Chapter 730 – A Strike To Shatter the World
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After Huo Ping spoke out, the other martial artists present also noticed the crack on the surface of the Celestial Shifting Mirror.
Wasn’t the God Transforming Mirror engraved with the principles from the forming of the universe? How could it have cracked?
All of the martial artists present were curious about this exact same question.
But at this time, as Huo Yu looked at the God Transforming Mirror, she felt a growing horror in her heart. As someone that could be considered decently talented within the Huo Clan, she had a good understanding of the God Transforming Mirror.
The God Transforming Mirror was indeed a divine object that was engraved with the source energy Laws. But, the core of the Celestial Mirror, as well as the crystal wall that comprised its surface, were not true divine treasure from the formation of the universe. Rather, they were created by an array formation master. When the world of the God Transforming Mirror was broken, then the mirror itself would also break!
The one who created this mirror had already considered this situation from the start. With the liquid flame crystal inside the main body of the God Transforming Mirror, even if there were cracks produced on it, it could slowly melt and reform itself with a self-repairing function.
“Nuyan Ming… passed the test of the first Concept? This is...” Huo Yu sucked in a deep breath, her eyes flashing with astonishment. The God Transforming Mirror had a total of nine worlds within it. These nine worlds all corresponded with nine different kinds of Concepts. These nine different Concepts nearly encompassed all the complete mysteries of the Fire Laws.
Of these nine Concepts, each one was more difficult than the last. If one could pass the sixth or the seventh Concept, then they could become a Holy Lord within the Realm of the Gods. If one could rush past the ninth Concept, then that would mean they had fully comprehended the source Laws of Fire, having a strength as if they were a god of fire incarnate!
This was the origin of the God Transforming Mirror’s name. Cross through nine levels of Concepts, break through the mortal coil, and transform into a god!
And now Lin Ming had already broken through the first Concept?
Huo Yu found this completely unbelievable. If Lin Ming was a favored son of heaven from some great clan in the Realm of the Gods, then she wouldn’t have found this surprising. However, Lin Ming was an obvious newcomer to the Concept of Fire that had just arrived recently. His comprehension of the Fire Laws was inferior to even that of a child from the Realm of Gods. He had used half an incense stick of time with the Ancient Phoenix Testament in order to fuse with its Laws. The disparity was simply too great.
The only aspect worth noticing was his compatibility with the power of fire. But depending on just this alone, it was impossible for him to have burnt away the world of the first level!
Huo Yu was shocked, but as for Huo Ping and the others, they hadn’t ever experienced this God Transforming Mirror before, so they had no idea what a crack on the surface meant. Although they thought that it was extraordinary for a crack to appear on the surface of the God Transforming Mirror, the crack had already healed itself to an unnoticeable degree in just half an incense stick of time. Thus, they didn’t believe that this matter was too important.
But at this time, Huo Wenlong’s body shook. With a pallid face, he stepped back from the God Transforming Mirror.
He had finally reached his limits, unable to withstand the Concept of the first world.
Huo Wenlong didn’t look to the hourglass first. Instead, his first action was to turn to his side and he saw that the area where Lin Ming once stood was now empty. Obviously, he had been defeated first.
He won!
Huo Wenlong’s lips curved up in a smile. Then, he turned to look at the hourglass. The three quarters mark had already been filled, and a bit of sand was now drifting down. He had made the three quarters mark!
As Huo Wenlong saw this, he was ecstatic. That meant he was a genius seen only once every 50 years!
To last within the mirror world for three quarter hours of time, that was a result rarely seen even in 50 years. Although Huo Wenlong had used some tricks in order to obtain this honor, he still hadn’t violated any rules. What he relied on was his comprehension of the Fire Laws. The results had been quite effective.
With such a title, it was highly likely that he would be chosen to enter the Realm of the Gods for the second stage of the smelting trial!
“Haha, Brother Long, three quarter hours! You are the first one in this test to break through three quarter hours of time within! This is a rarely seen result even within 50 years in Timeworn Phoenix City!’ Huo Ping hurriedly ran up and congratulated Huo Wenlong. Naturally, he couldn’t miss such an opportunity to flatter him.
“That’s right, ah, Brother Long, we’ve tried so hard to just reach two quarter hours. We thought this was already quite good, but compared to Brother Long, our results are just too shameful! None of us can even compare!’
“That’s right, you’ve really broadened my horizons!’
Several other martial artists from the Realm of the Gods also complimented in unison. Although this sort of flattery was obviously opportunistic, Huo Wenlong was in an excellent mood and being praised like this made his thoughts flow incomparably smoothly.
Although he couldn’t conceal the smile on his face, he ‘humbly’ said, “My luck is just good. Once this smelting trial has ended, I ask everyone to come to the Ancient Phoenix Restaurant and share some glasses of wine with me.”
There was only a single restaurant in Timeworn Phoenix. The ingredients inside were all fire-attribute spiritual goods. The wine itself was millennia aged fire-attribute wine brewed from heavenly treasures. Just eating a meal there was greatly beneficial to one’s cultivation. Of course, the price itself was so high that it left one speechless.
“Ancient Phoenix Restaurant, haha, since Brother Long is so kindly treating us, then we won’t be disrespectful!” A martial artist from the Realm of the Gods happily said. Nobody would miss an opportunity to flatter Huo Wenlong and eat such sumptuous feast of fire-attribute spirit foods.
The group from the Realm of the Gods was jumping in joy. But at this time, the red-robed Elder extracted a scroll from his spatial ring and rolled it open with a thunderous sound. Without expression, he said, “I will now announce the results!”
