Chapter 485 – Exposed
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After sneaking past the barrier, Lin Ming glanced around to see the entry hole he went through slowly vanishing. At this rate, a human wouldn’t be able to pass through in another quarter of an hour. That meant there really was no path to escape; all he could do was tread forwards and leave through the transmission array within the Imperial Palace.
This was one of the few bits of valuable information from the memories of the Demon Emperor. The premise of this was that he could obtain some treasures and leave, otherwise the transmission array wouldn’t be that helpful.
Lin Ming sighed a long breath, and slowly walked into the Demon God Imperial Palace.
The main temple of the Demon God Imperial Palace occupied a swathe of land almost a hundred miles wide. Its peaks grazed the sky, and the inside was incomparably vast. This massive main temple was no different from its own mini country
The main temple door was over 200 feet high. On both sides of the large doors, there were great demon statues that were hundreds of feet tall. These statues were formed from blood-red rock, and they had long wings behind them. Their expressions were extremely ferocious and cruel.
As Lin Ming entered through the main entrance, he saw a massive hall over 1000 feet wide. Dozens upon dozens of thick columns vaulted towards the heavens, vanishing into the dark.
In this main hall, there were 10 tunnels, each leading to a different area of the Demon God Imperial Palace. Lin Ming chose according to his memories, and walked over to the first path on the very left. This large path was 40 to 50 feet high, and the ground was covered with all sorts of runes. The walls to the side were hewed from thick sparkling crystal. Although the tunnel was sealed off from the sun, there was still a light that came from somewhere that clearly illuminated everything.
There were many spells etched into the walls and ground. Wanting to break open these walls was no easier than breaking through the great protective array of the Imperial Palace.
A long corridor spread forth. From time to time, Lin Ming could see stone doors at the side. Every stone door was engraved with exquisite reliefs and images; these were probably because of the spells that were placed on them. Even though tens of thousands of years had passed, there was surprisingly not even a single grain of dust. The fine golden reliefs shined with a dazzling bright light.
As Lin Ming calmed his heart, he could faintly feel a trace of residual true essence; these were true essence fluctuations that were left behind from a violent fight.
“These true essence fluctuations must be from when those Life Destruction fellows fought the puppets here. According to this, it seems those old fellows were just here an hour ago. Even though the battle was so violent, there isn’t the least bit wreckage. Those old fellows probably divided the trash and took it away so that they could research it when they returned…”
Lin Ming was able to quickly estimate the situation that had happened about an hour ago. These ancient puppets had a great research value. If they could imitate them, then the value they had to a sect’s strength would be immense; taking away the remains wasn’t anything strange.
At this moment, Lin Ming could hear faint rumbling explosions in the distance. He was well aware that this sound was from the Life Destruction powerhouses once again fighting the guard puppets.
Following far behind these people wasn’t necessarily any better, or even safe. If he encountered some puppets that they left behind, then he would be in danger. Not just that, but he wouldn’t be able to obtain any treasures from following behind these fellows.
Thinking of this, Lin Ming bitterly sighed. He didn’t have a better way to approach this.
He could only continue from here and hope that the Life Destruction powerhouses would spread out. If his luck was good, he might be able to pick up some things that they forgot.
If he caught up to them, not only would he not obtain any treasures, he might even call a calamity down upon himself.
After all, he was the one who had slain Lei Mubai. When he entered this broken world, he still had his appearance changing technique. Because those Revolving Core martial artists had their strength suppressed to such a low state, they weren’t able to see through Lin Ming’s disguise. But in front of these Life Destruction powerhouses, Lin Ming wasn’t so stupid as to fool himself into believing it would still work.
The South Sea Demon Region Elders might not have seen his picture. If there was some South Sea Demon Region Elder here that shared a blood relation with Lei Mubai, there was a chance that they would instantly kill him.
Although Mu Fengxian and the Great Zen Temple had reached an agreement to cooperate, whether or not the Great Zen Temple’s Abbot Baimei would protect him was another matter altogether.
“From the sounds I just heard, they should be no less than ten thousand feet away. But for caution’s sake, I’ll still wait a bit, just in case something might happen.”
Facing these Life Destruction old fellows, Lin Ming had to be extremely careful. Any one of these fellows could casually be a monster that lived for over a thousand years. Whether it was cultivation or calculating, it wasn’t something he could compare with.
Struggling for treasures with these people was difficult to the point of making one feel despair.
After Lin Ming waited for around an incense stick of time, he felt a faint unease in his heart, as if something was wrong.
After a few breaths of times, his complexion suddenly changed. He turned around, wanting to run away, but just as he took one step, he froze where he was, his face going completely dark and gloomy.
He had been found out!
As he listened to those faint explosive sounds a moment ago, he had guessed that they were ten thousand feet away. From such a far distance, Lin Ming didn’t believe that these Life Destruction fellows would be able to sense him under the suppressive laws of this world. But, the fact was that they could; this was simply inconceivable. A moment ago, as he wanted to run away, an ice-cold voice from one of those strange old fellows sounded in his mind.
“If you do not want to die, then immediately come out!”
What bad luck!
Lin Ming felt that his entire trip through this broken world could be described as heaven-defying bad luck!
