Martial World (Web Novel)

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“Senior!”

Upon suddenly hearing the voice of Empyrean Divine Mist, Lin Ming didn’t know just what taste was in his heart.

Those days when he met Divine Mist in Tragic Valley, to the short several dozen years that had passed to now, everything seemed as if it were a lifetime ago, a far-off, distant memory…

In these 20 some years, although Lin Ming had seen many people he once knew, he always wore a mask and encountered them as a stranger. No matter what, the feeling was different.

The truth was that during this period when Lin Ming’s life had fallen to its lowest valleys, when he was enduring the greatest hardships, he sorely needed someone to support him and accompany him.

And in this situation, to meet Empyrean Divine Mist again, Lin Ming felt gratefulness deep in his heart.

“No wonder the Magic Cube was able to awaken; so it was Senior helping.”

Lin Ming no longer possessed the ability to open the Magic Cube on his own. It was Empyrean Divine Mist who had used his soul force to make up for Lin Ming’s weakness.

Empyrean Divine Mist only had his soul form left over and it was also extremely weak. During these past years his soul form had been sealed away in the Magic Cube where it had recovered a little bit. But, wanting to return to his previous heights was no longer possible.

The Magic Cube slowly trembled. It flew out from Lin Ming’s inner world and into his spiritual sea.

Lin Ming’s spiritual sea was dried up of soul force. But as the Magic Cube appeared, it slowly moistened, even glowing with faint hints of life.

After 20 some years, Lin Ming was finally able to open the Magic Cube once more. This was a throbbing that came from his soul, a long-lost feeling that turned Lin Ming’s eyes wet with tears and caused his heart to be filled with emotion…

“Senior, thank you for this help.”

Lin Ming said with heartfelt gratitude. He slowly blended his soul with the Magic Cube.

He saw the space within the Magic Cube once more and that galaxy of soul fragments that shined like stars. After so many years, these soul fragments still slowly revolved.

Lin Ming had seen this scene many times before; it was far too familiar.

However, as Lin Ming was gazing around, his heart shook. He looked towards the central point of these countless soul fragments with disbelief on his face.

Originally, at the center of these innumerable soul fragments there had been a light sphere as bright as a sun. All of the soul fragments had revolved around this light sphere.

This light sphere had been Mo Eversnow’s main soul.

In the past, Mo Eversnow had burned her soul to use the Magic Cube and her soul had deeply slumbered within it ever since. Afterward, as her soul regained consciousness and even possessed a new body, this sphere of light had disappeared from the Magic Cube.

All the soul fragments began to revolve around a point of nothingness.

But today, at this central point that had contained nothing, there was a wisp of soul fire.

From this wisp of soul fire, an unusual aura emanated.

It was only the size of a bean and the light wasn’t too intense, but when contrasted against the numerous surrounding soul fragments, Lin Ming could faintly feel that this wisp of soul fire was like a pearl glowing in the dim of night, emitting a radiance that was hard to describe.

This is…

Lin Ming was sure that this soul fire had only appeared afterwards. Its aura didn’t belong to him nor to Empyrean Divine Mist. It had an essential difference from the many surrounding soul fragments.

Lin Ming held his breath. Seeing this soul fire slowly and tranquilly burning in the void, he could make out that at the center of it there was a tiny mote of something that shined, as if it were like a seed.

As Lin Ming’s soul force touched upon this seed, he could clearly feel a harmonious synchronicity with it.

As if this soul seed shared origins with Lin Ming’s soul.

But, the difference was that compared to Lin Ming’s soul, this soul seed was far more gentle. As Lin Ming’s soul force came into contact with it, he felt as if he were drifting in a warm sea, his soul force being nourished and revitalized.

This was a comfort beyond description, and one that Lin Ming seemed to have experienced before.

Over 20 years ago when Lin Ming ate that devil fruit which caused him to lose his sanity, he had made love and joined together with Sheng Mei. This was the same feeling from back then.

Although this was a memory that Lin Ming didn’t want to recall, he had to admit that this was a wonderful feeling. This wasn’t merely pleasure of the physical body, but a form of sublimation of the soul.

At the time when Lin Ming and Sheng Mei had joined together, the majority of it had been a union of their souls and minds. The union of their mortal bodies was only a small part of it.

Although Lin Ming’s thoughts had blurred because he had eaten the devil fruit, he was still incomparably clear about the feeling which accompanied his soul seeming to melt away. He could recall that memory like it was just yesterday.

Looking at the soul seed hidden in the Magic Cube, Lin Ming was stunned. “Sheng Mei?”

This sort of aura, this feeling of soul compatibility, there was no way he could be wrong.

This was left behind by Sheng Mei!

“This is… source soul force left behind by Sheng Mei!?”

Lin Ming’s thoughts seemed to turn completely over. Sheng Mei had actually left behind a wisp of her source soul force in the Magic Cube?

One’s source soul force was precious beyond compare. Every time a martial artist lost some, it would cause their fires of life to weaken.

Although Sheng Mei had only left behind this tiny wisp of her source soul force, it would inevitably affect her future cultivation.

And Lin Ming vaguely knew that Sheng Mei’s circumstances weren’t good at all. There was some dark secret that the two shared, otherwise there was no way she would propose leaving with him for a hundred million years…

In this sort of situation, Sheng Mei had quietly left behind some of her source soul force in his body.

