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As this beautiful and impossibly exquisite example of womanhood stood before him, this image was unforgettably carved into his mind and he felt the tower of his will tremble in its firmament. His breath became shallow and blood rushed to his head. After all, when it comes to matters between men and women, Lin Ming was still only a young boy.
Qin Xingxuan reached her arms around Lin Ming. She was like a warm and fragrant jade that surrounded him and the delicate fragrance of her virgin body wafted into his nostrils and left a strong impact in Lin Ming’s heart.
Fabrication!
Illusion!
Lin Ming squeezed his eyes shut and in his heart he began to revolve the ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’, He managed to hold down his quickly fleeing sanity.
“Lin Ming, do you not like me?”
This voice was gentle and soft like a spring rain. Lin Ming’s eyelids jumped, but he remained unmoved as before.
“Ah….” With a gentle sigh, she let Lin Ming go. Qin Xingxuan stood up, her expression revealing some hidden bitterness, and she slowly departed.
The scene before him began to slowly fade away, and the world returned to tranquility.
The third hurdle had finally been passed.
Lin Ming breathed deeply, his heart still beating rapidly and his palms still wet with sweat.
This third trial was truly fierce! It had managed to find and unearth the moral flaw in his own heart of martial arts. It seems that he had been too naïve. There was no human between heaven and earth that was not without a single weakness.
“Mm. This boy has passed the hurdle. It wasn’t a short time; it took around half an incense stick of time.” An old man looked to his side where an incense burner stood. A single stick of incense in it had been burnt over halfway.
“This boy is different from Ling Sen. In Ling Sen’s trial, he only used several breaths of time, but this boy used half an incense stick. His heart was probably filled with a girl that he liked. However as it stands now, he probably won’t be able to break Ling Sen’s record.” The old man meaningfully smiled with a ‘ha-ha’ as he said this.
“Heh heh. Valiant heroes have loved beautiful woman since ancient times. This is normal. I like this normal part of a hot-blooded boy full of vigor. That young fellow Ling Sen made me feel overwhelmed; watching him only let me feel cold and uncomfortable.”
Several elder teased between themselves, because of the generational difference. Qin Xingxuan had digressed from conversation, and was peacefully sitting there while she looked at Lin Ming. In her heart a strange thought suddenly appeared; who exactly was the girl that had appeared in the dreams of Lin Ming?
The fourth trial. Lin Ming had fallen into the depths of hell. The surroundings were dark and dim. Lin Ming was immersed waist deep in a thick, crimson pool of blood. White skulls were piled high like mountains that emerged from a sea of blood. The overwhelming shrill cries of ghosts and endless devils that blotted out the sky rushed towards Lin Ming.
“Ten thousand ghosts want to stop me?” Lin Ming sneered and revolved the ‘Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians’. His whole body began to shine with a brilliant golden light, and an overwhelmingly pure true essence emitted outwards.
‘Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians’ originated from the Body Transformation manuals found within the Realm of the Gods. It was said to have been created by a war-god Buddha and represented the purest light and Yang; it could pierce all evils, shatter all illusions, and cut away all demons within the heart.
Lin Ming disregarded these ghosts and demons and continued to revolve the ‘Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians’ to its limit.
‘My heart is at peace; not even ten-thousand evils can break me!’
Luminous golden light radiated out and all of the malicious ghosts and devils it touched disintegrated into ash!
“Damn! It’s over?”
In the five trials of the dreamland, the first tested courage, the second tested morale, the third tested temptation, the fourth tested one’s inner demons, and the fifth tested the will.
The first two trials were rather simple. The latter three were on a different level; how they appeared differed from person to person. Ling Sen had been stuck on the fourth trial that tested the demons in his heart. Perhaps it was because of Ling Sen’s bloodthirst, but the demons in his heart had been a terrifyingly difficult trial for him. Therefore he had slaughtered in that blood sea for half an incense stick of time, and only then did he barely cut away his inner demons.
“This Lin Ming; does he not have a single inner demon within his heart?”
“His heart and mind are pure. It is truly rare. Including the first four trials, only half an incense stick of time has passed. This is a good seedling,“ an old man exclaimed honestly.
…
As time went on, more and more candidates failed and appeared back on the shores of the lake. The first and second trials were easy, but from the third trial and on, the number of people being kicked out sharply rose, and the jade platform flashed with brilliant lights.
Lan Yunyue had been paying attention to Lin Ming from a distance. Lin Ming had not always been calm, but his expression was firm and did not resemble the other candidates who had fierce fighting expressions, horribly distorted faces, or were bone white.
