Chapter 1506 - Leaving the Valley
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10 days later, within the God Beast Tomb, before Empyrean Divine Mist's cave dwelling -
At this time, Lin Ming was already fully restored. His cultivation had reached large success and he had learned the Asura Sutra First Volume. For the current him, entering and leaving the God Beast Tomb array formation was easy and simple.
"Senior Divine Mist, junior has returned. I apologize for having you wait a long time for me."
Lin Ming said. Since he left, he had been gone for a year and a half. To the current Empyrean Divine Mist whose lifespan was near its end, this was an extremely long period of time.
In the cave dwelling, Empyrean Divine Mist was left speechless for a long time. Lin Ming could feel a weak divine sense spreading over his body, probing the changes in his body and cultivation that occurred in the last year and a half.
This divine sense belonged to Empyrean Divine Mist.
Since Empyrean Divine Mist had taught Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian his life's soul arts, his situation became increasingly worse. He weakened by the day, and if this speed were to continue then it wouldn't be too many years before he was like a lamp without oil, drying up and dying.
For the current Empyrean Divine Mist, a martial artist at a relatively ordinary boundary could kill him.
"Praise the young, I really must praise the young…" Empyrean Divine Mist deeply sighed with emotion. This God Beast Tomb array formation that had been unbroken by others for numerous billions of years was actually solved by Lin Ming.
"Your cultivation has already reached the Divine Lord realm… before, you told me that you have yet to cultivate for sixty full years. For you to break through the Divine Lord realm at this age and also to have such a solid foundation… your future achievements are hard to imagine. For me to pass on my life's Divine Mist Heart Mantra to you before I die, I can at least die peacefully."
Lin Ming was silent for a moment. He said, "Senior is too fatalistic. This junior has already found the exit and can lead Senior to leave this valley. Senior's life is not yet over; it's only that your soul force and blood vitality is lacking right now, but as long as there are enough soul medicines then it will not be a problem for Senior to continue living for millions of years."
Lin Ming held a deep sense of gratitude towards Empyrean Divine Mist. The reason that Empyrean Divine Mist had weakened so much in these nine years was that he had used a secret skill to temper Lin Ming's divine soul. No matter what the original reason was for Empyrean Divine Mist helping him, this was a great graciousness to Lin Ming. Lin Ming would never forget this graciousness in his life.
"It's useless. I am well aware of my own situation. I should have around a mere hundred years of life remaining…" Empyrean Divine Mist sighed, his voice filled with gloom.
Lin Ming said, "Senior, as long as you leave the valley then I can help Senior seek out soul nourishing medicines. As long as there is medicine, then although Senior cannot be restored to your peak strength in the past, with a hundred years of training, stepping back into the Great World King boundary shouldn't be a problem at all. Moreover, Senior is an Empyrean and there should be the influence that you established in the past. If junior leads you to that influence then they can help Senior find soul medicines. There shouldn't be a problem at all!"
During these years that Lin Ming studied the Divine Mist Heart Mantra, he gained a deep understanding into the cultivation system and physical state of the spiritas. In his opinion, Empyrean Divine Mist's situation absolutely wasn't as bad as he thought.
It was just that he had consumed too much energy and had been stranded in this forsaken land for tens of millions of years, suffering in this suffocating environment and slowly being overwhelmed with despair. Not just that, but at the end he had even passed on his secret techniques to himself and Xiao Moxian, thus the reason why Empyrean Divine Mist was the way he was now. As long as they all left here, then with the tough vitality of an Empyrean, Empyrean Divine Mist could definitely slowly restore himself.
Empyrean Divine Mist shook his head and said some words that surprised Lin Ming. "I will not leave."
"Why!?" Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian were both shocked. In this hellish land, facing endless nights of darkness, facing the limitless loneliness and countless skeletons, how could anyone endure that? If Xiao Moxian were to stay in this land for just a year on her own she would want to go insane, and yet Empyrean Divine Mist didn't want to leave? This was as if Empyrean Divine Mist simply didn't want to continue living on and wanted to cut off his life. In Xiao Moxian's opinion, even if one knew they would die, it was better to die outside in a proper grave than to be buried here!
"Senior, is your mind alright? Why would you choose a dead end and live out the rest of your life in this lonely place?" Xiao Moxian couldn't help but ask. As she thought of a top character of his generation, a peak Empyrean who commanded the winds and seas, passing away in this miserable hell hole filled with countless corpses and without anyone to bury him, she felt extremely uncomfortable in her heart.
Empyrean Divine Mist faintly smiled. "There is no need for you to feel sorry for me. In my life, I once enjoyed limitless glory and killed people as if I were cutting wheat. For me to end up in such a state, that is the plan that fate has for me. Do you remember when told you why I entered Tragic Death Valley…?"
Empyrean Divine Mist's words caused Lin Ming's thoughts to race. Indeed, he had asked Empyrean Divine Mist this question nine years ago. "Senior said that it was because of enmity!"
"Yes… because of enmity. I have enmity with a person and that person has enmity with you. Between the two of us, we can resonate our souls and do not need a tracking mark to find each other. Regardless of how much space or time separates us, he will be able to find me. If I leave Tragic Death Valley, he will discover me. It isn't a problem for me to die, but you will likely be dragged into my mess."
"Soul resonance? Could it be that he was the one who forced Senior into Tragic Death Valley?" Lin Ming asked, bewildered. Xiao Moxian also found this hard to accept. She asked with amazement in her voice. "Senior was an extreme Empyrean, just who could force you into Tragic Death Valley?"
