Chapter 84 – Gathering of Masters
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A few breaths after that ash-robed detective said those words, Lin Ming appeared in a corner of the bamboo grove. That detective’s eye was like a hawk that was sizing up its prey, Lin Ming. “Really young, not even 16 years old. His face still appears to be a little naïve, but if I look carefully, I can see that there is a shocking sharp and proud aura on his forehead. This face and aura, is certainly not something that comes from a little pond!”
“That is a 820 jin long spear called the Penetrating Rainbow. Yesterday I specially went to the Divine Weapon Hall to ask the storekeeper who sold this spear. That a 15 year old youth would choose such a heavy weapon that is difficult to learn, his boldness and courage is really praiseworthy.”
“If the day ever arrives that a prince tries to stage a coup d’état on the Crown Prince or plot a rebellion, then Lin Ming can take hold of this Penetrating Rainbow to protect our lord the Emperor. This spear, with a single sweep, can take the lives of several scores of people. This Lin Ming, I absolutely must win him over for his highness the Crown Prince!”
When Lin Ming arrived carrying the Penetrating Rainbow, he almost instantly attracted the gaze of everyone present. Some of these stares were particularly burning, as if they were imprinting the image of him into their mind.
After Lin Ming studied the ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’, his perception was exceptionally keen. He followed this scalding gaze to see an ash-robed man standing in a corner of the sword bamboo grove.
The ash-robed man slightly hesitated, “Did he sense me?”
His location was very distant and blended in, there was no reason that he should be spotted in the crowd where everyone was looking at him. Unfortunately, he was noticed, because he felt that this stare was significantly different.
“This Ling Ming, his observation of others is as if he has some kind of special sensor. It’s just too inconceivable. Is his soul force much stronger than others?” The ash-clothed man said as he secretly noted this characteristic. Later, he would prepare a report with all of the information for the Crown Prince.
After Lin Ming arrived, he chose a place to sit down and laid the Penetrating Rainbow flat on his knee. He closed his eyes and meditated as he controlled his breathing.
The other disciples of the Martial House frequently cast their vision over to him. Even some of the disciples of the Heavenly Abode felt a faint fear towards Lin Ming’s growing strength. Although as of now his strength was inferior them, maybe soon he would catch up very quickly.
The Seven Profound Martial House regulations stated that as long as an Earth Hall disciple entered the top 80 ranks of the Ranking stone, they would have the opportunity to send out a single challenge to any disciple of the Heavenly Abode. Once they won, then they would displace that disciple and become a new disciple of the Heavenly Abode! The loser would be eliminated.
The number of disciples of the Heavenly Abode was fixed at 72 members. In these 72 people, there were changes every month. At the end of every ranking war every month, it was normal for 2 or 3 challenges to be sent out.
The disciples of the Earth Hall were always aiming to push out disciples of the Heavenly Abode. After all, the difference in treatment between disciples of the Earth Hall and the Heavenly Abode was just too big. Once they entered the Heavenly Abode, they would immediately receive an extra reward, including top-quality pills, 15 true essence stones, and 30 hours of time to use the seven major killing arrays.
Lin Ming would reach the top 80 this time or next time, and then challenge one of them!
So how could these people not be worried? Nobody wanted to be expelled from the Heavenly Abode. Not only did this mean losing the massive amount of resources, it was also a huge loss of face.
By now, the crowd was in a tumultuous uproar.
“Li Yan, Wu Weidao, Zhu Yan…three masters in the top 50 rankings suddenly appeared!”
“This time’s Ten Thousand Killing Array assessment is really a gathering of masters…”
As the crowd talked, Lin Ming’s eyes fell upon Zhu Yan. Together with Zhu Yan, was of course Lan Yunyue.
Lan Yunyue had just entered the ashlar square where she stopped. She hid in a corner of the sword bamboo grove, obviously not willing meet Lin Ming and be put in that embarrassing and awkward situation.
Lin Ming did not even spare Lan Yunyue a glance. His eyes were locked on Zhu Yan.
‘Zhu Yan, you have finally appeared. I’ve already been at the Seven Profound Martial House for more than a month, and this is my first time seeing you!’
