Chapter 1281 – Difference in Strength

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The Cang Liang who walked on the martial stage was a silver-haired martial artist who used a black spear, the same weapon type as Lin Ming.

Lin Ming also silently took out his Phoenix Blood Spear from his spatial ring.

“Spear? How interesting!”

Cang Liang faintly smiled. “I have some impressions of you. You were the first ranked participant from Gravemoon Star, and many people know of you. They believe you can easily enter the top three of the Earth Proclamation, and perhaps even bloom in splendor during this First Martial Meeting and reach the top 10 ranks of the Heaven Proclamation.”

According to the rules of the First Martial Meeting, the Empyrean direct disciples and Heavenly Palace core disciples were considered within the Heaven Proclamation, but the Earth Proclamation removed all of them. Basically, those that would rule the Earth Proclamation would be disciples of Great World King Holy Lands.

In the past First Martial Meetings, the top three placed participants on the Earth Proclamation would only have an average ranking on the Heaven Proclamation. Without mentioning Empyrean descendants, many Heavenly Palace core disciples, which were also in the second group, were often better than disciples of Great World King Holy Lands.

This was because these Heavenly Palace core disciples often had half-step Empyrean masters, and their inheritances and resources were often much better. Many times they were even able to study transcendent divine mights. It was extremely difficult for disciples of Great World King Holy Lands to compare with them.

Cang Liang was this type of Heavenly Palace core disciple. As a Heavenly Palace core disciple, he was naturally arrogant. But no matter how arrogant Cang Liang was, he didn’t think for half a second that he could enter the top 10 rankings of the Heaven Proclamation. This was because the momentum and grandeur of this First Martial Meeting was far too vast. As the First Martial Meeting was held, more and more Empyrean direct disciples began to join in. At the start there were less than 10, but now as the finals were about to begin, there were already 30 of them.

This was an extremely rare situation, even when considering all the past First Martial Meetings. For instance, the last First Martial Meeting only had seven Empyrean descendants participating. Looking even further back, it was rare to find a First Martial Meeting that had more than 10 Empyrean descendants.

This caused the minimum ability required to enter the top 10 rankings of the Heaven Proclamation to be very high. If one wished to enter the top 10 they would have to engage in an absolutely blood-drenched round of combat!

The 30 Empyrean descendants came from over 20 Heavenly Palaces, and each one was an unbelievably monstrous genius. Moreover, nearly every one of them had a late Divine Sea cultivation. Facing any single one of them, Cang Liang didn’t have any confidence at all. Even so, in this situation, there were still many people that believed Lin Ming, a mere middle Divine Sea martial artist, had a chance of entering the top 10 of the Heaven Proclamation. Didn’t this mean that Lin Ming could easily defeat him?

Cang Liang certainly wasn’t convinced of this.

“Lin Ming has an extremely high chance of entering the top 10 of the Heaven Proclamation? Who said that?”

All around the arena stage, many of the viewers were also participants. This was the first time they had heard that Lin Ming had high hopes of entering the top 10 of the Heaven Proclamation.

“No idea. I only heard that he was the first ranked participant from Gravemoon Star’s contest area, and his potential even exceeds that of Dragon Fang. His comprehensive strength isn’t bad either. And that Dragon Fang is also a peak master.”

“Dragon Fang? Isn’t he just a common mortal martial artist…?” A Heavenly Palace disciple mindlessly commented. His eyes drifted towards another arena, where Dragon Fang was to face off against Wuju. Wuju was also a Heavenly Palace disciple in the second group. His palace number was 130, just slightly worse than Cang Liang.

After Lin Ming heard Cang Liang’s words, he faintly smiled. “Do I have a chance of entering the Heaven Proclamation’s top 10? That’s probably an appraisal given to me by the disciples of Vast Universe Heavenly Palace.”

