Martial World (Web Novel)

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“What happened?” The others asked as they noticed the strange expression on the High Lord’s face, puzzled by what it meant.

“Lin Ming exited the Road of Emperor.”

“He finally came out? That fellow went in for seven whole months…” The Road of Emperor was different from the King’s Cage. If one wasn’t strong, then it was impossible to stay within the King’s Cage for a long time. But, the Road of Emperor was different. If one wanted to, they could procrastinate inside for a long time, thus, the time stayed within didn’t correspond to one’s strength.

“But… what I find strange is that Lin Ming didn’t break through to the Revolving Core realm.” The leader of the High Lord frowned, a bit skeptical.

“What? Seven months and he still hasn’t broken through to Revolving Core?” All of the martial artists were surprised upon hearing this. Immediately, joy flooded their expressions. To them, Lin Ming not breaking through to Revolving Core was wonderful news.

To a top talent, Revolving Core wasn’t a great bottleneck; it was just a matter of time before breaking through, let alone after entering the Road of Emperor where it was easy to increase one’s strength.

Lin Ming had been in the Road of Emperor for seven months. After such a long time, they had thought that Lin Ming would have broken through to Revolving Core. None of them imagined that he would still be stranded at a half-step Revolving Core.

Every great boundary of the essence gathering system was divided into four smaller boundaries – these were early, middle, late, and extreme. From extreme Xiantian to half-step Revolving Core wasn’t even a small boundary. Half-step Revolving Core, in truth, was just the peak of extreme Xiantian.

After Lin Ming entered the Road of Emperor, his cultivation only rose by half a small boundary. Compared to Lan Xin, Duanmu Qun, and the other geniuses, he had been completely overshadowed!

“How could this be?” A martial artist said with an inconceivable look. He was already accustomed to the fact that Lin Ming would create miracles. Now that Lin Ming had such a poor performance, it really did feel weird.

“Hehe, this isn’t too strange. He either met a bottleneck of some kind, or else his perception was poor and he couldn’t understand the Emperor stone tablets!”

An Imp martial artist chuckled. He was Heavenly Cloud Tower’s High Lord Black Ash. Amongst the 16 High Lords of Heavenly Cloud Tower, High Lord Black Ash only ranked ninth. He hadn’t been too confident that he would be able to deal with Lin Ming once he reached the Revolving Core realm. After all, a martial artist going from Xiantian to Revolving Core was a tremendous leap. But now that he heard that Lin Ming hadn’t broken through to Revolving Core, he was immediately filled with confidence again.

“Don’t be careless. Lin Ming’s perception is absolutely not bad, otherwise it would have been impossible for him to comprehend the Concepts of Space and Time. Who knows just what that fellow was messing around with in the Road of Emperor.” The head High Lord said, doubtful.

“Brother Cloud Demon, you are far too cautious. Your strength can be ranked in Heavenly Cloud Tower’s top five; why would you care so much about a junior? It’s true that Lin Ming is talented, but he’s far too young. Half-step Revolving Core… humph. During this adventure into the Eternal Demon Abyss, he had better not run into us, because if he does… hehe…”

High Lord Black Ash maliciously smiled, not bothering to hide his killing intent. Lin Ming’s name could be said to resound like thunder within Polaris Tower, but in Heavenly Cloud Tower, his reputation was far less astonishing. Whenever stories were passed on, there were bound to be exaggerations. The overall strength of Polaris Tower’s 12 High Lords was also much worse than that of Heavenly Cloud Tower’s.

High Lord Cloud Demon hesitated for a moment, not speaking anymore. Whether or not Lin Ming had obtained any other benefits within the Road of Emperor, the truth was that he still hadn’t broken through to Revolving Core.

“Good, we’ll stop talking about Lin Ming for now. We will move on to another powerhouse that needs our attention more – High Lord Three Eyes!”