Just what was she planning?

“She hid her source soul force in the Magic Cube; did she discover the Magic Cube?”

Lin Ming was puzzled. If Sheng Mei discovered the Magic Cube, why wouldn’t she take it?

“She might not have…” Divine Mist shook his head. “The Magic Cube is a divine object that transcends the boundaries of True Divinity. If it is activated then it is easy to detect, but if it lays silent then it is extremely, extremely difficult to sense. The source soul force left behind by that woman should have been actively taken in by the Magic Cube…”

Empyrean Divine Mist suggested a possibility. Lin Ming nodded. When Sheng Mei ate the devil fruit from that abyssal tree, her mind had also become blurry; it would have been difficult for her to sense the Magic Cube.

Moreover, even if she felt the existence of the Magic Cube she still wouldn’t dare to take it, because she needed to hide the truth from the Soul Emperor. The Soul Emperor was likely on guard against Sheng Mei…

Thinking carefully about it, perhaps the reason Sheng Mei chose to use her method of joining with him and drawing out his Eternal Soul was all in order to quietly leave behind this wisp of source soul force.

“She took 99% of my source soul force and yet left behind a wisp of her own…” Lin Ming whispered. Sheng Mei seemed to have put a painstaking amount of thought behind all of this…

Just what was she thinking?

Lin Ming thought that the reason Sheng Mei joined with him and gave her primordial yin to him was because she felt guilty towards him even though she had developed some feelings for him.

But now, it seemed that this wasn’t necessarily true.

Perhaps she had deeper intentions than he had thought.

Lin Ming looked at the wisp of source soul force. This source soul force wasn’t strong and even if he absorbed it, it would be impossible for him to restore himself to his original state, not even a tenth of what he had been. Moreover, absorbing another person’s source soul force wasn’t easy at all.

Lin Ming hesitantly reached out a hand and touched this source soul force. When his fingertips touched it, this source soul force remained as peaceful as before and a stream of memories began flowing into Lin Ming.

These were Sheng Mei’s memories – the Holy Scripture’s pages of death!

Sheng Mei had left some of her comprehensions of the Holy Scripture’s pages of death in this source soul force and had passed it to him...

For a time, Lin Ming’s mind was in turmoil.

The Holy Scripture’s pages of death were extremely mysterious and Sheng Mei didn’t possess the heart mantras for the pages of death either.

Lin Ming had given his all to use the last remaining years of his life to become aware of the feeling of death. He wished he could write his own pages of death in the Holy Scripture, but wasn’t all of this easier said than done?

Although Lin Ming had achieved a result worthy of being proud of, it was still far from enough.

After all, he only had 20 years.

No matter how deep his comprehensions were it was useless.

But, if Sheng Mei added on her own understandings of the Holy Scripture’s pages of death, then that was completely different.

“Sheng Mei, she… just what is she…”

Lin Ming recalled the moment he had woken up after joining with Sheng Mei. Because of the extreme despair and unwilling hatred in his heart, he had spat out vicious and poisonous words at her.

At that time, Sheng Mei’s expression had been extremely complex. There had been both anger and aggrievedness in her eyes.

But in the next moment, her eyes had become icy and her voice indifferent.

As this scene echoed in his mind, Lin Ming felt a strange taste fill his heart.

Sheng Mei had paid such a price in order to leave comprehensions of the Holy Scripture’s pages of death within him. Was this so he could comprehend it?

Lin Ming could feel that the pages of death left behind by Sheng Mei were incredibly incomplete.

Perhaps the black book that the Soul Emperor allowed Sheng Mei to study wasn’t the complete book.

And after Sheng Mei studied it, she only gave a portion of her experiences to Lin Ming. After all, Sheng Mei had to consider her own cultivation. She had her own road of martial arts to walk and losing this wisp of source soul force was her limit.

Moreover, it was possible that if Sheng Mei were to lose any more of her source soul force, the Soul Emperor might discover this anomaly. If he were to check up on anything strange that might be happening with his divine sense, then everything Sheng Mei did would have gone to waste.

Sheng Mei had only left these tiny bits of experience to Lin Ming so that he could use it to try and reverse his life.

The difficulty of this was harder than ascending to heaven!

In normal times Lin Ming wouldn’t have succeeded. But now, there was a possibility…

This was because during these past years, Lin Ming had perceived the feeling of life and death. His mood, his character, had undergone a life-changing transformation.

Of the incomplete portions of the pages of death, Lin Ming could supplement them with his own Laws of cultivation.

“When Sheng Mei left behind this chess piece, she likely didn’t have much hope of success…”

Lin Ming muttered. He forced a smile.

Sheng Mei had a profound understanding of him. This was because she had seen him create miracles so many times that she would believe he had a chance of reversing such a hopeless situation. Thus, she had done all of this, no matter how slim the chance was.

Because she paid such a great price, Lin Ming faintly guessed that not only were there disagreements between Sheng Mei and the Soul Emperor, but there also existed a deep hatred.

In fact, Sheng Mei might not have any real feelings towards him. All she desired was an ally.

A truly heaven-gifted genius, an infinitely rare talent that was sure to become an extreme True Divinity in the future. She wanted such an ally to help her resist the Soul Emperor!

Realizing this, Lin Ming felt just how terrifying the Soul Emperor was.

A person that could cause such fear in Sheng Mei – just what was he scheming?