Chapter 527 – Robbers
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Muk Qing was 23 years old. In her sect, she was a rising Saint level talent. It was possible that her future achievements might even surpass Muk Gu’s; she was no worse than someone like Mu Qianyu.
As she heard Muk Gu say that Lin Ming might be younger than her, Muk Qing’s words caught in her throat. There wasn’t anything she could say. She was used to surpassing others, so that’s why she reflexively said that she had confidence she could pass Lin Ming in several years. But now that she knew that Lin Ming was younger than her, she found this hard to accept.
“Let’s go. He’s probably going to Polaris City. Most of the martial artists that pass through Sun Flood City will be going to that Heavenly Demon City. I can’t believe that I told him to be careful of robbers. It’s a bit laughable now that I think back on it. Perhaps at that time, if I had tried to steal from him, I might even have been defeated by his hand…”
“Senior-apprentice Brother, even you think you’re not his match?” Muk Qing said, surprised.
“It’s hard to say… it seems that a few years from now, there will be a new super powerhouse in Polaris City.” Muk Gu sighed.
Those humans that willingly came to the Blood Slaughter Steppes were the most outstanding talents among juniors.
As for the older generation, most of them were powerful. But, few came to the Blood Slaughter Steppes; they were afraid of the strange and fantastical curse that enveloped the land. Not just that, but it was meaningless to adventure and gain experience with the juniors.
As for as the weaker amongst the older generation, they didn’t usually come to the Blood Slaughter Steppes either. If they were weak at their age, they most likely wouldn’t have much further enhancements in their achievements. If they came to the Blood Slaughter Steppes, what they risked was death. They might lose their life in vain without even the chance to further their cultivation. The gains simply didn’t match the loss.
It could be said that the Blood Slaughter Steppes was the Holy Demon Continent’s gathering land for the most superb youths. Here, everyone was a genius. If one could jump ranks to defeat others, then so could everyone else. No matter how strong one was, no one underestimated anyone, even if they were on the same level. Even if their opponent was young or their realm was low, they still had the possibility to kill them.
Within the Blood Slaughter Steppes, even a tyrannical dragon had to be cautious. Otherwise, who knew whether or not they would provoke an even more powerful foe.
As Muk Gu finished speaking he returned to the building behind him. Muk Qing grit her teeth, gave Lin Ming one last look, and then turned around to follow.
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“Young Hero, Young Hero, this Divine Blood Pill, I will trade it to you for only 10 medium-grade Blood Demon Crystals. I just hope that you overlook…” In the square at the Sun Flood Pavillion, the Giant Demon vendor who was selling the Divine Blood Pill turned green with regret as he saw Lin Ming’s terrifying performance. Not only had he missed his chance to befriend such a top talent, but he also became enemies within him. Sun Flood City was not like some normal city. Here, when martial artists had grudges, it was possible that they would act on them even in the streets. This was a completely normal matter. Thus, the Giant Demon was scared witless. In order to not offend Lin Ming any further, he could only offer up this Divine Blood Pill at a discount. If it wasn’t for the fact that he really did need Blood Demon Crystals, he might have directly given the Divine Blood Pill to Lin Ming.
Hearing the vendor take such an initiative to be friendly, Lin Ming naturally didn’t refuse, “I don’t have any medium-grade Blood Demon Crystals. I only have medium-grade true essence stones and low-grade Blood Demon Crystals. You can name your price from that.”
The vendor was surprised. Just where did the fellow come from? He was so talented yet he didn’t have any medium-grade Blood Demon Crystals? The exchange rate between low-grade Blood Demon Crystals and medium-grade Blood Demon Crystals was 100 to 1. Although this ratio was a bit inflated, it was because low-grade Blood Demon Crystals weren’t all that useful to geniuses, thus the average person wouldn’t be willing to accept them.
The vendor clenched his teeth and said, “1000 low-grade Blood Demon Crystals, and you’ve got a deal I’ll consider it a discount!”