Hearing the red-robed Elder speak, the current martial artists felt their hearts grip with fear. The first stage of the king level smelting trial was assessed from the totality of scores combined together. After each test, the examiner would give every candidate a score. This score was related to these martial artists future role and status in their clans. It was of utmost importance!
Huo Wenlong faintly smiled, confident in himself. He wasn’t worried about his results. Since he could last for three quarter hours and obtained the title as being a genius rarely seen in 50 years, it was only natural that his results would be correspondingly outstanding.
“A perfect score is ten points. The score is judged by me. All those that fail have zero!”
The red-robed Elder indifferently said. With a large stroke of a pen, he directly wiped off all the names of the martial artists that had failed from the scroll. This red-robed Elder normally had an icy expression most of the time, and he rarely gave any advice or direction to these candidates. As an official in charge of the tests, he tried to remain as fair and unbiased as possible. It was only when Lin Ming burnt down the first world that a rare and tiny smile crossed his face.
“Yellowright Min, barely passing, 1 point!”
1 point… Yellowright Min was flabbergasted. If a perfect score was 10 points, then 1 point was simply too shameful. Well, at least he had passed.
“Teng Qing, barely passing, 1.2 points. Yun Lan, barely passing, 1.3 points…” As the red-robed Elder read out each name, the martial artists who were called out all had ugly complexions as they heard their scores. A perfect score was 10 points, but there were only a few that surpassed 2 points. The highest so far had obtained 2.3 points. This was too great a blow on their mentality.
Then, the red-robed Elder read out the name of Huo Ping. Huo Ping came from the Realm of the Gods and he had also gone to the Earth Corridor. Moreover, he had lasted for two quarter hours. His result should be extraordinary.
After the red-robed Elder raid Huo Ping’s name, Huo Ping tensed, his heart lifting up. He leaned forwards to listen more carefully...
“Huo Ping, 3.2 points!”
Huo Ping suddenly wilted. For better or worse, he still had an outstanding result. What sort of standards were they setting here?
Out of a total of 10 points, he had only obtained 3.2 points. How could they actually say that his result was outstanding...
“Huo Yu, 4.3 points!”
Besides Lin Ming and Huo Wenlong, Huo Yu was the only other trial challenger who had gone to the Sky Corridor. She obviously found it hard to accept this score of 4.3 points.
“This old man Jun is really too harsh, every single grade he’s given out is exactly by the book, not even half a point more.” In the void, the tall old man shook his head. These little kids would have to return to the Realm of the Gods and report their results. Out of ten points, they only managed to obtain 3-4 points… this would be quite hard to admit. Some examiners would stretch out the rules in compassion, and invariably increase the number of points by one or two so that the score seemed more attractive. But, this stodgy examiner obviously doesn’t care about that at all.”
“Haha, that’s also good. These young children should know just how great the disparity is between them and others. Destroying all that vaunted arrogance in their hearts will only do them good.” The red dressed woman smiled. The world was too vast, and there were far too many outstanding heroic youths. A single genius wasn’t worth anything at all. If they were blinded by their own halos then that would only end up harming themselves.
“Huo Wenlong...” Old man Jun spoke his name, the martial artists present pricked up their ears. Just how many points did Huo Wenlong obtain?
“6.1 points!”
As these words were spoken, all of the martial artists present were dumbfounded. Huo Wenlong also frowned. This score was just too low!
He was known as a 50 year talent of Timeworn Phoenix City. He has lasted inside that world for three quarter hours, and yet he only obtained 6.1 points. Then, who deserved to be graded more than 6 points?
Huo Ping couldn’t help but send a true essence sound transmission to his companions, “Which brain-dead idiot came up with these scoring criterias? Are 7, 8, 9 points just there for show?”
His sound transmission also included Huo Wenlong. Although these words seemed disrespectful, in truth it matched Huo Wenlong’s current feelings. This was also Huo Ping’s goal.
Huo Wenlong was irate. He would have to report this score back to his clan. If it was too poor, then he would be laughed at even if he obtained first place. It would mean all he did was compete with a bunch of garbage to obtain first place.
However, what came out of his mouth was, “Huo Ping, don’t be disrespectful to the seniors that came up with the rules. There is always a reason for it. Just because we can’t obtain a higher score, doesn’t mean others can’t either.”
As Huo Wenlong spoke to here, old man Jun then slowly said, “Nuyan Ming...”
“8.9 points!’
As the voice fell, Huo Wenlong froze where he stood. Just as he said ‘Just because we can’t obtain a higher score, doesn’t mean others can’t either’, that old man Jun had actually given a higher score. Moreover, the one who had obtained this score was… Nuyan Ming!
8.9 points? How was that possible!?
“Did I just hear it wrong!? How could Nuyan Ming obtain 8.9 points?” A Realm of the Gods martial artist cried out. This was a great injustice!
“Instructor, there must have been a mistake! Huo Wenlong only obtained 6.1 points! Nuyan Ming’s results were even worse than Huo Wenlong’s.”
“Yeah! What’s going on here!?”
It wasn’t just the Realm of the Gods martial artists, but even those from the lower realms were confused. They looked at old man Jun with puzzled eyes.
Old man Jun waved the sleeves of his robe and coldly said, “Humph! You gaggle of ignorant juniors. There is no limit in this universe, there is always someone better! How could anyone of you nobodies question this old man’s evaluation! Nuyan Ming managed to defeat the world, breaking it apart. But you lot barely managed to linger around underneath the Fire Laws. The difference is greater than the heavens and earth! In fact, the scores I’ve given you all are far more than what you deserve! Now go close up and start training! Immediately!”
With that, old man Jun rolled up the scroll and turned around to leave in a single motion, leaving behind a group of baffled martial artists. Defeat the world?
What the actual f*ck!?