Martial World

“Breakthrough? Humph. It’s only Bone Forging true essence overflowing. The bottleneck between the Bone Forging stage and Pulse Condensation Period isn’t too big or too small, but you still have to connect your meridians and open them, how could it be so quick?” The Zither Faction old woman curled her lips is disdain. There seemed to be more and more miracles happening with Lin Ming, making her increasingly unhappy.

The bottleneck between the Bone Forging stage and the Pulse Condensation Period was one that every martial artist would inevitably encounter. If their foundation was poor, then a martial artist would be mired at this bottleneck for several years, or even dozens of years. But if too long a time passed, then that also meant the end of their martial arts path.

To talents within a sect, breaking through to the Pulse Condensation Period wasn’t anything too difficult. For a breakthrough, it would take a few months; even half a year was extremely normal.

But young talents were always racing against the hands of time. To them, several months were an incomparably precious treasure.

The old woman of the Zither Faction was already furious with jealousy and anger at Lin Ming, especially since he had managed to break through their Zither Faction’s Profound Wind Eight Melodies.

Shi Zongtian felt his beard, not speaking. He also felt that it was impossible for Lin Ming to break through the Pulse Condensation Period so quickly. It was just that in that split second a moment ago, he had felt Lin Ming’s true essence overflow into his meridians, but it was quickly contained by him.

“This boy, he’s quite bold. He wants to make a full and complete breakthrough. After true essence overflows, that is a natural breakthrough, and using that as the basis creates the most solid foundation. Of course, it is also the most time consuming method.”

Even in the Seven Profound Valleys, there were very few geniuses that would opt to do this. If they did, it would delay them by a massive amount of time; the gains simply didn’t equal the losses. Lin Ming came from a humble mortal background, it was already very commendable that he had such broad vision of his own path.

Shi Zongtian said, “Even if it’s the Pulse Condensation bottleneck, at most it will take Lin Ming half a year. He’ll definitely be able to smoothly break through to the Pulse Condensation Period while he is 16 years old. For a 16 and a half year old martial artist to break through to the Pulse Condensation Period… haha, the result is already quite good even in a fourth-grade sect.

“It’s only ‘good’.” The Zither Faction Sovereign harshly bit out this word. “If this old bag of bones remembers, Sword Faction’s Jiang Baoyun also reached the Pulse Condensation Period when he was 16 and a half years old, and my Zither Faction’s Wuxin was only two months later than him at 16 years and 8 months. The difference between them isn’t much.”

“Haha, Baoyun and Wuxin are both great talents.” Shi Zongtian knew that this old woman cared much about face, was not magnanimous at all, and also had a short fuse. It was best to just agree with whatever she said.

Shi Zongtian’s reason why he thought Lin Ming was valuable wasn’t in his cultivation speed. For him to reach the peak Bone Forging stage at 16 years of age was also the standard for a medium sixth-grade talent; it simply couldn’t be regarded as a monstrous genius. However, what he valued in Lin Ming was his perception, soul force talent, thunder origin energy fusion compatibility, and the mysterious true essence and body he had.

“Thank you for staying your hand.”

Lin Ming said to Qin Wuxin as he bowed. His sudden enlightenment had lasted for ten breaths of time. During this time period, besides the natural true essence that protected his body, Lin Ming was completely undefended. If Qin Wuxin had seized this opportunity to use the Profound Wind Eight Melodies, then Lin Ming would have suffered serious damage.

Losing the match wouldn’t have been too significant, but if he had been broken out of his sudden enlightenment and ruined his chances to enhance his cultivation and perception, then that loss would have been utterly disastrous.

Qin Wuxin calmly said, “You and I have neither hatred nor enmity. Naturally, I would never do something so malicious and evil-hearted against you. Now that your sudden enlightenment has ended, let us bring this show to its finale.”

“Mm, okay!”

Lin Ming flourished the Heavy Profound Soft Spear. This time he was eagerly anticipating validating the new strength of Flow like Silk.

“Hah!”

10,000 vibrating true essence filaments began to tremble with excitement, even the Heavy Profound Soft Spear began to shake in his hand.

“Profound Wind Eight Melodies – Double Crescendo!”

Qin Wuxin’s hands touched the zither, her fingers furiously twisting the strings. A slowly building tempo began to gain traction and a double Profound Wind Eight Melodies began to howl in the wind. This was the first time that she had ever used this technique in true combat.

