Chapter 403 – Endless Trial

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Mu Yuhuang coldly glared at Yan Yusheng. In normal times, she wouldn’t even bother to play along with his nonsense. But now, facing the pressure from the Council of Elders, she had no choice but to explain, “During the assessment in the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall, bloodline density is the most important influencing factor. In order to obtain greater lucky chances in the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall, one’s bloodline must naturally be more purer!”

“To give Lin Ming great lucky chances, you took the risk and gave him so much Vermillion Bird blood essence? Then what about the other disciples? Their bloodline purity is almost sufficient enough to practice the core sections of the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’. They put so much effort into their cultivation, all for a single chance to become a fish that passes through the dragon gate. Isn’t this just too unfair to them?”

Yan Yusheng’s voice wasn’t as emboldened or energetic as Mu Chihuo’s when he was arguing with Mu Yuhuang. He only spoke in a calm and moderate pace, but there was sharpness to his words that cut to the point.

Mu Yuhuang’s eyes became increasingly cold. “Elder Yan! If you find this unfair, then you may say so to the High Ancestor. The Vermillion Bird blood essence was personally granted to Lin Ming by the High Ancestor herself!”

Mu Yuhuang was very clear that the reason that Mu Chihuo and Yan Yusheng were launching verbal attacks against her together was to demand more authority.

There would be more Vermillion Bird blood essence in the future, and they wanted to the authority to control it. At least, they wanted to use this incident as a pretext to diminish Mu Yuhuang’s power, and request for the distribution of the Vermillion Bird blood essence to be left to the Council of Elders to decide, as opposed to the Vermillion Bird Faction Sovereign singularly controlling it.

It had to be known that the next Vermillion Bird Faction Sovereign would be Mu Qianyu. Mu Qianyu was also someone who stood by Mu Yuhuang. Mu Qianyu’s natural talent was outstanding, and in the future she would most likely reach the extreme Revolving Core realm. Once she held power, it would last for seven to eight hundred years!

If this happened, then Mu Chihuo’s faction would never be able to stand up!

If no master was born in a faction, then they would slowly decline and wither away. Eventually, they would even degenerate into a collateral branch.

After Mu Chihuo, there were also many Elders in the same faction that spoke. To them, Lin Ming’s death was a prelude to an intense internal power struggle.

The other unrelated Elders mostly stayed silent during this. They didn’t want to involve themselves or stir up any trouble in the struggles of internal factions. They could only regret that such a great genius of Divine Phoenix Island had been lost.

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Within a small guest room at one of the mountain peaks of the Divine Phoenix Mountains, Lei Jingtian was meditating when suddenly a fire lit in front of him. As the message passed to his ears, he suddenly let out happy laugh. “Lin Ming fell within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm? Haha! The heavens truly favor me! This boy, I’m glad he died early!”

The Five Element Region and Divine Phoenix Island’s negations were still continuing. Such an important negation involved massive benefits, and even involved the rise and fall of a sect. It wasn’t a matter that could be decided in just a few days. With both sides cooperating, there were also many details that needed to be hammered out. Negotiations had continued for half a month, and both sides had made concessions. However, they hadn’t yet reached a final agreement.

Lei Jingtian naturally stayed in Divine Phoenix Island and hadn’t left yet. Now that he heard the news of Lin Ming’s death, he was overjoyed!

“The heavens are righteous; he is finally dead! Divine Phoenix Island’s destiny is only this. They thought that they could soar into the heavens, hehe, but now it’s unknown whether or not they can survive this South Sea crisis!”

As Lei Jingtian received news of Lin Ming’s death, the other sect Elders of the Five Element Region also received it. The Golden Bell Mountain Elder was filled with deep emotion; such a singular talent of a generation had fallen. As for the Deep Earth Sect’s Shi Zhongkun, he was the same as Lei Jingtian, taking pleasure in this news. To him, Lin Ming’s death was a matter worth celebrating.

