Chapter 1225 – Fated Encounter
“Honorable Master.”
Yan Littlemoon bowed towards Huo Violentstone. During the period of time after Lin Ming left the Ancient Phoenix Clan, Yan Littlemoon had officially taken Huo Violentstone as her master.
Huo Violentstone guffawed. “Good! You’ve done a good job! Xiao Ping, well, he also did good.”
Xiao Ping was once the number one disciple of the Ancient Phoenix Clan, but now he was overshadowed by Yan Littlemoon. During the preliminaries, Xiao Ping had only achieved around rank 150 in his great world, a much worse result than Yan Littlemoon.
“I thank Highest Elder for the generous praise.”
Xiao Ping ruefully smiled, a strange taste in his heart. To be beaten by a young girl who was eight or nine years younger and also had a lower cultivation than him, to him that was a great loss of face.
“Alright, clean yourselves up and prepare to go to the semifinals. Our Ancient Phoenix Clan will have four disciples entering the semifinals this time, it’s truly a good harvest.”
“Four disciples?”
Yan Littlemoon and Xiao Ping were both startled. As fellow disciples of the Ancient Phoenix Clan, they helped each other in the Divine Dream World and also had a general understanding of all the other disciples’ merit points and were thus able to guess just who was capable of passing the preliminaries and who wasn’t. This time, there should have only been three disciples that passed. Besides Yan Littlemoon and Xiao Ping there was also a core disciple that was ranked around 1800 of a great world. He just barely managed to pass.
Then just who was the fourth person?
Huo Violentstone already expected that Yan Littlemoon and Xiao Ping would ask this. He mysteriously said, “You two should also be able to guess who this fourth person is…”
“Is… is it Senior-apprentice Brother Lin Ming?” Yan Littlemoon suddenly recalled that several years ago, Lin Ming had left the Ancient Phoenix Clan to go out adventuring. Considering the time that passed so far, he should have managed to reach the early or middle Divine Sea realm by now. With Lin Ming’s talent, he naturally wouldn’t miss such a grand event!
“Yes, it’s exactly Lin Ming!” Huo Violentstone said, happily stroking his beard. He couldn’t conceal his wide grin.
Yan Littlemoon suddenly realized just why Huo Violentstone was in such a good mood. So the reason must have been because Lin Ming also joined the First Martial Meeting. With Lin Ming’s talent, he naturally would bring honor to the Ancient Phoenix Clan.
As Yan Littlemoon thought of Lin Ming, a strange color washed over her face. Towards Lin Ming, she felt something that she couldn’t yet explain.
“Are Senior-apprentice Brother Lin’s results much better than ours?” Yan Littlemoon asked.
“Haha, Lin Ming gave us all a pleasant surprise. At his highest ranking, he managed to kill his way into the top 1000 rankings of the Divine Seal Decree and became first ranked in the True Martial Great World. But afterwards… that brat was just too lazy, far too lazy, and because of that his ranking fell. He finally ended as fourth place on the True Martial Great World, but he still managed to keep in the top 10,000 rankings of the Divine Realm.”
Even though Yan Littlemoon and Xiao Ping were already prepared, they still sucked in a cold breath upon hearing this. To become the first ranked martial artist of the True Martial Great World! And the True Martial Great World was also a second-order word. This result was simply too freakish.
“Senior-apprentice Brother Lin, he really…” Yan Littlemoon sighed. For all these years, she didn’t dare to laze around for even half a minute. Moreover, she had displayed the power and potential of her bloodline to the limit. She had hoped that she would be able to slowly overtake Lin Ming’s footsteps, or even if she couldn’t she would still be able to see his back. But now, she realized that the difference between them was only becoming increasingly wide.
As for Xiao Ping, his mouth dropped open again and again, at a complete loss for words. He felt incomparable envy and jealousy simmering in his heart. He suspected that during their trip into the God Beast Mystic Realm, perhaps the supreme dragon bone had been stolen away by Lin Ming.
