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Whether it was martial artists, mortals, or perhaps even animals, there was a natural hollow between their eyebrows where the third eye was hidden. This third eye had already degenerated into the brain, and was known by some as the upper dantian; this was also the daevic eye.
If one could open their daevic eye, they could gain the power to see through all mysteries and obtain an unparalleled perception.
But currently, Lin Ming’s daevic eye had just opened and was still bleeding. He hadn’t thoroughly opened it, but had just barely managed to. It was naturally impossible for him to see through all matters, but he could hazily make out the hand of the mysterious woman.
The moment that the woman’s fingers fell upon the blue stone, the surrounding Heavenly Dao Laws gathered unto her, combining with the power of life and turning into runes that carved themselves into the blue stones.
With her fingers as the pen, with the Laws as the ink, everything this woman drew seemed to be alive.
Flowers, plants, insects, birds, beasts, everything was lifelike. Even rocks and rubble, or even the simplest words were brimming over with life. The mysterious woman’s two hands seemed to grant all dead things a spirituality of their own, filling them with an impossible vitality.
Lin Ming even had a feeling that as long as the mysterious woman blew upon the designs she drew, they would jump to life. Like the mythical brush of god, everything she drew seemed as if it would become reality.
Lin Ming consumed a massive amount of soul force. Still, he continued to persist and read the Laws that the woman wrote down.
He felt that everything the mysterious woman carved down was something that always seemed to fall through his fingers.
The disparity in their boundaries was just far too great, so great that even just looking at the mysterious woman draw caused him to overdraw his soul force and find it difficult to continue.
“There’s no point in being too greedy.”
Lin Ming suddenly awoke to this point. This woman carved down far too many Laws. Every blue stone had marks she left behind, and these marks all contained inherent Laws. Although they all interpreted life itself, every interpretation held a different meaning.
If Lin Ming wanted to comprehend the meaning of all these Laws, a situation would appear where everything would fall beyond his reach.
After realizing this, Lin Ming calmed his mind. Then, he focused all his attention on the pattern that the mysterious woman just drew.
This pattern was in the shape of a raindrop, only the size of a mung bean. Compared to the previous carvings such as the flowers and beasts, this design was extremely simple. It consisted of only several strokes and the mysterious woman only took a few breaths of time to complete it.
Even so, this simple image revealed extraordinary meanings.
Lin Ming stared at this raindrop, completely immersing his every thought into it, going into a trance-like state.
In a dreamy haze, he saw the raindrop divide into two, two divide to four, four divide to eight, continuing on and on, becoming increasingly crowded until it was a pall of rain that stretched out without end. Within the cloud, faint arcs of lightning flashed, like silver snakes flying through the air. It was a mesmerizing scene.
Such a scene left Lin Ming utterly immersed within it.
Rain, was the convergence of water vapors from all longs. Its life was to grow in clouds high in the skies, and its death was to fall onto the earth, fall into the sea, and return to the world…
Its life was extremely short. A single drop of rainwater was also insignificant.
But the endless rainwater nourished all things. It nourished life. Flowers and birds, insects and beasts, all thrived because of rain!
A single drawing of a raindrop seemed simple, but it contained a Concept of Endlessness. As Lin Ming slowly felt the infinite mysterious within, he forgot the passage of time.
His soul force was constantly being used up, but the Concept of Endlessness subtly nourished his spiritual sea. Within his originally depleted spiritual sea, drops of rain seemed to appear, each drop made of incomparably pure source soul force. Through the revitalization of this rain, Lin Ming felt his own energy begin to fill back up.
Such a change manifested its effects on Lin Ming’s body.
His pale complexion slowly became ruddy. However, the blood that flowed from his eyes and ears still stained his face, making him seem fierce.
“This brat, he seems to have managed to live through it?”
Many people were surprised. Under ordinary circumstances there would occasionally be martial artists who appeared on the shrine platforms that overreached past their limits, causing their situation to become increasingly worse until they fell over.
Lin Ming clearly wasn’t able to last much longer, but color had suddenly returned to his face. Something strange was happening.
