Chapter 176 – Witch Slave … … … “The king of a hundred hungry ghosts within the Hungry Ghost World?” Lin Ming coldly snorted and suddenly broke forward with the Golden Roc Shattering the Void movement ability. One man and one spear, together they were like a bolt of lightning that flashed towards this giant woman’s head. The beautiful woman’s head issued a frighteningly sinister howl as it sent forth endless white hairs to kill Lin Ming. Every hair in the air transformed into a white snake that slithered towards Lin Ming. “Come!” Lin Ming gave a shout and suddenly flicked the Heavy Profound Soft Spear in his hands. An innumerable amount of purple electric charges burst into the night sky, forming a giant lightning weave that was even denser than the previous one. This dazzlingly bright lightning field shined so radiantly that one simply couldn’t bear to stare at it. Chi chi chi! Under the fierce blow of this electrical purple field, the tens of thousands of white snakes dispersed in the air. The beautiful woman’s head uttered an anguished wail as that once beautiful face contorted into a distorted mockery of beauty. She suddenly opened her mouth impossibly wide, her cherry lips parting to reveal rows upon rows of horrifyingly sharp white teeth. From beautiful to hideous, this change was simply too shocking. The giant head sinisterly shrieked, aimed towards Lin Ming, and bit down! “Suffer defeat!” Lin Ming gave a loud shot and giant arc of lightning several times larger than the last formed around the Heavy Profound Soft Spear and directly stabbed towards the giant head’s open mouth! Cha! With the cacophonic sound of shattering bone, Lin Ming’s spear pierced through that giant head! Countless electric lights were left behind on the giant head, twisting around the grim visage. “Ah ah ah ah!” Discordantly shrill screams filled the skies, and the countless crows that flew in air imploded upon themselves as they burst into a massive rain of grotesque blood, flesh, and feathers that sprinkled onto the ground. “What a strong sound wave.” Lin Ming had covered his ears with true essence to protect them. He had already experienced the tiger leopard thunderclap within Thunder Valley; these earsplitting sound waves could be considered nothing to Lin Ming. The giant head dramatically twisted in the air as if it was being shredded from within, and then with a giant cracking sound, it suddenly burst into tens of thousands of tiny fragments. The fragments turned into little crystal lights that shimmered in the yellow sky; it was quite beautiful and elegant. After a period of time, these crystal sparks of light became a scintillating river of light that flowed towards Lin Ming. This gorgeous light was like a stream of liquid sunlight; infinitely beautiful. “What good pure soul force.” As Lin Ming absorbed this light, he could clearly feel that the soul in his body was like a small sapling that was being nourished by the spring rains, rapidly growing. “There is simply too much soul force energy here, I cannot completely absorb it. The blood vitality is the same too. After this life and death smelting trial, I must go into seclusion for a period of time and properly absorb these energies” As Lin Ming thought this, that icily indifferent voice once again rang in his ears. “Hungry Ghost, passed. Third trial, Animals!” With this sound, the scenery around Lin Ming changed once again. The dim yellow sky and the surging Yellow Springs completely vanished as endless wild grasslands appeared all around him. The dusky sky was filled with thick, dark clouds. However, no rain fell from these clouds. Under the vast cloudy sky, the grasslands were filled with a dark green moss, sparse land, as well giant clumps of black rock. This truly was a mottled dark world. At this moment, a low and deep beastly roar sounded in the distance. Not too far away, a horde of black shadows appeared. These shadows had a variety of characteristics. Some treaded the ground, some flew in the air, and all had different shapes. Lin Ming flourished the Heavy Profound Soft Spear and licked his crimson lips. “So the enemy of the Animal trial is simply vicious beasts? How kind. In all these years that I’ve been practicing martial arts, it’s as if I’ve been constantly testing my strength against vicious beasts!” Roar! The roars of the vicious beasts were like the rumble of thunder. This horde of more than a hundred vicious beats overflowed with murderous intent as they rushed towards Lin Ming. Among them were giant cows ten feet high, serpents that were three feet thick, and even strange looking giant double-headed birds. Facing this aggressive beastly horde, Lin Ming did not dodge. Instead, he decided to kill his way through this horde. One man and one spear facing off against a hundred beasts; this sight was simply completely disproportionate. However, Lin Ming’s momentum did not falter. Instead, his aura was like a blazing inferno, soaring into the sky! “Flood Dragon Goes to Sea!” Lin Ming’s foot thrust against the black rock ground and the Heavy Profound Soft Spear howled as it thrust out, covered with a dense flaming aura. An overwhelming energy filled the air as if it would blot out the sky, and Lin Ming’s spear pierced through the body of a 100 foot snake. “Hoh!” With this powerful impact, Lin Ming braced both his arms and the Heavy Profound Soft Spear curved like a crescent moon. The 1000 jin snake was sent flying out by Lin Ming! As the serpent flew off, Lin Ming’s momentum had reached an extreme. “Total Annihilation!” Lin Ming’s entire body flooded with a massive amount of true essence. His cast-iron legs were like the roots of trees that dug into the earth. His body was steady, and his long spear was like a giant blazing flame that roared as it cut apart the atmosphere. The skill of inscription, Astral Spear, was activated, and the nine feet nine inch long spear extended to 20 feet! Puff! Puff! Two vicious beasts were directly sent flying by Lin Ming. Violently vibrating true essence penetrated into their skulls and pulverized their brains. Like this, Lin Ming broke into that horde of beasts. With the support of his powerful blood vitality, his strength was like an inexhaustible well. Every time he moved his spear, a shower of blood flowed. In such a slaughter, Lin Ming felt a strange energy seep into his body, subtly changing him; his tendons became tougher, and his muscles became more solid and robust. “The