The first reason was that the double Profound Wind Eight Melodies consumed a great deal of true essence. The second reason was that if Qin Wuxin faced an opponent that tried to rush up by her side, it gave her very little time to save up the required true essence. As for those that couldn’t rush up to her, she didn’t need the double Profound Wind Eight Melodies to deal with them.

As the zither melodies flowed forth, the entire martial stage filled with a myriad of sounds; the churning of wind, the songs of birds, the crushing waves of a tsunami, the rumbling sound of thunder…

Bass, tenor, low-pitch, high-pitch, all these sounds resounded and superimposed up each other, chaos without end!

Lin Ming shut both of his eyes; in the void, nothing could escape his perception.

“More than half of the sonic waves do not contain true essence! The Double Crescendo Profound Wind Eight Melodies has altogether 16 sound waves that contain murderous intent. As for the rest, none of them contain any attack power.”

A long spear swept out, 10,000 vibrating filaments of true essence howled forth!

Peng peng peng peng peng!

The beating of a cavalry, the cracking of a silver bottle!

Sounds erupted, arias ruptured, the martial stage’s protective shield began to tremble!

This time Lin Ming did not use some wonderfully exquisite technique, but used absolute brute force. Everything was swept away, his spear was like a dragon, unstoppable, irresistible, overwhelming!

A single spear crushed five sounds.

The second spear broke apart another four!

After 4 spears, all 16 sound waves that contained murderous intent were completely pierced by Lin Ming!

‘10,000 vibrating filaments of true essence, Flow like Silk is more than twice as powerful as before!’ Lin Ming was very shocked. These 10,000 filaments of true essence had just divided, and yet it was already powerful to this degree. If it was further increased, its power would be even greater!

In the memory of the Supreme Elder from the Realm of the Gods, Flow like Silk could split into millions, or even billions of filaments. If they were combined with the Eight Inner Hidden Gates and the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace, just what degree would its power reach?

Bang!

Lin Ming shattered every zither sound, his spear thrust straight towards Qin Wuxin’s neck!

The wind whistled and the azure true essence tore through the atmosphere. Qin Wuxin could already feel an aching pain on her neck from the intense cold on the tip of the spear!

As the Heavy Profound Soft Spear contained the Concept of Wind, its speed had reached the extreme. Qin Wuxin didn’t move, only watched as the long spear approached her.

Suddenly Lin Ming pulled back his strength and the spear suddenly stopped, the shaft still trembling and the azure true essence still flashing. The cold bright spearpoint was less than half an inch from Qin Wuxin’s slender jade-like neck!

The cold spear light and delicate skin, the aura of chilling slaughter suddenly formed a sharp contrast against the peerless beauty of an amazing woman. With such strength in sharp opposition to a gently soft charm, it created a remarkable image.

Lin Ming gripped the shaft of the Heavy Profound Soft Spear, his heart somewhat surprised. Although he was confident that Qin Wuxin could not dodge this spear, he hadn’t expected that she would remain completely motionless.

“You won’t evade?”

“Since I cannot evade, then why evade?” Qin Wuxin had restored her precious tranquil expression. Facing the wantonly cold spear light, she didn’t even bat an eye.

Even if she was the first ranked disciple of the Zither Faction, Qin Wuxin was still poor at close combat. Once someone was able to close in on her, that basically meant that she lost. Qin Wuxin had no way to use a melee weapon.

Lin Ming retrieved his long spear, and couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, “Lady Qin has superb bearing, I apologize for offending you.”

Qin Wuxin tossed her long sleeves and picked up her zither. Over these years, Qin Wuxin had never placed her zither within her spatial ring; this was similar to how the Sword Faction carried their swords on their backs, and was an equally good approach to increasing her awareness of her zither’s feelings.

“Lin Ming, victory!”

With the announcement from the referee elder, the audience couldn’t help but lament in silence. Lin Ming was simply too strong. Even Qin Wuxin who had reached Large Success of her Zither Heart had lost. Except Jiang Baoyun, Mugu Buyu, and Ouyang Ming, there was nobody that could contend with his strength!

At this time, the gambling house had already increased Lin Ming’s odds to 1:6; this was the same as Ouyang Ming!

