Chapter 548 – Eighth Stage Life Destruction
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A black-clothed girl stood in front of Lin Ming. She wore a dark veil, and one could faintly make out the edges of her face. In terms of beauty, she did not lose at all to the Fey. She was tall and curved, and she wasn’t much shorter than Lin Ming. A light infernal energy emitted from her body.
That symbolized that this beautiful girl also walked the killing path.
This girl was named Muk Qing. Lin Ming had encountered her along the road as he was headed to the Blood Slaughter Steppes. Her cultivation had actually increased by a small realm since he had last seen her.
Only a mere month had passed. This girl’s growth left Lin Ming speechless. Her talent was probably no less than Mu Qianyu’s.
“You’re also on Skysplit Tower’s second floor?” Lin Ming was surprised. With this black-clothed girl’s strength, she barely qualified to reach the second floor.
Within Skysplit Tower, one could enter the first level as long as they paid a Blood Demon Crystal. But, if one wished to enter the second floor, they would need a certain level of cultivation or have astonishing strength, enough that they could fight their way from the first floor.
Normally, the first floor was commonly referred to as the outer city. The second floor and above was called the inner city. Muk Qing had once evenly fought a Giant Demon in the outer city. Now that her cultivation had increased by a small realm, she barely qualified for the second floor. If she entered the martial arena as she was now, she would probably be eaten alive.
“Mm? Is there a problem?” After being completely outdone by Lin Ming in Sun Flood City, Muk Qing had always remained somewhat unconvinced.
Lin Ming laughed. “I naturally don’t have a problem. I just think that you…”
Lin Ming had wanted to give her a few words of advice. But as he thought about it, it was better if he didn’t meddle in other people’s business. Muk Qing’s senior-apprentice brother was obviously a veteran challenger of Skysplit Tower, so he had probably figured this out himself.
“Have you stepped onto the martial arena stage yet?” Lin Ming casually asked.
“I haven’t. I just arrived at the second floor. My senior-apprentice brother has already rented out a practice area in the second floor for me. He wants me to cultivate for a year before I test myself.” As Muk Qing spoke to here, her lips curled. Apparently she wasn’t satisfied with Muk Gu’s arrangements.
“Haha, practice well first. Skysplit Tower has very good areas to cultivate in. From what I know, there are many heroic youths that come to Skysplit Tower and cultivate for a year or two before they step onto the martial stage.
Lin Ming suddenly realized that Muk Gu only allowed Muk Qing to come to the second floor to cultivate. With her talent, she would have the qualifications to challenge the martial arena after she practiced for a year. This was certainly a good idea, but one also had to have the required resources to do so.
As he was thinking, a black-clothed man walked through the doors of Hundred Treasures Hall. This person was tall, lofty, and had an imposing appearance. He exuded a faintly haughty attitude. This man was Muk Qing’s senior-apprentice brother, Muk Gu.
“To think that it’s you! To think that we’ve met three times already, this must be the hand of fate.” As soon as Muk Gu saw Lin Ming he cupped his fists together. He wasn’t too surprised that he saw Lin Ming in Skysplit Tower. After all, when he saw Lin Ming in Sun Flood City, he had guessed that Lin Ming would most likely come to Polaris City.
Muk Gu was naturally happy if he could make friends with such a heroic youth like Lin Ming. If Lin Ming didn’t die in the future, then he had high chances of approaching the Divine Sea realm. If he could become friends with a quasi Emperor level powerhouse, then the advantages could be imagined.
Lin Ming also cupped his fists together, returning the kindness.
“My name is Muk Gu. May I know yours?” This was the second time that Muk Gu had introduced himself.
Lin Ming had no need to hide his identity. He said, “My name is Lin Ming.”
“Lin Ming?” Muk Gu was stunned for a moment before immediately laughing. “So that’s how it is! You’re that human genius I’ve been hearing about that caused a complete blowout and also defeated Lan Xing. This is really too great of a coincidence. In truth, I should have thought about this earlier.”
Muk Gu had brought Muk Qing to the second floor of Skysplit Tower while Lin Ming had been in closed-door seclusion. As soon as he arrived at the second floor, he had heard the rumors about Lin Ming. Originally, he assumed that someone with the skill to defeat Lan Xing would be around 24 or 25 years old. That, he could still accept. But he never imagined that Lin Ming was the youth that he had bumped into at the entrance to the Blood Slaughter Steppes. He was even younger than Muk Qing!
This was seriously incredible. His previous judgment of Lin Ming had already been extremely high. But now, it seems as if he had underestimated him.
With Lin Ming’s talent, as long as he didn’t fall here, then he had over a 90% chance of becoming a Divine Sea powerhouse.
As Muk Gu thought of this, his smile became more radiant and welcoming. Even if he couldn’t become good friends with such a person, he could at least leave a good impression so that they didn’t have conflict in the future.
“Brother Muk’s praise is too high.” Lin Ming casually replied.
Muk Qing, who was standing near Muk Gu, was staring at Lin Ming with disbelief. Her eyeballs were rapidly turning. She had just arrived at the second floor a few days ago, and this fellow was Lin Ming?
To Muk Qing, a complete blowout wasn’t much at all. But, defeating a master of the second floor who could rank in the first tier was another matter altogether; it was somewhat hard to believe. She had accompanied Muk Gu to watch some matches in the martial arena, and although they were some of the lower level martial artists, she couldn’t help but admit that if she were the one onstage, she might not be able to defeat them.
“Have you come to Hundred Treasures Hall to buy some things?” Muk Gu asked, a bit curious. When he had seen Lin Ming buy a mount at Sun Flood City, he didn’t seem to have any wealth on him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken out such a massive pile of impure low-grade Blood Demon Crystals to buy a second-rate mount.
