Chapter 831 – Battle
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“You really have no concept of death or danger! Do you really think you are invincible as long as you can cross Life Destruction? How ridiculous!” The one who spoke was Situ Haotian’s elder disciple – Situ Bai.
Situ Bai was not a genuine martial artist of the Situ Family Clan, but was a top talent adopted as a child and bestowed the last name Situ while also being received as Situ Haotian’s elder disciple. His Destiny Decree ranking was even higher than the Great Demon Envoy’s.
“I don’t need anyone else. After you reach Life Destruction, I, Situ Bai, will be more than enough to handle you!”
“Good. Then I’ll wait for you.” Lin Ming fervently said.
“Brother Hao, don’t be so hasty!” The Great Demon Envoy hurriedly said with a true essence sound transmission. Situ Bai didn’t understand Lin Ming, but the Great Demon Envoy did. He had suffered a great loss under Lin Ming and was well aware of the fate of those that underestimated him.
Situ Bai wanted to speak further, but at this time Situ Haotian coldly shouted, “Step back!”
“Master…”
“I said step back!”
“Yes…” Even if Situ Bai appeared unwilling to accept this, he could only withdraw.
Situ Haotian stepped forwards, his eyes shining as he stared at Lin Ming. “You want to challenge all of the Life Destruction powerhouses of my Asura Divine Kingdom by yourself?”
“Yes!” Lin Ming decisively replied as he faced Situ Haotian’s pressure.
“Little Brother Lin, you…” Shibai was bewildered. Lin Ming was simply too wild in his actions. How could a first stage Life Destruction martial artist challenge all of the Destiny Decree masters that were under the Asura Divine Kingdom?
Lin Ming took a deep breath. He said with a true essence sound transmission, “Patriarch Shibai, I thank you for all that you’ve done for me, but I cannot allow the Forsaken God Clan to withstand all of the enmity aimed at me. The consequences are too serious!”
As Shibai recognized the strong sense of conviction in Lin Ming’s voice, he said, “Do you really believe in yourself? Do you understand the top masters of the Asura Divine Kingdom?”
“I only understand a small part.” Lin Ming truthfully said. He had naturally looked over and remembered the Destiny Decree himself and understood the Life Destruction powerhouses on there that were subordinate to the Asura Divine Kingdom. But, the Destiny Decree was by no means an omniscient list. Lin Ming was sure that there were some Destiny Decree level masters that were hidden away deep within the Asura Divine Kingdom that no one was aware of.
To make this crazy promise, Lin Ming also had to take an enormous risk!
But he had to do so. In this swords drawn atmosphere, if Situ Haotian was pressured, how could Lin Ming not be pressured?
This was a gamble he made with his life on the line. The sword was already drawn but no one was willing to make concessions. If all this resulted in a stalemate, then the likely end of this would be… total war!
This was a war between two superpowers. Once they fought there would inevitably be a great loss of life as rivers of blood flowed through the land. Neither Situ Haotian, Shibai, nor Lin Ming could afford such a loss.
Taking a step back, they could avoid a total war that Divine Sea powerhouses would participate in, and instead limit it to the stage of Life Destruction level martial artists. This was a solution built from compromise.
Situ Haotian held his hands behind himself. His eyes narrowed a bit, but his vision seemed even sharper than before, as if he could see through Lin Ming!
He didn’t immediately agree to this challenge, nor did he refuse it. In his mind, he was rapidly analyzing just how strong Lin Ming was.
A hundred days ago, Lin Ming had been evaluated at rank 280 on the Destiny Decree. At the time, Lin Ming’s cultivation was at the peak of the late Revolving Core realm. Now, his cultivation hadn’t risen, so it was impossible for him to have made a substantial breakthrough in his strength.
Even if he was a heaven-gifted talent and had also obtained a number of hidden cards in these last 100 days, his strength still shouldn’t surpass rank 250-260 on the Destiny Decree. This in itself was already an extremely high evaluation.
