Chapter 345 – Reborn
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Huang Sanping’s lips trembled, and his voice shook as he asked, “You… you are Lin Ming?”
Lin Ming glanced at Huang Sanping in surprise; he hadn’t expected that the mewling kid in front of him would guess his identity the moment before his own death. But, it wasn’t too difficult to guess. The strength he had just shown belonged to a sect’s absolute top talent, and this was also the territory of the Seven Profound Valleys. His name had been floating around for a while, ever since Divine Phoenix Island had announced him as their sole heaven-step talent.
This time, Lin Ming had no need to hide anything. He indifferently nodded and said, “That’s right.”
“So you were…” Huang Sanping’s frightened face bent up in an awkward smile. As he smiled, his face began to twitch, and it looked somewhere between an extremely ugly laugh and a cry.
As one of the geniuses on Divine Phoenix Island’s joint talent training program, how could he never have heard the name of Lin Ming, the only heaven-step talent that was listed. A heaven-step talent could enjoy treatment equal to a core disciple of Divine Phoenix Island.
How many people envied?
How many people were jealous?
Huang Sanping had always been an extremely jealous man. When he had heard of this, jealousy had flooded his entire body, incapacitating him. He had always kept a thought in the back of his mind that he would take revenge on Lin Ming one day, but he never thought that…
Genius? How ridiculous!
Huang Sanping had been labeled a genius ever since he was a child. Now, that title, in front of this monster, was nothing more than a joke. In front of this monster, he didn’t even have the slightest ability to resist. Huang Sanping always thought that if he could obtain the treasures left behind by the Moon Seizing Sect, then the future world would be his for the taking. He would become the heroic lead of the entire Sky Spill Continent. But now, all his hopes and dreams seemed incomparably comical, a complete farce.
A monster like Lin Ming was able to swallow the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal with a mere Pulse Condensation period cultivation. Against this person, how could he possibly compare to him in any measure?
Lin Ming looked at Zhou Xinyu and said, “Do you want to do it yourself?”
Lin Ming assumed that the resentment and grudges that ran between Huang Sanping and Zhou Xinyu were deep. If she finished this by her own hands, it would be easier for her to clear her thoughts and spirit.
Zhou Xinyu glared at Huang Sanping with hate seething in her eyes. Although Huang Sanping was severely injured, that still didn’t resolve the hostility in her heart. She had almost been captured by him. And if she were, she would have suffered a life of endless torment, being humiliated daily.
Thinking this, Zhou Xinyu shuddered.
Zhou Xinyu grit her teeth, took out a treasure longsword, and stabbed Huang Sanping’s heart.
Blood shot out, and Huang Sanping’s eyes turned lifeless. As Lin Ming saw this, he sighed; yet another genius had fallen from the skies.
On the path of martial artists, a mediocre person may not have a good life, but a genius could die a miserable death at any time.
Of course, to a sect at the level of Divine Phoenix Island, Huang Sanping couldn’t even be considered a genius; he would have been long eliminated before the Xiantian realm.
The Xiantian realm, Revolving Core realm, and even higher realms above, every stage had a vast number of martial artists that were eliminated from advancement. To talents that were even more amazing and extraordinary than Huang Sanping – like Qin Wuxin – they would be stopped after the Xiantian realm. To talents even more outstanding than Qin Wuxin – like Jiang Baoyun – they might be eliminated from advancing after reaching the Revolving Core realm.
As for talents even more exceptional than Jiang Baoyun – like Mu Qianyu – they might be stopped after becoming a Peerless Emperor…
The path of martial arts was infinite and endless. Lin Ming could feel in his soul that if he didn’t seize every chance to enhance his cultivation, then one day, the destiny of being eliminated would fall upon his own head!
After witnessing the inimitable war within the Realm of the Gods, Lin Ming’s scope of vision had already transcended Sky Spill Continent and stood on a higher level. He would never be complacent with any achievements that he attained.
