Chapter 1657 – Ancient Forbidden Land

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In Tragic Death Valley, 15 years passed.

On this day, overwhelming black flames swelled up into the skies. The God Beast Tomb array formation was swept up in these flames.

Within this black sea of flames, a fiery phoenix cried out as it flew in circles in the sky. Then, it dove down, causing a violent explosion!

In this crazy storm of flames, a black-clothed girl stretched her body. As she wandered about in the star-like flames that could melt stone, she seemed like a spirit of flames.

This black-clothed girl was Xiao Moxian.

15 years later, she had stepped ahead of Lin Ming and entered the late Divine Lord realm!

As for Lin Ming, because he studied the divine runic arts, dual cultivated body and energy, and also had to practice alchemy, his speed in the essence gathering system couldn’t compare with Xiao Moxian’s.

“Big Brother Lin, I broke through!”

Xiao Moxian happily smiled as she suppressed all of the flames. With this, she would be able to help Lin Ming more in the final trial.

After breaking into the late Divine Lord realm and also having undergone her first phoenix nirvana, although Xiao Moxian was slightly weaker than Lin Ming, fighting a weaker ordinary World King wouldn’t prove a problem.

“Well done!” Lin Ming said, happy for Xiao Moxian from the depths of his heart. “My divine runic arts have also reached a sufficient level. I now have a good enough understanding if I were to attempt refining the Ravenous Wolf Heaven Pill… it’s almost time to leave. I plan on breaking into the second Dao Palace and then going into seclusion again. Before I enter the final trial, I also must break into the late Divine Lord realm!”

As Lin Ming spoke he took out several rare materials from his spatial ring.

With the dragon saliva grass and jade dragon horn placed together, these two dragon race spirit treasures emitted a strong draconic aura, mixing up the void. In the air, one could hear the faint howling of a White Dragon and an Azure Dragon.

Even the heaven devouring snake gallbladder was excited. It released a deep killing aura, overflowing with a profound desolateness.

A massive python phantom appeared in the skies. Its shimmering silver scales glistened as it hissed, seeming to struggle with the two dragon auras around it.

As for the primal jade quintessence, it remained tranquil. It emitted waves of yellow earthen light, like a turtle that had not moved for tens of thousands of years…

Seeing all of these phenomena occurring within his spatial ring, Lin Ming gripped his fists.

Each material here had taken a great deal of time and effort to obtain. Now, he was finally taking steady steps on the path towards refining the Ravenous Wolf Heaven Pill.

“Big Brother Lin, you want to refine the Ravenous Wolf Heaven Pill now?” Xiao Moxian asked in anticipation as she looked at the brilliant lights of the spirit treasures shooting out from the spatial ring.

Looking at Xiao Moxian’s hopeful eyes, Lin Ming shook his head. “It’s not that fast. The Nine Stars of the Dao Palace are each strange and unusual and even the methods to break into each one are varied and different. This is because in the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace, each star represents a different true meaning of the universe’s Laws. This true meaning must be understood and added in, and only then can one truly refine the pill required to impact the boundary.”

Xiao Moxian’s eyebrows twisted together. “But Big Brother Lin, when you attacked the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace’s Army Breaker Star, the process didn’t seem so complex. You simply put forth an all-out effort and broke through…”

“Not so complex?” Lin Ming chuckled. As he thought of the various preparations he had made in order to break through the first Dao Palace, he could go on for days speaking about them.

“For the first Dao Palace of the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace, I started by creating a foundation when I absorbed the blood vitality from the great emperor’s heart in the Eternal Demon Abyss. Then, I had the Grandmist Spirit Bead essence as the main medicinal force to attack the boundary, the energy from my avatar to support, and finally I even had to rely on your phoenix primordial yin to just barely break through the shackles of the world and refine the Army Breaker Star. At the time, even the God Burying Ridge’s dao field killing array helped me by increasing the Buddha-slaying destiny upon my body, allowing me to reattempt the breakthrough even after Tian Mingzi shattered my first attempt. The killing intent of that time had been monstrously large. In terms of helping me impact the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace, the truth was that it was no trifling matter.”

Lin Ming recalled the scene when he broke through the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace. It could be said that the overlapping waves had combined together to help him overcome the barrier.

The evil infernal energy in that danger zone hadn’t directly helped him break through to the Army Breaker Star, but it had resonated with the nature and meaning of the Army Breaker Star.

Now, to attack the second Dao Palace, the corresponding star was the Ravenous Wolf Star.

If the Laws of the heavens and earth hadn’t changed, then breaking through to the Ravenous Wolf Star wouldn’t have been difficult. But present times were different. According to what was recorded in the Celestial Tyrant Manual, the Ravenous Wolf Star was ever-changing and hard to capture. Under the current Heavenly Dao rules, if Lin Ming wanted to break into the Heavenly Retribution Dao Palace and its corresponding Ravenous Wolf Star, it wouldn’t be easy at all.

He planned to use the universe’s wild and primal world momentum to suppress the crafty and slippery Ravenous Wolf Star!

So to refine the Ravenous Wolf Star, he needed a certain world trend to combine with it!

In the God Beast Tomb, cold winds howled. Lin Ming’s mind was completely immersed in the Celestial Tyrant Manual. His hands cut through the void. The spiritual strength revolved according to the records within the manual, forming faint outlines of mountain ranges, rivers, and galaxies…

Immersed in this training, he forgot the passing of time.

A month passed in the blink of an eye. Lin Ming continually analyzed the method for breaking into the second Dao Palace.