Out of the entire Divine Phoenix Island, only Mu Qianyu believed that Lin Ming was still alive. When Lin Ming had first entered the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, he hadn’t left behind a destiny soul jade slip. This sort of jade slip required a martial artist to separate a sliver of their own soul and seal it into a jade slip. When the main body died, the jade slip would shatter.

However, separating a wisp of one’s soul would cause an extremely great soul wound. Normally, only the mediocre would leave behind a soul jade slip. A true genius would never do such a thing.

Without clear evidence from something like a destiny soul jade slip, Mu Qianyu would not believe that Lin Ming had died.

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Bang!

Within the battlefield of the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, Lin Ming’s spear burst through a rock puppet, causing its body to explode into flames. He supported himself up with the Purple Comet Spear, partly kneeling on the ground. His back was covered in blood, and the bones of his left hand had been broken. The right hand that held the spear was also trembling.

He had finally crossed the second wave!

The first wave of rock puppets was the easiest to kill and the easiest to pass. Lin Ming had only need to kill them using his overwhelming strength. But the second wave of rock puppets was a notch stronger. The first time that Lin Ming had attempted to massacre all the rock puppets, he had been seriously wounded and almost died, eventually failing to finish them off. He had returned to his cave to heal his wounds, but unexpectedly found that the puppets he killed off were all being rapidly regenerated by the array formation.

As Lin Ming recovered, so did the rock puppets!

The second time that he attacked, Lin Ming had gained experience from the previous attempt and had barely managed to kill them. He had also been grievously wounded as before.

The third wave was absolutely not something he could defeat!

Lin Ming clenched his teeth, and swallowed down a healing pill.

At this moment, the array formation started to revolve, and the crimson blood colored runes began to light up one at a time. These past 10 days, Lin Ming had already discovered the rules of the smelting trial; soon, new rock puppets would appear. He launched his movement technique and quickly returned to the cave.

If he wanted to pass this smelting trial within the year, he would need to do everything possible to increase his strength.

This was the general level smelting trial of the Ancient Phoenix Clan. Lin Ming’s talent far surpassed other juniors within the South Horizon Region, but when he compared himself to those of the Ancient Phoenix Clan, he wasn’t so sure of himself. The Palace Spirit had stated that during the entire time it had guarded the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall, only a single person had passed the smelting trial within a year. Not only that, but this person had come from the Royal Family, and had only been relegated to the general level smelting trial. The other general level talents hadn’t been able to achieve this.

Lin Ming revolved the ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’, and within an hour the true essence in his body had been restored.

Then, Lin Ming took out a vial of viscous red liquid. This liquid was a Shattered Demon Heart Crystal.

Before, Lin Ming had obtained 10 Shattered Demon Heart Crystals. He had eaten half of one, given Mu Qianyu one, and had used part of another when he was revealing Lei Mubai’s secret identity. Now, he had a bit over eight left.

This was an extremely brutal and potent medicine. The first time that Lin Ming had taken this, nearly all the blood in his body had been drained away.

With his current strength, he wouldn’t end up in such a pitiful state. Still, he didn’t dare to absorb too much. Not just that, but if there was too much energy, he wouldn’t be able to absorb it. The safest way would be to take half of a Shattered Demon Heart Crystal every few days and refine it in the heat of battle.

Lin Ming took out a medicinal inscription symbol that he had drawn up when he had been at Dark Moon Island. This medicinal inscription symbol had been used to increase the potency of the Heaven Opening Pill. Although this medicinal inscription symbol was a bit too low level for the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal, it was still better than nothing.

As Lin Ming drank the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal, his entire body began to burn with a scalding heat. In his mind, the scene of the Netherworld Great Emperor fighting against countless demons appeared once more. But this time, Lin Ming wasn’t lost in the immersive dream like before. He quickly broke through the illusion, manipulating the energy of the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal, and began the process of tempering his marrow!

The Tempering Marrow boundary. This was the most important factor he would depend on to complete this smelting trial within a year!