Chapter 725 – Chaos Stone
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The Chaos Corridor was at the very center of all four corridors. It was also the narrowest and the smallest of the four corridors and was only 150 feet wide.
This corridor had three chambers. The doors of this chamber weren’t made from red metal but rather rocks with an extremely ancient appearance.
These rocks didn’t have any engravings on them but they emitted a primal breath that secretly startled Lin Ming.
“These should be ancient rocks formed at the very beginning of the universe. I wonder just how many countless years they’ve existed for.”
Lin Ming muttered to himself as he opened the stone door. A 100 square foot room presented itself in front of Lin Ming. This entire chamber was covered with a light layer of black fog. As one looked deeper, one could see that this fog was actually somewhat similar to the black fog in the Eternal Demon Abyss; it was also formed from an incomparably rich accumulation of energy. However, this Chaos Chamber’s black fog seemed to lack any sort of elemental attribute energy. Instead, it could be considered as ‘void’.
In the center of the faint fog, there was an altar. This altar was made of black stone, and a foot long square stone was embedded right in its center. The traces of lines on this stone didn’t seem as delicate and exquisite as Lin Ming had imagined. Instead, it looked to be very rough. The textures were varied; some were deep, some were shallow, and there were even some areas that were broken off.
As Lin Ming continued to look on but he didn’t see anything special about this stone. It was apparent that the traces of source energy left within had already surpassed the scope of Lin Ming’s understanding.
Legends said that during the forming of the universe, there was nothing but chaos origin energy. The trace lines on the chaos stone reflected the evolutionary process of the universe’s source energy as it gradually transformed itself. This sort of chaos energy was also referred to as grandmist energy. Primeval entropy was chaos in itself.
Afterwards, this grandmist energy evolved, only then becoming the elemental energies of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and all others. Thus, grandmist energy was considered the source of all energy.
As for martial artists, in the end, what they cultivated was energy. Whether it was body transformation, true essence, or demon essence, all of them were just different manifestations of energy.
But in perceiving various Laws and Concepts through meditation, that was understanding the root rules for utilizing these different energies. Higher level combat skills such as force fields, will attacks, and even soul attacks, were all different forms and applications of energy. If one could thoroughly understand the evolutionary rules of grandmist energy, then they could become aware of the very source of the Great Dao, thus becoming an existence within the Realm of the Gods with one of the deepest comprehension of Laws and Concepts.
“Lin Ming, this thing isn’t something that the average person can understand. Not to mention that this Saint is just a wisp of a soul, but even if this Saint’s complete soul was here, or even if this Saint’s complete body was here, I would still find this thing incomprehensible.”
Demonshine rarely admitted his own weaknesses. In truth, as a demon familiar, his perception was never that great to begin with.
However, Lin Ming didn’t seem to hear Demonshine’s words. He sat there in mediation, gazing upon the traces left behind on this chaos stone from the forming universe. For a long time, he sat there without uttering a single word.
“How is it?” Demonshine asked before immediately shutting up. He didn’t know if Lin Ming had managed to comprehend anything.
Within Lin Ming’s boundary, wanting to comprehend the source Laws from this chaos stone were near zero. However, miracles did happen.
Lin Ming meditated for an entire incense stick worth of time. Finally, he closed his eyes and slowly said, “I am familiar with these lines. It feels like I’ve seen them somewhere before.”
“Mm? That’s impossible…”
“I really have seen it, it’s just that I can’t remember...” Lin Ming’s first thoughts were of the Eternal Demon Abyss. Within the Eternal Demon Abyss, he had encountered a variety of chaotic scenarios and had seen many things. But, as he thought about it, nothing reminded him of this.
Just where had he seen this before?
“Lin Ming, then how will you choose? Will you choose this chaos stone or the Burning Heaven Totem Stone?” Demonshine asked.
“I will choose the Burning Heaven Totem Stone.” Lin Ming decided to give up on the chaos stone. The Laws and principles contained within the chaos stone were simply far too mystical for the current him. Even if there was a familiar feeling of déjà vu from the chaos stone, it wasn’t enough for him to grasp any chance of successfully perceiving it. If that was the case, then it was better for him to go with the Burning Heaven Totem Stone. With the support of the Heretical God Seed, perceiving the Burning Heaven Totem Stone should be much more beneficial.”
Thinking like this, Lin Ming left the hall of corridors.
“You’ve chosen?” The red-robed Elder asked, “You still have half an hour. If you haven’t decided yet then you may continue looking.”
“Reporting to Senior, this junior has already chosen…” Lin Ming bowed. These words caused Huo Wenlong’s heart to tighten. The young red dressed woman next to him, Huo Yu, was also tense.
Besides Lin Ming, these two people had the best results from the test. Huo Welong’s comprehension of Laws was evaluated at the first-level B-grade, and Huo Yu was evaluated as a first-level C-grade.
Huo Wenlong was aiming for the Burning Heaven Totem Stone. Of the three totem stones in the Sky Corridor, it was the most valuable one. As for Huo Yu, she decided to choose the Crimson Divine Totem Stone. Its preciousness was only inferior to that of the Burning Heaven Totem Stone. Not just that, but the force field fused within it was very important for her. Huo Yu also had a kind of force field so this Crimson Divine Totem Stone would be very suitable for her. As long as Lin Ming didn’t choose the Crimson Totem Stone then Huo Wenlong definitely wouldn’t choose it either. This was because even if Huo Wenlong’s talent was higher, he didn’t have force field.
“Mm, what’s your choice?” The red-robed Elder asked.
Lin Ming took a deep breath. He slowly and clearly said, “The Burning Heaven Totem Stone!”
