Chapter 409 – To the South Sea Battlefield
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“Honorable Sect Master, I would like to request permission to immediately go to Sky Fortune Kingdom so that I may see my parents. I would also like inform Senior-apprentice Sister Mu of my return, and I hope that Honorable Sect Master may help me send the message.”
“Oh…” Mu Yuhuang unconsciously nodded. She didn’t know why, but now that she was facing Lin Ming, she felt something very special. This feeling was vague and indistinct, as if it came from the depths of her bloodline.
Her eyes paused on the light flame marks between Lin Ming’s eyebrows, and she felt her heart suddenly began to beat faster. She couldn’t help but ask, “Lin Ming, just what have you experienced within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm?”
Lin Ming said, “It’s a long story. Honorable Sect Master, what I’m worrying about now are my parents. I just don’t have the time or patience to speak of it all. But when I return, I will have good news to tell you.”
“Good news?” Mu Yuhuang’s heart stirred. She expected that Lin Ming must be referring to his lucky chances. Without a doubt, Lin Ming had experienced a massive stroke of luck within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm.
This was truly good news.
Mu Yuhuang would never have thought that this so-called good news of Lin Ming’s would be referring to the first eight layers of the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’. If this matter were to be announced, then it would cause a massive earthquake within all of Divine Phoenix Island!
“Honorable Sect Master, where is my Winged Flood Dragon?”
“The Winged Flood Dragon is in the pens of the sect. But, its speed is far inferior to the Vermillion Bird. You may go and fly my life’s Vermillion Bird; it will save you some time, and the Vermillion Bird can also protect you.”
Lin Ming was overjoyed. He said, “Thank you, Honorable Sect Master.”
Mu Yuhuang’s Vermillion Bird was in the back of the Vermillion Bird Main Hall. This was a grown up Vermillion Bird, and its wingspan reached 100 feet.
Mu Yuhuang personally escorted Lin Ming to the rear palace. This was her life’s Vermillion Bird, and without her command it would not listen to orders or assist others.
As Mu Yuhuang entered deep into the Main Hall, the Vermillion Bird was already alerted in advance. A Saint Beast was psychic to a certain extent, and also understood the emotions and intent of others. Mu Yuhuang directly said, “Fireshine, this time you bring… mm?”
Because they shared lifeblood, Mu Yuhuang was able to feel the panic and anxiousness coming from Fireshine. Obviously, this sort of anxiousness was because of Lin Ming.
Mu Yuhuang was surprised, what was going on with Fireshine?
“Fireshine, bring Lin Ming to Sky Fortune Kingdom. Before you return to Divine Phoenix Island, make sure that you obey Lin Ming’s orders.” Mu Yuhuang said as she pet Fireshine’s big head. This sort of restless feeling still pervaded within Fireshine’s heart. This caused the doubts in Mu Yuhuang’s heart to deepen. Was it possible that… what Lin Ming had obtained within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm was comparable to that of Divine Phoenix Island’s founder? And that was what caused Fireshine to be so nervous?
As Mu Yuhuang was lost in her thoughts, Lin Ming had already hopped atop the Vermillion Bird and shot into the sky.
A grown Vermillion Bird’s speed far exceeded the max velocity of a Revolving Core powerhouse. Lin Ming could only hear a sharp whistling sound in his ear, and in an instant, he had already left Divine Phoenix Mountain far behind!
Although they were flying at a rapid speed, Lin Ming was still able to sit down and sense Fireshine’s jitters.
He knew that the reason for this was the bloodline within his body. Just two hours ago, he passed the last smelting trial. Since he had finished the general level smelting trial in 10 and a half months, the Palace Spirit had abided by its words and bestowed upon Lin Ming the blood of the Ancient Phoenix.
Before he was infused with the blood, Lin Ming deliberately asked if the reverse scale blood and the blood of the Ancient Phoenix would conflict with each other. The answer he received was that since ancient times, dragons and phoenixes had been friendly with each other and had never conflicted. Instead, they would even mutually support and reinforce the other.
The concentration of the Ancient Phoenix blood was about the same as the reverse scale blood. Although it was just a small amount, it was still enough for any number of Emperor level Supreme Elders to go crazy for it!
