Chapter 784 – The Crown Prince’s Invitation
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In the past few days, Lin Ming had come to understand what sort of person the Nine Furnace Crown Prince was.
His name was Yang Yun, and his martial talent was extraordinary. It seemed as if he had come across an immense fortuitous encounter when he was young, and had now broken through to Life Destruction at a mere 30 years of age.
Yang Yun was a character that wielded alarming power throughout the entire Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom. He wasn’t on a level that the likes of Li Yifeng could even compare to.
Although Li Yifeng was a Prince, there was a vast difference in their respective influence. Putting aside the disparity between the Seven Star Divine Kingdom’s strength and the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom’s strength, just Yang Yun and Li Yifeng’s respective status in their Divine Kingdoms alone was incomparable.
Li Yifeng could at best be considered a playboy, and had a natural disposition towards laziness and fun. His finances were all controlled, and he had even been punished with confinement before.
As for the Nine Furnace Crown Prince, he had at least five subordinates that were all Destiny Decree masters, and he himself was also ranked on the Destiny Decree. It was just that his ranking had been omitted from the Decree, and there hadn’t been any information dispatched about him for many years. The depths of his strength were a complete mystery to all.
Compared to Yang Yun, Li Yifeng was just a little baby that hadn’t grown up.
It was impossible for Lin Ming to be at ease when facing such a character. Yang Yun was nearly twice his age, and even the power of his subordinates wasn’t something Lin Ming could ever hope to contend with.
For the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom, Yang Yun represented the peak of strength outside of the Divine Sea powerhouses.
Despite the fact that Yang Yun had no enmity or grudge with Lin Ming, and that he shouldn’t even have a reason to harm Lin Ming to begin with, Lin Ming didn’t want to enter a place like the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom. That could truly be described as a dragon’s lake or a tiger’s cave; a truly dangerous zone!
Most of the Destiny Decree masters of the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom were subordinates of the Divine Kingdom. After all, the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom was not just a nation, but a quasi sixth-grade super Holy Land!
The Divine Kingdom’s three great Imperial Scholars, twelve Great Officials, and five Nine Furnace Guard Captains were all Destiny Decree ranked characters, and were also ranked extremely high on the Decree.
In addition to that, the Divine Kingdom had Emperor Uncles and High Princes that had lived for several thousand years and had gone into seclusion. These people were even more terrifying!
They had most likely entered into the Divine Sea. In a sense, the current Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom could compare with the Demon God Imperial Palace to a small degree. The Demon God Imperial Palace had once been a great sect that ruled the world, the most terrifying power in the entire Sky Spill Continent!
In front of these people, Lin Ming simply didn’t have any strength to resist. Once he entered the Divine Palace, he would be at their disposal.
Directly refusing Yang Yun wasn’t a good idea either, however, as it might anger him. This way, Lin Ming could only sidestep this invitation by saying he still hadn’t recovered from his wounds after his fight with Corpsemancer, and needed more time to recuperate.
This was a tactful method of rejection.
After Lin Ming passed out the message, he continued to train and practice alchemy.
Just yesterday, Xiaoxiao had delivered the dragonspine grass that she had promised, and two tufts of them at that.
She had also delivered a considerable amount of spirit essence stone and wood spirit jade to him.
This wasn’t all Xiaoxiao’s doing, but also the gifts that the Heavencraft Trading Company saved up to win over Lin Ming.
Within the entire Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom, including the three great trading companies, two great banks, and Hundred Treasure Auction House, the only business giant that had a Destiny Decree Master serving them was the Hundred Treasure Auction House.
This guest had also only lent his name, and wouldn’t act unless there was a great event occurring.
While this Destiny Decree master was ranked somewhere similar to Lin Ming, he was already over 1500 years old. He was far from comparing to Lin Ming’s potential.
If the Heavencraft Trading Company could be on good terms with Lin Ming, then the future returns would be inestimable.
