Chapter 729 – Breaking Through the First World
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Time passed slowly. As Lin Ming stood before the Celestial Shifting Mirror, his fists were tightly clenched together, and the blood vessels on his arms were pumped up as if they could burst apart at any second.
All of his clothes were already soaking wet with sweat. It seemed as if he wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer. But besides Lin Ming, Huo Wenlong only had a few beads of sweat dropping down his face. It was apparent that he could continue for a while longer.
“Nuyan Ming has reached his limit.” A martial artist from the Earth Corridor said.
“If there isn’t an accident then Huo Wenlong should be able to last for three quarter hours of time, enough to meet the rare 50 year standard of Timeworn Phoenix City. But Nuyan Ming should only be able to last for several more breaths of time at most. Although he’s lacking just a bit, nearly reaching that time is also quite good especially since Nuyan Ming is a martial artist from the lower realms.
Several martial artists began discussing amongst themselves. In this first round of the trial, Huo Wenlong had the upper hand. But, the first stage of the king level smelting trial wasn’t something completed in a short period of time; it was unknown just who the final winner would be.
Huo Ping snickered as he saw Lin Ming approaching his limits more and more. He said, “This Nuyan Ming shouldn’t push it if he can’t hold on. When the other martial artists couldn’t stand it any further, the most that happened to them was that their faces whitened a bit; none of them looked like this fellow does right now. What’s he doing? If he can’t persist then he can’t persist. What’s the point of putting up a futile struggle?”
“Humph, to be able to persist even when he’s reached his limits just means that Nuyan Ming has a firm will! If you tried you would have simply failed!” Yellowright Min bluntly retorted. Huo Ping sneered in disdain, no longer speaking, obviously not wanting to bother with this nonsense.
After 10 breaths of time, Lin Ming’s entire body flushed red. On the area where his palm touched the Celestial Shifting Mirror, a faint flame slowly rose up.
Everyone present noticed this slight change. But, regardless if they were a martial artist of the Earth Corridor or Sky Corridor, none of them was clear on what was happening.
In the void, the tall old man’s eyes widened with interest. “This little boy, with just his trivial middle Revolving Core cultivation, wants to use his body to direct the fire and move the fire-attribute energy within the first world, ultimately burning it away. How daring of him!”
The red dress woman faintly smiled. She said in a soft whisper, “His affinity towards fire is amazingly high so it’s easier for him to move the power of fire in that world. There’s a chance he’ll succeed, but it is indeed asking for too much.”
“Let’s continue watching. No matter what, that bold decisiveness is to this old man’s liking. He’s not like that Huo Wenlong kid who’s just trying to play some tricks and delay for time.” The old man shot a look at Huo Wenlong, obviously viewing him with disdain.
“Haha, it’s also quite good for Huo Wenlong to reach this level, and its not as if what he did is against the rules. Now we can only look to know whether or not Nuyan Ming will be able to succeed.
At this time, within the world of the Celestial Shifting Mirror, the accumulated energy within Lin Ming’s body had reached its limit. The Heretical God Seed was completely full. The totem engravings on the seed began to emit a brilliant golden light!
Not only that, but even Lin Ming’s dantian was filled with a massive amount of fire energy. These energies were all absorbed by the Black Hole Revolving Core within his dantian, forming a whirlpool of fire that covered everything in a hazy red fog.
His dantian began to burn!
When a martial artist entered the Xiantian realm, the dantian became the source and the very origin of all their energy. However, it also became their greatest weakness.
The flame that existed within the dantian was core fire. If one wasn’t a fire-attribute martial artist then it was simply impossible to start this sort of core fire. This sort of fire, if sent out from the source of a martial artist’s energy, would contain the most formidable power!
Use his bloodline as the guide, ignite the core fire, fuse it with the power of fire within the Heretical God Seed and then scorch away the heavens and the earth!
Bang!
With a deafening sound, all of the highly compressed fire energy within the Heretical God Seed completely broke out. In that moment, it was like the flame totem on the Heretical God Seed had become the eyes of a phoenix, the dazzling golden rays of light piercing through the limitless void!
Lin Ming’s entire body began to burn. The flames around him coalesced into a titanic phoenix that let out a keening wail as it flew out. The ferocity of that flame shook the heavens and shattered the earth!
The sea of fire boiled with excitement. Countless amounts of fire energy was sucked into this phoenix, surging tides of crimson energy that blew into the sky, forming a massive red whirlpool that seemed to swallow the heavens!
Lin Ming was a Revolving Core martial artist. No matter how strong he was, it was impossible for him to burn down a world with his power alone. He could only use his body to control the power of fire, quickening the power of the world and using the pre-existing fire energy to destroy all of creation.
This was the utilization of the Fire Laws, as well as the only way to break through the first realm of the Celestial Shifting Mirror!
Ka ka ka!
A crack appeared in the void!
At this moment, Lin Ming’s entire body was wreathed in flames. Both of his eyes smoldered with fires of the Burning Heaven. An intense pain snapped out from his dantian, and he felt as if all of his meridians and even his soul was being seared black by this fire. This sort of pain directly linked to his spiritual sea, it was potent enough that it seemed capable of sweeping away his consciousness!
Lin Ming felt his spiritual sea shudder. Within his spiritual sea, black flames rolled upwards. But at that moment, a spear shaped battle spirit howled forth, slashing down onto this python of black fire, directly turning it away.
“I used my own bloodline as the guide and spurred the power of fire within this world to burn everything asunder. The pain in this Celestial Shifting Mirror was illusory to begin with; it simply cannot harm me.”
