Chapter 1652 – Task Complete

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“This… why is that little girl so angry?”

The two old men were somewhat depressed. It was rare for a junior to treat them like this. After such a cold reception they were really at a loss for words.

“She is complaining that we are staying out here and disturbing her.” The other old man bitterly smiled.

To squat outside one’s door every day, it wasn’t strange to arouse someone’s disgust and annoyance. If it weren’t for this being Empyrean Minor Violet’s personal command, they wouldn’t be willing to squat at the door like some beggars.

“Lin Ming seems to have pushed himself too far. I have no idea if it’s really like that little girl said and he’s investing a massive amount of energy in the improved Heavenly Fire Symbols. At the time, Empyrean Lionheart hadn’t stipulated any deadline so as long as Lin Ming isn’t foolish he shouldn’t take on too great a burden.”

“Lin Ming’s not an idiot. Empyrean Lionheart isn’t facing a war anytime soon so he has no urgent need for the divine runic symbols. To him, it shouldn’t matter if it’s three years or five years. My gut feeling tells me that there was a problem in the drawing process. That Heretical God Symbol alone has 3000 some tiny runes, enough to even cause a sixth grade divine runic master to feel fear at heart, so how could it be easy to draw up? Perhaps the previous explosion was because there was a problem with the runic structure. We can only hope that Lin Ming managed to solve the problem…”

As these two old men continued deliberating, they passed these mere 10 divine runic symbols to a messenger from the Minor Violet Holy Lands who passed through numerous channels to deliver them to Empyrean Minor Violet.

In three months, Empyrean Minor Violet had only received 10 divine runic symbols. This small amount caused her to slightly frown. However, it was only slightly frowning. She didn’t say much, only commanding that all the divine runic symbols be delivered to her every three months.

Lin Ming delivering 10 Heretical God Symbols in three months wasn’t a secret at all. In addition, with the numerous people who were paying attention to Lin Ming, this news soon spread.

If he spent three months to complete 10 divine runic symbols, how could he possibly complete 500 in three years?

These people couldn’t help but gossip quietly amongst themselves. Although Lin Min Ming was young, no one dared to underestimate him. At the Divine Rune City Auction he had obtained 10 billion points in just half a month. Whether it was in terms of will or mentality, he was absolutely top notch!

Since he had dared to make a promise that he would be able to fulfill the promissory note of 500 Heretical God Symbols in three years, he had to have some assurance in doing so. After all, if his confident promise at the time was just an act, the future price he would have to pay would be dreadful.

Thus, everyone felt that Lin Ming’s slow speed in drawing up Heretical God Symbols was likely because some accident had occurred.

If he could solve this problem then he might be able to increase his speed. But if he didn’t manage to do so then he would truly lose everything!

This news left many divine runic masters that were on good terms with Lin Ming worried for him. For instance, Old Xue and Old Su were both fretting over his problems.

But there were also many others taking this chance to gloat. They wanted Lin Ming to fail. The materials had been paid for using Lin Ming’s money, and if he were forced to pay back the 5 billion points and dragon saliva grass he earned, that would truly be tragic.

Old Su and Old Xue discussed the situation with each other. They figured that Lin Ming should have encountered some problem in the first three months that he wasn’t able to solve for the time being. After the first three months, his speed should have increased some more.

But, they never imagined that after six months of time, Lin Ming would only hand over three more Heretical God Symbols!

This left many people speechless. How come he would turn in less each time!?

Good heavens! Old Xue and Old Su were no longer able to sit still. This was not just Lin Ming’s problem but something that involved the honor and reputation of the Divine Runic Masters Guild. The three kinds of divine runic symbols that Lin Ming invented were his brand and also the brand of the Divine Runic Masters Guild.

Slowly, the divine runic masters that had gathered at the Divine Runic Masters Guild from all over the Asura Road felt the situation becoming more interesting.

This youth had spent half a month to gather 10 billion points and had made a great show of things. If he wasn’t able to fulfill his promises and lost everything, then the miracle of that time would turn into nothing but a joke.

After nine months, Lin Ming only delivered slightly more Heretical God Symbols – five of them!

When placed against the total requirement of 500, this was nothing but a drop of water in a bucket.

Time passed a day at a time. Lin Ming was deep in seclusion and didn’t leave. The divine runic symbols he completed were handed over to Xiao Moxian for processing. Lin Ming focused all of his heart and mind on drawing up the divine runic symbols and declined all disturbances.

No one knew that at this time, Lin Ming had already been able to draw up three improved Heavenly Fire Symbols in one day and his success rate had risen to 100%!

With his current soul force and control of the Asura Laws, Lin Ming believed that if he were to stop drawing up the Heavenly Fire Symbols now and immediately start on the Heretical God Symbols, his success rate would be above 95%.

During these nine months, Lin Ming had already completed 390 improved Heavenly Fire Symbols and had just a bit more than 100 left to do. He could complete that in a little more than a month.

Then, ten months passed.

Halfway through the 11th month, Lin Ming completed all improved Heavenly Fire Symbols. All 500 Heavenly Fire Symbols had been perfectly drawn up!

Following that, Lin Ming’s divine runic arts had risen to another level. With this experience at his back, he started his work on the Heretical God Symbols.