“This is just the final radiance of a setting sun. Watch, he’ll collapse soon enough. Originally, all of us came here for the experience without any hopes of gaining harvests, but this boy is truly a rare creature. He isn’t a fellow spiritas and he also excels in the essence gathering system, yet he came waddling over here with thoughts of the inheritance that our spiritas ancestors left behind. In this great world all strange sights are possible.”
“Especially with his current appearance. He was just bleeding heavily from his head just now. I really think he might be drunk…”
Several people loudly laughed. But at this time, someone cried out.
“What’s happening, Empress Sheng Mei is also…”
With this shout, everyone turned their attention away from Lin Ming and towards Sheng Mei. Sheng Mei was the most outstanding elite of the spiritas and also the leading character of all those who came here to attempt enlightenment.
They were left panic-stricken by what they saw.
Sheng Mei’s current situation wasn’t good either.
The hazy soul force around her body became increasingly unstable as if it could dissipate at any moment. The color had disappeared from her beautiful face and it was clear she had consumed a massive amount of soul force.
“Empress!”
Some people nervously cried out. They were all admirers of Sheng Mei.
“Do not disturb the Empress!”
Jade Lifestone shouted out loud. On the Fallen God Mountain Range, a martial artist would spend the majority of their time in rest. After all, there was a limited number of shrine platforms. Ever since Jade Lifestone saw Sheng Mei arrive, he hadn’t spent much time trying to grasp the principles, but instead spent the majority of his time focused on her current state. Now that something was happening to her, he immediately noticed it.
After almost an entire year, this was the first time that Sheng Mei’s soul force seemed to weaken. To use one’s soul force to gain enlightenment was risky to begin with and Jade Lifestone didn’t allow anyone to disturb him during this process. Now that some minor phenomena were occurring under unknown circumstances, he naturally couldn’t allow anyone to disturb her either.
“Even a peerless existence like Empress Sheng Mei whose talent defies the heavens, will also encounter a situation where her soul force weakens?”
People began to think. As they looked at the increasingly ruddy Lin Ming, they felt this strange. Just what was Sheng Mei experiencing?
“The Empress possesses a potent soul force, but she likely consumed a great deal of it too…”
Someone began to say, voicing everyone’s thoughts. But at this time, around Sheng Mei, a dim halo appeared. This halo grew larger and larger, spreading out like waves.
Seeing this, everyone on the cliff began to fidget with excitement. This was…
Hu - !
The light completely diffused outwards. Fog wound around Sheng Mei’s shrine platform. The fifth soul sea mark had lit up!
“Empress Sheng Mei has lit up the fifth soul sea! It’s only been one year!”
In truth, for the martial artists who visited the shrine platforms, many of them had already lit up their fifth soul sea marks.
In fact, many of those proud children of heaven that were currently here had already lit up their fifth soul seas.
But, they often had to spend five years or more before the soul sea marks emitted the dimmest of lights, like a candle flickering in a storm.
No one managed to accomplish this as fast as Sheng Mei nor were their soul sea marks as bright as Sheng Mei’s. Her soul sea mark was like a brilliant boom, emitting a holy and enchanting light.
“Truly worthy of being the Soul Empress. Even though she seemed to be overdrawing her soul force, that was a critical moment in grasping the principles, thus the reason for her appearance. Still, she managed to break through that hurdle.”
Some people heavily praised. To light the fifth soul sea so quickly caused many people to think that this time, Sheng Mei really might be able to obtain the golden page of the Fallen God Mountain Range.
But the possibility wasn’t too high. For time immemorial, countless people had tried and failed, including even young True Divinities.
The impossible difficulty of grasping the principles on the shrine platforms had become firmly rooted in the hearts of the people.
As these people were speaking, behind them, another dim halo spread out, rippling like waves.
“Mm!?”
Everyone was shocked. They turned and were amazed to see that not too far away, Lin Ming’s shrine platform was emitting a faint light like a lighthouse in the dark sea.
“It’s Lin Muk!”
“He also lit up the fifth soul sea mark? How is this possible!?”
“Also within a year! He’s comparable to Empress Sheng Mei!”