Mentioning High Lord Three Eyes, even the arrogant High Lord Black Ash’s smile faded away. High Lord Three Eyes had been famous for a very long time, he wasn’t someone that a junior like Lin Ming could compare to.

……………..

Polaris Tower, Tower Master’s Grand Hall –

In a dimly lit hall, the black-cloaked Polaris Tower Master was sitting back in an obsidian chair, frowning as he looked at Lin Ming in front of him.

Beside Lin Ming were several other High Lords of Polaris Tower, they were all members that would be entering the Eternal Demon Abyss this time. Before Lin Ming had left the Road of Emperor, there were countless rumors circulating about Polaris Tower concerning just how much Lin Ming’s strength would have grown. Some people believed that Lin Ming, after exiting the Road of Emperor, would have a comprehensive combat strength equal to Polaris Tower’s top three High Lords, that he might even be able to equally battle with High Lord Bloodfire.

However, the truth was that after returning to Skysplit Tower, Lin Ming’s cultivation had only risen by half a small boundary; this was unexpected for everyone.

This was far too poor a result. Even if his comprehension of Laws had risen some, there was no reason for his cultivation to have increased so little.

If this had happened to someone else, then this could be barely acceptable. But, Lin Ming was a Titled Asura, a pinnacle level talent. After staying in the King’s Cage, his strength had risen to a horrifying degree. Then, after entering the Road of Emperor which was even more terrifying than the King’s Cage, how could his strength not have risen even more?

“Lin Ming, what did you experience in the Road of Emperor that delayed you for so long? How come I feel that your strength hasn’t risen by much?”

The Tower Master asked after a period of silence. This time, in allowing Lin Ming to enter the Road of Emperor, he had also freed Lin Ming from the order of not breaking through to the next realm. All of this was in order to prepare Lin Ming to break through to the Revolving Core realm. If Lin Ming broke through to the Revolving Core realm then the slave seal he planted would become unstable, but for this journey into the Eternal Demon Abyss, the Tower Master was willing to risk this danger. But, he hadn’t expected that Lin Ming would laze around in the Road of Emperor for seven months and only be at a half-step Revolving Core.

Lin Ming bowed and expressionlessly said “Most of the time I spent in the Road of Emperor was for perceiving the Emperor stone tablets. I also made some further comprehension in Laws, but besides that, I didn’t have any special experiences.”

“Mm…”

The Tower Master didn’t suspect that Lin Ming would be lying. He had planted his slave seal in Lin Ming’s spiritual sea and could still clearly feel it. With the slave seal in place, it was impossible for Lin Ming to lie to him.

‘Seven months perceiving the Emperor stone tablets and yet you’ve only obtained such little improvement. Even when Kai Yang entered the Road of Emperor, his results were far more than this. Lin Ming’s perception should be far superior to his, otherwise how could he possibly have comprehended the Concepts of Space and Time? Did I damage Lin Ming’s perception when I planted the slave seal in him?’

Arguably, a slave seal shouldn’t injure a martial artist’s soul. Someone with a slave seal planted within them, besides being absolutely obedient to Polaris Tower’s Tower Master, shouldn’t have any other differences. However, the mind and soul were two of the most difficult existences to decipher. Perhaps this slave seal really had damaged his perception somehow.

“You may leave now.” The Tower Master waved his hand.

“Yes.” Lin Ming faintly answered before excusing himself.

“Sir Chief High Lord, when Feng Shen entered the Road of Emperor, his cultivation rose from an early one-star Fey King to a two-star Fey King and his total combat strength also rose by a great deal. When I saw him one month ago, I could clearly feel the faint power of Laws emanating from him. I estimate that Feng Shen already has strength equal to our Polaris Tower’s top five ranked High Lords.” After Lin Ming left, another High Lord in the hall reported on Feng Shen’s results from the Road of Emperor.

Feng Shen was a Holy Land descendant after all, he was completely incomparable with Yan Chi and Maha. Before entering the Road of Emperor, Feng Shen only had strength comparable to the lowest ranked High Lords, but now, he had strength equal to the fourth or fifth ranked High Lord. This was a terrifying rate of progress.

