Chapter 1602 – Suya’s Troubles

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In his high degree of concentration, Lin Ming simply didn’t feel time pass by. It was only when he reached into his spatial ring with his sense to take out several materials for more verifications did he discover there was nothing there.

Lin Ming was stunned. Then he realized he had used up all the materials he purchased.

Originally, when Lin Ming was at Suya’s counter he had purchased enough materials to create 20 Havoc Flame Symbols. But now, because he had been experimenting with all these materials and he would have to throw out the materials after every failure, this quick consumption caused him to use up all his materials for Havoc Flame Symbols in just ten days.

“If I knew this I would’ve bought more…”

Lin Ming shook his head and walked out of his divine runic arts room.

After ten days of continuous calculations, because Lin Ming had continually overdrawn his soul force his eyes were bloodshot, his hair was messy, and he appeared haggard.

With this sort of grubby appearance, it contrasted sharply with divine runic masters that paid such great attention to their image.

As Lin Ming walked, many divine runic masters looked at him with strange and surprised eyes, as if they had seen some ugly monster walking before them. Lin Ming ignored them all. He arrived at the Mission Hall and placed 2 nine sun jades on the counter of the temporary material area, saying, “Havoc Flame Symbol material, 100 portions.”

This temporary material area was especially established to help divine runic masters complete their missions. The materials inside were jointly provided by the Extreme Star Holy Lands and the Divine Runic Masters Guild.

As for the price of materials, they were lower than market price. This was also the Extreme Star Holy Land’s desire to encourage divine runic masters to complete the missions they took up.

Although the Extreme Star Holy Lands was a peak Empyrean influence, their consumption of resources during war was terrifying and their materials storehouse wasn’t too abundant.

And now, Lin Ming had come to buy materials for 100 symbols. The person in charge of this material area certainly wasn’t willing to sell them to Lin Ming. The amount of materials stored here was on a blade’s edge; how could he endure it if these materials were wasted by others or they were taken out to be sold at an even lower price?

“Why do you want so many materials for drawing Havoc Flame Symbols?”

The person in charge of the material area asked. He was a dark and thin middle-aged man from the Extreme Star Holy Lands.

“To complete a mission and do some research while I’m at it.” Lin Ming calmly replied.

“Research?” The dark and thin middle-aged man frowned. “My apologies, but our materials are not for you to research with, but to help you aid the warfront. These materials all have the potential to save a martial artist’s life. If you do not have a mission scroll then we cannot provide materials to you.”

Lin Ming’s mission only required him to draw up 20 symbols, but now he actually wanted to buy materials for another 100 of them. The materials center wasn’t willing to sell the materials to him.

This caused Lin Ming to frown. If he went to other places to buy materials, it didn’t matter too much if they were more expensive. The problem here was that he would have to go to many places to buy these materials and Lin Ming’s mind was currently filled with charts and diagrams of deductions of the Asura Heavenly Dao. Once his concentration was interrupted then he would lose any inspirations he had. The loss would be tremendous.

Lin Ming said, “I don’t need to buy at reduced prices. I will buy according to market price.”

Lin Ming said, making a concession. Because of the war, the market price for these materials had sharply risen. If Lin Ming wanted to buy at market price, he would have to pay 50% more origin energy symbols for these materials.

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment. He said, “I’ll ask for you…”

He pulled out a sound transmitting talisman and reported this matter to Suya. Even though the market price for these materials was rising day after day, these materials also became increasingly scarce. Even if it were at market price, the Extreme Star Holy Lands still didn’t want to sell them.

To this middle-aged man’s report, Suya’s answer was extremely cold. She seemed to have many thoughts weighing down her mind and couldn’t summon any interest to care about this sort of trivial matter.

She faintly said, “Just let him do as he wishes. He is someone that Elder Xue recognizes and there must be some reason this is so. Although I don’t see it… perhaps he might have a chance of becoming an outstanding divine runic master in the future…”

Although materials were scarce, the amount of materials that Lin Ming alone could use up was limited. Suya was disinclined to haggle over this chump change.

After Suya responded, the middle-aged man immediately began to ready the materials.

Without speaking further, Lin Ming took out more nine sun jades and exchanged them for the materials. Then he left, returning to his divine runic arts room.

Seeing Lin Ming leave, the middle-aged man made another report to Suya.

However, Suya didn’t have the mind to listen to such minor matters. Today, she had received an Extreme Star Command issued by the highest power of the Extreme Star Holy Lands, Extreme Star Heavenly Palace. Moreover, the one who issued this order was the Vice Palace Master, the second-in-command of the entire Extreme Star Holy Lands as well as an Empyrean level character!

With this Extreme Star Command, a mission was passed down to Suya that she felt was nearly impossible to complete. In half a year, she had to quickly transport 80,000 fourth grade divine runic symbols and 10,000 fifth grade divine runic symbols to the warfront!

A divine runic symbol was an extremely expensive consumable treasure. When a martial artist fought for months at a time, they might use up four or five divine runic symbols!

This was also under the assumption that the martial artists of the Extreme Star Holy Lands would save any divine runic symbols they had until they absolutely had to use them.

In fact, there were some soldiers that, because of their lack of divine runic symbols, would lose their lives in battles that they would have otherwise won.

Thinking of this, Suya felt as if a great stone pressed down on her heart, making it hard for her to breathe.

Military commands must be followed at all costs. If she failed in her mission then she would be punished by the palace rules!