third trial is to enhance the strength of the body?” Lin Ming was suddenly aware that the most formidable aspect of a vicious beast was their body. There were many vicious beasts that were extremely powerful, and their bodies were naturally the best weapon. Since Lin Ming cultivated the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians, his bodily strength was already extremely formidable. In addition to the first trial’s augmentation of his blood vitality and now the third trial’s enhancement of his body strength, Lin Ming felt that the power of his physical form was rapidly ascending to new heights. “I think my strength may already surpass 10,000 jins.” A strength of 10,000 jins was already a martial artist’s limit. There were only some Pulse Condensation Period martial artists that had inborn divine strength who had a possibility of having a strength that was over 10,000 jins. Once one stepped into the Houtian realm, their physical strength wouldn’t increase by much. It was only their true essence that would become thicker and purer. Before, people had accidently mistaken Lin Ming for having inborn divine strength because of the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians. Now, he truly did have true inborn divine strength, and his physical body was now several times superior to Ta Ku! ……………….. At this moment, outside of the Sorcerer Pagoda, Na Yi was still waiting for Lin Ming. From the time that Lin Ming had entered the Sorcerer Pagoda, one hour had already passed. Were the legends recorded within the ancient texts true? In the fabled Divine Kingdom, there was an infinite power contained therein. If one were to return from the Divine Kingdom, they would become the king of the Southern Wilderness! In the future, if he wished so, would he dominate the entire Southern Wilderness? Na Yi’s thoughts were complex. All the young girls of the Southern Wilderness admired and revered heroes. Naturally, Na Yi was no exception. However, once she remembered the hatred she bore on her shoulders for her parents and her master, Na Yi submerged this childish feeling within herself, and silently waited for Lin Ming to return. “I remember, there is a chamber of ancient texts within the Sorcerer Holy Land. Maybe I can find some records of the Divine Kingdom in there.” Thinking this, Na Yi took a candlestick off of a nearby wall, lit it, and slowly made her way towards the ancient library. Na Yi was still young; she wasn’t entirely clear on the many legends that were passed down by the Sorcerer. …………………. The land was filled with broken bones and the stumps of severed limbs. The earth was dyed crimson with blood. Lin Ming held the Heavy Profound Soft Spear lightly gripped in his arms. In front of him, the last vicious beast twitched in the final throes of its life. The strange energy once again converged on Lin Ming’s body, and he could already the popping sounds as his skeleton, flesh and muscles were being subtly transformed from within. “What an amazingly mysterious life and death smelting trial. It can actually change my body and strengthen my soul, blood vitality, and even body strength. This is equivalent to completely reshaping the foundation of my body. Even if someone had a bad cultivation foundation, after going through such a transformation, they would also become a genius. The Sorcerer who created the life and death smelting trial is truly a remarkable person. I wonder what realm of power the Sorcerer managed to attain? Could he be as fierce as the Saintess of the Verdant Feather Sacred Lands?” At this time, that cold voice sounded again. ‘Animal trial, passed. Fourth trial, the Witch Slave!’ The scenery transformed once again. That dark barren wasteland disappeared and Lin Ming appeared in a circular area. The floor was made of dirty old bricks and the ground was covered with some dark red splotches that appeared to be left over blood drops. “Battle arena? This scene is actually a refreshing change of pace.” As Lin Ming thought aloud to himself, he suddenly heard the sound of metal being torn apart. He turned around to look, and saw that the iron fence of the arena was being savagely torn apart by a massive black monster. The black humanoid monster was thirty feet tall and its skin was a viscous purple color that glowed with a metallic luster. Its two humongous arms were thicker than a man’s waist, and a thick darksteel hoop was warped around its wrist. The hoop was covered with sharp iron spikes. It looked to weigh no less than 1000 jins! This black monster had two heads. One ferocious looking head had a three foot long horn jutting out, and the other had tusks half a foot long sticking out from its warped grin. All of the muscles of its body were solid like granite, and its chest and waist were wrapped by thick heavy chains the size of a grown man’s arm. “This is the Witch Slave?” Lin Ming could clearly feel a serious pressure weighing down on him as he stood in front of this giant monster. Although this time there was only one enemy, Lin Ming had a hunch that this fourth trial was much more difficult than the first three. Roar! The Witch Slave let loose an earthshaking roar. Its several thousand jin body jumped upwards, and the ground beneath it collapsed like an avalanche. Then, like a falling meteor it pounded down towards Lin Ming! Bang! Rocks flew about. Lin Ming leapt upwards. Although his strength had grown, he knew with absolute certainty that there was no way he would be able to use brute force against this disastrous beast. “True essence manifestation!” Lin Ming flicked his spear, and true essence congealed into reality as it fell down in torrents upon the Witch Slave. However, Lin Ming hadn’t expected the Witch Slave to have such a terrifyingly strong defensive power. Under the dense waves of Lin Ming’s true essence attack, the monster was unharmed. “Flow like Silk!” The countless tiny units within Lin Ming’s body began to resonate on the same frequency as they adjusted their breathing together, and his true essence began to intensely vibrate. This vibrating true essence could ignore defense and directly transmit into an opponent’s body and ravage their insides; it was an overwhelmingly domineering ability. However, Lin Ming didn’t expect that the 5000 vibrating true essence filaments would submerge into the Witch Slave’s body and vanish without a trace. The Witch Slave only trembled for several moments, and then felt nothing else!