Martial World (Web Novel)

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Within Lin Ming’s spiritual sea, the bronze battle spirit that lived there howled. With the array symbols that he formed infused with his battle spirit, they immediately enveloped the Demon God Bone.

A battle spirit could be attached to any attack or weapon. Of course, this included even the energy of an array symbol!

After fusing with a wisp of battle spirit, the golden array symbols became much sharper.

Seeing this rain of golden light fall over it, the Demon God Bone screamed in horror. This sharp sound really made one’s scalp tingle with dread.

The Demon God Bone used every last bit of its strength to launch a will attack against Lin Ming, but all of its actions were useless.

Not too far away, Duanmu Qun was alarmed. Among everyone present, besides Lin Ming, he understood the most about will and battle spirits. He was also clear as to what attack method this Demon God bone used.

Ever since Lin Ming began sealing away the Demon God Bone, all of the pressure on Duanmu Qun’s body suddenly vanished. The Demon God Bone had given up its attacks on everyone else and was using its complete strength to resist Lin Ming. Even so, Lin Ming didn’t even blink; it was like he didn’t even notice it.

Was his willpower that strong?

After an incense stick of time, the screeching howls of the heaven-step Demon God Bone began to weaken before completely vanishing. Duanmu Qun took several steps forwards and found that the heaven-step Demon God Bone within the sarcophagus was already wrapped up in a thick cocoon.

The cocoon was formed by layers upon layers of array symbols as well as a purple power of thunder. The power of thunder had an absolute advantage against evil ghosts and spirits, using it to suppress this Demon God Bone was undoubtedly the best method.

“Alright, we’re finished here.”

Lin Ming placed the heaven-step Demon God Bone in his spatial ring as well as the profound gold divine fruit and half of the earth-step Demon God Bones. As for the remaining eight earth-step Demon God Bones, those were naturally left over for Duanmu Qun and the rest.

“This is… we actually don’t need to be given any of the treasure. During this adventure into the 1000 mile forbidden zone, everything has been thanks to Brother Lin. Making it out of here alive is the only lucky chance that we’ll need.”

Duanmu Qun ruefully smiled as he looked at the eight Demon God Bones left over in the sarcophagus.

In truth, even if it were just the most ordinary, longan sized low-grade human-step Demon God Bone, it still wouldn’t be some cabbage if placed in a Holy Land. From the time he was born until now, the total amount of resources that Duanmu Qun had used up couldn’t amount to a single one of these fist sized earth-step Demon God Bones.

It was impossible to say that Duanmu Qun wasn’t interested in these earth-step Demon God Bones, but because of the fear he felt from Lin Ming’s ruthless and decisive character, he decided that these Demon God Bones simply weren’t worth it.

On the contrary, if he could form good relations with Lin Ming, then the advantages he could obtain in the future might be worth even more.

Lin Ming said, “Eight earth-step Demon God Bones are enough for me. The rest is for you, Feng Shen, and Lan Xin. This is fair.”

At the very start when he was dividing up the resources, he had already calculated what he needed. Him, Mu Qianyu, and Qin Xingxuan would each take two earth-step Demon God Bones for a total of six. And, if Lin Ming’s little sister Lin Xiaoge also had the aptitude to practice martial arts, then that would be another two for a grand total of eight.

“This is… or, how about this. The three of us will take one each and Brother Lin can take the other five. A single earth-step Demon God Bone is already plenty for us.” Duanmu Qun refused once more as he glanced over at Feng Shen. Feng Shen didn’t have any expression at all, apparently he agreed with this decision.

Lin Ming didn’t decline. He immediately took five more of the Demon God Bones. In truth, thinking about it more, besides Mu Qianyu, Qin Xingxuan, and his little sister, there was also Mu Bingyun, Mu Yuhuang, and Mu Fengxian – he needed to give them appropriate consideration too. Because of the kindness they had once shown him in the past, he should give them one or two each. With that, another three to five was just right.

As Duanmu Qun saw Lin Ming take five of the remaining Demon God Bones, he relaxed. This could be described as a great result for everyone here.

“Brother Lin, shall we go now?”

“No need to hurry.” Lin Ming thought about the time and shook his head. The Eternal Demon Abyss would be open for half a year, it had only been around two months since they had entered.

In these two months, Lin Ming had made repeated breakthroughs in his strength and also fought in a great number of battles. Although the energy within him was potent, it was restless and unsteady. This was the result of accumulating so much strength in such a short period of time.

Lin Ming expected that they would inevitably encounter some new danger in the next several months. A dull knife wouldn’t be able to cut wood. It was best to take advantage of their current situation and use this safe zone to stabilize his strength.

“Let’s recover here for a month and return to our peak condition before leaving again.”

Lin Ming’s words were no different from a command; no one dared to question him. Duanmu Qun immediately nodded and said, “That’s also good.”

The truth was that in these past days, Duanmu Qun had been in a constant state of high stress and tension, he really did need to rest and recuperate. Him, Feng Shen, and the just awoken and still groggy Lan Xin, went to a corner of the tomb and sat down, beginning to meditate there.

As for Lin Ming, he went to another corner.

Lin Ming took out a few top-grade Blood Demon Crystals and quickly entered into the ethereal martial intent state…

With Demonshine guarding him, Lin Ming didn’t worry that there was anything that would sneak up on him. After breaking through to the Revolving Core realm, his ethereal martial intent state was much more smooth. With just a reminder from Demonshine, he would be able to immediately wake up.

Like this, time passed slowly. Lin Ming’s cultivation didn’t increase, but his foundation slowly stabilized.

