Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-2009

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In the last several thousand years, subduing this skinny old man was the first time Lin Ming had attacked a saint Empyrean.

Imperceptibly and unconsciously, his strength had already become strong to this degree.

Beneath his hands, ordinary Empyreans had no strength to resist.

But at this time, Lin Ming didn’t care about the skinny old man at all. All of his attention was centered on the mass of Famine’s flesh and blood.

Seeing the wriggling piece of flesh, Lin Ming frowned.

The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign was already passing out Famine’s flesh for Empyreans to use? Then how many World Kings and Holy Lords had taken the flesh of Famine?

Through the flesh and blood of Famine, more and more powerhouses would become loyal servants of the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign…

Thinking of this, Lin Ming glanced at the mass of Famine’s flesh once more. Then, a light lit up in his mind and he seemed to realize something.

His thoughts sunk into his spiritual sea. There, he contacted Famine’s soul that was within him. He reached out a hand and the flesh of Famine began to slowly wriggle about as it floated towards Lin Ming’s hands.

This wasn’t Lin Ming pulling something through space towards him. Rather, the flesh of Famine was approaching him on its own initiative.

The flesh of Famine floated in front of Lin Ming where it flew above his palm. He could feel that this flesh of Famine in his hands was unusual; in a way, it was concentrated essence similar to the ‘demon relic’. It was likely something prepared especially for Empyreans by the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign. Although it was a small amount, the total quantity of energy inherent within it was uncommon.

Lin Ming could clearly feel the sealed soul of Famine linking together with this mass of flesh through his spiritual strength.

The flesh of Famine possessed a terrifying ability within this world – the ability to swallow all and turn what it swallowed into its own energy to nourish itself.

Once Famine’s flesh and blood fused with the mortal body of a martial artist, that fused martial artist would also gain such an ability. In other words, they would gain the ability to absorb the strength of others to become stronger.

In addition, fusing with the flesh of Famine gave a martial artist the ability to undergo another body metamorphosis.

Lin Ming had seen this type of body metamorphosis in the final trial before. Back then, Holy Lord level martial artists had activated the power of Famine’s bloodline to undergo a body metamorphosis, and for a short period of time they were able to increase their strength several times over, thus completely overwhelming all other martial artists of the same level!

In the world of martial artists, in order to grow strong, climb higher, and live longer, there were innumerable people willing to commit unspeakable deeds.

For instance, this skinny old man was unable to deny himself the temptation of living for several tens of millions more years.

The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign knew this. He had grasped this truth, and if this were to continue then he would eventually become the absolute ruler of the world through Famine!

And only the heavens knew what benefits the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign would receive after controlling everything. Would he be able to reverse the flow of energy through the flesh of Famine and instead suck out all the life essence of martial artists that were controlled by him? Would he be able to finally break past the boundaries of True Divinity and become an existence that stood equal to the Asura Road Master?

Lin Ming’s complexion darkened. Although these speculations might not be accurate, he still had a deep understanding into just how dreadful the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign’s ambitions were. Invading humanity might just be the first move of his chess game.

In this great calamity, the Saint Sovereign and Soul Emperor were two old hidden monsters that were slowly revealing their fangs. They began to carry out their respective plans that they had plotted for hundreds of millions of years.

They both believed they were players in the great game.

And now, Lin Ming could vaguely begin to make out the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign’s chess game. Still, he was completely clueless as to what endgame the Soul Emperor was trying to play towards.

Every individual wanted to control the great chessboard of the world; Lin Ming was naturally included amongst these people.

He was waiting for the time that the two old men guarding the final trial had spoken of, the time when he could transform from a chess piece to a chess player.

At this time, the sound of heavy footsteps came from the other side of the door.

A group of Holy Lord realm guards rushed in. Lin Ming’s brief battle against the skinny old man had caused a large commotion and even the entire chamber had been ruined.

“You… are done for… killing me and destroying this spirit ship, you will be unable to escape… the saints will chase you down to the ends of the world and turn your bones to ashes…”

The skinny old man wheezed as he tried to breathe. He could no longer open his mouth, but he was still able to pass sound transmissions to Lin Ming.

Lin Ming faintly glanced at the skinny old man. At this time, a shout cried out through the door.

“Lord Timebright, what happened!?”

Over a dozen guards rushed towards the chamber entrance. Even the inner gates of the alchemist chamber had been burned down to molten slag and the array formations had been ruined. Thus, they flushed in without any obstructions.

However, as they saw the scene within the alchemy chamber, they were stunned.

“Just what are you all panicked about!”

A hoarse grinding voice spilled out, one thick with cruelty and ferocity and even a hint of anger. A skinny old man wearing a dark green robe was clearly standing in good shape in the center of the chamber. This was Grandmaster Timebright and his complexion was particularly gloomy.

Everything around him was wreckage. One could see ruined ashes and equipment all around and the guards could even make out the pieces of destroyed medicinal concoctions.

