Chapter 1490 – Grinding the Soul

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A tall ancient sword floated within Lin Ming’s spiritual sea; this was Empyrean Divine Mist’s sword of will.

This sword emitted a deep blue aura, vivid and primal. The sword blade aimed at Lin Ming’s spiritual sea and suddenly thrust outwards!

Woosh!

The sword directly submerged into Lin Ming’s spiritual sea. At this moment, Lin Ming’s entire body shook, his face whitened, his lips trembled, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Empyrean Divine Mist had actually used this soul sword to attack Lin Ming’s spiritual sea!

This crude and barbaric method was more than enough to damage to Lin Ming’s soul.

However, Lin Ming believed in his intuition that Empyrean Divine Mist wouldn’t harm him. At this time, there was no meaning in Divine Mist harming him if he couldn’t leave. Moreover, the fires of his soul were already so weak, so what would he covet from Lin Ming?

And, if Empyrean Divine Mist wanted to truly harm him, he would have suffered from far more than some soul pain. Even if Empyrean Divine Mist was weakened to an unbelievable degree, he still had more than enough strength to exterminate Lin Ming. The proof of this was that Empyrean Divine Mist was able to use some secret technique to forcefully withstand the demonic tide, whereas Lin Ming couldn’t!

“Your soul is already extremely powerful and you have even cultivated a soul technique, but… your soul and your will lack killing intent! This is similar to a squad of strong soldiers having no military tactics or discipline at all. If they went to war they would dash about and move independently of each other, and no matter how strong these soldiers were individually, the strength they would be able to display would inevitably be limited. Your soul is in the same situation. Although you have a powerful soul force, you still cannot kill others!

“Your soul is only used to explore and sense the world around you. At the highest level, you only use it to support your battle spirit in an attack. This is far from being sufficient. You must fuse your soul into your body and have it become a part of your true power!”

“Have my soul fuse into my body and become a part of my power…” Empyrean Divine Mist’s words caused a brilliant beam of light to flash through Lin Ming’s mind. Thinking about it, what Empyrean Divine Mist said was true. On the occasions he used his soul force, he nearly only used soul force. But in combat, Lin Ming relied on his body transformation and essence gathering systems to succeed. In terms of the soul, besides his battle spirit, Lin Ming didn’t use it in combat at all. This was because Lin Ming’s soul forging system was far weaker than his other two cultivation systems.

In true combat, Lin Ming only used the soul forging system in Three Essences As One. But, that was only using spirit essence, not truly using his soul.

“What should I do?” Lin Ming asked.

“First, I shall temper your soul! Your soul is a mine rich with ore. Although it is powerful, there are far too many impurities. I shall help you temper it!”

As Empyrean Divine Mist spoke, his sword of will that was within Lin Ming’s spiritual sea suddenly chopped down!

This strike was several times more terrifying than the previous one. Lin Ming’s spiritual sea was nearly brutally torn in half!

Lin Ming’s entire body shook and he kneeled down on the floor. Blood began flowing out from his ears and nose.

“Lin Ming!”

Xiao Moxian’s heart tightened. She quickly went to support him.

“He’s fine. I used a secret technique to temper his soul. You, come as well. Consider this as good fortune I bestow upon you!”

Another sword shot out from between Empyrean Divine Mist’s eyebrows and sank into Xiao Moxian’s spiritual sea!

Xiao Moxian’s complexion paled and she tightly clenched her fists.

The God Beast blood within her was pushing back against Empyrean Divine Mist’s soul force.

“Do not resist me. My strength is limited and cannot continue for too long. This is an arcane ability unique to my Divine Mist lineage. Using the most savage method possible I will hammer your soul and grind down your spiritual sea. Then, I shall restore it and the cycle will begin anew!

“Bearing the pain of your soul being torn will not be easy. But if you can withstand it then it will be a great advantage to you. But, if you cannot withstand it then it may harm your soul forever!

“In my Divine Mist lineage, there are few people capable of using this arcane technique. Moreover, when they do so they will often have to perform many preparations, readying all sorts of soul medicines to prevent others from being harmed by this technique. But, we do not have the luxury of these conditions. Even so, I believe you two are the most extraordinary of the outstanding heroes that exist, and I also believe you will surpass this…”

When Empyrean Divine Mist spoke of the Divine Mist lineage, he was naturally referring to the extreme Empyrean Holy Land he once helmed. Those that were able to withstand such a technique were inevitably peak Empyrean descendants. Even so, when those Empyrean descendants had to withstand such a barbaric method of tempering their soul, they had to be cautious and slowly adapt to it.

But now, Empyrean Divine Mist had immediately forced them to bear the brunt of the pain. This was because the current situation was far too special.

Ka ka ka!

The pain of a disintegrating spiritual sea was beyond any description. 70% of Empyrean Divine Mist’s strength was focused on Lin Ming and the other 30% was branched off to Xiao Moxian.

This was mainly because Xiao Moxian didn’t have any attainments in the soul forging system.

Like this, the tribulation that Xiao Moxian withstood was far less agonizing than Lin Ming. Even so, she grit her teeth together, finding this almost impossible to withstand!

