Chapter 142 – Heavy Profound Soft Spear!
…
…
…
“Sixth!?”
“Sixth!”
The two top 20 Heavenly Abode disciples said at the same time, surprised.
The Martial House Master had given Lin Ming three months to enter into the top 10 rankings.
But in only two months, he had reached sixth place!
Was this a joke?
Even the two of them, though they were big fans of Lin Ming, didn’t think that Lin Ming would reach the top ten. But then to also kill his way to the sixth rank spot!
Even the fanatical young female apprentice of the Human Hall rubbed her eyes, as if there was something wrong with her sight.
The threshold of difficulty for which the Seven Profound Martial House had set the tasks before Lin Ming would receive a reward was difficult beyond imagination. Three months to enter the top ten, four months to defeat Zhang Guanyu, five months to defeat Ta Ku, six months to defeat Ling Sen!
There were even those who believed that this list of rewards was merely someone poking fun at Lin Ming. But the present result was that when it came to Lin Ming, the difficulty that the Seven Profound Martial House had set the rewards at was too low!
To have Lin Ming advance to the top ten in three months?
They were simply looking down on Lin Ming!
Now Lin Ming had only taken two months to arrive at the sixth place rank.
Wasn’t this just embarrassing oneself?
Now, it was extremely possible for Lin Ming to defeat Zhang Guanyu!
The only requirement for Lin Ming to be a core disciple of the Seven Profound Martial House was that he reach the peak Altering Muscle stage before he was over 16 years old. Everyone was no longer anxious of this test. This difficulty, was simply too low for Lin Ming!
That is, whether or not Lin Ming could defeat Ta Ku or Ling Sen in the future, he was already destined to be a core disciple of the Seven Profound Martial House and reach the Pulse Condensation Period. He would go to Seven Profound Valleys’ main sect for several years, and easily reach the Houtian stage.
Then as long as Lin Ming wished for it, he could return to the Sky Fortune Kingdom and become a Seven Profound Envoy or the Seven Profound Martial House Master. At that time, the Sky Fortune Kingdom would become Lin Ming’s garden, and he could do as he pleased.
This made how many people, how many families jealous to the degree of bleeding!
Lin Ming was also so young; he completely had the possibility to step into the Houtian stage before he was 30 years old. Then, he could casually and freely spend his couple hundred years of youth as countless families and major powers tried to flatter and curry favor with him. Innumerable beautiful young girls would want to marry him; even royal princesses, and proud, arrogant women like Bai Jingyun and Murong Zi would be at his beck and call.
Not only was it the beautiful women of now, but those several dozens of years later, or a hundred years later would all be easily obtained. Compared to this, it was even better than being a mortal emperor by hundreds of times. To the majority of the Seven Profound Martial House’s male disciples, this was simply the pinnacle of living, the pinnacle of life!
Lin Ming looked at the Ranking Stone and understood why he was able to achieve such a result. The first reason was that he had broken through to the Altering Muscle stage, so his true essence and strength had increased by a large margin. The second reason was that he had comprehended the concept of wind, and had successfully learned the movement ability, ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’.
In the past, Lin Ming had rarely moved in battle. No matter how aggressive his enemy was or how threatening their killer moves, Lin Ming never escaped!
His fighting method was to completely meet an enemy head on in a battle of toughness. If he is strong, then I am stronger!
In a battle, Lin Ming’s aura was motionless like a mountain that had existed since time immemorial, as if he was that passing cable in a torrentially surging river.
After Lin Ming had reached the Large Success stage in his cultivation method, so far the only one who had been able to force him back was Zhu Yan.
The reason for this method of fighting was mainly because of how formidable Lin Ming’s strength was, and how vigorous his true essence was. What he excelled most at was meeting an enemy head on, of course, but the other reason was because Lin Ming’s speed was just not that fast.
