Chapter 575 – Termination Emblem
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One month later, it had been a total of half a year since Lin Ming entered the third floor of Skysplit Tower.
Within the open space of the Concept of Thunder practice area, a young man stood there. His upper chest was naked, and his long hair hung down to his waist. A faint imposing aura emanated from between his eyebrows, but as he opened his eyes, a burst of light flashed within them like a bolt of thunder.
Between his eyebrows was a faint fire mark. It seemed like a scar, but as one stared at it, it made one feel apprehensive, as if some mysterious force was gripping them.
As soon as the middle-aged man in charge of the registration office saw Lin Ming come in, his heart inexplicably jumped.
“My practice has ended. Please register it.” Lin Ming said.
“Oh… okay, good.” The middle-aged man responded as he quickly took out a jade slip. He verified the registration and then refunded Lin Ming’s deposit. As one of the deacons of Skysplit Tower, this middle-aged man’s cultivation was at the late Houtian realm. But, as he came into contact with Lin Ming, he strangely felt a great pressure envelop him.
“This is a return of 40 high-grade Blood Demon Crystals.”
Lin Ming glanced over and received them.
“Well… there’s also another matter… about your recent match schedule.” The middle-aged man took out another jade slip and carefully handed it to Lin Ming.
Lin Ming sunk his sense inside. Inside this jade slip was material on his opponents. One was arranged two months ago, and another was more recent.
Of the two people, one’s strength was ranked 17, and another was ranked 12.
“Yan Hu, peak six-winged Heavenly Demon, 122 win winning streak.”
“Ming Sun, peak six-winged Heavenly Demon, 133 win winning streak.”
Lin Ming thought about these two. According to the rules of Skysplit Tower, he would have to accept these two matches continuously.
Both of them were martial artists that had managed to accumulate a win streak over 100. Of course, in Skysplit Tower, when one killed another person they gained at least a 10 win winning streak, otherwise it would be impossible to win 100 victories on the field.
The middle-aged man looked at Lin Ming and said in a low voice, “Lord Lin, if you can kill a martial artist with a 100 win winning streak, you will obtain the Termination Emblem.”
Because of the change in Lin Ming’s temperament and aura, this middle-aged man had unconsciously become respectful of Lin Ming. Compared to the first time he had seen Lin Ming, it was as if he were a completely different person.
“Oh? Is this how one earns the Termination Emblem?”
When Lin Ming was on the first floor, he had already heard about the Termination Emblem. Among the possible emblems one could obtain, it gave one of the higher rewards.
Lin Ming’s heart stirred. At this time, he really did need slaughter points. “How many slaughter points will I receive for the Termination Emblem?”
“50 slaughter points. In addition, after obtaining the Termination Emblem you will receive a higher authority, allowing you to access more practice areas within Skysplit Tower.”
“Mm?” Lin Ming’s eyes brightened. “What other practice areas are there in Skysplit Tower?”
“This… when Lord Lin obtains the Termination Emblem then you will be made known. As for now, it’s inconvenient for me to tell you, so I’ll have to excuse myself.”
“Mm, I understand.” Lin Ming nodded. As for obtaining this Termination Emblem, he never doubted himself. “What time are my matches?”
“Tomorrow. They will both be in the same area. I wish Lord Lin good luck.”
……………….
From the first floor to the third, every floor became increasingly lonely and deserted the further up one went.
On the first floor, the arena that could hold tens of thousands of people was nearly full every day. There were cheers, endless clamoring, shouts, cries, and people acting crazy everywhere.
As long as one paid a medium-grade Blood Demon Crystal then they would be able to enter the first floor. Many of these individuals were not challengers or even young elites. They had gathered there purely because they loved to see these killing games.
Thus, it could be said that the martial arena of the first floor was a never ending slaughter fest.
As for the second floor’s martial arena, it could only hold around 8000 people. The audience was nearly all challengers and they were much more restrained than those people on the first floor. Often they would peacefully watch the match – they wouldn’t be crazily shouting.
As for the third floor, it was even lonelier. The martial arena could only hold a mere few thousand people. The audience every day amounted to several dozen individuals. In a single day there would often only be a few matches, so most of the time the martial arena of the third floor was unoccupied.
Today however, the martial arena of the third floor had a rare surprise breakout of just over 100 people. It had to be known that the third floor only had around 300 to 400 challengers. This meant that nearly a third of the martial artists of the third floor had arrived at the martial arena. There were many among them that had even ended their closed-door cultivation early in order to hurry here.
Normally, only someone as famous as the Heavenly Demon Seven Stars or an equally renowned figure would arouse such interest in a match.
But, the one who walked onstage today was only a single human, Lin Ming.
Although Lin Ming was a remarkably outstanding talent, he was still a newcomer; there weren’t many people that cared much for him. But during his first match he had reversed everyone’s expectations and killed Hong Zhong, someone who was ranked around 30th to 40th on the third floor. The talent he revealed had startled and frightened everyone present.
For a newcomer to achieve this degree of success was truly abnormal. Thus, Lin Ming had naturally come under everyone’s attention. Especially today! He would continuously fight in two matches without a break!
But Lin Ming’s two opponents, Yan Hu and Ming Sun, were not average challengers. They were both ranked in the top 20 of Skysplit Tower’s third floor.
Today, there were even many top 10 masters of the third floor that had come. Without doubt, Lin Ming would inevitably become a powerful rival of theirs. They naturally had to be cautious and observe him.
Muk Gu was also among the group. The humans on the third floor did not surpass two digits in number. Muk Gu seemed very ordinary and plain as he mixed in the crowd.
As Muk Gu saw Lin Ming calmly appear on the edge of the arena stage, he didn’t know why but he felt his mind jump. He felt that he understood Lin Ming less and less. Looking back to the first time that he met Lin Ming on the outer borders of the Blood Slaughter Steppes and had even threatened him somewhat, he felt that his actions were simply laughable.
