Chapter 981 – Sixth Stage Life Destruction

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White Daohong also received the approval of Saint Artifact Pavilion’s artifact spirit, and had taken the number one top grade saint artifact that hung there at the time. Moreover, he too inherited a portion of the old Palace Master’s source strength. In the minds of the junior disciples of Phoenix Hall, White Daohong was synonymous with a living god. When he crossed the ninth stage of Life Destruction, an origin energy cloud that spread out for 18 miles formed. That was a six layered heavens ninth stage Life Destruction!

Compared with Huo Yanguang, the difference was tremendous.

A gambling fight between Lin Ming and Huo Yanguang was a big deal to an ordinary disciple, but to someone like White Daohong it was the same as two talented children wrestling with each other. He didn’t even appear to watch the battle. A contest between Life Destruction level powerhouses simply wasn’t worthy of his attention.

“Compared to Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong, I feel Lin Ming is a bit worse,” a disciple said somewhat unsure. In fact, he could faintly feel that Lin Ming’s talent already surpassed the White Daohong of the past. However, just as these words were on the tip of his tongue, he changed his words. This was due to the power and influence accumulated by White Daohong over such a long time.

These ordinary disciples already subconsciously recognized White Daohong as an insurmountable existence, undefeatable.

“Could Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong have defeated a Ninefall master at the fifth stage of Life Destruction?” another uncertain disciple asked. This was because this sort of jumping ranks to battle was just far too incredible. It was the reason why no one had believed Lin Ming could win, because even someone like White Daohong couldn’t have done it!

At this moment, a Divine Transformation realm disciple said, “He cannot! Although Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong is fierce, he absolutely could not have defeated a four layered heavens Ninefall master during the fifth stage of Life Destruction. In terms of strength at the same level, Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong is not inferior to Lin Ming, but they simply cannot compare in terms of battle spirit. It seems that Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong’s battle spirit boundary is currently at gold perfection. He’s just a step away from reaching the next level.”

The early Divine Transformation realm martial artist who spoke only had an eighth grade Life Destruction base. But his experience was far greater than the Divine Sea and Life Destruction juniors here. He was one of the people who climbed up in White Daohong’s era, and had seen him personally fight. Of course, his words held a much greater authority.

“He is stronger than Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong if both of them were at the same level?” Several disciples gasped. This was a bit inconceivable.

“Saint Artifact Pavilion’s artifact spirit is indeed a senior that has existed for nearly a million years. For these several hundred thousands of years it has seen hundreds of millions of heroic young elites, just what type of talent has it not seen before? In terms of identifying talent, even the Palace Master cannot compare!”

The Palace Master that the Phoenix Hall disciple spoke of was naturally the Palace Master of the entire Phoenix Cry Palace. He was also Fairy Feng and Sage Jiuyang’s honorable master. To these ordinary disciples, such a character was the same as a legend. Even the disciples of Phoenix Hall, and even some Divine Lord realm Elders didn’t have the qualifications to see him!

“He is indeed stronger than Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong was at that level. But…” As the Divine Transformation disciple spoke to here, he suddenly changed his tone, “It’s hard to predict what Lin Ming’s future achievements will be like depending on just this point, and whether or not he will become someone more formidable than Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong.”

“To seek Ninefall and pass through the Nine Divine Shifts, his first step is to step into the ninth stage of Life Destruction. That will be the point when he truly starts to cultivate the Heavenly Dao. The road that Lin Ming must travel is still long; who can guarantee that his future will continue to be smooth, or that he can even continue walking down the road for much longer? You must know that the reason Senior-apprentice Brother White Daohong can have such great achievements now is because he encountered a massive lucky chance during the Divine Sea realm, cementing his status as the chief disciple of Phoenix Hall! If Lin Ming wishes to compare with Senior-apprentice White Daohong, he’ll first have to enter the Divine Sea realm, the late Divine Sea realm, and the early Divine Transformation realm. Only then can we see clues into his future success. In order to become a true top talent and rush to the level of Palace Master in the future, every step he takes must shake the heavens and tremble the earth!”

