Chapter 1242 – Rapid Drop In Numbers … … … Lin Ming and Crimson Wishjade’s battle was the most intense fight to erupt on the Divine Seal Altar so far, and also the highest level showdown. Everyone was watching it. As for Nether Limitless and Bloodless Sword, after they defeated their opponents they didn’t immediately climb up to the 24th step. Instead, they stopped for a moment to look at Lin Ming’s battle. “Interesting.” Nether Limitless smiled. Then, he turned and began to climb up. Bloodless Sword also began climbing up to the 24th step. In their eyes, Lin Ming was only worth paying some attention too, but he wasn’t a great worry. As for the other participants, they weren’t able to remain so calm. The pressure that Lin Ming placed on them was far too great. “What a terrifying fellow!” “He’s impossible to defeat!” “Originally just characters like Nether Limitless, Bloodless Sword, and Dragon Fang were able to leave us gasping for breath, but now this dark horse Lin Ming has come from nowhere. How can we still live? If any of us aren’t careful then we’ll be ruined!” Of the martial artists present, 99% of them didn’t have any confidence in facing Lin Ming! “This fellow is quite skilled. Isn’t he a participant from your True Martial World? He doesn’t seem like a disciple from your True Martial Holy Lands.” Near Wu Finalcloud, a black-clothed swordsman with vibrant green hair said. “He isn’t.” Wu Finalcloud frowned. He didn’t like to speak about Lin Ming; to him, Lin Ming was his shame. “Indeed. Well, if such a person existed in your True Martial Holy Lands I would have known about him already. Brother Finalcloud, aren’t you the big brother of the True Martial World? While that Dragon Fang is a character that can’t be provoked, it seems even this Lin Ming is going to outshine you soon. Do you plan on doing anything?” In the eyes of that green-haired youth, Crimson Wishjade was simply a martial artist from a third-order world; she was naturally weaker than Wu Finalcloud. Wu Finalcloud and Lin Ming should be able to fight for some time. But, what he didn’t know was that Wu Finalcloud had already been defeated by Lin Ming. This battle had occurred in the Divine Dream World and it couldn’t be seen by outsiders. “Who cares? If someone overshadows me, then I’m supposed to challenge them? Do I look like an idiot to you?” Wu Finalcloud responded. The green-haired martial artist thought that this response didn’t suit the normally haughty and arrogant Wu Finalcloud. “Are you admitting that you aren’t his match?” 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞 The green-haired martial artist thought something was a bit strange. In his opinion, it was natural for Wu Finalcloud to avoid Dragon Fang. As for Lin Ming, although he was able to defeat Crimson Wishjade, they should still be on par with each other. But now that he listened to Wu Finalcloud’s words, it seemed that he may have lost to Lin Ming before! “I don’t need you to worry about me. You do what you want; it’s not my problem.” Wu Finalcloud no longer spoke. He turned around to climb up the 24th step. He wasn’t an idiot. If he knew that he would be suppressed by Lin Ming, why would he bother making such jokes? He believed that in that fight just now, Lin Ming hadn’t even displayed half of his strength. Wu Finalcloud even had a creeping suspicion that if Lin Ming were to fight with Dragon Fang, Bloodless Sword, or so on, it was still a mystery who was weaker and who was stronger. Against such a freak, anyone that encountered him would be in for a bout of bad luck. He couldn’t avoid him fast enough. As for the green-haired swordsman that just spoke, Wu Finalcloud hoped that he would bump into Lin Ming and experience some suffering himself. This was simply how people were. After suffering a loss and also knowing that he wouldn’t be able to win in the future, he also hoped that others would do what he did and eat defeat. Wu Finalcloud climbed towards the 24th level. With his strength, as long as he didn’t encounter the freakish powerhouses here and steadily continued upwards then it wouldn’t be a problem for him to pass the semifinals. “Amazing! After being low-key for such a long time, Lin Ming actually defeated Crimson Wishjade in a single fell swoop! Crimson Wishjade is amongst the greatest geniuses to appear in the Crimson Light Holy Lands! Moreover, he also easily defeated her! It seems that Lin Ming had been intentionally saving his strength!” The two twin hosts shouted from above a spirit boat. They certainly didn’t know that Lin Ming was being deliberately probed by someone as he fought the spirit bodies. “Senior-apprentice Brother Lin has defeated the highest ranking martial artist from the Crimson Light Holy Lands? Moreover… he did it so easily?” On the 21st step, Yan Littlemoon was shocked as she heard this. Because of where she was, she hadn’t been able to see Lin Ming’s battle at all. The Crimson Light Holy Lands was the ruling power of the Crimson Light World, the great world where the Ancient Phoenix Clan Headquarters were located. To the Ancient Phoenix Clan, that untouchable mountain known as the Crimson Light Holy Lands had actually been defeated by Lin Ming. Yan Littlemoon felt this was a bit unbelievable. All of the disciples of the Ancient Phoenix Clan began loudly cheering in unison. “Senior-apprentice Brother Lin is too dashing!” “Haha! Well fought! This feels great!” “Our Ancient Phoenix Clan can finally hold our heads up with pride!” The disciples of the Ancient Phoenix Clan were all extremely excited. The Crimson Light Holy Lands had always been a pressure on them, and none of them had ever even thought about pushing back. But now, Lin Ming had done so, and he had done so amazingly. He had truly and honestly swept away the Crimson Light Holy Lands! How could they not feel amazing about such domineering aggression? On the 24th step, the number of martial artists in the first group had been reduced by over half again. Now there were only around 1600 people. Even after meditating and resting for two hours, only another 200-300 more people climbed up. From the start, those that won in the first group were able to climb up to the 24th step. But, these waves of participants behind them, even if they won their matches, weren’t necessarily able to climb up to the 24th step. After being defeated by powerhouses on the 23rd step, some people simply weren’t able to continue. Although the Divine Seal Altar’s artifact spirit had healed their wounds, they still weren’t able to restore their exhausted energy. Even though one could be defeated four times, just a single defeat would have a very great influence on their following results. On the 24th step, Lin Ming sat