Who knew what the future held? Perhaps Lin Ming might even break through to the Divine Sea realm. The Divine Sea realm! A Supreme Elder that could awe even an entire Divine Kingdom!
The top 100 ranked masters of the Destiny Decree were already characters that people couldn’t even look up to. Then, what sort of existence would a Divine Sea Supreme Elder be?
Even the Elders of the Heavencraft Trading Company were unable to imagine this.
If they could be on good terms, or even merely know of a Divine Sea Supreme Elder, that would make their family’s status skyrocket. The Heavencraft Trading Company was a great power that didn’t lack wealth; what they lacked was strength to take matters into their own hands. Underneath the absolute suppression of the Divine Kingdom, they were no different from defenseless pigs that were being raised up. They could be taken out of their pens and slaughtered at any time.
Now, because Xiaoxiao was on good terms with Lin Ming, her status in the family had advanced by leaps and bounds. With her two great uncles escaping from the family under the cover of night using the transmission array, there was no longer anyone that was able to threaten her position as Family head. The Council of Elders had already passed a resolution, and after another two months, an auspicious day would be chosen. Heavencraft Xiaoxiao would then complete the grand ceremony of family succession.
Recently, Lin Ming’s alchemical skills had also been constantly increasing. If he wished to refine the Fivefade Void Pill to open the third of the Eight Inner Hidden Gates, though, he was still far from being able to do so.
Lin Ming looked at the Cosmic Melting Furnace alchemy materials that were floating in front of him. There was the Five Color Fruit, Void Tempered Root, dragonspine grass, skyflower stones, as well as three jins of 200,000 year old wood spirit jade.
“This wood spirit jade quality is a bit too poor. If I had million year wood spirit jade, then my chances at successwould be much higher. Unfortunately, wood spirit jade that old is just too rare; even the Heavencraft Trading Company would have difficulty finding it.”
As Lin Ming was murmuring to himself, he suddenly felt a cold air rise up inside his chamber.
Killing intent?
Lin Ming’s mind went cold. His training chamber had protective array formations surrounding it. If one didn’t destroy the array formations, and only had their killing intent seep in, then that proved that this person’s killing intent was unimaginably condensed.
Lin Ming quickly put away the Cosmic Melting Furnace and opened the protective array formation, exiting the training chamber. As he stepped outside, he saw that just 200 feet away from him stood a passive, green masked man, whose ice cold mask gave off a heartlessly indifferent feeling.
“A wood spirit jade carved mask?”
Lin Ming’s mind stirred. With his understanding of wood spirit jade he immediately understood the use of this mask.
Wood spirit jade was able to isolate away all external perception. Because of this, a mask made of wood spirit jade was the most effective and simple method to hide one’s own appearance. Even if a Divine Sea Supreme Elder stood here, they still wouldn’t be able to identify who this person was. As for normal appearance changing techniques, they could only fool with people similar cultivations. Anyone with sharp enough eyes of high enough cultivation would instantly see through that type of disguise.
“I could borrow this method later.” If Lin Ming hadn’t seen this man in front of him, then he would never have thought wood spirit jade would also have this sort of function.
“You are….” As Lin Ming looked at this green masked man’s cultivation, he didn’t know just what sort of arcane ability this man practiced. Since his dantian had also been hidden in a deep fog; it was impossible to see through his cultivation.
But, just from the aura that emitted from his body, Lin Ming could feel his own heart reacting by beating faster. Without a doubt, this person was a master among masters.
He had come to Heavencraft Pavilion, but hadn’t disturbed the guards. That killing intent he released just now also didn’t have any malice behind it; this man had simply used this method to inform Lin Ming of his arrival.
Thus, Lin Ming was able to approximately guess just what sort of status this man had.
“I am the Nine Furnace Guard’s Chief Commander. You may refer to me as Fleeting Dragon.”
The Nine Furnace Guard Chief Commander was under the direct control of the Crown Prince. Lin Ming wasn’t surprised at all.