All the disciples of Vast Universe Heavenly Palace believed that Lin Ming had used some trick to mount the Divine Seal Altar. Even so, that was still far too amazing. From that alone they believed that Lin Ming’s potential was limitless. It was only a pity that Lin Ming was far too young. He was five or six years younger than most of the other Empyrean descendants, thus they believed that Lin Ming would only rank in the top 10 of the Heaven Proclamation. This appraisal already directly overshadowed most other Empyrean descendants and implied they would be defeated by a genius five or six years younger than them. To the Empyrean descendants, this was absolutely a great shame. Just thinking about what sort of strength Lin Ming could achieve in five or six years, one could imagine what sort of disparity these five or six years were.

“I am a disciple of Empyrean Ash Moon’s chief disciple, Moonchild. I’ve stepped on this stage because I want to use this battle to teach you something. I will teach you just how great the disparity is between the Heaven Proclamation and the Earth Proclamation. Even if we are not Empyrean direct disciples, we still have transcendent divine mights that we can cultivate!”

Cang Liang didn’t say that he would defeat Lin Ming. He didn’t believe that all rumors were baseless, but he also didn’t believe that Lin Ming could tear his way through so many powerful enemies to reach the top 10.

“This Cang Liang is really stupid.”

Underneath the arena stage, Zhao Ji was gloating in pleasure. In a stroke of fate, he was also placed into the same division as Lin Ming. And, as a disciple of Vast Universe Heavenly Place, he was well aware of just how horrific Lin Ming was. Cang Liang could only blame his own bad luck.

“Lucky for him he didn’t say that he could defeat Lin Ming, otherwise his face would be swollen with shame later.” Another Vast Universe Heavenly Palace disciple said from beside Zhao Ji. Even if their Vast Universe Heavenly Palace disciples were inferior to Lin Ming, they were still glad to see the disciples of other Heavenly Palaces eat dirt.

As Cang Liang was about to say several more words, he suddenly heard a loud muffled sound from behind him, as if someone had forcefully struck the protective light barrier around the arenas.

He turned around and was immediately surprised. In another arena where Wuju was facing Dragon Fang, Wuju’s protective true essence had completely shattered. He spat out a mouthful of blood as he slumped to the ground. As for Dragon Fang, he stood in the center of the arena, casually grasping his curved sword as if he hadn’t expended any energy at all.

This fight was over in just a few breaths of time!

“This… what happened?”

Cang Liang’s eyes widened. He was somewhat familiar with Wuji. Although Wuju was inferior to himself, he still had the strength to compete for the top 100 rankings of the Heaven Proclamation, and yet he was quickly defeated by Dragon Fang!

“Fierce! He used a double spatial mirror image to defeat him in one move!”

“A double spatial mirror image isn’t considered too skillful at all. Dragon Fang’s limit surely continues past two images. I wonder just what boundary he has achieved!”

“No wonder some people said that Dragon Fang has a chance of entering the top 10 of the Heaven Proclamation. Now, it seems that these rumors might have been a bit exaggerated, but not necessarily inaccurate.”

All around Dragon Fang’s arena, many people had been watching that match just now. In just a spark of light the outcome had been decided!

Cang Liang’s face became immeasurably grim. In Gravemoon Star’s contest area, Dragon Fang had only come in second. Lin Ming had come in first place!

“And you were saying? Let’s start now, that side has already finished fighting.”

Lin Ming’s expression was very casual, but his words were grating on Cang Liang’s ears. Lin Ming simply didn’t consider him a decent opponent, and his words implied that this battle would be over soon.

“What a hateful man. Ash Moon in the Skies!”

Cang Liang shouted out loud and a watery lunar halo enveloped him. Behind Cang Liang, a brilliant moon appeared, slowly rising. This round moon gave off a magnificent and ancient atmosphere, making it hard for one to look directly at it.

As everyone saw this scene, their eyes began to light up.

“This is a transcendent divine might, the transcendent divine might of Ash Moon Heavenly Palace – Ancient Ash Moon!”

In truth, Ancient Ash Moon was not a complete transcendent divine might. Many Empyreans used their entire life’s energy to create a transcendent divine might. They might have to spend tens of millions of years to complete only half, and they might even die before they finished. This was the reason there were so many incomplete transcendent divine mights.

