Martial World

An ordinary person would be frozen in fear as if they were locked down by chains if they saw a tiger with such a murderous aura approach them in such an imposing manner, much less this vastly more dangerous Elder Xu who looked like he could launch an attack at any time. But Lin Ming had still not revealed a single hint of fear or dread on his face, even though Elder Xu’s strength surpassed him by hundreds, if not thousands of times. Lin Ming had seen flying sages and kings in the dreams of the Magic Cube. These ancient elders had parted seas and smashed mountains; compared to these warriors, Elder Xu was just an ant beneath their boot. In addition, if Lin Ming was to act like a fearful ant, then how could he have the qualifications to pursue the peak of the martial artist’s path?

Seeing that his imposing manner and murderous intent failed to oppress Lin Ming, Elder Xu became somewhat angry. Before he could step forward again, a shadow flashed, and a man passed Elder Xu like a ghost out of nowhere.

“Xu Fengyuan, are you planning to make a move and bully a little junior? Heh, that really is the superior air of a true master.” As Elder Xu’s nemesis, Sun Sifan could not let him do as he pleased, and he had already arrived in front of Lin Ming’s body.

With such an elder standing in front of him, Lin Ming felt the immense pressure on him being lifted.

From the point when Wang Yanfeng had used his superior martial skills to assault Lin Ming, to the sudden change in fortune, and to when Lin Ming had severely wounded Wang Yanfeng and then the two elders had appeared on stage, the truth was that it had only been a very short period of time. Under the stage, the candidates and other guests that surrounded them were already reacting, and their voices filled the entire with chatter.

This Lin Ming, he had undergone a complete metamorphosis!

However he had managed to simultaneously offended Wang Yanfeng and Elder Xu; his future days would not pass in peace.

The majority of those present came from humble backgrounds, so they had several points of sympathy and compassion for Lin Ming. After all, their families were all similar, and some of them were the talents of their generation. Yet how many of them had suffered losses when faced against aristocratic family juniors that had vastly more resources behind them?

Seeing Sun Sifan defending Lin Ming, Elder Xu gave a cold snort and waved his voluminous sleeves. He signaled the severely injured Wang Yanfeng to follow him off stage. But at this moment, Lin Ming said, “Elder Xu, please stay a moment.”

“Mm?” Elder Xu frowned. He didn’t think that this Lin Ming would have the guts to call him. Any normal candidate who saw a Houtian elder of the Seven Profound Martial House would be submissive and timid, but this Lin Ming had actually compelled himself to call him out, how stupidly courageous of him. He coldly said, “What do you want to say?”

“Before I and Wang Yanfeng agreed to a duel, we made a bet. If I won, not only would I keep the first place candidate position, but I would also obtain the Golden Snake Scarlet Pill that was the second place prize. Since Elder Xu is bringing Wang Yanfeng away, when the prizes are handed out, I will receive it myself.”

Lin Ming said all these things now, as it was a matter that had to be made absolutely clear. Otherwise as soon as Wang Yanfeng left, then the prize would probably not be given to him. Away from the eyes of all those present, it was unlikely that Wang Yanfeng would so easily send him the Golden Snake Scarlet Pill.

Wang Yanfeng had been unconscious until now. This loss of face truly made him wish he hadn’t woken up. Hearing these words of Lin Ming almost made him cough up more blood. Exactly how precious and rare was the Golden Snake Scarlet Pill? Yuelu City’s Wang Family was an old aristocratic family with massive wealth, deep ties to the country, and a long and storied history. Yet no matter how much money or power they had there was no way they could buy a Golden Snake Scarlet Pill. It just wasn’t something that could be purchased by money. Moreover, all these years Wang Yanfeng had used many resources of his family and the council of elders had already been keenly critical of him. If he lost this Golden Snake Scarlet Pill, to Wang Yanfeng this was a truly deadly blow.

“He deserves death!” Wang Yanfeng cursed in his heart. He glared at Lin Ming with unmasked hatred in his eyes. But he had already made a promise, and it had been heard by everyone. In the presence of so many people, it was impossible to renege on a promise.

He spat out several words between clenched teeth. “The Golden Snake Scarlet Pill belongs to you. I wish you good fortune and luck in taking it! I hope nothing wrong goes wrong in the absorption and your veins don’t implode, tearing you to shreds!”

Lin Ming heard the naked threat in Wang Yanfeng’s words.

“I really have offended too many people. Until now, there is Zhu Yan, Wang Yigao, Wang Yanfeng, and all these people are from aristocratic backgrounds. Even Zhu Yan and Wang Yanfeng are talented martial artists. Wang Yigao is another matter; after last time he probably pissed his pants and would be too afraid to do anything, but Zhu Yan and Wang Yanfeng will also be studying in the Seven Profound Martial House with me and will look for every opportunity to get revenge on me. Not matter what, it seems I can’t put an end to all these future troubles.

“I offended so many people and yet could not properly clean up the mess, now it’s become a huge omen. But they provoked me, it was just impossible for me to swallow all the insults and let others humiliate me as they pleased, otherwise it would wear away my heart and spirit of martial arts.

“Since it’s come to this, what’s most important is that I enhance my own strength as soon as possible. I am definitely not Zhu Yan’s match. Not even Zhu Yan, but this Wang Yanfeng also luckily underestimated me and I also underestimated him. I thought that because I defeated two vicious beasts on the fifth floor of the Exquisite Pagoda that I was much stronger than him, but I didn’t think that his strength would increase so much by combining his rare treasure and family’s martial skill. Even if I could see the circulation of true essence in his saber, it was not necessarily my victory. Perhaps I should also go to buy a rare treasure of some sort.”