His attack speed was fast enough, but his body speed actually relied upon the ‘Foundation Movement Technique’. The ‘Foundation Movement Technique’ was only the most basic of movement manuals after all. Lin Ming just hadn’t placed much time or effort into cultivating this ‘Foundation Movement Technique’, thus Lin Ming’s accomplishments in terms of agility had remained limited.
If he only rushed forwards, then by relying on his physical strength and vigorous true essence, Lin Ming could reach a certain speed. But if he were to move at strange angles, drifting about in erratic movements, then he did not excel in this aspect.
But, the ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’ was able to completely make up for this insufficiency.
Now that he had comprehended the concept of wind, regardless of whether it was linear velocity or how nimble his movements could be, Lin Ming was already far superior to martial artists at the same cultivation. He could even soar to a stop in the air, and then change direction. These movements completely violated the laws of physics in air.
As he was, he had amazing physical strength, and the true essence in his body was astonishingly thick and pure. Meanwhile, he was a martial artist who had the terrifying ability of ‘Flow like Silk’, and the ghostly speed from ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’. What sort of concept was this?
Words were not enough to describe how powerful he was with all these skills together.
“With my strength as it is now, I don’t know how much worse I am than Zhang Guanyu. If I am weaker, just how much weaker am I? I heard that from the fourth rank on, there was extreme disparity between the fourth rank and Zhang Guanyu’s third…”
The fourth rank and third rank on the Ranking Stone were not even close to the same level.
This time, Lin Ming had not been trying to maximize his score. Otherwise, with his ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’ movements, he would have easily been able flit around and kill enemies at the Bone Forging stage, and greatly increase his score. He could have reached the fourth place ranking, and even had the possibility of reaching third!
However, rankings did not mean everything. Even if Lin Ming’s rank surpassed Zhang Guanyu, it would not mean anything. It had already been a very long time since Zhang Guanyu last participated in the Ten Thousand Killing Array assessment. According to the Crown Prince’s information, Zhang Guanyu currently cultivated the ‘Divine Acacia Power’, and his strength had experienced a tremendous rise.
“Right now I am inferior to Zhang Guanyu. I don’t know how much time it will take to surpass him. The Seven Profound Martial House Master gave me four months to challenge Zhang Guanyu, but I think I will be able to in three!”
Lin Ming didn’t consider defeating Zhang Guanyu to be an insurmountable problem.
“Lin Ming, congratulations.” Qin Xingxuan said with a smile. She had been standing not too far off from the altar, and watching the changes in the Ranking Stone.
“Not only in the top ten, but also the sixth place ranking, really… really not something I expected.” Bai Jingyun said as she also walked over, blinking as she steadily gazed at Lin Ming. She hadn’t thought that Lin Ming’s growth would be so drastic in such a short time.
However, Murong Zi’s state of mind was much better. She distantly glanced at the Ranking Stone, and then looked at Lin Ming as he casually talked to Qin Xingxuan and Bai Jingyun in a friendly manner. She muttered in a low voice, “Farm animals are farm animals, it’s impossible to judge a person just by looking at them.”
The second round of the Ten Thousand Killing Array carried on as usual. However, no one was actually paying attention to this. If not for some disciples that had already put down a true essence stone as down payment, they wouldn’t even have wanted to undergo the assessment.
As the second rounded of the assessment began, an old man wearing a long blue gown walked into the Ten Thousand Killing Array’s ashlar square.
The old man appeared silently; many people hadn’t even noticed that he was there. It was as if he had always been standing there, and no one had ever noticed him.
Lin Ming suddenly started. This was the first time that he had seen this blue-gowned old man. This person had appeared out of nowhere like a ghost!
Lin Ming unconsciously took a step back. On this old man, Lin Ming realized that his breath was even stronger than Muyi’s!
“Greetings, senior.” Although he didn’t know who this old man was, but to appear in the Seven Profound Martial House at this time, he should be one of the top elders of the Seven Profound Martial House. It was even possible that he was the Seven Profound Martial House Master!
Qin Xingxuan discovered this old man at nearly the same time that Lin Ming did. Seeing this old man, she was slightly surprised, immediately bowing, “Greetings, Martial House Master.”
