Martial Universe (Wu Dong Qian Kun)
chapter-401

Darkness enveloped the vast land and the Ancient Battlefield’s night scene looked especially gloomy and depressing. A full moon hung high in the distant horizon.

The full moon appeared to be dark-red in colour, as if it was covered with countless layers of fresh blood, giving one a run of goosebumps on his or her skin.

The dark-reddish moonlight spilled down from the sky and illuminated the vast ravaged land. Deep and low roars resounded in succession through the vast land. Amongst these roars, there existed a thick scent of insanity and hysteria.

The nighttime of the Ancient Battlefield was the time that humans were forbidden to roam around.

In the assembly point’s city, Lin Dong sat cross-legged in his stone chamber silently. Traces of Devouring Power were pervading quietly through the air. The Yuan Power contained between Heaven and Earth was pouring into Lin Dong’s body steadily.

As these Yuan Power continuously flowed into Lin Dong’s body, there were faint strains of red-coloured energy gathering around his body as well.

Even though these strains of red-coloured energy were not vigorous, they displayed terrifying speed of vibrations and gave off intense heat. These strains of red-coloured energy were exactly Nirvana Qi.

From a certain perspective, Nirvana Qi was much more complicated and profound than Yuan Power. This kind of energy had numerous miraculous applications such as tempering and refining the Yuan Power and cleansing one’s physical body. However, due to the might of the Nirvana Qi, a lot of elites who had not entered the Nirvana Stage did not dare to absorb it without constraint. That was because their bodies could not withstand a huge amount of Nirvana Qi. Thus, these people could only absorb and refine a small amount of Nirvana Qi at a time. Most of them used the Nirvana Qi to refine and create the Nirvana pills, which could be used for attacking the Nirvana Stage.

However, Lin Dong did not really bother about such concerns. After all, he possessed the Devouring Ancestral Symbol. This allowed him to devour any forms of energy, even the Nirvana Qi by force!

As the faint red glow flickered around Lin Dong’s body, a fine creaking sound could be heard. These Nirvana Qi had permeated Lin Dong’s skin and flesh. The blazing energy that accompanied the Nirvana Qi had increased Lin Dong’s powers bit by bit as if a transformation was taking place.

With this rate of increase in his strength, it would not take long for Lin Dong to step into the advanced Manifestation Stage. When that times comes, any practitioners under the Nirvana Stage would not be his match.

After a long period of time, the boiling Yuan Power around Lin Dong’s body began to simmer down and the red glow flickering around his body began to dim as well. Lin Dong’s tightly-shut eyes opened up gradually.

In the darkness, two red glows flashed upon Lin Dong’s eyes, seemingly tearing apart the darkness.

“Phew!”

As he opened his eyes, Lin Dong exhaled a breath of heated white gas. With a flip of his palm, ten fiery-red and perfectly round Nirvana pills appeared on his palm. These Nirvana pills were made up of the leftover Nirvana Qi in Lin Dong’s body that had not been refined after he had devoured them.

If he was to take this handful of Nirvana pills out, it would draw countless shocking looks. After all, even an advanced Manifestation Stage practitioner like Mo Ling could only refine up to three Nirvana pills in one night. However, Lin Dong could easily produce ten Nirvana pills using just the leftover Nirvana Qi in his body in one night. His speed in producing the Nirvana pills was universally shocking.

However, even with such a petrifying speed, Lin Dong was not satisfied. He shook his head slightly and muttered, “All along in this assembly point, I still don’t dare to unleash the full power of the Devouring Ancestral Symbol. Otherwise, how could my reward be this little…”

Lin Dong’s demand for the Nirvana pills was much more higher than ordinary people. Not only did he need to prepare a large amount of Nirvana pills for himself, he also needed enough Nirvana pills to cleanse the Blood Soul Puppet. However, the amount of Nirvana pills that he currently possessed was far from enough for any of the two objectives he had.

“The nighttime in the Ancient Battlefield is indeed scary…”

Lin Dong leaped out of his stone bed and looked at the curtain of night that was sprinkled with dark-reddish moonlight. There was a solemn look on his face. Under the illumination of such moonlight, he could feel that the Yuan Power contained between Heaven and Earth were congregating and caused his movements to be sluggish. Even the flow of Yuan Power in his body was much more slower than it was in the daytime.

This was the third night that Lin Dong spent in the Ancient Battlefield. It had been three days since they arrived in the assembly point’s city. During these three days, he had not been in contact with anyone. Naturally, Mo Ling had done a great job in gathering intelligence. Hence, right now, he roughly knew a thing or two about the city.

