Chapter 625 – A Gathering of Elites
…
…
…
The Polaris Tower Master led everyone forwards. The fifth floor was not as high as the first four floors, it was only several hundred feet high. As the group walked forwards, it was very quiet. However, there seemed to be a suffocating sense of oppression in the air, forcing the martial artists present to summon energy to resist this pressure.
Lin Ming was very familiar with this pressure.
This pressure was the Heavenly Demon force field.
It wasn’t even just the Asura force field or Prime Emperor force field, but rather a fusion of two kinds.
Sha sha sha sha…
The lonely and desolate space echoed with the footsteps of the crowd. When they came to the end of a dark corridor, Lin Ming could see that on both sides of the following path were lamps. These lamps had a number of similarities to the lamps that held the will lights in the Road of Emperor. But, these lights had long since gone out, with nothing more than a thick layer of dust covering them.
After another half hour of walking, the Polaris Tower Master finally stopped. In front of him was a large gate with two doors. This gate was 100 feet high, and the ancient doors were carved with a number of mystical and cryptic patterns. All of the patterns revolving around the center of the gate were carvings of twelve-winged Heavenly Demons. The Heavenly Demon carving stared out with its vacant and godless eyes, its 12 wings recklessly spread out, filling the space around it with a feeling of oppression and mystery.
“We’re here. This is the entrance.”
The Polaris Tower Master gently grabbed the door handles and said, “Flying is prohibited within Skysplit Tower, and the Eternal Demon Abyss is no different. It is located 100,000 feet deep below us. If flying is impossible, then there simply isn’t any way to go down. But… there are some places that are exceptions, such as… here!”
As the Polaris Tower Master spoke he suddenly pushed the doors open. As the doors opened, Lin Ming sucked in a breath of cold air as he saw the scene inside. Behind these doors was a vast and endless night sky, with bright stars shining everywhere. It was impossible to tell whether these dazzling stars were real or an illusory array formation.
“Go in. This is the only channel to fly into the Eternal Demon Abyss. The 12 Skysplit Towers’ channels are all connected together. Flying to the bottom of this will lead to the true entrance of the Eternal Demon Abyss.”
After the Polaris Tower Master spoke he took the lead and flew into the vast starry sky, his figure instantly disappearing. Soon, he was followed by High Lord Chi Yan and High Lord Shengong…
Lin Ming was the fifth to jump in. After entering this endless starry space, he suddenly felt a terrifyingly rich infernal energy rush at him.
As he went down, the temperature became increasingly low and the infernal energy became increasingly thick.
Lin Ming didn’t use true essence to fly, but completely allowed the force of gravity to pull him down. His speed quickly rose to hundreds of feet per second, and as air whistled in his ears, the infernal energy was becoming thick to the point where it almost condensed into essence.
The Eternal Demon Abyss was over 100,000 deep underground. In addition, Polar Skysplit Tower was originally 60,000 to 70,000 feet above the ground. This meant that the drop down was nearly 200,000 feet, or more than 100 miles.
This was a breathtaking number. After falling down for a long time, Lin Ming felt the several High Lords in front of him begin to slow down. He followed them, using the Concept of Wind to decelerate his speed.
At this depth, the cold air seemed to pierce into the marrow. With every breath, icy crystals would immediately form. If a mortal were to be placed in this environment, they would directly freeze to death.
The further down it was, the colder it became.
At this time, the Polaris Tower Master stopped in midair and started to move in a different direction. Everyone turned to follow him.
Lin Ming casually flew on. The entire space around him was utter darkness without the slightest sound, nothing but an utterly deathly silence.
Raising his head and looking at the skies, he could see stars hanging high in the air. For there to be a vast starry sky underground was truly unbelievable, and yet it was impossible to tell whether this was real or an illusion.
The Polaris Tower master wasn’t fast. In just around an hour, they finally fell onto an open space. In this open area, there was a large number of people gathered, all of them either consciously or unconsciously releasing a heartstopping aura. Without a doubt, they were all top masters of Skysplit Tower, either High Lords or Heavenly Demon Seven Stars.
