Martial World (Web Novel)
Chapter 1980: Emperor Cemetery

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The three emperor jades were placed into the grooves one at a time. The emperor jades lined up in the grooves, and then, the entire statue lit up with a dazzling divine light. At the same time, a vortex began forming in the void beneath the statue.

Lin Ming was sucked into the vortex. The scenery changed, and in the next moment, Lin Ming arrived in a dark gray world.

The first time Lin Ming entered the smelting trial he had already learned about the existence of the seventh level. When he discovered that the three emperor jades of fate were required to open it, he had always been thinking just what that place would look like.

Would this be a test with a heaven-defying difficulty, or would it purely be rewards?

Lin Ming’s imagination had become even more intense when he obtained the third emperor jade of fate. But because of all the tribulations he had suffered afterwards and everything else that had occurred to him, he had pushed those thoughts out of his head.

Today, Lin Ming would finally step into the seventh level and see everything there…

But the scene that appeared in front of him left him startled.

What he saw was… a vast cemetery.

This was a pure gray world. The sky was disorderly and the earth was barren. In this land, rows of graves were lined up, tens of thousands of them.

These graves occupied a square area of land. They were all of the same gray and black stone, a solemn and reverent atmosphere swirling around them.

Lin Ming didn’t know if they were protected by an array formation or if the tombstones were forged from some type of special rock. But, even after 10 billion years passed, these tombstones remained whole. The only difference was that one could feel the breath of endless years coming from the elegant writings carved into the stone.

Lin Ming walked to the front of a tombstone. This tombstone was carved with the words of the ancient god race.

“Extreme Emperor Heavens’ Reverent White Arc Xiu Kao’s Tomb.”

A mortal’s tombstone would also have an inscription; it would be carved with the names of their children and grandchildren.

As for this tombstone, it didn’t have anything besides the grave master’s name and title.

As for the words Extreme Emperor Heavens, it should be the name of a universe, in other words, one of the 33 Heavens.

Lin Ming had never heard the name of Extreme Emperor Heavens before. But, this wasn’t strange at all. Far too much time had passed and it wasn’t strange for the names of the 33 Heavens to change during this period. Moreover, this was a name that existed 10 billion years ago. In the ancient era, every one of the 33 Heavens was prosperous and glorious. But now, only 16 Heavens were developed; the other 17 Heavens had turned into wildernesses.

Reverent White Arc Xiu Kao, of these words, Xiu Kao was clearly a name. It was a strange surname and an even stranger first name, but perhaps in the ancient era 10 billion years ago, this might have been a normal or even popular name.

As for Reverent White Arc, that was naturally the title of the grave’s master.

What a Reverent was, Lin Ming had no idea, but it sounded like a title no worse than an Empyrean. If so, then in this cemetery where there were unknown tens of thousands of graves, was an Empyrean level or above powerhouse buried in each one?

Lin Ming found this hard to imagine. It had to be known that in the entire Divine Realm, there had only been a mere 200-300 Empyreans.

Even for the saints and spiritas, when their Empyreans were added together from each of their seven Heavens, they only had a thousand or so.

Compared to the cemetery in front of him that had tens of thousands of Empyreans buried here, Lin Ming simply felt this was too unbelievable.

The ancient era 10 billion years ago was a time when a hundred races strove for supremacy. It was a time when the primal god race and the celestials dominated the 33 Heavens. At that time, heroes rose up from the ranks and young elites were innumerable. However… if it were said that several tens of thousands of Empyreans were buried here so casually, Lin Ming would still think that it was quite odd.

As Lin Ming thought like this, he walked behind the tombstone. This part was similar to a mortal’s tombstone, and was carved with the epitaph of the grave’s master.

There were a few hundred words written into the stone. As Lin Ming read these words he was inwardly flabbergasted by what was written. The master of the grave was indeed an Empyrean level powerhouse, moreover, he hadn’t been an ordinary Empyrean. From the vague information given, Lin Ming speculated that if this person were placed in the current era, he would be similar to a middle or even upper Empyrean.

However, this proud son of heaven that existed 10 billion years ago had actually suffered such a fate: “Bones unfound, his sword is buried here.”

This grave was only the tomb of a sword; Xiu Kao’s body was not here.

Lin Ming sighed. He looked at the next grave – Sky Zenith Heavens’ Demon Concubine Yuan Chun’s Tomb.

Lin Ming had never heard of a Sky Zenith Heavens before. If there was a Heavens that dared to call itself by such a name, then perhaps 10 billion years ago, this Sky Zenith Heavens had been one of the peak universes?

The master of this grave Yuan Chun was a woman, and according to her epitaph, she had been a peerlessly talented and proud woman. Her life had been dazzling but her final fate was “Died in battle within the great calamity of the 33 Heavens. Her feather robe lies buried here.”

This grave was only a tomb for Yuan Chun’s clothes.

Lin Ming continued looking. He saw many outstanding figures of the ancient past. Their origins and lives were briefly described on their graves. They came from different universes of the 33 Heavens, and each one of them was a ruler of their era, a king of their time!

Their strength was far beyond that of the Empyreans of the present!

But of these people, only a small number had their bodies buried here. Most of these graves were filled with battle armors, weapons, clothes, or some other objects that the grave master used before their death. There were even some people that only had a tombstone as a marker, with nothing inside at all.

