Martial World (Web Novel)

Chapter 2172 – Land of the Ritual

…

…

…

“How could it be so soon…?”

Lin Ming and Sheng Mei glanced at each other and saw the surprise in their eyes.

The Emperor Bone Sea was the entrance to the abyssal ritual of the Demon God’s Tomb. It had already existed for over a hundred billion years and all the demon emperors of the past hundred billion years were buried here.

A great portion of the jade slip was used to describe the Emperor Bone Sea. However, these descriptions were all rumors and legends. After all, the truth of a hundred billion years was slowly modified over time by some force with unknown intentions and it was already hard to investigate what was true.

A rumor said that this Emperor Bone Sea was created by the Demon God and even had the condensed essence energy and blood vitality of the Demon God within it. There were even some people that said the corpse of the Demon God was buried within. In addition to the multitude of force fields that protected the Demon God’s Tomb, this caused special Laws to appear in the Emperor Bone Sea. These rules could even rid themselves of the Heavenly Dao and have all the bones buried within remain eternally pristine, and even remnant souls could be permanently sealed within.

This was a story that many abyssals believed in. After all, the Demon God’s Tomb was even able to withstand the great Shattering. If so, then breaking the rules of the Heavenly Dao once more and allowing souls to live on in perpetuity was something that others could accept.

Thus, the Emperor Bone Sea became a treasure trove of lucky chances in the Dark Abyss. From ancient times onwards, when many peerless overlords of the abyssal race found that they eventually couldn’t overcome the samsara of life and death and would soon pass away, they would then go into the Emperor Bone Sea to die.

Although they died in the Emperor Bone Sea, if the legends said that their remnant souls would be preserved for eternity within, then wouldn’t that mean there was a chance they could be resurrected in the future?

This was an incomparably slim hope. But, compared to disappearing into ashes and dust and having one’s soul fade into nothing, it was much more palatable.

Gradually, the skeletons of more and more powerhouses were gathered in the Emperor Bone Sea. This made the Emperor Bone Sea even more unfathomable and even more dangerous.

The greatest lucky chance of the Demon God’s Tomb was the abyssal ritual – a ritual that allowed one to become a totem level abyssal. This was carried out in the heart of the Emperor Bone Sea.

It could be said that the Emperor Bone Sea was the grand finale to the great adventure that was the Demon God’s Tomb; it was the stage where True Divinity level abyssals engaged in an all-out struggle. As for those weaker Empyrean level abyssals, they wouldn’t dare step into the Emperor Bone Sea to send themselves to death. Rather, they would compete for the power of demon gods in the surrounding edges of the Demon God’s Tomb. This rank of lucky chance was much more suited for them.

Now, Lin Ming and Sheng Mei never would have imagined that the Emperor Bone Sea would open after a mere several years. If this were the past then this time period wouldn’t have even been enough to have been an appetizer. But now, that Emperor Bone Sea had opened, and what was even stranger was that most of the Empyrean level abyssals who entered the Demon God’s Tomb had died!

Just what was going on?

“Lin Ming… I have a bad feeling about this…”

Sheng Mei looked at the far off Emperor Bone Sea that wafted around like distant mist. She could feel an extremely ominous aura that reeked of blood, as if the Emperor Bone Sea were a giant ancient spirit beast that opened its maw wide and waited for prey to crawl in.

“I have a bad feeling about this too.” Lin Ming traced his spatial ring where he had placed the spine he had found underground.

According to the jade slip, the Demon God’s skeleton was buried in the Emperor Bone Sea. If so, then what about the spine in his spatial ring? Was it the Demon God’s bone?

However, pondering over this question was meaningless. The key question here was… should he enter the Emperor Bone Sea or not?

They had three ceremonial rites books in their hands. If they entered the Emperor Bone Sea, they absolutely could choose to undergo the abyssal ritual. If they hadn’t entered the underground mystic realm and instead stayed above to see the carnage as well as the numerous Empyrean abyssals die together, then they certainly wouldn’t have mulled it over before flying towards the Emperor Bone Sea.

“Lin Ming, have you thought about it clearly…” Sheng Mei asked, a bit unsure.

