Chapter 1378 – Suffer in Silence
Grandmist energy was formed at the beginning of the universe, the condensed form of all matter to exist. It was similar to a black hole in that a single wisp of grandmist energy was as heavy as a star.
Now, within the space that Lin Ming and Mo Eversnow were in, there was a wisp of grandmist energy floating about. This wisp of grandmist energy was similar to a black hole in that it would absorb all matter and energy, including even light. Thus, when light shined upon this grandmist energy it wouldn’t be reflected at all, so no one was able to see it.
But, one could clearly feel its existence. Because of its terrifying weight, its presence alone was enough to place an omnidirectional pressure on a person’s body, soul, and inner world.
“This is the ancient land that Empyrean Primordius left behind in the past?”
As Lin Ming stood in this hall, even if he were normally breathing it would still consume a massive amount of energy.
He could feel an incomparably rich and profound aura of the Grandmist Laws permeating this hall. This sort of aura could only have been left behind by Empyrean Primordius.
Lin Ming found it hard to imagine just what boundary Empyrean Primordius reached in the past. With his strength alone, he faced off against several extreme Empyrean masters. Although he was finally wounded and perished, it was likely that none of those people who challenged him had a happy ending. Thus, it could be calculated that Empyrean Primordius had possibly touched upon the boundary of True Divinity.
In the center of the hall was an altar. Hanging above this altar there was a giant, ancient-looking bronze bell. This ancient bronze bell was hundreds of feet tall, able to fit a palace within its interior.
On top of this bell, there were two words written in the language of the Divine Realm – Primordius Bell!
Primordius Bell?
This should be a holy weapon that Empyrean Primordius used in the past!
Lin Ming could feel a deep and boundless aura wafting off of this ancient bronze bell, exactly the same as the aura in the hall.
In the middle of the altar there was also a stone gate. This gate was 100 feet tall and exuded a wild and primal atmosphere.
It was clear that this stone gate was also the work of Empyrean Primordius. Lin Ming turned towards the Primordius Bell and stone gate, deeply bowing.
As a martial artist, he could disrespect the heavens, he could disrespect the earth, but he could not disrespect the brave and the worthy. A martial artist was an existence that defied the will of the heavens to begin with. A martial artist was someone that wielded the Heavenly Dao Laws and resisted the power of heavenly tribulation. The heavens and earth were for them to conquer, so why should martial artists be in awe of them? However, these martial arts pioneers paved the road of the Great Dao for everyone behind them. Without these martial artists, there would be no inheritances and thus no martial artists. So, it was necessary to respect and revere them.
After Lin Ming bowed, he discovered a gray jade slip atop the altar. He carefully picked up the jade slip and brushed off the dust of years, probing it with his senses. There were only some words within it.
“To those that enter Primordius Palace, kneel in the center of the altar and use the sincerity of your heart to feel the Primordius Gate until the date that the gate opens. The road of martial arts defies the heavens, and although you must stand proud and tall in this world, you still must have the heart to suffer in silence, passing through layers and layers of difficulty until you reach the peak of martial arts.”
Kneel in the center of the altar and feel the Primordius Gate with the sincerity of his heart?
Lin Ming originally thought that the test Empyrean Primordius devised should be something similar to a battle, but he didn’t think that the first trial would be to suffer patiently and quietly; it was a test of his disposition.
“Senior Primordius should have calculated that a potential successor who was able to arrive here must be an extreme genius of their generation, and possibly an arrogant and overly proud person. This test isn’t meant to be an obstacle, but rather to sharpen the will.”
As Lin Ming thought this, he stepped onto the altar and knelt down.
And at this time, with a loud rumbling sound, the giant ancient bronze bell that was hanging above the altar came slowly falling down, soon covering Lin Ming within it.
Lin Ming knelt on the ground the same as before, allowing the Primordius Bell to fall.
Clang!
With a loud bang, the altar suddenly trembled. Like this, Lin Ming, along with the Primordius Gate, was covered within the Primordius Bell.
In the moment when the Primordius Bell fell over him, Lin Ming could feel a terrifying pressure fall onto his body.
This was grandmist energy!
Contained within the Primordius Bell was a massive amount of grandmist energy. Although this grandmist energy didn’t directly press on Lin Ming’s body, its existence still caused the surrounding space to become dreadfully heavy.
If it weren’t for the Primordius Bell forcefully stabilizing this space, the void within here would have collapsed due to the great weight of the grandmist energy.
Now, Lin Ming finally knew what Empyrean Primordius meant when he wrote down to suffer in silence. That meant to be covered within the space of the Primordius Bell where the pressure reached an incredible level.
Lin Ming felt his entire skeleton creak under this pressure. If a normal late Divine Sea martial artist were to stand here, the pressure would have crushed them into pieces of meat.
Lin Ming summoned his true essence, his entire body revolving with energy. He forcefully resisted this pressure with his formidable body and true essence.
His foundation was deep and his body was formidable. To withstand this kind of pressure wasn’t anything at all.
Like this, he knelt on the altar for a full two months.
Within the Primordius Bell there was nothing but darkness. Only the Primordius Gate in front of Lin Ming emitted a faint shimmering light.
Two months later, Lin Ming discovered that the pressure within the Primordius Bell began to gradually increase.
After another ten days, the pressure rose to a terrifying degree. The phantom of the Heretical God Tree flashed out from between his eyebrows, covering down from the skies and planting itself behind him. By relying on the Heretical God Tree, Lin Ming was able to withstand the increased pressure, finally allowing him to relax a little.
