Chapter 754 – Jade of the Goddess
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The young woman that the demonic path martial artist brought along only seemed to be just under 20. She had a slender and beautiful figure and a pair of still eyes with a strange dark gray light in her pupils. Her face was pleasant to look at and there was a mysterious tattoo mark on her cheek.
The young woman’s appearance and the strange mark on her face were not the reason that Lin Ming had lost his sense of decorum. Rather, there was an azure-colored jade pendant hanging over her chest. Engraved at the center of this jade pendant was a mystical design, as if it were a bird-like totem.
This jade pendant exuded an extremely pure energy; one could see at first glance that it wasn’t an ordinary object. However, it wasn’t an offensive-type treasure either. In fact, it was difficult to judge just what sort of function this jade pendant had.
“This jade pendant…”
Lin Ming sucked in a breath of cold air. When he had been in the 1000 mile forbidden zone in the Eternal Demon Abyss, Lin Ming had rushed his way into the lair of a bunch of corpse devils. It turned out that the lair was actually the ancient grave of a goddess that had slept there untouched and unblemished for 100,000 years or even longer. Originally, Lin Ming hadn’t wanted to recklessly disturb the remains of such a figure, but as he covered the sarcophagus and was leaving, he heard the faint call of a woman’s voice summoning him back.
Lin Ming had turned around and opened the sarcophagus again. Then, he had discovered a jade pendant and a necklace. As he was exploring the goddess’ body, to his amazement he discovered that the goddess still had a heartbeat. From there, Lin Ming had sensed the heart of a Great Emperor from within her that had been beating for all these tens of thousands of years!
Lin Ming had touched the jade pendant of the goddess. It was nearly exactly the same as the jade pendant that this gray-pupil woman was wearing in front of him, whether it was the design or the energy that it emitted.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Lin Ming had just now confirmed that the goddess’ jade pendant from the grave was still in his spatial ring, he would have thought they were the exact same.
Lin Ming’s improper actions had fallen into the eyes of that demonic path martial artist. That martial artist frowned, obviously unhappy. His possessive nature was very strong and he naturally didn’t want others to be staring at his concubine like this.
“Young Hero Lin, could it be that you’ve met my concubine in the past before!?”
The demonic path martial artist’s unhappy inquiry broke through Lin Ming’s thoughts. Lin Ming thought little of it and looked up at these three unexpected guests.
Of these three demonic path martial artists, all of them had Life Destruction cultivations. Two of them were at the third stage of Life Destruction and one of them was at the second stage of Life Destruction. What Lin Ming was surprised by was that martial artist in the lead was the one with a second stage Life Destruction cultivation. He also seemed to be the youngest, looking just over 30 years of age. As for the two third stage Life Destruction martial artists, they seemed to be following the orders of that second stage Life Destruction man.
These weren’t people who came from near the South Horizon Region. Otherwise, it was impossible for such masters to remain unknown; Lin Ming would have already heard about them.
Lin Ming frowned a bit as he thought about what the goal of these three individuals could be. But at this moment, Li Yifeng’s true essence sound transmission resounded in his ears, “Brother Lin’s friends truly come from far and wide! If I’m not wrong then these three come from the number one bandit group of the northwestern barren desert. Although they are bandits, the truth is that they are also a super sect with an inheritance of over 7000 years!
“Their sect had an Emperor level powerhouse appear just 2000 years ago. Now, that strange Emperor level monster should be living in seclusion somewhere in the great desert. Even my father has to give several points of respect to him. As for this second stage Life Destruction demonic path martial artist, he should be one of the Little Masters of the Northwest Great Desert, Wang Yichan. Although he is at the second stage of Life Destruction, his true combat strength far surpasses his cultivation boundary. When he was young he was the most famous talent of the Northwest Great Desert. He was able to fight Revolving Core powerhouses at the Xiantian realm and fight Life Destruction masters at the Revolving Core realm. I never thought that he would be interested in Brother Lin and wish to become friends! Hahaha!”
