Chapter 830 – However Many Come, I’ll Take That Many
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There wasn’t even a table in the hall anymore. Nearly all of the martial artists stood up at once. The young martial artists of the Asura Divine Kingdom stared at Lin Ming, their throats twitching. Even the Great Demon Envoy and Situ Haotian’s great disciple had strange expressions on their faces. This Lin Ming was simply too freakish. A late Revolving Core realm martial artist had actually been able to withstand the might of a Divine Emperor!
The truth was they didn’t know that Situ Bonan’s battle spirit projection had been destroyed by Lin Ming. Situ Bonan definitely wouldn’t make such a disgraceful and embarrassing matter public to the juniors. If they had known about this then they certainly wouldn’t be surprised by what just happened now.
“Patriarch Shibai, do you really want to?” Situ Haotian stood up and Situ Yaoxi followed after.
At this time, the masked old man sitting in the corner also stood up. As he rose to his feet, countless vague and indistinct array symbols began to fill the entire great hall. A vast and potent energy exuded from these array symbols, as if the entire great hall had come alive.
This was a sign that the Realmheart array formation would soon activate!
Situ Haotian was normally assertive and dominant in his actions, but even he knew that fighting now was the worst decision to make. He and Situ Yaoxi wouldn’t have any problems; at most they would lose some blood and energy. But as for the juniors behind him, the High Successors, the Princes, as well as his elder disciple, Great Demon Envoy, and two Imperial Scholars, all of them would die here. This was not a loss that the Asura Divine Kingdom was able to afford.
Before now, Situ Haotian never imagined such a situation to be possible, otherwise he wouldn’t have led these juniors here.
“Shibai, do you really plan on waging war with my Asura Divine Kingdom over Lin Lanjian?” Situ Haotian spoke with a true essence sound transmission. “To the best of my knowledge, he isn’t a member of your Forsaken God Clan. Do you even know the price of starting a war?”
“Of course I do.” Shibai calmly replied, as if the Forsaken God Clan didn’t care whatsoever.
“Hand over Lin Lanjian to me and my Asura Divine Kingdom will promise you one million spirit essence stones as well as two 10,000 Year Peach Piths!”
A 10,000 Year Peach Pith was a life extending heavenly treasure even more valuable than the Life Bestowing Heaven Pill. The Life Bestowing Heaven Pill was only useful for Life Destruction powerhouses, but the 10,000 Year Peach Pith was actually effective for Divine Sea powerhouses. This was the greatest heavenly treasure the Asura Divine Kingdom could provide that would move the hearts of Divine Sea powerhouses.
However, Situ Haotian never thought that Shibai would only faintly smile and say, “I’m sorry, but because of the bloodline curse within my Forsaken God Clan, it’s already enough to burn some expensive incense if we can manage to live out our natural lifespans. Thus, a 10,000 Year Peach Pith is useless to us…”
“Then what do you want?” Situ Haotian demanded, his complexion growing ugly.
Shibai pondered it for a moment. He said, “If you willingly hand me the throne of the Asura Divine Kingdom as well as one or two dozen million spirit essence stones, I think I may be able to consider it.”
“You are courting death!”
“Do you want to fight?” Shibai said without fear.
“You!!”
Situ Haotian raged with anger. This entire time he had been under the assumption that the Forsaken God Clan would never dare to wage war with the Asura Divine Kingdom. If blood were truly to be spilled, then while the Asura Divine Kingdom was able to wipe out the Forsaken God Clan, the price they would have to pay for this was far too great.
This dimensional realm was covered with layers upon layers of array formations and was also easily defensible. If they wished to attack it then they would probably need to pay twice the price.
To lose four or five Divine Sea powerhouses in exchange for annihilating the Forsaken God Clan, that simply wasn’t worth it.
The Asura Divine Kingdom’s national strength was far from being comparable with the Sublime Smelting Divine Kingdom and the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom. If they lost half of their strength, then the Asura Divine Kingdom’s position in the world would become much less steady. After all, there was a massive amount of resources held within their borders.
