Chapter 177 – Legend of the Divine Kingdom

…

…

…

“What? Is this for real!?” Lin Ming was shocked. This was the first time that his Flow like Silk had been resisted. The Witch Slave had actually devoured all of the Flow like Silk filaments. This proved that the defensive power of its organs, skeleton, muscles, and skin were on a completely terrifying level!

“It really is a monster!”

Because of that Flow like Silk attack a moment ago, the Witch Slave seemed to be mad with anger. It drew out the large, thick chains that wound around its body and slashed down at Lin Ming!

The long chain was just like a black flood dragon. With a roaring power, it heavily smashed upon the ground.

Bang!

Countless rocks were sent flying into the area. That attack had even created a giant pit in the huge arena; this Witch Slave’s strength was simply difficult to imagine!

Lin Ming had already avoided the attack earlier using the Golden Roc Shattering the Void movement ability. As soon as the Witch Slave missed, it flick its arm and gathered the chain before firing it at Lin Ming once again.

“Power of Thunder!”

Lin Ming’s silver spear shined with a purple arc of lightning. The spearpoint met the chain, and that lightning arc was like a fierce purple snake that threaded up the chain and directly plunged into the Witch Slave.

Cha!

The Witch Slave was struck by the lightning. Countless arcs of electricity crackled on its body, and its purple skin charred a bit.

However, it had only been burnt a little. Once the power of thunder disappeared, the Witch Slave bellowed, brandished the chains, and attacked again.

This time Lin Ming was left completely speechless. He was simply dumbfounded by the Witch Slave’s amazing defensive power. Not only could it defend against true essence manifestation combined with Flow like Silk, but it could also resist lightning attacks.

With such a prodigious defensive power, perhaps even opening the Heretical God Force would be useless.

Did he really have to use his last resort, Thunderfire Annihilation?

As Lin Ming avoided the chain attacks, his mind began racing with thoughts. “This is the fourth trial. If I use Thunderfire Annihilation now, then how will I cross the next three? But if I don’t use Thunderfire Annihilation, then none of my other attack methods will work against this monster; this fellow’s defensive power is simply too abnormal.

“Fortunately, only its defensive capabilities are unbelievable. its attack patterns are very simple and predictable, and its speed is also slow.

“There’s no point in dragging this one. Once I open the Heretical God Force, I’ll be able to know if it even has any effect. However, once I use up the compressed true essence of the Heretical God Force, then it will take a long time to restore. I might as well use Thunderfire Annihilation to kill it now! As for the later trials, if my strength is not enough, then there’s nothing left to say.” Lin Ming clenched his teeth. Flashes of lightning began to flitter on his long spear, and a lotus of flame sparked into life. As the thunder and fire intersected, there was a terrifying explosive sound as if an unstoppable tide was approaching.

Lin Ming shouted, and thrust out his spear towards the Witch Slave!

The roar of flame and thunder swallowed every other sound. An incomparably keen true essence flashed out like a bolt of white light as it tore through space. Thunder and fire interwove into a brilliant sphere of red and purple light that flew forwards like a blazing meteor!

The Witch Slave bellowed and waved its chains to attack the glowing ball of thunder and fire.

Bang!

There was a earth shattering sound just like a clap of thunder. The brilliant light was like 10,000 golden swords that shot out in all directions. Countless rocks were sent scattering into the air!

The arena had turned into a giant pit. The arm that the Witch Slave had raised was now completely broken, and blood spewed from it like an endless crimson fountain.

It cried out with a muffled roar, its enormous body trembling. Its chest was soaked with blood even as more blood sputtered out endlessly from its body.

“It’s still alive?” Lin Ming was shocked. This was definitely the most durable being that he had ever encountered so far.

“Die!”

Lin Ming’s feet tread the ground and his body flew forth like an arrow. Under the effects of Golden Roc Shattering the Void, Lin Ming’s speed had reached the pinnacle!

Puff!

The spear pierced into the wound on the Witch Slave’s chest that had been opened by the Thunderfire Annihilation attack. The spear finally managed to break through the torn flesh, Flow like Silk erupted within the monster and rushed towards the heart of the Witch Slave. With a new injury added to the old, the Witch Slave gave one final roar as it unwillingly went down.

Its corpse rapidly dissolved, turning into a green energy that poured into Lin Ming’s body.

“Mm… this energy is…”

Lin Ming felt that the green energy was extremely oppressive and tyrannical. Before, whether it was the energy of blood vitality from the blood demon or the soul force from the hungry ghost, or even the vicious beast’s energy that was able to transform the strength of a human’s body, it was all very gently and effortlessly absorbed.

But this green energy was extremely savage. It brutally rampaged through his body, and sent waves of agonizing pain rolling through its path. Lin Ming’s forehead began to drip with large beads of sweat.

Dense crackling sounds resounding within his body, as if the bones of his skeleton were striking each other. Hearing this, even Lin Ming was feeling a bit fearful.

At this moment, the space in front of Lin Ming began to distort, and Yan Mo appeared.

Yan Mo looked at Lin Ming and said without any emotion, “Congratulations. In this smelting trial, you are the first martial artist in the last 6,000 years to pass the trial of the Witch Slave.

“You do not need to fear. This energy has simply been saved up for too long; a full six millennia of time. Therefore, it is a bit overbearing. It will only transform your body; it will not bring you harm.”

“Six… six millennia?” Lin Ming found it difficult to speak through the pain.

“Yes. 6,000 years ago there was a man named Qin Yu that was able to pass the fourth level of the smelting trial. However, he was defeated in the fifth level, the Mortal trial. After he went back, he founded a vast empire in the Southern Wilderness, and was called the Feather Emperor by the people of the South.”