The majority of those present were High Lords with a small number of Heavenly Demon Seven Stars. Of those Heavenly Demon Seven Stars, all of them were top ranked challengers of their Skysplit Towers.
If this were a usual journey into the Eternal Demon Abyss, there wouldn’t be so many masters gathered together. But, this time just happened to coincide with an eruption of the Eternal Demon Abyss, so the situation had completely changed. Even the Tower Masters of the various Skysplit Towers wouldn’t miss out on this chance.
High risk also meant high returns.
“Lin Ming, in front of us are those from Heavenly Cloud Tower and Blue Silver Tower. Both of those Skysplit Towers are stronger than ours. Our Polaris Tower’s total strength could only rank eighth or ninth out of the 12 Skysplit Towers. As for that Heavenly Cloud Tower, they are ranked number one. Blue Silver Tower can also be ranked in the top five.”
As Lin Ming just touched the ground, he heard High Lord Bloodfire’s true essence sound transmission in his ear. After High Lord Bloodfire was controlled by the Polaris Tower Master, he was completely loyal and devoted to him. As for Lin Ming, who was faking being controlled, High Lord Bloodfire regarded him as a ‘companion’ with complete trust.
“I see. Are there any among them who are stronger than Brother Bloodfire?” Lin Ming casually asked. During this trip into the Eternal Demon Abyss, everyone was a possible enemy. It was necessary to know as much about his potential opponents as possible.
“Of course there are. Those two fellows from Heavenly Cloud Tower, Cloud Demon and Hidden Cloud, are both stronger than me. But there might even be several more than are similar to me. In addition, Heavenly Cloud Tower’s Duanmu Qun is not a High Lord but his strength is actually more terrifying than most High Lords’. Duanmu Qun’s background is that of a super Holy Land. Before he first entered the Road of Emperor, his strength surpassed Feng Shen by a large margin. Now that has he reentered the Road of Emperor yet again, I fear that his strength might be no less than mine!”
Lin Ming was no stranger to Duanmu Qun’s name. With High Lord Bloodfire’s description, Lin Ming couldn’t help but size up Duanmu Qun. This fellow was slender with an otherworldly handsome appearance. Just by standing there, he seemed to give off a heavenly bright and breezy energy like the fresh spring wind. His face was like jade, his temperament, appearance, strength, everything he had was truly irreproachable.
As Lin Ming looked at him, Duanmu Qun also seemed to sense something. Duanmu turned towards Lin Ming and faintly smiled.
Lin Ming respectfully nodded in return.
In the casual exchange between Duanmu Qun and Lin Ming, many people finally noticed Lin Ming.
Lin Ming was a human. In this crowd of Giant Demons, Fey, Goliaths, and Imps, a human martial artist was very eye-catching. In addition to his age and cultivation, his status was easily known.
To be able to stay in the King’s Cage for a full 108 days. This point alone made Lin Ming well known throughout the entire Blood Slaughter Steppes.
“He’s Lin Ming?”
“Yes, that should be right.”
“He hasn’t broken through to the Revolving Core realm. How strange…”
To a pinnacle Emperor level talent, from Xiantian to Revolving Core, even without going into the Road of Emperor, it would only take one or two years to make this breakthrough. Lin Ming had been in the Road of Emperor for seven months, but he had only risen by half a small boundary. None of this made sense to anyone.
“Hehe, let’s test him out.” An Imp martial artist began to move towards Lin Ming as he spoke. He was Heavenly Cloud Tower’s High Lord Black Ash. As he moved, he was preparing to use his aura to suppress Lin Ming in order to force out a bit of his true ability and see the depth of his strength.