As he finished speaking, he helplessly looked at Lin Ming. He only hoped that Lin Ming would overlook the matter from earlier. In the future, he wanted to stay in Sun Flood City without having to look over his shoulder every day.
Lin Ming didn’t know that the vendor was having such troubles. He didn’t plan on rejecting the Divine Blood Pill either way. “2000 low-grade Blood Demon Crystals, you can count it.”
Lin Ming tossed over a spatial ring; this ring had belonged to the six Elders of the Silent Green Tribe.
As soon as the vendor heard 2000 low-grade Blood Demon Crystals, he was instantly happy. It seemed that this human martial artist was still kind enough and wasn’t forcing him to the ledge. But, after he took the spatial ring and looked through it, he was left speechless. The Blood Demon Crystals in this spatial ring could be called garbage. They were literally the discarded Blood Demon Crystal ore that no one would want. 2000 of these so-called Blood Demon Crystals might not even match up to 1000 pure low-grade Blood Demon Crystals.
Just where had this human come from?
The vendor was speechless. This sort of Blood Demon Crystal would only be used by common mortal martial artists.
In this situation, the vendor could only bow his head and grit his teeth. He had no chance to voice his grievance. These were the iron rules of the Blood Slaughter Steppes…
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After Lin Ming left Sun Flood City, he bought a mount and quickly hurried on. He really didn’t have many Blood Demon Crystals on hand. He had to fill in the missing amount with true essence stones in order to purchase a blue-winged bird. It wasn’t too fast at flying, but Lin Ming was mainly using it so he could rest.
After all, the deeper one went into the Blood Slaughter Steppes, the more dangerous it would be, and the more common murder and death became. Lin Ming needed to always maintain his top fighting form.
As Lin Ming rode forwards, he encountered several groups of martial artists. Among them were humans, Giant Demons, Fey, and all sorts of other races. As he looked at them, he could see that they had thick and pure true essence, and they were also young.
“The martial arts cultivation atmosphere of the Holy Demon Continent is much more flourishing than that of the Sky Spill Continent. One reason is because the other races have such outstanding talent and the other is because there are so many different races. They go on adventures every year and constantly fight, so it’s easier for powerhouses to be born here.” Constant fighting was truly an easy way to produce geniuses. During ancient times, Emperor level talents were most likely to appear when war swept over the entire land.
As Lin Ming approached Polaris City, he saw more and more outstanding youths, enough so that even he was stunned and amazed. Especially the Fey race. Their natural talent was even superior to the Giant Demons. Unfortunately, they were few in number, otherwise they might have already dominated the Holy Demon Continent.
Along the way, Lin Ming saw two heroic Fey youths that he suspected were Saint level talents.
“The Holy Demon Continent originally had many geniuses, and the Blood Slaughter Steppes is the gathering point for this massive number of geniuses. It is truly astonishing!” Although Lin Ming sighed as he said this, he was actually feeling excited and thrilled. It was ideal that he would be here alongside those competitors that could offer him challenge. Only like this could his progress become faster. After all, it was impossible to comprehend the essence of martial arts by going into closed-door seclusion.
It was right that he came to the Blood Slaughter Steppes!
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“We’ve waited such a long time, and now a tiny fat sheep has finally arrived.” Several miles away from Lin Ming, several Impish martial artists had gathered together. They were sizing Lin Ming up like prey.
“He’s only at the early Xiantian realm and his mount is normal. Do you think he might be too poor?”
“Mm… although his cultivation is lower, his true essence is incomparably thick. For better or worse, he must also be a talent from a large sect, so he should have a good amount of possessions. For an early Xiantian boy to wander into the Blood Slaughter Steppes… he must really believe in himself. But those that have too much self-confidence are always the ones that die first.
When many geniuses heard of the Blood Slaughter Steppes, they might rush there because of their arrogance, even if their cultivation was insufficient. In their recklessness, they would finally perish in the wilderness without even reaching the city gates. This was because of the numerous robbers that existed in the wild.