With his comprehensions of the Celestial Tyrant Manual in addition to Torchriver’s memories, he mentally searched the endless miles within the Asura Road for the most suitable ancient desolate mystic realm for him to break through to the second Dao Palace.

He slowly scrutinized each possibility and ruled them out. Then, a flash of purple lightning shined in Lin Ming’s eyes. He had more or less determined his target.

“Xian’er, let’s leave!” Lin Ming said as he stood up.

“Leave Tragic Death Valley?”

“Yes, we’re going back to the inner Asura Road!”

Lin Ming’s decision was decisive. Xiao Moxian looked at him, a bit puzzled, and followed after.

15 years within Tragic Death Valley was a year and a half outside. After this time, Lin Ming returned to the inner Asura Road once more.

His goal this time was Heaven’s Secret.

Lin Ming had gone to Heaven’s Secret before to ask about two different things. The first time he went he asked about information relating to cultivation methods for the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace. The second time was to search for evil and cruel divine runic masters like Torchriver.

Heaven’s Secret hadn’t left Lin Ming disappointed. He had received accurate information each time.

Thus, Lin Ming had an unusual level of trust towards them.

Heaven’s Secret was headquartered at Divine Rune City. Returning this time, Lin Ming didn’t alarm anyone as he entered Divine Rune City nor did he reveal his true identity. He let Xiao Moxian stay in Primordius Heavenly Palace as he changed his appearance and entered as a different person.

Lin Ming’s Bodily Rebirth Technique came from Empyrean Divine Dream’s Divine Dream Law. When Lin Ming was at the mere late Divine Transformation realm, his appearance changing technique had been skilled enough to fool a World King.

In the past when Lin Ming first journeyed to God Burying Ridge, he had encountered Imperial Prince Naqi and Mister Zhou at the city gates. Even though Mister Zhou was using a secret searching technique, he still wasn’t able to identify Lin Ming. Then, after they entered Tragic Death Valley to chase after them, Naqi and his retinue had all been annihilated.

Now that Lin Ming’s strength had risen by an entire large boundary, the Bodily Rebirth Technique he used now was completely different from the past. Even some weaker Empyreans might not be able to see through his disguise.

This ensured Lin Ming’s safety. When he left Divine Rune City he had only left a letter to Old Xue to pass on to the Guild President. Besides that, he only spoke to a few select people before quietly leaving. After all, he couldn’t guarantee that there wouldn’t be some ruthless desperados that wanted to capture him and force him to refine special divine runic symbols.

Now that he returned to Divine Rune City, he didn’t want to use his original identity as to avoid all possible troubles.

The moonlight was bright and cold. Lin Ming walked alone in the dim streets, his shadow stretched out far behind him.

As he passed by the Divine Runic Masters Guild, Lin Ming stopped for some time. The stores on the streets had already closed and there were only the vague figures of people bustling around in a hurry. Some of them were divine runic masters entering or leaving the guild, but none of them spared Lin Ming a second glance. They only regarded Lin Ming as a youth who wanted to become a divine runic master and lived near the Divine Runic Masters Guild. In front of the Divine Runic Masters Guild there were always crowds of youths that dreamed of becoming a divine runic master and would idle by the entrance.

The night wind blew cold, making the night of Divine Rune City seem much more bleak and lonely.

However, Lin Ming didn’t enter. As Suya had said, their parting had been for forever.

In the hazy gloom of night, Lin Ming continued walking. His footsteps echoed on the smooth crystal paved road, sounding further and further away…

………..

The headquarters of Heaven’s Secret stood tall in the center region of Divine Rune City.

In the moonlight, the towering crystalline pavilion seemed profoundly mysterious.

Stepping into the first floor of the building, two blue-clothed youths stopped Lin Ming. Their voices were quiet and their tones were respectful. “Honored guest, please return. Heaven’s Secret Pavilion’s working hours have passed and the pavilion superior within is resting.”

Heaven’s Secret Pavilion had a manager on each floor, and these managers were called pavilion superiors.

The gate guards’ words didn’t dispel Lin Ming’s determination to enter. He faintly smiled and pulled out a crystal card. This crystal card was a receipt of payment but also a symbol of his status as a VIP guest. “I have an important matter to attend to. I might need to go to a higher floor to make an inquiry…”

In Heaven’s Secret, the higher the floor one went to, the more expensive the information.

The gate guard took a look at the crystal card and then hesitated for a moment before inviting Lin Ming inside.

Lin Ming walked straight into the sixth floor of Heaven’s Secret Pavilion and entered the opulent guest room. After waiting for a moment, the rustling of bead curtains signaled the arrival of someone.

A blue-clothed old man walked in. He seemed in good health and spirit and his eyes were sharp and fierce. “The pavilion superiors are already resting and it’s just me, the superior of the sixth floor still remaining. Sir, may I ask what information you are here to inquire about?” The pavilion superior’s eyes gazed at Lin Ming, but he wasn’t able to see through Lin Ming’s appearance changing technique.

“I want to ask about the world of the Asura Road. I need all information there is on certain forbidden zones.” Lin Ming said.

“What places are they?” The pavilion superior asked, his eyelids slowly lifting up.

“Yin Yang Despair Valley, Forsaken Mortal Tomb.” Lin Ming slowly and clearly said.

The pavilion superior shook as he heard these names, bewildered. He gazed deeply at Lin Ming and his eyes widened. Even his breathing became much heavier.

“These two places are amongst the most dangerous life forbidden zones in the Asura Road and they are amongst the most taboo to mention… do you plan on going?”

“Mm.” Lin Ming nodded.

“Alright!”

Heaven’s Secret Pavilion only provided information; they would never persuade their customers to change their mind. If Lin Ming wanted information, they would naturally provide it.