The Palace Spirit had used a secret skill to inoculate the blood of the Ancient Phoenix in between Lin Ming’s eyebrows. The blood had been like burning hot lava had been dropped between his eyebrows, and was an incomparably painful feeling, like he had been melting. The blood had completely burned through the spot between Lin Ming’s eyebrows and had finally left behind a flame mark. This flame mark was where the blood of the Ancient Phoenix dwelled!
Lin Ming tried to comfort Fireshine after sitting down, calming it down as much as he could. Fireshine finally seemed to sense Lin Ming’s good intentions, and gradually no longer feared him.
With a shrill cry, they rapidly flew. Through the endless sea of clouds before them, they quickly left everything behind…
……………
War had already erupted for a full 10 months. The total number of people that died on the three great islands within the open sea battlefield was more than the combined number of every single other battlefield together.
And of these three great islands, the most dangerous was the land known as Blood Demon Island.
Blood Demon Island was similar to the Dark Moon Island, where Lin Ming had gone before to look for the Moon Seizing Sect’s hidden depository. There had once been an unparalleled and cataclysmic war within the South Sea, and Dark Moon Island and Blood Demon Island had both been battlefields. At that time, many powerhouses had died there.
This Blood Demon Island was the eye of the South Sea demons’ origins. All year long, demonic blood energy would gather, filling the air with a dense red fog. Here, countless blood demons would be born and multiply that could absorb the blood essence of others; it was an incomparably dangerous land.
By all rights, a land like this should have been a barren island just like Dark Moon Island. But Blood Demon Island also had an extremely high quality true essence stone lode, and was ripe with medium-grade true essence stones. This allowed Blood Demon Island to have value to be developed and used.
These blood demons were usually suppressed and eliminated by Divine Phoenix Island. They did not dare to rebel, and usually hid deep underground. But now, Divine Phoenix Island and the South Sea Demon Region were at war with each other, and a massive number of martial artists had died on Blood Demon Island. Now, this island became a paradise for these blood demons. Every day they would absorb fresh blood essence, allowing them to rapidly grow in strength.
The contest that revolved around Blood Demon Island had already continued for over three months. In these past three months, both sides had launched attacks against each other, struggling for land. Not only were the two forces fighting, but they were also plundering the resources within the mineral lodes. Before, Divine Phoenix Island had managed the mining of this island and they wouldn’t damage the spiritual pulse of Blood Demon Island. But now, who would still care about conservation matters like this? Everyone had bet their lives on plundering, and had plundered everything they could. A medium-grade true essence stone was extremely precious, not even the Moon Seizing Sect’s hidden treasure vault had held many of them.
However, no matter how valuable medium-grade true essence stones were, the ongoing war on Blood Demon Island was just too bloody and savage. Thus, Divine Phoenix Island acquiesced and allowed everyone who participated in the war on Blood Demon Island to mine true essence stones and give them to their own sect.
Qin Xingxuan’s battlefield was Blood Demon Island…
Peng!
Qin Xingxuan’s sword cut apart a blood demon. Her face was pale like paper; she had been on Blood Demon Island for almost a month.
In this month, she had been severely injured several times. Now, what kept her walking was the support of her own convictions. The wounds began to pile up within her body, and caused damage to the very source of her life. Her body was far too thin and bony, and the fires of her life were like a dim candle flickering in the wind. If this continued, she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to hang on.
“Oh, you’re still alive.”
A cynical voice sounded near her. The one who spoke was the Acacia Faction’s inner court disciple, Ou Xiong. He was the one who had delivered the Seven Profound Command to Qin Xingxuan, and had also threatened her to come here with the life of her family on the line.
“It’s you… get out of my way!” Qin Xingxuan bit her lips, her eyes frosty.
Ou Xiong’s complexion was cold, but soon eased down. “Junior-apprentice Sister Qin, how about you don’t lose your temper so easily. Ah, let’s talk about it if you’re so angry then. How about you tell me where Lin Ming’s parents are hiding, and then once I verify this, I’ll let you return.”
“Dream on!” Qin Xingxuan coldly humphed before turning around and walking away.
Ou Xiong’s complexion completely sunk. “Humph. Qin Xingxuan, don’t forget that your Qin Family has already been placed under house arrest in Sky Fortune Kingdom! I hope you don’t want anything to happen to your grandfather!”