These robbers were mostly of the Imp race. Within the Holy Demon Continent, the Imps could be called infamous for this behavior. Although the Giant Demons were incredibly brutal and bloodthirsty killers, for better or worse, they also had scruples. In some matters, there were bottom lines that they wouldn’t cross.
But the Imps were greedy, despicable, sinister, and committed all sorts of crimes with glee. They bullied the weak and feared the strong. They lusted over beauty, and their behavior was abnormal and obscene. Besides the Ferals, they would chase after the beauties of every single other race. If a woman were to fall into the hands of an Imp, they would suffer the most miserable of fates before being tortured to death.
“Hehe, if we didn’t have such a person, then what would us brothers eat!” The Imp in the front said as he licked his lips.
“Let’s go. Kill him!”
All of them rushed out with their full strength. Although these Imps had a cultivation that surpassed Lin Ming, there were also many humans behind him. As they attacked together, it was like dark clouds of demonic energy were roiling in the air!
Lin Ming sneered. He didn’t even slow down as he crashed directly into the dark clouds.
‘I’ve already heard that the Blood Slaughter Steppes is filled with murderers and robbers. I’ve come so far into the Blood Slaughter Steppes and this is the first group that I’ve run into. If I consider my low cultivation and the fact that I’m alone, then I could be considered really lucky.’
Lin Ming laughed in his mind. He didn’t even take out his spear. He flicked ten fingers, and ten Blood Drinking Seals shot out!
The crimson red lights cut through the void. In the next moment, blood flew out, dyeing the earth red. Seven or eight Imps had been sliced to pieces by Lin Ming’s Blood Drinking Seals! The remaining Imps stood there, stunned, their eyes filled with disbelief.
Peng peng peng!
Bloody fog exploded from the corpses of the Imps, turning into new Blood Drinking Seals.
“Mm? Blood Drinking Seals condensed from Imps are also good. They aren’t any worse than those made from Giant Demons.” Lin Ming muttered as he glanced at the glowing crimson symbols in the air. He seemed that humans just had the worst power of vitality, so the Blood Drinking Seals they made were also the weakest.
“Did you see that!? That blue-clothed boy just raised his hand and sent out several hidden weapons. He instantly killed seven or eight Imps, and those Imps all had a cultivation higher than him!”
“Mm, these Imps might have disgusting characters, but their strength is still good. They are especially good at escaping. But, they were instantly killed. Just who is that young man? Even a Saint level talent wouldn’t be so terrifying in the Xiantian realm.”
“Interesting. There hasn’t been a human talent in Polaris City for a long time. Unfortunately, this fellow’s cultivation is too low. Compared to the Giant Demons’ Da Gu or Mo He, the disparity is just too great. Those two have recently maintained a total string of victories. I’ve no idea just how many wings have appeared on their Heavenly Demon Tattoos…”
From the time that a martial artist reached the 12 Heavenly Demon Cities, they would have a faint Heavenly Demon Tattoo. As they accumulated infernal energy, their tattoo would become increasingly solid and lifelike. When they reached a certain amount of infernal energy, their tattoo would grow wings. It would grow four wings, six wings… all the way to twelve wings.
And the way to plunder infernal energy was to kill others, or to utterly defeat them.
In the challenge match stage of the Blood Slaughter Steppes’ Polaris City, the probability of death was over 60%. And, whether one died or was defeated, 50 to 70% of their total accumulated infernal energy would be added onto the winner’s body, while the rest of their infernal energy would dissipate. These were the strange rules that governed the 12 Heavenly Demon Cities.
“Da Gu… Mo He…” This was the second time that Lin Ming had heard these names. “These two should be the most outstanding of the Giant Demons, I wonder how strong they are. There also seems to be the Imps’ Chi Yan. If they were famous enough for Ao Ri to mention them, they are probably not normal individuals.”