Chapter 135 – Body Inscription
When the Violent Wind Tunnel reached the ninth level of difficulty, a common disciple could rely on their true essence and strength to resist the strong winds. However, because the wind speed was too quick, the clothes on their bodies would still be torn!
Soon after, their clothes would be ripped to shreds. If they were to choose the tenth level of difficulty, their clothes would even become completely split apart until they were finally stark naked.
But Lin Ming’s clothes were only a little damaged; he didn’t need to replace them. This was simply an inconceivable matter!
In the Violent Wind Tunnel, the howling wind was like the roars of dragons and tigers. At the ninth level of difficulty, there were ten feet tall rolling boulders that haphazardly tumbled around.
Lin Ming’s body seemed weightless in the forceful gales as he danced in the air. What was strange was that even though the whirlwinds were like a pack of surging ruinous beasts, Lin Ming’s body only moved at a slow speed, as if he was a fish that was swimming against a mighty current.
Lin Ming’s eyes were closed the entire time. He felt the force of the chilling wind with his heart and soul, stabilizing his body as he balanced himself in the mistral air. The wind that fell upon Lin Ming naturally parted around him. Suddenly, a powerful wind vortex appeared around Lin Min, causing his body to shake and fall towards a boulder.
Under this kind of forceful wind, if an ordinary person hit the rock they would have immediately suffered a painful death; even a Viscera Training stage martial artist would have been heavily wounded.
But as Lin Ming approached this boulder, he suddenly waved his sleeves and followed a breeze that flowed over the rock. Lin Ming’s body drew beautiful arc as he bypa.s.sed this rock wall before coming to a stop in midair.
This continued for several days. With each day, Lin Ming was increasingly like a fish in water as he hovered in the Violent Wind Tunnel. As long as he used his true essence, his feet would not touch the ground, and he was able to sail through the wind. Only when his true essence was exhausted would he fall to the ground.
After that, Lin Ming opened the tenth level of difficulty, but he was still able to barely keep his balance firmly in the wind. Even if there was suddenly turbulence from a whirlwind, Lin Ming was still able to maintain his form.
He was just like a kite; despite the howling wind blowing upon him, he was always steadily flying through the air.
After several days, Lin Ming began to do all kinds of various movements and actions as he faced the strong wind, moving slowly as he borrowed the gentle force of the wind. At the start, Lin Ming’s movement was slow, and the range of his motions was limited.
The next day, his speed had increased, and the range of his movement had extended to dozens of feet.
Afterwards, Lin Ming’s speed grew with each day. The sphere of action which he could move encompa.s.sed the entire Violent Wind Tunnel, even approaching the innermost depths of the Violent Wind Tunnel where it was narrowest.
Ten days later, Lin Ming had gained a basic understanding of the concept of wind, officially entering the first layer of ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’. Now, Lin Ming was able to move anywhere in the Violent Wind Tunnel at will; the wind wasn’t even able to influence him in the slightest.
“I’ve spent all 120 hours of this month’s time at the seven major killing arrays cultivating the ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’. Fortunately, my ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’ has reached the Small Success level. Starting from tomorrow, I must practice the ‘Heretical G.o.d Force’ and ‘Pulse Cutting Palm’ and also attempt to break through to the Altering Muscle stage. I just don’t have enough time…”
Lin Ming had already reached the peak Viscera Training stage. Although he hadn’t set aside time to break through to the Altering Muscle stage, these days he had practiced his inscription technique, and during that time he would often deplete all of his true essence. Following that, he would enter into his ethereal martial intent state while revolving the ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’. Under this sort of extreme state, it had been surprisingly good cultivation for his ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’.
Lin Ming’s talent was average, but he would still be able to reach the Altering Muscle stage soon. This was all thanks to the ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’ and his ethereal martial intent.
As he walked through the back mountains of Zhou Mountain, with every casual step that Lin Ming took, he was able to cross dozens of feet. His toes gently tapped the thin blades of gra.s.s, and he would soar into the sky. By revolving his true essence, he was able to swiftly rise into the air; like this, he could easily cross over a 20 foot wall.
Feeling light with not even the slightest weight to his body, Lin Ming felt a great happiness. “This concept of wind is simply too marvelous. Normally when a martial artist cultivates a movement martial skill, it would depend on the coordination of their true essence and bodily strength to increase their speed. Once they jumped up, they would not be able to maintain their speed and would inevitably slow down, but, with this concept of wind, I can actually increase my speed in midair. If I can cultivate the ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’ to the third or fourth layer, if I combine that with my increasingly thick true essence, then I might be able to fly! Usually only a Xiantian stage master would have the ability to fly, but I can as long as I achieve the Pulse Condensation Period!”
As Lin Ming was basking in his excitement, a sound transmitting talisman lit in front of Lin Ming, and the sweet voice of w.a.n.g Yuhan sounded in Lin Ming’s mind. “Mister Lin, we have finally found all of the materials that you want.”
Hearing this news, Lin Ming rejoiced. This was a double celebration! He could finally start drawing up the body inscription symbol!