Watching these ripples of light grow increasingly large and dense, everyone was so shocked their jaws nearly hit the ground. With this phenomenon occurring, they could confirm that Lin Ming had also lit up the fifth soul sea mark!
“Why would this happen? He’s clearly a human so why would he be able to comprehend our spiritas inheritances?”
People glanced at each other with dread, unable to say a single word.
Many of them also felt a deep sense of frustration and despondence. In truth, the reason they endlessly mocked Lin Ming and hoped that he would falter was because they were afraid of him. They were afraid he would really manage to comprehend something here and would cast them all away.
This was because in terms of combat strength and talent, Lin Ming already left them all in the dust. At the same boundary he was easily able to roll over them all!
As the top spiritas youths of their universe, they always held a certain pride in their innermost feelings.
They acknowledged that they couldn’t defeat Lin Ming in battle, but at the very least in terms of soul force and mental power, they wouldn’t be worse than he was.
But the reality they were shown made them a joke.
This was just like a go master playing against a chess master. They would play go first and even after a single move they realized they would fail and lose 100% to Lin Ming.
But even after trying to play chess, they discovered that even in chess they fell far behind Lin Ming, and extremely far behind at that.
Unable to win even in their own specialty, this could be called being trampled to the ground. Just what kind of proud children of heaven were they? Compared to Lin Ming they were just a joke!
These people didn’t know that the truth was the creator of the Holy Scripture wasn’t the ancestor of the spiritas. And, the inheritance he left behind belonged to all life, to those who possessed the ability to take it. It had nothing to do with any race!
Chapter 1851.2: B – Life and Death
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At this time, the outstanding spiritas elites on the Fallen God Mountain Range all had ugly complexions, as if their parents had died in front of them.
In particular, those that mocked Lin Ming and said he was forcing himself had burning red faces. Even though they still wanted to mock Lin Ming, the facts were laid out in front of them. Rather than smacking themselves in the face again they decided to simply shut up.
“This Lin Muk, is it really the first time he came to the Fallen God Mountain Range!?”
Someone asked in hushed whispers. However, before he finished speaking, an even more unbelievable matter occurred.
The halo of light around Lin Ming grew increasingly bright, overlapped again and again as it diffused outwards. First it seemed like ripples, then it seemed like surging waves. Wave after wave, even the surrounding space for hundreds of feet was affected. Faintly, a blinding radiance shot up into the skies from around Lin Ming’s head, filling the world with a brilliant luster. It was like a star was shining, leaving everyone shocked to the extreme.
This sort of phenomenon even surpassed Sheng Mei’s!
Sheng Mei’s light was like a bright full moon, but Lin Ming’s light was like a blazing star. Every person produced different phenomena as they tried to grasp the principles on the shrine platforms. This was because every martial artist comprehended different Laws on the shrine platforms. No martial artist could comprehend the complete Laws of the Holy Scripture, but only a tiny part of them.
According to the difficulty of this part of the Laws, as well as different levels of comprehensions, various phenomena could occur that differentiated the strong and the weak.
But now, if one had to ask if Lin Ming’s phenomenon was greater or Sheng Mei’s phenomenon was greater, everyone would have to say that the light radiating off of Lin Ming’s shrine platform was a bit more dazzling!
“Empress Sheng Mei actually cannot compare with this Lin Muk?”
Many people felt as if they were living in a dream. Although Soul Empress Sheng Mei was only at her seventh revolution and still had a tremendous capacity for future growth, who could say that Lin Ming also didn’t have equal potential?
“Stop speaking nonsense! Empress Sheng Mei lit the fifth soul sea mark first, and phenomena cannot be differentiated based on how bright the light is! How can we hope to understand Laws of such complexity?”
Many of Sheng Mei’s diehard supporters argued. They weren’t willing to believe that Lin Ming had surpassed Sheng Mei.
And at this time, whether it was Lin Ming or Sheng Mei, neither person knew what was happening in the outside world.
Trying to grasp the principles was like climbing a thin ladder to the heavens. It was an endless and lonely path.