As Lin Ming spoke, Huo Yu let out a sigh of relief. As for Huo Wenlong, his body stiffened and his complexion became extremely ugly.
The Burning Heaven Totem Stone! That choice just happened to collide with Huo Wenlong’s!
Damn!
Huo Wenlong grit his teeth. In truth, he had already been expecting this. The Burning Heaven Totem Stone was the most valuable of the three totem stones in the Sky Corridor. Lin Ming had the highest chances of choosing that one.
However, expectations were different from reality. With the facts laid right in front of him, he felt a bit depressed. To not be able to choose the Burning Heaven Totem Stone now would greatly impact him.
“Mm.” The red-robed Elder nodded. Lin Ming had made a good choice. The Burning Heaven Totem Stone was the most valuable of the three totem stones in the Sky Corridor, and even when compared to the top totem stones within the Ancient Phoenix Clan smelting trial sites in the Realm of the Gods, it wasn’t too far off.
The red-robed Elder recorded Lin Ming’s choice onto a jade slip and said, “Onto the next person. Huo Wenlong, it’s your turn to choose.”
“I understand.” Huo Wenlong began walking forwards. Although he seemed calm on the surface, his heart was pained as if his own mother had died.
After a little less than an hour of time, Huo Wenlong came out and said, “I choose the Sacred Flame Totem Stone.”
The Sacred Flame Totem Stone was slightly worse than the Crimson Divine Totem Stone. However, since Huo Wenlong didn’t possess a force field ability, the Crimson Divine Totem Stone wasn’t well suited for him, thus he could only make this choice.
Huo Yu let out a light sigh of relief. She quickly power walked towards the Sky Corridor as if she were afraid that someone to steal away her Crimson Divine Totem Stone.
After an incense stick of time, Huo Yu came out. “Sir, I choose the Crimson Divine Totem Stone.”
After Huo Yu, Huo Ping and the rest all chose their own totem stones from the Earth Corridor. As for the martial artists of the lower mortal realms, most of them had to choose from the Mortal Corridor.
This was a troublesome decision for them. To choose an appropriate totem stone from over 20 choices, was not a simple matter at all. Many people didn’t have the chance to carefully consider their choice, thus there were some that chose inappropriate ones.
“Alright. Everyone may go close up in training now. You have three days of time. Three days from now, no matter how much you have perceived you must stop. Afterwards, I will naturally assess your results. Those who pass will obtain another chance to enlighten themselves. As for everyone else, they have failed the trial!
In the king level smelting trial, defeat didn’t mean you would die. Rather, you would simply be eliminated from the first stage, completely losing any chance of advancing to the second stage of the king level smelting trial.
After the smelting trial began, Lin Ming, Huo Wenlong, and Huo Yu all went towards the Sky Corridor. After a moment of silence, Huo Wenlong walked into the Sacred Flame training chamber without another word, while Lin Ming entered the Burning Heaven training chamber.
These three days would be the key to success or failure.
Lin Ming had already seen the lines on the Burning Heaven Totem Stone. They were like hundreds of tiny flames, none of them the same, but all of them contained deep and profound mysteries.
Lin Ming looked carefully and discovered that when any two random flames combined together, there would be a change. If three flames joined together, there would be another change. Four… five… six, the more flames that gathered, the more changes there were and every flame also had a different change. If several hundred flames gathered together then the possibilities were endless.
“Patriarch Burning Heaven is truly worthy of a being called one of the 10 greatest powerhouses of the Ancient Phoenix Clan. I only have three days to look at this totem stone, but thoroughly perceiving it in this time period is simply impossible. I shouldn’t bite off more than I can chew. I’ll choose the smallest flame line and try to comprehend the simple changes there first.”
As Lin Ming thought this, he entered into the ethereal martial intent, completely immersing himself into gaining insights.
In this state of fascination, the small flame seemed to turn into a fiery spear. As the spear swayed to the beat of the flames, the chilling spear point seemed to launch wave after wave of offensive attacks.
Unconsciously, the subtle totem engravings on Lin Ming’s Heretical God Seed began to change, becoming increasingly clear and profound.
After entering into the ethereal martial intent, Lin Ming wasn’t able to sense the passage of time. When the totem engravings on the Heretical God Seed seemed to enter into a new stage, the metal door to Lin Ming’s training chamber suddenly burst open.
A stern voice sounded out, “Time is up. Everyone must exit now.
Hu -!
Lin Ming had been awakened from his meditative state, and the incomplete enlightenment had also been interrupted.
“Three days already?”
Lin Ming was surprised. He felt as if even one hour hadn’t passed.
What a pity! It would have been perfect if he had a few more days. As Lin Ming was thinking, he found that totem engravings on the Heretical God Seed had turned into a circle with a faint flow of light spinning around it. It was clearly an improvement over the previous totem image.
“With these three days along with having gazed upon the Ancient Phoenix Testament, my comprehension of fire-attribute Laws has been considerably enhanced. I wonder just what degree my Concept of Fire has reached now…”
Lin Ming very much wished to find someone skilled in the Concept of Fire to compete with. At this moment, a voice sounded out once more.
“Everyone, meet outside the hall of corridors!”
As Lin Ming recalled what was happening as he walked towards the main hall. Outside, he could see that many people were gathering, expressions of confusion on their faces as if they had awoken from a drunken stupor. They all had their eyebrows knitted together, apparently trying to estimate the harvests they had made.
The red-robed Elder from before was already waiting here. He said, “You all have ten days to go back and digest your harvests so far. Afterwards, you will gather back here. I will continue with the test. Those who do not pass will be eliminated!”