Chapter 179 – Three Astonishing Treasures
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“Die!”
Lin Ming stepped forwards, his long spear was like a winding venomous serpent; Flowers in the Storm!
Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding!
In that moment, Lin Ming exchanged a legion of blows against the phantom martial artist. In a collision of sword and spear, Lin Ming’s strikes weren’t any slower!
“Power of Thunder!”
The sound of crackling electricity sizzled in the air. A thick bolt of purple lightning flashed down and stunned the sword-wielding Pulse Condensation Period martial artist until his whole was numb.
Lin Ming raised his spear and stabbed out again, but at this time, the halberd wielding martial artist struck too!
Clang!
Lin Ming used his spear to meet the halberd, and the two pole weapons intersected. The nine foot nine inch Heavy Profound Soft Spear roughly defended against the thick halberd.
That strike had contained the full strength of the middle Pulse Condensation Period martial artist, and yet it had been fended off by Lin Ming!
“You’re done!”
Lin Ming opened the Heretical God Force. A large quantity of thunder and fire fused into one, and a small electric fireball the size of a head appeared on the Heavy Profound Soft Spear.
“Thunderfire Annihilation!”
Bang!
The force of the highly compressed thunder and flame erupted at once in a ruinous explosion. Ten thousand gleaming blades of golden light pierced through the jet-black night sky, and an incomparably powerful air wave scattered in all directions. Several nearby phantom martial artists were sent flying out!
The halberd-wielding middle Pulse Condensation Period martial artist was completely enveloped in the destructive power of the savage explosion. All his organs shattered to bits and he immediately died on the spot.
Under the suppression of so many martial artists surrounding him, Lin Ming had used a single move to kill the middle Pulse Condensation Period martial artist. Lin Ming was a bit stunned himself. Unknowingly, his battle prowess had actually risen to this degree.
A pure and potent heaven and earth origin energy several times thicker than before flowed into Lin Ming’s body. All of the true essence within Lin Ming’s body was nourished by this heaven and earth origin energy as it flowed into his bones and muscles. Lin Ming had just entered the Bone Forging stage, and yet his cultivation had already been consolidated.
Lin Ming was surprised. At this rate, it might even be possible for his cultivation to soar to the peak of Bone Forging!
When that happened, just how far would his combat prowess rise?
Now that he had killed the strongest martial artist here, the strange gravitational pull that was hindering his movements was released. Along with Lin Ming’s enhanced strength and the dwindling number of enemies, the pressure he faced was greatly reduced.
He no longer needed to flit around the edges and engage in diversionary tactics; now he could directly storm into the group of enemies!
The peak Bone Forging martial artists were no longer a threat to him. With a sweep of the Heavy Profound Soft Spear, several Bone Forging martial artists were violently killed. As the number of enemies decreased, Lin Ming only grew stronger!
In only half an incense stick of time, more than a dozen corpses littered the ground. In front of Lin Ming, there were only four Pulse Condensation Period martial artists left, but his cultivation had already reached the Large Success of Bone Forging!
There was no longer any suspense in this battle.
Even the early Pulse Condensation Period martial artists had stopped being Lin Ming’s opponent.
In a single breath, he mowed down the four remaining martial artists, and Lin Ming’s cultivation reached the peak of Bone Forging!
“Peak Bone Forging…” Lin Ming took a deep breath and clenched his fists. He felt as if his entire body was filled with a formidable energy; he was stronger than he had ever been!
During this fifth trial, Lin Ming’s strength had risen by an unbelievable amount; even he felt that it was a surreal experience.
If it wasn’t for his strength having experienced such a sudden increase, there was no way he could have passed this trial.
If the sixth trial also enhanced his cultivation, he could achieve the Pulse Condensation Period, or even Large Success of Pulse Condensation?
However, the possibility of this wasn’t high. This method of absorbing massive amounts of extremely pure heaven and earth origin energy to rapidly raise one’s strength was similar to eating rare and valuable materials. One couldn’t infinitely increase their cultivation; otherwise it would become extremely unstable.
At this moment, Yan Mo appeared. It gazed at Lin Ming for a moment before saying, “Congratulations. For the last 19,000 years of the life and death smelting trial, you are the most talented youth that I have seen! I look forward to seeing if you will pass the sixth trial. Since ancient times, no one has ever managed to do this. You have three hours to restore your strength.”
“No one’s ever passed since ancient times?” Lin Ming frowned. “If no one’s ever passed the sixth level, then wouldn’t the seventh simply be ridiculously outrageous? Didn’t Senior Sorcerer set the difficulty for this too high?”
Yan Mo replied, “This arrangement was decided upon by the master, I have no right to comment on the process and rules that Master has chosen. It is possible that Master overestimated the talent of those within the Southern Wilderness. Master may also have deliberately done so. The Sorcerer Pagoda will continue to exist for tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. Just because no one has managed to pass through the sixth level in these last 19,000 years does not imply that there will not be the most outstanding geniuses in the future that will seize the opportunity. I am afraid that this is the wish of Master. Master has left behind three gifts as rewards for those who complete the life and death smelting trial. When a treasure is gone, there will be one less. If the difficulty was too low, then they would have already been taken by now.”
Lin Ming asked, “In these last 19,000 years, how many people have participated in the life and death smelting trial, and where did they end up?”