“Become friends?” Lin Ming was speechless. He certainly wasn’t naïve enough to think that this person had come out of nowhere to meet him. As a martial artist of the righteous path he was, in a way, enemies with demonic path martial artists, so relations would always be ambivalent.
Lin Ming cupped his hands together and said, “Today is my wedding celebration. What are you gentlemen here for?”
Wang Yichan laughed twice and cupped his hands back in respect. “I am the Young Master of the Northwest Great Desert Demon region. I heard that the South Sea Demon Region’s Great Elder Xuan Wuji died under Young Hero’s hands. May I confirm whether or not this matter is true?”
Lin Ming thought for a moment and then nodded, “Yes.”
“So it was so…” Wang Yichan shook his head and slowly said, “Young Hero Lin may have killed Xuan Wuji, but you may not know that Xuan Wuji had a number of cooperative deals with my Northwest Great Desert. Now that Xuan Wuji has died, these deals have naturally become invalid. More importantly, Xuan Wuji still owes my Northwest Great Desert a number of benefits that haven’t been returned.”
“Deals?” Lin Ming’s eyebrows shot up. Most of Xuan Wuji’s so-called deals had to do with helping him break through to the next boundary. “Are you saying that Xuan Wuji broke through to the fourth stage of Life Destruction with your help?”
“Young Hero Lin is fleet of thought!” Wang Yichan said without reservation, “Xuan Wuji indeed managed to barely cross the fourth stage of Life Destruction with my Northwest Great Desert’s help. But, the promises that he made haven’t been fulfilled, and this has caused massive losses to my Northwest Great Desert.”
“I see.”
No wonder Xuan Wuji was still able to forcefully break through the fourth stage of Life Destruction even though he didn’t obtain a complete Nirvana Dragon Root; it was all because he had the Northwest Great Desert secretly assisting him. The Northwest Great Desert must have paid a great price for this and Xuan Wuji must have also promised to repay a number of benefits. However, now all of that had become water leaking through a bamboo basket.
The Northwest Great Desert had helped Xuan Wuji to destroy Divine Phoenix Island in a way, and also to break through to the fourth stage of Life Destruction. If it wasn’t for this, then the Giant Leviathan wouldn’t have been sealed in the deep sea trench for four months. Lin Ming held his arms against his chest and looked at Wang Yichan with indifference. In the end, what they had done was more or less unrelated and their domains were different to begin with, so there wasn’t anything to pursue here.
“Mister Wang shouldn’t have come to my grand wedding just to say these sorts of things, then, what are you here for? Stop going in circles and say what you want.” Lin Ming asked, straight to the point.
“Haha, since Young Hero Lin is being so frank then so shall I! Xuan Wuji broke through to the fourth stage of Life Destruction, causing a number of problems and dangers for Young Hero Lin. Conversely, Young Hero Lin also killed Xuan Wuji, making us suffer a number of losses. Our areas of influence and goals are different to begin with so this matter should end here. But before that, my Northwest Great Desert provided Xuan Wuji a number of items. He still hasn’t paid for these items yet, but that’s how things are. Still, these items belong to my Northwest Great Desert. Now that Xuan Wuji has died, I’m sure that his spatial ring must have also fallen into Young Hero Lin’s possession!”
“And?”
“I hope that Young Hero Lin will return these two items. First, there is a white jade key, and secondly, there is a Life Destruction Pill!”
“Hahaha!” Lin Ming laughed out loud. Lin Ming had indeed seen these two objects in Xuan Wuji’s spatial ring. As for that white jade key, that should be a kind of item used to open the entrance to a mystic realm. But, that Life Destruction Pill was of great help to a martial artist to cross the stages of Life Destruction; it was an incomparably precious medicine.
Wang Yichan frowned, “Young Hero Lin, what is it? Do you have some doubts?”
“Doubts? What a joke!” Lin Ming’s smile suddenly disappeared. “These items are indeed in my hands, but you actually open your mouth and call them your Northwest Great Desert’s treasure? Who would actually believe that? Moreover, they could be said to be called tools that you provided to Xuan Wuji to destroy Divine Phoenix Island. According to you words, you lent a saber to Xuan Wuji so he could murder others, and I should allow him to kill me. But if I killed Xuan Wuji instead, then I have to return that weapon to you still? Is there any logic in the world as ridiculous as this!?”
