Martial Universe (Wu Dong Qian Kun)

Inside the Mysterious Ancient Key space, Little Marten flew around Lin Dong, who had just opened his eyes. An overjoyed look flashed across Little Marten’s eyes as it quickly asked, “Did you succeed?”

“Yes,” Lin Dong smiled and nodded his head, feeling extremely carefree in his heart. He initially believed that he had lost a powerful weapon when the Spirit Accumulation Praying Mat was destroyed. However, he did not expect to receive such a fruitful compensation for it.

Lin Dong extended his hand. With a flick of his mind, a glowing light formed on his palm. Faintly, a miniature Ancient Universe Formation appeared. At the centre of the miniature formation, Yuan Power, Mental Energy and Devouring Power were fusing together at an astonishing speed. Finally, after the fusion was complete, a palm-sized, dark-grey energy orb was formed.

The energy ball hovered silently over Lin Dong’s palm. Even though it was not emitting any wild or savage energy waves, Lin Dong could vaguely smell danger from it. Clearly, this new energy, birthed from the fusion of three kinds of different energies, possessed an extremely formidable killing power.

“Tsk tsk, you really are a lucky brat. Even at my peak, I found it difficult to fuse different types of energies. In the end, a brat like you, who hasn’t even attained the Nirvana stage, is able to possess this ability,” Little Marten looked at the greyish black energy orb while its eyes flickered with amazement. Its tone contained a tinge of envy as well.

“This energy is indeed powerful. However, it’s a pity that a huge amount of energy is needed to fuse and form this new energy. Given my current capabilities, I have no way to sustain it,” Lin Dong regretfully said after he nodded his head in agreement.

“Stop being discontent. This energy isn’t simply formed by directly fusing them together. If not for the Ancient Universe Formation, just fusing Yuan Power and Mental Energy with your current ability is already nearly impossible, let alone fusing three different types of energies,” Little Marten rolled its eyes at Lin Dong and chided.

Lin Dong smiled. With a flip of his palm, the dark-grey energy orb and miniature formation disappeared. Soon after, he stretched his body and asked, “How long have we been here?”

“About two days, what do you plan to do next?” Little Marten questioned.

“We have already spent close to half a year in the Ancient Battlefield. In another half a year’s time, the great battle will begin. The empires in the Ancient Battlefield should be frantically searching for all kinds of ancient treasure troves to mine the resources within to boost their powers. Naturally, we shouldn’t fall behind as well,” Lin Dong chuckled as he stood up.

“‘According to the memory left behind by the Mental Energy Brand that tried to take over my body, the best time to open the Ancient Treasure Trove will be one month from now. We can assume when that moment comes, those who possess the other three keys will appear at that place too.”

“The Ancient Treasure Trove is definitely not passed down by some ordinary sect and the number of people that will be attracted to it far exceeds the number seen previously in Thunder Granite Valley. Hence, it will be much more difficult to gain any benefits from it.”

“Hehe, whoever dares to hinder Grandpa Marten in obtaining the Samsara Pills, Grandpa Marten will beat the crap out of him or her!” Little Marten laughed oddly. Then, it looked at Lin Dong and said, “When Grandpa Marten recovers my physical body, I will carry out a massacre and help you slaughter all of your enemies.”

Lin Dong rolled his eyes. He knew that even if Little Marten recovered its physical body, it could not return to its peak form immediately. Furthermore, the Ancient Battlefield was not a small nation like the Great Yan Empire. This place was being closely monitored by those super sects in the East Xuan Region and those entities would not allow Little Marten to stir up troubles here. Hence, it would best to ignore its words.

“Oh, by the way, there are quite a number of Nirvana pills in your hands now. You can try attacking the Nirvana stage after training for a while more,” Little Marten changed its tone and said. Clearly, Little Marten was just shooting its mouth off.

Upon hearing these words, Lin Dong smiled and said, “It’s only one million Nirvana pills. My target is not the Nirvana stage alone.”

Little Marten startled. Then, it asked astonishingly, “Don’t tell me you want to attack the Nirvana Tribulation in one go as well?”

“I’m quite interested in the Nirvana Tribulation,” Lin Dong grinned while his eyes were filled with blazing flame. It appeared that he was really serious about it. Little Marten was somewhat dumbstruck when it heard Lin Dong’s words. Other Nirvana stage practitioners viewed the Nirvana Tribulation with caution like a ferocious tiger, yet this fellow was simply itching to attack it.

However, Little Marten knew that Lin Dong did possess the qualifications to do so. Due to his exceptional prowess, even before he attained the Nirvana stage, his Lesser Nirvana Golden Body allowed him to be on par with other Nirvana stage practitioners. Once he gathered enough resources, it was not impossible for him to attack the Nirvana stage and the Nirvana Tribulation in one go.

“Since you want to slightly delay the time to attack the Nirvana stage, you must resort to other methods to increase your fighting capabilities. Right now, the Devil Cliff Empire hates you to the core. That Shi Xuan alone poses enough troubles for you, let alone his big senior who hasn’t even shown up yet. He should be the leader of the Devil Cliff Empire. They will definitely be heading for the Ancient Treasure Trove. Based on your current abilities, I’m afraid they will be a headache for you,” Little Marten explained as it casted a glance at Lin Dong.

Upon hearing these words, Lin Dong furrowed his eyebrows. He was rather worried about the Devil Cliff Empire’s strength. Even though he could make use of the Mysterious Ancient Key to escape unscathed, but how could he flee in the Ancient Treasure Trove? If that was the case, he would have no affinity with any of the treasures in there.