“It’s been two and a half months…”
Lin Ming silently estimated the time that had passed. His foundation was extremely deep. Even as he controlled his breathing underneath this heavy pressure, he was able to absorb heaven and earth origin energy around himself to maintain his consumption of true essence.
But soon after, the pressure continued to grow stronger and stronger, Lin Ming could easily withstand another eight to ten days, but once more and more time passed, such as a dozen or even 20 plus days, he would inevitably tire himself. His entire body would be pressured to the point of unimaginable pain and the massive amount of true essence he had to consume would be ridiculous. This was a great trial to any martial artist that kneeled here.
If it weren’t for his powerful mortal body, his solid foundation, his ability to endure suffering, and his firm and unyielding heart of martial arts, it would have been impossible to continue.
“No wonder Empyrean Primordius put out such a test. If one’s will isn’t firm, they might have a mental breakdown in such an environment.”
Humans feared the dark and they also feared being alone. If a mortal were trapped inside a little pitch black room for three days, they would start to go crazy, even if they had food and water. If they were closed in for a month, it was likely they would develop mental problems even after they left.
In that aspect, martial artists were much better. Even so, being enclosed in a dark, inescapable space, day after day while enduring a massive pressure, this sort of suffering could be imagined!
During these three months, the Primordius Gate remained completely still the entire time, as if it had no intention of opening at all.
“The pressure is still increasing… even at this level, the Primordius Gate still doesn’t seem as if it’s opening at all. This sort of test can truly drive one to the edges of despair.”
Lin Ming was already the number one genius of the Divine Realm. For him to withstand Empyrean Primordius’ test was relatively easy. If it were a normal genius, they would have exhausted themselves like a dried up lamp by now.
But in that exhausted situation, a person would have a glimmer of hope even if the Primordius Gate moved just a little bit. But now, there was still no sign of anything happening nor any clues about when something would happen. This left one drowning in hopelessness.
“This test is quite difficult…”
As Lin Ming was thinking, his thoughts suddenly stirred. He discovered that above the stone gate, at some unknown time, a thin layer of dao patterns had begun to emerge, like ripples in water.
Lin Ming could clearly recall that when he first kneeled in front of this stone gate, it didn’t have these dao patterns at all. Although the stone gate was extremely mysterious and had the aura of the Great Dao, the power of these Laws was buried deep within it, without any way to bring it out. With Lin Ming’s current ability, wanting to break apart the stone gate to perceive these Great Dao Laws that Empyrean Primordius left behind was simply the babblings of a madman.
But now, these traces began to appear, revealing themselves before Lin Ming.
These traces were similar to the chaos stones that Lin Ming had seen before, but they were at least 10,000 times more profound than what he had experienced in the past!
Chaos stones were also divided into ranks. Some chaos stones formed later in the universe, after the five elements had evolved. At this time, there was very little remaining primal chaos energy remaining in the universe. Moreover, those stones might only be common stones of the universe. It was impossible for such stones to withstand recording too many of the Chaos Laws, otherwise they would simply disintegrate into nothing.
However, there were some stones that were formed at the very beginning of the forming of the universe, when primal chaos energy still existed everywhere. Moreover, these types of chaos stones were naturally treasures of the heavens and earth; the degree of exquisiteness of the Laws recorded within them were as different as the sky and mud between these and ordinary chaos stones.
And currently, the Primordius Gate that Empyrean Primordius created was made from this kind of top rank chaos stone.
This massive 100 foot tall block of chaos stone contained an inestimable strength of the Primal Chaos Laws.
Lin Ming was overjoyed. He wanted to study and perceive these traces. In terms of perception, Lin Ming didn’t lose to anyone at his boundary. Moreover, he had perceived chaos stones before, so it would be familiar to him to do so again.
However, Lin Ming underestimated just how mysterious the traces of the Great Dao on the Primordius Gate actually were.
As time passed, the traces on the Primordius Gate became increasingly clear. There were many mystical truths contained with, enough that it overwhelmed Lin Ming. Some truths were not fully understood, but at the same time they floated to the surface of his mind; he found it hard to digest for some time.
And the pressure was becoming heavier and heavier!
At the fourth month, the space seemed to fill with more and more grandmist energy. The space around Lin Ming compressed so much that it felt as if his body would collapse at any moment.
Although Lin Ming could revolve his true essence and forcefully resist this pressure, this clearly wasn’t a long-term plan. As the pressure increased, no matter how deep Lin Ming’s foundation was, he would begin to lose ground until his body finally gave in.
Lin Ming firmly believed that amongst those of his age, in terms of talent, foundation, bodily strength, and ability to resist pain, he could be called number one!
If even he couldn’t pass this test then this test simply wasn’t aimed at Divine Sea geniuses.
Closing his eyes, Lin Ming carefully felt the flow of grandmist energy around him. He faintly discovered that there were some rules that governed it.
In these past days as he was perceiving the chaos stone, Lin Ming had become aware of many more things. And these things he became aware of could be used to unravel the Grandmist Laws within the Primordius Bell.
“So that’s how it is… I see now. Empyrean Primordius left the power of the Grandmist Laws within the Primordius Bell in order to act as a test for martial artists to perceive the chaos stone. If one’s comprehensions are lacking, they won’t be able to withstand the rising pressure and would be defeated.”
After realizing this point, Lin Ming was suddenly enlightened. His admiration towards Empyrean Primordius also grew deeper. It was amazing that he could design such a smelting trial by using his own understandings of the Grandmist Heavenly Dao.