Lin Ming was originally someone with a strong character to begin with. As he loudly spoke these words, the guests in the main hall also began to shout back.
“What Young Emperor Lin said is right; the Northwest Great Desert has gone too far!”
“Even though that’s true, the Northwest Great Desert is too powerful. Even one of their Young Masters is at the second stage of Life Destruction, and not an ordinary one at that too. His two guards are also at the third stage of Life Destruction. It is far too difficult for Divine Phoenix Island to think of contending with such a super power!”
The Northwest Great Desert had an Emperor level powerhouse so it could be called a Holy Land level force. However, Divine Phoenix Island was a mere fourth-grade sect. There simply wasn’t any comparison between them.
In the end, the Northwest Great Desert was using their greater status to bully others. If Divine Phoenix Island was a force on the same level as the four Divine Kingdoms, then they wouldn’t have dared to come here so rashly.
Wang Yichan grimaced. Still, he didn’t lose his composure. He calmly said, “Young Hero Lin, I can make some concessions to you. That white jade key is one of the keys necessary to open a mystic realm left behind by a sixth-grade sect that was ruled by a Supreme Elder of the demonic path. All seven of these keys are needed to open the mystic realm. You can rely on this key to join us in entering the mystic realm and even obtain a treasure from within.”
In Wang Yichan’s eyes, this was already a very attractive condition. To explore a mystic realm left behind by an ancient demonic path Supreme Elder, this was a chance that could even move an Emperor level powerhouse. Life Destruction masters would absolutely go crazy for it!
Lin Ming was only at the late Revolving Core realm. If he went and casually shared in some of the treasure then he could revel in it.
However, he never imagined that Lin Ming would flat-out refuse, “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested!”
Who cared about the Holy Lord of a sixth-grade sect? At most it would be a mystic realm on par with the Demon God Imperial Palace. After Lin Ming had gone to Timeworn Phoenix City and experienced the Chaos Stones, Ancient Phoenix Totems, God Transforming Mirror, and other such great lucky chances, these types of mystic realms no longer held much interest to him. Moreover, entering a dangerous and unknown mystic realm with a bunch of demonic path martial artists was simply a recipe for disaster. It was highly likely that he could even be killed inside. Lin Ming wasn’t arrogant enough to think that he was unrivalled to anyone in the Life Destruction realm. There were far too many Life Destruction powerhouses in the world that vastly outstripped Xuan Wuji in strength.
Wang Yichan’s face finally sank to the ground. Their Northwest Great Desert was a Holy Land level force and he had even humbled himself to come to a fourth-grade sect to negotiate. This was already showing due reference and face to everyone involved. Yet, this fellow Lin Ming actually reached for a yard after taking an inch.
“Lin Ming, we’ve come here with enough sincerity, so what do you want?”
Lin Ming thought for a moment, his eyes faintly sweeping past the concubine standing next to Wang Yichan. Then, he said, “If you want this jade key, you must exchange it for that woman as well as a spirit vein source of the fourth grade or above!”
Lin Ming’s few words left the entire audience dumbfounded. Even Mu Yuhuang was rattled. There was nothing wrong with Lin Ming asking for a spirit vein source, but he also wanted that woman?
Mu Yuhuang looked at that girl. The girl didn’t even seem 20 years old. With her Houtian realm cultivation at that age, her talent could be considered adequate but nothing spectacular. It also needed to be mention that Lin Ming wasn’t someone who was controlled by his primal urges of lust, but even if it were a demon path vandal that walked the road of obscenity and lasciviously drooled over women, they still wouldn’t trade a priceless key to open a mystic realm for a woman!
Everyone thought that Wang Yichan would agree to this matter and then haggle over the matter of the spirit vein source, but they didn’t imagine that Wang Yichan would scowl and say, “Lin Ming, you would rather do things the hard way than the easy way!?”