Chapter 1988 – Natal Life Dao Palace ... ... ... According to the information obtained by the primal god race, during the ancient times, many powerhouses held the belief that the abyssals didn’t come from the 33 Heavens. The Dark Abyss was where the abyssal demons lived, and this was a place that seemed to be independent of the 33 Heavens. It was a mystical land. No one knew how large it was, how deep it was, or where it led to. In the Dark Abyss, the world Laws were different from the Laws of the 33 Heavens. The power the abyssals used was different from that of the 33 Heavens’ martial artists. This also caused the intelligent races of the 33 Heavens to be inborn mortal enemies of the abyssals. When the intelligent races of the 33 Heavens captured an abyssal, they weren’t able to tame it nor seize its body without dire consequences. As for the abyssals, once they captured an intelligent life form, they simply ate them up. Now, the method Lin Ming used to refine this demon relic wasn’t the same as seizing the body of an abyssal, but there were similarities! That was that he would have to defeat the abyssal demon’s will! The advantage was that Lin Ming didn’t need to fuse with the abyssal’s soul nor did he need to use its body. This was an incredibly dangerous process. If there was the slightest mistake in the way Lin Ming controlled the demon’s power, he would turn into a half-man half-demon monster. Time passed, a minute and a second at a time. The little black dragon also awoke from its deep sleep. It looked at Lin Ming whose body was constantly shifting, and its large black eyes were filled with curiosity as well as worry. At this time, what Lin Ming was doing was equivalent to adding a demon body metamorphosis onto the foundation of his Asura body metamorphosis. Black bone armor wrapped around his body and his spine stuck out, forming giant spikes from his back. From his neck down, the spikes became increasingly long and deadly. The muscles of his arms bulged, looking like black stone, and from his elbows bone blades jutted out just like on Empyrean Primordius. Roar! Lin Ming roared into the skies. His wild howl shook the void and even the starlight within the Galaxy Void Furnace was torn apart. Lin Ming’s eyes had turned blood red. All that was reflected in them were the blood ponds of hell, and in this hell, there were demons slaughtering powerhouses, ripping them apart and devouring their flesh. This scene continued for an hour. Lin Ming’s hair was scattered about him; he looked as if he had already transformed into a demon. During this time, Clear and Ink were both wary and tense. Their eyes were focused on Lin Ming, noticing every tiny change that was occurring within him. They were shocked more and more. “It’s been so long and yet clarity hasn’t returned to his eyes. It seems that he is fighting with the abyssal’s will in his spiritual sea...” “The boy was too confident in himself. He didn’t follow our suggestions to slowly refine the strength of the demon relic into pure source energy and then gradually absorb it. Rather, he planned to directly tame this strength and make it his. Although this is the will of an abyssal that died 10 billion years ago, wanting to control it is as difficult as ascending to the heavens!” “According to any reasonable logic, it is impossible for a human to control the will of a demon. Even if the boy has temporarily suppressed its strength, that will which belongs to an abyssal will still survive in fragments within the boy’s body. As long as his will weakens then the will of that abyssal will erupt and attempt to invade and take over his spiritual sea. If that were to occur, then the consequences would be unimaginable...” The two old men’s eyebrows wrinkled more and more as time passed. They were extremely worried now. Lin Ming couldn’t even temporarily tame the power of the demon. If too much time passed and Lin Ming’s soul force was exhausted, then his spiritual sea might fall into the enemy’s hands! The two old men waffled back and forth, deliberating on whether or not they should help Lin Ming with their own will no matter what the consequences would be. But at this time, in the skies that shined with nine great stars, one turned red, this one shining with a brilliant red light! This star seemed to be dyed with blood, so red that one couldn’t look at it. “This is...” The two old men were startled. Before they could respond, this blinding red star shot out a straight red beam of light. The red beam of light was only a foot thick, but it instantly crossed ten thousand miles of the void and thrust straight downwards! From afar it was like a divine god had thrust down a blood red holy sword from up high, shattering the starry skies! This light pierced into the left side of Lin Ming’s chest, the position where his heart was. In that moment, the tyrannical fluctuations of energy suddenly calmed down. The explosive cracklings of Lin Ming’s muscles also faded away, everything turning so silent that even the drop of a needle could be heard. Lin Ming’s mortal body rose up from the Galaxy Void Furnace and floated into the skies. The blood red starlight revitalized Lin Ming’s body. Pata! Pata! In the quiet skies, the sound of a heartbeat echoed through the air. This heartbeat was powerful and steady, like the heartbeat of Empyrean Primordius that once rang in the goddess’ ancient grave in the Eternal Demon Abyss! If a World King were to approach and hear this heartbeat, even they would feel their blood vitality being summoned by it, every drop of blood in their body resonating with this sound as their blood desired to break free from their frame! This was Lin Ming’s heartbeat! Although Lin Ming’s mortal body had reached a peak during these past years, his heartbeat had never been so powerful. This meant that his blood vitality had reached an inconceivable boundary, no worse than Empyrean Primordius in the past! “This