"True Divinity…" Empyrean Divine Mist's voice became thin and ghostly. He sighed, "The one hunting me down is a Soul Emperor of my soul race, as well as my blood brother."
"Soul Emperor!"
Lin Ming's pupils shrank. This was a top level character equivalent to the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign!
This was an absolutely genuine True Divinity. Moreover, he had the ability to command his entire race. If Empyrean Divine Mist were being hunted by this sort of character, being forced into Tragic Death Valley was also reasonable!
Empyrean Divine Mist continued to say, "Because us brothers can sense each other's souls, I was forced onto a road of no return. I desperately thought to enter Tragic Death Valley, setting myself in a death trap and using that to seek a path of survival. Unfortunately, I was not the successor that the Asura Road Master chose and thus I wasn't able to obtain the inheritance of Tragic Death Valley. Instead, I exhausted my life here!"
"Since he is your blood brother why would the Soul Emperor wish to kill Senior?" Xiao Moxian asked, finding this incomprehensible. However, Empyrean Divine Mist did not answer this question.
Empyrean Divine Mist fell into a deep silence. Lin Ming knew that Empyrean Divine Mist didn't want to speak about this subject; this was the pain that forever haunted his heart.
In the world of martial artists, there were far too many sad and tragic stories.
Because of the Soul Emperor's existence, it was impossible for Empyrean Divine Mist to leave the valley. If he were to leave he would immediately die and the fate he would suffer might even be worse than his current situation. As Lin Ming thought of this, he quietly said, "Senior, although you cannot leave the valley, I will be sure to return within ten years. I will bring you back soul restoring medicines! Senior gave junior the graciousness of bestowing upon me your inheritance and I will definitely return this. Only doing that will be the bare minimum to suit my heart of martial arts."
As Lin Ming spoke, he examined the array formations around Empyrean Divine Mist's cave dwelling. These array formations were laid down by Empyrean Divine Mist in the past to resist the tides of demonic power. Currently, it appeared that these array formations could still last for some time.
"Let's go, we're leaving the valley!"
Lin Ming looked towards Xiao Moxian. Xiao Moxian glanced back at Empyrean Divine Mist, finding it hard to bear leaving him here. Then, she nodded.
Like this, the two of them left Empyrean Divine Mist and entered the God Beast Tomb array formation once more. Now that Xiao Moxian had cultivated the Asura Sutra First Volume, she also had the ability to break through the God Beast Tomb array formation.
The two of them used several hours to return to the ancient bronze temple. There, the portal remained, slowly spinning in place.
"Let's leave."
Lin Ming grabbed Xiao Moxian's hand and decisively stepped into the transmission array.
After nine years, they were about to leave this place.
Cha - !
A light flashed and Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian felt their environment rapidly change. In the next moment, they saw that they had arrived in a green and lush forest.
There were fields of flowers with fresh life everywhere. Lingzhi and spirit herbs were all around, green and beautiful, making it seem as if this was a paradise. In God Burying Ridge, there were lands of life and lands of death. This was one of the rare areas which lacked fatal dangers.
Lin Ming turned around and saw that not too far away was a red mountain range that rose to a terrifyingly high degree. The main body of this red mountain range winded its way through, spanning across the entire God Burying Ridge like a vast red dragon. The many mountain peaks resembled dragon claws and dragon horns, extremely lifelike. Without a doubt, this was the Red Dragon Mountain Range and the entrance to Tragic Death Valley was the maw of this red dragon.
They had truly come out! Moreover, they weren't too far away from Tragic Death Valley.
After confirming this point, Xiao Moxian didn't know what she was feeling in her heart. She thought that she would have to stay in that dark and dreary Tragic Death Valley for hundreds of years, thousands of years, or even for the rest of her life. Now, she had weathered that disaster and had returned to the outside world, so how could she not be excited?
She couldn't help but pick up a spirit flower and inhale a deep breath of its scent. This sort of long lost fragrance moved her heart and caused her eyes to be slightly wet. In Tragic Death Valley, she had to face endless piles of bones that left the scent of decay and rot all over her. Just when had she been able to experience the fragrance of such flowers?
Only by experiencing despair could one understand the value of life! At this time, even a green leaf, even a falling flower petal, could fill a person's heart with joy and hope!
"Wonderful…"
Xiao Moxian closed her eyes, intoxicated and in love with the abundant and fragrant spring scenery all around her.
However, Lin Ming was quiet this entire time, as if he didn't see the beautiful scene around him. He closed his eyes, casting out his sense.
"Lin Ming, what are you doing?" Xiao Moxian felt her heart go cold as she saw Lin Ming. She raised her guard and carefully sensed everything around her. Then, she discovered that an invisible strength had locked onto them.
Lin Ming thought for a moment. "Did you also feel that? This is one of the few life zones in God Burying Ridge so there shouldn't be any dangers here. But, there is actually something monitoring us. If I'm not wrong then this area already has an array formation placed around it, and the person who arranged it was likely Tian Mingzi…"
As Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian were speaking, several hundred miles away, in a mountain valley of shattered stone, several people were meditating.
At this time, a handsome black-clothed man with a youthful appearance suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were like two blood moons, bright and red.
"They really… came out?" The young man licked his lips, a devilish smile touch his face. This young man was Tian Mingzi.