They had a valuable dimensional realm, wood spirit jade, and all sorts of ores and treasures. Although their resources were inferior to the Sublime Smelting Divine Kingdom and the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom’s, they still had rare heavenly materials like the 10,000 Year Peach Pith. It would be impossible to defend such abundant resources over such a broad territory if they couldn’t steady themselves with a position of absolute strength.
“Shibai, I cannot understand why you would form such hatred with my Asura Divine Kingdom for a mere outsider!” Situ Haotian’s tone softened a bit. Still, letting Lin Ming go here was impossible.
“Haha, this is because I very much appreciate Little Brother Lin’s talent here. I want to help train him – isn’t that reason enough?” Shibai didn’t mention the matters concerning Emperor Argent. Otherwise, if the Argent White Sword were added onto all the other secrets on Lin Ming’s body, then that really would cause several great powers to join forces and attack the Forsaken God Clan. Even with the Forsaken God Clan’s background, they absolutely would not be able to withstand that.
However, just the sole reason of appreciating Lin Ming’s talent wasn’t a lie either. Shibai truly did see the potential within Lin Ming. If he could help in raising such a powerhouse then it would be of unimaginable benefit to the Forsaken God Clan.
The tense atmosphere in the hall had reached a deadlock. Neither side wished to start a fight but Situ Haotian couldn’t give up here either.
“Haotian, we cannot allow this little beast to freely grow here. This little beast is cunning. If he could kill our Asura Divine Kingdom’s Imperial Scholar as well as three Demon Envoys, then just what would happen if he reached Life Destruction!”
Situ Yaoxi reminded as she saw Situ Haotian begin to retreat. Indeed, disregarding the secrets and treasures that Lin Ming possessed, just the potential that he carried within him was enough for the Asura Divine Kingdom to come after him. If they didn’t grasp the chance to destroy him before he grew, then there would be no end to their troubles in the future.
“You keep on saying that I am guilty of killing that old woman called Bi Ruyu, but if it wasn’t for them chasing me down, why would I have killed them? Moreover, the third and fourth Demon Envoy both died in the 8000 Mile Black Swamp – their deaths had nothing to do with me. As for Bi Ruyu and the second Demon Envoy, I directly killed them myself, so how could you say I schemed to bring about their deaths.”
“Hahahaha! Just by yourself, you think you could manage to kill the Imperial Scholar and second Demon Envoy without any traps? Don’t make me laugh!”
The one who spoke was the Imperial Scholar that looked like a little boy. He had chased after Lin Ming with Bi Ruyu. His lips were red and his teeth were white. With his little red clothes and the pigtails hanging down his face, he simply looked like a seven or eight year old child.
Demonic path martial artists usually studied peculiar cultivation methods, and there were some like Bi Ruyu, this red-clothed little boy, or Corpsemancer that would have their bodies be influenced by them. They might look too old, too young, or even inhuman.
“You little beast, if you have the guts then come and fight me in a fair match. My Destiny Decree ranking is similar to Imperial Scholar Bi Ruyu’s. If you can block 10 of my moves without running then I’ll believe you!”
The red-clothed little boy’s words were full of provocation. As he saw that the current situation wasn’t too good, he decided to stir up Lin Ming and challenge him in a fair match. That way, even Shibai couldn’t meddle.
He was well aware that Lin Ming’s strength was at most ranked 250-280th on the Destiny Decree. Let alone 10 moves, he probably wouldn’t even be able to fend off three moves.
Lin Ming looked at this red-clothed little boy and disregarded his words. Instead, he smiled and said, “Cute little child, what is your name?”
“You!!”
The red-clothed little boy glared at Lin Ming. He had fallen into depravity while cultivating his Samsara Devil Arts, and the more he practiced it the younger his appearance became. Now, he had come to look like this. Once he had consumed a bit of his cultivation to reverse his appearance, but it wasn’t even a few dozen years before he reverted again. Now, he could only remain like this. What he loathed the most was others mocking his appearance.
Shibai laughed out loud, “Little Brother Lin, you joke too much! This little red-dressed chubby child is already over 1500 years old.”
