Martial World (Web Novel)

…

…

…

Lin Ming stepped onto the crimson altar. As he felt the thick bloody infernal energy emanating from the altar, he was secretly surprised.

This altar was carved from a massive chunk of pure Blood Demon Crystal. Not just that, but it was high-grade Blood Demon Crystal. Within a Blood Demon Crystal mine, they were usually found in small blocks and chunks; it was particularly rare to find such a massive hunk of Blood Demon Crystal like this one.

Lin Ming stood at the center of the altar and cut his own palm. He believed that High Lord Bloodfire wouldn’t have set any traps here for him. After all, High Lord Bloodfire still believed that he had a slave seal planted within him and was completely subservient to the Tower Master’s orders.

Blood flowed onto the altar and was instantly absorbed into the deep crimson stone. After several breaths of time, beneath Lin Ming’s feet, a massive deep red totem lit up. This was also in the pattern of a twelve-winged Heavenly Demon.

In the next moment, a radiant red light shot up into the sky, directly swallowing Lin Ming within.

Infernal energy, an evil, dangerous, and brutal energy directly smashed into Lin Ming’s spiritual sea, followed by a massive pressure on his soul. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had passed the King’s Cage and had already become accustomed to the Heavenly Demon force field, then this pressure would have caused him to nearly faint. In fact, many martial artists – including Yan Chi and Maha – would immediately faint upon first entering the Road of Emperor, only waking up after a long time.

The Heavenly Demon martial intent was released, and Lin Ming used the Asura force field to resist the pressure of the Road of Emperor. In the next instant, he had arrived in another space.

The place Lin Ming appeared at was still a deep red altar. This altar was the exact same as the one at the entrance to the Road of Emperor. As he looked beneath, he saw that under the altar was impressively the dark abyss. A rich infernal energy wafted up from this abyss. Lin Ming had a deepening suspicion that this abyss under the altar was the source of infernal energy. If he fell all the way down, then he would fall into the Eternal Demon Abyss!

Above this abyss was a ten foot wide wooden plank road. This road wasn’t supported by anything. Instead, it was firmly suspended in midair. Along this wooden plank path, every 100 feet or so, there would be a group of lights. Underneath these lights were statues carved from obsidian. These statues didn’t have any support either – they were also held up and suspended in the air through some mystical power.

As Lin Ming looked at these quietly burning ghostly blue flames, he could feel a very rich soul force coming from them. It was like these weren’t flames but rather the blaze coming from a burning soul.

What a strange place!

Lin Ming was startled. He tried to fly, but as he expected, flying was restricted in this area. But that was probably for the best. If he really tried to fly and fell down into this abyss then he would most likely die.

The Road of Emperor was the same as the King’s Cage: both were mere practice areas. But since ancient times, for those martial artists whose luck was poor, or those who misjudged their own strength, there would always be people that perished in here.

Without a doubt, this ten foot wide plank road was the Road of Emperor. Lin Ming didn’t hastily step onto the Road of Emperor. Instead, he sat down in meditation, adjusting his mental and physical state to their peak condition, and then stepped onto the plank road.

As soon as he entered the Road of Emperor, Lin Ming immediately felt a pressure cover him. This pressure was completely different from that of the Heavenly Demon force field’s pressure. This pressure came from soul and will, and Lin Ming was no stranger to this pressure either.

This pressure was the Emperor Will.

When Lin Ming fought with Yan Chi and Maha, he had once felt a part of the Emperor Will. When an Emperor level powerhouse died, the will they left behind would not fade away even after thousands of years. This was the so-called battle spirit.

A battle spirit was the condensed will that a martial artist could form after they reached a certain boundary. This will could be attached to any object, and could be used in a multitude of ways, such as killing people.

For instance, if one attached a battle spirit to the air, they could directly crush a massive boulder into powder.

If they attached a battle spirit to a skill or treasure, they could double their attack power, or even increase it by several times over!

“Emperor battle spirit… I wonder when I will be able to comprehend my own battle spirit.” Lin Ming was filled with expectations. When a martial artist reached the Emperor level they would normally have their own battle spirit. Of course, there were even some lucky individuals who didn’t need to be at the Emperor level. If they had a great enough destiny fall unto their body, they could often comprehend a battle spirit at the higher stages of Life Destruction.

This was only the situation within the Sky Spill Continent. If it were the Realm of the Gods, then it was probably even more abnormal. It wouldn’t be strange for those at the Revolving Core to be able to comprehend a battle spirit.

Thinking of this, Lin Ming asked, “Demonshine, when would a top talent of the Realm of the Gods usually comprehend their own battle spirit?”

Demonshine, who had been staying within Lin Ming’s spiritual sea the entire time, hadn’t replied. In fact, it was like Demonshine hadn’t even heard his question. This caused Lin Ming to be a bit surprised. As soon as they entered the Road of Emperor, Demonshine had been incomparably quiet, not even making the smallest noise.

“Demonshine?” Lin Ming asked, worried.

“Lin Ming, this Road of Emperor… I feel like I’ve been here before…” After being silent for a long time, Demonshine quietly and eerily spoke.

“Mm?” Lin Ming was slightly startled.

“Well, it’s more accurate to say that my big brother came here.” Demonshine sounded a bit sad. This sort of mood rarely ever happened to the proud and talkative dog.

“Your big brother?”

“My original body is that of a Three-headed Demonic Divine Hound, and my soul is also a trinity of three souls in one. My big brother was born first, and then as his strength grew, my second brother was born, and finally, me. When we sieged the Verdant Feather Holy Lands in the past, Big Brother and Second Brother tried to protect me, and because of that they were twisted to nothingness in the soul storm. Within my body are some of the remnant soul fragments of my big brother and second brother.”