“Don’t stir up trouble!” High Lord Cloud Demon blocked Black Ash, frowning, “Black Ash, what are you doing? Once you enter the Eternal Demon Abyss, everyone will be your enemy. If you randomly offend someone before even entering, at that time you might find yourself surrounded by enemies from all sides and have them kick you when you’re down. Even if Lin Ming didn’t make a breakthrough in the Road of Emperor, he still isn’t someone that can be easily bullied by you!”
High Lord Cloud Demon occupied an impressive status within Heavenly Cloud Tower, Black Ash had no choice but to give up his antics. But, Black Ash still disapproved of this. Heavenly Cloud Tower’s overall strength was number one amongst all 12 Skysplit Towers. He always felt that Cloud Demon was far too careful.
As time passed, martial artists from several other Skysplit Towers began to arrive. They were Five Color Tower, White Stone Tower, Great Ax Tower, and in addition to Blue Silver Tower, Heavenly Cloud Tower, and Polaris Tower, this was six Skysplit Towers. These six Skysplit Towers were located closer to each other, so they had assembled at the southern tip of the Eternal Demon Abyss. The other six Skysplit Towers had gone to the northern tip of the Eternal Demon Abyss. These 12 Skysplit Towers formed a circle, and the Eternal Demon Abyss was in the center of this.
After everyone from the six Skysplit Towers completely arrived, a black-robed old man stood up and said, “Everyone, I will now announce the rules for entering the Eternal Demon Abyss.”
The sudden appearance of this old man caught Lin Ming’s attention. This old man’s cultivation was a three-star Demon King, which was equal to a human late Revolving Core powerhouse, and perhaps even just a bit better.
Within the Blood Slaughter Steppes, there was nearly no one with a Life Destruction cultivation. This was because once one stepped into the Life Destruction realm, or a cultivation similar to that, they might fall under the mystical curse that stemmed from the depths of the Blood Slaughter Steppes. The higher stage of Life Destruction one was, the higher their chances of being cursed.
“I am the supervisory deacon from Blood Slaughter Divine Temple. I am responsible this time for opening the Eternal Demon Abyss. Although mostly everyone here is familiar with the rules, I shall repeat them again.
“A thousand miles from the edge of the Eternal Demon Abyss is an absolute null life zone. Everyone who enters past here will die. In addition, from 1000 miles from the edge to 10,000 miles outwards are the surroundings of the Eternal Demon Abyss. There are lucky chances everywhere here, but also fatal dangers abound. What you find will all depend on your own lucky chances. The deeper you go, the greater your lucky chances will be. In principle, after entering the Eternal Demon Abyss, killing is forbidden. But there will always be those unscrupulous and dangerous individuals. If anyone were to encounter this situation, then killing in self-defense is also reasonable…”
As the old man spoke to here, Lin Ming was left speechless. Any defense was reasonable? This was nice to hear, but in fact, the truth was that killing within would happen without restraint from anywhere and anyone. If a martial artist died within the Eternal Demon Abyss, it would be impossible to determine just how they died.
“However… there is a point you should remember. If you kill others within the Eternal Demon Abyss, you can still obtain their infernal energy to nourish your Heavenly Demon Tattoo. According to the rules of Skysplit Tower, a middle ten-winged Heavenly Demon is the limit. If you surpass this limit, then this old man will have no choice but to use certain methods to disperse some of the infernal energy from your body. These methods will not cause any lasting damage to you, but I ask that you be mindful of this.
As the old man spoke, Lin Ming suddenly became aware.
So that’s how it was…
He had always wondered why so many High Lords had Heavenly Demon Tattoos at the middle ten-winged stage. Before this, he had thought it was strange. Normally, after a martial artist became a High Lord, they wouldn’t further participate in the life and death battles of the Blood Slaughter Steppes, so just where would their infernal energy come from?
From the early ten-wings to middle ten-wings, one needed quite a bit of infernal energy. This was the same as killing two or three High Lords. If someone only killed eight-winged Heavenly Demons then the infernal energy acquired wouldn’t help the tattoo grow by much.
That said, it wasn’t like an eight-winged Heavenly Demon was a random amateur that could be chopped up either.