Martial World (Web Novel)
Chapter 1787: Thunder Punishment’s Remnant Soul

…

…

…

In the darkened hall, the figure in front of Lin Ming that he originally thought was a corpse suddenly rose up, its eyes flashing open!

For a time two green lights lit up the hall. Those sharp eyes pierced through the darkness like twin bolts of lightning.

Lin Ming was aghast. He took a sudden step back. To encounter such a situation here would leave anyone creeped out.

“Thunder Punishment hasn’t died?”

This thought raced through Lin Ming’s mind, causing a cold chill to crawl up his back.

Lin Ming had originally suspected that Empyrean Primordius hadn’t died.

If that were true then it wouldn’t be strange for Empyrean Thunder Punishment to have not perished either, but instead be severely wounded like Empyrean Divine Mist and have sealed himself away to maintain his life.

If so, then this situation wasn’t good at all.

Facing this person who had once been sworn brothers with Empyrean Primordius and whose strength reached the upper levels of Empyrean powerhouses, Lin Ming didn’t dare to take any rash actions before understanding the situation more.

“After so many years, someone was finally able to enter here… what a rare sight…” Empyrean Thunder Punishment’s voice constantly fluctuated, but the tone remained slow and deep.

Lin Ming silently looked out at Empyrean Thunder Punishment as he rapidly assessed his strength. He could faintly feel that Empyrean Thunder Punishment was currently in a very poor state.

“Is he a remnant soul…?”

Lin Ming wondered. If only a remnant soul remained that had attached onto Empyrean Thunder Punishment’s corpse, then to the current him this wouldn’t be too terrifying at all.

“Is Senior the one who created the Thunder Dominion? Could this place be the land of inheritance that Senior left behind?” Lin Ming falsely asked.

“Indeed. This Thunder Dominion was created by me 100,000 years ago.” Empyrean Thunder Punishment’s heavy voice droned on. “For you to arrive here is your good fortune!”

As Thunder Punishment spoke these words his eyes blazed at Lin Ming, wanting to completely see through Lin Ming’s inner world.

Feeling the probing of Empyrean Thunder Punishment’s divine sense, Lin Ming’s thoughts chilled. He hurriedly hid away things that shouldn’t be seen by Empyrean Thunder Punishment like the black dragon egg, Primordius martial intent energy, and other things.

Even the overly powerful Asura Laws and the black hole created by the Divine Seal Art were covered up. This was because if Empyrean Thunder Punishment were to find such things it would naturally arouse suspicion.

It was impossible for a normal martial artist of the Divine Realm to possess such things.

After hiding these away, Lin Ming’s inner world became far more ordinary. Even so, his more ordinary inner world left Empyrean Thunder Punishment shaken just as it was. He looked at Lin Ming with amazement in his heart.

He originally assumed that Lin Ming might be some interstellar wanderer who had accidently stumbled onto the Sky Spill Planet and who also possessed ordinary talent. Even so, Empyrean Thunder Punishment still had to leave his inheritance with Lin Ming, because asking for a top talent to come to some remote place like the Sky Spill Planet was just impossible.

If Empyrean Thunder Punishment could hand down his inheritance he would be more than content. But, he never imagined Lin Ming’s talent would be so extraordinary.

“Your talent is much better than expected…”

Empyrean Thunder Punishment felt this was unbelievable. In truth, his ability to sense talent was limited and because he was only a leftover remnant soul, the force behind this divine sense was also ordinary. If Empyrean Thunder Punishment were to know what Lin Ming’s true battle strength was, he might have been shocked unconscious.

“Senior’s praise is too much. This junior’s talent is mediocre. It's only through some lucky chances that I’ve found some heavenly materials to consolidate the foundation of my blood vitality and obtain my current achievements.” Lin Ming casually explained.

“Heavenly materials? Empyrean Thunder Punishment repeated, startled. He immediately nodded. “Yes, your blood vitality billows into the sky, and it even seems to contain the aura of a God Beast. Without many heavenly materials to support you it would indeed be impossible for you to reach such heights. This proves that both your destiny and foundation are outstanding and that you are sufficient to become my descendant.”

Empyrean Thunder Punishment leaned forwards a little, his gaze focusing on Lin Ming’s face, as if waiting for an elated expression to show up on it.

However, Lin Ming’s face remained stiff, without any response at all.

This left Empyrean Thunder Punishment frowning a little. But thinking about it further, perhaps this youth simply didn’t know who he was, so he wouldn’t be aware of what the significance behind his inheritance was.

