Chapter 555 – The Power of Conception
With a great shout, Xue Man’s aura erupted. His black muscles originally had a beautiful red sheen to them, but now it looked as if they were leaking blood.
“That is the ‘Supernatural Demonic Blood Law’!”
Some of the audience members were able to recognize Xue Man’s special technique. Xue Man came from a great fifth grade Goliath sect. The ‘Supernatural Demonic Blood Law’ was a top cultivation method within that sect. With the ‘Supernatural Demonic Blood Law’ active, Xue Man was currently in his most fearful incarnation.
“Xue Man is going all out now. He underestimated that boy once and suffered for it.” A Giant Demon said. He was one of those that were hoping Lin Ming would be ruined.
“You idiot, don’t be stupid. It’s true that Xue Man wasn’t using all of his strength in that last attack, but how do you know that the human boy was using all of his?”
“Just wait and see. This is a true fierce melee between tigers and dragons. I really have no idea what that human boy has cultivated!”
As several people were speaking, they suddenly felt a cold air around them. It was like a chilling wind was seeping into their bones, causing them to shiver.
“Mm?” A martial artist turned and suddenly froze where he was, his breath caught in his throat.
Close behind him, a Giant Demon was standing. This Giant Demon towered there with a massive heavy sword strapped to his back. As the Giant Demon locked his eyes onto the arena stage, his face darkened.
“Xing Tian!”
Within Skysplit Tower’s second floor, Xing Tian was synonymous with King. With Xing Tian’s appearance, everyone was silenced, afraid to take even a breath.
Xing Tian had actually come to watch the match!
Several martial artists in front of Xing Tian were spooked. Xing Tian hadn’t appeared in the martial arena for over half a year.
On the arena stage, Xue Man also saw Xing Tian appear. This caused his face to twist in a grimace. With a loud clap on his own chest, he had personally guaranteed he would solve the problem known as Lin Ming. But now, Lin Ming had forced him back with a single strike. Just what sort of pride did he have left?
“Boy! I will kill you!”
Xue Man shouted out, waving his mountain axe around as he rushed towards Lin Ming. This time, he did not intend to hold anything back. He would tear Lin Ming to pieces.
Lin Ming looked at Xue Man and took a single step back. His hands held onto his spear; he had no intention of opening the Heretical God Force.
After breaking through to the middle Xiantian realm, Lin Ming wanted to test his own limits, and he also didn’t want to expose too much of his strength.
After being focused on by Xue Man and Xing Tian, Lin Ming began to slowly discover that something was unusual, as if someone was eyeing him. If so, then keeping a bit of his strength hidden would always be helpful.
The massive mountain axe became a giant cloud of bloody demonic energy. From afar, it looked like a roiling sea of blood. Lin Ming took a sudden step back and used ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’, his figure instantly blurring into numerous afterimages.
Ever since he had obtained a deeper comprehension of the Concept of Wind and the Concept of Space, Lin Ming’s ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’ had already firmly stepped into the second layer. Now, using this technique was as natural as breathing itself.
“You stupid fool, stop your futile struggles! In front of absolute power, all skills become meaningless. Break for me!”
Bang!
The axe light suddenly skyrocketed, covering the entire martial arena. This way, no matter how elegant or superb Lin Ming’s movement technique was, there would be no room to dodge.
Chi chi chi!
Lin Ming’s afterimages were all engulfed by this demonic blood cloud, twisting into nothing. But, Lin Ming himself was also caught in the vortex of this demonic blood cloud. The raging ax light relentlessly crashed into Lin Ming’s body, chipping off his bodily protective true essence as it fiercely collided with him.
With the sound of tearing silk, Lin Ming’s protective true essence was broken apart. His clothes were ripped off of him as a small trace of blood flew into the air.
Drawing back dozens of feet from this storm, Lin Ming stabbed the Purple Comet Spear into the ground to stop his momentum. But because the inertial force was too great, his spear sliced into the ground, creating long furrows that were dozens of feet long, nearly ripping open the entire martial arena.
As the audience saw this scene, they all began to scream out. In the last move, Lin Ming had gained the advantage. But now, Xue Man had instantly turned the tables. If this continued then no one knew just what the outcome would be.
Xing Tian stood in a corner, a relaxed expression never appearing on his feet. Although Xue Man’s attack had forced Lin Ming back several dozens of feet, Lin Ming had only been slightly injured. These injuries simply weren’t enough to affect his battle efficiency.
“This damn boy, is his body made of iron?” Xing Tian was aware of just how terrifying Xue Man’s strike was. All of Lin Ming’s bodily true essence had already been torn apart, and the demonic blood cloud was ripping into him. If it had been a normal middle Xiantian realm martial artist, then their entire body would have been torn to shreds after being struck by that axe light. But Lin Ming had only experienced a minor superficial wound!
Lin Ming wiped the blood from the corner of his lips. After completing Tempering Marrow, his entire body was comparable to a treasure in toughness. Moreover, he also had a freakish level of regeneration. This tiny wound wasn’t anything at all.
‘Xue man’s attack is amazingly fierce, but it contains no Concept, nor does it have a Concept attack; it simply lacks soul. It’s far from being enough for me to fear. It’s just that his demon essence is far too thick. If I want to defeat him without opening the Heretical God Force, it may be a bit difficult…’
Lin Ming turned around and glanced at Xing Tian in the stands. At this moment, Lin Ming understood that for some unknown reason, Xing Tian wanted to kill him. Xue Man was only a vanguard pawn that he had assigned.
‘As my existence violates the interests of the Giant Demons or Goliaths?’
Lin Ming sneered in his heart. He did not fear the enemy, but that didn’t mean he was stupid enough to expose the entirety of his strength to the enemy. If he had, then the one in front of him today wouldn’t have been Xue Man, but a much stronger opponent.
