Martial World
MW 1994

Chapter 1994 – Dark Clouds

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This was a continent that was hundreds of millions of miles wide. On this continent, the origin energy was rich in the air and one could replace opulent floating jade palaces everywhere. Rare spirit flowers bloomed throughout, making this land a living paradise.

This continent was called the New Era Continent. 6000 years ago, Empyrean Divine Dream joined together with several other Empyreans to open up this land, allowing it to be developed. Currently it was the largest of the human-inhabited continents.

Within the wild universe that was filled with perils and endless slaughtering, this was a rare blissful land of peace.

The name of New Era signified the hopes of humanity to overcome this tribulation and return to the Divine Realm.

At the center of this continent was an incomparably large divine tree. The crown of this divine tree towered into the clouds and the boughs shaded a radius of thousands of miles.

A quiet immortal palace quietly floated above the crown of this divine tree. This divine tree had numerous rainbow-hued clouds swirling about it. There were grand structures layered high and low, with winding waterside pavilions spread out everywhere. Many spirit beasts and spirit birds flew through the skies, the sight beautiful to the eyes.

In this immortal palace, there was an extremely ordinary-looking garden. The garden was planted with well-tended flowers and plants, all of it seeming delicate.

Dappled golden sunlight sprinkled down, shining down on a door. At some time, the door was pushed open by a jade-white hand and a woman stepped into the garden.

She was a beautiful and lithe young woman. Her looks were elegant and her skin was flawless, as if she were a dream painted by an artist. She wore a black dress that fell to her knees, revealing straight and slender thighs and creamy white ankles.

This woman was Lin Ming’s wife – the half phoenix body Xiao Moxian.

At this time, Xiao Moxian had taken out a pair of gardening scissors and was gently trimming the flowers and plants.

Her movements were patient as she pruned them. A rainbow-hued flower was cut down by her and a flower petal fell into her hands. She placed it in her mouth, slowly chewing it.

The sweet and fragrant scent dissipated through her senses...

These flowers and plants were treasures of the heaven and earth. They could be used for medicine and also to refine high quality pills.

Xiao Moxian plucked another flower petal. She placed it in her mouth, slowly eating it.

With every flower that she cut down, the spirit energy they dissipated began to slowly gathering, finally forming a dense and hazy mist in the garden.

Xiao Moxian looked at this swirling mist, lost in thought. She used a finger to gently point at this mist. The energy in the mist began to rapidly move in the air. In just several breaths of time, it gathered into the phantom of a man.

This man had a forehead as sharp as a sword and eyes as bright as stars. His face was edged and angular and he held a long spear in his hands. He gave off a sharp feeling, as if he were some treasure sword hidden in a sheath.

Xiao Moxian looked at this image and gently sighed. Then, she waved her right hand and this phantom dissipated, vanishing into nothing.

She looked towards the skies, disappointed.

For 5000 years, Xiao Moxian’s cultivation had been at a bottleneck. Towards this, Empyrean Divine Dream had guided her, saying that if she couldn’t break past the shackles of self and heart, then it would be even more difficult to break through this cultivation barrier and would cause her cultivation to be delayed for a long time.

During these years, Xiao Moxian had spent a great deal of her time gardening, living life and eating flowers and drinking morning dew.

She used this to reminisce on the cherished memories in her heart.

And also to temper her own state of mind.

She had never been able to accept news of Lin Ming’s death. In truth, even though the saints had long since confirmed Lin Ming’s demise, even though she knew that Lin Ming had departed from her because he was being chased down by Soaring Feather God King, even though she knew he had chosen a path of certain death, she continued to stubbornly believe that Lin Ming was still living...

This might be an obsession or perhaps a kind of reluctance. It might even be because of her blind trust in Lin Ming, her faith that he would survive and once again create miracles...

However, even though she ardently waited for Lin Ming for 5000 years, he still hadn’t returned.

She touched her chest, pulling out a strange necklace.

This necklace was simple and crude. The chain was thick and the design was primitive. As Xiao Moxian wore it, it contrasted sharply against her pale neck, seeming completely incompatible. But for so many years, Xiao Moxian had always had this necklace with her.

This was the first gift that Lin Ming had given her. Its name was – the Thousand Mile Heartlink.

It could remember a person’s soul aura. As long as that person existed in the same world then regardless of how far they were, this necklace’s master could use its ability to communicate with this other person.

This necklace held a special significance to Xiao Moxian.

In the past when Xiao Moxian returned to Demondawn Heavenly Palace from the Asura Road, she had been placed under house arrest by Empyrean Demondawn because she had been with child. Empyrean Demondawn coerced Xiao Moxian to agree to marrying the Good Fortune Saint Son, using the life of her child as a threat. And as Xiao Moxian was in her most desperate time without any way out, she suddenly remembered the Thousand Mile Heartlink. Using it, she was able to contact Lin Ming and discuss countermeasures. Afterwards Lin Ming fought the Good Fortune Saint Son at the Monster Emperor’s Grand Longevity Feast.

Now over 5000 years had passed, and Xiao Moxian always kept the Thousand Mile Heartlink in good condition.

Besides recalling her most beloved memories, she also had a wild hope that one day, when she touched the Thousand Mile Heartlink, she would feel a familiar pull on her soul, a soul that haunted her dreams.

As she held the simple necklace in her hands, she hesitated. Then, she closed her eyes, sinking her thoughts into it...

Within her sea of consciousness, the boundaries were without limit.

