Chapter 1503 – Swallowing the Sacred Spirit
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Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian were both at the peak of the Divine Transformation realm. With their current cultivation levels it was simply far too difficult to directly confront Tian Mingzi. It had to be known that the Good Fortune Saint Son was at the peak of the Saint Lord realm and over an entire large boundary higher than Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian. Even so, he was unable to fight with a Great World King, and could only escape from them.
Now, Lin Ming guessed that Tian Mingzi was guarding the outside. Even If Lin Ming were to go into seclusion within Tragic Death Valley for 100-200 years, he still wouldn’t be Tian Mingzi’s match.
This was because going into seclusion within a comfortable and relaxed environment would cause one’s strength progression to be far too slow.
Lin Ming arrived in front of the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone and gently traced the patterns on the rough rock. Lin Ming had long since imprinted the god runes that the Asura Road Master had used to seal away the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone into his heart, and unraveling them should be easy.
Lin Ming’s fingers sprang froth, creating several hundred array symbols that flew out to undo the seals.
Every time a seal was undone, Lin Ming would take a short break and adjust himself. After all, he had no choice but to be careful with this Essence Spirit Embryo Stone that had been nourished by God Beast bones for billions of years.
As the seals were halfway undone, the life activities within the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone became increasingly fierce. From deep within the stone, a deep and resonant roar echoed out, as if hundreds of God Beasts were rushing out from the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone.
“These are God Beast spirits.”
Lin Ming’s pupils shrank. This Essence Spirit Embryo Stone had been nourished by the God Beast array formation, so it was inevitable that God Beast spirits would be fused into it.
Not just that, but as Lin Ming undid more and more of the seals, the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone emitted an increasingly strong demonic power! A faint howling began to gather between the heavens and earth.
Chi chi chi!
As the seal was two-thirds undone, the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone continued to pour forth black demonic energy into the surrounding space. Xiao Moxian felt her heart gripped as she saw all of this. Even if the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone had been sealed away by the Asura Road Master, after all these billions of years it had simply absorbed far too much essence energy. It would not be easy to handle!
“Lin Ming, do you plan to undo the seal on the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone now? I’ve heard that in ancient times, there were martial artists that formed a true avatar, but they were not able to erase the spiritual wisdom of that avatar. As a result, their consciousness was swallowed up by their avatar and their bodies were stolen instead!”
There were many types of people that cultivated avatars through the times, and this type of avatar was actually divided into two types. The first was like Empyrean Divine Dream who sundered their own primordial spirit using an arcane technique to divide their soul in two. Like this, the avatar they formed would originate from the same source; the avatar was the true self, and the true self was the avatar. Like this, the two could fuse back together without any backlash.
The second kind was what Lin Ming was planning to do, using a spiritual object to form their avatar. This type of spiritual object originally had a wisdom of its own, and if one failed to refine it, the avatar would instead steal the body of the true self and the true self would become the avatar.
“I know.” Lin Ming simply replied, continuing to undo the seals.
Seeing Lin Ming’s resolve, Xiao Moxian no longer spoke out. But, by just undoing two-thirds of the seal, the power that the avatar revealed already surpassed Lin Ming!
If he failed to control it, all that would await him was annihilation.
“Heretical God Force!”
Lin Ming gathered his hands together. The phantom of the Heretical God Tree appeared behind him.
A terrifying power of thunder and fire heavenly tribulation recklessly fell onto the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone like waterfalls of red and purple.
Thunder and flames were extremely good forces for refining embryo stones.
In the legends, when the world was being created, a holy goddess had fired up clay figurines to create all the varied creatures of life. As for thunder, there was even less to say about it. The Essence Spirit Embryo Stone was first formed by a strike of lightning.
As the power of thunder and fire heavenly tribulation pressed down on the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone, the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone suddenly popped open its eyes!
These dark gray eyes revealed a deep hatred and burning cruelty, making one feel cold upon seeing them!
This Essence Spirit Embryo Stone already had a wisdom of its own.
As more and more demonic power flushed out like a tide, the will of the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone became increasingly terrifying. Standing nearby, both Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian paled. Just how would they subdue such a terrifying will!?
At this time, Xiao Moxian saw Lin Ming continue to undo the seal as if he wasn’t afraid at all. Now, only a fifth of the Asura Road Master’s seal was left. As more and more of the seal unraveled, the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone became that much stronger. If the seal was completely undone, even Xiao Moxian found it hard to imagine just how formidable the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone would become!
“Uwooo!”
The Essence Spirit Embryo Stone emitted an ear-piercing roar. It crazily struggled about, causing stone chips to fall down from the surface of the divine stone. The Essence Spirit Embryo Stone was soon about to conceive its human form!
As it looked at Lin Ming, its eyes revealed nothing but greed and wild cruelty. This sort of feeling was like a wild beast seeing its most delicious prey.
To the newborn Essence Spirit Embryo Stone, Lin Ming, with his incomparably powerful blood vitality, was a truly wonderful meal!
“Lin Ming, be careful!”
