Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-1697

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The sky was gray and dim, as if it had existed in a state of perpetual twilight since time immemorial.

Nine dark blood red suns hung high and hazy in the heavens, emitting a weak heat.

Hu - !

One side of the earth was covered with blazing hot winds. The winds spun and howled, scorching the earth black.

The ground was bare and desolate. Dark red peaks twisted in the distance within the heat, distorting like undulating flames in the wind.

On another side of the earth, there was a world wrapped in snow and ice. The forests, mountain ranges, rivers, everything was covered with ice. This was a world of ice, a cold and gloomy yin chill that permeated everything.

Burning heat and freezing cold, these two sides were clearly divided in this strange land even as they struggled with each other. It was a strange and marvelous sight.

A cutting slithering sound transmitted from deep within the fields of ice.

On the distant horizon, a silver mountain-like outline appeared. Upon a closer look, one could see that this was an incomparably massive silver python rapidly snaking over the round.

As it winded its way forwards, it smashed apart icebergs, leaving massive cracks in the ice sheets.

And standing atop this silver python’s head was the Divine Void Third Crown Prince. His expression was still haughty and imperious, looking down at all with disdain. The only difference was that the dragon crown on his head was crooked and his clothes were stained with blood as if he had undergone a vast slaughter battle, and the process hadn’t been easy either!

Closely following behind the Divine Void Crown Prince were two people flying through the winds. One was Duke Fullmoon and the other was a young man with thick muscles wrapped over his body and eyes that exploded with a sharp light.

This other young man had deep scars crisscrossing his body that were tainted with some black energy, as if he had been struck by some mysterious curse strength.

Duke Fullmoon also didn’t have his smiles of days past. One of his eyebrows had been ripped in half and his complexion was macabre.

After stepping into the final trial’s fourth level, the difficulty rose dramatically once more! Even a squad of outstanding martial artists would fall into perilous situations if they weren’t careful!

In these lands there were ghosts, evil races, and all sorts of monstrous beings, all of them having the terrifying strength of a World King and above!

Thus, this was the reason why some trial challengers that passed the Gate of Laws had returned to the third level even though they knew that the fourth level was abundant with lucky chances. They simply didn’t dare to continue venturing deeper in this cursed land.

Once they returned to the third level, this meant that to them, the final trial had ended.

As for Duke Fullmoon and the Divine Void Crown Prince’s squad, they were a union of power and power. Even so, after arriving on the fourth level, they had experienced cold and brutal battles!

“Crown Prince Your Highness, there is an unusual aura over there…” Duke Fullmoon said with some doubt as he looked at some place in the distance where ice and fire met together.

In that area, he could feel a demonic aura that rose to the heavens!

Standing beside the Crown Prince, a tall and burly young man took out a strange map that had been pieced together. The map illustrated a dense terrain covered with colored lines.

This was a map of the final trial that was handed out by Divine Void Divine Kingdom. In truth, using this map as a reference point wasn’t too useful, because the world of the fourth level was created by the elemental powers of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Each one of these elemental lands had rare treasures, and every now and then these elemental regions would shift and transform, migrating to other areas. Thus, each time this trial occurred there would be different dangers and different lucky chances.

If they were to spend a great deal of time and effort piecing together a map now, at the next final trial that map would only be 20-30% usable.

The tall and burly man frowned. He said, “Crown Prince Your Highness, Duke Fullmoon, the deeper we head into the fourth level the more dangers there will be. In the fourth level, our squad is already considered quite a ways in. In the battles just now we’ve experienced some struggles and have sustained some minor wounds. The area that Duke Fullmoon mentions is even deeper in, and if we go there we might have to face greater dangers…”

The deeper one ventured into the fourth level, the more dangers there were. But correspondingly, the better the lucky chances were!

In the middle of the fourth level, there had already been many squads that had members die because of the various dangers here. Many squads had reached the middle of the fourth level and stayed there, waiting for the entrance to the fifth level to open.

In almost every case, the entrance to the fifth level would appear in the middle of the fourth level. As for everything past that, that was a land filled with treasures and lucky chances. However, there was killing intent spread through every inch of land. The strong could journey in, but the weak had to give up.

In this final trial, there was only an extremely small number of squads that were willing to venture deep into the fourth level. As for the Divine Void Crown Prince, his squad was one of these.

The Divine Void Crown Prince’s complexion changed as he weighed the advantages and disadvantages. Riches and glory always came with danger. Lucky chances like this weren’t common, so with such a lucky chance placed in front of him, how could he be willing to leave?

After a moment of thought, the Divine Void Crown Prince gloomily said, “To cultivate the martial path is to struggle with the heavens at every step. Many people struggle to find lucky chances, and if there is a lucky chance placed in front of us and we do not try to grasp it, why do we still cultivate the martial path? Let’s go and take a look!”

As the Divine Void Third Crown Prince spoke, a brilliant light shot out from his eyes. He gazed towards the direction where that massive aura was surging out from and pointed his hand outwards.

The silver python beneath his feet was an intelligent creature and was able to feel the fluctuations in its master’s thoughts. With a loud roar, a cloud-piercing, stone-cracking sound echoed through the world as it rapidly accelerated forwards, towards the area that the Divine Void Third Crown Prince indicated. As the silver python’s massive form tore through the air, a sharp whistling sound howled out. Innumerable mountain peaks were crushed and an equal number of rivers were cut off beneath the silver python.

