Chapter 717 – Qualify

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In the skies above the battlefield, the Temple Spirit indifferently gazed on at everything happening beneath him. After all, the Temple Spirit was an existence that lacked all normal human sentiment. It was not surprised nor did it exclaim aloud. It only felt it unusual that Lin Ming, whose cultivation was at the middle Revolving Core realm, was able to form a bronze-level elementary stage battle spirit, infinitely close to reaching small success.

‘Perhaps he really might have the qualifications to enter the true king level smelting trial…’

As the Temple Spirit thought this, it blankly stared on.

Whether Lin Ming earned the qualifications or died, the Temple Spirit would never show regret or joy. It simply held the attitude of a spectator, bearing witness to all.

Bang!

On the battlefield, Nuyan Yu and Lin Ming fiercely collided. Nuyan Yu was tossed back hundreds of feet, his body shaking as if the energy that formed him was about to dissipate at any second.

“I see. That attack just now really consumed a great deal of energy.” Lin Ming discovered that the phantom reproduction of Nuyan Yu had an extremely limited amount of energy. Every bit less was energy that the phantom would never recover. In just a few intense collisions, half of Nuyan Yu’s figure already vanished.

Lin Ming twirled his long spear, stepping atop Golden Roc Shattering the Void as he instantly appeared in front of Nuyan Yu.

A spear shot out, containing the Concept of Thunderfire.

Penetrating Rainbow!

Kacha!

The energy-formed spear in Nuyan Yu’s hand was directly cut in half, and a chunk of his arm was ripped off by Lin Ming’s attack, turning into sparkling starlight that vanished.

After losing a part of his arm, Nuyan Yu was no longer able to withstand Lin Ming. Lin Ming’s spear thrust through his throat, and Nuyan Yu vanished in a blaze of radiant light.

“I won.”

Lin Ming took several deep gulps, catching his breath as he stirred the Black Hole Revolving Core in his dantian to absorb the rich heaven and earth origin energy around him.

That Nuyan Yu just now had left a deep impression on Lin Ming. If it weren’t for the fact that the phantom copy had a limited amount of energy, if the fight had continued, Lin Ming would have had to pay a heavy price even if he won.

“The extraordinary heroic elites of the Ancient Phoenix Clan are truly formidable, especially in their understanding of Concepts. In that aspect alone, I am far inferior to them.” Lin Ming shook his head. His perception wasn’t bad, but as his cultivation and strength constantly improved, he began to find that his perception was becoming a weakness of his.

After Nuyan Yu’s phantom dissipated, a new phantom quickly coalesced in front of Lin Ming.

The phantom held a long war lance. Flaming red hair ran down his shoulders and a sharp light shined in his eyes. With a single glance, he could see that hundreds of thousands of years ago, this man was once a dragon amongst humans.

“The second opponent of the smelting trial qualification test. Ancient Phoenix Clan, Nuyan Family, Second Son of the Sixth Prince, Vanguard General Nuyan Huo!”

This Nuyan Huo appeared to be around 20-30 years of age. As for exactly how old he was, it was difficult to estimate. In the Ancient Phoenix Clan’s king level smelting trial qualifier, matches were arranged according to the trial challenger’s age. The older the challenger, the stronger the opponents they had to face.

Nuyan Huo lifted his left hand, and with a sizzling spark, flames combusted, coalescing into a fire shield. On Nuyan Huo’s body, flames lingered on his skin. After several breaths of time, these little flames turned into countless small scales that covered him, forming a complete set of armor. With this, Nuyan Huo’s entire body was protected.

These scales burned a deep red. As they covered his body, they seemed like completely separate entities. On top of the scales were even mystical runes. These were naturally formed textures after the fires solidified into material from.

“Flame shield, flame armor?”

Lin Ming’s pupil’s shrank. This was a technique that was recorded within the “Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicles.”