As she watched the final seal be undone by Lin Ming, Xiao Moxian’s complexion changed and she nearly lost her voice as she shouted out to him. At this time, the Essene Spirit Embryo Stone’s will had reached a terrifyingly powerful degree. Even a Great World King might have their body wrested away! Even though Xiao Moxian had great faith in Lin Ming’s abilities, she still felt panic surge through her. The current situation had far surpassed their control! The Spirit Essence Embryo Stone had been nurtured for countless years. Even with the suppression of the Asura Road Master’s array formation, it had reached an incredibly dreadful boundary.
“Ohh!”
The moment that the seal was fully undone, the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone emitted a tearing screech. Its will formed a bloody and ominous sword, crazily lashing out at the thunder and fire emitted by Lin Ming.
It wanted to reverse the situation and seize Lin Ming’s body, turning Lin Ming into its temporary body and avatar.
Puff!
Lin Ming stared blankly on as this shimmering red sword of will pierced through the point between his eyebrows. Lin Ming’s body suddenly shook and he stepped backwards, his face pale.
“Lin Ming!” Xiao Moxian cried out in alarm. She thought that Lin Ming would use some trump card before the sword of will pierced him, but she never imagined that Lin Ming wouldn’t do anything at all, instead allowing the sword of will to thrust into his spiritual sea!
It had to be known that the battle of wresting control of his body would occur in Lin Ming’s spiritual sea. Because of the massive battle within, it might cause damage to Lin Ming’s spiritual sea.
To hold a decisive battle within Lin Ming’s spiritual sea, even if the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone was defeated it could still escape. But if Lin Ming were defeated he would have his body stolen away.
Xiao Moxian felt her heart tighten. She could only watch blankly on as Lin Ming struggled internally just a hundred feet away from her. There was nothing she could do at this moment as Lin Ming’s will battled that of the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone; she didn’t even dare to move his body.
“Just what is Lin Ming planning…” Xiao Moxian felt her palms become wet with sweat. No matter how strong Lin Ming’s soul force was, how could he defeat the will of the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone that not even a World King could contend with?
Time seemed to come to a standstill. Lin Ming had turned into a statue, completely motionless as if he were frozen.
Xiao Moxian’s speculations were correct. After billions of years of being bred over time, the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone developed an intelligence of its own, even under the seal of the Asura Road Master. It had now reached a point where it could seize the body of a Great World King.
At this time, within Lin Ming’s spiritual sea, his complexion was cold as his transformed body of will floated high in the skies.
And in front of him, just several hundred feet away was a phantom formed from demonic power. Its body took the shape of a God Beast spirit. Its face was fierce and cruel and its entire being emanated dark energies.
This phantom of demonic power looked at Lin Ming and cackled.
“I… really… must thank you. Here… I have been sealed away… for countless years… today… I am finally born. From now on… this great world… is mine to roam… I will swallow all martial artists of the world… and achieve an unsurpassed true form!”
The phantom of demonic power chortled. Because it had never spoken before, its voice was extremely scratchy.
Lin Ming was startled as he heard this. It wasn’t strange for the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone to have developed its own intelligence, but the words it spoke were strange. It had been locked in this array formation since the moment it was formed and had never experienced the outside world so there was no reason for it to speak the words it did.
The phantom of demonic power saw Lin Ming’s confusion and smiled. “Through these countless years… innumerable people have died trying to enter the God Beast Tomb array formation… they were swallowed up by the array formation and their essence energy also became my nourishment. As for their minds, all of it became mine!”
The phantom’s voice was filled with cruelty and malice. It seemed as if it were formed from numerous personalities. This phantom of demonic power had no personality of its own, but was instead an amalgamation of all the martial artists that it had swallowed up.
“I see, so that’s how it is. So you are the spiritual wisdom of the Essence Spirit Embryo Stone, a monster formed by swallowing the souls of countless others.” Lin Ming sneered as he finally understood.
“Hehe, you say that I am a monster. I have gathered into myself the minds of innumerable individuals… after billions of years of being formed, I have become a soul-devouring sacred spirit that surpasses the Laws. I am ever changing, ever evolving. I can swallow the will, soul, and essence energy of unlimited people, until the day I finally become the ruler of the universe! This is a situation that the man who laid down this array so many billions of years ago could never have imagined! He was far too conceited. By relying on his absolute cultivation he arranged this great array and even dared to create his own Heavenly Dao rules. He tried to arrange a destiny for his future successors, but how could he have calculated what would happen billions of years in the future? There is no foolproof plan in this world. My birth already far exceeds any plans he ever made. Now, I have already evolved into a perfect life form, able to swallow the wisdom of any being. I will create my own history, my own era! I will become a terrifying existence that all life in the 33 Heavens shall respect and fear!”
“You sure like to shamelessly boast.” A cold smile touched Lin Ming’s face.
The soul-swallowing sacred spirit chuckled in return. “I really don’t understand how you can smile even at the point of death. Are all humans as stupid as you are? Such a stupid soul… if your mortal body weren’t so formidable then I wouldn’t even bother trying to swallow you.”
The corner of Lin Ming’s lips curved up in a taunting smile. He slowly raised his right hand, and on the top of his hand a black cube appeared, slowly revolving in his palm. This black cube was covered with patterns, filled with an ancient aura.