Martial World (Web Novel)

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“Oh?” Lin Ming didn’t think that Huo Yuan would know anything about the origins of this token. After all, Huo Yuan’s cultivation was only at the Houtian realm and he came from a common background, so his experience was naturally limited. “Tell me, what sort of token is this?”

Huo Yuan pondered for a moment. He organized his thoughts and said, “Lord Lin, this token, if I’m not wrong, is the city entrance token for the Blood Slaughter Steppes’ Heavenly Demon Polaris City.”

“Mm? City entrance token?” Lin Ming was surprised, “Are you sure?”

Looking at the token, it must have had some long history behind it. Not just that, but it gave off a very thick infernal aura. Obviously it wasn’t some common everyday object. How could it just be a city entrance token? What level was this Heavenly Demon City?

“I’m not too sure. I only read this in some ancient texts. However, Heavenly Demon Polaris City is not an ordinary city, but one of the 12 main cities of the Blood Slaughter Steppes.”

“Oh? What sort of power is this Blood Slaughter Steppes?” A moment ago, this ‘city entrance command’ had the words ‘Blood Slaughter Steppes’ appear on it. Huo Yuan also mentioned this Blood Slaughter Steppes again. It seemed as if there was some history behind this power.

Huo Yuan glanced at Lin Ming with surprise. He was bewildered that Lin Ming also hadn’t heard of the Blood Slaughter Steppes before, but, he still gave a detailed explanation. “The Blood Slaughter Steppes is a special region that is handed down from ancient times. There is rich infernal energy gathered there, and it is a paradise of death and slaughter.”

“The history of the Blood Slaughter Steppes is too glorious and deep. It may have existed for even more than 100,000 year, thus no one knows just who formed the Blood Slaughter Steppes. There are many different stories. Some say that there is a powerful and ancient Saint Beast sealed off within the depths of the Blood Slaughter Steppes. It was said that there was a war that erupted from the Blood Slaughter Steppes once that lasted for thousands of years. There are even more outrageous stories. Some say that the truth is that an unrivaled powerhouse from the Realm of the Gods came down to the Blood Slaughter Steppes and slayed a True Dragon there. The dragon’s blood dyed the grounds, and in short… there are just many different stories. No matter what its origins are, what is certain is that many Demon Emperors have died within the Blood Slaughter Steppes. This is a well-known historical fact! There are over 10 Demon Emperors recorded that have died there!”

Over 10 Demon Emperors?

Lin Ming was speechless. Above a six-star Demon General was a Demon King. Above a six-star Demon King was a Demon Emperor. A Demon Emperor was equivalent to a human Supreme Elder at the Divine Sea realm, and was also an Emperor level powerhouse. Perhaps, because of the inherent talent of the Giant Demon race, their Demon Emperors might even be stronger than the human Divine Sea powerhouses. It had to be known that within the entire Sky Spill Continent, Divine Sea Supreme Elders were extremely rare. Yet, in this Blood Slaughters Steppes, over 10 Demon Emperors had fallen. It was truly inconceivable.

Lin Ming didn’t speak. He just stood there, listening.

Huo Yuan continued, “The Blood Slaughter Steppes is a cursed land. One reason is because it contains a massive amount of infernal energy and another reason is its secret that no one can discover. Since ancient times, there have been numerous Demon Emperors, and also five-star and six-star Demon Kings, that have wanted to unravel the secret of the Blood Slaughter Steppes. They wanted to seek out their own lucky chances, or at least use an array formation to channel all of the infernal energy for their own use. But the result was that they all died, and all of them from mysterious and strange causes. Some rumors said that they were cursed to death, and some say that they were killed by the mystical power that lies within the Blood Slaughter Steppes.

“Slowly, over time, fewer and fewer masters had the idea of taking advantage of the Blood Slaughter Steppes. Afterwards, let alone Demon Emperors, but not even high level Demon Kings dared to set foot within the Blood Slaughter Steppes. They all feared that they would die within. But, low level martial artists also feared stepping into the Blood Slaughter Steppes because the infernal energy there is just too strong and the entire region is lawless. One could die anywhere… thus, it turned into a paradise for martial artists at the middle level, and is also a gathering place for martial artists that walk on the killing path.”

“Killing path?” Lin Ming’s eyebrows arched up; he immediately had a great interest towards this land. He knew that within the cultivation methods of the Giant Demon race, it was common for those to walk the killing path or carnal path. Within the Holy Demon Continent, it would be easy to gather hundreds of thousands or even millions of martial artists that cultivated in these techniques.

Huo Yuan said, “The Blood Slaughter Steppes contains very special supernatural laws. With the strong infernal energy there, anyone cultivating the killing path can do so at astonishing rates. In particular, the infernal energy of the Blood Slaughter Steppes is concentrated within 12 areas. If one can practice in these source areas, then they can obtain the greatest benefits.

“Gradually, the middle level martial artists established 12 Heavenly Demon Cities within these 12 infernal energy source areas. Any martial artist that has a Blood Slaughter Steppes entrance token can enter the Heavenly Demon Cities and absorb the infernal energy there, forming a Heavenly Demon Tattoo. After killing others, one can steal their infernal energy, finally manifesting your own Heavenly Demon Tattoo. The complete tattoo is a 12 Winged Heavenly Demon Tattoo. At this time, the Heavenly Demon Tattoo will merge with the martial artist and create a special sort of martial intent…”

“Mm? Martial intent?” Lin Ming’s heart stirred, “What sort of martial intent?”

Huo Yuan said, “This sort of martial intent is called the Heavenly Demon martial intent. Once this Heavenly Demon martial intent is used, it will form a unique domain of infernal energy. This is called 12 Winged Heavenly Demon Forbidden Zone. Anyone that steps within this zone will be suppressed by infernal energy. As for what other uses there are, I am not too sure.”