As Demonshine finished speaking he let out a long sigh. In just the snap of the fingers, tens of thousands of years had passed. Recalling the past now really made one feel a bitterly painful nostalgia.

As Lin Ming heard Demonshine speak, he suddenly froze, a light seeming to go off in his mind. Yes! He had forgotten something!

When Lin Ming was still on the second floor, he had killed Xue Man and obtained a nameless ancient tome from his spatial ring. This tome had vivid, lifelike images of people rubbed into all the pages; one could even faintly feel the aura and dignity of these characters as they were when they were alive. Near these images were written notes that listed out these character’s lives. As Lin Ming had read through them, he realized that every single one of these characters were all either Emperor level powerhouses or peak Emperor level talents of the last tens of thousands of years of the Holy Demon Continent!

This included the Netherworld Great Emperor, and even the Demon Emperor was impressively included in there.

Lin Ming immediately dug out the tome and quickly found the page that the Demon Emperor was listed on.

Within the tome, the Demon Emperor was holding onto the Great Desolate Blood Halberd, his ink-black hair recklessly flying in the wind. One could even vividly feel the terrifying aura and majesty of the Demon Emperor.

Beside the Demon Emperor’s picture was a note.

“Demon Emperor. His birth was ominous and his death was ominous. Cause of death is unclear.”

“This is…” Demonshine was stunned. He exclaimed, “This rubbing is exactly the same as the Demon Emperor himself.”

“Yes, it is exactly the same. Not just that, but the Demon Emperor died in the Realm of the Gods and he was an existence from tens of thousands of years ago. So, who carved the image of the Demon Emperor and how did they know that he died?”

Lin Ming’s mind was filled with doubts.

Demonshine said, “Lin Ming, look at the base of those lights.”

As Demonshine spoke, Lin Ming looked up and was suddenly astonished. In front of him, not too far away, was a carved relief of a Fey martial artist at the base of the lights. This Fey martial artist was handsome and held a longsword in his hands. He was a jade-like beauty with a heroic appearance.

Lin Ming suddenly remembered that this Fey martial artist was one of those whose images were rubbed within the tome!

Lin Ming opened the tome and found that the carved relief of this martial artist was the exact same as the rubbing!

“Lian Ku. Born in the Holy Demon Calendar year of 26,720, died in the Holy Demon Calendar year of 26,750. This person was a peerless talent of elegance and grace. He reached the Fey King realm at 24 years of age, and within his realm there was no worthy opponent for him. His path to becoming a Fey Emperor was inevitable, but what a pity, his destiny was lacking. As he was seeking his own lucky chance in a danger zone, he perished there, ending his life at 30 years of age.”

A Fey King was equal to the human Revolving Core. For someone to become a Fey King at the age of 24 was similar to reaching Revolving Core at an age of 24. This was a speed that would be around five or six years faster than Mu Qianyu. In fact, it wasn’t even that different from Lin Ming!

A peerless hero of his generation, his path to becoming an Emperor was a matter of time. However, he perished in the middle of his path.

“Lin Ming, I remember some things. In my big brother and second brother’s memories, these lights that you see each represent an Emperor level powerhouse. Even if they aren’t Emperor level powerhouses they are still peerless talents of their generation that should easily have become Emperor level characters. But these people all have two things in common. The first is that they are dead, and the second is… when they were young, they once stepped into the Road of Emperor!”

These lights each represented an Emperor level powerhouse that had once entered the Road of Emperor?

Lin Ming’s mind chilled. As he looked at these quietly burning ghostly blue flames, he couldn’t feel any heat from them. Rather, he felt a bone-biting chill, as if these flames were burning souls.

Of course, this was only a feeling. If they really were souls then they would have burnt out long ago.

Demonshine said, “The will lights of the Road of Emperor are not crafted by human hands, but naturally formed. Otherwise, across a span of tens of thousands of years, no one would have the ability to carve out a lifelike impression of all these peerless characters, perfectly keeping even their aura and majesty.”

“If I’m not wrong, then every peerless genius of their era who has entered the Road of Emperor will be remembered by the Road of Emperor. After they die, lights would form here as a symbol to them.

As Lin Ming heard Demonshine speak, he felt an inexplicable chill fill his heart.

The Road of Emperor… just what was it?

The force underneath the Eternal Demon Abyss that was behind the mystical curse… what was that too?

After every martial artist died, flames would light up as a symbol to them. Then, what was it that the Road of Emperor used to remember them?

A part of their will? Spiritual energy? Or maybe a soul mark?

Even a peerless existence like the Demon Emperor, a great character even within the Realm of the Gods, still couldn’t rid himself from the Road of Emperor’s memory. After he perished in the Realm of the Gods, the Road of Emperor also formed a group of lights that corresponded to him.

Like mortals that could not escape the cycle of samsara, those peerless geniuses that stepped into the Road of Emperor similarly couldn’t rid themselves of their destiny. No matter how unrivaled they were in their lives, they still returned here, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Lin Ming took a deep breath and clenched his fists. Regardless of what was at the end of the Road of Emperor, regardless of what was at the deepest depths of the Eternal Demon Abyss, he would not hesitate to continue forwards.

The world was large, far beyond what he could ever imagine. Even the Demon Emperor, standing before the true peak of martial artists, was probably just a minor, unworthy person.

In the past, in order to compete for the Magic Cube, he had died. This Magic Cube that had extinguished the lives of 10,000 powerhouses from the Realm of the Gods, just where had it come from also?

All of these powerful and mysterious existences did not cause Lin Ming to be crestfallen or even feel low. Instead, there was nothing in him but a limitless fighting spirit. He had already set firm his determination to step onto the highest peak of martial arts, and have a good look at what the scenery from that peak would be like.