Martial World

Sheng Mei’s appearance left the many proud children of heaven dazed but also excited.

In particular, the most excited one of all was the Soul Rapture Holy Lands’ Jade Lifestone.

The Soul Rapture Holy Lands was far too large, and Jade Lifestone was a disciple not worthy of any special mention. The time that he had managed to luckily catch a glimpse of Sheng Mei was at a grand ceremony, and that had been from several hundred miles away.

Now that he saw Sheng Mei arrive with his own eyes and also at such a close distance, his cheeks turned red and he waved his hands.

“Soul Empress!”

With the Soul Empress here to help, Lin Ming would die without a doubt. As for the golden page, that would also end up in her hands.

Realizing this, the disciples from Great Brahmic God Mountain had ugly complexions. They didn’t believe that anyone on their side could hope to negotiate with Sheng Mei, but neither were they willing to give up on the golden page so easily.

The freezing enchantment that Icydew laid down existed only in name to Sheng Mei. From the far off distance in the starry skies, she simply took a step forwards and vanished, instantly reappearing within the center of the freezing enchantment, right in front of Lin Ming.

She wore a blue dress and a halo of light shrouded her body, making her seem mysterious and sacrosanct.

Because of the halo of light and the hazy mist that drifted around her, it was hard for the surrounding martial artists to see her face. They could only feel her sacred and potent aura, one that made them all wish to fall down in worship.

Everyone thought that Lin Ming would be immediately killed by Sheng Mei. After all, in front of Sheng Mei, Lin Ming was nothing but a little baby without any strength to resist.

“This brat is too lucky, to think he can die beneath the Soul Empress’ hands.”

“What kind of character is the Soul Empress? If she only came for the golden page then the Empress wouldn’t need to do anything at all. The lot of us are more than enough to kill Lin Ming!”

Jade Lifestone said. Many people nodded in agreement. How could they allow the Soul Empress to dirty her hands by killing such inferior human trash?

Although they would have to pay a considerable cost to kill Lin Ming, they were willing to do this for Sheng Mei.

For a time, more and more martial artists came to the Fallen God Mountain Range, eagerly approaching him, wanting to kill him. The presence of Sheng Mei was even better than the rewards announced by the youth from the Great Brahmic God Mountain.

Facing all of this, Lin Ming remained silent, only looking at Sheng Mei.

As for Sheng Mei, she also looked at Lin Ming. Her pupils were deep and a ghostly light bloomed within them, as if she were able to pierce through all the complexities of the human psyche.

Currently, Lin Ming was bathed in blood and innumerable scales were shattered. There was not a place left unscathed on his body and mountains of corpses and rivers of blood lay beneath him.

He was a death god of the battlefield!

And standing opposite Lin Ming was a graceful and elegant goddess, one that stood above the sins of the mortal world.

The smell of blood and death formed an incomparably stark contrast with the radiant beauty.

It was like Lin Ming and Sheng Mei represented two polar extremes of the martial arts world!

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Two peerless geniuses in Lin Ming and Sheng Mei stared at each other. And all around, countless masters of the Soul World surrounded them. The shrine platforms were silent as the martial artists stood up in attention, mystical Law runes shimmering around.

Before this, Lin Ming never imagined he would meet Sheng Mei in such a situation.

“So it really was you.”

Sheng Mei said, her voice simple and charming. She didn’t pour any spirit essence into her words, but they were heard by all the martial artists at the quiet Fallen God Mountain Range.

“You finally came.” Lin Ming replied.

The two voices were clear. For a time, everyone was stunned.

Sheng Mei knew Lin Muk?

This Lin Muk was a bizarre character that had come from out of nowhere, but Sheng Mei knew who he was?

Thinking more carefully about it, everyone couldn’t help but acknowledge that Lin Muk’s talent had already reached incomprehensible levels.

He might even be no worse than Sheng Mei!

And these two peerless geniuses were old acquaintances?

Realizing this, many people were left speechless. Because Lin Ming was a human they had subconsciously considered him as coming from a lowly background, a weak and inferior sect. After all, he was nothing but a mere human.

As for these Soul World martial artists, including Jade Lifestone, when they faced Lin Ming they still felt an inborn sense of superiority even though their strength and talent were far worse.

This was because they were spiritas, because they came from large influences and were the proud elites of these influences.

As for Lin Ming, no one knew where he came from. They assumed he was a human boy who had managed to stumble into a mind-boggling lucky chance.

Thus, when facing Lin Ming, they looked at him like a rich noble living in a capital city would view a bumbling newly wealthy merchant from the countryside.

Even if these nobles weren’t as rich as these newly wealthy merchants, they would still despise the merchants for being lower class.

But now, Sheng Mei’s words left everyone dumbfounded.

This Lin Muk, just what was his deal? How could he know Sheng Mei? Could he have come from some top influence?

In the Soul World there clearly weren’t any great human influences. Could he have come from another universe?

Many people couldn’t figure out what the reason was.

And now, listening to Sheng Mei’s tone, although she didn’t place Lin Ming on the same status as her, he was at least worthy of her treating him earnestly. And Sheng Mei leaving seclusion and crossing countless miles to come all the way to the Fallen God Mountain Range was clearly in order to see Lin Ming.

On the other hand, everyone else, including the disciples from the Soul Rapture Holy Lands like Jade Lifestone, didn’t even enter Sheng Mei’s eyes. They didn’t even receive a greeting from her. This was also a reasonable matter. An emperor wouldn’t personally greet the poor, even if they were his own citizens.