Thus, Empyrean Thunder Punishment lightly coughed and said, “You probably don’t know my identity. In the Divine Realm’s 3000 great worlds, I am the Empyrean of Thunderlight World – Empyrean Thunder Punishment. In the past I freely roamed the Divine Realm and my strength was also amazing even amongst Empyreans. The Thunder Punishment Heavenly Palace that I established was a peak Empyrean influence of the Divine Realm that had gathered countless outstanding geniuses. My Heavenly Palace even approached the number one Empyrean influence of the Divine Realm – Mount Potala!

“If I choose you as my descendant then that is completely different from taking you as a disciple. A disciple is someone to be taught my inheritance, but as a descendant not only would I teach you my complete inheritance but you would also possess all my treasures and take on my legacy. That is the same as inheriting the entirety of an Empyrean. Since you have already cultivated to such a boundary you should understand the meaning behind my words, right?”

As Empyrean Thunder Punishment spoke, he looked at Lin Ming expectantly. Lin Ming stiffly nodded, “Understood.”

“Mm…”

Empyrean Thunder Punishment dragged on his word, seeming a bit reluctant to continue. “For you to not panic in the face of such a lucky chance proves that your disposition is quite good. It’s no wonder you’ve achieved such achievements at such a young age.”

As Empyrean Thunder Punishment spoke, his figure suddenly rose up. He stepped through the void, one foot at a time, until he arrived right in front of Lin Ming.

That old and solemn face stopped just a foot away from Lin Ming’s own. From this distance, Lin Ming could feel a massive pressure slowly press down on him, as if a god of thunder had traversed the river of time, walking through 100,000 years to meet him.

Although Empyrean Thunder Punishment only had a wisp of his remnant soul remaining and not much strength left, this was the pressure of an Empyrean. Lin Ming raised his guard.

He could feel that the remnant soul in front of him contained the source of thunder. Although it was just a remnant soul he couldn’t underestimate it.

“Are you willing to inherit the whole of my legacy?” Empyrean Thunder Punishment slowly spoke, his words drilling into Lin Ming’s ears.

Although Empyrean Thunder Punishment was secretly unwilling, he had still once been a supreme martial artist. He didn’t want his lifetime of knowledge to be lost to the world, vanishing without a single successor.

Lin Ming’s thoughts raced. He asked, “Inheriting Senior’s inheritance shouldn’t be so simple, right? May I ask what conditions there are?”

“Haha! Smart young boy!” Empyrean Thunder Punishment laughed out loud. The pupils that he stared at Lin Ming with emitted a strange light, becoming increasingly hazy like a dream.

“…if you want to inherit my legacy, you must make an oath…” As Empyrean Thunder Punishment spoke, his pupils became increasingly profound and tinged with a deep hatred.

“I want you to vow that after you inherit my legacy, in your lifetime you must seek out all the roots and branches of that old dog Primordius and kill them all off. If you cannot complete this task then you will be punished by the heavens and your divine soul will be annihilated!”

As Empyrean Thunder Punishment spoke, he couldn’t hide the strong killing intent behind his words.

A strange color filled Lin Ming’s complexion. In truth, he already expected this kind of oath.

“Kill off all the roots and branches of Empyrean Primordius? Isn’t that just wanting me to commit suicide? I am the only one who inherited Empyrean Primordius’ legacy after all.”

As Lin Ming was thinking, Empyrean Thunder Punishment continued to say, “In addition to that, in the future you must gather soul-restoring heavenly materials for me. I only have a wisp of remnant soul remaining, and although my body has been preserved for 100,000 years using a secret technique, it has already reached the point of decay and cannot be further used. You must help me in my rebirth!

“I have a secret skill that can use the power of thunder to refine a living soul and suck out their soul essence to make up for my own lacking soul force. You must gather souls for me, the more powerful the better. Those souls that possess talent that can fight past their levels, those have the best effects!”

The power of thunder was originally the nemesis of souls. If a powerful soul was struck by thunder it would be turned into soul force essence. As for spirit marks and so forth, all of that would be turned to nothingness and there wouldn’t be any side effects to absorbing the leftovers.

And Empyrean Thunder Punishment was a master of thunder arts. This sort of demonic soul-restoring devil arts could be said to perfectly suit him.

“If I am to understand it, then after inheriting Senior’s inheritance I must endlessly kill people to help restore Senior’s soul?” Lin Ming asked.

“That’s right. The road of martial arts is a path of murder and destruction to begin with. Not only must you help restore my remnant soul but after doing so you must find me a suitable body so that I can seize it and be truly reborn!”