Chapter 342 – Marrow like Golden Soup
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When Lin Ming had swallowed the Heaven Opening Pill, he had only been able to temper a portion of his right hand because of the limited medicinal efficacy.
After Tempering Marrow, Lin Ming’s right hand experienced a massive increase in defensive power and attack power. But, at most it was equal to another trump card; the overall increase in Lin Ming’s total strength wasn’t too great.
This time, Lin Ming decided to use half of the energy to temper both of his hands, and the other half to temper his entire body.
Only when his entire body had undergone Tempering Marrow would his overall strength rise.
Pa pa pa!
With a sound that was like firewood crackling in flames, Lin Ming grit his teeth and began to revolve the ‘Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians’. The manic energy burned through the impurities of his marrow. This painful ache as if one’s bones were being set on fire could be imagined.
Lin Ming was supporting himself with his will alone. Once the energy had been swallowed into his body, it could only be refined; failure meant immediate death!
With the advancement of the tempering, a blackish-red color began to appear on Lin Ming’s body, and a violent energy surged everywhere in his body. Lin Ming’s body quickly heated to a scalding temperature, and blood seeped out from his pores, covering him in a shell of red blood, seeming as if it would tear like broken paper at the slightest touch.
From the side, Zhou Xinyu could only watch in shock. Where did Lin Ming resemble a human at this moment? He was like a fish that had been taken out from a pool of blood and then dried out over a fire. The fact that Lin Ming was alive right now was a miracle in itself.
In fact, to swallow the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal at the Pulse Condensation period and still last for over half an hour and already surpassed the scope of Zhou Xinyu’s understanding.
However, it didn’t seem as if this miracle could continue. Lin Ming’s breath was becoming increasingly faint, and whilst he had been painfully struggling before, his struggles were weakening, like a lamp that was almost out of oil. Finally, he stopped moving altogether, his expression frozen in time like a crimson sculpture. His twisted face looked like a suffering soul that had been nailed to an execution column in hell.
Zhou Xinyu’s heart began to gradually sink.
In this situation, it was meaningless even if Lin Ming survived. All of the blood in his body seemed to have been drained away. Lin Ming didn’t even have strength anymore, not to mention his combat strength.
If he was in a safe and secure room, with the support of many precious medicines and under the care of masters, Lin Ming might have been able to be reborn from this trial. For a mere Pulse Condensation period youth to swallow a Shattered Demon Heart Crystal and survive, his future achievements could be imagined!
However… he wouldn’t have this opportunity. He had chosen the wrong place and the wrong time to swallow the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal. Even with his talent, this was pushing it too far!
Hong hong hong!
Outside the dreamland enchantment, the attacks of Huang Zixuan and his group began again!
Zhou Xinyu closed her eyes in anguish and took out a coldly shining dagger from her spatial ring. Zhou Xinyu had been prepared for this from the time that Lin Ming had absorbed the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal. If Lin Ming died, she would commit suicide. If she fell into Huang Sanping’s hands, her fate might be worse than death.
The dreamland enchantment began to shake more and more fiercely. In this half hour, Huang Zixuan had been waiting outside of the enchantment, never leaving. During this time period, they would bombard the enchantment every once in a while.
Even though Zhou Xinyu didn’t understand anything about array formations or this enchantment, she was still able to see that the energy that supported the dreamland enchantment was being continuously consumed; it probably wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
Ka ka ka –
Because of the violent tremors, the ground under Zhou Xinyu’s feet had cracked, and the rocks had broken open. It looked no different than a crushed cookie.
The violent storm of attacks lasted for another quarter hour and then died down. It was probably because Huang Zixuan feared he would consume too much energy, and even if he broke the enchantment, he wouldn’t have the strength to stop Lin Ming from escaping. Thus, after every quarter hour of attacks, he would stop and sit down, meditating and restoring himself to his best battle state.
Zhou Xinyu let out a long breath and turned to look at Lin Ming. She was surprised to see that with Lin Ming’s terrifying appearance, he had stopped bleeding. It wasn’t that his wounds had healed, but rather that he had reached the point where there was no more blood to flow.
His skin blackened red and cracking, his blood charred into a shell of blood, it was like he had gone through the ancient torture of being sliced up and then tied to a blazing copper pillar.
Only that method could mimic Lin Ming’s miserable appearance at this time.
If she hadn’t been able to feel a faint, nearly invisible breath coming from Lin Ming, Zhou Xinyu would have thought that he already died.
Zhou Xinyu’s heart surged with waves of despair. She couldn’t depend on Lin Ming. Although he had created a miracle and didn’t die after swallowing the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal with his Pulse Condensation period cultivation for an hour, at present, how could he have the ability to fight?
Zhou Xinyu stared at the dagger in her hands. She made her decision. When the enchantment broke, she would first kill Lin Ming, and then commit suicide. After all, the only reason that Lin Ming had ended up in this state was because of her. If she let Lin Ming fall into their hands, his death would be even more tragic.
