Chapter 718 – A Shocking Trial Ground

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“I’ve finally passed.” Lin Ming let out a breath of relief. That test had not been easy at all. When Lin Ming had passed the general level smelting trial, he had been young, thus the enemies he faced were correspondingly weaker. Even so, it had cost Lin Ming a massive amount of time to pass it, and if he hadn’t brought enough Vermillion Bird blood essence with him, then it might have been nearly impossible to pass the smelting trial in any reasonable period of time.

But now, Lin Ming’s age and cultivation had risen. Facing the king level smelting trial qualifier, it hadn’t been as difficult to pass. This proved that the rate Lin Ming grew had exceeded the Ancient Phoenix Great Temple’s expectations of someone from the royal line.

“Sir Temple Spirit, I have a question I would like to ask you. Those several successors and princes I fought, just how old were they?”

This was the question that Lin Ming most wanted to ask. He desired to know how his talent compared to those geniuses of the Ancient Phoenix Clan and just what degree the disparity between them was.

The Temple Spirit said, “Trial Challenger, your skeletal age is at 21 years. The difficult of your corresponding test should also be at the 21st rank. However, because your bloodline density is lacking, the true difficulty of your test was somewhat higher. Your matches were all 24 or 25 years old. They were all outstanding heroic elites of the Ancient Phoenix Clan’s Royal Family. However, when their phantoms faced you, their energy and cultivation were also under heavy suppression; they were in no way at their peak condition. Thus, it is impossible to assess your talent in comparison to theirs.

“I understand.”

Lin Ming wasn’t too surprised by this. In the Ancient Phoenix Clan, their resources and talents were far from what the Sky Spill Continent could compare with. For instance, the Nirvana Dragon Root was a rare and precious heavenly treasure that all Life Destruction masters of the Sky Spill Continent would go stark mad for. However, thinking about it some more, that Nirvana Dragon Root was in truth some unwanted medicinal herb kept in the Demon God Imperial Palace’s medicine garden by the Demon Emperor before he ascended into the Realm of the Gods. Although it’s value had surged because of the tens of thousands of years that had passed, when it was truly contrasted to the great sects within the Realm of the Gods with incomparably vast legacies, it wasn’t even worth mentioning.

There might be some half God Beast bloodline genius out there, using medicines and pills daily with a value that far surpassed the Nirvana Dragon Root. What they trained in were high-level Realm of the God’s cultivation methods that were in no way inferior to Lin Ming’s, and they would even have the guidance of old beings from the Realm of the Gods whose cultivation far surpassed that of the Divine Sea’s. Lin Ming didn’t find it strange that there would be many such individuals whose own comprehensive talent even exceeded his own.

Destiny was also a part of one’s talent. For a martial artist to be born in a great sect of the Realm of the Gods, or perhaps even a Holy Land, that too was a part of their destiny.

But for Lin Ming, although he originated from the lowliest of mortal backgrounds in one of the three thousand boundless worlds, simply one of a trillion trillion ants scurrying about, he still didn’t believe that his destiny was any less than that of an outstanding young elite from a Realm of the Gods Holy Land.

This was because…he had the Magic Cube.

Although the current Lin Ming hadn’t been able to perceive the secrets of the Magic Cube, he had a faint feeling that the Magic Cube might be one of the greatest treasures within the entire universe. As he grew stronger in the future, he would be able to unlock more and more of the Magic Cube’s powers, bringing him that much closer to the peak of all martial arts.

“Trial Challenger, we are here…” As the Temple Spirit spoke, the space around Lin Ming began to suddenly twist. A slight dizzying vertigo overcame him, and in the next moment he was sent up to a broad platform.

This platform was shaped like a massive circle, at least 10 miles in diameter. On its surface, there were a variety of mysterious, ancient runes engraved within; these were clearly array symbols.

However, what surprised Lin Ming was that he hadn’t seen a good number of these array symbols before. Lin Ming believed that he was skilled in understanding ancient array formations, but facing the patterns and marks on this platform, nearly everything here was completely unknown, making him feel a bit helpless.

Was this an array formation laid down by the Ancient Phoenix Clan?

“Sir Temple Spirit, are these the grounds for the king level smelting trial?” Lin Ming looked at the entire round platform. This platform emitted a simple, vast energy; it was startling. In addition to these mysterious, ancient runes, Lin Ming wouldn’t be surprised if it was something similar to the Seven Profound Valleys’ Ten Thousand Killing Array.

Of course, this Ancient Phoenix Great Temple’s array formation was like the difference between heaven and earth compared to that of the Seven Profound Valleys.

However, the Temple Spirit shook its head and said, “This is not the site of the king level smelting trial. Rather, it is the transmission altar that leads to the king level smelting trial….”

The Temple Spirit’s words were unhurried without any hint of emotion behind them. But as Lin Ming heard them, he was completely shocked!

What!?

This was only a transmission array!?

A ten-mile-wide transmission array covered in countless mystic runes!

Heavens! Where would such a transmission array lead to!?

In the broken world of the Demon God Imperial Palace, Lin Ming had seen a massive, ancient transmission array that was hundreds of feet high with 108 grooves for true essence stones. With all sorts of array symbols covering it, it had been a large-scale array formation.

That was the greatest transmission array Lin Ming had seen to date. But now, compared to this transmission array around him. It was absolutely overshadowed like an ant to an elephant.

This array formation was ten miles wide! Spreading out his perception, Lin Ming discovered dozens of fist-sized grooves around him. As for the transmission altar itself, that was a thousand feet high!