down. The area a thousand feet around him had actually become empty! The people nearby were all staring at him with some fear in their eyes. This was a type of treatment that only universally acknowledged monstrous geniuses like Dragon Fang and Bloodless Sword received! Now, with the strength Lin Ming had displayed so far, he had been recognized as a top 10 master of these semifinals. “Hahaha! No one is daring to approach Senior-apprentice Brother Lin!” “All those losers that were stupid enough to think of stirring up some trouble with Senior-apprentice Brother Lin Ming are now hiding from him! How fierce!” “Too fierce! There are only 10 people in total that can enjoy such treatment! But among them, Senior-apprentice Brother Lin has the lowest cultivation!” To sit alone on the Divine Seal Altar and have everyone give him a thousand foot berth, that was indeed the loneliness of a top master. The disciples of the Ancient Phoenix Clan all began to cheer out loud for Lin Ming. The battles of the 24th step were about to begin! There were now just under 1900 martial artists on the 24th step. The ones that were still down under basically wouldn’t be able to climb up anymore. Once these 1900 people fought, less than half of them would be able to climb to the 25th step! Lin Ming stood up. The martial artists around him immediately tensed, their minds tightening as if they stood on needles. There were even some martial artists that began stepping backwards. And at this time, Lin Ming moved. His speed was extremely fast. With a single step, he arrived in front of a small martial artist. This martial artist only came up to Lin Ming’s chest. Compared to a normal man, he was a bit shorter. There was some fur on his face, making him seem like a short-furred monkey. This was clearly the manifestation of some special bloodline trait. As this monkey-like martial artist saw Lin Ming, he nearly bit his tongue in surprise. “Shit, how can my luck be so bad!?” He had been so far away and yet this evil star had eyed him! He had wanted to run further away. The problem was that there was even more freakish monsters that occupied this step and he would eventually have to bump into one or two of them. Especially that Nether Limitless. That fellow completely didn’t read the mood, instead randomly fighting someone far or near with a seemingly random pattern. If one was chosen by those dozen plus peak powerhouses, they could only blame their bad luck. “Hold on! Great hero, stay your hand!” Just as Lin Ming rushed forwards, that little fellow shouted out. His voice was sharp and extremely grating, similar to the howling of a monkey. “Mm?” Lin Ming slowed down. The little fellow sadly laughed for a moment before saying, “You don’t need to do anything. I’ll make my own exit out of here.” The little fellow immediately turned around and ran to the cliff of the 24th step. Without further ado, he jumped straight down. As Lin Ming saw this, he was left speechless. Was this okay? The truth was that admitting defeat of one’s own volition was much better than being beaten up and defeated. The Divine Seal Altar was a protracted war. Regardless of it being climbing to the next step or battling other participants, all of this consumed a massive amount of strength. Moreover, this exhaustion would accumulate over time at a perpetually increasing rate! There were many people that were mainly eliminated not because they were defeated five times or because they couldn’t withstand the Empyrean pressure. Rather, they squandered their strength, and after exhausting their strength, they took pills to recover. Because this caused the true essence within their bodies to become chaotic and mixed up, they weren’t able to display even half of their strength. They were thus naturally eliminated due to this. So, on the 24th step, Lin Ming won by default! On the 25th step, his opponent admitted defeat once more! The ones that admitted defeat were not just Lin Ming’s opponents, but also Nether Limitless, Bloodless Sword, and Dragon Fang’s opponents! The number of participants decreased again. On the 26th step, there were less than 500 people remaining! Of the original 300,000 people only this many were left over! However, not all of these 500 people were able to pass. In the semifinal region where Lin Ming was located, only 300 people would be able to finally pass the semifinals. These 300 people would be selected from whomever was able to climb the highest. Those that reached a similar level would be prioritized based on how much time they took. Thus, for many participants, even though they knew they might step on some mine if they followed the first group, they still grit their teeth and continued upwards with them, all in order to save time. For ones like Yan Littlemoon and Dragon One, although they hadn’t yet been eliminated, it was impossible for them to pass the semifinals. Without a doubt, 99% of those that passed these semifinals would originate from these 500 people. As for the others, they might have encountered a storm of bad luck that made them bump into monstrous geniuses again and again. Even so, they would continue climbing later until they reached the top 300. On the 26th step, the pressure rose once again. The rivers of heaven and earth origin energy had become much thinner on the 26th step. But, the Empyrean pressure had increased to the point that it was like a continuous waterfall crashing down on them! Moreover, the higher one went, the stronger the pressure was. “How… how… how is this possible, I… I can’t climb up any more!?” Half-way to the 26th step, a martial artist had reached his limit. Every step he took was extremely difficult. “All this time, I’ve defeated every opponent, and I’ve also maintained my position in the first group, but I… I actually can’t climb up any more…” The martial artist grit his teeth and desperately struggled to stay on. However, the massive pressure continued to crash into him. Finally, his hands slipped and he fell from that massive cliff. This was the first time that someone from the first group who had maintained complete victory over his opponents had dropped down because they couldn’t withstand the Empyrean pressure! This meant that after every step, more than half of them would be eliminated! For over half of the remaining participants to be eliminated with every step, this rate of elimination was far too terrifying. Before long, the number of people remaining on the Divine Seal Altar would be able to be counted with one’s hands. At that time, only a few powerhouses such as Lin Ming, Nether Limitless, Bloodless Sword, and Dragon Fang would be remaining! That would be the true battle of the Divine Seal Altar; it was unavoidable!