The High Lord continued to say, “If we change Feng Shen’s cultivation to that of a human’s, then it would be the same as rising from the early Revolving Core to the peak of the middle Revolving Core. In five months, Feng Shen’s cultivation has risen by one and a half small boundaries in the Revolving Core realm. But, Lin Ming used seven months to rise by just half a small boundary in the Xiantian realm. The difference between these two is far too great!”

“It truly is difficult to understand…”

Another High Lord followed. His meaning was that Lin Ming’s performance had really hit rock bottom. It was difficult to imagine that this situation would happen to a Titled Asura.

“There are some geniuses that suddenly exhaust all their potential, it isn’t too surprising.” In a corner of the hall, High Lord Shengong spoke. He didn’t have any great grudge with Lin Ming, but because of the matter concerning Xing Tian and High Lord Heian, if Lin Ming ran into bad luck then High Lord Shengong would definitely be among those cheering.

In the seat of the Chief High Lord, the Tower Master was silent throughout. Seven months for just a small half boundary… and in the Xiantian realm too. To an Emperor level talent, this was something they could accomplish even without entering the Road of Emperor.

Some could say that Lin Ming was lying somehow or had even intentionally failed, but there was no reason for him to do so. First because he had a slave seal planted within him, and second because it was impossible.

‘If his perception was really affected by my slave seal… then this Lin Ming’s value has truly dropped. If I can’t raise him then there’s no point wasting one of my limited slave seals on him. I might as well give up on him. This time, I’ll let him enter the 1200 mile danger zone and have him seek some lucky chances for me. This can be considered a good enough use for trash.

‘If he can find something then that would be for the best. If he can’t find anything then he has no right to continue any further. He can fend for himself from then on.’

As the Tower Master was thinking this, he stood up and dourly said, “There is still two months until the Eternal Demon Abyss opens. Everyone, prepare as much as you can. This is everything for today!”

……………….

As the time of the Eternal Demon Abyss opening approached, Lin Ming spent most of his time sitting on the stone bed of his practice area, meditating and tempering his will at the same time.

It was impossible to use two months to break through to the Revolving Core realm. Since this was how it was, he might as well temper his battle spirit so that he could grow as soon as possible, allowing his striking power to reach the limit.

The martial artists of the 12 Skysplit Towers were also preparing in their respective ways. The weakest of those entering the Eternal Demon Abyss had to be at least at the level of the Heavenly Demon Seven Stars, otherwise, going in was only a suicide wish. With this massive group of powerhouses gathered together, the fierce battles that would occur could be imagined.

Like this, time quietly passed, and the day that the Eternal Demon Abyss would open finally arrived.

On this day, Lin Ming, as well as all the other martial artists that were entering the Eternal Demon Abyss, gathered on the fourth floor. Besides the 12 High Lords, there was only one of the Heavenly Demon Seven Stars who would enter the Eternal Demon Abyss – Feng Shen.

Da Gu and Xun Ji had eventually chosen not to participate in this excursion. Yan Chi, Maha, and Kai Yang had died. As for the other Heavenly Demon Seven Stars, they had left Skysplit Tower, leaving Feng Shen as the only one remaining.

Thus, for Polaris Tower, there would be a total of 13 individuals entering the Eternal Demon Abyss.

The Polaris Tower Master brought everyone to a transmission array on the fourth floor. With a flash of light, everyone arrived at another space.

The Polaris Tower Master glanced over everyone and slowly said, “This is the fifth floor of Skysplit Tower. The entrance to the Eternal Demon Abyss is here.”

Fifth floor…

Lin Ming gasped. He already knew that Polar Skysplit Tower had five floors, but as for what was on the fifth floor, that had always been an enigma to him.

So, it turned out that this was the entrance to the Eternal Demon Abyss…