Chapter 1790 - Destroying Thunder Punishment
…
…
…
"You!!" Empyrean Thunder Punishment's remnant soul violently shivered. He looked at Lin Ming, burning with rage. "You deliberately hid your strength to fool me!?"
At the same time Empyrean Thunder Punishment was furious, he was also panic-stricken. He was now just a remnant soul. Compared to his previous magnificence from 100,000 years ago when he had been a superior Empyrean that stood above all others, his strength had dropped precipitously. Even so, his insight was not something that an ordinary martial artist could hope to compare with, so how had he been played around with by a Holy Lord realm junior?
This boy, just what methods had he used?
As Empyrean Thunder Punishment was surprised, he felt an extremely familiar aura erupt from within Lin Ming's inner world. Besides being familiar, this was also an aura that he loathed to no end.
For a time, his entire body seemed to light up with arcs of electricity as lightning burst out from his eyes.
His originally phantasmal figure began to rapidly rise as his momentum grew.
An inexplicable killing intent leapt out, wrapping around Lin Ming.
"Grandmist energy! You actually have grandmist energy within you!" Empyrean Thunder Punishment's voice rang like layers of thunderclouds, echoing in the hall as it was filled with disbelief and wrath.
Lin Ming remained silent. The light of the Thunder Punishment Sword in his hand slowly faded away.
With a thought, the entire Gold Thunder Temple began to rapidly shrink, sending out endless runes that carried the true meaning of thunder within them. Finally, the temple turned into a palm-sized version in his hands that was easily held in his grasp.
Without fully extinguishing Empyrean Thunder Punishment's remnant soul, Lin Ming wouldn't be able to use the Thunder Punishment Sword and Gold Thunder Temple without worries.
"When you betrayed Empyrean Primordius in the past, did you ever think there would come a day when it happened to you?" Lin Ming lightly said. The light around him began to distort, becoming chaotic as it formed a strange field around him.
"Primordius martial intent! Good! Very good!" Empyrean Thunder Punishment's pupils shrank. His form couldn't help but shiver, even as a hateful light burst out of his eyes and locked onto Lin Ming.
"So you had already inherited the legacy of that old thief Primordius before coming here, and then you hid your aura to deceive me!"
Empyrean Thunder Punishment gnashed his teeth. This brat was actually the descendant of Empyrean Primordius!
He had waited for 100,000 years in this Thunder Dominion, existing in the state of a remnant soul. Yet, the only one who came to visit him after all this time was a descendant of his blood enemy. And what left Empyrean Thunder Punishment most perplexed was that he hadn't been able to see through the illusions created by this junior, and as a result he had submissively given away his inheritance.
"Brat, you are seeking death!"
A sharp light burst out from Empyrean Thunder Punishment's pupils. A powerful ghostly force thrust out from his eyes, mixed in with rumbling thunder as it rushed into Lin Ming's body.
Facing the enraged Empyrean Thunder Punishment, Lin Ming simply thrust out his hand. Then, an icy cold aura gushed out from his body, an aura that contained the screams of 10,000 demons and countless ghosts.
Pitch black soul force condensed into a massive wheel, with Asura phantoms pushing it from above.
This was the Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel.
Just as the overlapping layers of ghostly thunder were about to explode, all of it was diverted to the Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel and then slowly grinded away.
As this thunder was slowly grinded away, soul force dissipated from it before completely vanishing.
Seeing this, Empyrean Thunder Punishment's complexion darkened. This was not a technique that a junior could possess.
"Who are you, it is impossible for you to be a Holy Lord realm martial artist!"
In Empyrean Thunder Punishment's opinion, it was utterly impossible for any Holy Lord realm martial artist to fight with him. At the start, he had carefully verified that Lin Ming was indeed just a Holy Lord martial artist, and this was the reason he believed that Lin Ming could never escape his control.
Lin Ming simply didn't bother with Empyrean Thunder Punishment's nonsense. The Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel slowly revolved, floating beneath his feet.
"Humph! Do you really think I can't do anything to you?" With Empyrean Thunder Punishment's cold cough, a strange sound emitted from his body. All around him, runes that contained the world Laws began to continuously appear.
These runes formed thunder dragons in the sky. As they soared into the wind, it seemed as if the entire world had become one of thunder.
In an instant, these infinite thunder dragons opened their bell-like eyes, dark and gloomy and emitting bursts of thunder light.
At the same time, meteor-sized thunder balls appeared in space, all of them exuding a strange mystic power.
Countless invisible hands seemed to appear in the air. Suddenly, Lin Ming felt as if he couldn't control his body.
"This is a force field? With just a wisp of a remnant soul you can spur the power of the Laws as well as form this thunder force field?" Lin Ming was surprised. Empyrean Thunder Punishment was indeed far too powerful. His mortal body had been destroyed and his inner world no longer existed. Yet, by just relying on his remnant soul he was able to form such a formidable thunder force field.
Although Empyrean Thunder Punishment put on a brave front, the truth was that he was in a critical situation. He no longer possessed the power of his past, and this strange young man in front of him simply had far too many strange secrets.
Thunder Punishment thrust his hands out into the void. The power of thunder drawn out by this soul force began to wildly rage about. 10,000 thunder dragons howled. The void began to shake and contract upon Lin Ming as if it wanted to thoroughly swallow him up.
Lin Ming remained unworried. Without expression, he calmly stretched out a hand. Motes of black light condensed in his palm, sparkling. Then, these motes of light gathered together on Lin Ming's palm, turning into a black cube that exuded an ancient and vast aura.
As the Magic Cube appeared, the surrounding space fell into a deathly silence.