The final evaluation that this Divine Transformation martial artist gave of Lin Ming was fair and objective. If one was successful during the Life Destruction realm, that didn’t mean they would continue to have such success in the future. It only meant they had a chance of reaching the Holy Lord realm. As for whether or not they could grasp that chance, that remained to be seen.

What kind of existence was a Holy Lord? Even in the vast Divine Realm, a Holy Lord was a master of their own land. The Patriarch of the Ancient Phoenix Clan was also a Holy Lord!

The Ancient Phoenix Clan was in truth a Holy Land level influence within the Divine Realm. That was not Phoenix Cry Palace, but the totality of the 72 palaces and three great family clans of the Ancient Phoenix Clan combined!

They had a population of over a hundred billion disciples, endless geniuses, a massive volume of Divine Transformation realm powerhouses, numerous Divine Lord realm powerhouses, 648 Vice Palace Masters, and 72 Palace Masters. Even above that were the Highest Elders, Disciplinary Elders, Enlightening Elders, and various other Elders that were in seclusion. That combined with the three great family clans comprised the Ancient Phoenix Land and was a Holy Land level influence.

Compared to the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom, this sort of Holy Land was like comparing a giant dragon to a tiny ant. For someone to be able to become the highest leader of this Holy Land, the power of a Holy Lord level powerhouse could be imagined!

No matter how talented Lin Ming was, or how talented White Daohong was, they were both far from becoming a Holy Lord!

“Fellow senior-apprentice brother Protectors, I must visit Senior Fairy Feng and close up so that I can prepare to reach the next realm. I thank you all for bearing witness to the gambling battle just now. Thank you and farewell.”

“Haha, Junior-apprentice Brother Lin’s progress is indeed fast. You want to attack the sixth stage of Life Destruction? Hm, well it does seem that Junior-apprentice Brother Lin’s cultivation has reached perfection of the fifth stage of Life Destruction; you will be able to enter the sixth stage of Life Destruction at any moment now. Once Junior-apprentice Brother Lin reaches the sixth stage of Life Destruction, then under the same conditions I think you might even be able to contend a bit with a Ninefall Divine Sea powerhouse!”

The ninth stage of Life Destruction to the Divine Sea was a large boundary, but fifth stage Life Destruction to sixth stage Life Destruction was only a small boundary. If Lin Ming reached the sixth stage of Life Destruction, then under these conditions where both sides had a top quality saint artifact, it was still impossible for Lin Ming to frontally fight with a Ninefall Divine Sea master. The most he would be able to do was to save his own life. In order to truly contend with a Ninefall Divine Sea master with a top grade saint artifact, he would have to reach at least the seventh stage of Life Destruction. Moreover, that was only being able to struggle with them for a little bit.

Lin Ming faintly smiled, not responding. He knew that he still had a very long road ahead of him. Today he defeated Huo Yanguang with overwhelming force, but the truth was that he used almost every skill available to him and that even accounted for the advantage of the Phoenix Blood Spear. If he didn’t have the Phoenix Blood Spear and also didn’t have the Primordius martial intent, Lin Ming would never have defeated Huo Yanguang.

A Ninefall genius of the Divine Realm was no common elite of their era.

After Lin Ming said his farewells, he transformed into a beam of light and flew straight toward Fairy Feng’s palace.

Fairy Feng had already received news of what happened before Lin Ming arrived. This news was sent by the several Hall Protectors. It was possible to receive some rewards in reporting this sort of good news; they certainly didn’t want to miss out on such an opportunity.

“A fifth stage Life Destruction martial artist defeated the four layered heavens Ninefall Huo Yanguang?” Fairy Feng’s expression changed as she heard this news. This was truly incredible!

“A lower realms martial artist is said to have great potential, but their weak points are their talent and their cultivation speed. This is because the resources of the lower realms are simply unable to compare with the Divine Realm. I knew Lin Ming was extraordinary, but I didn’t know the limits of his strength. I only expected he would grow in the future and completely dig out his potential, but I never thought he would have such great strength at only the fifth stage of Life Destruction!”