Their minds were completely focused, without the least bit of distraction.
After lighting the fifth soul sea mark, the journey to light the sixth soul sea mark would be long indeed.
Lin Ming was like an ancient tree rooted in rock, standing solid and steady on the ground.
Sheng Mei was like a lake without wind or waves, incomparably quiet and peaceful.
The phenomenon that Sheng Mei saw was different from what Lin Ming saw. She forcefully relied on her incredible talent and her understandings of life and the soul to seek out a path in that dense fog.
But as for Lin Ming, he was always staring at the image of a raindrop. He looked at this small raindrop day after day in a trance-like state.
It was only when he felt that he had comprehended everything he could from this raindrop image, and that the other Laws were impossible to understand even if he could see them, that he slowly stopped.
And as he shifted his eyes, Lin Ming discovered that the mysterious woman had already disappeared.
Moreover, this part of the world had grown dim, as if a pall of dark clouds covered this land.
“Senior has disappeared…”
Lin Ming said with some regret. As the mysterious woman vanished, the Laws she left behind also vanished. The innumerable Laws she carved down were all incomparably exquisite, containing endless mysteries within them. If one could copy them and bring them outside, then any single one would be a top miracle treasure. Even True Divinity Holy Lands would regard them as priceless treasures that would be passed down as core inheritances.
However, even though Lin Ming had fallen into a mountain of treasures, the treasures he had managed to take away were limited. He had only become aware of the raindrop diagram and even then he hadn’t completely grasped it.
It could only be said that the difference in boundaries was far too great. Lin Ming still had a long road ahead of him.
As Lin Ming regretted that he wasn’t able to comprehend more things, the skies became increasingly dark. Black clouds overlapped and a ghostly fog rolled towards him.
The blue stones were covered by this darkness. They slowly lost their blue luster and began to turn as black as ink.
The blue stones turned to black stones.
The black stones were quiet and plain. As Lin Ming looked at them, he didn’t know why but he felt that they were all like tombstones.
This was an extremely bizarre feeling. Moreover, this world was clearly filled with an unspeakably suppressive atmosphere.
Thick black fog filled the air, completely shrouding the world. Once again, Lin Ming couldn’t see the road ahead of him.
Lin Ming’s thoughts stirred. He revolved the Daevic Eye Dao Palace, wanting to see through this thick fog.
However, layers of hazy death energy filled the heavens and earth, covering the point between Lin Ming’s eyebrows and making it so that his daevic eye wasn’t as keen.
Lin Ming could feel the point between his eyebrows be covered in a mass of black energy. To be described by a fortune teller, Lin Ming’s forehead had gone black.
“The daevic eye can’t see through this...”
Lin Ming took a deep breath. He faintly felt that what flooded his surroundings was the Concept of Death.
If a life was born, death naturally followed.
Death, was the home which all life returned to.
There was no life that could live forever. Even a great race had their prosperity and decline. Even a universe was born and eventually destroyed.
If one could rid themselves of death… then that was the legendary Law of Eternal Life. But… even the creator of the Holy Scripture wasn’t able to perfectly summarize the Law of Eternal Life.
In this situation, all life had to experience the concept of death, and this was also the most important part of life. This was because for all lives, the time they were alive was insignificant compared to the time they were dead.
“But how do I comprehend the Concept of Death?”
Comprehending death was far more difficult than comprehending life. This was because Lin Ming was a living being to begin with, so understanding life was easier for him. It was impossible for Lin Ming to commit suicide to experience death.
As all sorts of thoughts were racing through Lin Ming’s mind, a red light flashed and Ruby appeared beside him. She said, “Brother Lin, t-t-t-there’s some people there…”
Ruby pointed towards the black fog. Lin Ming couldn’t see through it at all.
“What sort of people?” Lin Ming asked, startled.
“Many… many people. They all look different. Some have wings. Some have horns. Some have tails. And some don’t even look like people but look like fierce beasts or strange beasts. They are all crawling out from the ground beneath the black stones.”
“Crawling out from beneath the black stones?” Lin Ming’s mind chilled. That was the same as crawling out from a grave. No wonder he had felt that these black stones were similar to tombstones.
