Martial Universe (Wu Dong Qian Kun)
chapter-322

In the quiet starry space, Lin Dong stared at an ancient symbol to his front and suddenly realized that even at this moment when it was worth going crazy with joy over, he was rather calm, at which he could not help but be a little stunned and speechless. That endless darkness was heart palpitating, but he had walked in it for only god knows how long.

In the darkness, there were no vicious attacks or attacks from great formations as he had imagined, but that kind of quiet darkness was more cruel than any deadly strike.

Lin Dong was unable to imagine how he had passed through that terrifying world of darkness, but he could still feel the faint remaining smell of fear in his mind. It was a state of mind that had been created in the world of darkness.

Within the endless darkness where even one’s body did not exist, he had almost lost himself once and sank into the darkness…

Even the path of light that had appeared behind him in the end was a cruel test. If Lin Dong had really turned around and stepped onto the road of light, when he walked to the end of the road, he would have found that he would be eternally submerged in the darkness. That kind of ending was more terrifying than even death itself!

Fortunately, when he entered the Devouring Ancestral Symbol, the black eye elder’s warnings had achieved a most crucial use. At the final moment, Lin Dong chose to persevere on the route in his heart and give up on the fatally attractive path of light…

An ordinary person could not imagine how much enticement a sliver of light would possess after walking in the darkness for such a long time. It was akin to a person about to die of thirst in the desert seeing a mouthful of sweet water. That kind of enticement was irresistible, but fortunately, Lin Dong had persevered in the end, his back to the light as he walked out, walking towards the path in his heart, while the path in his heart led him to the place he wanted to go.

A world of darkness that was so silent it was terrifying, without wind or any movement. But to Lin Dong, it was undoubtedly even more treacherous than challenging a thousand Ghastly Puppet Cults. If he knew that the Devouring Ancestral Symbol test would actually be so frightening, perhaps, Lin Dong would truly start to hesitate before he entered, this had been a trial of willpower…

“Phew…”

Lin Dong let out a long sigh, lowering his head to look only to be slightly taken aback. He had discovered that his body had actually become much more solid than before.

What had entered the Devouring Ancestral Symbol was not Lin Dong’s physical body, but his Mental Energy. Moreover, Lin Dong clearly remembered that when he had just entered the Ancestral Symbol, his Mental Energy was only able to barely take human-shape, and had been exceptionally faint and illusionary. Yet, this Mental Energy now gave of a solid and real feel and looked no different than his physical body.

Even some middle level Soul Symbol Masters could not achieve such solid Mental Energy, yet Lin Dong had relied on his low level Soul Symbol Master Mental Energy to successfully condense it…

“Although my Mental Energy has not grown by a lot, it has become tougher and more real than before…” Shock filled Lin Dong’s face. Though his Mental Energy had not increased, the level of Lin Dong’s current Mental Energy was undoubtedly enough to outclass all middle level Soul Symbol Masters!

It was as if though the amount of Mental Energy had not risen, its quality had improved substantially. Among those of the same level, Lin Dong’s Mental Energy was likely comparable to several times or even ten times the amount of Mental Energy, and this was the benefits he had gained in the world of darkness. Not only had he successfully received the recognition of the Devouring Ancestral Symbol, his Mental Energy foundation had become as solid as a mountain. This was the most valuable thing!

“Looks like the time I spent in the Devouring Ancestral Symbol was not short.” Lin Dong’s gaze flickered. This steady and solid as a mountain Mental Energy was not something one could train in a short period of time. No matter how abnormal the world of darkness was, it should still take at least half a year.

Of course, this did not make Lin Dong even the slightest bit astonished. When he was in the world of darkness, it was as if he had spent a hundred years there. Even if someone told him ten years had passed in the outside world, he would not find it unexpected at all.

After examining himself for a while, Lin Dong finally cast all his attention towards the slowly wiggling ancient symbol to his front.

As he concentrated, Lin Dong discovered that there was a faintly discernible figure on the symbol which did not seem to have a fixed shape. It fluctuated from time to time, and when he vaguely saw the figure transform into the black eye elder, Lin Dong realised that the Devouring Ancestral Symbol spirit seemed to change into its owner’s shape after being refined. The current Devouring Ancestral Symbol was in a masterless state after the death of the black eye elder, thus, it did not have a clear shape or appearance.

Lin Dong stood before the Devouring Ancestral Symbol and respectfully bowed towards it. This kind of ancient existence was worthy of a respectful attitude.