Qin Xingxuan instantly stiffened. Her fists clenched until her nails dug into the meat of her palms and drew blood. “I don’t know! Lin Ming’s parents were not handled by me, nor have I seen them!”
Ou Xiong’s eyes turned. He thought that Qin Xingxuan’s words rang true. After all, Lin Ming’s parents were arranged somewhere else by Qin Ziya, so Qin Xingxuan naturally wouldn’t know. Qin Ziya was nonetheless an elder, and also one of those fancy righteous characters. Although Ouyang Boyan had a very wide network of friends, it was unlikely that he would be able to deal with Qin Ziya.
“Good. I’ll believe you for now. So give me your true essence stones. These days, I heard that you managed to obtain quite a few!” Ou Xiong said. He extended his hands towards Qin Xingxuan and rubbed his fingers together.
The Seven Profound Valleys had ruled that whoever mined medium-grade true essence stones would be able to keep 60% of them. This was a very high reward that corresponded to the very high risk of being on this island.
“Rest assured, I only want 60%. As for the other 40%, you can deliver them.” Ou Xiong said as he proudly smiled.
Qin Xingxuan’s lips trembled. Oh how she wished she could chop this Ou Xiong in half!
Ou Xiong also felt the bone-deep hatred that was emanating from Qin Xingxuan. He casually said, “Junior-apprentice Sister Qin, you should know that Qin Ziya is occupied with military orders and cannot leave his island even half a step. If he leaves though, that would be even better. Then Elder Ouyang would have an excuse to accuse him of a crime! In any case, who were you counting on to protect your Qin Family? You are a Seven Profound Valleys disciple, so you are protected by the rules and regulations that govern us. However, your Qin Family is not. Do not forget your grandfather. Hehe, trading some true essence stones for a few months of your grandfather’s safety… what a valuable a trade that is! And you won’t be living much longer, so leaving any true essence stones with you would be a waste.”
Ouyang Boyan had used secular means of the mortal world to deal with Qin Xingxuan. This was completely within the rules of the Seven Profound Valleys. In a normal kingdom, clearing out officials that were accused of fomenting a rebellion was a common matter. So, this left Qin Xingxuan in a basically helpless situation! With her grandfather in their hands, they also held onto Qin Xingxuan’s weak point.
In this world, strength was everything! If one had enough strength, even the so-called rules of the Seven Profound Valleys were nothing but pieces of paper!
Qin Xingxuan clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white and bit her lips until they bled. She tossed out the medium-grade true essence stones in her spatial ring; there was no longer any meaning for her to keep these.
As Ou Xiong received the bag of true essence stones, he squeezed his hand and then suddenly grinned. “That’s the way! Junior-apprentice Sister Qin, good work! I’ll come back in a few days to visit you again. In truth, you don’t have to do this you know. As long as you nod your head and be a good little girl, you can go take care of Elder Ouyang. If you do, I guarantee that you’ll be alright. What do you want to suffer all this pain for? If you’re not careful, you might fall here, or even be captured by some devil art martial artist who will use you to cultivate their Yin energy. That feeling is truly to die for! Hahaha!”
Ou Xiong greedily glanced at Qin Xingxuan’s figure and then swaggered away as he laughed.
Qin Xingxuan clenched her teeth, but she still couldn’t stop the tears from running down her cheeks, her eyes dimming.
“Lin Ming… if you can hear me in the underworld, then please, bless me… I would come down to be with you, but I cannot let anything happen to my grandfather!”
………………
In the endless sea, Qin Ziya sat alone on the beach, his fingers drifting across his zither as the sea breeze washed over him. In this South Sea war, his duty was to guard this island as well as the inferior true essence stone vein that existed there…
Qin Ziya had to strictly follow the military orders, he couldn’t even take one step off this island. Otherwise, he would be deposed by the sect rules.
As Qin Ziya heaved a deep sigh, he painfully smiled. What meaning was there to cultivation the martial path? What meaning was there to have talent that far exceeded anyone in the Sky Fortune Kingdom? In front of absolute strength, he was nothing but a drifting cloud…
As he sighed with emotion, at this moment, a dazzling flame lit in front of Qin Ziya; this was a super long-range sound transmitting talisman!
As soon as he heard the message from the sound transmitting talisman, Qin Ziya suddenly shook, all of the strings breaking under his fingers!