Chapter 843 – Finger as Spear
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As Situ Chuan spoke, all of the present martial artists then remembered the impending battle between Lin Ming and all the Life Destruction martial artists of the Asura Divine Kingdom. Because of the shock that came from seeing all the worldly phenomena that occurred when Lin Ming crossed Life Destruction, they had nearly forgotten about this event.
They originally thought that Lin Ming would absolutely lose this battle. But now, they began to think it was worth watching. After crossing Life Destruction, just what level did Lin Ming’s true combat strength reach?
While all sorts of wonderful miracles had occurred around him, the disparity of cultivation still couldn’t be made up. Compared to the powerhouses of the Asura Divine Kingdom, there were at least five small boundaries separating them.
“I wonder how Situ Luosha is compared to Lin Ming?”
“I have no idea. Situ Luosha is rank 12 on the Destiny Decree, but that is only an estimation. After all, Situ Luosha hasn’t publicly fought in the last 10 years; no one knows just how strong he has become in that time. While Lin Lanjian’s talent is extraordinary and all sorts of phenomena occurred during his Life Destruction process, his true combat strength is still unknown. I can’t say just how the battle between them will play out.”
Phenomena did not represent absolute strength; it only indicated that Lin Ming’s strength was not ordinary. As to what degree his true potential had reached, no one was able to guess.
Situ Luosha was also the same. The top 20 ranked martial artists of the Destiny Decree were mystical existences to begin with. They rarely fought, and even if they did it wasn’t an event that ordinary martial artists would ever have a chance to see.
To a martial artist, a battle between top masters was a rousing and blood boiling event, much less this one was already filled with unbelievable suspense. Both of their strengths were unknown. On one side was the number one eternally rare talent of the Sky Spill Continent, and the other was also a peak Emperor level talent. The results were simply unpredictable!
Without a doubt, this battle would truly become a grand event in the Sky Spill Content’s central region!
Lin Ming faintly smiled at Situ Chuan, “Now that you speak of it, I remember now. I’m already at the peak of the first stage of Life Destruction. In order to break through to the second stage of Life Destruction I’ll need some more medicines and materials for support. With my own meager savings, it’s not something I can afford. This bet with the Asura Divine Kingdom came just in time. I’ll have you pay for all the medicines I’ll need.”
After reaching the first stage of Life Destruction, the mortal body had already transformed into a spirit body. Although his body hadn’t become much tougher, his cells had become more dense. When he crossed the second stage of Life Destruction he would need to decompose his body even more thoroughly than the first time.
And to Lin Ming, whose mortal body was as tough as a heaven-step treasure, all common sense indicated that the difficulty of crossing Life Destruction the second time would be far more difficult, that it should require even rarer medicines.
But this actually wasn’t true. Because after crossing the first stage of Life Destruction, the entire body was reformed from energy and could store true essence.
When crossing Life Destruction the first time, the dantian was the center used to detonate true essence and disintegrate the body. This was just like using an explosive bullet to break apart a solid boulder. It would be impossible to break that boulder unless the energy of that bullet exceeded imagination.
But the second stage of Life Destruction was different. This was because a martial artist could use all the true essence stored throughout their body as the foundation for detonating the energy. It was equal to using dozens or hundreds of explosive bullets to break apart a boulder. Wanting to shatter that boulder to fragments would be much easier.
So, while a dual body and law martial artist would find it incredibly difficult to enter Life Destruction from Revolving Core, the following stages of Life Destruction were only slightly more difficult than an essence gathering system martial artist’s process. This wasn’t strange at all. Otherwise, if a dual body and law martial artist found it increasingly difficult to cross Life Destruction every time, then the medicines they would need would reach such an exaggerated point that even the largest sects within the Realm of the Gods would vomit to death in disgust. There simply wouldn’t be any martial artists that dual cultivated in body and law.
Situ Chuan heard Lin Ming still recalling the bet and immediately laughed, “You are already at the edge of death and yet you’re still thinking of a bet for medicine! What an idiot!”
Lin Ming glanced at the overly animated Situ Chuan. He was originally too lazy to bother with his nonsense, but that didn’t mean he would let someone else freely step on his face. “You’re called Situ Chuan, right? You’re quite the arrogant one. When the time comes, do you dare to follow me onstage and exchange a few moves?”
Lin Ming’s few words caught in Situ Chuan’s throat. Going onstage and fighting Lin Ming? Wasn’t that the same as suicide? He wasn’t even a match for Lin Ming before he crossed Life Destruction, much less at this time.
“Too scared?” Lin Ming laughed. “If you go onstage, I won’t even use my true essence. I’ll just use my finger to make a single move. If you can block it then you can consider yourself as having won.”
“What!?” Situ Chuan raged with anger. In front of so many people he was actually being looked down upon. To use only a finger and make only a single move. And most importantly… he wouldn’t use true essence!
If a martial artist didn’t use true essence, the power of their attack would be far too limited. This was because true essence was the fundamental basis for a martial artist’s attacks. The reason that a Revolving Core martial artist’s strength experienced a qualitative leap upwards once they reached the Life Destruction realm was because their body would become a spirit body and true essence would no longer be restricted to their dantian and meridians. This meant that their total amount of true essence would increase by several times. Naturally, the power of all their attacks would greatly improve, and even their endurance would be enhanced.
Lin Ming not using true essence was the same as him not using the superiority of a Life Destruction martial artist. In other words, if Lin Ming placed this restriction on himself, that was basically the same as him not having broken through to Life Destruction.
In front of so many heroes of the world, if Situ Chuan couldn’t even win in this situation then how could he still have any face to stay in the Sky Spill Continent’s central region?
“Your bullying has gone too far! Do you really think you’re invincible in the world? Alright then, I will block your finger!!”