Ancient Ash Moon was one of these transcendent divine mights.

“A starving camel is still bigger than a horse. Even if a Heavenly Palace Core disciple is weak, they still have a supernatural divine might backing them. Just now, Wuju underestimated his enemy and didn’t even use his transcendent divine might. Cang Liang learnt from that lesson and now he’s immediately starting with everything he has.”

“Cang Liang might be able to create some trouble for Lin Ming. After all, he is stronger than Wuju.”

In this situation, even if Cang Liang were to show his transcendent divine might, very few people thought that he could defeat Lin Ming. If Lin Ming was on the same level as Dragon Fang, then the disparity between him and Cang Liang would be too great.

But, if he relied on his transcendent divine might to engage in a prolonged battle, he should be able to use up some of Lin Ming’s energy.

“Transcendent divine might? What a pity, you’ve only scratched the surface.”

Lin Ming grasped the Phoenix Blood Spear and swept outwards. With a flash of spear light, that ancient ash moon spear light in front of Cang Liang was pierced through. Although it didn’t shatter, the light dimmed down to almost nothing.

‘Mm? This attack contains the Concept of Timelessness? No wonder this ability gives off such an ancient and boundless feeling. Really, any kind of transcendent divine might isn’t simple at all! Unfortunately, Cang Liang’s comprehension of it is too shallow. Although an Empyrean Heavenly Palace often has more than one transcendent divine might as an inheritance, there are far too many people that wish to study them. The amount of time that a disciple is able to study it for is limited. If one wishes to study it in detail, they would need to be at least an Empyrean descendant.’

Lin Ming’s spear light twisted and an endless flood of thunder surged out, directly breaking apart that round ancient ash moon.

“He broke it so easily?”

That was a transcendent divine might. Even if Cang Liang wasn’t able to study it in detail, it still shouldn’t have been so easily broken.

Lin Ming began to walk towards Cang Liang, one step at a time.

“You’ve gone too far! You’ve forced my hand!” Cang Liang shouted, “Ancient Ash Moon second style – Moon Shimmering Through the Heavens and Earth!”

As Cang Liang attacked for a second type, true essence erupted to the limit. All the veins in his body bulged out as he clearly overdrew his own strength.

However, facing Cang Liang’s desperate attack, Lin Ming simply thrust his spear out. Flame and thunder flashed out and the ancient ash moon strike was directly split in half by Lin Ming’s spear.

Peng!

Cang Liang’s protective true essence shattered. He flew backwards and crashed down onto the arena stage.

Lin Ming easily achieved victory. The gap was far larger than everyone else imagined.

“I already knew it would be like this. Cang Liang and Lin Ming simply aren’t on the same level at all. We already said that Lin Ming would be able to advance into the top 10, but not many people believed us.” Underneath the arena stage, a Vast Universe Heavenly Palace disciple spoke with sneering disdain. Was their Vast Universe Heavenly Palace’s Divine Seal Altar so easy to climb? Even if one resorted to tricks, it definitely wasn’t easy to climb. Even with any amount of shortcuts, it was as difficult as reaching the heavens.

“There’s nothing that can be done. People only believe their own eyes, not the rumors they hear with their ears. Moreover, there were too many First Martial Meeting semifinal areas, and many of those that were first ranked in their areas were blown out of proportion.” Zhao Ji said. Although he wasn’t too happy with Lin Ming, he couldn’t help but acknowledge his strength.

“After this, Lin Ming might not need to fight again. Many people will simply admit defeat instead of having to face him in battle. In each group, everyone will have to fight 15 people after all. If they admit defeat they can save their strength for the next fight.”

The disciples of Vast Universe Heavenly Palace had guessed correctly. After Cang Liang was defeated, Lin Ming’s second opponent simply admitted defeat.

The third, fourth, and fifth matches were also the same.

Lin Ming easily obtained a five match winning streak, and Dragon Fang was also the same. In the eyes of everyone else, a genius like Lin Ming was simply sparring in this brief interlude. Their real strength would be revealed in the true finals.