Although the Magic Cube was currently just the size of a hand, it gave off an extremely offsetting feeling. It was like a black universe, encompassing all, terrifying and dense.
Every mote of black light was like an endless black vortex that emitted endless mystic strength.
Any soul force-condensed thunder dragons that approached were mercilessly pulled in by an invisible hand and swallowed up, completely disappearing. After they disappeared their connection with Empyrean Thunder Punishment's soul force was severed.
Seeing this black cube appear, Empyrean Thunder Punishment began to shiver and his complexion completely changed.
His current form was nothing more than a remnant soul, making his existence sensitive to the Magic Cube. As a remnant soul, he felt an instinctual fear towards this divine tool. Just by looking at this black cube it felt as if the last dregs of his soul would be sucked up.
"What is that!?"
Empyrean Thunder Punishment didn't recognize the Magic Cube. Although he knew about the Grandmist Spirit Bead, he had no knowledge of the Magic Cube.
From the middle of the Magic Cube, an all-annihilating black light suddenly erupted outwards.
As this black light expanded in all directions, it swept through the world.
The thunder force field that had been suppressing Lin Ming collided with the black light. Then, the thunder force field began to rapidly break down and be destroyed. Empyrean Thunder Punishment's spirit mark within it was also wiped away.
It was all swept up by the black light and then swallowed.
Seeing this, Empyrean Thunder Punishment began to show visible panic. His soul force was so incredibly fragile in the face of the black light that it would collapse on the first strike?
Finally, he could feel the terrifying strength contained within that black light, one that seemed as vast and deep as the endless seas.
"If you were a ruined body, I wouldn't be able to do anything to you. Too bad for you, you are nothing but a remnant soul, and this thunder force field is also formed by you using your soul force to move the Laws. After all, you don't have an inner world so the amount of heaven and earth origin energy you can use is limited, thus of no threat to me at all."
Lin Ming's voice was indifferent. He directly summoned the Magic Cube.
For a time, a horrifyingly great energy vortex appeared in the skies.
Black light swept out. Empyrean Thunder Punishment felt a terrifying strength cover his body. This was a power of Laws that no one could resist. He wildly shouted out but the black light had completely covered him.
Whorl - whorl - whorl -
The Magic Cube began to expand. Empyrean Thunder Punishment roared out, "What is that!? Just who are you!?"
Empyrean Thunder Punishment was terrified. Although he hadn't seen the Magic Cube before, he had seen the Grandmist Spirit Bead. He had a faint feeling that this cube was in no way inferior to the Grandmist Spirit Bead divine tool! Everything that occurred today had completely surpassed his imagination.
He had inexplicably encountered this terrifying youth who had come out of nowhere. Not just that, but this youth was in possession of an incredible divine tool that perfectly suppressed him, one which possessed a power he could not fathom!
This didn't make any sense at all!
"Just die as a confused ghost."
Lin Ming coolly said. He poured more strength into the Magic Cube.
From the black vortex, Empyrean Thunder Punishment's pitiful wails could be heard.
He maliciously cursed out all the hatred in his heart, unwilling to die here. His ending was just far too miserable. His inheritance had been stolen away by the descendant of his blood enemy and now even his remnant soul was being eliminated!
How could he not hate this!?
However, no matter how much he cursed or struggled, a mere wisp of a remnant soul wasn't able to cause a ruckus in front of the Magic Cube.
Time marched on. After an incense stick of time, Empyrean Thunder Punishment's words slowly died down.
Lin Ming wasn't in a hurry at all. He leisurely activated the Magic Cube to continue refining for a quarter hour before ordering it to stop.
At this moment, the spirit mark within Empyrean Thunder Punishment's remnant soul had been completely erased by the Magic Cube.
"He was indeed worthy of being called a top Empyrean. His wisp of remnant soul didn't even possess a tenth his original soul force intensity, and had even been weakened over 100,000 years. Yet I still had to summon the Magic Cube to subdue him. Otherwise, I fear that just relying on the Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel alone wouldn't have been enough to kill him." Lin Ming tranquilly stated as he slowly took back the Magic Cube.
He knew that the moment he finished fusing his energies with the Thunder Punishment Sword and the Gold Thunder Temple, Empyrean Thunder Punishment would begin integrating the curse into his soul. At this time, Lin Ming would have no choice but to reveal his strength and also his status as Empyrean Primordius' successor. Thus, Lin Ming had already kept the Magic Cube prepared.
After starting the battle with Empyrean Thunder Punishment's remnant soul, he summoned the Magic Cube.
The Magic Cube was a divine tool that was the ultimate nemesis of all masters that used soul force. Even the remnant soul of a top Empyrean wasn't its match.
As Empyrean Thunder Punishment's remnant soul was destroyed, the entire Gold Thunder Temple and Thunder Punishment Sword were carefully put away by Lin Ming.
By the time Lin Ming finished all of this, several hundred miles from the center of the Thunder Dominion, the terrifying and billowing thunderclouds had mostly vanished.
As the thunderclouds disappeared in massive tracts, large swathes of a black swamp were revealed beneath Lin Ming.
In the midst of the darkness, Lin Ming grasped the glittering Thunder Source. The Thunder Source emitted wave after wave of shimmering arcs of electricity, as if it were a thunder emperor being reborn.
"I've obtained the Thunder Source. With the Annihilation Flame Elemental and some top grade Twinlife Thunder Crystals… I've fulfilled the conditions to refine the Extreme Polar Pill. After I do that, I can break through the Extreme Polar Dao Palace…" Lin Ming pondered. After he broke through the third Dao Palace, his strength would rise even further.
With that, he could go to the Soul World and seek out Sheng Mei!