Lin Ming hadn’t used an earth-step Demon God Bone. This sort of heavenly treasure was equivalent to a tyrannical and oppressive medicine. Currently, the energy within his body was already restless and disorderly. If he swallowed an earth-step Demon God Bone like this, then it would only make his foundation unstable, affecting his future cultivation growth.

Consolidating one’s foundation was an extremely laborious and burdensome process. Currently, within Lin Ming’s dantian, besides the spinning crystal core there, there was also a great number of scattered true essence crystals floating about. They slowly revolved in the gaseous energy around the crystal core.

All of these were signs of disordered energy.

What Lin Ming had to do was completely absorb these crystalline true essence shards into the surface of his Revolving Core; this was the so-called process of consolidating his foundation.

This was a very long and time-consuming process. Moreover, it didn’t even increase the total amount of true essence there was.

Other martial artists would also try to solidify their foundation like this. They would often go into closed-door seclusion for a year or longer to accomplish this.

However, no matter how much time they spent, they would reach a point where their foundation could no longer be consolidated. This was their limit.

When those scattered true essence crystals gathered onto the Revolving Core, they would also break off some of the other true essence crystals on the Revolving Core’s surface because of the agitation of energy. Because of this, this energy would return to the dantian where it would become new crystallized shards of true essence.

When these two reached a balance, that was when a martial artist reached the limit of their consolidation. No matter how much longer they spent, it wouldn’t be useful.

So, a normal Revolving Core martial artist would spend a year or so on the wearisome work of consolidating their foundation. Afterwards, once they reached their limit and established a balance in their Revolving Core, they would no longer be diligent in steadying their foundation.

This balance could be reached at any time; it all depended on how solid the martial artist’s foundation was before they entered Revolving Core.

For example, take Lin Ming. Before he broke through to Revolving Core, his foundation was solid to the extreme. From the very start, the Revolving Core he formed had been several times larger than an ordinary martial artist’s.

Afterwards, his Revolving Core had collapsed and became the same size as an ordinary martial artist’s Revolving Core, except that its color was darker and it spun several times faster, meaning that the energy within it was several times greater than usual.

Such a Revolving Core already had a much greater attractive force, so it would absorb true essence crystals much more easily.

Because of this, Lin Ming’s process of consolidating his foundation was much easier than an ordinary martial artist’s. With just a thought, the true essence crystals freely floating in his dantian fell onto his Revolving Core like a gently drizzling rain. With just a few days of work, half of the true essence crystals had been sucked up into his Revolving Core.

However, following that, the speed was much slower. There were less free floating true essence crystals so consolidating his foundation was that much harder.

“Lin Ming, when your Revolving Core foundation reaches the extreme, that is when every true essence crystal and all the remaining energies have concentrated into your Revolving Core without a single bit escaping, forming the perfect crystal core orb. Such a Revolving Core is extremely rare. In the Realm of the Gods, they call this a ‘Black Hole Revolving Core’, because at that time, your Revolving Core is similar to a black hole. The true essence crystals can only enter and the attractive force is that much greater. This is your goal. Reach Black Hole Revolving Core before breaking through to the middle Revolving Core realm, because if your foundation ever becomes unstable, you will have to pay several times the effort in the future and you still might not be able to recover from it.”

“I understand.” Lin Ming nodded and continued consolidating his foundation.

Lin Ming had already made up his mind. Black Hole Revolving Core was the realm he needed to reach. Until the day he reached this realm, he would not make a breakthrough in his cultivation.

……………

Time passed unknowingly. One month later, Lin Ming’s eyes suddenly flashed open from his meditation. In that instant, it was like two bright arcs of lightning lit up the room. An invisible aura was sent out, making Lan Xin, Duanmu Qun, and Feng Shen feel like something cold crawled up their backs. In that moment they could feel the true essence within their bodies restlessly moving, spontaneously resisting this pressure.

As Lan Xin looked at Lin Ming, she was a bit shocked, “Lin Ming… you…”

Ho--!

The aura suddenly vanished and the bright electric light in Lin Ming’s eyes also disappeared, as if everything just now was an illusion.

Lin Ming stood up. Compared to a month ago, the energy around him was calmer and his aura was more collected, without a trace leaking out. The total amount of true essence in his body hadn’t increased, but his strength had actually risen once again. Originally he had just entered the Revolving Core realm, but now he could be considered as having stably entered early Revolving Core.

Duanmu Qun looked over to Lin Ming. He felt as if an Azure Dragon was hidden within Lin Ming’s being. Once his energy erupted, the clouds and seas would tremble, shaking the heavens and earth.

Such a Lin Ming was awe-inspiring!

Thinking of this, Duanmu Qun’s eyes subconsciously fell onto the Heavenly Demon Tattoo on Lin Ming’s arm. A peak ten-winged Heavenly Demon Tattoo was just a step shy from achieving 12 wings. Duanmu Qun didn’t believe that Lin Ming would give up on reaching this goal.

If this were true, then Lin Ming would inevitably become the enemy of the entire Blood Slaughter Steppes!

From the peak of 10 wings to 12 wings, he would have to kill at least three or four high ranking High Lords like High Lord Cloud Demon.

Just who would he kill?

Thinking of this, Duanmu Qun’s eyebrows shot up. Although Lin Ming appeared to be a pleasant and polite youth, the truth was that when it came to killing, there was nearly no one as decisive as he was.

“Let’s leave the forbidden zone!”

Lin Ming said. In his current state, it wouldn’t take long to make it out of this 1000 mile forbidden zone.

Within the Eternal Demon Abyss, Lin Ming had come to understand some things. This was that it was time to return to the South Horizon Region. From the time he left the Demon God Imperial Palace, in just a flash, it had already been two and a half years since he stepped foot within the South Horizon Region. For this entire time, the worry within Lin Ming’s mind had increased with every passing day.