Martial World (Web Novel)
Chapter 672: Soul Search

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After being called out by his name, Lin Ming was startled. As he fixed his eyes on that Life Destruction Elder, he suddenly had a memory of him. This Elder had been part of the South Sea Demon Region party that had entered the Demon God Imperial Palace. Luckily for him, he was also one of the few South Sea Demon Region Elders that had managed to survive.

At the Demon God Imperial Palace, Lin Ming had created a false illusion of his own death before he left. Although Xuan Wuji, Abbot Whitebrow and those other old fellows were all monsters that had lived for over a thousand years, all of them had been fooled by Lin Ming.

Lin Ming’s age and strength were his best cover. No matter how suspicious or cautious Xuan Wuji and the others were, none of them suspected that someone as weak as Lin Ming had bamboozled them. Finally, they decided that there must have been some powerful expert that had come to steal the Nirvana Dragon Root and had perfectly calculated events to outmaneuver them.

But now, Lin Ming was actually alive!

Not only was he alive, but he had also broken through to Revolving Core!

It had to be known that Lin Ming was only 20 years old!

A 20 year old Revolving Core master… this was too shocking!

All sorts of questions began to rise within that Life Destruction Elder’s heart like a stormy sea. Just how had Lin Ming left the Demon God Imperial Palace? He had gone missing along with the Nirvana Dragon Root and the Cosmic Melting Furnace; did these two treasure end falling in his hands? In these two and a half years, where had he gone? How could he possibly have broken through to Revolving Core in such a short period of time?

Even through all these puzzles, the black-robed old man was absolutely sure of one thing.

There was absolutely some great secret to Lin Ming!

“Lin Ming, so it seems that the Nirvana Dragon Root and Cosmic Melting Furnace really did end up in your hands. Heh, to think that we’ve spent so much time and effort travelling far and wide looking for you, only to find you here so easily… hand over the Nirvana Dragon Root and Cosmic Melting Furnace now and this old man may well allow you to live!”

As the black-robed old man spoke, his hand had already begun to silently trace his spatial ring.

As the other martial artists heard Lin Ming’s name, their eyes also lit up with recognition. During the war in the South Sea and when Lin Ming had killed Lei Mubai, there had already been a price placed on his head by the South Sea Demon Region. After the trip into the Demon God Imperial Palace, the South Sea Demon Region has also launched a wide-scale search of the entire South Sea in order to find Lin Ming. But in the end, all of their efforts had been in vain.

The martial artists present had all seen Lin Ming’s portrait before. It was only because a period of time had passed and there had been some slight changes to Lin Ming’s looks and temperament that they didn’t immediately realize it was him.

“Surround him!”

This group of martial artists had cultivations at Revolving Core and Xiantian. Every single one of them was well aware of just how strong Lin Ming was. They knew that they weren’t his match, so they surrounded him in order to prevent him from escaping.

Lin Ming coldly and indifferently glanced at these people, thoughts of killing flashing through his mind. The first thing he thought of was… to kill everyone here!

After returning to the South Horizon Region, his strength was still inferior to Xuan Wuji’s. It would be unwise to expose his own identity so early in order to stop Xuan Wuji from chasing him down.

However, as soon as he thought of this he also changed his mind. If news of his identity was spread out, then perhaps it might reach Mu Qianyu’s ears. In this way, he might be able to inform Mu Qianyu that he had returned.

Thinking of this, Lin Ming hesitated, unsure of what to do.

“Carnage Demon Great Array!” The black-robed old man knew just how terrifying Lin Ming was. Reasonably speaking, no matter how strong Lin Ming was, it was impossible for an early Revolving Core boy to defeat a Life Destruction master. But, if he dared to come here so brazenly, then he must have some sort of backup.

A lion would surely kill a rabbit. Using his complete all-out strength and having his men lay down this Carnage Demon Great Array was the right way to go about things.

Cha cha cha!

