Chapter 556 – Xing Tian Declares War
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Lin Ming frowned, “He’s really persistent. It’s a pity that my comprehension of the Concept of Space is insufficient, otherwise my spear could have stabbed deeper and I could have made the Blood Drinking Seals implode from within his body, then he would surely have died!”
“I will rip you apart!” Xue Man grit his teeth and revolved his demon essence to the limit. A three foot thick crimson beam of light shot out from him. This attack was completely formed from demon essence; Xue Man had already been pushed to the edge of desperation.
“Uselessly stubborn!”
Lin Ming raised the Purple Comet Spear, his eyes full of indifference. On the tip of his spear, the power of space trembled and a bloody light flashed.
Blood Seal Twisting Murder!
The spear thrust out, bringing with it an immense spiraling power. It was just like a spinning arrow. This was the defense breaking technique of the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’. With the revolution of Blood Drinking Seals grinding away the demonic essence cloud and washing it away, and adding in Lin Ming’s advantage in true essence and the utter suppression in ability, this spear was unstoppable!
The axe light broke apart, and the dazzling python-thick spear light reached Xue Man’s front.
“Ahhhh!” Xue Man let out a heaven-shaking thunderous roar. “I refuse to lose here! Heaven and Earth Axe!”
No matter what, Xue Man was still a battle-hardened master who had experienced countless fights. Although he was being completely suppressed by Lin Ming, he still wouldn’t give up without a struggle as he saw Lin Ming’s spear coming at him. To defend himself, he immediately withdrew all of the overwhelming demon essence in the air and cut his axe down at Lin Ming’s Purple Comet Spear.
“Your attack has no Concept, and most importantly of all – it has no soul. No matter how profound your cultivation is, everything you do is useless!”
With a flash of bloody light, Lin Ming’s spear drove away the mountain axe. The Blood Drinking Seals split the wave of bloody energy apart. With the Concept of Space fused into the Purple Comet Spear, the spearpoint pierced through space, instantly appearing in front of Xue Man.
At this time, Xue Man was no longer able to resist.
Puff!
Xue Man’s bodily protective demon essence was torn apart like thin paper. The Purple Comet Spear thrust straight into his chest. A powerful spinning force erupted within Xue Man’s body, twisting his heart into ground meat!
A stream of blood shot out from behind Xue Man. Lin Ming’s spear had pierced all the way through him!
“You!!!” With his heart crushed, Xue Man’s face was distorted and grotesque. He glared at Lin Ming, his eyes bursting with absolute hatred. “Let’s die together!”
Xue Man gave another shout, his axe cutting towards Lin Ming’s head. He had already lost all rationality, and there was nothing left but a crazed husk.
But how could Xue Man, who had lost all sanity, possibly wound Lin Ming?
Lin Ming’s feet trod with ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’, and his figure instantly disappeared from where he stood, leaving nothing but a phantom image behind.
Kacha!
Xue Man’s large axe smashed into the ground.
“I…”
Xue Man’s eyes began to glaze over. The Purple Comet Spear was drawn out, and a fountain of blood sprayed out from his chest.
As Xue Man’s vision gradually blurred, his eyes passed over Lin Ming and fell onto Xing Tian, who was standing in a corner of the martial arena. Xing Tian’s expression was grim, and his vision was filled with thick murderous intent.
“Big Brother…”
Xue Man wanted to say something else, but his skin burst like a broken water bag. A mass of bloody fog shout out from his body, quickly condensing into a Blood Drinking Seal. At the same time, the Heavenly Demon Tattoo on Lin Ming’s arm seemed to come alive, waving its claws around as it guzzled all of the infernal energy that dissipated from Xue Man’s body.
Xue Man’s infernal energy was too rich. After the second pair of wings full formed, a third pair began to take shape. At a speed visible to the naked eye, it gradually became more and more clear, until it finally stopped just a bit away from being a complete six-winged Heavenly Demon Tattoo.