With the warm up of the Heavenly Fire Symbols, it had become far easier for Lin Ming to draw up the Heretical God Symbols.

From one a day at the start, after becoming more familiar with the process, he began to draw up three every two days.

In over 40 days, Lin Ming drew up more than 50 Heretical God Symbols.

With this, the 12th month had passed. An entire year had quietly slipped by.

The end of the 12th month also signaled the receiving of the completed divine runic symbols.

As many people thought that Lin Ming would complete Heretical God Symbols in the single digits, when Xiao Moxian took out the jade box and opened it, she actually revealed a thick stack of Heretical God Symbols within.

Zhao Chang was stunned as he saw this.

He quickly counted the Heretical God Symbols and noticed there were 52 of them. With a brief probing of his soul force, he could see that all of these were completed Heretical God Symbols!

How come Lin Ming had handed over three and five divine runic symbols, but now there were suddenly 52 divine runic symbols? Did Lin Ming finally manage to draw around one every two days?

As this news spread throughout the Divine Runic Masters Guild, Old Su and Old Xue were overjoyed. There was finally some good news about Lin Ming!

However, a speed of drawing up one every two days still wasn’t enough to complete 500 of them in the time left. They could only hope that Lin Ming would increase his speed yet again in the next two years. Only like this would he have hopes of completing the 500.

Old Xue held onto this hope. But, he never imagined that after another three months, Lin Ming would give them all another heaven-shaking surprise!

It had to be known that when Lin Ming drew up the 52 divine runic symbols, he had only used a month and a half to do so. The first half of the three months had been spent on drawing up improved Heavenly Fire Symbols.

However, during the next three months, Lin Ming was spending the entire timespan to do so. He invested all of his concentration in it, only thinking of drawing up Heretical God Symbols.

Thus, during these three months, Lin Ming drew up a total of 135 Heretical God Symbols! He had drawn up two divine runic symbols every three days, no more, no less.

When Xiao Moxian handed over these divine runic symbols, Zhao Chang was left dumbfounded for a long time.

“How come there are so many?”

To hand over 135 all of a sudden, this was over twice the total amount of all the Heretical God Symbols he had handed in before!

“Is it not good to turn in too many?” Xiao Moxian asked. She urged Zhao Chang to hurry up and inspect the goods.

Zhao Chang shook his head and regained his composure. He swept his sense through the Heretical God Symbols and saw that there was no problem with any of them.

How had Lin Ming drawn all of these?

As Zhao Chang was lost in thought, he dazedly passed the 135 Heretical God Symbols to headquarters. As this news spread, Old Su and Old Xue were ecstatic.

As for many other divine runic masters, they were left perplexed.

Lin Ming had handed over Heretical God Symbols a total of five times.

The first time he turned in 10, the second time three, the third time five, and the fourth time was the most normal at 52.

But the fifth time, he actually handed in a ridiculous number of 135.

Could Lin Ming have been deliberately holding back some divine runic symbols the first year? And then for some reason he decided to hand them over now?

Many people had this thought. This was also the most reasonable explanation.

Otherwise, to complete 135 Heretical God Symbols in three months, that was simply unbelievable.

Up until now, Lin Ming had completed 205 Heretical God Symbols in 15 months. If this number was averaged out, that would be around 13-14 completed every month. This was a perfectly acceptable number.

Even so, at this speed, it would still be extremely tight if Lin Ming wanted to complete 500 divine runic symbols in three years. It felt as if he were gasping for time.

Whether or not he could complete the task would depend on how many divine runic symbols Lin Ming would turn in the next time.

Time quickly passed. Soon, six months passed during the second year.

It was time again for the delivery of divine runic symbols.

And this time, when Xiao Moxian took out the divine runic symbols, Zhao Chang’s chin nearly hit the ground.

She took out 145 at once!

With this, Lin Ming had now delivered 350 Heretical God Symbols. He was only 150 away from 500!

Everyone didn’t even have the time to digest this news or to figure out how Lin Ming had managed to draw up 145 Heretical God Symbols in three months. And following this, after the ninth month of the second year passed, Lin Ming directly left seclusion and handed over the remaining 150 divine runic symbols!

With this, Lin Ming completely fulfilled his promissory note to Empyrean Minor Violet!

As Lin Ming stepped out of his room, his appearance was a bit haggard and exhausted. As Zhao Chang and the other old man saw him, they were both left panic-stricken.

In their eyes, this young man in front of them was no different from a monstrous freak.

The original deadline was three years, but Lin Ming had used a year and nine months to complete it.

As for the difficulty of the Heretical God Symbol, the two old fellows had a deep understanding of it. There were over 3000 tiny runes and innumerable connections and combinations between them; just looking at the possibilities gave one a headache. Even for a sixth grade divine runic master, their soul force might not be enough to complete the task. Moreover, the more and more soul force he used up, the higher the chances of failure became!

How had Lin Ming accomplished all of this?

As this news spread out, the divine runic masters in Divine Rune City were all left startled. In particular, those hoping for Lin Ming to fail and lose all the money he had used to purchase materials were left absolutely flummoxed.

However, they still had a great question in their minds. Lin Ming was clearly able to complete 500 Heretical God Symbols in a year and nine months, so in the first nine months, why had he only turned in such a small number of divine runic symbols every time?