Over a dozen black flags flew out in the air. All of the black-clothed men grabbed a black flag and began to rapidly move around Lin Ming, stepping in a weird and distorted pace. With every step they took, they would leave behind a faint black mark.

Duanmu Qun and the others were naturally also covered in this array formation. But, towards an array formation of this degree, none of them were worried. Within the Eternal Demon Abyss’ 1000 mile forbidden zone, any danger zone was far more terrifying than this array could ever be.

Lin Ming allowed these people to arrange the array formation as they wished, only casually standing in the center of the array formation as he was lost in his thoughts.

He pondered, should he kill all these people? Or allow some to live so they could spread the news of his return?

After the Carnage Demon Great Array was laid down, the black-robed old man let out a breath of content. Revealing a cunning smile, he took out a thick saber from his spatial ring and cut down!

Carnage Demon Cut!

With the support of the Carnage Demon Great Array, he would be able to raise his strength by over 10%. As for Lin Ming, his strength would drop precipitously within this array formation. In addition to the absolute disparity of their cultivations, he didn’t believe he would lose here!

As long as he could kill Lin Ming, even if he didn’t obtain the Cosmic Melting Furnace of Nirvana Dragon Root he would still be able to learn just what great secrets Lin Ming held and just why Lin Ming had been able to go from the early Xiantian realm to the early Revolving Core realm in just a mere two and a half years.

When that time came, he was prepared to leave the South Sea Demon Region, escaping with all of his wealth. He had no intention of bowing down while handing such a great lucky chance to Xuan Wuji. With all of this in his grasp, perhaps he might even be able to reach the Divine Sea. When that time came, in this great world there would be nowhere he couldn’t go!

“Lin Ming, I’ll take your life!”

As the black-robed old man shouted out loud, a billowing black energy began to surge from his body. Behind him, an Ancient Giant Demon phantom appeared, holding onto a great halberd. This Giant Demon stood over 10 feet tall, menacing the world as it emanated a terrifying aura!

The black-robed old man didn’t underestimate Lin Ming in the least; at the very start he had already used his ultimate finishing ability. And in addition to the increased power from the Carnage Demon Great Array, the power of this strike made all of the demon region martial artists around him pale with awe and horror.

The black-robed old man’s attack had finally roused Lin Ming from his thoughts. Lin Ming looked up at this black-robed old man.

Yes, first he would kill this old fellow and search his soul to see if there was any news about Mu Qianyu. If there was, then he would kill everyone else here. If there wasn’t then he would consider letting news of his return leak out.

Thinking this, Lin Ming gave a low shout. The true essence within his body began to revolve. Infusing his battle spirit into the white spear, he thrust it out!

Facing the alarming and terrifying attack of this black-robed old man, Lin Ming’s spear actually seemed rather plain and simple.

The black-robed old man grinned demonically. His saber cut straight towards Lin Ming’s neck; this was a sure-kill strike!

Chi-la!

With the sound of space tearing, the black-robed old man’s billowing clouds of demonic energy were like great black curtains as they were torn apart by Lin Ming’s spear wind!

The black-robed old man was shocked.

The hell was this strength?

Damn!

The black-robed old man’s face twisted. He revolved the energy in his body to the limit, completely pouring everything he had into the saber edge. This strength of this Carnage Demon Cut lay in the blade itself.

Clang!

The thick saber collided with the white spear and the piercing sound of screeching metal filled the air. The black-robed old man felt his palm shake and his muscles tear, blood shooting from his arm. Then, the unbelievable occurred. That old man’s saber was actually broken apart by Lin Ming’s spear!

The sharp spear point thrust towards the black-robed old man’s throat like a viper!

“What!?”

The black-robed old man was greatly shocked. In this split second, without any time to think, he quickly retreated. However, just as he avoided the spearpoint, a roiling gust of air rushed over the black-robed old man, directly piercing towards his throat.

This wave of air had the true essence stream of a battle spirit attached to it!

Puff!