Lin Ming thought about all of these things. Tomorrow he would officially enter the Seven Profound Martial House and most likely encounter Zhu Yan at some point. Half a year ago, Zhu Yan had relied on his peak Third Stage of Body Transformation cultivation to enter the Heavenly Abode, which all of the most talented students would go to. His strength most likely had its own specialty, Lin Ming would not underestimate him.

After seeing Elder Xu walk away, Sun Sifan gave Lin Ming a deep look, as his eyes were traced with surprise and a hint of disbelief.

In that fight a moment ago, if Lin Ming had used some amazing and almighty martial skill to defeat Wang Yanfeng, then he would not have been surprised, but what he used was nothing but an ordinary fist and foot. Using nothing but his own body, he had hit the exact point of the snake-like true essence seven inches up the saber and disrupted Wang Yanfeng’s true essence!

To achieve this would require extraordinarily keen judgment and remarkable accuracy. To hit a saber that was being wielded with such speed and on such a precise spot was no less difficult than catching a speeding arrow in mid flight.

It could be said that if one practiced their basic skills enough then they would be able to do this. But how Lin Ming found the weakness in Wang Yanfeng’s true essence was unclear.

This could only come from an extremely high soul force strength and a breadth of experience.

This type of experience could only be accumulated by years of actual combat. This boy was only fifteen years old; it was impossible for him to have this kind of experience. Was he some genius talent?

Some martial artists were geniuses at fighting. By virtue of their intuition and godly monstrous perception, they would be able to see any opening on a battlefield. Any sort of great and awe inspiring martial skill, to them, would actually be full of holes. Meeting someone like this and not being able to understand how they would suddenly close in on you, with their sword in your face, this sort of person was truly terrifying.

Is it possible that… this Lin Ming was also this kind of talent?

It was a bit odd…

Elder Sun thought this and looked at Lin Ming, “You, come with me.”

“Mm?” Lin Ming found that Elder Sun walked in a direction that was away from where the rewards were being handed out and he had some doubts in his heart.

“Lin Ming, measure your soul talent with me.”

…

“To reach the fifth floor of the Exquisite Pagoda and also defeat Wang Yanfeng…”

In a quiet room patterned with a blue stone tile floor, Zhu Yan stood in the center, on top of a wooden pillar. He was topless, exposing the solid and strong muscles of his upper body. By his side stood a thin, old servant. Although the servant looked a little baggy, his breathe was even and long, which was the culmination of practicing the Third Stage of Body Transformation, Viscera Training.

Zhu Yan’s servant and Wang Yigao’s servant were like heaven and earth. This was because the Zhu Family were relatives of the emperor and their influence was bigger, and also because of Zhu Yan’s status within his family; it was not something that the useless Wang Yigao could possibly compare with.

Although Zhu Yan had not been present to watch Lin Ming’s exam, he had sent his old servant to pay attention to the situation. As soon as Lin Ming and Wang Yanfeng’s competition ended, the old servant had come back to report the situation to Zhu Yan.

“This little bastard, I hadn’t thought he had hidden so many secrets!”

“Bang!” Wang Yanfeng punched out a fist and smashed apart the wooden pillar. This kind of pillar was extremely hard, as it had been soaked in medicines that increased rigidity and density, and was several times more tenacious than normal, but it was actually smashed apart by Zhu Yan’s fist. This was a sign that Zhu Yan’s fist strength had reached a high stage.

It was absolutely above 4000 jins! Compared to Ling Sen it was just a little bit worse, but not by too much.

“Wang Yanfeng was too arrogant, but he did have some ability. As far as I can tell he had already practiced the ‘Nine Paths of Truth’ to forming nine green runes, and he also had the ‘Seven Despairing Steps’ movement skill. Yet he still lost to Lin Ming? Did Lin Ming use some sort of martial skill?”

The old servant said, “Young master, Lin Ming did not use a martial skill, he only used punches and kicks. His movements were straight and basic; there were no flashy moves that he used.”

“What? Then how could he possibly win?” Zhu Yan could not believe this.

“This old servant has poor vision and did not see what methods Lin Ming used, but he managed to break that little Wang boy’s ‘Nine Paths of Truth’ and then used a series of moves to gain the upper hand. He relentlessly pursued to the end and defeated the little Wang boy without giving him the slightest opportunity to retaliate.”

“He broke the ‘Nine Paths of Truth’?” Zhu Yan felt shocked. Each kind of martial art of had weaknesses that could be exploited, but these were absolute secrets that were never divulged. Lin Ming was only a junior of the branch family of the Ling Family. His background was normal, it was impossible for him to know any sort of decent martial skill, how could he possibly have the experience to defeat the ‘Nine Paths of Truth’?

Was this a dream?

Zhu Yan was unable to understand the reason why. Then, the old servant said, “Young master, this older servant also discovered that Lin Ming’s true essence was very pure. He is unlike a normal martial artist at the Second Stage of Body Transformation.”

Zhu Yan responded, “I have already discovered this. There’s nothing too strange about it, this boy probably found some valuable material and ate it. In addition to diligent studying and hard work and practice, even a rabid dog could show some degree of success.”

“Because he had a fortuitous encounter, his strength suddenly rose to a new level. Because his talent was originally garbage, this will slowly fade away. This sort of happening is too rare; that this Lin Ming could encounter such luck, that boy is truly an eyesore…”

Zhu Yang slowly clenched his first. He did not care at all about Lin Ming, and did not even think he had the qualifications to be remembered by him. He was after all, two years younger and at a lower level of cultivation. It was only because of Lan Yunyue that Zhu Yan felt this Lin Ming was such an eyesore.