A ranked 250-260 Destiny Decree master wasn’t much at all. The Destiny Decree had several great levels within its rankings. 200, 100, 50, 30, 10, all of these were completely different stages. Even if Lin Ming were to cross the great boundary of Life Destruction and his strength were to soar astronomically, he still shouldn’t rise too much.
However… Lin Ming was a monster amongst monstrous talents. He was not someone that could be judged by common sense.
The truth was that it wasn’t just Situ Haotian that couldn’t estimate Lin Ming’s strength, but even Lin Ming couldn’t understand his own strength. Demonshine also hadn’t been able to give any worthwhile advice. After all, a dual body and law cultivator like Lin Ming was extremely rare to begin with. If he were to use the power of thunder to cross Life Destruction, then in addition to his battle spirit, Heretical God Force, and all sorts of skills that were unique and great even in the Realm of the Gods, all of these factors made it so that his power levels were thrown into confusion. To estimate Lin Ming’s strength after Life Destruction and arrange him on the Destiny Decree, this was simply an impossible matter.
Moreover, Lin Ming didn’t know whether or not the Asura Divine Kingdom had any hidden super masters.
This fight was truly a gamble!
“You want to use this battle to resolve the war that could erupt between two Holy Lands?” Situ Haotian said with a coldly indifferent tone.
“That’s right! How about it? Is such a great Divine Kingdom actually unable to fight a young junior like myself?” Lin Ming was tranquil as he faced Situ Haotian’s dreadful aura.
And in this calm, Situ Haotian was able to sense the mockery behind Lin Ming’s words. This was simply despising him, and despising his Asura Divine Kingdom!
At the age of the Asura Divine Emperor, it was naturally impossible for him to be goaded into action by words. But currently, he had to admit that Lin Ming’s proposal was truly a well thought out compromise. Otherwise, even if he did stir up the other great Divine Kingdoms to join forces and attack the Forsaken God Clan with him, these so-called ‘allies’ would still demand a sky high price for showing up. Added to all the losses they would suffer in the war, the gains just weren’t worth the losses.
As the Asura Divine Emperor thought of this, he brought his hands in front of him. A faintly chilling killing intent exuded from his body. “Is this a life or death battle?”
These words meant that Situ Haotian had already agreed to this battle.
“Yes! Those martial artists that can enter the stage are limited to the Life Destruction martial artists of your Asura Divine Kingdom!”
“Good. Then it shall be as you say!” The Asura Divine Emperor agreed. Although this type of revolving battle of attrition wasn’t honorable, he wouldn’t send out invitations for heroes to challenge Lin Ming.
This battle concerned the national destiny of the entire Asura Divine Kingdom! Winning meant to recover the complete inheritance of the Demon Emperor. Losing meant that they would help establish a great enemy with limitless potential for the Asura Divine Kingdom. The difference in these results was massive!
Lin Ming took a deep breath and clenched his fists, his eyes shining as he stared at the Asura Divine Emperor. He had really agreed!
Lin Ming didn’t know whether he could win or what his true strength would be like after crossing Life Destruction. This gamble was filled with unknown risks. Even so, Lin Ming could feel his blood boiling over with fighting spirit, seething with excitement. He wanted this battle! He wanted a battle where he could slaughter his enemies and see their warm blood hit the floor!
Agreeing to this sort of gamble was mainly to reduce the pressure on the Forsaken God Clan. But at the same time, it was also because he wanted to use this pressure to force himself past his limits!
Lin Ming looked at the Asura Divine Emperor and said, “Since this is a life or death battle… my chips are all the inheritances on my body as well as the Demon Emperor Armor. And what about you? What stake are you placing in this bet?”
This was originally an unfair battle to begin with. Lin Ming would face countless enemies alone and losing meant he would be at the Asura Divine Kingdom’s mercy. But even if he won, there wouldn’t be any benefits for him. Lin Ming naturally wouldn’t agree to this sort of matter.
“What do you want?”
The Asura Divine Emperor wasn’t surprised. His tone of voice became increasingly calm, making others unable to guess just what he was thinking at this time.