Lin Ming took a detour straight to the Inscription a.s.sociation. After completing several scheduled inscription symbols, he finally received all the materials he needed. The materials were collected through the combined efforts of the Crown Prince, the Inscription a.s.sociation, and the influence of numerous powerful families within the Sky Fortune Kingdom. This nationwide search for materials had finally finished after nearly an entire month!
For these materials, the Crown Prince, the Inscription a.s.sociation, and the various major families had spent a mind boggling amount of manpower and financial resources.
When he was collecting the materials from the Inscription a.s.sociation, Lin Ming had a certain smug feeling as he saw the piles of materials worth hundreds of thousands of gold tales.
Lin Ming wasn’t in a hurry to begin; he knew that his current mentality was not suitable for drawing the body inscription symbol. The body inscription symbol was incomparably precious. It would take a very long time to create, and he absolutely could not afford to be even the least bit careless.
Once Lin Ming had collected all of the materials, he first took a nap. After waking, he closed his door and placed a ‘do not disturb’ plaque on the outside. He washed his hands, burned incense, bathed, and finally entered the ethereal martial intent state. He sat in meditation for almost half an hour, and relaxed as his mind became completely calm.
There were many martial arts that, after obtaining a top-tier cultivation method, would practice a similar ceremony. This was in order to eliminate their distractions, and let their minds become calm. But unless they were monks, while facing such a top-tier cultivation method that could affect the destiny of their entire lives, who could truly remain calm?
However, the nature of Lin Ming’s heart was much purer than a normal martial artist’s. With the support of his ethereal martial intent, he was able to adjust his condition its perfect state, so that his heart and mind were able to singularly focus on a task.
When Lin Ming finally opened his eyes from meditation, his eyes were s.h.i.+ning bright like stars. He took the first material, the Seven Star Ore, and ground it, extracted it, and mixed it.
The tools that he used were the best ones that could be found within the Inscription a.s.sociation., These black silver inscription tools would not injure or alter the nature of the materials in the least. Not only that, but these tools were able to perfectly work in conjunction with soul force, so that an inscription master could clearly feel any changes in the materials.
Of these black silver tools, each one had a value that was similar to a treasure. The entire set of inscription tools had a value above 20,000 gold taels. This set of tools was a gift to Lin Ming from the Inscription a.s.sociation.
As he processed the materials, Lin Ming was already completely immersed in the world of inscription technique. Each inscription symbol that emerged from his hand was like a living spirit that jumped out. Because of this month-long practice, Lin Ming was able to freely control his soul force like never before. He could divide his soul force into hair-thin strands, and guide the materials together so that each one formed a beautiful inscription symbol. This feeling was like sliding on ice; there was no hitch in the fluid process.
Lin Ming was already completely immersed within a rapturous realm. In this state, he had reached an unprecedented extreme of skill.
The sun set, the moon rose, the stars fell, and the rose-colored clouds of dawn reflected the new day.
Lin Ming had unknowingly drawn the inscription symbol for an entire night. In the past, he was able to complete the symbols and lines in a very short time. But now, each symbol and line took at least an incense stick of time. In drawing these complex structures, he did so gingerly.
In this period, Lin Ming also failed a few times, but he had already antic.i.p.ated this situation. He had left the most precious materials for last; there were backups for everything else.
Unconsciously, Lin Ming’s soul force had already surpa.s.sed his natural limit. However, because his spirit was in such a state of high concentration, Lin Ming had entered into a state of self-hypnosis. He did not feel himself overdrafting his soul force, but this state was also extremely dangerous.
Because he had gone past what his body could bear.
There were stories of earthquakes, where children would be caught in the collapsing ruins. But, because of maternal love, a child’s mother would be able to exert a G.o.dly strength and abruptly lift fallen walls that weighed a thousand jins, thus rescuing their child. The reason this was possible was because of self-hypnosis. At the end, the mother would often exceed the limits that could be placed on her body, and she would be disabled or even die.
Time pa.s.sed one second at a time, until it was late morning. Lin Ming had drawn up the last symbol that he needed. As he gathered his hands together, the complex inscription symbol in the air began to superimpose upon itself, layer after layer, until it became one organic whole. It sent out a sparkling light as if it were a newborn star, and this star gently fell onto Lin Ming’s left chest.
There was a slight stabbing pain, as if he was being pierced by scalding hot needles, and then a mysterious six-pointed star appeared on Lin Ming’s left chest.
Then, Lin Ming could only see black as dizziness erupted in his head, and he slumped to the ground.
His exhausted soul force had resulted in a bone-aching sleepiness. As the body inscription symbol was finally completed, Lin Ming almost instantly fell into a deep slumber. In this deep sleep, he had severed all perception of the outside world.
This sleep lasted for three days and three nights.
An intense feeling of hunger finally woke up Lin Ming. He stumbled around as he crawled up on his knees. He only felt a splitting headache; this pain was what followed an overconsumption of soul force.
He casually took out some food from his spatial ring to eat, his expression sluggish as he sat on the ground. He sat there for a long time, and then finally, slowly mumbled, “This is… how?”
Trying to remember, he vaguely recalled the process of drawing up the body inscription symbol. He lifted his hand and traced his left chest. On the originally smooth skin, there were some uneven lines. He lowered his head to look. On his left chest was a mysterious six-pointed star mark; it had fused into one with the mark left from the Magic Cube.