Martial World (Web Novel)
Chapter 1730: Souls of Ice and Fire

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After the ice egg shattered, the scattered pieces of crushed ice were swallowed up by the power of thunder and fire.

Bang!

With a loud blast, the heap of ice exploded, sending countless chunks of ice flying everywhere!

Lin Ming raised the Black Dragon Spear and rushed out from the ice debris. His entire body was covered with blood that was nearly frozen over.

There were countless wounds on his body and muscles all over him were torn. His blood vessels had burst apart in many areas. These wounds weren’t caused by just the Undying Polar Ice, but from the fact that his body couldn’t withstand the burden of the Black Dragon Spear.

The Black Dragon Spear was simply far too heavy. Moreover, the energy needed to move it was mind-boggling. For Lin Ming to destroy the ice egg in a short time, he was forced to overdraw his energy.

At this time, the power from the Asura blood had yet to leave him. He was still in his Asura body metamorphosis state, looking like a death god that crawled out from the blood ponds of hell.

Bang! Crash!

Behind Lin Ming, as the Undying Polar Ice died, massive glaciers began to split apart, melting in raging floods and waterfalls that flooded the land.

Crazy waves soared into the sky. But because there was an invisible force field around Lin Ming, none of the water was able to approach him. It simply swept away from his side.

Seeing this scene, all of the trial challengers held their breath, unable to summon any words.

After Lin Ming activated the Asura blood, his aura was far too powerful. That invisible force field surrounding him gave off a deeply oppressive feeling!

Besides Sheng Mei, even Dragonscar, Soulsky, and the others also felt themselves panting for breath as they faced Lin Ming’s Asura slaughter energy.

As for those eight trial challengers in the distance that had fled earlier, they were even more despondent.

When the ice egg exploded, their chins nearly hit the ground. They couldn’t believe that the fifth level Overlord, the existence that even Sheng Mei couldn’t kill, had been slain by Lin Ming!

How could this have happened?

“The Undying Polar Ice died like this?”

Although the truth was before them, the eight of them still found this reality hard to accept.

This was because they had run away earlier.

Even if the Undying Polar Ice was slain, it had nothing to do with them!

“Maybe… maybe it hasn’t died… Sheng Mei also destroyed the Undying Inferno’s phoenix egg, although she didn’t do it so thoroughly like Lin Ming did. Even so, the Undying Inferno was reborn later. Perhaps the Undying Polar Ice has temporarily gone underground… and it hasn’t died…”

A trial challenger said with unwillingness in his voice. He didn’t want to think that after he had wavered and left earlier, this junior Lin Ming that was far younger than him had completed the seemingly impossible trial, and he had nothing to do with it!

If he couldn’t obtain something, he definitely didn’t want others to.

But at this time, the eight people suddenly shook. A message had popped up in their minds, informing them that the fifth level trial had been completed.

The fifth level Overlord had really died!

And their completion percentage hadn’t increased at all.

“It’s over. We…”

The eight trial challengers stood there in a daze, their eyes losing focus.

The requirement to enter the sixth level was to participate in striking down the fifth level Overlord. But as for them, they had withdrawn in the final stage and had excluded themselves from the trial. In other words, their journey in the final trial had come to an end.

They had missed out on entering the sixth level!

As they realized this, they regretted it to the point of their intestines turning green.

This was the final trial’s sixth level!

The sixth level – just what sort of concept was that?

It was a billion year legend. In all that time, no one had set foot in it!

If they could have stepped foot in the sixth level and returned to their sect then the honor they would have received, the glory, the worship of countless young disciples…

They would also have received the rewards and lucky chances of crossing the fifth level. It might even have changed their lives and affected their future achievements…

Thinking of this, not only did their livers hurt, but their hearts hurt, their balls hurt, and they felt sick as their intestines twisted into knots.

The eight of them stared at each other in dismay, wanting to smack themselves with both hands…

Because of their fear, they had missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity!

At this time, Sheng Mei, Dragonscar, Brightmoon, and the others had all landed from the sky and were running towards Lin Ming.

They had also received the message from the final trial. Although they had confirmed that the Undying Polar Ice had died, Dragonscar, Fanny Fafa, and the others still weren’t able to regain their composure yet.

Although the Undying Polar Ice had been killed because they all worked together, the truth was that besides Sheng Mei, Lin Ming, and Xiao Moxian, the others only played a limited role in the battle.

In particular Lin Ming – his performance was far too spectacular!

Dragonscar watched as Lin Ming’s body metamorphosis gradually faded away, his scales vanishing into his body. He was at a loss for words. When he first saw Lin Ming he had despised him due to a sense of superiority. But now, he gulped and obediently stood behind Sheng Mei, not daring to say anything.

Originally Lin Ming was supposed to manage offense while Sheng Mei managed defense. But in the end, Sheng Mei had overdrawn her own soul force, causing her to leak blood from her lips, and even during this time Lin Ming was still sitting in meditation, adjusting his condition. Dragonscar had certainly seen this and he felt that all of the advantages were taken by Lin Ming and the price Sheng Mei had to pay was far too high.

But during the Undying Polar Ice’s final attack, the originally meditating Lin Ming suddenly woke up and played an important role in defending against the strike. If it weren’t for Lin Ming then Sheng Mei would have burnt her source soul force and the others might have died.