Within the “Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle,” there were recorded methods on how to form such objects as chains out of fire. Lin Ming had also casually learnt these skills, but because of the limits in the cultivation method and the strength and durability of the flame formed, chains were inadequate. As Lin Ming broke through to the Houtian realm and Xiantian realm, he slowly stopped using these minor techniques.

But now, as Lin Ming saw the flame scales and flame shield on Nuyan Huo’s body, he could clearly feel the energy there that was compressed to an extremely terrifying degree. It was absolutely startling!

Was this a high level application of the Concept of Fire?

Lin Ming took a deep breath. In these past few years, he had invested the majority of his time and energy into understanding and polishing the Concept of Space. As for the Concept of Fire and the Concept of Thunder, he had temporarily put those on hold.

Lin Ming was well aware that as a martial artist reached a higher boundary the more important it became to utilize things such as battle spirits, Laws, and their corresponding Concepts, abilities that one comprehended from touching upon the source of principles. Only the worst of all martial artists would depend on just their cultivation to fight.

The more Concepts one comprehended, the more combat strength and flexibility one would have. Although it was possible to bite off more than one could chew, when one reached the Divine Sea boundary and above, it was possible to have thousands upon thousands of years of life. This was more than enough time to understand these things. Thus, it was always a good idea to lay down an early foundation.

Woosh!

Nuyan Huo’s lance thrust out and all of the surrounding fire origin energy was thrown in turmoil, completely overwhelming as it came enveloping down on Lin Ming. Against such a lance attack, Lin Ming didn’t counterattack first. Instead, he touched his mind upon the Heretical God Force, relying on his powerful soul force and perception to analyze the mysteries behind Nuyan Huo’s attack.

Chasing Sun!

When Lin Ming was covered in fire, he finally made his counterattack.

Peng!

Flames showered. Lin Ming flew out of the explosion, his hair charred and clothes smoking. In that quick exchange of moves, even though Lin Ming’s spear strike contained his battle spirit, it still wasn’t enough to make up for the disparity.

Fortunately, Lin Ming wasn’t injured thanks to his astounding defensive ability. Even so, some of the power of fire crept into his meridians, recklessly dashing about before the suppressive force of the Heretical God Seed came crashing down upon it.  But the power of this flame wisp was much hardier and stubborn than Lin Ming had imagined. Even with the Heretical God Force tamping it down, it was still extremely violent and wild. It would take a short period of time before it was fully suppressed.

This was the first time that the Heretical God Seed had encountered such a situation. Lin Ming certainly didn’t think that the Heretical God Force arcane skill was insufficient in grade, but rather that his own realm was lacking. Compared to Nuyan Huo, his comprehension in Concepts was far too poor.

“Trying to steal a glance at the Concept of Fire in the midst of a fight?” In the sky over the battlefield, the Temple Spirit indifferently watched everything happening below it. “The king level smelting trial qualifier is extremely difficult. It is already a life or death battle, so you had better be careful. Don’t lose your life just for a chance of comprehending something beyond you.”

In the Temple Spirit’s opinion, if Lin Ming concentrated too much on comprehending certain things in this battle, then he wouldn’t be able to fight with his full strength, thus having a situation just now where he had lost. In a battle between masters, any sort of hesitation like this was dangerous.

“I appreciate the advice.” Lin Ming never intended to change his plans to begin. If he wanted to gain insights into this Concept during battle, it would naturally consume a great deal more energy; he might even be injured. However, he had faith in his own endurance and defensive ability. If the situation took a turn for the worse, it wouldn’t be too late to fully commit to the battle.

Bang bang bang!

With every exchange of moves, Lin Ming constantly gained insight from Nuyan Huo’s Concept of Fire. Within his body, the Heretical God Seed began to absorb more and more power of fire. Under the confines of the Heretical God Force, this power of fire formed a crimson sphere that revolved near the Heretical God Seed together with the Heretical God Flame essence. However, it was impossible for the Heretical God Flame Essence to absorb this power simply because the difference in level was too high.

