Chapter 2171 – Emperor Bone Sea
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The world of the Demon God’s Tomb was stable; this was a world that had withstood the great Shattering.
The space here was difficult for even a True Divinity to break. As for the earth and the rock, although a master like Sheng Mei had the ability to shatter it, it was impossible for her to do so as easily as Lin Ming just did. If Lin Ming were to pour his energy into the evil bone then the might displayed could be imagined.
“If so, then even if you couldn’t perceive anything from this evil bone and even if you didn’t manage to swallow any of its energy, at the very least it could be used as a weapon?”
A light lit up in Sheng Mei’s mind. This demon spine was 13 feet long and it was as thick as Sheng Mei’s thigh. In truth, with such length and width, in some ways it was similar to an overlord spear!
Such a giant spear was far too large for Lin Ming’s true self to use. But, if Lin Ming’s demon avatar were to use it then it would be just right.
Before, Lin Ming’s demon avatar used the Black Dragon Spear that was wrapped in bone fragments. This spear seemed incredibly mighty and sturdy, but once it came under impact the bone fragments would actually burst apart, causing its combat efficiency to also drop.
As for this evil bone, it was impossible for something like that to occur. And not just that, but the spine itself possessed cartilage and was even connected with meridian channels, allowing it a certain degree of flexibility.
This spine spear could be used by Lin Ming’s demon avatar. As for the Black Dragon Spear, that would be handed to Lin Ming’s true self.
“Mm… it seems that I can only do this for now.”
Lin Ming turned his hand, sealed the spine with layers of seals before placing it in his inner world.
“Let’s adjust for a few months. Then, we can start looking for an exit…”
“Mm.”
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In the Demon God’s Tomb, desolate loneliness flooded the land. Only time passed monotonously and without change, an unstoppable force that continued to beat on.
Two years had passed since Lin Ming discovered the evil bone.
In a vast and boundless black desert, the air was polluted with the light scent of blood. A dried corpse lay above the boiling hot sand, its blood vitality already sucked dry with only withered skin and bones left remaining.
Even so, there were some predators that were extremely interested in this withered corpse. If one tore open the corpse they could see fist-sized large black corpse insects digging their way through, and bone gnashing sounds emitting outwards that caused one’s scalp to tingle.
But at this time, not too far away from the corpse, a sand dune rose up. The sand dune grew larger and larger and sand began pouring down from both sides of it. After several breaths of time, the entire sand dune exploded and an iron tower-like abyssal leapt out from the black sands!
And on the shoulder of this abyssal sat a peerless woman.
This woman was slender and thin and she wore a black dress. She jumped down from the abyssal’s shoulder, her clothes fluttering in the wind as she gently landed on the black sands.
And at this time, the black insects hiding in the corpse froze in vigilance. They stared at the two unexpected arrivals, motionless.
These two people were Lin Ming and Sheng Mei; they had just come from the underground mystic realm.
Originally Lin Ming said that they only needed to adjust themselves for a few months. However, Sheng Mei couldn’t bear to allow Jiu’er, who had just been born, to follow Lin Ming in his battles so soon. She wanted to enjoy a quiet and comfortable period of time with Jiu’er.
Thus, they stayed in the cavern for a year and three months.
During this year and three months, the child grew ridiculously quickly. As for her foundational lessons, she learned everything at first glance.
However, Jiu’er’s talent in body transformation wasn’t too amazing. Thus Lin Ming and Sheng Mei decided to have Jiu’er follow the dual cultivation road of energy and divine; this was the same road that Divine Dream walked down.
Now, Jiu’er had already finished Pulse Condensation. What followed next was to open her soul sea in her dantian and formally step onto the road of dual energy and divine cultivation.
A year and three months later, Lin Ming and Sheng Mei started to search for a way out of the underground mystic realm. They used a full nine months before they were able to leave.
Perhaps this underground cavern had an exit or perhaps it didn’t, but in short, when Lin Ming and Sheng Mei wanted to leave, they couldn’t find an exit path no matter how hard they searched.
Finally, they chose a relatively weak place in the underground enchantment, and then used the evil bone to forcefully tear open a section in the curse seals and dig out a channel.
Then, they used the evil bone to dig through the ground and continued upwards.
Even with the assistance of the evil bone, Lin Ming and Sheng Mei had to spend a considerable amount of time and effort before they finally dug through the rock layers and emerged aboveground.
The underground rock layers of the Demon God’s Tomb was even firmer than the rock above. In addition with the massive underground pressure, if an ordinary True Divinity or Empyrean was buried within then they could give up on ever coming back out.