In addition, on their epitaphs, the words ‘33 Heavens calamity’ appeared more than once.

Demon Concubine Yuan Chi had died in battle within the great calamity of the 33 Heavens.

Martial Saint Huang Qi had died in battle within the great calamity of the 33 Heavens.

Cold Ice Fairy Yun Meng had died in battle within the great calamity of the 33 Heavens…

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Lin Ming guessed that after these people died in the great calamity, someone had specifically built graves for them. This was because after that great war, it became too difficult to find their corpses, thus these tombs were only filled with clothes and other objects to serve as mementos to their previous existence.

Realizing this, Lin Ming became lost in thought.

In the last 10 billion years of history of the 33 Heavens, a great calamity that could be called a catastrophe of the universe had erupted many times already.

Each time, countless powerhouses died in battle. Sometimes even entire races were exterminated.

The 33 Heavens calamity that was written on these epitaphs clearly affected a much larger area than humanity’s calamity, and the influence it left on the world was even greater!

In the past, these peerless powerhouses that died in the great calamity once shook the earth and heavens, ruling over vast domains through force. But even for these people, after they died, all that was left behind were these square graves that didn’t even hold their bodies.

No one remembered their names, no one remembered their history. All that remained in remembrance of them was a cold tombstone.

Thinking of this, Lin Ming deeply sighed.

No matter how powerful a person, no matter how powerful a race, when they were placed in the endless river of time they were nothing more than a tiny wave. When they rose up they shined in blinding brilliance, but soon, they quickly vanished into the never-ending stream, leaving nothing behind.

This was also the reason why so many martial artists were unwilling to turn to ash, the reason they continued to climb up and seek out the road to eternal life. However, no one had ever succeeded…

“Perhaps this calamity of the 33 Heavens is the great war that erupted 10 billion years ago, and that war was the catalyst that started the primal god race’s decline from their peak. After the war, the Asura Road Master and Holy Scripture creator also went missing, and they left behind their own places of inheritance – the Asura Road and the Akashic Dream Universe. Then… could these graves have been left behind by the Asura Road Master?”

Lin Ming suddenly thought. But no matter how he turned it around in his mind, there was no way he could verify this.

He moved deeper into the cemetery. A light gray fog wafted in the air here. As Lin Ming moved forwards, the fog gradually diverged from before him and he saw what lay at the end of these tombstones.

This, was a great cliff!

And beneath this cliff was not an abyss, but an endless starry space!

This sort of feeling was as if a part of an ancient continent was thrust into space, and here was where it broke off!

Lin Ming stood on the edge of the cliff, looking at the trillions of stars that shined in the distance. As they sparkled in the far-off distance, they seemed cold and lonely. They had existed there for a long time, and would continue existing.

And in this starry space, a long distance away from Lin Ming, a massive white altar floated. As he saw this white altar, his eyes were captured by it and were no longer able to move away.

This white altar was as large as a planet and was like a pyramid in shape. From the top to the bottom, the altar consisted of 33 steps.

“Divine Seal Altar!”

Lin Ming’s pupils shrank. In the past when Lin Ming attended the semifinals of the Divine Realm First Martial Meeting, the test site had been the Divine Seal Altar.

But, that Divine Seal Altar had been a replica created by Empyrean Vast Universe. A long time ago, Empyrean Vast Universe had stumbled upon a fragment of the Divine Seal Altar that was forged by Empyrean Divine Seal, a human True Divinity who existed 3.6 billion years ago. Empyrean Vast Universe had fused this fragment into the replica he created, allowing that replica to obtain a portion of the ancient Divine Seal Altar’s spirituality.

However, the truth was that the ‘original’ Divine Seal Altar that Empyrean Divine Seal created 3.6 billion years ago was also a replica.

If Lin Ming wasn’t wrong, then Empyrean Divine Seal had participated in the Asura Road’s final trial in the past, and when he moved from the fourth level to the fifth level, he too had to face the test of ascending the Divine Seal Altar.

But even so, the difference between the sizes of that Divine Seal Altar and the one before him was far too great!

The Divine Seal Altar in front of him, whether it was in the aura it exuded or the horrifying energy it contained, all of it left Lin Ming fearful and apprehensive, nearly unable to withstand it.

Perhaps the Divine Seal Altar that was placed as the test between the fourth and fifth level was in truth nothing but a projection of the true Divine Seal Altar.

And the Divine Seal Altar was likely not even called the Divine Seal Altar; it should have another name. The name of Divine Seal Altar was only bestowed upon it because of Empyrean Divine Seal.

As Lin Ming thought this he slowly soared upwards. Carefully, he flew towards the Divine Seal Altar that was deep in the starry skies.

After some time, he began to slow down. As he looked at the Divine Seal Altar that was far off in the skies, a look of amazement crossed his eyes.

At the top of the 33 Heavens Divine Seal Altar there were clearly people!

And not just one person, but two… although they were extremely far away, Lin Ming could see two blurry figures. And as soon as he swept out his divine sense he could clearly discern their appearance.

These two people wore white long robes and their faces were wizened and elderly. They had wide thoughtful smiles, as if they were waiting there especially for him.

Lin Ming paused. He hesitated for a moment, and then continued flying towards these two old men.