Although Situ Chuan was arrogant and rude, he wasn’t a fool who was swayed by his emotions. He agreed to the rules Lin Ming had set just now; he didn’t think he could withstand any stronger attack from Lin Ming.
At this moment, a cold voice suddenly sounded out in Situ Chuan’s ears, “You are far too immature! Do you want to die!?”
This voice was a true essence sound transmission. As it reached Situ Chuan, it rang in his ears like a thunderclap, causing him to shiver throughout his body and mind. The one who spoke was his father, the Asura Divine Emperor Situ Haotian!
Situ Haotian had agreed with Lin Ming that this would be a life or death struggle; one could freely kill their opponent. If Lin Ming killed Situ Chuan then he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it!
The Asura Divine Emperor had countless sons and daughters. Those children of his with ordinary talent could die however they wanted and the Asura Divine Emperor wouldn’t feel anything at all. But Situ Chuan was an extremely talented son of his. The reason he was weak right now was because he was simply too young. As long as he could live through a few dozen more years, then with Situ Chuan’s talent there was absolutely no problem for him to reach the sixth stage of Life Destruction. At that time he might even reach the top 30 ranks of the Destiny Decree. Before a hundred years of age, he even had a faint hope of attacking the Divine Sea. The Asura Divine Emperor certainly didn’t want to see such a talented son perish here.
After being scolded by his father, Situ Chuan looked a bit afraid. “Father, he has gone too far! Moreover, how can I not even keep off a single finger of his without true essence? If I cower and back down today then how will I walk with my head held high in the future?”
The surrounding tens of thousands of martial artists stared at Situ Chuan, some of them with gloating expressions. Even if Situ Chuan could rid himself of this potential heart demon and reach the Divine Sea, this shame would still be remembered by everyone here today. It would never be erased.
Situ Haotian was deep in thought for a moment. He believed that if Lin Ming dared to say this then he would have the confidence to win. But, he didn’t think that Lin Ming could use just a finger to kill his son.
He swiped his spatial ring, and with a flick of his finger, a black light submerged into Situ Chuan’s body.
“Mm? This is…” Situ Chuan traced his chest. He could feel a layer of solid protective energy there. “Demon God Heartguard Mirror?”
This was one of the Asura Divine Kingdom’s holy relics, a defensive quasi-Saint artifact. The Demon God Heartguard Mirror was always held in Situ Haotian’s hands and now he was using it to protect Situ Chuan. Situ Haotian believed that with this, Situ Chuan should be able to block Lin Ming’s attack.
With the Demon God Heartguard Mirror, Situ Chuan became much more confident in himself. He urged his protective true essence to the limit. With the support of the Demon God Heartguard Mirror, his protective true essence contained a hint of a darkness-attribute, as if it would swallow all!
Situ Chuan looked at Lin Ming, grinning diabolically as he said, “Lin Lanjian, let’s exchange moves here, we don’t have to wait for the battle two months from now! I want to see just what you can do to me!”
‘Demon God Heartguard Mirror… so it’s the Concept of Darkness.’ Lin Ming looked at the true essence barrier. On the barrier, faint black patterned lines flowed across. Although the Demon God Heartguard Mirror only accounted for a small part of the Demon Emperor Armor, it was actually the core of the Demon Emperor Armor. Its value was higher than every other part of the Demon Emperor Armor!
The barrier of true essence contained the Laws of Darkness. In order to activate the Demon God Heartguard Mirror and display its true and complete strength, one needed to understand the Darkness Laws. Otherwise, one wouldn’t even be able to use one-tenth of its power.
With Situ Chuan’s current level, he was obviously unable to display the use of these black patterns.
Lin Ming stretched out his right index finger. He didn’t use any true essence, but his index finger burst out with a brilliantly glowing silver light.
“Mm? He’s not using true essence right? So how come there’s light shooting out?” A nearby low level martial artist asked, puzzled.
“That is a battle spirit, a silver level battle spirit. It isn’t true essence…” A sect Elder near that young martial artist said with a sigh. A silver battle spirit belonged in the domain of legends. He never thought that it would ever appear in his lifetime, much less with a mere first stage Life Destruction martial artist.
The silver light gradually condensed until a silver long spear appeared out of thin air. After a battle spirit stepped into the silver level, it no longer needed to be attached to objects. One could directly manifest it into reality to attack someone.
Lin Ming also wanted to know just what degree of striking power his battle spirit had obtained.
‘The Demon God Heartguard Mirror is something that I will take sooner or later, once I have enough strength!’ As Lin Ming thought this, he used his finger as a spear and pointed it out.
Situ Chuan tightly gripped his fists as he faced Lin Ming’s attack. He revolved his true essence to the limit.
Woosh!
The dazzling silver light flashed. The swift, sharp, and incomparably fierce spear potential made it hard to watch this with wide eyes. Without any true essence and by just depending on a battle spirit, this attack was just like a sharp spear. Even though this strike wasn’t aimed at any of the other martial artists present, they still felt as if a spear was being pointed at their foreheads.
As for Situ Chuan, who bore the brunt of this attack, in this instant he felt a deep regret as if 10,000 arrows had pierced his heart. He was overcome by sorrow. Facing this tyrannical will, his martial arts will seemed to tremble. All of his original confidence and momentum suddenly crumbled. He was unable to control the Darkness Laws to begin with, and now faults began to appear even in the true essence that he was pouring into the Demon God Heartguard Mirror.
This was absolute suppression originating from a martial arts will. It was no longer just a difference in striking power.
Peng!
The Demon God Heartguard Mirror’s barrier trembled. The silver light slowed for a moment and then ran through Situ Chuan’s body!
Situ Chuan gave a stuffy cough and flew backwards.