Martial World (Web Novel)
Chapter 1806: The Soul Cave

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Although the Soul Cave was called a cave, the truth was that it was a massive canyon. It was situated between two mountains that were hundreds of thousands of feet high and filled with a faint purple fog all year round. It was an extremely mystical place.

At this time, outside of the Soul Cave, a massive number of martial artists had gathered.

These people came from influences all over the Soul World. Lin Ming glanced over them and didn’t see anyone from Zenith Palace.

This was just because Zenith Palace was far too weak and didn’t have the qualifications to enter the Soul Cave. To try and venture into the Soul Cave with their level of strength was no different from seeking death.

“Violet Sun Divine Kingdom, hehe… I knew that the Violet Cloud Princess wouldn’t miss such a momentous event.”

In the crowd of people, a strange-looking creature spoke up.

This life form was twice the height of the average person and had golden purple scales covering his body. There was also a pair of curved horns jutting out from his head.

Lin Ming was startled. Just what sort of race was this?

From looks alone, this being seemed to be from the monster race, but Lin Ming could feel that this golden purple being was from a race different from the Divine Realm’s monster race. Rather than monster essence, this creature emitted a dense soul energy.

“This person is…?”

Lin Ming asked with a sound transmission.

“He comes from the spirit race and he is the spirit race’s Purple Chestnut King.”

Violet Cloud briefly explained.

“Spirit race?” Lin Ming repeated. This was the first time he had heard of such a race.

“They are descendants of an ancient race. You’ve never heard of them before?”

The Violet Cloud Princess looked at Lin Ming with puzzled eyes, not caring about it too much. Every universe of the 33 Heavens was occupied by different mixes of races. Besides humans, saints, and spiritas, there were also many other minor races that often only occupied a part of a universe. It wasn’t strange if one didn’t know about one race or another.

The current spirit race was one such example. Even though the spirit race didn’t have many members remaining, they were still a very powerful race that had produced many peak Empyreans in the last billion years. Even now they were being supported by a peak Empyrean.

A peak Empyrean was an existence just beneath a True Divinity. No one in any universe could underestimate them.

The Purple Chestnut King glanced at Lin Ming once and then ignored him. Instead, he called out to his many followers. These followers consisted of powerhouses from other races, but right now they all obeyed the orders of the Purple Chestnut King.

The members of the spirit race had a talent that surpassed that of the humans, saints, and spiritas. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say they were favored by the heavens, and this Purple Chestnut King was a particularly outstanding individual of his race.

Behind the Purple Chestnut King were several powerful influences. Amongst them was a handsome and heroic spiritas youth who led over a thousand disciples here. These disciples all had a beyond average level of skill, and when combined together was able to form a terrifying strength.

They all noticed the arrival of the Violet Cloud Princess.

“We’ve just enough people. Open the array!”

The robed spiritas elite spoke up. Everyone began preparing themselves. The purple fog around the entrance of the Soul Cave was itself a variation of a force field. In order to break this force field, one needed a formidable strength.

Right now, everyone present, whether they were a Great World King or a young elite, all had their cultivations suppressed to the Divine Lord realm. It was impossible to break through the force field with the strength of a single person; everyone had to join forces.

For a time, the many elites present attacked with their followers. Brilliant beams of light cut through the skies and impacted against the purple fog at the entrance of the Soul Cave.

Chi chi chi!

The purple fog began melting away. A moment later, a giant hole was torn in it.

“Let’s go!”

Many elites began rushing in, their followers right behind them. This Soul Cave was extremely broad and could easily fit several thousands of people walking in side by side.

Roar!

As soon as people began entering the Soul Cave, ghostly green eyes began appearing in the darkness; these were the shimmering eyes of the wild beasts that lived here.

“It’s soul beasts.”

Some martial artist said. Soul beasts were also called nightmare beasts, and were the energy life form monsters that existed in the Akashic Dream Universe.

These monsters were divided into the weak and the strong. Those that were stronger even had the strength of a World King. For these martial artists who had their cultivation suppressed to the Divine Lord level, it was impossible to face these creatures.

The howls of wolves filled the air and Lin Ming got a good sight of these monsters. The leader was a gray wolf the size of a giant cow; these were called dream devouring wolves.

Without the need for orders, many of the martial artists directly lashed out. For a time, countless brilliant lights filled the air. Lin Ming was also one of those attacking.

He thrust out spear lights with his fingers, piercing through the heads of several gray wolves and instantly killing them.

And as he killed these dream devouring wolves, Lin Ming noticed that the number of merit points in his token was gradually increasing. Killing these soul beasts also gave merit points.

Without a doubt, the stronger a soul beast was, the more merit points they would give.

The groups of people continued forwards, leaving corpses in their wake.

Some martial artists flushed red, the light in their eyes becoming increasingly bright. It was obvious they could also feel the number of merit points in their tokens increasing and this clearly had an intense stimulating effect on them.

All of a sudden, Lin Ming noticed a strange aura rushing towards him from up front.

Looking up ahead, he could see that at the very front of the group, the Purple Chestnut King and the robed spiritas elite had both paused where they were.

In the increasingly narrow cave, a massive carved copper gate had appeared.

This copper gate seemed to be wet, and exuded a mystical aura that seemed to exist all year round. Carved upon this copper gate were the heads of two fierce ghosts, each with demonic features and vile green fangs.