As Shibai said the words ‘little red-dressed chubby child’, the red-clothed little boy’s expression turned blue. He didn’t dare to mock someone like Shibai. Instead, he could only ruthlessly glare at Lin Ming and grit his teeth, saying, “Lin Lanjian! Do you dare to fight with me!? I’ll consider you as having won if you can receive 10 of my moves!”
“Fight with you? Don’t you think you’re being a bit too shameless here? You’re already over 1500 years old and your cultivation is at the sixth stage of Life Destruction. Compared to you, my age isn’t even considered chump change. And yet you actually want to challenge me to a match? You really are turning more and more into a child! If you have the ability, suppress your boundary to the Revolving Core realm and then fight with me. I will accompany you! If you can receive even a single one of my moves then I’ll consider you as having won.”
Lin Ming was simply disinclined to bother about him. During his battle with Bi Ruyu, he had won, but that was against a severely wounded Bi Ruyu who was at the end of her tether, and he had even borrowed the support of the golden red lightning in order to do so, using the element of surprise to barely overcome her.
That was how things were. Lin Ming had even been grievously wounded himself to the point of vomiting blood and his organs being damaged. Luckily, he had a tenacious life force, his body was as tough as a high-grade heaven-step treasure, and he even had the Demon Emperor Armor protecting him. If he were to fight with this red-clothed little boy, forget about blocking 10 moves, he wouldn’t even be able to escape. A top 50 ranked Destiny Decree master wasn’t a joke.
“Cultivation is also a part of strength. Why should I suppress my boundary?” The red-clothed little boy said.
Suppressing his boundary to fight with Lin Ming? Ridiculous! Lin Ming was a monstrous talent that had used his late Revolving Core cultivation to enter the top 300 ranks of the Destiny Decree. Let alone suppressing everyone within the Revolving Core realm, he could even suppress all second and third stage Life Destruction masters. To fight him with a Revolving Core cultivation was simply suicide. The red-clothed little boy certainly wouldn’t do something so stupid.
Lin Ming said, “Since you don’t want to suppress your boundary, then wait for me to break into Life Destruction and we’ll fight again. When that time comes, all of your Asura Divine Kingdom’s Life Destruction martial artists can come. No matter what their boundary or ranking is, however many come, I’ll take that many!”
“What!?”
Lin Ming’s words shocked everyone around him. No matter what boundary or ranking they were, however many came, he would take that many!
In particular the Asura Divine Kingdom’s two Imperial Scholars, Great Demon Envoy, and even Situ Haotian’s elder disciple. All of them were sixth stage Life Destruction martial artists! That was the rank that Lin Ming was speaking of with utter disdain!
This was just too contemptuous!
“You said that as long as they are my Asura Divine Kingdom’s Life Destruction powerhouses, no matter what their cultivation is, they can challenge you? No matter what their Destiny Decree ranking is or how many martial artists challenge you, or even if they engage you in a continuous battle!?” Situ Haotian’s elder disciple suddenly stepped forwards, his eyes blazing as he stared at Lin Ming.
“Yes!” Lin Ming frankly said, completely fearless.
It appeared that he had made this promise impulsively, but he didn’t have another choice. He could see that even though Shibai was strong, the truth was that he was under considerable pressure!
The Asura Divine Kingdom would never let him go. He was already far too dangerous a threat to them. If they were to release him, they would have no end of troubles in the future.
If they really fought to the end then the Asura Divine Kingdom would use all sorts of methods. They might offer a sky high reward or even make up a rumor that he had some sort of heaven-shaking secret on him, and use these methods to find several allies before finally attacking the Forsaken God Clan together. The Forsaken God Clan was hidden away in their secluded world all year round; they had no allies and could only fight by themselves.
Lin Ming didn’t have much help on his side either. He didn’t expect a playboy Prince like Li Yifeng to be able to convince the Seven Star Divine Kingdom to fight by his side.
If this continued then the Forsaken God Clan would be ruined because of him. Lin Ming didn’t wish to see this happen. Thus, he could only shift the pressure and give the Asura Divine Kingdom a direction to aim for him instead of acting out of desperation. This would also give him a buffer of time.