Chapter 181 – Gravity Cage

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“To defeat him, I can only use Thunderfire Annihilation. But I can only use Thunderfire Annihilation once. Since this light shadow martial artist is a Houtian realm master, will he be able to defend against Thunderfire Annihilation? Once Thunderfire Annihilation is blocked, I will have spent a massive amount of true essence, and I’ll be defeated soon after.”

Lin Ming’s mind began racing through different scenarios; there was no way that he could defeat the enemy with a surprise attack of some sort.

The light shadow martial artist didn’t attack for a while. His brows furrowed; he was obviously not satisfied with his own performance so far. “You can’t keep hiding and you can’t keep defending. Do you really plan on going through a war of attrition to waste my strength? An innovative idea. However, do not forget that you are only at the Bone Forging stage, and I am at the Houtian realm. If you want to compare true essence reserves and drag out this fight, then the first person to falter will surely be you.”

The light shadow martial artist raised his sword once more, and the two exchanged dozens of moves!

Lin Ming clenched his teeth. Although he danced on the edge of disaster; he still wasn’t defeated!

Such tenacity shocked even the light shadow martial artist.

The light shadow martial artist had thought that Lin Ming’s stamina was deficient, and he would be unable to persist and lose soon after. However, he hadn’t expected that Lin Ming would be as stubborn as a weed.

Unwittingly, the blood vitality energy within Lin Ming’s body that hadn’t yet been fully absorbed by him began to gradually melt and spread through his limbs, circulating through all of his blood vessels.

By the virtue of this thick and powerful vitality, Lin Ming’s battle tenacity rose. The true essence that he consumed was constantly replenished by the ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’ and his blood vitality, barely maintaining a balance point. Even if he was occasionally injured, Lin Ming’s deceptively strong recovery abilities were able to slowly regenerate his wounds in the midst of battle.

After hundreds of moves were exchanged, the light shadow martial artist had no choice but to admit to the most ridiculous and absurd reality of the situation. That was, Lin Ming’s endurance was far greater than his!

A peak Bone Forging martial artist’s true essence was actually so thick and pure to the degree that his resiliency could compare to that of an early Houtian realm master; was this even possible?

Lin Ming was able to rely on his true essence manifestations and ghostly agility to dodge the majority of attacks. Coupled with turtle shell-like defensive power and extreme regenerative capabilities, he was able to compete. Even though his battle prowess was far inferior to his enemy’s, he was still able to persist in this dogfight.

This feeling of not being able to defeat Lin Ming made no sense to the light shadow martial artist.

‘Even if he absorbed the blood vitality energy in the first level of the life and death smelting trial, he still shouldn’t be so relentless. Is there something special about this boy’s body?’ The light shadow martial artist scowled, ‘I have to settle this soon. Otherwise if this drags on, it’s not certain who will be the first to fall. His speed is simply too fast. If I want to attack him, I have to limit his movements first.’

‘I only have one ability that can lower his speed. But if I use this move, then I’ll place major restrictions on myself. But now, there is no other way…’

Thinking this, the light shadow martial artist placed his sword in front of him, turned towards the ground.

“Gravity Cage!”

Cha!

A vast flood of true essence poured into the ground. Lin Ming suddenly felt a strange pull of gravity all around him, restricting his movements. “Mm? It’s this move?”

During the fifth trial, the Mortal World, the halberd-wielding Pulse Condensation Period martial artist had also used this move, forcing Lin Ming to be unable to dodge attacks.

Now, this was the same move that was used. But because it came from the hand of a Houtian realm martial artist, it was far more powerful. Lin Ming felt as if a giant magnet was pulling him to the floor; even walking was a hard-fought struggle.

‘This is bad.’

The reason that Lin Ming was able to last this far – besides his strong defensive power and formidable regenerative capabilities – had been because he was able to fall back upon the Golden Roc Shattering the Void movement skill. Using that, he had managed to avoid the majority of attacks. However, now that his movements were restricted, Lin Ming was in a very dangerous situation.

