Chapter 1990 - The Wrathful Saint Emperor
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As Lin Ming was bitterly cultivating in the final trial's seventh level, a great storm was stirring in the Asura Road!
This storm would involve many large influences. Let alone Empyrean influences, in just True Divinity influences, there were four.
They were the two True Divinity influences of the Asura Road - Divine Void Divine Kingdom and Heaven Union Divine Kingdom, as well as two influences from the 33 Heavens' saint race - the Good Fortune Saint Palace and Soaring Feather God Mountain.
At this time, the Good Fortune Saint Son was kneeling on the ground deep within the Good Fortune Saint Palace, so low that his head was buried in his hands. He didn't even dare to take a deep breath.
Before this, he had widely bragged that the 'Legion of Famine' he trained would absolutely complete the mission perfectly and return safely, otherwise he would be willing to endure any punishment passed down to him. But in the turn of an eye, the Legion of Famine had been annihilated and the Good Fortune Saint Son had returned in disastrous failure.
The Good Fortune Saint Son had brought back a captive with him. He shivered as he remembered saying, 'the demon relic is missing, and because the disciples of the Good Fortune Saint Palace were sanctioned by the Asura Road Laws, they will not return'. Even just thinking of saying these words left him feeling listless and sick.
The once proud and arrogant Good Fortune Saint Son now lay humbled on the ground, no different from a dog.
"This… this person… is someone brought back by this child… f-from the Asura Road. He… he is a wandering martial artist that entered the final trial and witnessed the battle…"
The captive that the Good Fortune Saint Son brought back was a young trial challenger from the Asura Road. The captive's movements and cultivation had been sealed away and all he could do was blink his eyes; he couldn't even speak. But at this time, the captive was glaring at the Good Fortune Saint Son with anger and looking at the direction that the Good Fortune Saint Son was groveling towards with fear. He knew that in the deep darkness there was a demon that would decide his life or death.
This captive had no family or sect, and only relied on himself and his destiny to obtain the lucky chances he had to arrive at where he was. When he accidently obtained a qualification token to enter the final trial, he thought that this was the chance he needed to soar into the heavens. But, he never thought that he would be seized by the Good Fortune Saint Son as soon as he left the final trial. What a laugh. He once thought he was a genius with a great destiny upon his body, but now in the grasp of this super influence, he was as weak and useless as an ant.
Without sect or family, without any influence to support him, he would die here without anyone knowing about it. As he thought of this, his heart filled with despair.
"Your Majesty Sovereign Ancestor, if you have anything you wish to confirm, you may question him…"
The Good Fortune Saint Son pushed this unlucky wandering martial artist to the ground. He felt panic rising in his heart. However, the only response was a deep and profound silence. Within the pitch black darkness, the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign didn't speak a single word. This caused the Good Fortune Saint Son to feel even weaker at heart. His body began to shiver.
Woosh!
Without warning, a terrifying eruption occurred.
Dozens of blood red tentacles shot straight out like pointed cones, piercing through the wandering martial artist as well as through the Good Fortune Saint Son!
"Ahh!"
The Good Fortune Saint Son cried out in pain. Over a dozen bloody holes had been left in his body. As for that wandering martial artist, he vomited blood as he verged on the precipice of death!
At this time, a blood red hand extended out from the darkness and directly grasped the wandering martial artist's head.
The wandering martial artist wildly struggled, his eyes bulging. He felt thousands of worms digging into his brain, the pain so fierce that he wished he could dig it out with his hands.
This sort of pain only lasted for several breaths of time, but to the wandering martial artist, it was an indescribably painful experience.
Then, the blood red tentacles slowly drew back and the great hand also returned. The wandering martial artist fell onto the ground like a pile of rotten meat. Blood streamed from his corpse, not a single bit of life left remaining.
All of the memories in that wandering martial artist's mind had been read by the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign.
On the side, the Good Fortune Saint Son was deathly white and his forehead was covered in sweat; this was because he was in pain but also because he was afraid.
Although there were numerous bloody holes punctured into his body, these holes were in places that weren't too vital. For instance, his heart, lungs, brain, and spine weren't affected.
It was clear that the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign didn't want to kill him. This allowed him to relax a little, but also be more worried about the penalties he would soon face.
He limped up, crawling to his knees as he continued to kneel to the ground. His entire body was covered in thick blood, leaving the ground around him drenched.
"Sanction of the Asura Heavenly Dao?"
Within the darkness, the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign's bass voice echoed outwards. With light pattering sounds, a towering middle-aged man slowly walked forwards.
In the memories of the wandering martial artist, the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign was able to search for the scene of what had happened. The mystical change in the Laws as well as that vast and boundless aura; he would never have imagined that someone would deliberately forge memories around the Heavenly Dao's punishment.
And in the memories of the wandering martial artist, there was no flaw that the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign could find.
From start to finish, everything that occurred in the final trial seemed realistic.
However, there was one point that left the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign puzzled…
Because of the punishment of the Asura Heavenly Dao, the 20 some disciples that his Good Fortune Saint Palace sent out had all been killed.
But, why did the flesh and blood of Famine within their bodies not instantly disappear?