Lin Ming pondered for a moment. He first thought of the Demon God Heartguard Mirror. As long as he could obtain it then he could complete the Demon Emperor Armor. It would become a treasure that was in no way inferior to the Cosmic Melting Furnace.
However, Lin Ming quickly decided against this.
The complete Demon Emperor Armor wouldn’t increase Lin Ming’s strength too much. It was only armor after all; it wouldn’t be good for him to rely on it too much. If so, then it would be better for him to demand heavenly materials that could increase his cultivation.
Moreover, the most important point was that the Demon God Heartguard Mirror was the honor and pride of the Asura Divine Kingdom. If was the symbol that they were the true successors to the Demon Emperor’s legacy. If the Asura Divine Kingdom were to lose such a thing, then they would become the absolute laughing stock of the entire martial world.
The Asura Divine Kingdom had announced that Lin Lanjian’s ancestors had stolen their inheritance along with the Demon Emperor Armor, causing a massive manhunt to capture him. And, if the result was that not only did they not recapture their inheritance, but they even lost the Demon God Heartguard Mirror, then wouldn’t they become the biggest joke in the world?
At that time, the Asura Divine Emperor might go mad with rage and disregard all shame to abandon his promise in front of everyone, instead choosing to suffer the losses and wage war with the Forsaken God Clan. This would not be a good result.
As Lin Ming thought of this, he came to a decision. He recorded everything he wanted onto a jade slip.
“10 jin of million year wood spirit jade, 10,000 Year Peach Pith, Dawnmist Flower, Frostfly Stone, Aldertree Spirit Water…”
Lin Ming recorded down 15 different types of materials. These past years, Lin Ming had been thoroughly studying alchemy in detail as well as researching the native plants of the Sky Spill Continent. All of these materials he listed could be found on the Sky Spill Continent but were extremely rare and precious.
With these materials he would be able to refine two miracle pills.
The first pill was a Bluedrop Heartmelting Pill. It would greatly reduce the time it would take to go from the first stage of Life Destruction to the second stage of Life Destruction.
The second pill was a Violet Electricity Heaven Ice Pill. It would be helpful in opening the fourth of the Eight Inner Hidden Gates. As for completely opening the fourth of the Eight Inner Hidden Gates, it was still lacking some. The body transformation path was simply far too costly in terms of resources. Even in the Realm of the Gods, wishing to collect all of the necessary materials was neither cheap nor easy.
Shua!
A white light flashed and the jade slip flew into the Asura Divine Emperor’s hand.
As the Asura Divine Emperor looked over the items Lin Ming wanted, he nearly crushed the jade slip in his hands!
He thought that Lin Ming would want the Demon God Heartguard Mirror, but he never expected that Lin Ming would choose heavenly materials instead. These things were more precious than the last! If all of them were added together, it would require seven to eight million spirit essence stones!
Moreover, many of these materials couldn’t be bought. Searching for them would also consume a massive amount of resources. The total value might be no less than 10 million spirit essence stones!
This Lin Ming was simply a greedy lion opening his jaws wide!
But in all fairness, if this were compared to losing the Demon God Heartguard Mirror, he would rather choose Lin Ming’s demand instead. He looked at Lin Ming and grit his teeth, “You are quite smart. You know to avoid touching this Emperor’s reverse scale while aiming for the greatest benefit for yourself. Good! I agree then!”
As Situ Haotian finished speaking, he suddenly turned to leave. The other martial artists of the Asura Divine Kingdom hurried to keep up with him. In this tense atmosphere, all of them were aware of just how on the edge Situ Haotian was.
With his strength and power, today he had actually been forced by the Forsaken God Clan and a mere late Revolving Core boy to agree to a battle that he didn’t want to agree to. Everyone could imagine just how volatile his mood was at this time!
As he was walking out of the Forsaken God Clan’s Realmheart Great Hall, Situ Haotian suddenly stopped. He swiveled around and coldly looked at everyone behind him.
“All of you are required to participate in this battle. Victory means endless rewards! Defeat means death!”