The black-robed old man’s bodily true essence protection was penetrated. The flow of true essence continued unabated. It directly cut through half of that black-robed old man’s throat, blood bursting out!

“Ahh!”

The black-robed old man was frightened to the point that all of his previous bravado and courage was smashed apart; he simply had no idea what had attacked him.

And his weapon, a top earth-step thick saber, how could it possibly have been broken in half by Lin Ming’s spear?

Just what was going on?

The black-robed Elder only felt a cold sweat creep down his back. The sudden developments in this battle had completely surpassed his scope of understanding. Without further delay, the black-robed Elder turned around and ran away!

“You’re staying here!”

Lin Ming stepped upon Golden Roc Shattering the Void and the space underneath his feet shrank. He flash stepped behind the black-robed man, his spear thrusting out!

The black-robed Elder was terrified. Quickly turning around, he threw out two flying swords. These flying swords were high-grade earth step treasure. Normally he wouldn’t be using them, but in this situation, he thrown them out like hidden weapons.

Clang! Clang!

With two metal rings, Lin Ming waved his spear and directly knocked away the two flying swords.

As the flying swords spun upside down, Lin Ming stretched out a single hand and poured his battle spirit into the sword blades. The two swords suddenly straightened out in mid-air and shot right back towards the black-robed Elder!

“Ahh!”

The black-robed Elder was dismayed, losing all of his composure. He twisted his body, trying to dodge both these flying swords, but one of them still managed to pierce through his thigh!

The black-robed Elder miserably shrieked, his speed immediately slowing down. At this point, his face was as white as funeral ash. “Young Hero Lin, please spare my life! As long as you let me live, I will tell you all the plans of the South Sea Demon Region and tell you everything you want to know about Divine Phoenix Island!”

“No thanks.”

Lin Ming’s spear fell down. With his battle spirit infused into the spear, the spear instantly broke through the black-robed Elder’s bodily true essence and stabbed into his heart!

With a twist of true essence, all of the black-robed Elder’s guts turned into a puddle of goo.

“Demonshine, search his soul!”

When a martial artist had just died, their spiritual sea wouldn’t have dispersed yet. This brief period of time was more than enough to use a soul searching technique. The information obtained from a soul searching technique was naturally much more reliable than the black-robed Elder spilling it out.

“Okay!”

Demonshine playfully smiled and a black beam of light shot out from between Lin Ming’s eyebrows, directly piercing into that black-robed Elder’s spiritual sea.

Lin Ming didn’t sit around either. He flicked out his fingers and a small snake of crimson lightning shot into the black-robed Elder’s body.

This red lightning was the Blood Extinguishing Demon Thunder.

The Blood Extinguishing Demon Thunder made a pass around the black-robed Elder, bringing out a thick fog of blood!

Lin Ming put out his hand and this blood fog began to concentrate, turning into a fist-sized ball of blood. This was the black-robed Elder’s complete blood essence!

This was the first time that Lin Ming had truly killed a Life Destruction powerhouse. In the Eternal Demon Abyss, Lin Ming had consecutively killed the Polaris Tower Master and the supervisory Elder, both of whom had strength equal to a Life Destruction master. However, that was still only having strength equal to one; their true cultivation was actually below the Life Destruction realm, otherwise it would have been impossible for them to stay in the Blood Slaughter Steppes.

After Revolving Core, Lin Ming guessed that the blood essence of a Life Destruction powerhouse should be enough to open the Magic Cube once again!

However, now was not the time to open the Magic Cube. Lin Ming flicked his fingers and began to form silk threads made of thunder, wrapping the blood essence in layers of this. Soon, all of the blood essence was cocooned in this energy. Then Lin Ming formed a dozen runes and thoroughly sealed the blood essence.

Like this, this glob of blood essence should be able to maintain its vibrant vitality for another month. He could use it anytime during this period to open the Magic Cube.

At this moment, Demonshine’s divine sense withdrew from the black-robed Elder’s spiritual sea. “Hey boy, I have some good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”