As Fairy Feng was thinking, a flame appeared in front of her. This was a message sent from one of her maids.

“Honorable Master, Junior-apprentice Brother Lin has come!”

“Oh?” Fairy Feng’s eyebrows arched up. “Lin Ming should’ve come to ask me to help him break through the sixth stage of Life Destruction. Very well!”

Fairy Feng was pleased. Now that Lin Ming won the phoenix plume blood, if a bit of her own collection was added, that would be able to further consolidate Lin Ming’s foundation. When he broke through to the ninth stage of Life Destruction in the future, he would receive an even greater baptism of Laws!

“Send him in.”

Fairy Feng’s sound transmission was sent out. A moment later, Lin Ming arrived at the grand hall where she was.

“Senior Fairy Feng, the reason that this disciple requests to see senior is to ask for help in breaking through to the sixth stage of Life Destruction and also to request that Senior Fairy Feng can act as a protector for this junior.”

“Sixth stage Life Destruction, very good!” Fairy Feng sized up Lin Ming. He had indeed reached perfection of the fifth stage; his foundation could not become any more solid either. It was rare for this sort of scene to appear in the body of a lower realms martial artist. The resources of the lower realms were barren and their inheritances were limited. This caused many talents to take detours and shortcuts.

“Lin Ming, I’ve already heard of your victory over Huo Yanguang. You’ve done well, very well! Although you revealing your strength may draw some trouble, I have always advocated strength above all. If you can clearly defeat your opponent, then why should you cower and hide! That is not the style of a martial artist! I also heard you won 20 drops of phoenix plume blood, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Bring them out!”

“Alright.”

Lin Ming swept the Extreme Violet Ring and a small jade vial flew out. Fairy Feng grasped the vial and swept her sense through it. It were indeed 20 drops of phoenix plume blood.

She took a deep breath, then took out a giant red feather from her spatial ring. This feather was 30 feet long and nearly reached the dome of the grand hall.

Lin Ming only needed to glance at this feather in front of him to sense a cold light and a sharp intent. He didn’t doubt that if this feather was used as a weapon, it could stab a top master death!

“Phoenix feather?” Lin Ming asked.

“Yes. It’s exactly a phoenix feather. When you cross the sixth stage of Life Destruction, that is the last pass of you shattering your core. After reaching the sixth stage of Life Destruction, that is when you will star tempering your soul. In seeking Ninefall, the path is divided into three stages of three. They are called – essence, energy, and soul!”

Essence meant the physical form and blood essence. The first three stages cultivated ‘essence’, meaning they decomposed the mortal body to form a spirit body.

Energy was origin energy and true essence. When others said to concentrate energy into the dantian, that was because the dantian contained ‘energy’. The second three stages of Life Destruction cultivated this ‘energy’. That was to shatter the dantian and reform the Revolving Core!

Soul meant divine soul. The final three stages where about the soul and this was also the most mysterious process.

Essence, energy, and soul were the basis of all life, and also the basis of every martial artists’ martial path. The three were the most fundamental aspects of martial arts. In order to seek Ninefall, one had to cultivate essence, energy, and soul to perfection before stepping into the Divine Sea realm, otherwise it would be extremely difficult to have great success in the future. Lin Ming’s sixth stage of Life Destruction was the final pass in cultivating ‘energy’, he certainly had to do everything to perfection.

Fairy Feng said, “Come to my chamber. I will destroy this phoenix feather and take its energy essence and fuse it into your dantian. When you reform your core, it will bring bring it to perfection!”

“Thank you Senior Fairy Feng.” Lin Ming bowed. Fairy Feng came from common origins, and in terms of wealth she was far inferior to Sage Jiuyang. Things such as phoenix true blood and phoenix feathers were also greatly useful to herself. For Fairy Feng to divide these resources to him was a kindness.