Duke Fullmoon and the young man launched their movement techniques and followed close behind. The young man’s name was Juku. Of the two of them, Duke Fullmoon was a World King and Juku was a half-step World King. However, Juku still possessed the combat strength of a World King.

After a quarter hour passed, the silver python’s speed slowed. They finally stopped in front of a pitch black land that was cracked and scorched.

A vast and irresistible aura transmitted from the space above this land.

In the void, the powers of freezing cold and burning flames howled as they twisted around a mountain-sized jet black rock shaped like a square.

All around this rock were mysterious giant runes, floating and sparkling.

As the Divine Void Crown Prince stood high atop the silver python, he was just able to see that at the top of this massive square rock, at the very center, was a True Dragon!

This True Dragon was pure black and only 10 feet long. The Divine Void Crown Prince had never seen such a small True Dragon before. Its body was covered with scales and it clawed at the void, roaring out as it did so. Its dark eyes flitted back and forth, as sharp and bright as lightning. A deep atmosphere of blood and death surrounded it.

The Divine Void Crown Prince was startled. Why was there a dragon here?

The final trial mystic realm had existed for 10 billion years already. It was impossible for a Black Dragon to survive for such a long time. Moreover, this Black Dragon was only 10 feet long; it was simply unthinkable!

Not only was the Divine Void Crown Prince shocked, but Duke Fullmoon and Juku were equally dumbfounded.

They glanced at each other and then back towards the Black Dragon. But as they looked again, the scene they saw was different.

What Black Dragon was there? At the center of the black rock, it was clearly a black long spear that was stabbed into the rock! This spear was covered with a vast and pure demonic strength. The demonic strength gathered together, condensing into the phantom of a Black Dragon that danced in the air.

This spear was 10 feet long and the dark spear shaft shined with an icy metallic luster. The spear head was stabbed into the center of the rock so it was impossible to see. But, even though it was stabbed into the black rock, one could still feel that it was incomparably sharp, as if it could tear apart all of space. Even from hundreds of thousands of feet away, one still felt as if the sharp point of the spear head was hanging above their head, ready to come falling down at any moment and grind one to dust. It was a feeling that left the heart racing.

“This is…”

The Divine Void Crown Prince was shocked.

Was the Black Dragon just now an illusion? Had they mistaken that dragon-shaped demonic energy for a Black Dragon?

If one of them had seen incorrectly then that might have been acceptable, but for all three of them to see the wrong thing, that was unusual!

As the saying went – divine spear like dragon. Could it be because this spear truly held the charm of a dragon, thus at first glance they had thought it to be a True Dragon?

“This is a divine spear. I fear that its grade might surpass an Empyrean spirit treasure!”

The Divine Void Third Crown Prince’s pupils shrank and his breathing became a bit ragged and loud. Greed shined in his eyes.

If Lin Ming were here he would have instantly identified that this black spear was in fact extremely similar to the dragon spear that the Black Asura had held in the Gate of Laws!

If so, then the significance of this spear was beyond extraordinary!

“Haha, to find this spear is Your Highness’ great lucky chance as well as our great lucky chance!

As Juku gripped the pieced-together map, all the muscles on his body began to bulge out.

Duke Fullmoon also gulped; after all, he too was a spear master. However, he was well aware that with the Divine Void Third Crown Prince standing right beside him, it wouldn’t be his turn for such a good thing. Still, he could drink a little of the soup afterwards.

And indeed, the Third Crown Prince said, “Don’t worry, I will not take sole possession of this spear; after all, my weapon is not a spear. I will take this spear and gift it to our Divine Kingdom and we shall be rewarded with unimaginable riches!”

The Divine Void Crown Prince was skilled in manipulating emotions and thoughts; he naturally wouldn’t do something so stupid like betraying the heart of his subordinates.

“Your Highness, allow me to fetch it!” Juku eagerly said.

“Be careful!”

The Divine Void Third Crown Prince nodded.

Juku suppressed the excitement in his heart and flew into the air. After moving forwards a thousand feet he remained high in the sky. Facing the black spear he traced his spatial ring and took out two blood red puppets. These puppets were created by a World King level puppet master and in the hands of a martial artist familiar with puppet techniques, they could display a strength at the late Divine Lord realm.

In the final trial, a late Divine Lord puppet wasn’t worth mentioning at all; it simply wasn’t much use in battle. But, using them for exploring the way was extremely useful.

Juku guessed that this Black Dragon Spear wouldn’t be easy to obtain. In order to grow up to the level he was at, he couldn’t be an idiot. If he were to recklessly try to take such a great treasure, he might be sending himself into the jaws of death. To use puppets to explore the way first was the most appropriate plan!

Woosh! Woosh!

The two puppets fired towards the Black Dragon Spear, one right one left!

As the puppets approached the Black Dragon Spear, the demonic energy gathered around the dragon spear became wild and violent. The demonic energy turned into a black dragon phantom that plunged towards the two puppets. In an instant, the two puppets were melted to nothing!

Juku was startled; he immediately took several steps back. Indeed, this spear wouldn’t be easy to take. He had to find some other method to do so.

As he was deep in thought trying to think of some other way, his complexion immediately changed. He watched blankly on as the terrifying demonic energy melted away the two puppets and then hurtled towards their puppet master like it had a mind of its own!