At this moment, Lan Yunyue had a feeling that she couldn’t identify. She somehow knew that Lin Ming had passed, had crossed the trials of the dream realm, and was on the last step before the end.
The last trial of the dream. Lin Ming had still not left hell. He was still soaked in the oozing thick blood, but suddenly the blood sea became scalding hot as it bubbled.
The temperature had suddenly risen! The sanguine sea seethed with a dark fury, each bubbling pocket that burst open showered the air with a crescendo of blood. It was as if the blood sea had turned into a lake of flowing lava.
Lin Ming could distinctly feel the pain that gushed into his body; it was if he was being boiled alive in this sea of blood. Although he knew that it was merely an illusion, this kind of pain was incomparable, it was a throbbing misery that made him almost wish for death so that his suffering would end.
The first four trials were illusions, but he hadn’t anticipated that the fifth trial would be true pain. Lin Ming clenched his teeth and desperately clung to his consciousness. When he had practiced with only a tiny amount of iron thread grass to ease his pain, or when he had suffered the agonizing soul tearing pain of fusing with the soul fragment, he had shouldered the pain. This scalding sea of blood was nothing but a light summer day to him!
As Lin Ming thought this, the blood sea suddenly ignited. A combustion of black flames shot to the sky in a hellish inferno!
The flames surged towards Lin Ming. Lin Ming could clearly feel the waves of hot pressure pressing down on him. Seeing this flood of flames, an average person’s impulse would have been to feel utter and complete horror.
Lin Ming suddenly gave a ferocious shout!
“My martial arts path is like a moth to the flame, you wish for me to turn to ashes in an ocean of ten thousand flames? I couldn’t wish for anything more!”
Flames swallowed Lin Ming. In the next moment, everything turned to nothing, the world became void. Lin Ming stood up and looked around. He had returned to the jade platform. All around him were boys and girls that were grimacing in pain, or had lost all their color.
Seeing Lin Ming suddenly open his eyes and stand up, Muyi was startled. He looked at the incense burner, that incense stick still had a tiny bit left!
Frosty Ling’s record had been broken!
Qin Xingxuan was also incomparably surprised. She had experienced the five trials of this dream realm before and knew exactly how fierce and powerful they were. Although her sixth grade talent was unprecedented in Sky Fortune Kingdom, talent was not much help in passing the trials of the dream realm. Qin Xingxuan had used less than half an hour, but Lin Ming had used less than an incense stick of time before he had awoken. Anyone would think this was absolutely impossible to believe.
“Extraordinary! Extraordinary! This is the first time I have seen someone with such a heart of martial arts! Yes, what was his score in the Strength Trial?” An old man asked the beautiful lady supervisor who had been in charge for then.
“2700 jins.” Lin Ming had taken the first place in the Strength Trial, the beautiful lady supervisor remembered with certainty.
“Oh?” The old man’s moved and he eagerly asked, “What is his talent?”
Listening to the old man, before the lady supervisor had even replied, Muyi had already said, “Grade three medium.”
“Only grade three?” The only man was surprised, and he began to shake in disappointment and sighed, “What a pity, what a pity!” A grade three talent wasn’t too bad, but it was inferior to the prodigies of the Seven Profound Martial House.
However Muyi said. “Sometimes talent isn’t everything. Just you wait and see, that Lin Ming is a dragon among humans.”
Muyi said this with confidence. When he had first seen Lin Ming’s talent grade, he had been greatly surprised and had thought that there had been some sort of mistake. But he knew that Lin Ming already had a great achievement that many people in their entire lives could not hope to reach. Since that mysterious elder had chosen Lin Ming, then Lin Ming must have extraordinary talents that he could not see!
Though Muyi spoke with confidence, the other man only shook his head. The role that talent played in a martial artist’s future was too vital and important. It was pivotal for their future achievements. With a medium grade-three talent, even if this boy had massive financial support backing him, he would only end up stuck at the Pulse Condensation Stage.
As Lin Ming left the stage, Lan Yunyue who had been distantly looking at Lin Ming, had eyes full of complex emotions. She had long known that Lin Ming’s will was firm and steady, but did not expect that he would have passed the dream trials so quickly.
She also now knew that for Lin Ming to give up the martial arts path was impossible. His own determination had reached the highest limit.
After Lin Ming left the jade platform, he was led to the resting lounge where he would later be escorted to the final trial – the Exquisite Pagoda.
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