However, after Xiao Moxian wandered this sea for a long time she still wasn’t able to replace a wisp of that incomparably familiar aura...

Finally, she opened her eyes without having gained anything at all.

She discovered that the array formation runes on the Thousand Mile Heartlink were becoming increasingly weak. The Thousand Mile Heartlink came from the Asura Road, and the core of the array formation was in truth a divine runic symbol. There was a limit to the number of times it could be used, and now after so many years with Xiao Moxian constantly using it to sense Lin Ming’s existence, the array formation had slowly decayed over time and was now nearing collapse.

Once the array formation collapsed the memory of Lin Ming’s soul mark would disappear with it. Then, it would no longer be able to communicate with Lin Ming.

Gently tracing the Thousand Mile Heartlink and feeling the increasingly weak soul mark, Xiao Moxian dismally sighed. Then, she carefully put away the necklace...

“Little Sister Xian’er...”

As Xiao Moxian put away the necklace, two women entered the garden.

Of these two women, one wore a long red dress. She was elegant and mature, her stature tall and proud.

The other women wore a light yellow dress. She was beautiful and charming to the eyes, like the young treasured princess of a family.

These two women were Mu Qianyu and Qin Xingxuan. Now their cultivations had reached the peak Divine Lord realm.

A Divine Lord powerhouse could live for over 100,000 years. If one didn’t factor in foundation and actual combat strength, then with the support of many resources, it wouldn’t be hard for these two women to break into the Holy Lord realm.

In the past, when the human race hastily evacuated the Divine Realm and fled to the wild universe, Mu Qianyu and Qin Xingxuan had been considered non-combatants. Under the arrangements of Empyrean Divine Dream they had left with the first batch of people.

Mu Qianyu noticed the Thousand Mile Heartlink that Xiao Moxian had just put away. She also knew what use this necklace had, and also knew that Xiao Moxian hadn’t found anything just now.

“My two big sisters have arrived.” Xiao Moxian put away her wistful thoughts and revealed a charming smile.

In truth, before Lin Ming had been chased down by Soaring Feather God King and then disappeared without even a message, Xiao Moxian hadn’t actually had much contact with Qin Xingxuan and Mu Qianyu.

They didn’t know each other to begin with, and there was a large disparity between them in multiple aspects. This made it so that they didn’t have many chances to socialize and their relationship was somewhat estranged.

It was only when Lin Ming had disappeared for many years that the three women became much more familiar with each other as they all were in the same situation.

If one ignored the years that Xiao Moxian passed within Tragic Death Valley, then she would be considered the youngest of the three women. Thus, she called Mu Qianyu and Qin Xingxuan her big sisters.

“Huang’er just sent a message. He has arrived at Skyrend World and entered Skyrend God Palace...” Qin Xingxuan said.

Lin Huang was the only bloodline left in the world by Lin Ming. In the past, Lin Ming lived the life of a wanderer and often adventured alone in dangerous realms and situations to temper himself. He had gained many enemies and was often being hunted down by others. Thus, due to all these worries, Lin Ming had made the choice to not leave behind his bloodline with Qin Xingxuan and Mu Qianyu. At the time, the two women hadn’t thought much about it, but now that Lin Ming had been gone for so many years and none of them knew whether or not he was still alive, the two women felt a great deal of regret.

Thus, Xiao Moxian’s son Lin Huang had become their common child.

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At this time, at Skyrend World, Lin Huang was standing in a grand hall. He politely bowed, saying, “Junior Lin Huang greets Senior Skyrend.”

In front of Lin Huang, a tall old man strode down from a divine altar. He had fiery red hair and his hands were as large as fans. A kind and gentle smile hung on his face.

“Lin Huang, it’s been over 4000 years. You’ve grown up...”

The breeding of a God Beast was an extremely slow process, and this was even more so for Lin Huang who possessed a heaven-defying bloodline. He had been born only after spending several hundred years in his mother’s womb, and even after he was born, he still didn’t open his eyes but continued sleeping for a hundred years. It was only when his bloodline had finished its growth that he started to grow like other children.

By the time Lin Huang was a year old, almost a thousand years had passed since the war between humanity and the saints erupted.

Empyrean Divine Dream held a grand birthday feast on the day of Lin Huang’s first year. Many human Empyreans had attended and Skyrend Godlord was no exception to this. He also saw Lin Huang at this birthday feast, and now after 4000 years, Lin Huang was considered one of the masters of the human race.

“Senior, this is a letter that Empyrean Divine Dream wrote for you. Junior has brought it.”

Skyrend Godlord was one of the top ranked Empyreans of humanity. And in terms of age and background, he was almost the greatest of humanity. He had a high level of prestige among the human race and Empyrean Divine Dream would frequently consult with him concerning important matters.

However, in most situations, Empyrean Divine Dream would directly communicate with Skyrend Godlord. She rarely sent someone to deliver him a letter.

As Skyrend Godlord received the letter that Empyrean Divine Dream sent him, he probed it with his divine sense.

Slowly, his eyebrows furrowed deeply.

Within this letter there were many images. And, these images left him beyond shocked!

This was a giant red monster. It smashed at the void, again and again, causing cracks to appear in the void. But, these cracks slowly regenerated...

Skyrend Godlord knew just what this red monster was – it was Famine!

And the void that it smashed was the God Lamenting Wall that separated the Divine Realm and the wild universe!

The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign had gained enough strength that he could forcefully open a connection through the God Lamenting Wall without sacrificing too much strength?