Yan Mo said, “There have been 32 individuals that have entered the life and death smelting trial so far. Three people were stopped at the Animal trial, 26 were halted by the Witch Slave. Of these 29 people, seven have died! Only three have managed to pass through the Witch Slave trial, and only one person has managed to defeat the Mortal trial. Now, you are the second. I hope that you will complete the full smelting trial and receive one of the three treasures that were left behind by Master.”
Complete all the trials? Lin Ming took a deep breath. To be honest, he didn’t have any assurances that he would pass once he experienced the fourth trial. Starting from there, the difficulty had simply risen too fast and dramatically. If it wasn’t for his cultivation abruptly rising in the fifth trial, then he would never have arrived here.
“What are those three treasures? May I take a look?” Lin Ming politely asked.
“You may.” Yan Mo did not hide anything from Lin Ming. In fact, he would have had to show these three treasures to Lin Ming and let him choose one of them.
With a thought from Yan Mo, the space in front of him began to distort, and three treasures appeared before Lin Ming.
Of these three treasures, the first was a dark-golden colored scroll. It was a foot wide, with two axles that were made from some sort of ancient animal bones. The surfaces of the axles were smooth like silk, and the scroll was thickly rolled. Just from looking at it, one could sense a vast and endlessly ancient air rushing forth!
The second was a deep, crimson colored quartz crystal. In the center of this quartz was sealed a small, scarlet filament, as if it was being held within.
The quartz was a type of mineral crystal that contained a needle-like material inside. It was different in shape and form, and because it formed a hair inside, it was quartz, and was more common than regular crystals.
However, what was strange was that in normal quartz, the strip inside the crystal would be still. However, the filament inside of this ‘quartz’ seemed to be slowly moving as it hovered inside the quartz, not unlike a small snake. It was like the interior of that red quartz was liquid. It was simply a very magical and mysterious phenomenon.
The third was a milky white jade bottle covered with beautiful patterns. Although Lin Ming didn’t know what was inside of the jade bottle, just watching it made Lin Ming feel somewhat scared. It seemed as if that jade bottle contained some profound mysterious or the highest order; if one looked for too long, they would be lost within it.
Of these three treasures, Lin Ming couldn’t help but find himself short of breath. He had thought that the Sorcerer might have left behind some sort of godly weapon, but he didn’t think that the Sorcerer would have left behind three items which he couldn’t discern the use of.
Although he didn’t know what these three treasures were, just by feeling the faint aura that they emitted, Lin Ming could tell that they were incomparably extraordinary items.
Lin Ming’s heart quickened; he wished that he could take all three treasures for himself.
Unfortunately… he could only choose one, and the premise behind that was to pass the seventh level!
“What sort of uses do these treasures have?” Lin Ming asked. If he could only choose one, then he had to ascertain their function and carefully consider them.
But he hadn’t expected Yan Mo to say, “I’m sorry, but I cannot specially explain or show you the use or effect of these treasures. This is because the values of these treasures are not the same. To ensure the fairness of the Sorcerer Pagoda’s smelting trial, you will have to choose yourself.
“The values aren’t the same?” Lin Ming frowned. It seemed he could only rely on his luck. Which one was the most valuable?
Of the three treasures, each one seemed to be a peerless ancient treasure. However, Lin Ming had already eliminated the possibility of choosing the dark-gold ancient scroll. This scroll was most likely a record of some cultivation method or martial skill, or even a manuscript of alchemy or refining techniques.
It might even be the cultivation method that the Sorcerer practiced himself, which he sorted out to hand down to the future generations.
Of course, a top cultivation was certainly precious. To a martial artist, it could even be considered the vital aspect of their martial arts foundation. However, Lin Ming already had many of these sorts of things, and in the future he would also receive many new ones. Because of this, Lin Ming did not wish for the Sorcerer’s cultivation method.
What was left over was the patterned jade bottle and that quartz with the red filament sealed inside.
Of these two treasures, which was more precious?
Lin Ming guessed that there was some sort of miraculous elixir inside of the jade bottle.
Most elixirs were used to increase one’s cultivation, and there were even a few that could improve one’s physical strength or temper the body and so on.
As for the red quartz, he had absolutely no idea what that was or what its use was. He experimentally probed with his soul force, but found that his soul force simply could not penetrate into the red quartz. It was as if there was another world inside of that red quartz. Lin Ming could not tell if that red filament was a living being or something dead.
“What could that red filament be? If it’s a live creature, could it be a contract beast or smart beast? And what would that even be used for? If it’s just an inanimate object, could it be a precious material that is used to refine artifacts or treasures? Or, could it be eaten and used to increase one’s cultivation?
As Lin Ming looked at that red quartz, he had a suddenly intense impulse to choose it, to see just what use it had.
Yan Mo did not urge Lin Ming to do anything. He merely stood aside, quietly suspended in the air, despite Lin Ming constantly probing the three treasures with his soul force.
After a quarter hour had passed, Lin Ming gritted his teeth and finally came to a decision. “I choose the red quartz!”
In the end, he had not been able to resist that intense urge that had grown within his heart. Although miracle medicines were good, Lin Ming’s current body condition was already very good, and in the future he would most likely have more opportunities to obtain treasures that could improve his physique.
As for cultivation enhancements, as long as he diligently practiced, then it would be the same as accumulating his cultivation through the years.
As for the red quartz, Lin Ming didn’t know why, but he had an intense foreboding feeling that if he were to miss this opportunity to choose it, then he would never be able to obtain it again.