Right… so it had already been 6,000 years since someone managed to pass through the Witch Slave trial. This wasn’t too surprising. It was only because he had accidently comprehended the Thunderfire Annihilation skill that he would have such an abnormal striking power. A normal martial artist would never be able to get past the freakish defensive capabilities of the Witch Slave.

Slowly, Lin Ming found that the green energy had fused into his skeleton. His skeleton had become denser, and his muscles had become tougher.

The physical defense had experienced a crazy increase in power.

Before now, Lin Ming’s body strength was formidable. However, that did not mean that his defensive power was similarly formidable.

For instance, an iron armored cow could easily break steel plate, and if a sharp axe were to fall on their body, it wouldn’t leave any damage.

If Lin Ming wanted to fend off a sword with just his bare hand, he could only rely upon his Flow like Silk technique to vibrate the weapon and send it flying away. If his fist really did meet the blade of a sword, then his hand would simply be split in two.

But now, Lin Ming had absorbed the green energy which had augmented his body, and he felt his body grow more solid, and his defensive capabilities increased. Now if he faced a martial artist on the level of Zhang Cang, Lin Ming believed that he wouldn’t even need to use true essence; he could simply use his own bare hand to stop the other’s attacks.

As Lin Ming unceasingly integrated with the green energy, the aching pain he felt gradually weakened. Lin Ming’s entire body was covered in sweat, and mixed within the sweat were black, oily drops. These were clearly the impurities that were in Lin Ming’s body.

In the past, Lin Ming had taken the Golden Deer Pills to temper his body. However, that was only the lowest level of medicine used to temper one’s body; it naturally wasn’t able to be compared to something so fantastic like this green energy.

After his muscles and marrows were purified, Lin Ming collapsed to the ground.

Yan Mo said, “After passing the fourth trial, from here on out, you will have three hours of rest between each trial. You may use that period of time to restore your body to its best condition.

“I wish you good luck, smelting trial human.”

As Yan Mo said this, its body began to twist in space as it gradually faded away.

Lin Ming exhaled one long breath and plopped down on the ground. Luckily, he had time to rest.

Three hours should be enough.

……………….

At this time, outside of the Sorcerer Pagoda, Na Yi was standing within the library of the Sorcerer Holy Land. She held an ancient volume within her hands. Not too far away, slowly burning candles flickered as they emitted a faint yellow light.

The Sorcerer Holy Land was a massive underground mausoleum. It also had a special library. Na Yi had taken her lit candle and searched the library for a long time, and finally found a record of the legendary Divine Kingdom on a yellowed sheepskin manuscript.

Because the manuscript was simply too ancient, the pages were already worn down, and the threads binding them were rotted. The pages could easily be broken apart.

Na Yi carefully skimmed through the notes in that ancient manuscript, and finally found a detailed record of the Divine Kingdom.

This record was from 1,500 years ago, and was written by a peerless powerhouse of the Southern Wilderness named Na Yanda. 1,500 years ago, not even the Na Tribe had been founded.

The page in Na Yi’s hands was only a handwritten copy. Still, even if it were a handwritten copy, it was 7 or 8 hundred years old.

Na Yanda was a sorcerer. He left behind countless illustrious achievements in the history of the Southern Wilderness, along with countless legends and tales.

He had founded the giant Nagu tribe, and to this day, that tribe was one of the top ten most powerful tribes within the Southern Wilderness.

At the time, the Southern Wilderness was under the leadership of Na Yanda. They had invaded the north and caused numerous nations to submit. The Southern Wilderness had experienced one of its most prosperous times in millennia. It was said that Na Yanda had reached the limit of the Xiantian realm, or might have even gone higher!

For those reasons, Na Yanda was considered one of the ancient heroes of the Southern Wilderness, and was worshipped and respected by many people. Even Na Yi had heard of Na Yanda’s glorious tales as a child. Towards the stories of this legendary figure, she had been filled with yearning.

Na Yanda had recorded the complete process of his entry into the Sorcerer Pagoda. He wrote that he had rushed upwards, but had been chosen by the Sorcerer, and then sent to the Divine Kingdom.

The Divine Kingdom had seven levels. The first level was a blood red hell, the second was a land of gloomy yellow ghosts, the third was a world savage vicious beasts, and the fourth was an arena of the Witch Slave. As for the last several, Na Yanda hadn’t seen them.

Na Yanda saw the God of the Witch Eye within that bloody hell. The God of the Witch Eye had given him seven tests, and each level of the Divine Kingdom corresponded to a test.

However, Na Yanda had only been able to complete three trials, and was defeated at the fourth. Therefore, Na Yanda had only reached the fourth level.

In the writings, it also said that the difficulty of these seven tests was much higher than the Sorcerer Pagoda. In particular, from the fourth, the difficulty would increase each time. Even the child of a god or a demon would be unable to do anything in the face of such a trial.

Even the Feather Emperor from 6,000 years ago had only barely completed the fourth trial. As he went to the fifth, he was also defeated.

Seeing this, Na Yi was surprised.

The Feather Emperor of the Southern Wilderness had once dominated the entire land 6,000 years ago, and had founded a vast empire.

The Feather Emperor’s strength was immeasurably deep, and was said to have surpassed the Xiantian realm.

At that time, the Feather Emperor had created the Faith of the Sorcerer; the faith had been equal to a grade-three sect. It was not inferior compared to the Seven Profound Valleys of the north!

One could only imagine the prosperity that the Southern Wilderness had achieved during this time!

“Even His Majesty the Feather Emperor could not pass through the fifth trial? The Divine Kingdom’s trials are simply too difficult. Is there even any significance in the sixth or seventh trial?”