After Lin Ming and Sheng Mei dig their way out they also clearly saw the surrounding environment. This was a black desert in the Demon God’s Tomb. It was broad and boundless and countless bones were buried here.
“There’s a corpse…”
Sheng Mei’s gaze fell upon a withered corpse not too far away. From what she knew, this corpse couldn’t have died too long ago.
Sheng Mei slowly approached. At this time, the several insects hiding within the corpse suddenly jumped out, shooting towards Sheng Mei like arrows!
Sheng Mei’s expression didn’t change. She simply flicked her fingers.
Pa! Pa! Pa!
Like red lotuses blooming the void, these corpse insects blew up in bloody flowers before fading away in wisps of mist.
“These are corpse insects condensed from the power of demon gods. With them around, once an abyssal below the True Divinity realm dies, they will be cleanly eaten up without even their bones remaining.”
Lin Ming stepped forwards and looked at this dead abyssal. The abyssal’s abdomen had completely withered away. As for its chest, it still rose high because of the presence of scales, but these scales had been bitten through by the corpse insects and looked like the honeycombs of a beehive.
“He is an Empyrean level abyssal of the Flood Alliance; I remember him.”
Sheng Mei said after staring at the withered face of the corpse for some time. A martial artist had an extremely potent memory. Even with a single glance, many useless and needless images would be saved inside their mind and could be immediately recalled if necessary.
“He’s likely only been dead for several days, but I have no idea how he died.”
Lin Ming rubbed his chin, not having much interest in such things. During this venture into the Demon God’s Tomb, even five True Divinities had already perished, so what was an Empyrean?
But at this time, Sheng Mei’s complexion changed. “Something’s not right. Too many have died!”
“Mm? What is it?”
“When the disciples of Deep King Road entered the Demon God’s Tomb, they would leave behind a simple soul mark brand on a jade slip which me and Deep Child have. This is to make it easier to determine their location and relative situation. But now, I just probed the jade slip and discovered that out of the 20 some Deep King Road disciples that came, most of them have… died!”
Sheng Mei’s words caused Lin Ming’s heart to sink.
“Most of them have died?”
“Yes. All of the Empyreans have died without exception…” Sheng Mei said with a heavy expression. When the Demon God’s Tomb opened in the past, the mortality rate had always been high. Even so, in several hundred years, having 80-90% of the participants die was as the most extreme end of the spectrum, and those that survived possessed amazing talent. And with the great destiny that would add itself upon their bodies, their future achievements would be astonishing. In such a situation, a high mortality rate was actually bearable.
But now, not even ten years had passed in the Demon God’s Tomb and of the abyssals that Sheng Mei was aware of, nearly all of them had died. If another hundred years were to pass, just how many would manage to survive?
Lin Ming frowned. A faintly foreboding feeling stirred in his heart. He feared that there was some terrifying danger lurking in the current Demon God’s Tomb.
He seemed to recall something. He asked Sheng Mei, “According to the jade slip of the Demon God’s Tomb, the final abyssal ritual should occur in the Emperor Bone Sea. When does that begin?” Lin Ming traced his spatial ring. Within it were two ceremonial rites books. In addition with Sheng Mei, they possessed all the ceremonial rites books.
The ceremonial rites books were treasures that even True Divinity level abyssals would salivate with envy over. This was because those in possession of one would have a chance to undergo the abyssal ritual and become a totem level abyssal.
This was also what high level abyssals like Lin Ming and Sheng Mei cared about the most.
But now… having more ceremonial rites books in hand didn’t bring any joy to Lin Ming.
This was because… he could smell some dark conspiracy in the Demon God’s Tomb.
Was the Demon God’s Tomb really a lucky chance? Or could it be a complete trap to begin with?
Sheng Mei said, “I don’t know when the Emperor Bone Sea will manifest. It could be several years from now, dozens of years from now, or even over a hundred years from now - ”
Before Sheng Mei finished speaking, she stiffened. Just now, she felt a shaking from the ceremonial rites book in her spatial ring.
“Mm? How could this be..?”
Sheng Mei seemed to realize something. She flew up, instantly flying several tens of thousands of feet high.
Lin Ming followed close behind her.
As they flew into the higher atmosphere, their clothes flapped in the strong desert winds as they looked into the horizon.
In the distance, they could see a sea that seemed connected to the skies. It was ethereal like fog, rolling with vast and endless waves of smoke, seeming as if it would spread all the way to the ends of the universe…
“That… is that… the Emperor Bone Sea where the abyssal ritual takes place?”
Lin Ming muttered, shocked, as he stared at the incomparably vast sea. The Emperor Bone Sea had appeared before even 10 years had passed?