The moment that the Heavenly Demon Tattoo stopped growing, a red light flashed in Lin Ming’s eyes before quickly fading.
After Xue Man died, the audience of 6000 to 7000 was left in utter shocked silence. For a very long time, no one spoke a single word.
The truth was that ever since Lin Ming first injured Xue Man, a great number of people expected that Lin Ming might be victorious in the end. But seeing this scene happen in front of their eyes still left them dazzled in disbelief.
Xue Man had long been infamous on Skysplit Tower’s second floor; he already had the strength to enter the third floor.
In the second layer, Xue Man was synonymous with slaughter, cruelty, and absolute tyranny. His reputation, his 70 win streak, had been built upon 70 corpses.
Xue Man’s brutal and barbaric nature caused those who knew of him to tremble. Over the years, his phantom had long been ingrained within everyone’s minds. None of the top ten ranked individuals of the second floor dared to accept his challenge. But now, that Xue Man had actually died at the hands of a human newcomer. As for that human’s age, he was at most in his early twenties, and his cultivation was only at the early Xiantian realm.
“Powerful defense, incredible strength, a thickly condensed true essence completely at odds with his cultivation, and in addition to all that, his comprehension of Concepts and Laws… this fellow!”
Xian Tian gazed at Lin Ming, his expectations set. As long as Lin Ming didn’t die, his future achievements would be boundless.
“Lin Ming, victory!”
The middle-aged referee shouted as he stepped into the arena. As he looked at Lin Ming, his eyes held a touch of awe. “Young Hero Lin, will you continue your challenge?”
“No!”
Lin Ming flatly refused. After his war against Xue Man, he was no longer in his best state. Not just that, but there were many masters present that wanted to take his life.
“Haha, it’s good to take a rest.” The referee guffawed, “Young Hero Lin has such great strength at such a young age. In the future, your success will be limitless!”
“Thank you.” Lin Ming faintly smiled. He took Xue Man’s spatial ring and turned to leave.
“Lin Ming!”
As Lin Ming was about to leave the stage, a deep voice suddenly sounded within the martial arena, echoing through every nook and cranny.
Lin Ming’s footsteps paused. He glanced over and saw that the person speaking was actually Xing Tian.
Xian Tian – the king of the entire second floor.
With just a few words, he caught everyone’s attention.
Xing Tian smiled, “Lin Ming, you have really surprised me. Out of all the young human elites that I have encountered, your talent is by far the most outstanding! But even so, I never imagined you could defeat Xue Man! You have truly given me a great surprise! Good! Good! Very good!”
Xing Tian said ‘good’ three times in a row, but his eerie and ominous aura carried a thick killing intent.
Lin Ming was silent for a moment, his eyes burning brilliantly as he stared at Xing Tian, “Just what do you want?”
“Hehe, simple. Since you can kill Xue Man, that means you already have the ability to fight me. It’s been a long time since anyone on the second floor has interested me. I hereby challenge you. Do you have the guts to accept?”
These words shocked the entire audience. Several thousand eyes that were focused on Xing Tian swiveled to Lin Ming.
Xing Tian had challenged Lin Ming!
For a moment, everyone was silent, stunned.
Xing Tian was easily acknowledged as the number one master of the second floor. He hadn’t fought for over half a year and had instead been diligently cultivating.
Half a year ago, there had once been a master on the second floor who was more powerful than even Xue Man. Xing Tian’s last battle had been with him. Ultimately, Xing Tian had killed his opponent and cut off his head!
At that time, Xing Tian’s strength had already far surpassed Xue Man’s. Now that he had gone into closed-door seclusion for half a year, no one knew just what the limit of his immeasurably deep strength was.
No one expected that he would challenge Lin Ming. This would be his first match in six months!
In this situation, would Lin Ming agree? Would he even dare to agree?
In the massive martial arena, no one made a single noise. The audience waited with bated breath as they looked towards Lin Ming for his answer.
One was the top king of the second floor. He had dominated the martial arena for years and remained undefeated throughout.
