Martial World (Web Novel)

Chapter 2084 – Identity of the Divine Skeleton

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Between the eyebrows of the crystal divine skeleton, flower petals of light appeared. These petals were like dots of cinnabar. As they formed they gathered around a center, forming a strange flower.

There were nine flower petals in total. Each one seemed to condense the most beautiful sights in the world, causing one’s mind to fall into reverie.

As this deep red flower reflected in Lin Ming’s pupils, he stood there transfixed for a long time.

A long time ago, 7000 years in the past – almost 12,000 years when he counted his time in Tragic Death Valley – Lin Ming had entered the primal god race’s Asura forbidden zone. In his trial within the Cold Ice Mirror, he had once seen a peerless woman dressed in black.

This woman had an appearance completely the same as Sheng Mei. Their temperament, their attitude, their appearance, everything was similar.

It was impossible that this was a mere coincidence.

And between that woman’s eyebrows, there was a mark composed of nine flower petals.

The only difference between that woman in the Cold Ice Mirror and this skeleton before him was that within the Cold Ice Mirror, that mysterious woman only had eight flower petals fully unfurled on her mark; the final flower petal was small, not fully stretched out.

But now in front of Lin Ming, nine flower petals were in full bloom. Their light was sharp and brilliant, leaving one intoxicated with their beauty.

“This is…”

Sheng Mei’s unrivalled appearance flashed in Lin Ming’s mind.

There were two possibilities. One of them was that this sort of flower petal mark belonged to a certain type of person, and this crystalline divine skeleton and the mysterious woman in the Cold Ice Mirror were both this type of person.

However this was an extremely unlikely possibility. After all, this type of peerless woman was simply far too rare 10 billion years ago.

Thus, the more likely explanation was that this crystalline divine skeleton belonged to the woman in the Cold Ice Mirror. She had died here and her bones were preserved for 10 billion years.

Could it really be that Sheng Mei was the reincarnation of a super powerhouse from 10 billion years past?

Thinking of this possibility, Lin Ming felt it was far too ridiculous.

10 billion years was simply far too long ago. What sort of peerless powerhouse could pass the river of 10 billion years after death to reincarnate?

Moreover, although Sheng Mei was fierce, the truth was that she was suppressed by the Soul Emperor. There was not just a simple disagreement between Sheng Mei and the Soul Emperor; the two could be described as sharing a deep grudge.

From this point, if Sheng Mei was truly the reincarnation of a peerless character from 10 billion years ago, how could she be restrained by the Soul Emperor?

All sorts of ideas raced through Lin Ming’s mind. He looked at the flower petals. With his sense, he couldn’t be wrong. The flower petals he saw right now were identical to the ones that the mysterious woman in the Cold Ice Mirror possessed. Not only were they similar in shape but their aura was also the same.

As for why there was a difference in the ninth flower petal, this might be because these flower petals were a manifestation of the cultivation method that the mysterious woman in the Cold Ice Mirror trained in.

For instance – the Grand Reincarnation Art.

With every reincarnation, an additional flower petal would appear between the woman’s eyebrows. With nine reincarnations, the flower petals would be complete, reaching perfection.

When Lin Ming had seen the black-clothed woman in the Cold Ice Mirror, she had just finished her eighth reincarnation and had yet to complete the ninth revolution!

And now it was obvious that before this mysterious woman perished, she had reached perfection in the Grand Reincarnation Art.

Upon realizing this, Lin Ming wasn’t sure what he felt.

The Great Dao was boundless and the heavens and earth were heartless. An ancient beauty that could bring the downfall of the worlds, a goddess of peerless grace and talent, even someone like this couldn’t escape the fate of becoming nothing but bones. As for those ancient rulers of a hundred races, those peerless proud sons of heaven, in the end they too turned to dust, their bones scattered in the wind.

This was destiny, the final fate that no one could avoid…

Lin Ming deeply bowed towards the remains of this goddess. And after he bowed, the soul fires in the goddess’ eye sockets slowly extinguished. All that remained were the runes on the surface of the bones. The runes glittered, allowing Lin Ming to clearly see the Laws within.

These runes were all slowly cultivated by this ancient peerless woman. What they contained included the universe of the body and the samsara of life and death recorded within the Holy Scripture!

Compared to the Holy Scripture, the runes on the goddess’ remains gave no hints. There was no beginning and no end; all there was were endless runes, each one more mysterious and complex than the last.

These runes originated from the Holy Scripture. But after fusing together with the mysterious woman’s own understandings and comprehensions, they were no longer the same as the Holy Scripture.

