Chapter 1423 – God Runes

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Lin Ming hadn’t thought that Empyrean Divine Dream had been to the Asura Road too. Nine years ago, when Dragon Fang went to the Asura Road, that likely meant that his master, the Three Lives Old Man, had also been there.

It seemed that the Asura Road was a smelting trial destination that wasn’t a secret to the high level figures of the Divine Realm. As for the average person, they had likely never heard about it because they simply weren’t able to come into contact with it.

Empyrean Divine Dream said, “The Asura Road is filled with countless dangers. It’s a land that possesses all the various races of the 33 Layered Heavens because it is an unordered world to begin with. It is common for murder to casually take place on the streets and it is extremely chaotic. However, this still isn’t the main source of danger.”

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“Mm? These dangers are…” Lin Ming’s thoughts stirred. Oftentimes upon entering a mystic realm of the Divine Realm, the true dangers didn’t originate from the mystic realm itself but the other treasure hunters that were participating. In a world without rules and restrictions like a mystic realm, killing others and stealing away all of their property was common.

Divine Dream said, “If you go to the Asura Road, you may encounter dangers from the rules that exist there, and there will be things that occur which you never imagined possible. Or, you may even run into enemies that far surpass your boundary. At that time no matter how talented you are, you will still be defeated… all of this is something you must clearly understand before you enter the Asura Road, especially if you venture into its depths.”

Lin Ming quietly nodded. No matter what, if Dragon Fang was able to go then there shouldn’t be any problem for him. As for areas deeper in the Asura Road, that was something he had to consider.

“Senior Divine Dream, can you tell this junior what sort of world the Asura Road is?”

Empyrean Divine Dream had spoken a great deal about the Asura Road but she hadn’t truly described it.

Empyrean Divine Dream took a light breath, contemplating for a moment before saying, “The Asura Road is an independent world that is completely sealed off. In terms of area, it is around half the size of the smallest of the Divine Realm’s 3000 great worlds. Even so, that means it is extremely broad. In the past, I also didn’t go into the deepest parts of the Asura Road. Rather, as I was exploring the middle of the Asura Road, I found a mysterious transmission talisman that allowed me to go to Soul World. Afterwards, I went to Soul World because I believed at the time that there would be great lucky chances there that concerned my future. This is likely something that you already know.”

As Empyrean Divine Dream spoke, Lin Ming suddenly realized what had happened. He had thought it was strange. If it was so difficult for powerful martial artists to pass through the God Lamenting Wall, just how had Empyrean Divine Dream gone to Soul World?

“So, one can enter any of the 33 Layered Heavens from the Asura Road?”

Empyrean Divine Dream said, “That’s right. But, there are many trial challengers and returning to your own universe is the easiest. However, when I say ‘easiest’, that is only relatively speaking. The deeper you venture into the Asura Road, the more difficult it will be to return. There are many people that become stuck in the Asura Road for their entire lives and are unable to leave.

“In my opinion, I feel that the Asura Road is a massive trial field created by a divine being. In that world, there are many ways in which you can obtain a mysterious and unique strength of the Asura Road – the god runes. These runes are granted to you by the Heavenly Dao Laws of the Asura Road and they hold endless enigmas. They are similar to inscription techniques’ body inscription symbols and soul inscription symbols but they are far more profound; there is almost no comparing them.”

“Mm?” Lin Ming was stunned. In inscription technique, there were body inscription symbols that could increase a martial artist’s strength and soul inscription symbols that could increase a martial artist’s soul force.

However, perhaps because of the great calamity 3.6 billion years ago and all the lost inheritances, or perhaps because the Heavenly Dao Laws were like this to begin with, the further a martial artist’s cultivation progressed, the smaller the effects would be. This was because a martial artist’s own strength was far too strong, and the ability for even the highest level of inscription techniques to increase one’s strength was far too limited.

Empyrean Divine Dream continued to say, “These various god runes have all sorts of incomparably exquisite Laws. The runes are similar to the Law fragments that you experienced during your Ninefall. They can be directly fused into your flesh and blood, bones, inner world, and even your soul. Their use is not only to be perceived, but also act as a direct method of strengthening yourself.