“When his Highness the Crown Prince invited Sir Lin for an audience, Sir Lin hadn’t yet recovered. Now, a month has passed and his Highness the Crown Prince has specifically sent me here to inquire into Sir Lin’s state and also send a miraculous healing pill. If Sir Lin’s wound is cured, then please follow me back for a visit to the Nine Furnace Divine Palace. If Sir Lin still isn’t feeling too well then I shall wait at Heavencraft Pavilion until Sir Lin’s wounds are healed.
As the Nine Furnace Guard Chief Command said these words, Lin Ming no longer had any reasonable argument he could use to refuse. He could only reluctantly agree.
He didn’t wish to involve himself in the high level battles of the four Divine Kingdoms. However, just seeing the Crown Prince might not be too bad either. For instance, the million year wood spirit jade he needed may be very difficult for the Heavencraft Trading Company to find; however, the Nine Furnace Divine Palace should definitely have it or find it.
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The Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom was divided into nine provinces. The Nine Furnace Divine Palace was located at the largest and busiest province – the Central Province.
The area of just the Central Province was larger than ten South Horizon Regions combined.
Around the Central Province, the other eight provinces surrounded it. As for the back of the Central Province, that area extended to the edge of the Sea of Miracles.
The Sea of Miracles was the greatest life forbidden zone of the entire Sky Spill Continent. The four Divine Kingdoms surrounded the Sea of Miracles in a giant circle. And, far behind these four Divine Kingdoms was the South Sea, Fog Sea, North Sea, and Crimson Sea. At the very center of everything was the Sea of Miracles. This made the Sky Spill Continent to look like the shape of an irregular donut.
The Sea of Miracles was also known as the Sea of No Return, and also the Ocean of Endless Storms. It was rumored that the entire sea was pitch black and covered with infinite lightning storms. To enter was to walk into certain death. Even a Divine Sea Supreme Elder was no exception.
As for the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom’s Divine Palace, that was only 10,000 miles from the shores of the Sea of Miracles.
As Lin Ming arrived at the foot of the Nine Furnace Divine Palace, he looked up to see a 100,000 foot high snow-capped mountain rage. The Nine Furnace Divine Palace was actually established above these mountains.
This wasn’t strange at all, as most sects were built above mountains or spiritual islands. This was because these types of places often had extremely high quality spirit veins.
The Nine Furnace Divine Palace was also the same.
Just by arriving at the base of the mountains, Lin Ming could feel a rich heaven and origin energy rushing over him like a never ending tide, submerging him within. With every breath he took, he could feel all traces of this energy seep into his own dantian, subtly raising his cultivation.
If just standing at the base of these mountains had such an effect, then the origin energy density at the summit could be imagined.
This was also the reason that so many Destiny Decree masters were willing to join the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom. If they could close up and train in the Nine Furnace Divine Palace, then that would be far better than any other place they could go to.
“These are sixth grade spirit veins, or maybe even higher…”
Lin Ming had never seen a higher spirit vein before, and was thus unable to estimate the level of this land’s spirit veins.
Beside Lin Ming, even the normally silent Fleeting Dragon revealed a trace of pride in his eyes as he saw the Nine Furnace Divine Palace.
He said, “This mountain is named the Nine Furnace Divine Mountain and the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom’s name originates from this mountain. The founding ancestor of the Nine Furnace Sect established his sect on the Nine Furnace Divine Mountain. A it grew from there, it finally becoming the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom. The Nine Furnace Divine Mountain came first, and the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom followed after.
“Sir Lin, Miss Heavencraft, please follow me up the mountain!”
When the Crown Prince invited Lin Ming, he had also conveniently invited Xiaoxiao. This caused Xiaoxiao to be terrified. Just what sort of legendary existence was the Nine Furnace Crown prince? She had no idea why someone like the Crown Prince would invite her. Was it just to accompany Lin Lanjian here?