Martial World

After accompanying Zhu Yan to his destination, Lin Ming left.

Placed within the vast world, Zhu Yan might be some common and unnoticeable mortal. But because of some unknown and unpredictable karmic cycle, he had appeared twice in Lin Ming’s life, and these two times were both when Lin Ming had reached his lowest point…

Lin Ming’s heart had changed. This transformation wasn’t solely because of Zhu Yan.

During these years, where he had walked, what he had seen, what he had heard, what he had felt, all of these things marked themselves in Lin Ming’s mind, changing his mood and his outlook on life.

He didn’t seek a reversal of fate. Rather, he only wished to live a life without regret…

Lin Ming no longer roamed around. He estimated that he only had 30-40 years of life left.

He didn’t want to quietly die.

In the last days of his life he would put forth one final struggle!

…..

On this day, Lin Ming arrived at a barren hill that was far off from civilization.

He used his fingers as a spear and slashed out.

With a loud explosion, a deep cave was cut open into the hill.

Lin Ming decided that from now until the end, he would go into deep seclusion training.

Perhaps there was a chance. Although this chance approached zero, he would still try his best.

If in the end he was still dying, then in the last few years of his life he would leave this barren hill and go to one last place – Vermillion Bird Divine Kingdom.

He would go there and see his parents one final time. Then, he could die.

Lin Ming walked into the cave and then sealed up the entrance.

After resolving to walk down this final road, his heart was filled with determination.

And this road was the only method Lin Ming could think of to cultivate.

Moreover, the price of this cultivation was inexorably painful. It would cause Lin Ming’s strength to fall to an unprecedented valley and it would also reduce the little lifespan he had left.

The 30-40 years of life he had left to live would be reduced to 10-20 years. And this could even be called a death road!

Still, Lin Ming had to desperately risk his life.

Faint traces of the power of divinity fluctuated within Lin Ming’s body. Because of his weak fires of the soul, Lin Ming could no longer manipulate the massive amount of energy saved within his inner world. Instead, this energy had become a burden on him.

But, if he were to slowly dissipate these energies, then that was something he could accomplish.

Each time, Lin Ming could move around a thousandth of the energy in his inner world. He drew this energy into his meridians and let it scatter outwards. In other words, this was… dispersing his cultivation!

Because of his weak soul, Lin Ming could no longer bear the potency of his own cultivation. If so, then he would simply force his cultivation to drop until it reached a level his soul force could withstand!

This was a crazy decision! Dispersing one’s cultivation was itself tremendously injurious to one’s body, and Lin Ming’s fires of life were already fading away like a candle in a storm!

All of Lin Ming’s pores opened. As the source energy escaped from his body, his eyebrows tightly wrinkled together. Pure agony swelled forth from within his body.

Even so, Lin Ming’s face revealed a decisiveness and resolution that was harder than metal. His eyes seemed to contain a stubborn unyieldingness, an unwillingness to yield to the fate that the heavens had arranged for him!

As his source energy escaped, this affected Lin Ming’s essence energy.

Although Lin Ming’s soul was weak and his fires of life were nearly extinguished, his mortal body was still incredibly powerful. Once his essence energy and blood were affected, the pores throughout his body would begin to release faint streams of blood.

This fresh blood transpired from Lin Ming’s body, mixed with the power of divinity, condensing into layers of blood mist around him.

At the same time, Lin Ming’s boundary began to constantly fall.

From Divine Lord to Divine Transformation, and then from Divine Transformation to Divine Sea… all the way to Life Destruction…

This speed of falling cultivation was alarming!

If a martial artist were to disperse their cultivation like this, then that was no different from suicide!

Lin Ming’s mortal body was far too formidable. As his blood flowed out, his body constantly produced more. The mist of blood emitting from his pores scattered without end.

This blood mist dyed the ground red, dyed the walls red, and dyed the ceiling red.

Soon, the entire cave Lin Ming was in was dyed a deep blood red.

More and more blood accumulated in layers. Lin Ming’s face was pale white, but he grit his teeth and continued.

He wanted to disperse everything in a single breath, breaking himself and then standing back up from the rubble!

At this time, Lin Ming’s cultivation had already fallen to the Revolving Core realm. His face was distorted beyond recognition and his teeth screeched as he bit down tight.

Then, Lin Ming’s inner world suddenly shook and began to crack open…

A Revolving Core martial artist did not have an inner world. What they had was a dantian.

An inner world was something that began opening when a martial artist reached the Divine Sea, and when they became a Divine Lord, their inner world would turn into a microcosm. But as Lin Ming’s cultivation dropped, his inner world wouldn’t transform into a dantian. Rather, it began collapsing in on itself.

This was an even greater attack on Lin Ming. He slumped forwards and thrust his arms against the ground, his knuckles deeply embedding themselves into the rock.

He began to retch, nearly vomiting out his stomach. Almost all of his blood had been drained. This inhuman pain was something Lin Ming had to bear. He clenched his teeth and didn’t even mutter a single sound.

In his heart, a desperate unyielding spirit was struggling to survive!

And at this time, something worth feeling grateful for suddenly occurred.

That was, as his cultivation fell to the Revolving Core realm, the little bit of soul force left in his spiritual sea began to fuse together with the energy in his inner world.

In other words, Lin Ming’s cultivation had finally reached parity with his source soul force.

He could cultivate like a normal martial artist could.

He could train his soul again, train his cultivation again, moving forwards one step at a time, continuing to climb upwards…

However… there was just a little something that was different.

He was old.

The fires of life and fires of the soul of a young Revolving Core martial artist might be small and weak, but they could be grown. As for Lin Ming’s fires of life and fires of the soul, the majority had been taken away by someone else, making Lin Ming the equivalent of a person in the twilight of their years.

He had less than 20 years of life remaining. This was the same as an old person at the end of their road.

Although Lin Ming’s appearance was still young, his eyes were muddy and gloomy, and this was all because his powerful mortal body was continuing to support him.

If he hadn’t absorbed so much God Beast blood and the Asura blood, then Lin Ming feared he would have completely become like an old man on the verge of death.

An old person with his remaining 20 some years of life had to increase his cultivation to at least the Holy Lord realm. Just what was the possibility of this?

Lin Ming didn’t know, but he would continue to desperately push forwards.

Whether or not he could increase his cultivation he would still try his best to cultivate, not even wasting a single moment.

More than once he had affirmed to himself that he would be a moth fluttering towards the fire.

He had said to Lan Yunyue, had said to Sheng Mei, and had even said to himself –

“Even if I am a small and weak moth, I will walk into the flames without hesitation. I will fight my destiny for a one in a million chance that I will experience my own samsara and be reborn as a flaming phoenix…”

But, that oath had never been tested in such a tragic and brutal manner as today, where he was placed in such a hopeless death trap!

Lin Ming knew just how little hope there was on this road, but if he cultivated, there was at least a tiny ray of hope, a chance to turn everything around.

If he gave up, that would just be waiting for death.