island’s secret technique of transplanting Vermillion Bird blood essence.
In addition, there was also Mu Qianyu’s pure Vermillion Bird bloodline in her body. Rumors said that if a man took the crown of her virginity, then they would be able to inherit a part of her Primordial Yin Energy, transforming it and obtaining an extremely pure Vermillion Bird bloodline.
Xing Yang naturally cultivated in fire. If the Vermillion Bird bloodline could increase his talent then how could he not be tempted?
In addition, Xing Yang always had thoughts to move onto Mu Bingyun. Mu Bingyun had the Blue Luan bloodline with her. This was useless to Xing Yang, but Yin Yang Profound Palace’s secret skills focused on Yin and Yang complementing each other. If Mu Bingyun was willing to double cultivate with him, then he wouldn’t mind marrying Mu Bingyun and taking her as his wife.
First he would have relations with Mu Qianyu, and after taking her Vermillion Bird bloodline he would then double cultivate ice and fire with Mu Bingyun, using her Yin physique to have his Yin Yang Profound Law reach large success. This would be the best outcome possible.
However, as he thought about it, Mu Yuhuang would never allow either of these two situations to occur. The Mu sisters would be the future leaders of Divine Phoenix Island. How could they possibly be married into Yin Yang Profound Palace and become their little princesses?
Originally, Divine Phoenix Island and Yin Yang Profound Palace had signed a 100 year agreement. Xing Yang had been willing to allow the situation develop at a slow simmer, having his plans come to fruition a bit at a time. But now, because of the appearance of the Divine Kingdom Crown Prince, the war in the South Sea had changed far too much. Once the South Sea Demon Region was defeated, they would no longer have any chips to threaten Divine Phoenix Island with. This made him feel a sense of impending crisis.
There was such a beautiful dish in front of him, and yet he could only see it and not eat it. How could Xing Yang be willing to accept this?
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At night, the fall wind was chilling and desolate. All around the Yin Yang Profound Mountains, lights glittered. And south of the Yin Yang Profound Mountains was a low mountain range called the Little Swallow Mountains.
This was the spiritual land that Yin Yang Profound Island had rented to Divine Phoenix Island.
A sect didn’t necessarily need palaces, practice arrays, and in a short time, even the support of a true essence stone mine or medicine garden.
But no matter what, there was one thing that they couldn’t be without.
That was… a spiritual land.
This so-called spiritual land was an area where heaven and earth origin energy gathered. There were many Houtian martial artists that would rather indenture themselves into a large sect than to go to a mortal country as a general or ruler. This was all because of a spiritual land!
Without a spiritual land it was immensely difficult to practice. This was why nearly all high level martial artists were gathered in great sects or martial families, and why it was difficult to find a single Xiantian martial artist in a mortal country.
A spiritual land had certain features within it that were able to naturally gather heaven and earth origin energy. At the Seven Profound Valleys, the heaven and earth origin energy was several times greater than at Sky Fortune Kingdom. And even then, the heaven and earth origin energy within Divine Phoenix Island was several times higher than the at Seven Profound Valleys.
Thus, the higher grade a sect was, the higher grade spiritual land they would live on.
Within the entire Sky Spill Continent, not to mention the high level spiritual lands, but even the low level ones had nearly all been taken by others. Divine Phoenix Island was willing to seek refuge with Yin Yang Profound Palace not only to seek refuge with them but also to have a spiritual land for their disciples to practice in.
Without a spiritual land, a sect would lose the fundamental basis of its existence and it would be impossible to attract other martial artists.
Although this temporary residence’s heaven and earth origin energy was far inferior to Divine Phoenix Island’s, it was still comparable to the worst of fourth-grade sects.
And, what was most unusual was that because Yin Yang Profound Palace cultivated Yin and Yang, the origin energy here was also rich in fire and water; this fit very well with Divine Phoenix Island’s cultivation methods.
It was already midnight and the dark night sky was like a thick black velvet curtain that extended across the world. Little stars decorated the vault of heaven like sparkling gems. In the dim mountains and the gently blowing breeze, one could occasionally hear the rustling sound of the tides and the pleasant sound of insects chirping at night.
The gentle moonlight illuminated a cliff in the back mountains of Little Swallow Mountains. Because it was cold here, the ground was dusted with a layer of silver frost. A red-dressed woman was sitting on a rock, meditating. From the back, one could see her long black hair fall down like a waterfall as it scattered on her clothing. Looking from afar, one could sense a stunning yet sorrowful beauty.
This woman was Mu Qianyu.
Although she was meditating, the heaven and earth origin energy around her was in chaos, not even forming a vortex of energy This sort of practice condition was a mistake that normally new and amateur martial artists would commit. Mu Qianyu had already stepped into Revolving Core. By all reasoning, this should have never happened.
Mu Qianyu shook her head and lightly sighed. She stopped her meditation and helplessly mumbled, “My mind is a mess and my true essence is in disorder.”
These days, she was always worried about Little Flame. The guilt she felt caused a knot in her heart that she couldn’t undo. Her dark and mournful thoughts thus caused damage to her heart of martial arts, making it so that her true essence circulation had trouble flowing smoothly. This was a condition completely unsuited to cultivating.
“Sect Master placed all her hopes on Lin Ming. There is still seven and a half years until the 10 year meeting… Lin Ming… where are you and how are you doing?”
What the world would be like in that 10 years’ meeting’s time, Mu Qianyu found this impossible to imagine. At that promised meeting, would Lin Ming be able to safely return? Would he be able to shoulder the burden of reviving the sect? None of this could be predicted.
In order to revive the sect, he must have strength equal to a Life Destruction master. At that time, Lin Ming would be 27 or 28 years old. To have the strength of a Life Destruction master at that stage, that would mean that his talent surpassed even those peak Divine Kingdom geniuses.
Mu Qianyu always felt that it was unfair for Divine Phoenix Island to place all of their hopes, dreams, and burdens all on Lin Ming’s shoulders. Many of her fellow disciples hoped that Lin Ming would return and make them proud once more. But, what if Lin Ming couldn’t achieve this? What sort of tremendous pressure would he have to withstand then?
Mu Qianyu shook her head and no longer thought of these things. She returned to her meditation. She had to become more powerful. All she could do was reach a cultivation high enough that she was able to contend with a Life Destruction master. Then she would be able to help Lin Ming shoulder the weight of his burdens.
Power… Mu Qianyu bit her lips. Everything that had occurred made her intensely wish that she had more power!
If she had absolute power, she never would have needed to watch helplessly on as Lin Ming was forced to flee. She would never have had to watch Divine Phoenix Island be destroyed. She would never have had to watch Little Flame be taken away by Yin Yang Profound Palace.
If she was strong, then why would she have to live under the cold indifferent eyes of other and why would she have to suffer the insult of having her Divine Phoenix Island’s secret techniques be desired by others?
As the night wind whistled and Mu Qianyu had returned to meditation, a fire suddenly sparked in front of her. This was a sound transmitting talisman.
After hearing the message, Mu Qianyu was suddenly shocked. She turned to stone on the spot!
How… was this…
She blankly looked towards the back mountains, her fingers stiff as her breath caught in her chest. It was like she had forgotten how to breathe. After several breaths of time, she heard the sound of rustling clothes as a black-clothed figure appeared in front of her, gradually coming closer.
Mu Qianyu subconsciously covered her mouth. Although her mentality had always been strong and stable, at this time, she was unable to stop her vision from blurring as tears began to form in her eyes.
That sound transmitting talisman just now was sent by Mu Yuhuang. It was a short message.
“Lin Ming has returned. He is going towards the back mountains to look for you.”