Lin Ming thought for a moment. Then, he took a deep breath and said, “My identity has yet to be exposed. As an abyssal, I shouldn’t encounter a situation where there is only death… even if this Demon God’s Tomb is a trap and many abyssal demons are intentionally killed here to become nourishment, in these last several billions of years and even dozens of years, there have been countless powerhouses produced from this land; this includes totem level abyssals. In other words, formidable geniuses can fully display their talent and weaker geniuses will end up facing death…”

“Alright…” Sheng Mei sighed. She knew that Lin Ming had already made his choice.

If it were possible, Sheng Mei certainly hoped to escape this storm with Lin Ming and Jiu’er. Of course, this was impossible. Even if they knew there was danger that awaited them, they still had to face it and explore it.

They already stood at the edge of the cliff with their enemies’ swords pointed towards them. They no longer had an escape route; a single step back meant an endless fall into the abyss. They could only push their way forwards and attempt to snatch the swords from their enemies hands and kill them before they were killed.

“Let’s go.”

Lin Ming and Sheng Mei turned into two beams of light that vanished into the horizon.

The two flew forwards with lightning speed. In just an incense stick of time, they arrived above the Emperor Bone Sea.

Looking down, the entire Emperor Bone Sea was covered in a faint layer of mist. This mist wasn’t like the faint blue mist above a sea, but a blood red color instead.

The mist was thick and it was difficult for one’s sense to penetrate through it. It was only in occasional places where the mist was thinner that one could see the yellow seawater and the bones that loomed within…

The Emperor Bone Sea was broad, boundless and unimaginably deep. Even so, the endless seawater was filled with bones that floated and tumbled everywhere. It was hard to imagine just how many bones were contained within.

These bones weren’t left behind by the emperors of the demon race. Rather, during the great Shattering, 90% of the demon clansmen that protected the Demon God’s Tomb had died, and their remains created this hellish scene.

In the skies above the Emperor Bone Sea, Lin Ming took out the Demon God’s Tomb jade slip.

The layers of fog above the Emperor Bone Sea would form layers of labyrinths and illusory magic arrays. They were complex and intricately connected. In addition to the vast breadth of the sea, it wasn’t easy to find the location of the abyssal ritual. In essence, it was like looking for a needle in an ocean. If an abyssal with a weak soul force were to fly here for a long time they would likely become infected with the inexhaustible evil aura of the Emperor Bone Sea and lose themselves before finally becoming a part of the countless bones of the Emperor Bone Sea.

According to the path described in the jade slip, Lin Ming and Sheng Mei started venturing deep into the Emperor Bone Sea. The deeper they went, the more demon skeletons floated in the sea and the heavier the killing intent and malevolent aura became. However, Lin Ming and Sheng Mei were both individuals with incredibly potent divine souls. The malevolent aura and killing intent wasn’t able to arouse their heart demons. Instead, the two of them spread out their soul force, forming a protective layer that isolated out the aura that corroded the heart and mind.

Following the map, they flew for an entire day.

Slowly, fewer and fewer skeletons appeared in the sea waters. From the originally overlapped bones, now they didn’t even see a single skeleton in a hundred miles.

But, although there were less skeletons, the killing intent and hostility in the air became even heavier, as if there was some power ancient sea beast slumbering in this area.

“We will soon arrive. The abyssal ritual is at the core of the Emperor Bone Sea, and the demon emperors are also all buried in the core region. Because of the pressure and force fields they left behind after their deaths, the skeletons of ordinary demons cannot approach. This is the reason why for the last thousand miles there hasn’t been any skeletons, and instead the killing intent and hostility in the air have become only stronger!”

“Mm…”

Lin Ming nodded. He suddenly narrowed his eyes. At the ends of his vision, he could see a yellow vortex.

This vortex wasn’t large but it spun quickly. Even though it spun so quickly, it was quiet, just like a ghost.

A massive amount of seawater was swallowed within, as if another world existed within the vortex.

Lin Ming knew that this was their destination. The area where this vortex led was the location described in the jade slip where the abyssal ritual would be held!