He knew that he was just a frog in the well that had taken a brief scenic trip on the outside before returning. Even when it came to the most basic of Body Transformation’s realms, the Tempering Marrow boundary, he had only traced the very edge of it.
Lin Ming guessed that in order to fully complete Tempering Marrow, he would need thousands upon thousands of Heaven Opening Pills.
Although the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal was strong, a dozen or so of those crystals could not match up to several thousand Heaven Opening Pills. With the help of half a Shattered Demon Heart Crystal, Lin Ming’s Tempering Marrow was only semi-complete. Even with a dozen more Shattered Demon Heart Crystals, it would still be nearly impossible to thoroughly complete Tempering Marrow.
However, in the path of Tempering Marrow, the quality was much more important than quantity. Normally, the first time a pill was eaten would have the greatest effect. Afterwards, the effects would increasingly weaken every time. Although the Heaven Opening Pill was good, after one or two thousand, Lin Ming would reach the limit of its effectiveness; anything more than that wouldn’t help.
The Shattered Demon Heart Crystal was a top-level high quality potently powerful pill in comparison to the Heaven Opening Pill, but what effects would there still be if he ate 10?
Lin Ming wasn’t sure, but even in a bad situation, he should still be able to complete 60-70% of Tempering Marrow. With that success, he might not even need to fear Ouyang Boyan.
He might even kill him instead.
If this idea of Lin Ming’s was known by other martial artists, they might have died from vomiting blood in anger. The incomparably precious Heaven Opening Pill was actually considered being taken in units of 1000; if they weren’t struck to death by thunder, they would be irritated to death.
After tidying all of Huang Zixuan’s followers, Lin Ming returned to Zhou Xinyu and begun to search through the spatial rings.
Lin Ming didn’t have much hope that these people would have anything too interesting; a third-grade genius’ belongings could only be considered change to him now.
After looking through everything, the only objects of notice were several high-grade human-step treasures, the Moon Seizing Sect’s cultivation method jade slips, several thousand low-grade true essence stones, and also some bottles of pills. Through everything, there wasn’t even a single Heaven Opening Pill.
He didn’t know that the reason Huang Sanping had gotten tangled into this mess was because he had given his Heaven Opening Pill to Huang Zixuan to swallow.
The cultivation method jade slips were all given back to Zhou Xinyu. Naturally, he had no need for things like this. He kept the treasures and pills, for future use or if he needed to give them to anyone. As for the true essence stones, they were kept for spending money. As for the rest, Lin Ming didn’t have much hope, and his Lin Family didn’t need it either. He was preparing to throw it away, but at this moment he took another casual glance and found something interesting.
This wasn’t Huang Zixuan’s or Huang Sanping’s, but it belonged to the weakest eagle handler. It was a very ancient jade slip that contained some sort of technique called the Psychic Soul Art.
In summary, it was a secret method to communicate with beasts. This eagle handler was a complete mess when it came to martial talent and cultivation, and at 40 to 50 years of age had only reached an early Pulse Condensation cultivation, and that was also relying on pills to forcefully raise it. His combat strength wasn’t better than a common martial artist; in fact, it was even worse.
However, because he had a talent that was able to communicate with beasts, he was appointed by the Moon Seizing Sect to handle the golden-winged Heavenly Wind Eagle. It seemed that this eagle handler’s talent had a great connection to this jade slip.
Although this jade slip didn’t seem very practical, it looked like a lot of fun. Thus, Lin Ming readily placed it in his spatial ring.
“Let’s go, we’ll look for a cave to rest in. I have to meditate and restore my true essence.” Lin Ming said to Zhou Xinyu.
“Mm.” Zhou Xinyu timidly nodded. The series of events that just occurred was too shocking for her. Lin Ming, with his Pulse Condensation cultivation had swallowed the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal and hadn’t died. Not only that, but afterwards he had revived and killed Huang Zixuan in less than 10 breaths of time!