Zhu Yan also looked at Lin Ming. Very few people knew of the ongoing feud between them, so their stares were not brought to anyone’s attention. This was also because Li Yan and Wu Weidao were similarly looking at Lin Ming. This newer generation disciple would possibly become a powerful rival after all, paying attention to him was normal.
Zhu Yan only looked at Lin Ming in a deadpan manner, having no expression on the surface, as if he did not know who Lin Ming was. He looked at Lin Ming for a moment, then turned away.
However at that moment, Lin Ming actually felt that within Zhu Yan’s eyes was hidden a cold and murderous intent.
His battle with Zhu Yan had started because of Lan Yunyue, but now, it no longer had anything to do with Lan Yunyue. Lin Ming regarded Zhu Yan as a hurdle in his road of martial arts that he had to cross over in order to continue forward.
But Zhu Yan, because of his repeated defeat and frustrations, regarded Lin Ming as a thorn in his side that had to be removed, otherwise his heart of martial arts would never be whole, and it would always have a thorn!
At the start, both sides only wanted to step on the other, and step on them so that they could never stand up from the failure. But now, they wanted to directly destroy the other party, in particular Zhu Yan, who was already planning on how to kill Lin Ming.
“Look! Bai Jingyun and Murong Zi, they are also two masters in the top 50 rankings!”
“There are more and more masters coming. This time’s Ten Thousand Killing Array ranking war is truly a convergence of dragons.”
With the appearance of Bai Jingyun and Murong Zi, they had all captivated the eyes of everyone present. They caused a stir that was even larger than Lin Ming. Lin Ming had only drawn everyone’s eyes, but these two Bai Jingyun and Murong Zi made all of the male disciples too excited and uncomfortable to stand, and sent their fighting spirits soaring to the sky. The reason for this was because these two people were extremely beautiful women.
There weren’t originally many female disciples at the Seven Profound Martial House. Female disciples with formidable strength, superb temperament, and the looks of a goddess were even fewer. Girls like Bai Jingyun and Murong Zi were really the cream of the crop when it came to girls. In the entire nation, it would be impossible to find many like them!
The two women were collectively referred to as the ‘Seven Profound Proud Pair’. It could be said that a thousand myriad graces were set in one body. Many sons of the major powers and large families had hopes to kiss their perfumed hair, however, they always returned in utter failure.
As beautiful, proud women, they were very arrogant and were not necessarily willing to marry and become a man’s wife. Even if they did, they would look for a dragon among men. Status and wealth were not enough; they also wanted strength with a good, moral character!
Zhu Yan and others like him were insufficient. Even the princes who wished to marry the two girls as their royal concubines were unable to do so.
After the two girls arrived, Bai Jingyun looked at Lin Ming and then sat down on a clean grass patch in a clearing of the bamboo grove, along with Murong Zi. They discussed some secretive girly things, and no longer cared about other people’s attention.
Before the aftermath of the arrival of Bai Jingyun and Murong Zi had cleared, there was another stir among the crowd.
“Ling Sen! Ta Ku! Heavens! My heavens! Those two also came today!”
For Ling Sen and Ta Ku, there was no longer any significance in participating in the Ten Thousand Killing Array assessment. Their rankings were unshakable, and they were already at the first and second place; there was nowhere for them to advance in the rankings.
“They are not necessarily here to participate. They probably came to watch the ranking war.”
“Mmm. There is the possibility… this time too many masters have appeared. The rising star Lin Ming is shining too brightly, it’s natural for them to pay attention to him.”
Lin Ming silently looked at Ling Sen. Although was the third time they’d met. The first time they had met, Lin Ming hadn’t felt just how terrible and frightening a person Ling Sen was. With the improvement of his cultivation, he increasingly felt Ling Sen’s fearsome aura.
Although Ling Sen’s cultivation could be compared equally with Qin Xingxuan, Lin Ming truly believed that Qin Xingxuan was not Ling Sen’s match. This Ling Sen was a complete cold-blooded killing machine, simply a murderous beast!
On the field, more and more masters began to gather. As the Ten Thousand Killing Array assessment was about to start, nine masters in the top 50 rankings had already arrived. This number was already quite high. In the entire year, only at the final examination that took place at the end of the school year would one see a scene like this where all the top masters had gathered.