‘Mm? No, if he wants to use this move then he also has to use a similarly large amount of true essence.’

Lin Ming discovered that the true essence within the light shadow martial artist’s body was significantly weakened; he was spending a large portion of his power to create this gravity cage.

Lin Ming instantly understood that this Gravity Cage martial skill was only suitable for use in group battles and in coordination with others. One person used Gravity Cage while another attacked. If there was only one person using this skill though, if he also wanted to attack, then the power he would be able to call down was also extremely limited.

Seeing that light shadow martial artist begin to gather his own killing move, Lin Ming was delighted. ‘This is my chance. This fellow simply didn’t know that I also have Thunderfire Annihilation as my own final killing blow.’

‘Originally, I had worried that you would be able to defend against Thunderfire Annihilation with your full strength. But now that you can only use a part of it, you’ve simply dug your own grave!’

Lin Ming’s lips curved in a smile, and a lotus flame kindled on the Heavy Profound Soft Spear.

Just by looking at this dark red flame, it didn’t seem as if it was dangerous. The light shadow martial artist presumed that this little flame was unable to pose any threat to him. In fact, the few attacks that Lin Ming had used hadn’t yet managed to break through the true essence protection of his body.

The light shadow martial artist only thought of how long it would be until he defeated Lin Ming; he never once imagined that there was a possibility he would be defeated himself.

“Power of the Sorcerer!”

The light shadow man shouted, and a layer of blood-red light covered his sword. Behind the man, a gray ghost appeared. This ghost resembled the ancient demon spirit that was depicted on the murals within the Sorcerer Holy Land. The ghost had three heads and six arms. The three heads were grim and smirking, and the six arms were like the claws of the devil, each holding a different weapon.

As this gray shade appeared, the momentum of the light shadow martial artist rose to a crescendo.

“Die!”

Lin Ming’s movement technique was restricted; this strike had no chance of being dodged.

Lin Ming was shocked as he saw the gray ghost that had appeared. This weird three-headed, six-armed being was seen in the art of the Sorcerer Holy Land. Was it possible it was also a servant of the Sorcerer?

The light shadow martial artist’s sword cut down. Lin Ming had no time to think anymore, he could only react. He completely released all of the compressed energy that was contained within the Heretical God Seed.

Heretical God Force – Open!

Lin Ming’s true essence instantly soared!

The Flame Essene and Thunder Soul began to whine in excitement. Unbridled fires and violent surges of lightning swelled outwards from Lin Ming’s body.

In that moment, the light shadow man realized that something was wrong. This boy had actually been hiding his true strength?

However, the light shadow man had already passed the point of no return, he had no choice but to send out this move of his. The man clenched his teeth and forcefully withdrew a small portion of the true essence that was maintaining the gravity field. The gray shadow image behind him became more solid and realistic, and the blood-red sword in his hand glowed with an even more beautiful light.

Under the constraints of time, he was unable to fully gather his energy. Even so, he didn’t think that Lin Ming’s little thunder and flame could resist the Power of the Sorcerer.

But at this moment, the flame and thunder on Lin Ming’s spear suddenly interwove in the same spot…

Thunderfire Annihilation!!!

“This is…!” The light shadow martial artist’s pupils suddenly widened. His vision was completely filled with nothing but a blazingly bright white light. The blood colored sword that he had struck towards that incandescent light was instantly shattered!

Bang!!

There was a deafening explosion just like a thunderclap within a raging storm. The light shadow martial artist was struck by the Thunderfire Annihilation. The terrifying flurry of thunder was like a silver snake dancing within an inferno of dazzling red flames.

A vicious shockwave reverberated in the air like the rough waves of the ocean during a storm. An incomparably vast tsunami of true essence billowed outwards in all directions; it shattered the jade floor as it swept through the entire temple!