The other was the king of the newcomers. He was the super genius that had killed Lan Xing and Xue Man. He was definitely a peerless genius amongst his generation.
Without a doubt, if Lin Ming was left to freely grow, then he would one day surpass Xing Tian. But, the question was whether or not Xing Tian would give him this chance.
Perhaps he was afraid that Lin Ming threatened his status, or perhaps he was worried that he would one day fall under Lin Ming’s hands. Regardless of the reason, Xing Tian had decided to act preemptively.
This approach was not glorious, but neither was it wrong.
“Heh, too scared to accept?” Xing Tian jokingly grinned.
Lin Ming laughed, “It’s not that I don’t dare, but it’s you who is a coward. Although you’re smiling, the truth is that your heart is already racing with panic!”
Lin Ming’s words were sharp, piercing right into Xing Tian’s deepest feelings. Xing Tian was truly panicking! Lin Ming’s exponential rate of growth had left him panting in fear, thus the reason he decided to take initiative.
Xing Tian frowned and his eyes filled with a brilliant killing light. “You are arrogant to the extreme! In Skysplit Tower, the arrogant die the quickest!”
“Haha, then according to you, if I agree to your challenge, doesn’t that make me even more arrogant?” Lin Ming retorted, leaving Xing Tian speechless.
“You sure spout enough crap. Do you dare to fight me or not?”
Lin Ming faintly smiled, “Why wouldn’t I fight? But, the time will be decided by me!”
Xing Tian was startled. This boy, he couldn’t be thinking of delaying the match by a year, right?
But in Skysplit Tower, if Lin Ming retreated to his practice area and didn’t come out, there was nothing he could do anyway. Xing Tian nodded, “Fine!”
“One month. One month from now, we will decide life and death!”
Lin Ming’s voice resounded throughout the entire martial arena.
In his fight against Xue Man, Lin Ming had still kept a large portion of his strength back. Defeating Xue Man wasn’t much more difficult than defeating Lan Xing. This was mainly because Lin Ming had broken through to the middle Xiantian realm, and his strength has risen by another level.
Even with so many cards still hidden, Lin Ming still set the fight to one month from now. This wasn’t because he feared Xing Tian, but rather he was apprehensive of the mysterious power that backed him.
Lin Ming would eventually enter Skysplit Tower’s third floor. Compared to the second, the third floor was truly a den of crouching tigers and hidden dragons; dangerous opponents would simply be everywhere. He had to set aside some time for himself to grow.
One month?
Xing Tian sneered. He had thought that Lin Ming would set some ridiculously long time, but it was only a single month. Lin Ming had just broken through to the middle Xiantian realm, so it would be impossible for him to break through to the late Xiantian realm in such a short time. As long as he didn’t make another breakthrough, then any growth of his strength could be handled.
“One month… good, I will wait for you then!”
Xing Tian readily agreed.
The quiet martial arena audience suddenly burst into noise. One month from now, Lin Ming would fight Xing Tian!
No one understood where the limits of Lin Ming’s strength were. But at the same time, no one understood what Xing Tian’s limits were either!
This was a battle in which both sides knew nothing about the other.
“When Lin Ming fought Xue Man, he must have been hiding most of his strength, otherwise how would he dare to fight Xing Tian? This is too terrifying! For that battle to reach such a point, yet he was able to still hide his strength?” A martial artist suddenly realized this. Lin Ming wasn’t stupid. If his strength was only that great, then wouldn’t fighting Xing Tian just be delivering himself to die?
“So what if he’s hiding his strength? His opponent is Xing Tian! Lin Ming’s one month deadline is just too short!”
The martial artist who spoke didn’t think Lin Ming would win. The fear of Xing Tian’s formidable strength had already been deeply entrenched in his psyche.
The unfathomably deep Xing Tian…
Lin Ming, whom none knew just what strengths he was hiding…
This battle caused the two martial artists to feel incomparable anticipation…