What Dragonscar felt most unbelievable was that even after Lin Ming moved to help Sheng Mei defend, he still managed to kill the Undying Polar Ice. Such a heaven-defying method truly left Dragonscar no choice but to deeply admire him.

No matter which race it was in the 33 Heavens, all of them admired powerhouses. Dragonscar’s superiority originally came from Sheng Mei. He didn’t believe that there was anyone in existence that could compare to her. At just the sixth revolution, there was nearly no one that could rival her talent beneath the True Divinity realm. As for the seventh, eighth, and ninth revolution, it was even more difficult to imagine.

But now, Lin Ming’s appearance had far surpassed Sheng Mei. The natural feeling of superiority in Dragonscar’s heart was also destroyed.

In the future, Lin Ming would rise to heights that were hard to imagine. It was simply impossible to judge with Dragonscar’s current experiences.

“Lin Ming…”

Sheng Mei looked at Lin Ming and took a deep breath. Her voice was faint and ghostly, “I originally thought that humanity’s destiny had come to an end… but I never imagined that after 3.6 billion years, someone like you would appear. Perhaps… you are humanity’s good fortune…”

Sheng Mei’s word seemed like high praise towards Lin Ming, but Lin Ming heard something else. A light shined in his eyes. He asked, “Is humanity’s destiny already exhausted?”

Sheng Mei’s words concealed a hidden meaning. That was that she believed humanity would likely perish in the great world calamity!

“Empress, are you saying that humanity will perish underneath the saints?”

Lin Ming pressed the question.

3.6 billion years ago, another great calamity descended. The barriers separating the 33 Heavens weakened, vanished, allowing alien races to invade. During this great calamity, humanity’s destiny became increasingly weak. True Divinities died, geniuses were on the wane, and compared to the saints and spiritas, humanity became far, far weaker.

Now, if humanity couldn’t overcome this great calamity, it was likely that they would perish.

Sheng Mei didn’t directly respond. Instead, she vaguely said, “Within birth there is death, the cycle of samsara turns again and again. Nothing is permanent. The Heavenly Dao can change… even stars can burn out, much less lives and races. 10 billion years ago, the ancient races were magnificent beyond compare, but even they vanished without a trace… in the river of time, the destruction of humanity isn’t strange at all…”

Sheng Mei seemed as if she was speaking of eternal truths, but within her words, Lin Ming could hear a little regret and unwillingness. Sheng Mei, was she really willing to enter samsara and die?

Inexplicably, Lin Ming thought of the Spiritas Holy Scripture and the Stone of Eternal Life recorded within it…

Eternal Life. To a martial artist, these two words were an irresistible temptation…

“The destruction of humanity isn’t strange at all…?” Lin Ming silently mumbled to himself. He didn’t have an answer to Sheng Mei.

He would not allow humanity to be destroyed in this great calamity. The human race was his roots. Without the roots, how could the leaves survive?

As Sheng Mei and Lin Ming were speaking, the cold energy that the Undying Polar Ice gathered had already dissipated. The entire fifth level had been restored to the state it was at during the beginning. The glaciers melted, turning into lakes. Even the temperature turned back to normal.

And above the largest lake, a gray wheel was slowly floating. Atop this wheel, the phantoms of countless demons appeared. It looked evil to the extreme.

The gazes of all trial challengers were focused on this wheel. This was Lin Ming’s Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel!

And within the center of the Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel, there were two masses of soul fire. One soul fire was flame red and emitted a terrifying heat. The other was ice blue and exuded a chilling cold.

Extreme heat and extreme cold, these two masses of soul fire were sealed within the center of the Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel, peacefully coexisting with each other.

Without needing to think, one could tell that these two masses of soul fire were left behind by the fifth level’s Overlord. The flame red soul fire was the Undying Inferno and the ice blue soul fire was the Undying Polar Ice!

These two masses of soul fire were rare treasures of the fifth level Overlord!

For a time, everyone looked at Lin Ming. As the one who had finally struck down the fifth level Overlord, they would have to ask Lin Ming how he wanted to distribute these two soul fires.

Lin Ming reached out his hand. The Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel flew back to him, spinning above his palm.

Seeing the Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel, Sheng Mei’s hands slightly moved. She could feel that this Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel contained all sorts of mysterious changes, and she was unable to see through any of them for a time.

This cultivation method was obviously extraordinary.

Lin Ming gently touched the Myriad Demon Karmic Wheel, guiding the ice blue soul fire to fly out. As the ice blue soul fire flew through the air, it left behind a path of frost, even freezing the void around it.

From far away, the trial challengers could feel a cruel and evil aura from this mass of ice blue flames. This was the Undying Polar Ice’s tyrannical soul! Although its body had been destroyed, its soul hadn’t died!

Lin Ming looked at Sheng Mei. With a flick of his fingers, this soul fire flew towards her.

“Soul Empress, the polar ice soul fire that the fifth level Overlord left behind will be handed over to you. The remnant will of the Undying Polar Ice is still within and it won’t be easy to absorb, but I don’t think this can stop the Soul Empress…”

During this trial, Soul Empress Sheng Mei’s role was without doubt; she accounted for nearly half the effort. By all reasonable principles, half of the treasures that the fifth level Overlord left should be given to her.

In particular, the Undying Polar Ice was a treasure of the extreme cold attribute. It was inestimably useful to Sheng Mei and could be considered a great lucky chance.

As for the others, it was impossible for them to absorb it.