He really didn’t know where this Lin Ming fellow came from.
“I’m not here to buy things, I came to rent out some battle array discs.”
“Battle array discs? We’re also here to rent some. Hundred Treasures Hall’s battle array discs all record a minimum of late Revolving Core powerhouses battling. There are even sixth stage and seventh stage Life Destruction powerhouses and quasi Emperor masters. The higher level array discs are all on the upper floors. Let’s go up together.”
“Okay.”
The four of them made their way up. Hundred Treasures Hall had a total of nine floors. One could casually enter the first few, but the higher ones required necessary qualifications to enter. As they arrived at the fourth floor, a handsome servant blocked them.
“Guests, please show proof of identification. Only four-winged Heavenly Demon martial artists or above may enter this floor.”
Lin Ming didn’t bother playing around and directly took out his status token. His own Heavenly Demon Tattoo had already surpassed four wings, so there naturally wasn’t a problem. As for Muk Gu, he was close to reaching the realm of six-winged Heavenly Demon.
But Muk Qing was lacking; she didn’t even have the first two wings completed on her Heavenly Demon Tattoo. As Lin Ming thought that Muk Qing would be barred from entering, Muk Gu took out a jade slip that looked like a pass token from his spatial ring and handed it over to the servant. The servant glanced over it and then allowed Muk Qing to enter; he even allowed the young Fey girl that accompanied Lin Ming to enter too. The young Fey girl was pleasantly surprised. After all, to a low level martial artist like her, the higher floors of Hundred Treasures Hall were a legend. She had only heard mysterious stories about this place.
Lin Ming glanced at Muk Gu with surprise. He wondered just what sort of background Muk Gu had. But as he looked back at the servant, he found the servant remained calm and not particularly impressed. If Lin Ming didn’t guess wrong, then that jade slip was most likely a special privilege given to the more advanced challengers of Skysplit Tower.
Thinking this, Lin Ming didn’t bother inquiring further. The group finally arrived at the fifth floor of Hundred Treasure Hall, and a purple-robed middle-aged man welcomed them with a jovial laugh. He dusted off his clothes and said with a smile, “What do you need?”
“I want to rent battle array discs.” Lin Ming said.
“What cultivation boundary do you need?”
“Quasi Emperor level.”
“Oh?” The purple-robed man was startled. A quasi Emperor level battle array disc was expensive to rent. A normal martial artist wouldn’t be able to afford it. “How many would you like?”
“Five.” Lin Ming calmly replied.
With this answer, not only was the purple-robed man stunned, but even Muk Gu was dazed. He had come here with Muk Qing to rent out battle array discs, but he had only planned to rent out 10 first or second stage Life Destruction master battle array discs.
As for the quasi Emperor level disc, because of Muk Qing’s repeated nagging, he finally caved in and decided to bleed a bit of heart blood and rent one for her as an eye opener. Just this was enough to cause Muk Gu to feel a deep painful loss, yet Lin Ming had requested to rent out five in a single go. This was just too extravagant!
As he turned to look at Muk Qing, he saw that she had a look of dissatisfaction on her face. Apparently she was complaining inwardly about what a stingy man he was. Muk Gu could only ruefully smile. This Lin Ming fellow really didn’t care about slaughter points at all.
“Please come here.” The purple-robed man immediately respectfully escorted Lin Ming and the group to an elegantly furnished room. This room had a very exquisite layout. There was an antique octagonal table in the center along with four wicker chairs.
As two pretty Pulse Condensation period girls saw guests come in, they immediately carried pots of tea and kneeled down, placing cups on the table and pouring the tea.
“Several guests, please try this tea. This is Five Color Spirit Tea. It is made from five different special tea leaves and specially processed. Not only is the taste sublime, but it can also nourish the soul.”
Lin Ming nodded and took a sip. Really, this tea was very fragrant.
“What sort of battle array discs does Young Hero need? Human Life Destruction powerhouses? Giant Demon or Fey quasi Emperors?”
Lin Ming said, “The race doesn’t matter. As long as they are a quasi Emperor level master that is skilled in the Concept of Time, the Concept of Space, and the Concept of Wind, then it will do. I need a total of five.”
When Lin Ming had caused a complete blowout, he had earned a total of ten slaughter points. Then, he had taken three from Lan Xing, for a total of 13 points. When he rented his practice area, that cost five points, and when he rented the quasi Emperor battle array disc, that had been another. Now he had seven points remaining. He could afford to spend five points to rent some battle array discs.
The purple-robed man thought for a moment and then said to a girl, “Go to the first pavilion, third pavilion, seventh pavilion, and bring over all of the battle array discs…”
“Yes.”
The young girl bowed and left. The purple-robed man said, “If you want to search for a master skilled in the Concepts of Wind, Space, and Time, then I’m afraid we might not be able to collect five. We do happen to have a top master that is familiar with the Laws of Space and Time, and this would be consistent with Young Hero’s requirements, but it’s only that...”
“Only what?”
The purple-robed man smiled and said, “This master isn’t a quasi Emperor. Although his cultivation hasn’t reached the Divine Sea realm, he is actually an eighth stage Life Destruction martial artist. In terms of strength, he is beyond even Demon Emperors and Fey Emperors!”
“Mm?” Lin Ming’s mind stirred.
Eighth stage Life Destruction!
He had heard about human eighth stage Life Destruction powerhouses before, but he had never seen them for himself. He never thought that there would be a battle array disc that recorded an eighth stage Life Destruction master!