Martial Universe (Wu Dong Qian Kun)

Desolate Hall?

After listening to the name that came out of Little Marten’s mouth, Lin Dong gawked and said with a little doubt: “Didn’t you say that the Desolate Hall was the weakest?”

“At the beginning, there was no difference between the the four halls of the Dao Sect and only during the later period, did a slight difference emerge. During that time, the strongest was not the Sky hall, but the Desolate Hall.” Little Marten said casually.

“Oh?” Lin Dong was somewhat astonished, as he had never imagined that the currently bottom ranked Desolate Hall actually had a period of glory.

“So why are they ranked last now?” Lin Dong asked.

“Within the four great halls of the Dao Sect, there are 4 great mysterious scriptures, Sky Hall’s “Heavenly King’s Scripture”, Earth Hall’s “Earth King’s Scripture”, Flood Hall’s “Flood Scripture” and lastly Desolate Hall’s “Great Desolation Scripture”…”

“These four great mysterious scriptures are the top martial arts of the Dao Sect, and their creator was an extremely frightening existence even during the primordial times. The scripture that is most obscure is the “Great Desolation Scripture”.” Little Marten said as his expression slowly turning serious. This change in expression and his rarely seen serious expression allowed Lin Dong to understand the might of the “Great Desolation Scripture”.

“Although the “Great Desolation Scripture” is extremely powerful, it too has a weakness. That is, it is extremely demanding on the individuals who tried to comprehend it. Therefore, till this present age, although many talents have been recruited into the halls, the number of people that managed to comprehend the “Great Desolation Scripture” can be counted using one hand.”

“Since there was no one who could comprehend the “Great Desolation Scripture”, it was natural that elite disciples of the Desolate Hall could not compete with their counterparts of the three other halls, who were able to comprehend the three other great mysterious scriptures. Therefore, year by year passed with them remaining at the bottom.”

Lin Dong thought that this was very obvious, as the four great mysterious scriptures were the trump cards of the four great halls. However, it seems like the Desolate Hall was especially unlucky to own a seemingly unrivalled but extremely obscure “Great Desolation Scripture”. To a certain degree, no matter how powerful it was, if one was unable to understand it, it was still useless.

“Of course, Desolate Hall is actually biding their time, as they only need one disciple who is able to comprehend the “Great Desolation Scripture” by a stroke of destiny. With that, they will be able to completely reverse the situation. At that time, winning back the title of the number one Hall in one stroke would not be a surprising feat.” Little Marten said with a smile.

“Is it that formidable?” Lin Dong said while smacking his lips and thought, “This Great Desolation Scripture is that fearsome? There’s nothing much to make out of it if no one can comprehend it; yet the moment one does, he will immediately shock the world.

“This isn’t just a rumor as every single Desolate Hall disciple who managed to comprehend the “Great Desolation Scripture” wound up becoming extremely powerful. Let’s not talk about the distant past, do you know who was the most recent person to comprehend the “Great Desolation Scripture”?”Little Marten grinned.

“Who is it?”Lin Dong replied by reflex before giving a shudder, while his face showed some countenance: “Could it be that ruthless senior who charged into the Yuan Gate and slaughtered three of their elders?”

“Heh, that’s the fellow. Now do you know the reason why Wu Dao does not see eye to eye with Liu Tong? The Desolate Hall has finally managed to raise a prodigy that could comprehend the “Great Desolation Scripture”; yet in the end, he was killed by the Yuan Gate. This grudge is not something that can be easily resolved with words alone…” Little Marten said while nodding his head.

“No wonder.” Lin Dong said and solemnly nodded his head, and in his heart a voice of appreciation arose as he thought, “From the looks of it, the Great Desolation Scripture truly is the most mysterious amongst the four great mysterious scriptures. Compared to the “Azure Dragon Transformation Art” given by Qing Zhi, which is more powerful?”

“Did you want me to join Desolate Hall because you wanted me to learn that “Great Desolation Scripture”?” Lin Dong said as he finally understood what Little Marten meant.

“Yes, since we have joined the Dao Sect, you must definitely obtain that item.”

Little Marten nodded his head and said, “Furthermore, in the other three great halls there are vast numbers of prodigies and geniuses, which would make it hard for you to stand out if you join them. What’s more, that old geezer Wu Dao has taken an interest in you, it’s better to be the head of a dog than the tail of a phoenix. Just wait till you succeed in learning the Great Desolation Scripture, there will definitely be a place for you in this generation of elite disciples within the Dao Sect. This is the only way you can catch up to Ling Qingzhu.

Lin Dong rolled his eyes, however he made no attempts at refuting that. Although he was the champion of the Hundred Empire War, this place wasn’t within an empire – it was one of the biggest super sects within the Eastern Xuan Region.

Every disciple here was carefully selected. Furthermore, the Hundred Empire War was not the only channel in which these super sects recruite their disciples. Therefore, being the champion of the Hundred Empire War, was not going to giving him any edge in the Dao Sect.

“Alright let’s join the Desolate Hall.” Lin Dong said as he saw the shadow of Wu Dao in front of him. He had already made up his mind. Furthermore, Little Marten’s words have successfully piqued his interest towards the “Great Desolation Scripture”.

While Lin Dong was having a conversation with Little Marten, the light formation carrying them slowly descended on the top of a giant hill. On the top of the hill stood many huge halls, and on the very peak covered in clouds, a vast green platform appeared.

On top of the platform, were humongous columns that created a majestic atmosphere, and Lin Dong’s group slowly descended under the assistance of the light formation.

“Haha, Wu Dao, you have finally returned.”

