Chapter 1187 – Goal: Nightmare Canyon
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“If this continues, maybe I can use these nine months in the Divine Dream World to rise to the middle Divine Sea realm. Moreover, the benefits to my soul and battle spirit I’ll gain here will be much greater!”
As Lin Ming realized this, he became overjoyed. With his current strength and cultivation level, he didn’t have any confidence in competing with an Empyrean descendant. Once he met a late Divine Sea Empyrean descendant, his chances of victory were even slimmer.
But if he could cultivate to the middle Divine Sea realm, that would give him a tiny fraction of hope.
But to do so he had to train and accumulate more and more divine dream energy. Lin Ming discovered that after he killed Zhong Wenshu and absorbed a massive amount of divine dream energy, he wa unable to use all of it. He could only make use of a tiny fraction of it; most of it dissipated.
“I wonder just what Empyrean Divine Dream’s complete transcendent divine might is like. If I could learn it, with the Magic Cube supporting me, my own strength and cultivation speed will rise dramatically.” Lin Ming thought to himself.
At this moment, he discovered that the two small tracker fellows were still alive. It was with a great stroke of luck the two of them had managed to dodge the explosive shockwaves. But they were already scared silly. To them, escaping here was impossible. The difference in strength was simply too great. With Lin Ming’s divine sense tracking them, it was impossible to run away.
As for staying here, the pressure made every second feel like a year, a suffering worse than death.
As they saw Lin Ming look at them, their souls, scared to their very cores, nearly vanished to dust.
Dying in the Divine Dream World wasn’t actually too scary. What they feared was the implications outside. They personally learned that Lin Ming was even more ruthless than Zhong Wenshu. After offending such a character, it would be impossible for them to sleep or eat with peace in the future.
“Great Hero Lin, I beg for your forgiveness. We have eyes but we couldn’t see Mount Tai. A great lord like yourself shouldn’t remember idiots like us. Just treat us like a fart and forget about us.”
Lin Ming coldly smiled. To him, these two were nothing more that insects. Killing them was simply, but doing so didn’t hold any meaning.
“You two, tell me information about Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies.”
“Sa-Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies?” The two tiny trackers gulped. They subconsciously thought that Lin Ming wanted them to monitor Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies. If they did something like that, their fates would probably even be more miserable than offending Lin Ming. After all, they still had to live in the True Martial Great World.
“I don’t need you to monitor Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies, you two likely don’t have that ability to begin with. I only need you to tell me where they usually go hunting as well as some places nearby Immemorial Imperial City that have the highest rank nightmare beasts to hunt!”
Lin Ming believed that Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies wouldn’t deliberately avoid him, and they might even look for him instead. Wanting to find these three should be extremely easy.
“Yes, yes.” The two small martial artists nodded, their faces looking as if they had been stuffed full of garlic. They quickly iterated what they knew about the three prodigies of Sacred Martial Mansion, “Great Hero Lin, Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies frequently go to Nightmare Canyon. The nightmare beasts there are very high ranked and there’s even some monsters that Zhong Wenshu and the others do not dare to provoke. Besides Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies, there is also a red bamboo hat woman. That woman is particularly ruthless. She will kill any others without even batting an eye. Zhong Wenshu as well as Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies all dread encountering her,” the two small martial artists rapidly said.
This information was actually quite useful to Lin Ming. “Nightmare Canyon. That should be a name the martial artists have given this location within the Divine Dream World. Also that red bamboo hat woman, that should be the woman who fought for the Boundless World Pill against me. She is the final disciple of a World King level powerhouse who fell from that boundary.”
Lin Ming wasn’t too worried. “Where is Nightmare Canyon?”
“Reporting to Great Hero Lin. Nightmare Canyon is 3000 miles southeast of Immemorial Imperial City. Nearly all the top masters of Immemorial Imperial City are gathered there.”
“Mm…” Lin Ming thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled, “Although I’m not worried you will disclose news of me to Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies, it will be a bit troublesome if they hide from me or set up some kind of trap. You may both take a brief sleep. Rest assured, I won’t trouble you in the real world.”
Lin Ming lifted his hand as he spoke. The two small martial artists jumped up in fright before immediately responding, “Thank you Great Hero Lin for forgiving us. We do not need Great Hero Lin to do anything, us brothers will finish this ourselves.”
The two small martial artists looked at each other, then took out weapons from their spatial ring. They aimed it at each other’s hearts, grit their teeth, clenched their eyes, and savagely stabbed it in!
Puff! Puff!
Blood shot out. The two small trackers actually committed suicide. Lin Ming looked at them, a bit surprised. These two fellows were sufficiently ruthless.
Although this was only a dreamland space, the feeling of a weapon digging into their hearts was the exact same as it was in the real world. Not everyone would have the courage to commit suicide like this.
The two tracker martial artists soon turned into soul wisps that flew back to Immemorial Imperial City. They would have to wait until the next day to be reincarnated. The two of them already decided their next course of actions. After reviving, they would stay within the safety of the city. The time for the first round of eliminations was fast approaching and they both would definitely be eliminated. They wanted to gather their things and quickly leave, lest they be caught up in a stormy battle between these giants again. If they were a bit careless, they might even lose their lives in the real world.
Lin Ming glanced over at Zhong Wenshu’s three remaining minions. These three were already finished. Lin Ming shot out three true essence energy arrows and instantly ended their lives.