Strange ghostly sounds passed out from the copper gate, as if 10,000 fierce ghosts were wildly screaming and crying from within.

No one knew why but they all felt their hearts speed up. Even Lin Ming noticed a strange atmosphere falling over everyone.

He noticed that upon arriving here, everyone’s eyes became far more focused and cautious.

“This is the Gate of Ghosts and Gods. It is an extremely bizarre place within the Soul Cave, and the inside is filled with perils…”

Violet Cloud’s sound transmission suddenly popped up in Lin Ming’s mind.

“Thank you.” Lin Ming replied. Out of everyone here, only Lin Ming had an almost nonexistent understanding of the Soul Cave.

“The Gate of Ghosts and Gods has come. After entering, there is a danger that your soul will be torn apart and your main body’s spiritual sea might even be injured… if you don’t want to die then hurry up and screw off!”

The Purple Chestnut King said from the front. An eerie light shot out from his pupils as he traced the contours of the thick copper gate.

The death that waited within also meant that one would be removed from the Akashic Dream Battlefield. Although this wasn’t true death, many of the martial artists present were unwilling to see this happen.

Moreover, the Purple Chestnut King even said that there was a chance that one’s true spiritual sea would suffer damage upon death.

Even so, no one left. Anyone that was able to arrive at this step could be called a hero of their generation. How could they leave so easily?

The Purple Chestnut King gave his warning and didn’t glance back to see anyone’s reaction. Countless runes shimmered in his palm like a galaxy. Slowly, a ten foot high blue palm materialized in front of him, emitting a vast aura of Laws.

Lin Ming’s eyebrow arched up and he gazed at the Purple Chestnut King’s strong and tall back. With Lin Ming’s current comprehension of many different Laws, he could feel just how mighty the power of Laws in front of him was.

He made a rapid judgement in his heart. This Purple Chestnut King should have an amazing level of talent to begin with and his comprehension of Laws even surpassed that of an ordinary World King.

The Purple Chestnut King raised that great blue palm. Then, like a meteor striking the earth, he repeatedly smashed it onto the ghost heads carved into the copper gate.

Pa! Pa! Pa!

Strange sounds rang out. Like something cracked open in the copper gate, the gate began to slowly open.

Bang!

All of a sudden, a black fog so thick that it was substantialized began gushing out, followed by the roars of maddened and fierce ghosts. Within the black fog were the blurry phantoms of countless dead spirits.

These dead spirit phantoms were all cruel and vicious. But among them there were spiritas, saints, humans, and even those from all sorts of different races.

“Kill!”

The crowd roared out together. Without any mercy, the groups of martial artists slaughtered their way forwards.

These groups of dead spirit phantoms were clearly much stronger than the soul beasts.

The Heretical God Tree swayed within Lin Ming. He reached into himself with his mind and drew out a wisp of heavenly tribulation fire into his palm. A flame lotus suddenly erupted around him, rumbling towards a dead spirit phantom.

Beyond Lin Ming’s expectations, the dead spirit phantom had thrust out a hand and summoned turbulent fluctuations of soul force. As this soul force collided with the flame lotus there was a fierce explosion.

“These dead spirit phantoms are from those who’ve wandered in here. The dead martial artists here still have their spirit marks; be careful.”

Beside Lin Ming, the Violet Cloud Princess began to overflow with layers upon layers of mystical purple energy. As the dead spirit phantoms collided with this purple energy, all of them exploded.

Lin Ming remained alert. A light layer of dragon scales covered his fist and his blood vitality surged within him. He punched out at an incoming dead spirit phantom, causing it to burst apart.

As the dead spirit phantom exploded, the Violet Cloud Princess unconsciously glanced at Lin Ming’s dragon scale-covered fist.

Just entering the Gate of Ghosts and Gods, over 10 martial artists had perished.

However, Lin Ming, the Violet Cloud Princess, and her seven World King followers were all safe.

These nine people guarded each other, working in tandem to steadily enter deeper and deeper into the Soul Cave.

As the fierce killing within the Soul Cave became increasingly savage and unbridled, the difference in strength amongst the various groups began to slowly reveal itself.

The Purple Chestnut King, heroic spiritas elite, and Lin Ming and the Violet Cloud Princess’ group of nine pushed forwards at the forefront.

Following 10,000 feet behind them were other groups of people.

As they continued forwards, only then did Lin Ming discover that this Soul Cave was infinitely deep and profound; it wasn’t as simple as a mere cave.

In here, there were even underground rivers and underground volcanoes. All sorts of bizarre monsters appeared, challenging them at every step.

Along the way, Lin Ming plucked a black and shiny monster spirit flower from a giant fallen skeleton. This was said to be a spirit medicine that could help a spiritas break into the Holy Lord realm.

Lin Ming carefully put it away. Although he didn’t have any use for it now, he could definitely trade it with a spiritas in the future for some medicine he could use.

The Violet Cloud Princess and the others also found their own harvests.

“What is that?”

As they continued walking, Lin Ming suddenly saw the peak of an underground mountain in front of him. There seemed to be some great sun shining high in the air, emitting a dim light.

This brilliance was shrouded with layers of dim haze and mist-covered clouds.

Then, Lin Ming froze. He could faintly feel the strength of a mountain pressing down on him, pushing so hard that his spiritual sea shook and his breath caught in his throat.