Clearly, Lin Dong would not let this happen.

“There are only two items in your hands that can help you to increase your fighting capabilities as soon as possible,” Little Marten said lazily as if it knew about what Lin Dong was worrying about.

“Oh?” Lin Dong raised his eyebrow and looked at Little Marten.

“The first item is the Blood Soul Puppet. If it was in peak condition, its strength shouldn’t be at this level only. Given the amount of Nirvana pills in your possession, you can restore it to the level of a first class Soul Puppet in a short period of time. In other words, that level is equivalent to the One Yuan Nirvana stage and it’s enough to deal with Shi Xuan.”

Lin Dong nodded his head slightly and heaved a sigh of relief. He almost forgot about this artifact. The Blood Soul Puppet had great potential and it could attain the level of a first class Soul Puppet in a short period of time.

“What is the second item?” Lin Dong asked. From the Devil Cliff Empire, other than Shi Xuan, there was still another guy who had not shown up yet. And that guy was the real leader of them and the most difficult one to deal with.

“Yes…” Little Marten looked smilingly at Little Flame, which was lying down on the floor, and laughed, “Don’t you forget about this stupid tiger. When it started to follow you, it may have seem unwise to spend a lot of resources on it. Even though it may look like an ordinary Fire Python Tiger, it’s of an extremely rare bloodline. If it can attain the Nirvana stage, it’s strength cannot be underestimated.”

“Little Flame?” Lin Dong was startled. Soon after, he extended his hand and rubbed Little Flame’s head. Then, he laughed, “As long as this guy can attain the Nirvana stage, I’m willing to use up all my Nirvana pills.”

He did not appear distressed at all despite the fact that he fought with his own life at stake in order to obtain these Nirvana pills.

Little Flame had braved through fire and water with him since the days in Qingyang Town. In Lin Dong’s eyes, Little Flame was not some pet, but an indispensable comrade.

Then, as if it had felt the gentleness in Lin Dong’s eyes, Little Flame let out a soft pur. It used its head to nudge Lin Dong. Both of them appeared very intimate.

When Little Marten saw a human and a tiger getting intimate, it squinted its eyes slightly. Soon after, it gave a soft chuckle and said, “However, don’t be a fool and directly use those Nirvana pills to help that stupid tiger attack the Nirvana stage. Otherwise, it will be very hard for this stupid tiger to be on the same level as Grandpa Marten.”

Lin Dong stunned for a moment. Then, he gradually understood what did Little Marten mean by being on the same level as itself. Little Marten must be talking about its intelligence, which was even craftier than human’s.

“From a different perspective, regardless of human or Demonic Beast, it is rather important for one to attain the Nirvana stage. Some powerful Demonic Beasts that have pure bloodlines are able to develop real intelligence upon breaking through the Nirvana stage. Some of them can even abandon their beast-forms. Those Demonic Beast with normal bloodline will have their intelligence increased, but at the end of the day, they are still beasts.”

“Since Little Flame has devoured so many bloodlines, it shouldn’t be lacking, right?” Lin Dong questioned hesitantly.

“Do you really think it’s that easy to change one’s bloodline? The bloodlines that it has devoured, including the Heavenly Crocodile’s bloodline, can only strengthen its body but not fundamentally change its bloodline. That’s because these are two different things. If it wants to change its bloodline thoroughly, it must devour a pure tiger’s bloodline,” Little Marten explained plainly.

“A pure tiger’s bloodline?” Lin Dong muttered.

“According to my knowledge, amongst the tiger-type Demonic Beasts, there are three purest bloodlines – Dark Abyss Tiger, Groundbreaking Thunder Tiger and Heavenly Demonic Tiger.”

“Dark Abyss Tiger, Groundbreaking Thunder Tiger and Heavenly Demonic Tiger,” Lin Dong repeated as he used his hand to rub Little Marten’s head.

“These three types of bloodlines are rather reputable in the world of Demonic Beasts. Reportedly, above these three great tiger bloodlines, there’s a legendary entity called the Darkness Sacred Tiger. However, it only appears during the prehistoric era. Since then, no one has heard or seen it anymore.

Little Marten chuckled, “If you can find one of these three great tiger bloodlines, you can thoroughly cleanse this stupid tiger and allow it to possess a legitimate pure bloodline. Its future potential will be limitless.”

Lin Dong laughed bitterly before he said, “Seems like a difficult task to complete. However, for the sake of Little Flame’s future, I will try my best….”

Little Marten nodded it’s head. It spread out its claws and continued, “Whether we can find it or not, it still depends on this stupid tiger’s luck. Anyway, we should increase the Blood Soul Puppet’s strength first. With a first class Soul Puppet as a guardian, it can spare you a lot of problems.”

Upon hearing this words, Lin Dong nodded his head in agreement. With a wave of his hand, the Blood Soul Puppet was summoned.

In the next two days, Lin Dong continued to stay in the Mysterious Ancient Key’s domain. Inside that place, Lin Dong had used two hundred thousand Nirvana pills. With the help of such massive amount of Nirvana pills, the Blood Soul Puppet’s strength rose sharply until it reached the level of a first class Soul Puppet. From a different perspective, the Blood Soul Puppet could contend against a One Yuan Nirvana stage practitioner like Shi Xuan!

After completing his preparations, Lin Dong then felt reassured and left the Mysterious Ancient Key’s domain with Little Flame.