If one didn’t understand the Holy Scripture, if one didn’t have a deep martial arts foundation, then it would be completely impossible to understand just what these runes were.

Even for Lin Ming, wanting to understand these numerous convoluted bone runes wasn’t easy at all. He rapidly browsed through them, and then recorded them all in his mind using his formidable memory.

In the past Lin Ming had only seen the pages of death of the Holy Scripture. As for the pages of death, they were in memories left behind to him by Sheng Mei in that tiny part of her soul source; they were in truth extremely incomplete.

Lin Ming had relied on his own comprehensions and personally understood samsara through death to continue the pages of death.

In this state, as Lin Ming saw these bone runes left behind by this peerless woman from 10 billion years ago, it was equal to making up many missing places in his own Holy Scripture Laws.

Lin Ming slowly verified these bone runes with his own comprehensions, one at a time. He felt his mind open and new realizations pour in.

The martial arts civilization was a process of accumulation. Although there were proud children of heaven with outstanding talent capable of producing their own self-created cultivation methods, all these self-created cultivation methods had foundations based on the inheritances of their predecessors. It was impossible for anyone to create a cultivation method that far surpassed the current level of the martial arts civilization.

No matter how many reincarnations Lin Ming underwent, no matter how many samsaras of life and death he observed in the world, no matter how profound his comprehensions were, it was impossible for his Laws in the pages of death to be as complete as that of the Immortal Sovereign from 10 billion years ago, who had focused his lifetime of energy on the Holy Scripture.

And now, with the true Holy Scripture’s pages of death before him, Lin Ming was undoubtedly able to further his Holy Scripture Laws.

Lin Ming greedily remembered all he saw. A quarter hour passed. The shimmering runes of the divine skeleton began to darken; it was clear that the runes could only manifest for a short period of time. Lin Ming’s pupils widened and he sped up his reading pace.

These incomparably complex runes swiftly passed through Lin Ming’s mind and were recorded deep in his memory, marked into his spiritual sea.

This continued until the light of the bones faded away. By now, Lin Ming had memorized all of the bone runes.

Hu - !

The last wisp of light vanished and darkness returned to the altar temple. The divine skeleton also became tranquil once more.

Lin Ming faced the skeleton and bowed a final time.

When his mental strength probed the crystalline divine skeleton, the bone runes had lit up. This was clearly not a coincidence.

Could it be that the Holy Scripture Laws in his body had activated the bone runes somehow?

Or could it be that there was some wisp of residual consciousness in this divine skeleton, that managed to be preserved due to the array formation in this altar?

If this were true then these bone runes were intentionally revealed to him by this wisp of consciousness.

As Lin Ming thought of this, he became increasingly puzzled and uncertain as to the events of the great calamity 10 billion years ago. Just what connection did this mysterious woman who looked like Sheng Mei have with the Immortal Sovereign?

The cultivation method came from the same lineage – the Holy Scripture Laws. It was clear that they were closely related to each other, and at the time when Lin Ming entered the Asura forbidden zone’s Cold Ice Mirror, the hostility that the mysterious woman showed to the lineage of the Asura Road Master proved this point.

He didn’t know what level of strength this mysterious woman reached. Even if she hadn’t stepped Beyond Divinity, she was likely extremely close!

“Could this mysterious person be the same as Immortal Sovereign?”

As soon as Lin Ming thought of this he shook his head. In the planet-sized heavenly palace and the galactic battlefield in the Akashic Dream Universe, he had seen the phantom left behind by Immortal Sovereign more than once. He had obviously been a man, completely different from this mysterious woman.

But for this mysterious woman to be Immortal Sovereign’s relative, such as his daughter or little sister, just didn’t seem too likely. It was true that a family with an outstanding bloodline would have a higher chance of producing powerhouses, but to produce two people who neared or stepped Beyond Divinity, this was a bit too exaggerated.

Lin Ming didn’t understand any of this nor did he spend more time thinking about it. At this time, he spread his sense outwards into the bronze temple. Within it was a slowly spinning purple vortex.

This purple vortex was a part of the Eternal Wall and also the channel leading from the Eternal Wall to the Dark Abyss.

After passing through this purple vortex, what awaited underneath was the Dark Abyss!

In the abyss there were endless numbers of abyssal demons!

And this purple vortex was a channel that only intelligent life forms of the 33 Heavens could pass. In addition to the killing array of the dark altar, with these two insurances, there would be no abyssals that dared to come here to die.

Lin Ming let out a deep breath. Then, he leapt into the purple vortex!