Lin Ming and the light shadow man were simultaneously sent flying backwards.

As soon as Lin Ming had released Thunderfire Annihilation, he had already been revolving all of his true essence to resist the incoming shockwaves. He vomited blood as the shock pierced through his body and the bones of both of his spear-holding hands were broken.

However, the light shadow man was in an even worse situation. He hadn’t prepared for that move, and his sword had also cut into the ball of thunder and flame. At such close distance – even though he was a Houtian realm master – his chest had blown up and he was covered in blood, simply a mangled mess.

“Damn!”

The light shadow man supported himself with his longsword. He had been too careless. He didn’t think that he would be forced into such a miserable state by a mere Bone Forging martial artist and be humiliated. He spat a mouthful of blood; at least half of the ribs in his chest had been shattered.

“He’s not dead…” Lin Ming’s pupils shrank as he staggered backwards. A Houtian realm master was simply too strong. Even though he had used most of his strength to power the Gravity Cage, he had actually managed to fend off Thunderfire Annihilation.

Lin Ming’s heart sank. Although the light shadow man was heavily injured, Lin Ming had already used up the Heretical God Force and Thunderfire Annihilation. If they continued to fight, then he would be put into an even more dire situation.

However, at this moment, Yan Mo’s voice suddenly resounded above the shattered temple. “The sixth level, cleared!”

Hearing this, the light shadow man seemed very unwilling. He glared at Lin Ming with indignant anger, grabbed his sword, and walked back to the temple.

“I passed?”

Lin Ming found this unbelievable.

At this time, space twisted in front of Lin Ming, and Yan Mo appeared before him. “Congratulations. You are the first one in the last 19,000 years to pass the sixth smelting trial.”

Lin Ming was puzzled. He asked, “I didn’t kill the enemy of the sixth floor, how could that be regarded as passing?”

Yan Mo said, “As long as you defeat the guardian of the sixth level, then you have passed. If your move truly would have killed him, then I would have blocked the attack. The guardian of the sixth level is different from the first five; he is a true soul, and has a soul brand as well as his own independent consciousness.”

Sure enough, this was also something that Lin Ming had guessed, so it wasn’t too surprising.

Yan Mo said, “There are several guardians of the sixth level. Their cultivations range from the early Houtian realm to the limit of the Xiantian realm. In the past, they were once the Sorcerer Envoys of large tribes within the Southern Wilderness. However, even in the Southern Wilderness there were constant wars, and occasionally, even these Sorcerer Envoys would be killed. These individuals were also once wounded and on the verge of death. They were rescued by me in exchange for guarding the sixth level of the smelting trial with their souls.

“So it’s like this…” Lin Ming suddenly realized. The so called Sorcerer Envoys were truly worthy of their reputation. Out of all the Sorcerer Envoys, the one he had dealt with was the weakest of them all. This was only because he was 15 years old. If he was any older, than he would have had to face a middle Houtian, or even late Houtian realm master.

“You may rest for three hours, and then carry onto the seventh smelting trial!

Yan Mo said this, and then immediately vanished.

Lin Ming could only force a grim smile as he listened to this. How could he pass through the seventh floor?

The sixth floor was already a measure of his luck. With his current strength, he was simply not a match for a Houtian realm master. If it wasn’t for the guardian losing his patience and trying to forcefully limit his movements, thus leaving an opening in his defense, there was simply no way for Lin Ming to have won.

Now, his strength hadn’t increased, and he had to pass the seventh trial. How could he do this?

Starting from the fourth trial, the difficulty of every following one had increased by a ridiculous degree. If it went as expected, then the difficulty of the seventh level would greatly surpass that of the sixth.

How should he proceed from here?

If he couldn’t, then the strange red quartz would turn into a dream, and he wouldn’t even receive the reward for passing the sixth trial.

In any event, he had to put forth his total effort. Even though there was only the slightest glimmer of hope, he still had to stride forwards.