But at that time, Lin Ming absolutely hadn’t been as strong as he was right now. The speed of his progress was terrifying. Muk Gu could not help but marvel at this fact.
“First match, Lin Ming against Yan Hu!”
The referee loudly announced on the arena stage.
Yan Hu was a Goliath; he was even a head higher than Xue Man. To everyone, he was simply like a giant iron tower.
His weapon was a great sledgehammer. Its weight was almost 100,000 jins.
With a loud roar, Yan Hu leapt onto the arena stage. The entire floor shook from the impact!
Yan Hu did not have even the slightest bit of contempt for Lin Ming. Such a roar seemed like the rude behavior of a barbarian, but it was in fact a type of Goliath war roar martial skill. It was used to enhance one’s own aura and combat strength.
“Yan Hu is completely serious. He has taken Lin Ming as a great enemy.”
“This is normal. Lin Ming displayed a strength equal to that of a top 30 ranked challenger, but who knows how much strength he’s still hiding. Perhaps Yan Hu will lose!” A challenger said, very sure of himself. Of the challengers on the third floor, none of them dared to look down on Lin Ming anymore. Lin Ming was probably in his early twenties and yet he already had this degree of strength. In a few more decades, he would be even more terrifying.
“Don’t underestimate Yan Hu either. Yan Hu isn’t too bad; his strength can probably be ranked 17th or 18th. Those martial artists that can enter the third floor of Skysplit Tower and reach the top 20 are not ordinary geniuses of their generation. Not just that, but Yan Hu excels most at understanding the esoteric strength of the earth. His strong points lay in his defensive ability. Lin Ming’s final move is probably that Chasing Thunder. It’s an attack with a speed and striking force that reach the limit. Here, it will be the sharpest lance against the hardest shield. It’s still too early to judge just who will win. This will be a fierce match between two equal opponents!”
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Lin Ming held his spear, the tip pointed towards where Yan Hu stood. Even though he merely stood there, the aura he gave off was like that of a peerless treasure spear. This spear could pierce through all, unstoppable and invincible!
As Lin Ming reached this degree, his imposing aura was no longer a field of pressure. Instead, it could manifest into essence. Lin Ming’s aura was like that of a spear piercing through your chest, incomparably sharp!
As for Yan Hu’s aura, it was like a heavy and solemn mountain. As their auras clashed, one could clearly hear the sound of Yan Hu’s aura nearly being pierced through. An invisible pressure pushed down on Yan Hu’s body. His face was grim and dignified; he had come into a fatal situation.
“I will admit that you are very strong, but these years, the number of powerhouses of the third floor that have died by my hands has reached the double digits! Let me show you my ultimate combat strength!”
As Yan Hu spoke here he exploded in a roar. All of the muscles on his body began to suddenly rise, his veins twisting like blue worms. Just like the Fey had their Fey King Battle Body, the Goliaths could also draw strength from their bloodline and use this to their advantage, a unique form of fighting that only they had.
As Yan Hu entered into his battle form, his aura soared into the sky, directly pushing back Lin Ming’s sharp and imposing aura.
“The Meaning of Earth – Absolute Defense!”
Earth-attribute demon essence gathered around Yan Hu, turning into thick waves of soil, constantly rolling and sliding, giving off an oppressive sense.
“Hehe, in terms of strength, I can only be ranked 17th or 18th on the third floor. But in terms of defensive power, I am confident I will not lose to anyone! While you spent your time closed up comprehending your Concepts, I did not idle around. I too spent an entire three months perceiving the Concept of Earth and spent a total of nine slaughter points! With this price, my comprehension of the Concept of Earth went up yet another step, and my defensive abilities have absolutely reached the stage of Large Success! With my speed and response time, I know that it’s impossible for me to dodge that move of yours. But if I can’t then I’ll just block it, how hard could that be?”
Yan Hu already knew of Lin Ming’s killer move – Chasing Thunder. With that advantage, he had planned from the very start to not attack. Instead, he would spend everything on his defense. In terms of defensive ability, the Concept of Earth was the absolute mightiest amongst the five elements.
“Mm? This so-called absolute defense seems to be…” In the arena, a top 10 rankings martial artist’s eyes brightened. Yan Hu’s defense was not merely an accumulation of earth origin energy, but rather it contained very calm and steady fluctuations; this was definitely the application of the Law of Earth. If he wasn’t wrong, then these fluctuations had the ability to mollify attacks.
“It seems that Yan Hu has really been working hard on the Concept of Earth these past months to prepare! He is quite smart! He knows well enough that his speed cannot compare with Lin Ming’s, so he isn’t even thinking of dodging. Instead, with his several month-long practice, he plans to use his absolute defensive ability to meet Lin Ming in a head-on attack.”
“Mm. Yan Hu’s defensive ability can’t be disregarded. I don’t know whether or not Lin Ming’s Chasing Thunder can break apart this defense, but if he can’t then he’ll be in a dangerous situation. It’s true that Lin Ming’s Chasing Thunder is powerful, but this sort of mighty killing move has to consume a great deal of strength. On the other hand, Han Yu’s absolute defense doesn’t use much at all. If Lin Ming continuously uses Chasing Thunder but can’t break open this defense, then he will fall into a passive position because of his overconsumption of true essence. Finally, Yan Hu will be the one to counterattack!”
The martial artists in the arena were able to quickly guess just what Yan Hu’s plan was. This tactic was indeed intelligent. Most people hadn’t thought Yan Hu would win, but they also didn’t think he would make such a significant breakthrough in his absolute defense. Now, it seemed as if it would be hard to judge just who would win this fight.