Lin Ming didn’t care much about this. He returned to the contestant waiting area and chose a quiet corner where he placed a sound insulating barrier.

“Xingxuan, come over to me.” Lin Ming beckoned to Qin Xingxuan in the audience with a true essence sound transmission. As the boy and girl became increasingly familiar with each other, Lin Ming no longer called Qin Xingxuan Miss Qin.

“Mm, okay.”

Qin Xingxuan was in a very good mood as she walked over. Lin Ming’s winning streak hadn’t surprised her, what had surprised her was that during every match, Lin Ming would also show a new and unexpected ability that was beyond her expectations.

In fact, Lin Ming hadn’t achieved a landslide victory against Qin Wuxin or Jiang Lanjian. However, as these strange and mysterious abilities surfaced during each match, Lin Ming’s momentum increased until it rivaled someone like Ouyang Ming.

“Xingxuan, can you help guard me, I need to meditate for a moment and cultivate.”

After the ninth round had ended, it was time for lunch so there was a full two hour relaxation time. Lin Ming had obtained many insights and he wanted to fully absorb them as soon as possible. At the same time, his Bone Forging stage true essence was constantly overflowing, and there was an anxious feeling like it would explode from his bones.

Lin Ming had been forcefully suppressing this true essence and felt very itchy and a bit aching like all his bones were swelling. He wanted to break through to the Pulse Condensation Period immediately.

“Guard you?” You want…” Qin Xingxuan was surprised, she didn’t know what Lin Ming was going to do.

“I’m going to break through to the Pulse Condensation Period!” Lin Ming calmly said. Not too long ago, breaking through to Pulse Condensation had been his lifelong pursuit, but now he had arrived at this step at only 16 years of age. Not only that, but he had made a perfect breakthrough where his true essence had autonomously overflowed! But as this grand moment arrived, he still remained completely tranquil. This was because he had personally experienced the talent of someone like Mu Qianyu, and he knew that a little Pulse Condensation Period was nothing at all!

“Break through to the Pulse Condensation Period?” Qin Xingxuan was shocked, “You… your meridians have already connected?”

“Mm!”

Lin Ming nodded, not wasting any time. Although this rest period was long, it still wasn’t too much time, and he also knew that the inspirations he received were fleeting. He didn’t even have enough time to find a quiet room, instead just placing some cloth up to keep out the sound and then sitting down to meditate and revolve his true essence.

Under the guidance of the ethereal martial intent, Lin Ming soon entered an empty state of mind. Despite all of the chaos around him, he was unaffected by any of it. True essence broke through from his bones, his body was like a floodgate that was opening, and all of the true essence poured through and endlessly surged into his meridians!

“This boy…” In the Grand Hall above the square, Shi Zongtian had been paying close attention to Lin Ming. He saw as Lin Ming walked over to a quiet corner and then sat down in mediation to revolve his true essence, he was suddenly startled. True essence had broken out of his bones and flowed into his meridians… this was clearly breaking through to the Pulse Condensation Period!

“This is the Pulse Condensation Period! He broke through so quickly… his meridians must have already been linked up, it was just that he had been suppressing his true essence, and wanted to wait for his Bone Forging true essence to overflow.”

Shi Zongtian had amazing eyesight; he had already seen through Lin Ming’s condition.

The wrinkled expression of the Zither Faction’s old woman suddenly became extremely ugly. Just a moment ago she had absolutely asserted that it was impossible that Lin Ming had broken through to the Pulse Condensation Period, but in less than half an incense stick of time, Lin Ming had actually sat down and began to meditate through his breakthrough. This was simply slapping her in the face!

“He just reached 16 years of age and is already at the Pulse Condensation Period… throughout the last several hundred years of the Seven Profound Valleys, he was the only one to do so! Even if he were placed within Divine Phoenix Island or some other fourth-grade sect, this would be a top line talent!” The Sword Faction’s Great Elder was incomparably surprised.

“This boy’s future is limitless!”

“Haha, with Jiang Lanjian and this boy, my Seven Profound Valleys will enter into a prosperous age!”

As the surrounding elders discussed and their appraisal of Lin Ming rose higher, the Zither Faction Sovereign’s expression became all the more ugly.

At this moment, Shi Zongtian suddenly said, “No, something seems… this boy… has he comprehended a martial intent!?!?”