“For instance, you can use them to enhance your physical strength, defensive power, true essence thickness, striking power, and so forth. There are even some that can give you bloodline powers. There are even those you can perceive that will allow you to comprehend much more powerful attacks.

“In the Asura Road, god runes will be a part of your strength – an extremely important part. You may be rewarded with god runes by completing various missions of the Heavenly Dao, or you may even exchange or purchase them. Sometimes, if your destiny and lucky chances are wonderful enough, you may also obtain rare god runes. Of course, there remains the most simple and direct way of obtaining god runes… and that is to take them from others. There are some god runes that you can take for yourself as long as you kill the other party.

“This is also the reason why slaughter is common in the Asura Road. Everyone wants to kill others in order to obtain their god runes. In particular, if an extremely rare god rune was to appear in the world, it might start a horrible storm of blood and mayhem.”

Empyrean Divine Dream slowly said. Lin Ming was shocked after hearing this. He felt that this new world completely subverted all rules he knew of.

Why would the Asura Road have such strange Heavenly Dao Laws? Could it be like Divine Dream had said, and the Asura Road was created by some senior supreme elder with an unimaginably high level of cultivation?

And why had he created the Asura Road? Was it to help temper geniuses?

From how it was described, the Heavenly Dao rules of the Asura Road encouraged slaughter, urging people to kill others for their god runes. This was a much more convenient method than obtaining runes through completing different tasks.

But, there was something else that Lin Ming didn’t understand. “Senior Divine Dream, this junior has another question. Do these runes require the special Heavenly Dao rules of the Asura Road in order to function? Will they be unusable after leaving the Asura Road?”

Lin Ming hadn’t seen Dragon Fang use the power of any god runes, nor had he heard of anyone in the Divine Realm who increased their own strength using god runes. If the god runes from the Asura Road were tremendously useful in enhancing one’s abilities even outside of that world, then there would definitely be some rumors.

Divine Dream nodded, “Yes! After leaving the Asura Road, all god runes you possess will disappear.”

“Then why do people compete for god runes in the Asura Road? Even if their flesh and blood, organs, and even their souls are marked by these runes, they are still nothing more than illusions that will disappear as long as they leave the Asura Road. Do these people plan on never leaving the Asura Road in their entire lives?”

Empyrean Divine Dream said, “Your question is well thought out. Indeed, many people have never and will never leave the Asura Road in their entire lives. The Asura Road has existed for countless hundreds of millions of years. That world might be 10 billion years old or even 100 billion years old, or possibly even older than that! It is far more ancient than our Divine Realm’s history.

“In that world, there seem to be people who existed there to begin with. Moreover, after all of these years, an incalculable number of trial challengers have entered the Asura Road. There are some people that aren’t considered to be too talented, and thus after entering the Asura Road they cannot leave. They will get married and start their own livelihoods in the Asura Road. Perhaps they would start their own clan or perhaps they would found their own sect. Their lineage will continue for generations, forever staying there. To these people, the Asura Road is their world, and the runes there are an incomparably precious strength!

“In addition to that, to the trial challengers from the outside, the god runes are also extremely valuable. I have told you that Asura Road is a massive trial field. After you satisfy certain requirements of the trials, you will complete them and obtain generous rewards depending on the degree of completion.

“One type of reward is the power to completely or partially fuse these runes into your body and soul. Even after you leave the Asura Road, this strength will be internalized by you and turned into your true strength!”

“Mm? There is also something like that?”

Lin Ming was stunned. These Laws were indeed extremely mysterious.

However, as he thought more about it, when Lin Ming was on the Holy Demon Continent’s Blood Slaughter Steppes, the Road of Emperor and the twelve-winged Heavenly Demon Tattoo were also similar.

This was because Empyrean Primordius, who had created the Road of Emperor as well as the 12 Skysplit Towers, was simply far more powerful than the mortals that participated in his trials. He was so much more powerful than them that he was able to create his own rules and directly grant strength as the rewards to certain martial artists.

The twelve-winged Heavenly Demon Tattoo and the Asura Road’s god runes were in truth similar things.

If this were true, and the Asura Road were created by someone, then this mysterious person was countless times more powerful than Empyrean Primordius!

If this person was a martial artist, just what boundary would they have reached? Extreme True Divinity? Or, perhaps the mysterious entity described in folktales that created everything, the creator of the world?