Yet even now, Lin Ming couldn’t see these figures that Ruby spoke of.
“Ah…” Ruby gasped.
“What is it?” Lin Ming hurriedly asked.
“They… they are being killed. Someone’s killing them. That… that person is… so scary. They are holding a scythe in one hand and a black book in the other…”
“Scythe? Black book?” Lin Ming’s thoughts raced. These two things caused him to think of legendary depictions of the god of death.
In particular, that black book caused Lin Ming to form even more associations.
He remembered that in the ancient ruins within the Akashic Dream Battlefield, in the great battle between the Asura Road Master and the creator of the Holy Scripture, the creator of the Holy Scripture had been holding a black book in his hands.
“What kind of book is it? Is this person a man or a woman?”
“A black book. There’s a blood red pattern upon it. A man…”
Ruby rapidly breathed out. For some reason after this black figure with his black book appeared, she felt a deep sense of unease swell within her.
Lin Ming could already confirm that the black book Ruby spoke of was likely the black book he had seen in the ancient ruins within the Akashic Dream Battlefield.
If so, then was this person the creator of the Holy Scripture?
Then who was the mysterious woman from before?
Lin Ming’s thoughts became increasingly tangled. Were there two creators of the Holy Scripture?
Without a doubt, the black figure that Ruby saw was more similar to the creator of the Holy Scripture that he had seen in the ancient battlefield ruins. At the very least they were both men.
“Black book. Are they really golden pages?”
Before this, Lin Ming had always believed that the golden pages were parts of the Holy Scripture that had fallen down. And, the portions that had been collected and organized together formed the Spiritas Holy Scripture that was in the hands of the Soul Emperor. But now, it seemed that he had been mistaken.
In fact, just thinking about it a little more carefully, the golden pages were far too large. When they were fully unfolded they were the size of a small kasya; they just didn’t seem like pages at all. Moreover, there were only 10 golden pages. If one had to form a book with them, then this book would be far too large and far too thin.
“Unfortunately, I cannot see the form of this killer and I also don’t know what the appearance of this mysterious black book wielder is like…”
Lin Ming revolved the daevic eye but was still completely unable to pierce through the black fog. The mysterious death energy was even able to cover up the vision of his daevic eye.
He was faintly aware that after comprehending the raindrop diagram, he had likely lit up the fifth soul sea mark. But what followed after that was the sixth soul sea mark!
The fifth soul sea mark was life and the sixth soul sea mark was death!
At this point, Lin Ming felt that grasping the principles on the shrine platform was no longer as simple as obtaining a golden page from the Fallen God Mountain Range.
This was a chance! A turning point that allowed him to peep into the Law inheritances of the Holy Scripture’s creator!
Thinking of this, Lin Ming sucked in a deep breath and became increasingly excited.
The Asura Road Master and the creator of the Holy Scripture were two peerless characters that existed 10 billion years ago. But, the two of them walked down completely divergent roads of martial arts.
One focused within, one focused without – if he could simultaneously obtain the inheritances of these two peerless powerhouses and cultivate the outside and inside worlds, just what boundaries would he reach?
If he could fuse the two together then his future achievements would be unimaginable!
He might even surpass the Asura Road Master and surpass the creator of the Holy Scripture, establishing a new boundary that had never been reached before!
Realizing this, Lin Ming was increasingly sure that the shrine platforms on the Fallen God Mountain Range were in truth a rich trove of inheritances and also a massive lucky chance. However, wanting to obtain any enlightenment from here was far, far too difficult. Since ancient times, countless spiritas elites had attempted to grasp the principles here, but they had all returned with nothing.
Because so many people failed over the years, many people arrived here with thoughts of only ‘giving it a try’ and believed that not comprehending anything here wouldn’t be a loss at all. The simply didn’t think about obtaining the golden page and only wanted to come here and take a brief look around.
In fact, many people believed that it wasn’t suitable to cultivate here for a long period of time because the Laws were chaotic. But, they didn’t realize that it was because of these chaotic Laws that they couldn’t comprehend anything.