Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-673

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“Hey boy, I have some good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”

“Demonshine, I’m not in the mood to joke with you right now. What’s the news?” Lin Ming frowned. At this time he really didn’t have thoughts of playing around.

“Aiyaya, you’re really boring. For better or worse, this Saint had to consume quite a bit of soul force for this information.” Demonshine muttered with a sulking expression. But as he saw that Lin Ming looked very serious, he no longer joked around and directly said, “The good news is that Mu Qianyu should be safe. Whilst the South Sea Demon Region was focused on finding the key figures of Divine Phoenix Island like Mu Qianyu, Mu Yuhuang and Mu Fengxian, they still weren’t able to catch them…”

As Lin Ming heard this, he let out a long sigh of relief, as if something heavy was lifted off of his back, “Where have they gone?”

“That I do not know.” Demonshine spread his doggy paws out, “If that black-robed old man knew where Mu Qianyu and them had scampered off to, then they probably would have gone to capture them tomorrow.”

Seeing Lin Ming remain silent, Demonshine said, “I don’t know where they went, but they should have joined in with some other powers that formed the Anti Demon Alliance. But, their days shouldn’t be much better off. They’re likely hiding somewhere with appearance changing techniques too.”

“Anti Demon Alliance…” Lin Ming thought for a moment. In an organization like that, it should be somewhat safer.

“And the bad news?” Lin Ming glared at Demonshine, his heart still not completely relieved. If Demonshine’s so-called ‘good news’ was that Mu Qianyu had escaped, but the ‘bad news’ was that Qin Xingxuan had been captured, then he really wouldn’t be able to resist his impulse to strangle this damn old dog to death.

Demonshine said, “The bad news is that Xuan Wuji has gone into closed-door seclusion lately. Chances are he should be able to come back out in a few months or even half a year. When that happens, he should have broken through to the fourth stage of Life Destruction.”

When a human martial artist went through Life Destruction, they had to break apart the Revolving Core in their body and then reform it. This process absolutely could not be disturbed nor could they interrupt their seclusion.

“I see…” Lin Ming let out a long sigh of relief. He didn’t care too much about Xuan Wuji making a breakthrough or how powerful his enemies were. What he did fear was whether or not his family and friends were in danger.

“Xuan Wuji has probably plundered countless resources these past two years, otherwise that old thing would never attack the fourth stage of Life Destruction unless he had absolute assurance in his success.” Lin Ming reflected.

Xuan Wuji had great ambitions. He had set his determination to break through to the Divine Sea and have his South Sea Demon Region become a Holy Land. The reason that the South Sea Demon Region had lit the flames of war was all in order to compete for cultivation resources and pave the road for Xuan Wuji to become a Divine Sea master.

“Lin Ming, what will your next step be?” Duanmu Qun walked over beside Lin Ming and asked him.

“First we will cleanse Divine Phoenix Island!” Lin Ming said with a murderous tone. Towards the martial artists of the South Sea Demon Region, he didn’t even have a hint of compassion or favorable impression. In his mind, those that followed the path of perversion were far more evil and dangerous than those that followed the path of slaughtering.

“Haha, good idea!” Duanmu Qun flourished his long sword. Under the Life Destruction realm, he could be considered invincible. Now that the Life Destruction Elder was gone, sweeping away everyone else on this island would be an easy task.

“Brother Feng Shen, you take the south, I’ll take the north, and Lan Xin can go west. Brother Lin, the rest can be left to you. How about it?”

Feng Shen nodded. He took out his long sword and immediately flew towards the south part of the island.

Lin Ming grasped his white spear and flew straight towards the Vermillion Bird Temple. Originally, the Vermillion Bird Temple was the central shrine of the Vermillion Bird Faction. He wanted to search over there to see if there were any clues left behind by Mu Yuhuang or Mu Qianyu.

The remaining demon region martial artists on Divine Phoenix Island were already in a complete mess. They simply couldn’t withstand the impact of these four people and gave way at the first encounter. Everyone began scattering in all directions, fleeing off to hide by themselves.

Feng Shen, Lan Xin, and Duanmu Qun were all extraordinarily beautiful individuals, but when it came to killing others, they could slaughter without blinking. After all, they had experienced the frigid battlefield that was called Skysplit Tower.

Feng Shen’s sword was like the wind. Every sword would stab between an enemy’s eyebrows, taking their life with a single blow. As for Lan Xin, she preferred to slice the throats of others. As she continued to kill she kept finding dying women that were captured for obscene purposes. This caused her to hate those demonic path martial artists even more, killing them all without an ounce of mercy.

At this time, Lin Ming had already rushed into the Vermillion Bird Temple.

The once glorious and majestic Vermillion Bird Temple was now desolate and gloomy. The great protective array here was long since broken and many of the tiles and walls were torn apart. The beautiful carvings and reliefs on the walls and columns were now ruined and decayed.

Because Duanmu Qun and the others were busy killing off the remnant forces and the black-robed Elder had already died, the Vermillion Bird Temple was now deserted.

Lin Ming searched everyone. Besides finding a few pale and sickly girls in ragged clothes, he didn’t find any other clues.

With a sigh, Lin Ming took out some clothes from his spatial ring and tossed them to these young girls. Then, he fell into contemplation. If Mu Qianyu had really wanted to leave him a message, just where should she keep it and in what form?

When he had been with Mu Qianyu, she had never shown him any sort of special code or cipher. If this sort of information wasn’t hidden well and was discovered by the South Sea Demon Region, then the consequences would be dire.

But, if she were to hide a message, how could she guarantee that others wouldn’t be able to find it?

On such a vast Divine Phoenix Island, just where would Mu Qianyu leave a clue?

Lin Ming released all of his perception to cover the entire Vermillion Bird Temple, hoping that he would find even the slightest hint.