“Lin Ming! Suffer death!”
Xue Man rushed forwards once again. Wherever he trod, the ground beneath him burst apart as he waved his mountain axe around.
Lin Ming’s pupils shrank, and his mind touched upon the Heretical God Seed. Finally, and quietly, he opened the Heretical God Seed.
There was no need for him to bring out all of the compressed true essence in a single burst. He only needed to use 30 to 40% of its strength. This way, the Heretical God Force would last longer.
A spear thrust out, and an endlessly growing azure true essence howled forth.
Ding!
Lin Ming’s spear struck the axe’s edge. The triple Thunder Soul fused Divine Demon Steel Needle shot out, flying towards Xue Man’s eye!
“Humph!”
Xue Man suddenly drew back, his axe cutting down on the Divine Demon Thunder Soul. It was no secret that Lin Ming had a Thunder Soul; Xue Man was already prepared in advance.
Kacha!
The Divine Demon Steel Needle exploded into pieces as it was cut apart. A red and purple electric light violently flew out, stabbing straight towards Xue Man like a venomous snake.
“Out of my way!”
Xue Man gave loud shout. As he roared, his voice fused with true essence and physically manifested. This was a sonic attack. It was a similar attack method to the Seven Profound Valleys’ Zither Faction.
The sonic wave and streaks of lightning collided. True essence surged out like a tidal wave, and the energies began to melt against each other. During this intense impact, several invisible and intangible purple strands of light penetrated the sonic wave, flying towards Xue Man.
Bang!
In that instant, Xue Man’s body shook. Countless earth-rending thunderclaps sounded in his ears as his spiritual sea came under the spiritual assault of the Disenchanting Dream Light.
In the combined physical and soul attack, Xue Man was able to fend off the Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder and Blood Extinguishing Demon Thunder with his countering sonic wave. But, he actually wasn’t able to break apart the invisible Disenchanting Dream Light.
“Damn!” Xue Man’s eyes widened, blood-red.
But at this moment, Lin Ming took a step forwards. He activated another 20% of the Heretical God Force’s strength, and thrust his spear out at Xue Man.
Destruction!
All of his will and strength was poured into this strike. The Purple Comet Spear seemed to instantly pass through space as it appeared in front of Xue Man!
With his spiritual sea disturbed, Xue Man was paralyzed. Even so, his eyes flashed with a savage and crazy light as he bit down on his tongue, forcing himself awake. But by this time Lin Ming’s Purple Comet Spear had already reached Xue Man’s front. Xue Man moved a step too late. In addition, his mountain axe was inferior to the Purple Comet Spear in both flexibility and speed; there was no longer any time to block it!
“Boy, I bet everything against you!”
Xue Man shouted and his axe cut down at Lin Ming. He actually wanted to use the method of savagely pitting their lives at each other!
Since he could not dodge, he had to bet everything on this desperate move and try to force Lin Ming back.
As Lin Ming saw Xue Man coming at him with the intention of dying together, he grimaced. If this was normal times, then he didn’t mind engaging in a battle of attrition, trading wounds until one of them fell. With his 100% complete Tempering Marrow and his terrifying defensive abilities, he knew he would be the last one standing in that situation. But currently, he was being eyed by Xing Tian from the side. Lin Ming naturally could not give him an opening!
Lin Ming drew back. As he shot his spear out, the path of the Purple Comet Spear seemed to undergo some strange change as an incredible scene took place. In terms of length, the Purple Comet Spear was obviously shorter than the giant mountain ax. As they say, an inch longer, an inch stronger. By all rights, if the mountain axe reached Lin Ming then the Purple Comet Spear shouldn’t have pierced through Xue Man yet.
But what happened was just the opposite. Lin Ming dodged Xue Man’s mountain axe, and at the same time his Purple Comet Spear pierced through Xue Man’s chest!
Blood shot out and Blood Drinking Seals erupted. Xue Man gave a muffled cough and was thrown backwards.
But Lin Ming had escaped the direct attack of the axe and was only struck by the axe light. His bodily true essence was broken again, and the blood in his body tumbled, but he quickly suppressed it.
“What’s wrong?”
“What just happened? Lin Ming obviously hadn’t thrust at Xue Man before he retreated, so how could his spear injure Xue Man?”
As the audience saw what happened onstage, they were all shocked. That strike from Lin Ming contained a very bizarre and incongruous feeling. In a near-impossible situation, Lin Ming had dodged Xue Man’s attack while simultaneously thrusting his spear at Xue Man’s chest, piercing him and sending him flying backwards.
“It really is the Concept of Space! This damn boy!” Xing Tian’s complexion grew uglier. Lin Ming had already exposed that his spear skills were fused with the Concept as Space as early as his battle with Blackrat. At that time, not many people had cared. But now his Concept of Space had clearly progressed another step further.
The Concept of Space was an elusive and obscure ideal. There had been countless heroic Fey elites who could not perceive it through meditation no matter how hard they tried, but Lin Ming, a mere middle Xiantian realm boy, was able to perfectly apply it to his spear.
‘This boy’s growth is too fast! If I let him be, sooner or later he will become a catastrophe!’ Xing Tian’s eyes flashed with a thick killing intent.
On the martial arena, Xue Man crawled up from the ground. A shockingly gaping hole was punctured in his chest, and a massive amount of blood was gushing forth. To a Goliath, it was a wound that he was just barely able to continue from.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!” As Xue Man spoke, he coughed blood between every word.
Lin Ming frowned, ‘He’s really persistent. It’s a pity that my comprehension of the Concept of Space is insufficient, otherwise my spear could have stabbed deeper and I could have made the Blood Drinking Seals implode from within his body, then he would surely have died!’