“All of you screw off!”

The skinny old man roared out. The Holy Lord powerhouses inwardly cursed and immediately fell silent. Then, under the leadership of the guard captain, they all rapidly retreated.

“Lord Timebright is becoming increasingly eccentric…”

After leaving the area, the guards spoke to each other in quiet sound transmissions.

“His life is reaching its end so his character has started to warp. Many old people are like this. He must have been trying to refine some type of life-extending pill just then but failed in the end.”

“Stop talking, if Lord Timebright knows that we are talking about him behind his back then all of us will die!”

Several guards hushed each other. They hid away somewhere else, no longer daring to come to this chamber.

By this time, Lin Ming had laid down an array formation and blocked out the chamber. He entered the space of the Magic Cube.

In front of him was Grandmaster Timebright, on the verge of death with only a single breath left in his body.

But at this time, Lin Ming had completely transformed into an appearance similar to Grandmaster Timebright. His face, clothes, aura, everything was exactly the same.

“You… you…” The skinny old man was flustered. It was like he had bumped into a ghost. Even for him, it was impossible to tell the difference between himself and this fake copy in front of him.

Lin Ming took the flesh of Famine and slowly trod towards Timebright, one step at a time.

Then, beneath Timebright’s panic-stricken eyes, Lin Ming took the flesh of Famine and forced it through his broken chest, right next to his heart. As the flesh of Famine soaked itself in Timebright’s blood, it was like a leech that scented blood and began to drill its way into Timebright’s body.

“You… what are you doing?”

Timebright paled.

However, Famine’s flesh didn’t swallow Timebright. It seemed that the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign had already left behind orders in a spirit mark. When Famine’s flesh drilled into Timebright’s body, it scattered into numerous threads which drilled into every inch of him.

The flesh of Famine brought with it an overwhelming power of blood vitality. Timebright could feel his life force gradually being restored!

His strength also slowly returned!

Pa pa pa!

All around Timebright’s body, the runes Lin Ming cast out also started to vanish. In this instant, Timebright regained his freedom.

Timebright was shocked. This youth was actually letting him go?

Or, could it be that this youth thought that he wasn’t a match at all and could be easily pinched to death, thus he had been released from his rune prison?

In that moment, a crazy thought instantly flashed through Timebright’s mind. That was, to undergo body metamorphosis and kill this youth!

He knew that after fusing with the flesh of Famine, he would gain a body metamorphosis ability. Although he had never used this ability before, he instinctively sensed how to do so after fusing with Famine’s flesh.

With just a single thought, he could activate the savage power of Famine’s flesh within him!

But as Timebright thought of activating the body metamorphosis he suddenly cried out in pain and agony wracked his body!

With light popping sounds, countless bloody threads drilled out from Timebright’s body, as if his entire body were pierced through with steel wires. These blood red threads were the flesh of Famine that had fused into Timebright!

Timebright’s body exploded into a mist of blood fog. Even his eyeballs blew open. He had died miserably.

When Famine’s flesh fused into Timebright’s body, Lin Ming was still able to control it. This was because when Lin Ming fused the flesh of Famine into Timebright’s body, he had left behind his own spirit mark.

This spirit mark carefully avoided the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign’s spirit mark.

In this way, while the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign’s spirit mark hadn’t been activated and was in a state of slumber, then Lin Ming would have complete command of Famine’s flesh.

And the command that Lin Ming had given Famine’s flesh just now was to scatter outwards in all directions and kill Timebright.

He was successful.

With this, Lin Ming was overjoyed!

However, if the spirit mark he left behind in Famine’s flesh simultaneously activated along with the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign’s spirit mark, then just who would Famine’s flesh listen to?

Lin Ming didn’t know, but he was looking forwards to this moment.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t test out what would happen. He could not allow the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign to discover that there was someone who was able to control Famine’s flesh and blood just like he could.

Then, Lin Ming’s palm opened up. A spinning black cube flew out and absorbed the skinny old man’s soul source, completely wiping away the soul’s spirit mark and turning it into pure memories.

Lin Ming drew the skinny old man’s ownerless soul into his spiritual sea and began to read through the memories.

The skinny old man’s cultivation methods, Laws, comprehensions, and alchemy techniques were all things that Lin Ming didn’t care about at all; he tossed all of this aside. What he cared about was any information the saints had on humanity.

Humanity’s distribution of forces, present situation, comparison of strength, positions of the saint True Divinities…

But just as he started reading through the information, Lin Ming felt a cold sweat drip down his back.

This was – Famine was already approaching its peak strength from the past. And after carving open a channel into another universe, the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign had entered a period of long seclusion where no one was allowed to disturb him. He was preparing to use Famine to swallow one of the 33 Heavenly Dao Laws. This Law was… the essence gathering system that humanity excelled in!

The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign wished to use Famine to bring down humanity’s essence gathering system!