In that instant, between Lin Ming’s eyebrows, the flame shaped mark left behind by the blood of the Ancient Phoenix emitted light as if it were a rising sun and a golden phoenix howled out. This phoenix was smaller than the phoenix that rushed into the world earlier, but it was even more incandescent, brilliant and pure!
This was the result of Lin Ming fusing the Laws of his life’s bloodline along with the power of fire from the Heretical God Seed!
The golden phoenix melted into the phoenix formed from the fire of the world, turning everything into a burnished golden red!
Bang bang bang!
The void continued to collapse, and large pieces of space deconstructed before him. A space storm swept out. This chaotic power of space actually fused with the flames. It was like a ‘wind’ that turned up the intensity of the fires, making it even fiercer.
In that moment, Lin Ming’s eyes lit up. If a space storm fused into flames, it could actually be like the wind, making the intensity of the fire even more ebullient?
After realizing this, Lin Ming’s heart was overturned by monstrous waves. He was too clear just what this discovery meant. This was the same as fusing together different Laws!
Fire and thunder had similar origins, but even so, Lin Ming had spent a considerable amount of time and effort to understand the Concept of Thunderfire.
The Concept of Space was amongst the most elusive and mystical Concepts. Moreover, it wasn’t generally associated with the Concept of Fire. To fuse these two Concepts together was much, much harder!
Yet here, Lin Ming had seen with his own eyes the fusion of a space storm and fire. This was also the fusion of Concepts!
“So it’s like this!’ Lin Ming’s steadily looked on. Although the world within the Celestial Shifting Mirror was nothing more than an illusion, the energy traces contained within still originated from the Chaos Stone. These traces were engraved by the principles of the universe, recording the rules to mobilize the most essential energy.
In other words, all of the phenomena occurring in the dreamland of the Celestial Shifting Mirror embodied the source Laws of the universe. How much you could comprehend all depended on your own ability!
Bang bang bang!
70% of the first world’s space broke apart, the fire escaping into the void. Lin Ming wholeheartedly watched all of these changes occur. Even as blood flowed out from the corners of his eyes, this blood was instantly scorched away by the fire around him. Yet, Lin Ming didn’t seem to feel any of this.
“So this the Fire Concept of Burning Heat! This is a chance of fusing the power of fire and the power of space! I get it! I understand it now!”
Lin Ming took a deep breath, and roared out, “First world, break for me!”
With a resonant shout, the golden red phoenix behind him issued a clarion cry. As for the edges of the space, the world began deconstructing!
The sea of fire collapsed and space turned into a great vortex, swallowing all!
For a time, outside of the Celestial Shifting Mirror, Lin Ming’s body trembled. The flame mark between his eyebrows emitted a dazzling golden light even as blood leaked out from his eyes.
“This isn’t good! Nuyan Ming has overdrawn himself!
A martial artist from the Earth Corridor shouted out in surprise. The Celestial Shifting Mirror was an illusory magic array that shouldn’t have any dangers; it wasn’t like a killing array. Generally speaking, if a martial artist died within the Celestial Shifting Mirror, there still wouldn’t be any problems with their true body. It would only be that their consciousness that would be frightened a bit.
However, there were always exceptions. When a martial artist invested too much of his mind and surpassed their limits, it was possible that their spiritual sea could be damaged and they could fall to their obsessions.
Some lower realm martial artists wanted to forcefully pull Lin Ming back from the Celestial Shifting Mirror, but they were actually stopped by the red-robed Elder’s shout, “No one move!”
As soon as this voice fell, Lin Ming’s body shook and he was ejected out from the Celestial Shifting Mirror.
Lin Ming took a step back. His face was white as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He looked as if he had exhausted nearly everything he had.
“Brother Nuyan, are you alright!?” Yellowright Min shot forwards to help support Lin Ming. The other martial artists from the lower realms also took a half-step forwards to ask about his injuries.
“Brother Nuyan, have a mind calming pill.” A martial artist handed out a bottle of pills. If one persisted within the Celestial Shifting Mirror for too long, it was easy to wound one’s spiritual sea. Eating a mind calming pill would be helpful to restoring the spiritual sea.
“Brother Nuyan has done well. Although you just barely missed three quarter hours, your result is enough to be proud of.”
Lin Ming pushed away the bottle of mind calming pills and took a deep breath. He suppressed the restless blood tumbling within his body, and without even sparing a glance at Huo Wenlong, said to the red-robed Elder, “In this test, junior has gained some insights. I would like to immediately go close up in seclusion and meditate on them.”
“Good. Then go.” The red-robed Elder smiled and nodded, a satisfied expression on his face.
Lin Ming bid his farewell and instantly launched his movement technique to fly back to his own dimension as soon as possible. All of the martial artists left behind were bewildered.
Huo Ping curled his lips in disdain. He sneered, “What kind of insights? He’s probably afraid of being embarrassed, so he found an excuse to leave. He only had half an incense stick of time until he would have reached three quarter hours. Huo Wenlong will inevitably reach that time. If Nuyan Ming stayed behind he would have just lost face.”
Hearing these words, Yellowright Min was incensed. He coldly snorted, saying, “Huo Ping, what kind of garbage are you spouting. You only lasted in there for two quarter hours! You are also far short of reaching Brother Nuyan’s heights!”
“It’s true that I can’t match up to him, but I am not his match to begin with.” Huo Ping glanced at Huo Wenlong. However, just as he did this, he noticed something strange. At the area where Lin Ming had stood, where his right hand had touched the surface of the Celestial Shifting Mirror, there was actually a small web of cracks that clearly spread out. These cracks were repairing themselves at a very slow pace.
“The Celestial Shifting Mirror… how could it have cracked?”