“Buzz buzz!”

When Lin Dong bent his body, the ancient symbol actually emitted a strange buzzing sound. The indistinct figure squirmed as if it was slowly reaching out a hand to Lin Dong.

Since Lin Dong had successfully passed through the world of darkness, he could be considered to have already obtained the recognition of the Ancestral Symbol. Hence, it now reached out a hand, evidently intending to complete the final step of recognizing a master.

Upon seeing this scene, Lin Dong slowly nodded his head, the expression on his face like an ancient well without ripples. The world of darkness was evidently extremely useful in the tempering of his character.

The Devouring Ancestral Symbol had a symbol spirit, and this symbol spirit had spirit intelligence. Yet, this kind of spirit intelligence was far from comparable to Little Marten. Of course, this did not mean that the Ancestral Symbol could not compare to Little Marten, but because the Ancestral Symbol had existed for too long, and was too powerful…

It was very difficult for this kind of powerful object to truly possess a human-like intelligence. It had a spirit, but it could not possess startling intelligence like Little Marten or other powerful Demonic Beasts.

Lin Dong reached out his hand and gently contacted the symbol spirit’s hand. Immediately, the latter’s figure squirmed and fluctuated, directly transforming into a splitting image of Lin Dong.

However, the symbol spirit’s eyes were pitch-black like the black eye elder, an extremely bizarre sight…

When the symbol spirit took on Lin Dong’s appearance, the black hole like, slowly wiggling ancient symbol also floated out as waves of devouring energy spread out from within. In the face of that kind of power, even light could not escape.

The pulsating Devouring Ancestral Symbol floated forth, hovering above Lin Dong’s forehead before submerging into it.

“Boom!”

As the Devouring Ancestral Symbol submerged into Lin Dong’s head, wave after wave of formidable devouring power immediately exploded around his body. As these waves spread outwards, countless enormous black holes suddenly appeared in the starry space. As the black holes swallowed everything, the stars and land crumbled, an instantaneous and frightening change.

Lin Dong sat in the middle of the countless black holes, allowing the black holes to destroy and the stars to rise and fall, while his body did not make even the slightest bit of movement.

When the symbol spirit of the Devouring Ancestral Symbol saw this, its hand waved as its body swiftly faded, transforming into a small flash of light and entering Lin Dong’s body.

“Bang!”

The instant it entered Lin Dong’s body, an earth-shattering change started in Lin Dong’s Niwan Palace. The give Destiny Soul Symbols originally floating in his Niwan Palace completely crumbled in an instant, transforming into pure Mental Energy which whizzed about the Niwan Palace.

“Buzz buzz!”

At the spot where the Destiny Soul Symbols crumbled, a black hole slowly appeared as a terrifying devouring power spread outwards.

“Hua hua!”

As the devouring power spread, the Mental Energy that filled the Niwan Palace was completely sucked into the black hole in a few breaths time. That sucking speed was terrifying, and after absorbing the Mental Energy, the black hole did not stop as the devouring power grew increasingly more powerful!

Under this kind of devouring power, portions of extremely strong Mental Energy suddenly diffused out from the starry space. This Mental Energy was very ancient and seemed to belong to the Devouring Ancestral Symbol as it now endlessly poured into Lin Dong’s Niwan Palace.

As such powerful Mental Energy poured in, Lin Dong’s Niwan Palace was immediately filled by the vigorous Mental Energy before being once again gobbled up by the black hole. Under this devouring, Lin Dong could feel his Mental Energy swiftly increasing at an extremely frightening pace!

Normally, one needed to be careful about this sharp rise in Mental Energy, after all, there were no lack of Symbol Masters whose Niwan Palaces had been destroyed by sudden, uncontrollable and powerful Mental Energy. Yet, this was clearly not a problem for Lin Dong. Now that the Devouring Ancestral Symbol oversaw his Niwan Palace, there were likely only a handful of powerful Mental Energy that could destroy his Niwan Palace!

Moreover, after experiencing the tempering of the world of darkness, Lin Dong was confident that he would be able to perfectly control this rapidly increasing Mental Energy!

With these layers of confidence, there was naturally nothing to be alarmed about for Lin Dong. He quietly sat in the empty space, devouring the powerful Mental Energy that gushed from all directions…

Under this devouring, a powerful Mental Energy slowly spread out from Lin Dong’s body!