“Oh? So there are things like this…” Lin Ming was somewhat stunned. This Blood Slaughter Steppes was truly marvelous to contain such a mysterious power. A land where Demon Emperors could die. A land where even the greatest powers did not dare to establish themselves. Like this, this Blood Slaughter Steppes had truly become an unruly land.

There, strength was everything!

All of those that had the city entrance token could enter the Heavenly Demon Cities and obtain the infernal energy, condensing it into a Heavenly Demon Tattoo. But, if one killed others, they could steal away their infernal energy to supplement their own.

It could be said that this Blood Slaughter Steppes was simply a killing grounds.

“if I go to this Blood Slaughter Steppes...” Lin Ming hesitated. He needed to adventure and increase his strength as much as he could. No matter how he looked at it, this Blood Slaughter Steppes was a prime location.

Also, if he could condense a complete 12 Winged Heavenly Demon Tattoo, then he could possibly gain another martial intent.

Lin Ming now had the ethereal martial intent and the Samsara martial intent. If he could gain the Heavenly Demon martial intent, then that would be a total of three.

The ethereal martial intent didn’t seem as if it was too useful. But in fact, it greatly compensated for Lin Ming’s insufficient talent. If he didn’t have the ethereal martial intent, then it would have been very difficult for him to practice any cultivation method, and he would never have broken through to the Xiantian realm so easily.

As for the Samsara martial intent, there was no need to mention how useful it was. The Samsara martial intent was even a powerful soul defense. In the Demon God Imperial Palace, it had already saved his life twice.

If he could add on the Heavenly Demon martial intent…

The more martial intents one had, the more terrifying they were. Lin Ming was aware that thousands of years ago within the Sky Spill Continent, there was a Divine Sea master named Emperor Shakya. He had seven different martial intents! He sat under a Bodhi tree for seven days and seven nights, and finally fused all seven martial intents together, achieving supreme enlightenment. He broke through the martial shackles and gained an immortal body. He flew through the martial void and soared into the Realm of the Gods!

Lin Ming wasn’t clear whether or not this ‘breaking through the martial shackles’ meant that Emperor Shakya had broken through to realms above the Divine Sea. But, what he knew without a shadow of a doubt was that when one accumulated more martial intents, they would have a terrifying qualitative change.

This qualitative change could be related to perception. Otherwise, there was no way that Emperor Shakya would be described as having achieved supreme enlightenment.

Lin Ming’s perception was never bad. But that was only concerning a small sect like the Seven Profound Valleys. Now, as Lin Ming grew stronger, he began to discover that his perception was becoming a constraint. It was a weakness that hindered him from growing.

Lin Ming’s martial talent had never been good. But with the support of the ethereal martial intent, God Beast bloodlines, and the Heretical God Force giving him an abnormally high fusion compatibility with thunder and fire cultivation methods, Lin Ming’s cultivation speed hadn’t been slow.

However, perception remained that threshold that Lin Ming had yet to cross.

Lin Ming had practiced ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’ for almost two years now. But, because he had limited comprehensions of the Concept of Wind, he wasn’t able to advance in it.

Within the memories of the Realm of the Gods’ powerhouses, Lin Ming had inherited knowledge of ancient inscription techniques and array formations. However, in order to achieve a complete mastery and understanding of these, he needed an extremely high perception. Presently, Lin Ming’s inscription skill wasn’t able to keep up with his burgeoning strength, resulting in him not being able to use many areas of it. As for array formations, Lin Ming was only relying on the memories of the Supreme Elder to understand them. As for laying down his own array formations, that was almost impossible.

There was also the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’. In the latter period of the true ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’, every move contained a Concept, especially the Concepts of Space and Time. Lin Ming had never passed this zone. Several days ago, Lin Ming had even personally experienced the turbulent flow of space after going through the ancient transmission array. He was able to experience the power of space and time, but even so, he hadn’t been able to comprehend much from this!

In the end, this was all because his perception was lacking.

If he could go to the Blood Slaughter Steppes and gain another martial intent, then this was an opportunity that Lin Ming wouldn’t shirk from.

As Lin Ming was daydreaming, he suddenly heard a loud explosion. He looked up and was surprised to see that in the distance, great fireworks lit up the sky. Lin Ming was startled.

“This is… I decided to inform my tribe on my own.” Huo Yuan guiltily explained. He hadn’t expected this battle to end so easily and quickly. He had originally thought of calling over the tribe so that they could collaborate from the inside and out. He never imagined that Lin Ming would handle the elites of the Silent Green Tribe by himself, thus ending in such an easy victory. If the talented people of his tribe came, they would probably steal the fruits of victory.

Lin Ming said, “It doesn’t matter. Since your tribe has come, they can take over control of the Silent Green Tribe.”

Lin Ming naturally didn’t care about these so-called ‘fruits of victory’. Things such as manpower, mineral resources, sheep and cattle, grain, land, and all these other things were useful to a tribe. However, they were meaningless to him. If it could be acquired by them, it would be a good choice for Qing He and her grandmother to stay there.

“Ah… this…” Huo Yuan was sorry. This Silent Green Tribe had a massive amount of wealth, and also operational Blood Demon Crystal mines. Every year, these mines could generate a massive amount of Blood Demon Crystals. And yet Lin Ming was so easily willing to give it away?

Lin Ming said, “I’m not interested in these things. After hearing your story, I’ve decided to go to the Blood Slaughter Steppes.”

“Ah… you… you want to go to the Blood Slaughter Steppes?” Huo Yuan was shocked. As he thought about it, he realized that Lin Ming truly had the qualifications to go there!