One hour… two hours… three hours…
Lin Ming seemed dead. Sitting on the broken rock, his eyes dull and lifeless, the only sign that he was alive was the weak fire of life that burned within him.
From the outside, he didn’t appear any different than a corpse that was charred in a fire; there wasn’t even blood. But throughout Lin Ming’s entire body, the marrow was slowly coated in a pale gold color…
Energy tempering marrow!
The moment that Lin Ming’s blood had run dry, he had been surprised to find that the tempering marrow process became much easier!
Because his blood was exhausted, the unforgettable pain had numbed his entire body. At this point where it was nearly impossible for him to direct the flow of true essence in his body, he found that the energy that tempered his marrows proceeded at a much smoother pace!
Then, he realized that blood and marrow were originally intertwined. Marrow gave birth to blood, and blood fed the marrow, both of them dependent on each other.
Thus, if one wanted to temper marrow, they had to change their blood first!
It was only when the old blood was drained away, the marrow was tempered, and new blood regenerated, would it be the complete Tempering Marrow process.
Therefore, Lin Ming no longer tried to stop his body’s old blood from leaking, letting it cleanly flow out. As for Lin Ming, relying on his strong inner vitality, he was just barely able to maintain the fire of his life.
As the eastern sky brightened in the dawn, the golden color of Lin Ming’s marrow became increasingly rich, as if golden flakes were mixed within.
Marrow like golden soup!
At the moment that Lin Ming finished absorbing the medicinal efficacy of the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal, his new and improved marrow began to regenerate blood.
With the rapid consumption of the origin energy within Lin Ming’s body, new blood flowed unceasingly from his marrow.
This new blood was incomparably thick and heavy, just like red mercury flowing in his blood vessels. Wherever this blood went, the wounds would rapidly heal.
The recovery of Lin Ming’s body and the production of new blood rapidly consumed Lin Ming’s true essence. Although Lin Ming’s true essence was extremely thick, over half of it was still used.
However, after the true essence had been consumed to a certain point, the compressed true essence in the Heretical God Seed automatically released itself. The energy of the Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder and the Earthcore Crimson Flame were also released along with it. The power of thunder and fire, especially the power of thunder, contained an extremely raw and vibrant force of life.
Legends said that in the most ancient of times, when the infinite universe was in primal chaos, there was no life. It was only when thunder struck the ancient sea were the most primitive of life forms born.
With the raw and lively power of thunder helping to complete the final Tempering Marrow process, a faint purple light appeared in the thick, new blood, as if lightning had fused into the blood.
Lin Ming’s body underwent many subtle changes. But, from all appearances, the fire of Lin Ming’s life still seemed incomparably weak. His true essence had hidden within the Heretical God Seed – aside from Lin Ming himself, no one else could feel this.
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Bang!!
Outside of the enchantment, Huang Zixuan and his group began another round of attacks. Huang Zixuan was already impatient, he hadn’t expected that such a fragile looking enchantment would actually be so tough.
“Second Uncle, let’s use our finishing blows together, we can’t let this drag on any further. It’s already been over three hours, if this continues much longer, reinforcements might arrive. When that happens, it will be extremely troublesome.”
Huang Zixuan hesitated. Before now he had always been staying his hand, in fear that even if he broke the enchantment, he would consume too much of his strength and wouldn’t be able to grab Lin Ming. Now after so many repeated delays, he had gradually and finally lost his patience. It was just like Huang Sanping said. In the end, this was the territory of the Seven Profound Valleys and that boy seemed to be some renowned genius from a sect. If they stayed here too long, a master might come to rescue him.
“Alright, let’s attack together!”
Huang Zixuan gave a clear, loud cough, and the black fog around his body began to thicken. His Third Brother and also that short, weak man also began to prepare their finishing blows.
As they attacked together, their strike was like a brilliant comet that cut a shining bright path through the air, smashing into the dreamland enchantment.
Bang!
In the hazy dawn of the valley, a dazzling sun seemed to rise. The earth shook, and massive amounts of rocks and stones flew into the air. Several massive craters dozens of feet deep had appeared in the ground underneath the dreamland enchantment.
The protective enchantment dramatically deformed, like a drifting boat riding massive waves in the high sea. All the rocks around the enchantment had broken, and Zhou Xinyu’s face was incomparably white, her forehead beaded with sweat.
“Try harder!”
Huang Sanping shouted. The one that had used the most effort here was him. After all, regardless of how much true essence he used, he still wouldn’t be Lin Ming’s match, so he was able to go all out.
Huang Zixuan frowned. He ignored the energy in his body which was no longer at its optimum level, and grit his teeth as he released another powerful martial skill.
Ka ka ka…
With the sound of cracking glass, the dreamland enchantment that had withstood a massive barrage of attacks for a long time was finally nearly depleted of energy, visible cracks appearing on the barrier.
Seeing these cracks, Zhou Xinyu stopped breathing for a moment. No one wanted to die, especially her since she still had a deep blood feud she wanted to settle. Under this enormous pressure, she clenched her teeth. The reason that she was persisting until the last moment was because she was waiting for some miracle to occur.