boy, did he open the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace again?” Clear and Ink looked at each other and then towards the blood red star out of the nine that were floating high in the skies. These two old men were well versed in the cultivation methods of the various races and also had many understandings into the 33 Heavenly Daos. They naturally understood just what the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace were. That blood red star in the skies was called the Titan Gate Star, and its corresponding Natal Life Dao Palace was located within a martial artist’s heart. The Natal Life Dao Palace possessed the power of infinite blood vitality. By opening it, a martial artist’s understanding into the power of life would deepen profoundly and allow the regenerative capabilities of their mortal body to reach the limits of the extreme. A manifestation of this was the regrowth of limbs and organs that had been cut off and destroyed. When a normal essence gathering system martial artist cultivated to a high boundary, if they cut off their arm, they could still regenerate a new one with enough rest and care. However, the newly regenerated arm would only be a mortal arm. The mortal body of a high level essence gathering martial artist had to undergo Pulse Condensation, and then the Xiantian realm where the impurities were eliminated. Next, they had to undergo the nine stages of Life Destruction to transform into their spirit body. After that was the Nine Divine Shifts that allowed their mortal body to evolve further. In the end, every inch of their flesh and blood would be extraordinary. But if they were to use a mortal body that hadn’t been tempered with origin energy, their abilities would be greatly compromised. In order to restore it, they would have to use up a massive amount of time and energy. This was also the reason why Tian Mingzi’s progress into the Empyrean realm was halted after his arm was severed, and also the reason he had such a deep grudge against Lin Ming. Originally Lin Ming was also the same. But after opening the Natal Life Dao Palace, this would change. The Laws of the Natal Life Dao Palace would become a mark that deeply engraved itself into every part of Lin Ming’s flesh and blood. His shattered organs, his severed limbs, all of it could return into pure life energy that would reenter his body and be regenerated, without any difference from the original. Even if his lost limbs were refined by others, his newly regenerated limbs would still have evenly distributed energy, and would have little to no effect on his strength. Time passed. From Lin Ming’s eyes that reflected a blood pond hell, streams of blood began to flow down. The crimson red Titan Gate Star in the skies turned into waves of energy that fell down like a waterfall of blood, converging into Lin Ming’s body. The demon-transformed Lin Ming turned bright red, as if he had rolled out from a blood pond! “This boy, he really used the demon power to open the Natal Life Dao Palace!” “The demon power has fused into his body. Does he really not fear the mutiny of the abyssal’s will in the future if his spiritual sea was to ever weaken?” Clear and Ink were both concerned. But at this time, beneath the endless starlight of the Galaxy Void Furnace, a completely different scene from their expectations was playing out in Lin Ming’s spiritual sea. Lin Ming wore a suit of blood red battle armor. He stood in the skies as he faced down a massive demon phantom. This demon phantom was extremely blurry, but it emitted an incredibly potent aura that shocked the mind. This was the abyssal will that resided in the demon relic. Even though it had been sealed and suppressed for 10 billion years, the remnants of the abyssal’s will surpassed most Empyreans’. It retained its instinct to swallow all. “Your strength, give me all of it to use.” Facing this pressure of this demonic will, Lin Ming’s expression was calm and composed, as if he were facing nothing but a calm spring breeze. “Jejejeje!” The demonic will cackled in the void. “You are very strong! I cannot destroy your spiritual sea right now, so I will temporarily lend you my strength. But, the cost of borrowing my strength is very high, I fear you will not be able to pay it, jejejeje!” “Oh, cost?” Lin Ming’s lips curved up in a mocking smile. “I will lend you my strength and you will let me use your mortal body as compensation! Your mortal body has been tempered quite nicely!” The phantom raucously laughed. It couldn’t do anything to Lin Ming, but it knew that Lin Ming couldn’t do anything to it either. As long as it lurked in Lin Ming’s spiritual sea, there would eventually come a day when his spiritual sea weakened. At that time it would attempt to invade his body once more, and it also didn’t care if it became a half-man half-demon monster. As the phantom was calculating its future plans, its smile froze on its face. Lin Ming had stretched out his right hand, and in his palm was a black cube. This black cube slowly revolved, as if all of existence would be drawn into it. “This... this is...” The phantom’s pupils shrank. But by now, a massive black soul storm had whipped up in Lin Ming’s spiritual sea. The phantom cried out in misery as it was sucked into this storm! “Ahhhhh!” The phantom wailed in agony and pain. Its face was completely distorted. This storm was too terrifying and its remnant will wasn’t able to withstand it. Peng peng peng! The demon phantom exploded to pieces in this horrifying storm. Once its will shattered, the cracked fragments simply weren’t able to withstand the dreadful impact of the soul storm. Everything blew apart, thoroughly vanishing! “My apologies, but I have no intention of allowing any part of your remnant will to remain.” Lin Ming quietly put away the Magic Cube. With the trump card of the Magic Cube in his hands, only then did he dare to recklessly absorb the demon’s power.