Although the three of them had some merit points, their difference with Lin Ming’s current merit point value was too great. Added together, the three of them didn’t even give him ten points each. This amount couldn’t even be considered a rounding error.
He checked up on his own merit point ranking; he was only rank 28. This ranking couldn’t be considered too high.
“I’ve obtained 60% of Zhong Wenshu’s merit points but that only brought me up to rank 28. I estimate that Zhong Wenshu should have been around rank 20. Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies definitely won’t surpass Zhong Wenshu in ranking. In other words, within the True Martial Great World, there’s at least a dozen plus people I don’t know of that are all ranked above Zhong Wenshu. These people should mostly originate from the True Martial Holy Lands, and their number of merit points should be increasingly high the higher their rank.”
When he had several thousand merit points, adding on several more thousand would have brought him to the top million rankings. But once he reached the top 10 rankings, perhaps not even another million merit points could bring him up another rank.
Thinking this far, Lin Ming didn’t immediately go to Nightmare Canyon. Rather, he sat down in the jungle, meditating for the moment as he digested the dreamland energy Zhong Wenshu left behind after his death.
The more Lin Ming perceived this dreamland energy, the more entranced he was by the Divine Dream law.
Lin Ming truly wanted to learn this transcendent divine might.
As Lin Ming was perceiving the transcendent divine might, Zhong Wenshu was waiting for his revival. Within the dreamland space, the process of resurrection required a full day.
Zhong Wenshu slowly percolated in the dreamland as it started to reform. His consciousness had returned two hours ago and he could check up on his current merit points ranking.
“2.24 million merit points, True Martial Great World ranked 46!”
As Zhong Wenshu saw this ranking, he nearly went mad with rage. All of his efforts, his never-ending slaughter of two months, all vanished in one go!
From rank 46 to the top 20, the amount of additional effort required to reach that high was ridiculously arduous. But his merit points all became a gift to someone else!
Lin Ming sat still for two months before he moved. In just several hours, he savagely ripped apart all of his achievements. Lin Ming had leapt into the top 30, but as for Zhong Wenshu, he dropped down to rank 46!
How could he not hate Lin Ming!?
“Lin Ming, only one of us can exist in this world!”
Zhong Wenshu gnashed his teeth. And at this time, underneath the giant gold scroll of the True Martial Great World, the Elder of Dual Polarity Palace saw Zhong Wenshu’s ranking suddenly plummet.
“What is going on here!?”
“Wenshu has dropped down to rank 46! His merit points have dropped from 5.6 million to 2.24 million; 60% of his merit points have been erased! He was clearly killed by someone!” Dual Polarity Palace’s Zhong Family Head clenched his teeth as he spoke, nearly crumbling apart the divine dream jade slip in his hands.
“Who did it? Was it a participant or a nightmare beast?”
“It’s unlikely to be a nightmare beast. Wenshu has already been adventuring in the Divine Dream World for two months, it’s impossible for him to not understand the limits of his own strength in comparison to the nightmare bests there. No, he shouldn’t have died to the claws of a nightmare beasts. There is a 90% chance he was killed by another participant. However, I have no idea who it could be,” a Dual Polarity Palace Elder gloomily said.
This was a tournament that involved the fame and glory of a sect, even the future achievements of everyone participating. If someone killed someone else, they would naturally become enemies. Between the World King level Holy Lands, there was a tacit understanding that they would co-exist in peace with each other. It was impossible for the three prodigies of Sacred Martial Mansion to attack Zhong Wenshu, and for Zhong Wenshu to do the same to them.
“We can’t find it out now. We don’t know who the participants might be and whose position rapidly rose just now.”
“We can only wait until Wenshu comes out to learn of the truth.”
Dual Polarity Palace had no choice but to endure this humiliation and rage for now. If it were the True Martial Holy Lands that had done this, they had no choice but to bear this shame and swallow their pride. After all, this was originally a slaughter game between the participants. However, if it was a sect that was inferior to Dual Polarity Palace, they would do everything in their power to take back what was taken, with interest included.
At this time within the Divine Dream World, 16 hours of time had passed. Lin Ming opened his eyes. Within the dreamland space, Zhong Wenshu had nearly reformed himself too.
Lin Ming said to himself, “There’s still 8 hours until a full day ends. Zhong Wenshu and his minions should have nearly revived by now. If they were to inform Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies about me, that might be a bit troublesome for me.”
Lin Ming didn’t fear that Zhong Wenshu would search for Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies and join forces against him. He only feared that they would go into hiding once they found out he was coming. Of course, the chances of this happening weren’t all that great. The three prodigies of Sacred Martial Mansion had extremely proud and arrogant dispositions, so they wouldn’t hide even if they knew he was coming. Moreover, Zhong Wenshu would definitely want to see their three rankings drop so that he could pass them on the rankings.
Lin Ming stood up. His figure flashed as he flew straight toward Nightmare Canyon.
To fly straight through the skies of the Divine Dream World was an extremely reckless and daring behavior; it would cause many nightmare beasts to notice whoever was flying.
As it was, many nightmare beasts that flew in the sky saw Lin Ming and began to plunge toward him.
Lin Ming merely flicked out his fingers, shooting out true essence energy arrows that he poured his battle spirit into, easily killing these flying beasts.
“The merit points are low and their defensive power is quite strong. No wonder there’s so few participants that choose to kill these flying nightmare beasts.”
3000 miles wasn’t much to Lin Ming. Soon, a massive mystical canyon appeared on the horizon. This was undoubtedly Nightmare Canyon.