Time slowly passed, Lin Ming’s wounds wriggled about as they slowly regenerated.

Because Lin Ming had used up too much energy, his wounds restored at a snail-slow speed. It was clear that his current condition was extremely poor.

Looking at Lin Ming’s wounds, Sheng Mei said in a quiet voice, “It seems you were waiting for me to see you all this time? However… your current situation isn’t good at all. If I was late by just a single step, I fear you would have died here. Losing the golden page is already a grave enough consequence, but even your true body would be targeted by the Great Brahmic God King. With the Great Brahmic God King’s strength, finding your true body wouldn’t be too hard at all. At that time, you wouldn’t be able to leave the Soul World alive.”

A faint victorious smile hung on Sheng Mei’s face.

Compared to Lin Ming, Sheng Mei was indeed a superior existence. This was because of the disparity in their backgrounds and the disparity in their strength, something that couldn’t be bridged so easily.

Moreover, Lin Ming needed Sheng Mei’s help.

“I might not have been able to keep the golden page, but I don’t think my true body would have had any problems.” Lin Ming calmly said. Even though he was in a disadvantageous position, he didn’t appear weak at all.

“Oh?” Sheng Mei remarked, surprised. “You still have the assurance to escape to the heavens, even when hunted down by a True Divinity?”

“I won’t sit and wait for death.”

Lin Ming also had an escape route, and that was to retreat into the Asura Road. He had the Asura Command and could return to the Asura Road with it. The only problem was that returning there wasn’t an easy task, and it required a long period of set-up time in which he couldn’t be disturbed during the process.

During this period of time, if Lin Ming was locked down by the sense of a True Divinity then the results could be imagined. Lin Ming didn’t doubt that a True Divinity possessed the ability to cross the void of a trillion quadrillion miles and affect his spiritual sea to remove his disguise.

“Your cultivation… seems to have fallen.”

Although Lin Ming could feel Sheng Mei’s terrifying aura, as he probed her soul sea more carefully, he discovered that her cultivation had fallen to the World King realm and she was no longer an early Empyrean. Even so, she still maintained the pressure of an Empyrean. The pressure she exuded also felt far more terrifying than any common Empyrean’s.

This was because she had completed the seventh revolution of the Grand Reincarnation Art.

Through every revolution of the Grand Reincarnation Art, one’s cultivation would fall and their skeletal age would fall with it. The more thorough one’s reincarnation was, the larger the change would be.

“It will continue falling with time…” Sheng Mei confidently said. After completing the Grand Reincarnation Art’s seventh revolution, her cultivation would continue falling for the next year. The lower it fell, the better the effects would be.

And after that when Sheng Mei cultivated again, her cultivation speed would reach incredible degrees. It could even jump several boundaries in a few years.

“You came to the Soul World specifically to look for me?” Sheng Mei asked. Lin Ming had created such a large disturbance in the Akashic Dream Battlefield and had even written down the name Polar Ice Lin right next to hers. All of these signs indicated that he had come to the Soul World to look for her.

If Lin Ming couldn’t find Sheng Mei, then his only option was to have Sheng Mei find him instead.

“State your purpose. I know it’s impossible for you to come here to discuss old times, but… if you came here because of the war between humanity and the saints, and you think that humanity can ally with the spiritas, then I can only tell you that you have made this trip in vain. That is an impossible matter because doing so has no benefits for the spiritas.”

Sheng Mei’s words caused Lin Ming to frown. Although he already expected that negotiations wouldn’t progress smoothly, he didn’t think that Sheng Mei’s first words would nearly suffocate him to death and leave him with no room to argue.

Seeing Lin Ming’s expression, Sheng Mei confirmed her speculations. She sighed and said, “It seems I was right. Besides this, I can’t imagine any other reason you would come to the Soul World to seek me out. In order to come to the Soul World, you must have paid a deep price…”

The journey to cross the barriers of the 33 Heavens was extremely arduous unless there was a previous connection that was already established through the God Lamenting Wall. Otherwise, even Sheng Mei would find it almost impossible to pass through.

Lin Ming looked at Sheng Mei and Sheng Mei looked at Lin Ming. As their eyes met, they fell into an awkward silence.

Then, Lin Ming asked, “Are the spiritas not a match for the saints? The two races had a war erupt between them in the past, so why has that stopped now?”

Sheng Mei replied, “The spiritas and the saints truly do both wish to swallow the other, and there was a great war that erupted between them, but… this is a matter of the past. Now, because of some reasons, the war has momentarily been put on pause. The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign and the spiritas’ Soul Emperor have reached a temporary armistice. After the saints complete a certain matter they will begin their annihilation of humanity, and to them, exterminating humanity isn’t difficult at all. Depending on yourself… there is nothing you can do!”

Sheng Mei indifferently said. What she said was nothing but the facts. Compared to the saints, Lin Ming was far too weak.

“What is the reason for this armistice?” This was what concerned Lin Ming the most.

Sheng Mei refused to answer. “That involves the secrets of my race. I cannot tell you.”

Lin Ming’s complexion darkened. He took a deep breath and slowly said, “Then, what if I put out enough chips?”

“Mm?” Sheng Mei was surprised. She looked at Lin Ming, unable to imagine what chips he could put out.