She clenched her teeth and silently endured the pain. Currently, she wasn’t the young teenager she was in the past. Back then, her natural disposition was to play around all the time and she hated cultivating; having her withstand such pain was certainly impossible. But now, the great calamity of humanity had arrived and could erupt at any moment. As for her monster race and Demondawn bloodline, they had fallen into a dizzying choice that would decide the future fate of their people. Not just that, but she had fallen into this dangerous land and she had no idea whether she would survive and make it out. There was no longer any path to escape the choices she would have to make in the future. She could only strengthen herself as much as she could. Only like this could she stand ready and tall in the tumultuous waves of the great calamity.

Peng!

With a crunching sound, Lin Ming felt his own soul crack apart like glass!

The sword of will that floated above his spiritual sea morphed into a sledgehammer and heavily smashed his soul!

This torment was simply unbearable. Lin Ming felt as if his soul would break apart and he would die at any moment! He bit his lips until they bled and his nails dug so deep into his palms that they were red. He tried everything he could to maintain the last hint of clarity in his mind, all in order to avoid being washed away by the severe pain and suffering the permanent soul damage that Empyrean Divine Mist spoke of.

This was far too painful!

It wasn’t just pain, but a tribulation of his soul that was impossible to resist!

Although Lin Ming’s talent had already far surpassed that of extreme Empyrean descendants, and had even reached the standards of being the top genius of an entire race, this grinding tribulation still caused him to nearly collapse. After all, he was not a spiritas. When it came to how tough his soul was when compared to the peak spiritas Empyrean descendants, Lin Ming didn’t necessarily have any advantage over them.

More and more cracks appeared in Lin Ming’s soul. Then, with a faint popping sound, his soul completely disintegrated, turning into endless motes of sparkling light.

The disintegration of the soul. To a normal martial artist, this would have been death beyond death.

This was even true for Lin Ming!

When one’s soul disintegrated, their life would end. But underneath the effect of Empyrean Divine Mist’s arcane technique, no matter how much Lin Ming’s soul disintegrated, it still maintained its form beneath the urging of some mysterious power, guaranteeing that his spirit mark remained intact and the fires of his life were inextinguishable.

This was like a common mortal having their stomach torn open or their head cut apart. In normal times they would die, but there were some doctors of superb skill who defied this, even cutting open a mortal’s chest and stomach to remove some infection and still guaranteeing that the person would live.

This was a truth similar to when a martial artist crossed Life Destruction and had their body reduced to the tiniest of particles.

Then, Lin Ming felt himself isolated from the world as if he had arrived in some unknown space. Everything seemed impossibly far away and his sense nearly vanished. He had almost reached his limits!

He forcefully protected the last bit of pure brightness in his mind, clenching his teeth to stay awake. However, the terrifying power of pain rushed over him a wave, ready to devour him! He would soon not be able to withstand it any longer!

At this time, Lin Ming heard a vague summons, seeming to come from the distant horizon. The sounds were beautiful, like the enchanting call of nature.

After that, he felt a warm and soft hand take hold of his own.

Then, an incomparably pure primordial yin energy flowed up from this hand, spreading up Lin Ming’s arm and throughout the rest of his body, revitalizing his dried up spiritual sea like a gentle spring.

“Is… that Xiao Moxian?”

Lin Ming immediately thought. This power that flowed up his arm was intoxicating. Although his body was racked with pain he still felt extremely comfortable, like a mortal with a scalding burn having cool medicinal cream spread over his wounds.

This revitalizing power boosted Lin Ming’s strength, allowing his will to resist being destroyed!

And at his side, Xiao Moxian was also feeling the same way.

Her soul force and battle spirit were far from being as powerful as Lin Ming’s. Although she only withstood 30% of this tempering, she still rapidly reached her limit and found it hard to continue.

In the moment before she failed, Xiao Moxian suddenly remembered something. She recalled the time when she held Lin Ming’s hand and their yin and yang fused together, perfectly complementing each other in harmony. Like this, she took the initiative and grasped Lin Ming’s hand in her own.

Their blood vitality supported and resonated with each other, allowing them both to survive this perilous storm.

This state continued for an unknown period of time. Slowly, Lin Ming felt himself gradually adapting to the agonizing pain of having his soul torn apart. Then, a beam of divine light shot out from Lin Ming’s spiritual sea.

The shattered pieces of his spiritual sea and the fragmented motes of his soul followed this beam of divine light, gathering together and condensing.

A moment later, Lin Ming’s soul form was restored to its true shape and his spirit mark also returned. He had truly withstood this tempering of his soul.

Lin Ming opened his eyes and felt his entire body void of any energy. He was soaked in sweat.

He turned his head to see Xiao Moxian in the same state. Her clothes were moist with her sweat and stuck tight to her body, accentuating her perfectly shaped curves. Crystal clear drops of sweat also rolled down her face, illuminating her soft and blushing skin. For a time, Xiao Moxian’s clear face was so beautiful that it was blinding.

Lin Ming couldn’t help but look at Xiao Moxian and whisper, “Thank you.”

He was well aware that if she was able to reach out and grab his hand just now then it proved her situation was far better. As for himself, he was a dried up lamp on the verge of collapse.

“I’m just helping myself here…” Xiao Moxian revealed a tired and relaxed smile. Her chest heaved up and down; she had really exhausted herself just now.

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