When the supreme dragon bone had suddenly vanished, no one knew just where Lin Ming was. He had thought that Lin Ming had died but in the end Lin Ming had also been transmitted out of the God Beast Mystic Realm. Because Lin Ming’s cultivation was just far too low at the time and his strength also wasn’t worth mentioning, Xiao Ping hadn’t been suspicious of him. But with things as they were now, Xiao Ping felt doubtful of his past judgment.
There was likely some heaven-defying secret on that boy’s body!
But now, even if he was 100% sure that Lin Ming had taken the supreme dragon bone, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. With Lin Ming’s current status, let alone taking back that supreme dragon bone, the Ancient Phoenix Clan might instead bestow several drops of phoenix blood essence to him!
That was phoenix blood essence! This was something that Xiao Ping yearned for in his every dream. For his entire life, without some massive lucky chance, there wasn’t any way he would ever obtain even a single drop.
“Where will the semifinals be held? What are the rules?”
Yan Littlemoon asked Huo Violentstone. In the preliminaries, the elimination rate had reached a despairing percentage; only one out of every billion participants had managed to make it through. Even so, the original number of participating martial artists in this First Martial Meeting was far too great. Although the elimination rate was astoundingly high, there were still around 10 million martial artists throughout the entire Divine Realm that had made it through the preliminaries. It wouldn’t be easy to screen out these people at all.
Huo Violentstone said, “The rules have already been passed out. Out of the 3000 great worlds, every 100 great worlds will be divided into a group and that group will compete in a small world. In every group of 100 great worlds, there are many participants from first-order worlds and second-order worlds. Every group will have over 300,000 participants, but only 300 people will make it out of every group in the semifinals.”
“Only… 3… 300 people?” Xiao Ping’s mouth fell open again. This elimination ratio was far too exaggerated. In 100 great worlds, in which many first-order and second-order worlds were included, only 300 people would make it through.
This meant that if one wished to make it through they would need to be one of the top three ranked masters of a great world. And, since their Crimson Light World was a third-order world, the top three ranked masters were a bit less worthy than the top three masters of other great worlds. In order to pass, one would need to be in the top two rankings or perhaps even the number one ranking!
In other words, no matter how hard he and Yan Littlemoon tried, it was impossible for them to pass the semifinals.
Their journey here would both end in the semifinals.
To bid farewell to the grand stage of the First Martial Meeting like this, Xiao Ping felt a bit melancholic. Although he knew that powerhouses existed all over the Divine Realm like clouds and he simply wasn’t worthy of mentioning, Xiao Ping always held a faint hope close to his heart that he would be able to amaze the world with a magnificent feat. But now, he wouldn’t even be able to pass the semifinals. Not just that, but he would fall far short.
Yan Littlemoon was also well aware that she wouldn’t pass the semifinals and this was a completely hopeless wish. That meant that in the entire Ancient Phoenix Clan, only Lin Ming had a chance of passing.
She asked, “What is the competition method like?”
“No idea.” Huo Violentstone responded, shaking his head. “Lin Ming is at the True Martial Great World. That great world isn’t too far from ours. We should be able to run into him during the semifinals!”
“Is that so…” Yan Littlemoon took a deep breath, not sure of what she was feeling.
‘Lin Ming, so many years have passed, what are you like now?’
At this time, the True Martial Great World, the martial field of the First Martial Meeting preliminaries –
Hu – !
Lin Ming’s soul form was ejected from the Divine Dream World. Consciousness was restored to his body.
He clenched his fists and stood up. He could see that for 10 miles around him, there were fellow participants scattered all over who had passed the preliminaries just like him.
At the start of the First Martial Meeting when everyone first entered the Divine Dream World, this entire field had been occupied by martial artists. The surrounding area for miles had been tightly packed with participants. But now, the participants remaining were all scattered around loosely.
“Lin Ming.”