“80,000 fourth grade divine runic symbols… 10,000 fifth grade divine runic symbols… and only half a year to complete this mission… just how can I possibly accomplish this?”

Suya reclined in her chair, her heart racing with anxiety. Ever since the outbreak of war earlier in the year, she felt that the weight on her shoulders had been far too heavy.

Before this she had put forth a proposal to increase the mission rewards to incentivize the divine runic masters. But, this proposal was immediately rejected by Extreme Star Heavenly Palace. The reasoning was simple: every point that the Extreme Star Holy Lands rewarded was exchanged with the Divine Runic Masters Guild through resources.

The Extreme Star Holy Lands was a top Empyrean influence with a legacy of a billion years. It was a massive organization with many assets and sources of income, but in this war, the consumption of all resources in every aspect was astronomical. It would be difficult for the Extreme Star Holy Lands to continue consuming resources at an even higher rate.

Without more points as a reward, it would be difficult for Suya to complete her mission.

However, her complaints fell on deaf ears. To her, the commands of Extreme Star Heavenly Palace were ironclad. They responded to her, “If we could increase the point rewards however much we wanted, what would we still need you for?”

These words left Suya feeling especially weak. With such a pressing mission weighing down on her, could she actually be forced to sell her body to complete it?

However, to those in power, whether it was an individual’s body or life, everything they had was insignificant compared to the entire war situation.

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At this time within the divine runic arts room, Lin Ming naturally didn’t know about the difficult position Suya had been placed in nor did he care. He was completely immersed in altering the Havoc Flame Symbol.

This extremely intense work caused Lin Ming to neglect eating and sleeping. He made countless deductions and failed countless experiments. On the divine runic table in front of Lin Ming, there was a large pile of jade slips that he used to deduce and analyze the structures of the Asura Heavenly Dao.

It had to be known that these jade slips had an extremely large capacity to store information. But, they were completely filled with Lin Ming’s observations and experimentations of the tiny rune structures. From this it could be seen how many calculations Lin Ming had done.

Through these nights and days of experimentations, Lin Ming couldn’t sense the passing of time. Without noticing it, 40 days passed.

Lin Ming’s face was haggard and his eyes were bloodshot. In front of him were scattered scraps of materials as well as haphazardly dumped divine runic symbols. All of these divine runic symbols were defective products!

Lin Ming had used nearly two months of time to try transforming the Havoc Flame Symbol so that it conformed to the Asura Heavenly Dao. But, he failed countless times.

With every defeat he tried again. But in the end, he still wasn’t able to succeed.

Lin Ming felt as if he had no more strength within him. After continuously failing again and again, no matter how much resolve Lin Ming had, he would still feel tired and annoyed.

Now, he had been stuck on a single problem for a full ten days. He was unable to draw up the fire energy in a way that agreed with the revolution of the Asura Heavenly Dao.

And this time, Lin Ming’s 100 portions of materials had been almost used up again. He still had to buy materials and he hadn’t even succeeded in earning any money yet. All of this cost him a considerable amount of his remaining wealth. Lin Ming couldn’t help but ruefully smile.

3 billion points wasn’t easy to earn. Even if he had many advantages that others didn’t, it still wasn’t enough.

Just as he opened the doors of the divine runic arts room, Lin Ming was met with Xiao Moxian walking in.

She was carrying a bowl of soup in her hands.

Although Lin Ming didn’t need to eat anything, he had still used up his soul force and energy and needed to supplement it. This soup that Xiao Moxian carried in was made with dozens of types of medicinal soul materials and was one of the highly praised dishes of the divine runic master community. After drinking it, one could speed up the recovery of their soul force and nourish their spiritual sea. The effects were extremely good.

Correspondingly, the price of this soup was high and the cooking process was extremely troublesome.

Because Lin Ming had wholeheartedly studied the Havoc Flame Symbol, Xiao Moxian had been worried over Lin Ming’s ghastly appearance and forgetfulness in eating. Thus, she had learnt some recipes from Old Xue and this was the third time she had brought a bowl of soup to Lin Ming.

Seeing Xiao Moxian appear at this time, Lin Ming felt a sense of warmth surge in his heart. A great deal of the frustration he accumulated from his failures also disappeared. “Xian’er, it’s fine for you to focus on your own cultivation, there is no need for you to waste your time making soup for me. I’m fine.”

“Look at you, you’ve already become a beggar.”

Xiao Moxian reprimanded as she laid down the bowl of soup. Of course, she was only casually speaking and she knew that trying to change Lin Ming’s mind on this matter was useless. Moreover, overdrawing his soul force might not be bad for Lin Ming. With the Divine Mist Heart Mantra that Empyrean Divine Mist had passed down, after one overdrew their soul force they could restore it again to full, allowing one’s soul force to stably grow.

Xiao Moxian lightly lifted the lid of the bowl and blew a deep breath over it. As Lin Ming looked at Xiao Moxian’s gentle figure and her slender white hands, he unknowingly became lost in thought.

Xiao Moxian saw Lin Ming staring at her in a daze and was somewhat embarrassed. Just as she was about to say something, Lin Ming suddenly raised his fists and shouted out in surprise, “I’ve got it!”

“W-what?” Xiao Moxian said, puzzled.

“I’ve figured it out! I’ve figured out how to solve the problem!”

Lin Ming was shaking with excitement, but Xiao Moxian actually puffed out her cheeks, her face blushing red, “You are really… really, crazy…”