The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign was able to feel the existence of Famine's flesh and blood; it had disappeared over a long and slow period of time. This feeling was as if someone had swallowed up Famine's flesh and blood and was refining it over time…
If the Asura Heavenly Dao Laws didn't abide the existence of an abyssal entering the final trial, then by all reasoning, when that heavenly retribution descended to the earth, shouldn't it have immediately burnt away all the flesh and blood of Famine?
Why would it be slowly erased over a long period of time?
The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign lost himself in thought.
The memories had no problem themselves and didn't seem like memories one had forged. As for the point that couldn't be explained, the truth was that there could be explanations found, just that they would seem a bit forced…
As the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign thought of all this, his face darkened.
"It shouldn't… be someone secretly moving behind the scenes…"
The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign shot down this idea. If there was someone capable of doing all of this in secret and to the degree where he couldn't find a flaw, they would need to be someone at least on the level of an ordinary True Divinity level character. For instance, someone like Soul Emperor Divine Void.
However, with that person's skeletal age it was impossible for them to enter the final trial.
The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign closed his eyes. He sensed that there wasn't much of Famine's flesh and blood remaining. As for where it was located, he had no idea.
For such a situation to appear meant that Famine's flesh and blood existed in a powerful space that surpassed his divine sense.
Without a doubt, this space was the final trial.
In other words, the flesh and blood of Famine was still within the final trial, so it was even more impossible that someone was acting behind the scenes to do this. Otherwise, with the conclusion of the final trial, it would be impossible for that person to stay inside.
Then could this really mean that the Laws of the final trial had extinguished the disciples of the Good Fortune Siant Palace?
And the demon relic, where did it go? Could it be in the hands of Soul Emperor Divine Void?
Or, could it be that the Laws within the final trial, in order to prevent an existence related to the abyssals obtaining the demon relic, had sealed away the demon relic instead?
As all these thoughts flashed through the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign's mind, it left him increasingly frustrated and confused. This demon relic was just far too important to him.
However, there was nothing he could do about it. Even going to the Asura Road himself was meaningless.
He looked at the Good Fortune Saint Son and impatiently waved his hand. "Screw off! This time, the reason the disciples were destroyed was because of the sanction of the Asura Road, a power that cannot be stopped. Then, I will forgive your sins for now!"
"I thank your Majesty Sovereign Ancestor for such mercy." The Good Fortune Saint Son hurriedly bowed in gratitude and relief. Then he dragged away his wounded body, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints.
However, as he was leaving the holy temple he saw someone, a junior that he didn't want to see at all - Imperial Prince Xishen.
Within the Good Fortune Saint Palace, the title of Imperial Prince was only inferior to that of Good Fortune Saint Son. In the past, Naqi had been the Imperial Prince, but after he was slain by Lin Ming the position of Imperial Prince had been empty.
It was only 1800 years ago that another talented character appeared in the Good Fortune Saint Palace - Xishen.
He had used less than a thousand years to break into the World King realm, and in terms of combat strength, there was no martial artist of his rank that was able to defeat him. Thus, the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign had granted him the title of Imperial Prince.
Xishen won victory after victory and basked in the limelight. In addition with many influential saint race figures supporting him, this gave him the ambition of replacing the Good Fortune Saint Son!
It was because of this that the hostilities between the Good Fortune Saint Son and Imperial Prince Xishen rose at a precipitous rate.
Regarding this, the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign only watched it all occur from the corners of his eyes, as if he simply didn't care, or perhaps even enjoying this type of competition.
During these years, Xishen had earned many merits in the war against humanity. He had stolen away a great deal of merit and glory from the Good Fortune Saint Son.
The Good Fortune Saint Son didn't care about this. What he feared the most was that there would be a day when the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign lost confidence in him and would decide to set up a different Saint Son instead. If so, then all his ambitions would come toppling down!
And Xishen could be the chaotic factor that led to this result!
"Oh? Well isn't it your Highness Saint Son? Why so troubled?"
Xishen's eyes locked onto the horrifying bloody holes that dotted the Good Fortune Saint Son's body. His lips curve up in a smile.
As if he knew what had just happened.
The Good Fortune Saint Son's eyes turned freezing cold. He didn't say a word, instead slowly walking away. As Xishen looked at the Good Fortune Saint Son's fading back, his smile felt a bit chilling…
………
Time passed. Unknowingly, three years flew by.
Lin Ming sat in the void in the dark starry space. In front of him was a black-haired man that looked completely like him.
This black-haired man wore a long black robe and his eyes shined with the purest brightness. The man's body was covered with a blurry mist. This mist was condensed from the purest and densest origin energy.
This black-haired man was Lin Ming's essence gathering system avatar, as well as the third avatar.
In the past, the Asura Road Master had gathered 10,000 spiritual treasures of the heavens and earth and refined it with genesis energy. Then, he took the condensed form of all these spiritual treasures and sealed it into the core of a great essence gathering array formation, nourishing it with the world's origin energy, slowly refining and tempering it through the endless river of time.
This avatar was a pure energy essence body. Whether it was absorbing heaven and earth origin energy or in terms of capabilities of utilizing heaven and earth origin energy, it had reached a boundary that ordinary martial artists would never be able to achieve.
With Lin Ming possessing the essence gathering system avatar, he now possessed the three avatars required for the Asura Heavenly Dao.