From the time that the broken world had been opened, Lin Ming had entered two times. Not only did he not obtain even the slightest lucky chance, he instead drew all sorts of troubles onto himself.
He had killed a Revolving Core Elder that had tried to sneak attack him, and this matter was discovered by the South Sea Demon Region, causing a fierce battle. Then, there was a betrayal that occurred from within Divine Phoenix Island. Lin Ming didn’t know what Mu Chihuo’s goal was, but that man was willing to sacrifice everything to kill him.
Lin Ming had been forced into a dead end and had to risk swallowing the soul fragment of the Demon Emperor, and nearly lost his life in exchange. And what was most depressing was that even with the new information he had obtained, his chances of obtaining the Nirvana Dragon Root were still as slim as before.
He had risked death and finally snuck into the Demon God Imperial Palace. But just as he was only a little bit in, these Life Destruction fellows had actually used some sort of method to discover him!
Lin Ming wanted to cry until there were no more tears left. Nothing had gone well for him since he had entered this broken world.
Lin Ming felt as if he was being locked in place by some suppressive energy; his complexion became extremely ugly!
He couldn’t escape!
If this was an Elder of the South Sea Demon Region who was related to Lei Mubai in some way…
Lin Ming didn’t dare to imagine this scenario. But at this moment, a true essence sound transmission was sent out once more.
“I’ll give you 30 breaths of time. Come out now, or all that awaits you is… death! This old man’s patience is at its limit!”
Lin Ming bitterly sighed. He could only brace himself and move forwards. In this case, there was nothing he could do to resist. He could only pray that the Great Zen Temple would protect him under their wing, and at worst pay some price to do so.
This 10,000 foot path was an extremely long walk. As Lin Ming paced down the hall, he could clearly hear every step in the corridors, and even the echo of his own footsteps.
He wanted to understand how he was found. There was no way that these Life Destruction old fellows had a perception that could stretch so far back. The only possibility was that they had left a spell behind, and as soon as Lin Ming had walked past or touched it, he had been discovered!
As Lin Ming realized this, his complexion became increasingly bitter. He didn’t think that these old fellows would be careful to this extent.
As 30 breaths of time slowly passed, Lin Ming thought about what countermeasures he could take. But in the end he couldn’t think of anything that could work.
As he reached the end of the path, he turned a corner and came upon an incomparably broad space. Although Lin Ming had the memories of the Demon Emperor, and knew just how massive the halls of the Demon God Imperial Palace were, seeing with his own eyes was still utterly shocking.
The length and width of this hall was a thousand feet long and wide, and also several thousands of feet high; it was enough to hold a small mountain.
On the vast ground, there were countless obsidian statues that littered the floor. These statues were all 10 feet tall carvings of Giant Demons, the rations were on a 1:1 scale.
These statues were arranged in neat rows. They held all sorts of weapons, from spears to halberds to heavy swords to shields. Every one of these Giant Demon statues had hideous expressions, and even cracks in their armor were clearly reflected.
There were some Giant Demons that rode giant war dogs. As Lin Ming looked at the demonic visage of these beasts, his heart stirred. These hellish demon dogs were extremely similar to that crimson hell dog that had invaded his spiritual sea after he swallowed the Demon Emperor’s soul fragment.
With tens of thousands of these statues gathered together, they naturally emitted a surging, majestic aura that was filled with vigor; it would shock anyone who saw it.
However, Lin Ming didn’t have the mind to be shocked at the moment. This was because… within this massive hall, there was a group of Life Destruction old fellows that were floating in their air. Relative to this massive hall they were nothing more than mosquitoes in the sky. But, they exerted a great pressure on Lin Ming.
Mu Fengxian and Mu Yuhuang were also among these martial artists. Lin Ming could see that their complexions immediately changed; they hadn’t expected that the intruder they caught would be Lin Ming.
As for Nanyun Wang and the rest, they all revealed surprise as they saw Lin Ming. They obviously didn’t expect that a junior martial artist that hadn’t even reached the Xiantian realm would be able to come here.
As for the South Sea Demon Region’s side, as Xuan Yuqie saw Lin Ming, she gently smirked with a ‘heh’. And as for Xuan Wuji, as he saw Lin Ming, his complexion immediately sunk to the bottom.
“Junior, what is your name!” Xuan Wuji’s voice was grim, and contained a hint of murderous intent. He too had seen Lin Ming’s portrait before, but that picture had been an estimation that had passed through several people and had many dissimilarities with Lin Ming. Thus, Xuan Wuji asked this question.
Lin Ming felt his heart thump. He had been carefully paying attention to the responses from everyone here. But now, it looked as if Xuan Wuji was related in some way to Lei Mubai.
Lin Ming suppressed the shock in his heart and calmly said, “This junior’s surname is Ling, Ling Sen.”
As Lin Ming casually tossed out the name Ling Sen, Xuan Wuji only sneered, “Ling Sen? Hehe, this old man doesn’t know whether or not that’s true, but for a junior with a Houtian cultivation to be able to safely arrive here, there isn’t even a handful among the entire South Horizon Region, Five Element Region, and Great Zen Region altogether! Lin Ming! Even if this old man didn’t see your portrait, I would still correctly guess that it was you! To think that I searched so far and wide only to find you here! I truly have saved so much effort! This old man will refine your soul, and have you begging for death!”