Just as Lin Dong and the others were descending, a voice filled with laughter could be heard coming from the front. Lin Dong raised his vision until he saw over ten shadows standing on top of the platform.

At the front, stood three middle aged men, with hands crossed behind their backs and giving off an imposing aura. Lin Dong could feel an extremely boundless fluctuation coming from them, and if his guess was right, the three of them should be the vice heads of the three other great halls.

Lin Dong’s gaze swept past the three of them and looked behind them, where there stood three disciples – two males and one female. All three of them had a powerful aura emanating from them, which exceeded those emitted from the patrolling disciples that they had previously seen.

Amongst the three of them, the person that caught Lin Dong’s eye was that young lady. She looked quite young and seemed similar to Su Rou, although she presented a much nobler stature. Wearing a red skirt, she had a slim and graceful figure.

The young lady had quite a beautiful appearance. However, that was not why Lin Dong paid special attention towards her. Instead, it was because of the faint mysterious fluctuation that was emanating from within her body. Also, other than that fluctuation, he faintly heard the soft and clear sound of a musical instrument.

This was the first time that Lin Dong had ever encountered such a scenario, which immediately piqued his interest.

“Are you guys that impatient?” Wu Dao casually said as he landed on the platform and proceeded to shoot a look at the three guys standing in front of him.

“Haha, news of the Hundred Empire War had already been transmitted to the sect. Who would have thought that this round’s winner did not actually get snapped up by the Yuan Gate and instead chose to enter our Dao Sect. This is truly invigorating.” said the middle aged man who was standing in front of the young lady in red. He proceeded to give a loud laughter, with the laughter giving of a feeling similar to the rumbling of thunder, shaking and buzzing the surrounding air.

He is the vice head of the Sky Hall, Wei Sheng.

“Who is the champion of this round’s Hundred Empire War?” said the vice head of the Earth Hall with a wide smile on his face, as his gaze unceasingly swept over Lin Dong and the rest, with his eyes showing a slight hint of earnestness.

Wu Dao gave a light snort and raised his chin towards Lin Dong, who proceeded to finally take a step forward and respectfully gave the three men a salute before he said: “Disciple Lin Dong greets the three vice heads.”

The instant Lin Dong stepped forth, the gazes of the three vice heads and the young lady dressed in red were instantly focused on his body, as they were all interested in this disciple, who managed to raise some heads within the sect before even entering it.

“Hmm, with the power of the fourth Yuan Nirvana Stage, he actually managed to become the champion of the Hundred Empire War, this is truly surprising.” said the vice head of the Sky Hall, Wei Sheng as he stared at Lin Dong with his eyes sparkling, laying bare Lin Dong’s Yuan Power cultivation level in a single glance.

“Four Yuan Nirvana Stage?”, after hearing this sentence, the young lady standing near him gawked.This strength was not considered as outstanding. How did he actually manage to become the champion of the Hundred Empire War?

“That’s not right, there is also Mental Energy. Nice one brat, he actually managed to cultivate his mental energy to Four Seal Heavenly Symbol Master, no wonder.” Wei Sheng’s senses was quite sharp, and after a detailed survey, he even managed to uncover Lin Dong’s Mental Energy cultivation level. This caused Lin Dong to be quite shocked, as he had always kept his Mental Energy under wraps and had never released it outwards. Hence, he had never expected that it would be unmasked. This goes to show that it was not by fluke that Wei Sheng was able to become the vice head of the Sky Hall.

“Four Seal Heavenly Symbol Master?”

When this statement entered their ears, the faces of the young lady dressed in red and the two males who were giving off an imposing aura, showed a surprised expression, as they had never thought that Lin Dong could actually cultivate both his Yuan Power and Mental Energy to such a level.

“A four Yuan Nirvana Stage together with being a Four Seal Heavenly Symbol Master, this definitely can be compared favourably to a Five Yuan Nirvana Stage expert. However based on what I know, Qin Tian from Tianyuan Empire is at Six Yuan Nirvana Stage. Since you could surpass him, you must have some hidden tricks up your sleeves. Tsk tsk, just by relying on your upbringing from a low level empire to reach this stage is surely not simple…” said Wei Sheng as he continued to click his tongue. From the looks of it, he knew quite a bit about Lin Dong already.

After seeing the look Wei Sheng gave as he stared at Lin Dong, Wu Dao’s expression turned into one of discontentment. However he had no choice as the Sky Hall is currently the strongest hall and had the most say. If Lin Dong agreed to join them, there was no one who could overturn this decision.

As he lamented the fact that such a good seedling was once again going to fall into the hands of the Sky Hall, Wu Dao felt a sense of irritation.

“Haha, Lin Dong is not bad, come join my Sky Hall,” said Wei Sheng, as expected by Wu Dao, after staring at Lin Dong for a while and spreading his arms before giving a smile.

The nearby vice heads of the Earth Hall and Flood Hall gave an angry puff, as they also felt regretful that this seedling was going to once again fall into the hands of the Sky Hall.

Wu Dao’s face turned ugly. However he could only wave his sleeves in discontentment, before saying helplessly to Lin Dong: “ The Sky Hall is currently the strongest of the four great halls, if you wish you could go and join the Sky Hall.”

After hearing that, Lin Dong looked at Wei Sheng who was showing a beaming face before looking at depressed Wu Dao. Giving a sigh of hopelessness, he gave a salute towards the former.

“I’m honored by the love vice head have shown. However, I wish to join the Desolate Hall.”

The apologetic sound of a youth resounded across the platform. However it made everyone present gawk.