Currently, the overlord of this assembly point’s city was the members from the Saint Light Empire. Lin Dong had never heard of this empire before, but their strength was indeed the most powerful among all the empires here. According to the intelligence gathered, the Saint Light Empire entered the Ancient Battlefield with twenty participants. Seven of these people had reached the advanced Manifestation Stage while their strongest member had already reached the apex of advanced Manifestation Stage. This was enough for them to look down on everyone.

This kind of capabilities and line-up were sufficient in deterring the members from other empires to plot against them. At the same time, in order to become the overlord of this assembly point, the Saint Light Empire collected Nirvana pills from anyone who seeked shelter in the city as a form of payment. Honestly speaking, this action was no different from the concept of collecting protection fees…

Even though the Saint Light Empire was tyrannical in their actions, they actually were capable of oppressing the geniuses from other empires given that they were short-handed. Hence, they roped in people who fawned upon them. This way, no one would dare to oppose them. After all, everyone were not familiar with the Ancient Battlefield. The nighttime in this place was enough to create fear in people. If they lost the protection of the city, they would most likely end up as foor for the Demonic Beasts.

Due to these reasons, the members of the Saint Light Empire were flamboyant and overbearing in this assembly point. However, most people did not dare to voice out their anger and grievances. With regards to this situation, Lin Dong kept an attitude of a bystander. During these three days, they also came into conflicts with the Saint Light Empire’s members, but they chose to bear with it in the end.

He understood that, in order to distinguish himself in the Ancient Battlefield, he must abandon the protection of the city and ventured alone into the wilderness of this land to experience the nature’s temperings. If he continued to hide here, he would become the most useless entity in this land.

Lin Dong had already made up his mind. After he stepped into the advanced Manifestation Stage, he would leave this place and carried on with his own solo training. Even if the danger factor of this plan was high, he had to do it. As long as he was with Mo Ling and the rest, he could not execute most of his moves and this restricted his movements. Of course, before he left, he had to get rid of one problem.

Lin Langtian.

Lin Dong’s eyes became slightly gloomy. Ever since they entered the Ancient Battlefield, Lin Langtian had become extremely quiet. That kind of behaviour seemed to show that the latter had forgotten about his feud with Lin Dong. However, not only did such behaviour not set Lin Dong’s mind at rest, instead, it increased his killer intent deeply. That was because he clearly knew that given Lin Langtian’s temperament and nature, a arch enemy like him must be killed as soon as possible.

“Wait until you have stepped into the advanced Manifestation Stage, then you should be able to use the Devouring Ancestral Symbol to stop the nighttime’s effects on you. When that moment comes, the Ancient Battlefield’s nighttime can no longer suppress your powers.”

“The Ancient Battlefield is extremely weird. If you roam around the area and train, it will benefit you greatly. Yet, if you stay here and hide, you will be a useless fool forever,” Little Marten laughed as he appeared on Lin dong’s shoulder and gazed upon the dark-reddish night scene.

Lin Dong nodded his head slightly. With regards to this land, his mind was filled with extreme curiosity.

“Be extra careful tonight. I can feel that the energy contained between Heaven and Earth is much more stronger than usual. Furthermore, a lot of auras have appeared outside of this city,” Little Marten suddenly said as he took a glance into the distance.

Upon hearing these words, Lin Dong startled and his eyelids suddenly twitched. His eyes were filled with intense shock. He then looked outside and lowered his volume and said, “Is the demonic horde coming?”

The demonic horde was an extremely terrifying disaster in the Ancient Battlefield. During the nighttime, numerous demonic beasts would gather. Then, like a locust swarm, they would destroy everything in their paths. During Lin Dong’s three days’ stay in this city, he had seen some smaller-scale demonic hordes, which were easily repelled. However, the incoming demonic horde did not appear to be small in size…

“Ok, I shouldn’t be wrong. We should be extra careful. As compared to the Great Yan Empire, the demonic beasts in the Ancient Battlefield are much more fierce and tough. Even an advanced Manifestation Stage practitioner will face certain death if he or she gets caught in the demonic horde,” Little Marten explained.

Lin Dong nodded his head as his eyes surged with sombreness. He then looked across the outside of the city. In the distant darkness, there appeared to be numerous glints of scarlet which brought fear to one’s heart.

After a moment, these glints of scarlet became more and more distinct. At this moment, the vast land shuddered slightly. It was as if the entire city trembled slightly.

“Woo!”

Since the city was filled with capable individuals, when the vast land trembled and a ear-piercing siren rang throughout the city, waves of vigorous aura erupted. Human silhouettes were seen jumping up and appearing on the city walls. When they saw a wave of endless and densely-packed demonic horde, numerous faces turned pale-white.

“Phew.”

Just as the entire city sank into chaos, Lin Dong exhaled deeply. He knew that the first problem he would encounter upon entering the Ancient Battlefield had finally come…