As he searched over and over again, Lin Ming found many of the old tools and objects that Mu Qianyu had used when she lived here. Vaguely, he could see that red-clothed woman who lived here every day, who loved playing instruments and practicing martial arts.

Unfortunately, with the passing of time, all things came to an end. Those beautiful and endless days could no longer be sought here.

Lin Ming remembered that Mu Fengxian once said that whenever an Emperor powerhouse was born, they needed a massive amount of destiny and lucky chances falling upon their shoulders. But, the sect that the future Emperor powerhouse started out from wouldn’t necessarily be able to benefit from the birth of an Emperor level powerhouse.

This was because the growth of a true Emperor powerhouse would cause the attraction and provocation of many powerful enemies. If a sect lacked strength and destiny and was unable to carry such a genius, then that genius would be the reason that the sect perished. Since ancient times, this sort of matter was very common.

“I hope that Miss Mu, Qin Xingxuan, and the others are safe…” Lin Ming could only pray like this. After finding no clues, he left the Vermillion Bird Temple in a sad and dispirited manner.

Carefully thinking about it some more, even if Mu Qianyu had intended to leave some clues, she might have been helpless to begin with. Mu Fengxian and the others might not have been immediately able to decide where to go. After all, this was a top fourth-grade sect with tens of thousands of people. Moving to a new home that was hidden and had adequate resources… wasn’t that easier said than done?

As Lin Ming left the Vermillion Bird Temple he was somewhat dazed.

Looking out towards the distant horizon, he could vaguely see the faint white fog of the world. The bright sunlight fell onto the sea, illuminating it like a golden flame. Atop this golden flame were many sea birds flying over. It seemed to be a very peaceful and serene scene.

The Vermillion Bird Temple was located at the highest point of Divine Phoenix Mountain. One could see the entire view of the South Sea as well as survey all of Divine Phoenix Island.

When Lin Ming was overlooking the view from Divine Phoenix Island, he actually saw a place that was covered with an extremely thick heaven and earth origin energy. His soul was stunned. This was… the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm!

The Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm originated from the Ancient Phoenix Clan. As for what rank power the Ancient Phoenix Clan was, Lin Ming found it hard to say. Four years ago, Lin Ming was still a Pulse Condensation period martial artist. With his talent, he was permitted to enter the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, and there he managed to enter the general level smelting trial. But, he had been far away from reaching the king level smelting trial.

Thus it could be seen from this alone that the Ancient Phoenix Clan must have been a terrifying power. Although they might not have been able to compare to the Eternal Demon Abyss, they were absolutely above the Demon God Imperial Palace!

The Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm was also surrounded by an ancient array formation that only Divine Phoenix Island could open. Even if the South Sea Demon Region captured Divine Phoenix Island, they still wouldn’t have the ability to open the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm.

In other words, the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm was an absolutely safe place.

Was it possible that Mu Qianyu had left him some sort of message within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm?

As Lin Ming thought of this, he no longer hesitated and flew directly towards the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm. The several dozen miles passed in a fleeting instant.

The Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm was located in the depths of the Divine Phoenix Island mountain range. It was surrounded by a formation of mountains and valleys that kept the energy of the land within. The heaven and earth origin energy here was very rich, especially fire and water origin energy. It was thick to the point of nearly becoming a faint mist.

There was a protective array formation outside of the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm. In order to enter, one first had to pass through this array formation.

This was an ancient array formation; it wasn’t something that the South Sea Demon Region had the ability to break open.

Lin Ming was originally familiar and proficient with ancient array formations. He had also entered the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, completing the final general level smelting trial and had been recognized by the Divine Phoenix Mystic realm. Even if he didn’t learn the method of how to open this array formation from Mu Yuhuang, figuring out how to do it wouldn’t be too hard for him either.

After an hour of time, Lin Ming found out the approximate method to open it. Revolving the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’ within his body, he reached out his hand and formed flaming golden runes.

The void trembled. With a buzzing sound, the space several dozen feet in front of Lin Ming began to distort, as if it were calmly rippling water. But, these ripples didn’t last too long, and soon faded away.

Lin Ming wasn’t discouraged. He attempted time and time again to fuse the Concept of Space into these flame array symbols. Finally, after another quarter of an hour, he opened the barrier.

A barrier of light appeared in thin air. Within the barrier, there was a single gap. From within, he could feel the intense energy of fire and ice colliding with each other, the sound of muffled thunder filling the air.

Lin Ming calmed himself and stepped through the protective array formation to enter the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm.

Light flashed. Lin Ming arrived at the mountain valley where the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm was. But in the instant when he entered, Lin Ming saw that near the entrance to the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, there were elegant and beautiful letters carved on a 10,000 year old parasol tree.

‘Thundercrash Mountain, nameless cave, ten years’ time, the appointed meeting!’

At the moment he saw these words, Lin Ming’s heart shook like an earthquake passed through him. Just 10 words and written in such a simple manner, yet they contained the strong will and determination of Mu Qianyu. She didn’t write what would happen if they couldn’t make their appointment, nor did she write that they would die.

Ten words. The writing was graceful and succinct, as if it had fused within it an incomparably firm belief that allowed no room for doubt. No matter what happened during this time period, no matter what difficulties she faced, what trials and tribulations she would encounter…

Ten years’ time, the appointed meeting!

It was as if Lin Ming could see the scene that happened here six months ago. When Mu Qianyu had rushed into the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm and engraved this message, her hands were fast but firm. In her eyes was a faint trace of hope and faith, a touch of deep love and also sadness…

As for the nameless cave of Thundercrash Mountain… that was the place Mu Qianyu and Lin Ming had stayed when they first met. In that cave, the two of them had spent three days and three nights filled with immeasurable warmth…