The man laughed and stroked his beard, saying, “Young Child Xingxuan, your words are sweet enough. What Martial House Master am I, I am just a deputy.”
The Seven Profound Martial house had a Martial House Master and two Deputy Martial House Masters.
However, Qin Xingxuan was always awkward greeting the Deputy Martial House Masters, so she ended up greeting them as Martial House Master.
Lin Ming’s heart was slightly cold. It turned out that this old man was the Seven Profound Martial House’s Deputy Master, yet he had managed to acquire peak Houtian stage strength.
If the Deputy House Master had such power, then the Martial House Master was certainly stronger.
However, no matter how strong they were, it would be impossible for them to be a Xiantian stage master. The Martial House Master should also be at the peak Houtian stage. Within those at the peak Houtian stage, there were also those that were weaker and those that were stronger.
As Qin Xingxuan greeted this old man, the disciples present also heard. They hadn’t thought that this old man that suddenly came out of nowhere would be the Seven Profound Martial House Deputy Master!
Suddenly, these disciples felt a cascade of emotions at once. They were panicked, flustered, excited, awed, and scared, all at the same time. This was just like when a commoner suddenly saw the arrival of the emperor. They would fear they did not know what the proper etiquette was, but also feel excited and honored to be in his presence. After all, to the common person, the emperor was a legendary character.
To these low-order disciples, the Martial House Master and the Deputy Martial House master were elusive and secretive in their movements; one would feel their presence, but not see them. There were many Heavenly Abode disciples, who in their entire five years at the Seven Profound Martial House, would never catch even a glimpse of the Martial House Master!
“The Deputy House Master personally came!”
“That’s the Deputy House Master of the Martial House! He really is a true master, I never even noticed that he appeared.”
“Why would the Deputy House Master come here? Would it be to congratulate Lin Ming?”
“I doubt it. But if it’s true, this Lin Ming’s face is just too great this time. Even if a new emperor ascended the throne, it would be very difficult to ask the Martial House Master to attend the crowning ceremony.”
As people were speculating in confusion, at this moment, the old man in blue clothes withdrew an overly long box from his spatial ring. Set upright, this box was even higher than the old man; it was almost 10 feet high.
The box was made from sandalwood. It appeared to be extremely aged, and faintly exuded the scent of rustic wood.
As Lin Ming saw this long box, he had a faint guess in his heart.
Sure enough, when the old man opened the box, revealed inside was a long silk cloth. Between the silk, there was a faint shine of something silver. Without a doubt, this was a spear that was wrapped in the silk!
Heavy Profound Soft Spear!
The old man in blue clothes smiled and said, “Boy, take this spear and have a look.”
Lin Ming took a deep breath, pulled off the silk cloth covering, and took the Heavy Profound Soft Spear in his hand.
As his hand touched the spear shaft, Lin Ming felt an immediate rush of coolness, as if this spear was linking with his flesh and blood.
It had an extremely heavy feeling; the weight had to be above a thousand jins!
The spear was bright silver all around. Even the spearhead was also shiningly silver. The spear’s blade was thin, cold, and strikingly sharp.
The spear shaft was elastic, but to shake it actually required a greater amount of strength than what the Penetrating Rainbow spear required. It was clear that the implicit tension and striking force of the Heavy Profound Soft Spear was much higher than dark purple elastic iron.
Feeling this faintly cool trace of the spear shaft, Lin Ming clearly felt slightly ridged trace lines on the spear shaft. They were just like ripples of water and felt pleasant to the touch.
These kinds of trace marks were not for preventing one’s grip from slipping. Rather, they were from a refiner master who inscribed it upon the barrel of the shaft. These lines had already penetrated into the spear shaft and were similar to an inscription symbol. They had long merged into one organic whole with the spear. Relying on these lines, it enabled one to pour their true essence into the spear and circulate it throughout, finally transforming it into a medium-grade human-step treasure.