At the moment Lin Ming regained consciousness, a warm and familiar voice resounded in his mind. This voice came from Mo Eversnow.
“Miss Mo.”
With a thought, Lin Ming’s mind entered the Magic Cube space.
Here, he saw Mo Eversnow as well as Fishy.
Fishy was currently sleeping. This little girl’s appetite was becoming increasingly large, to a ridiculous rate. Lin Ming had left 8-9 million violet sun stones in the Magic Cube space but most of them had been eaten up by her already.
The current Lin Ming could be described as a broke man cleaned out of all wealth. After buying the Boundless World Pill, the leftover change had been nearly entirely eaten up by Fishy. Not just that, but he still owed a debt of 6 trillion!
As Lin Ming thought of this debt, he fell somewhat silent.
After Lin Ming entered the Magic Cube space, Fishy seemed to sense him and suddenly woke up. She rubbed her large and sleepy eyes. After seeing Lin Ming, she perked up and excitedly smiled.
“Big Brother Lin Ming!”
“Fishy.” Lin Ming held Fishy’s hands. Although her real age was unknown, she had the appearance of a little 11-12 year old girl. In Lin Ming’s eyes she was a cute little child.
For these nine months, Fishy had basically eaten and slept again and again. She had been living a fun and carefree life.
“We have to immediately go to the semifinals. It seems that the semifinals won’t be held in the Divine Dream World. We’ll have to ride a spirit ship to a designated location.”
Lin Ming said. Then, his thoughts suddenly stirred. “Oh, there’s a message.”
His consciousness left the Magic Cube space just as the flames of a sound transmitting talisman lit up right in front of him.
This was information sent from Immemorial Imperial City’s River Feather.
When Lin Ming had first bought the Boundless World Pill, River Feather had lent Lin Ming 100 billion violet stun stones even though he didn’t completely understand his situation. Although this didn’t seem like much, Lin Ming had indeed made good use of River Feather’s loan. Lin Ming held a very good impression towards him.
“Brother Lin, congratulations!”
River Feather used a sound transmitting talisman to determine Lin Ming’s position and then rushed to catch up. As he was shouting out from afar, his voice could be described as filled with joy and delight. Lin Ming’s results had far surpassed anything he had hoped for. Even the disciples of the True Martial Holy Lands were inferior to Lin Ming. River Feather realized that he had truly stumbled into a great person this time!
As long as he could continue solidifying his relationship with Lin Ming, his status in his family would rise straight up into the skies.
“Brother Lin, the name list of those competing in the semifinals has been passed out. I’ve already bought a jade slip. Come, take a look.”
As River Feather spoke, he offered up a jade slip.
Lin Ming took the jade slip and swept his sense through it. This jade slip listed 100 great worlds of the Divine Realm.
These Divine Realm great worlds came in varying sizes. The larger ones had over 10,000 participants and the smaller ones had 1000-2000 participants. There were over three million participants in total.
The name of the Crimson Light World caught Lin Ming’s attention: this was where the Ancient Phoenix Clan Headquarters were located.
Just as he was about to search for the Ancient Phoenix Clan for any familiar names, he suddenly felt a disturbance in his spiritual sea. Mo Eversnow’s consciousness was intensely fluctuating.
“Miss Mo, is something wrong?”
Lin Ming was slightly stunned. In his mind, Mo Eversnow was someone that was always calm, neither happy nor angry. She rarely lost her composure.
Mo Eversnow took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes faintly trembling. After some time, she opened her eyes once more, an icy cold light flashing within them.
She slowly said, enunciating every word,, “Tian Mingzi’s descendant is inside!”
“Mm?”
Lin Ming was shocked.
Tian Mingzi!
This was a name that he had heard many times before. But today was his first time actually coming into contact with it!
Tian Mingzi’s descendant. Who knew that Tian Mingzi’s descendant would actually be in the semifinals too? This could truly be called a fated encounter.