Although Nuyan Huo seemed as if he held the complete advantage, there was still a limited amount of energy within his body. After ten moves, his voice began to fade away.

After five more moves, Lin Ming’s spear cut off Nuyan Huo’s arm.

A section of flame armor and the flame shield fell into Lin Ming’s hands. Gently feeling the shield with his fingers, Lin Ming sensed the traces of energy contained within. In this shield, it seemed as if the fire origin energy had a mind of its own. It was a structure of energy formed with countless tiny runes. Regardless of what direction an attack came from, this structure would be able disperse the impact of the strike, ultimately absorbing the remnants of that attack with the flame energy.

“This Flame Law is truly amazing!”

Nuyan Huo’s attack came once again. Lin Ming was no longer able to divide his attention in battle to study the subtle structures within this shield. With a counterattack of his spear, Nuyan Huo’s phantom was killed, his body scattering into energy. The flame shield in Lin Ming’s hand also vanished in a burst of fire, making him feel extremely regretful.

After Nuyan Huo, new matches appeared, all from the Nuyan Family. Lin Ming began to suspect that only the Ancient Phoenix Clan members from the Sky Spill Continent were surnamed Nuyan. Perhaps the Ancient Phoenix Clan of the Sky Spill Continent was only a tiny branch of the Ancient Phoenix Clan from the Realm of the Gods.

The battles became increasingly intense. Lin Ming was already unable to discreetly study the Concept of Fire in battle, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to continue.

After being swept up in the aftermath of his opponent’s flames, Lin Ming thrust out his spear at this fifth opponent, killing him. But then, two crimson phantom images appeared in front of him.

Nuyan Family Left Guard General, Nuyan Dalei.

Nuyan Family Right Guard General, Nuyan Xun.

One against two!

Lin Ming’s expression became solemn. Although his opponents had limited energy, having to face continuous fights in an ever-changing battle was still very hard on the trial challenger’s energy consumption. If it weren’t for the Gate of Healing supporting Lin Ming, he absolutely couldn't have made it to this stage.

“The Ancient Phoenix Clan’s king level smelting trial is truly strict in its requirements. This is also only the Ancient Phoenix Clan’s Nuyan Family. I wonder what would happen if it were different races or clans?” Lin Ming was well aware that there was no limit in this universe; there was always a higher peak. This was common sense. With his current talent, he far exceeded anyone in the ancient or current times of the Sky Spill Continent and Holy Demon Continent. But, in Demonshine’s words, there were three thousand boundless worlds, meaning that there were at least another billion worlds out there, all like the Sky Spill Continent. Just being able to dominate a world like that didn’t mean much at all.

Lin Ming no longer bothered to gain insights into the Concept of Fire; he completely concentrated on this battle as he preserved his energy. Lin Ming’s strongest strength lay in his endurance. Even if he had to fight multiple enemies, it would still be difficult to wear him down. In addition, he also had an astounding physical defense capability. And with the support of the Heretical God Seed, Lin Ming held a completely disparate advantage when it came to defending against fire energy.

Like this, Lin Ming continued fighting.

Sixth match…

Seventh match…

Eighth match…

When the tenth match came, Lin Ming’s opponent was a minor prince of the Ancient Phoenix Clan.

This prince was several times stronger than his previous opponents. The prince wielded a golden halberd, and his control of fire was dizzying in its wonder.

From the very start Lin Ming had fallen into the inferior position. After continuous collisions, he forcefully relied on the Heretical God Seed to control and defend against the flames. After ten moves, the prince’s energy gradually weakened, and then he was killed by Lin Ming.

After defeating his tenth opponent, Lin Ming supported himself on the ground with his spear, his entire face dripping wet with sweat. His clothes were nearly burnt off, and his body was covered with minor burns and spear wounds. At this moment, he had already used up over half of his true essence.

The Temple Spirit came floating down from the air. It calmly said, “Trial Challenger, congratulations on obtaining the qualifications to enter the king level smelting trial. Now, follow me….”