The entire altar seemed carved from burning red jade. Lin Ming had never seen this jade-like material but he could feel the vibrant energy rolling off from it.

This sort of transmission array…

Lin Ming glanced at the Temple Spirit. If the Demon God Imperial Palace’s transmission array could send someone billions of miles away, then this transmission array could send someone trillions or even tens or hundreds of trillions of miles afar!

“Sir Temple Spirit, just where does this transmission array go to? If I can’t complete the smelting trial in half a year, I would rather not enter,” Lin Ming uneasily asked. If he went so far away, returning probably wouldn’t be easy.

“Trial Challenger, I cannot guarantee when you will complete the smelting trial. The king level smelting trial is considered one of the core cultivation resources of the Ancient Phoenix Clan, and is divided into several stages. You can only continue to the later stages if you complete the first stage of the smelting trial. Once you finish the first stage of the smelting trial, you may also return. But, as for how long it will take you, I cannot tell.”

“What’s the fastest time that a martial artist of the Ancient Phoenix Clan completed the trial?” Lin Ming quickly asked.

“The fastest was…72 days!”

As the Temple Spirit spoke this number, even though its nature was that of indifference, there was still a trace of respect and reverence in its tone. 72 days was a terrifying number.

“72 days…I understand.” Since there were people that could complete the trial in 72 days, then Lin Ming was confident that even if he couldn’t match that number, three months also wouldn’t be a problem.

The Temple Spirit shook its head and said, “Trial Challenger, 72 days for completion of the trial is not an Ancient Phoenix Clan Prince from my Nuyan Family. That individual had a perfect Phoenix Clan bloodline. That is, half of his bloodline came from humanity and the other half came from a Phoenix. His perception, talent, none of that can be measured with common sense. Perhaps you might not even have the qualifications to pass the very first stage of the smelting trial in 72 days.”

Perfect Phoenix Clan bloodline?

Lin Ming sucked in a deep breath. From the very first time he had stepped onto the road of martial arts, taking each step by step until he reached where he presently was, he was now finally able to approach those peak talents from the Realm of the Gods.

Now, he would finally traverse the same path that the heroic young elites of the Realm of the Gods once tread, climbing towards the true peak of martial arts!

Everything had to restart from zero. The road was now underneath his feet!

Lin Ming’s entire body burned with a brilliant fighting spirit. If he didn’t come into contact with the Realm of the Gods, then he would never see where the peak of all martial arts lay!

“I don’t need to finish in 72 days. As long as I can pass within half a year—that’s more than enough! Beam me up!”

“Good! It shall be as you wish.”

As the Temple Spirit finished speaking, from above the skies of the massive altar, hundreds of fist-sized crystals slowly fell down, fitting themselves into the grooves of the altar.

Lin Ming had never seen these red energy stones before. But from the energy fluctuations, he could sense that these crystals were incomparable to true essence stones or Blood Demon Crystals.

This was also within reason. In order to mobilize such a terrifyingly large transmission array, how could ordinary energy stones possibly be enough?

These red crystals were absolutely priceless. If just the consumption to transmit a young elite was so high, then the training resources they received could be imagined.

No wonder the Ancient Phoenix Clan held such strict requirements to qualify for the king level smelting trial. In order to train a single member of the Royal Family, this required a massive amount of resources. Even with Lin Ming’s talent, he still hadn’t obtained the qualifications easily.

Bang!

The red crystals erupted with energy. The entire transmission altar suddenly shook as all of the array symbols upon it lit up in dazzling succession!

A beam of fiery-red light shot out from the altar, straight into the skies. As Lin Ming stood on the transmission array, he felt an endless and terrifying pressure fall over him with overwhelming force, suppressing him to a nearly unbearable degree.

Heavenly Demon force field—open!

Lin Ming simultaneously released the Death God and Asura force fields. With their support, Lin Ming was just barely able to withstand this immense pressure.

This secretly shocked Lin Ming. “This transmission is truly extraordinary. If a normal Xiantian martial artist were to stand here, they would explode from the pressure!’

Bang!

The transmission array suddenly trembled. More and more red energy surged forth, covering the entire altar.

In the next moment, Lin Ming felt his body suddenly accelerate in a dizzying motion as the world spun around him. This acceleration was so sudden and fast that Lin Ming felt as though he would barf out his organs. Rays of red light wrapped around Lin Ming, the void shattered, and he was tossed into this incomparably chaotic space flow!

Having experienced this scene previously, Lin Ming’s eyes lit up. This was also an opportune time for him to further hone his Concepts of Space and Time!

The chaotic space flow that Lin Ming faced this time were even more violent and terrifying than before. But Lin Ming’s strength had greatly increased from the past, and his understanding of the Concept of Space had reached a very deep degree. Even if he couldn’t directly withstand the violent space flows, he still had ways to avoid it, ensuring that he would be safe.

After soaring through this space flow for an unknown period of time, even someone with Lin Ming’s endurance consumed 70-80% of his true essence. Finally, he felt his body shake as he was kicked out from the space channel!

Then, Lin Ming was able to clearly gaze at the scene before him. This was the true king level smelting trial!

Lin Ming was thoroughly shocked. Prior to this, he had imagined many times just what the king level smelting trial would be like. Perhaps it was similar to the Ten Thousand Killing Array, or the King’s Cage, or maybe even the Road of Emperor, but he never thought it would be like this…..

This was actually a city! A city filled with people!