However, there were things that confused Zhou Xinyu. The Shattered Demon Heart Crystal was supposedly a top quality miracle medicine that needed one to be at least a Xiantian master to take; its medicinal efficacy could be imagined. Since Lin Ming swallowed half of one at only a cultivation of the Pulse Condensation period, his cultivation should have rapidly risen, directly breaking through to the Houtian realm. But how did he only advance by such a small level that he was stuck in the late Pulse Condensation period?
Zhou Xinyu really couldn’t understand this, but she tactfully decided not to ask.
The two quickly found a distantly hidden mountain cave.
At this time, the sun had just risen.
Inside the mountain cave there was a deep pool that came from a steadily flowing mountain stream; it was very cool and light. Lin Ming said, “I’m going to take a bath, you can wait for me at the entrance.”
Lin Ming’s entire body was currently covered in blood and shorn off black and red skin. His entire body was also in rags. Not taking a bath as soon as he could would be a travesty.
“Mm.” Zhou Xinyu nodded, and then politely waited at the entrance.
Lin Ming finished his bath in a quarter of an hour, and then changed into some loose and unlined clothing from his spatial ring. He had also eaten up some strong true essence supplementary pills, and meditated for a short period of time. The true essence in his body was nearly restored, and the Heretical God Force’s compressed true essence reserves were at maximum capacity.
Then, Lin Ming called Zhou Xinyu into the cave.
When Zhou Xinyu saw Lin Ming after he had trade his clothes and washed off all the bloody scabs and torn skin from his body, she was stunned.
After the preliminary Tempering Marrow, Lin Ming’s looks had changed beyond recognition. Underneath the bloody scabs was the tenderest skin, delicate like a newborn babe. His entire body seemed to be brimming with potent vigor, and the slightly bulging and protruding muscles of his body only seemed to accentuate his healthiness and give him an extremely symmetrical and beautiful appearance, just like a graceful cheetah.
His stature had raised some, making him seem even more righteous and tall.
There were even subtly significant changes to his features. Originally, Lin Ming seemed valiant and noble, but in truth that was because there was a sharp aura that came from his forehead. In terms of Lin Ming’s looks, he couldn’t have been considered too outstanding, but now, after Lin Ming had been reborn, his eyebrows were sharp like swords, his eyes shone like the infinite stars in the sky, and his face seemed to be like the most valuable jade that had been carved by a saber. He was simply a jade-like god, yet not losing any of his sharp fortitude and masculine handsomeness.
All with the simple and unlined blue clothes that clung to his tight and compact body, as he stood illuminated against the rising sun of the morning, and the rays of the dawn sprinkled upon his comely appearance. He seemed to have an ethereal sense of beauty.
All of this caused Zhou Xinyu to fall into a silly trance.
After several breaths, Zhou Xinyu finally came to her senses. She then haltingly said, “Sir Lin… I… I’m sorry for what I did. I thought you died, so…”
Zhou Xinyu was naturally referring to when she had stabbed Lin Ming’s chest with her dagger. Now looking back at it, Zhou Xinyu only thought she was an incompetent fool, she simply had no merits to speak of.
“Forget about it. I know that you were well-intentioned in your actions. But actually, about the Moon Seizing Sect’s hidden treasures, I was wondering if Miss Zhou could tell me?” Lin Ming’s gaze swept past Zhou Xinyu. When Zhou Xinyu had stabbed him, the truth was that he could have dodged. But, he still had finished tempering his marrow with the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal. He also didn’t want to prematurely quicken the true essence stored within the Heretical God Seed; that was the last of his strength.
The reason that Lin Ming had let Zhou Xinyu freely stab him was because he had enough confidence in his own body’s defense after the preliminary Tempering Marrow phase.
“The hidden treasure…” As Zhou Xinyu heard Lin Ming mention this, her face was full of a complex color. She didn’t think there would be a day when the treasures that her master had entrusted to her to revive the Moon Seizing Sect would be personally given to an outsider by her.