The key was that formations could perfectly match with any mystic art, and they just had to be laid out—no effort needed to be spent controlling them.
“Hmph, you’re quite lucky!” Heavenly Emperor of Thunder and Fire said somewhat sourly. “This Lord doesn’t use formations, but I just happen to have had obtained an ancient formation once. Lucky you!” The stone statue flickered as a luminous ball floated out from it.
Ling Han observed it momentarily, and then pressed his finger on it.
Weng , a formation diagram instantly appeared in his consciousness. It changed continuously with a wonderful pattern, and some information surfaced that told him some of the basics about this formation.
The formation was called Ice Dragon Ground Blast Formation, and after it was set up, it could gather heaven and earth’s Spirit Qi to form an ice dragon, which possessed the power to rival the Shattering Void Tier.
Sh*t, I’ve been deceived!
Heavenly Emperor of Thunder and Fire should be an elite from the divine realm, and the mystic arts he grasped were obviously at divine level, like the Thunderclap Ninth Heaven and similar Mystical Powers. However, this formation… couldn’t be called something at divine level.
Although it could rival the Shattering Void Tier, it was a tenth-tier formation, which was far from what Ling Han had anticipated.
Whatever. Even if he was given a divine level formation, he wouldn’t have the divine materials to create the formation’s eye.
Even now, he wouldn’t be able to take out tenth-tier treasured materials, and could only gather materials slowly. However, it also wouldn’t take just a short amount of time for him to grasp tenth-tier formation patterns, and when he grasped them, he probably would’ve already found enough materials.
After all, if he were to unite the east, north, west, and south regions, it would obviously be much less difficult to find tenth-tier treasured materials. Perhaps he could ask Feng Po Yun to strike down a star, and if he was lucky, he might be able to reap some tenth-tier rare metals.
Stupid, I have Heaven Transformation Bowl. What does it matter even if I don’t have tenth-tier rare metal? As long as there are massive amounts of materials, I can refine them step by step! Ling Han said inwardly.
Heavenly Emperor of Thunder and Fire sneered inwardly. Although he’d indeed imparted to him a genuine tenth-tier formation, would a mere Deity Transformation Tier brat have the ability to gather the materials?
Even if he could, to carve formation patterns on tenth-tier rare metal was also a massive undertaking.
Dare mess with This Lord? Then This Lord would have you watch helplessly!
However, he didn’t know that Ling Han had Heaven Transformation Bowl that could “create” tenth-tier rare metal and the Black Tower, such a heaven-defying thing. So long as the ingredients were there, how difficult would it be to carve the formation patterns?
Instead, it was the comprehension of the formation that was difficult.
“Thank you very much, Senior,” Ling Han said with a smile.
“Hehe, the emperor doesn’t have hungry soldiers. Since you’re working for This Lord, This Lord wouldn’t treat you shabbily!” Heavenly Emperor of Thunder and Fire also said with a smile, thinking that Ling Han definitely suffered an unspeakable grievance.
He paused shortly, and went on, “Leave this little girl with This Lord first, and let This Lord instruct her with utmost care. Someday, she’ll definitely become a genius of a generation, and sweeping across the world would be nothing difficult!”
“No, no, stinky stone. Lord Niu Niu is warning you, don’t have any ideas about Niu, or else Niu’ll eat you!” Hu Niu said ferociously. To dare say to take her as a disciple, was he even fit to?
“Senior, she’s still small, and whether she’ll be a disciple can be discussed in the future. Anyway, for senior, a hundred years passes in a snap,” Ling Han said with a smile.
Heavenly Emperor of Thunder and Fire wasn’t pleased, but he needed Ling Han to work for him, and could only stomach it. As he saw it, after Ling Han found the four divine items for him, he would be able to extricate from the current predicament, and sorting out Ling Han then would obviously be as easy as a hand’s turn.
At that time, it would be hard for the little girl to escape his grasp, and she would have to become his disciple obediently.
“Senior, can you tell me about the divine realm?” Ling Han asked again.
“Hmph, This Lord has already given you benefits, and you’re not even doing things for This Lord yet still caring about these meaningless things? Someday, when you advance into the divine realm, you’ll obviously know. What’s the difference between earlier and later?” Heavenly Emperor of Thunder and Fire said impatiently. “Go, go, go, hurry up and leave!”
If the stone statue could move, he would definitely have waved his hand non-stop.
Ling Han knew the stone statue was obviously not Heavenly Emperor of Thunder and Fire’s true body, and the rivers of lightning and fire flowed down the mountain walls, so could this person’s true body be at the bottom of the valley? Unfortunately, whether he was trapped or hurt, he definitely wouldn’t reveal his secrets to Ling Han.
“Then, Senior, farewell!” Ling Han said and cupped his hands, pulling on Hu Niu and turning to leave.
Hu Niu was still somewhat annoyed, and turned around to make a face at the stone statue, then finally turned to leave.
As before, she led Ling Han away.
After the two of them disappeared, a divine sense was transmitted in the stone house. “Strange, who exactly is this little girl, being able to defy this lord’s five sense blockade? Her strength is clearly low, but even if this lord’s current strength is not 0.01% of what it was at peak stage, it should still be able to trap an existence at the Sentiment Severance Tier.
“However, if it were so, they wouldn’t be able to enter. This Lord can’t control his own power anymore. The five senses blockade can protect This Lord, but it has also become a fetter for This Lord. Fortunately, meeting this strange little girl, there’s finally a ray of hope for This Lord to be free.
“This brat’d better not die!”
…
Soon, Ling Han walked out of the cave and his five senses returned, making him deeply moved. Although the road he walked by earlier wasn’t long, it was like a thousand or ten thousand years to him, and if it weren’t for his resolute willpower, any other person would’ve already collapsed.
“On the vast lands, just how many more old monsters are hidden?” he muttered, looking back.
Chapter 757 - Corpse Two
Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
After summoning Zhu Xuan Er, the rabbit, and the Gold-Seeking Rat from the Black Tower, the party started to walk back.
They still had a mission—to defeat and convince north region’s large sects, and when the time came, Great Ling Empire’s army could simply collect the territories. Moreover, the massive influential power of these large sects could arouse the small forces in the periphery to surrender and greatly speed up Great Ling Empire’s expansion.
The saying “capture the leader first to capture all his followers” reflected just that—it was an intellectual conclusion of the ancestors.
On the way, Ling Han tried to understand the Ice Dragon Ground Blast Formation.
It was a tenth-tier formation, and theoretically speaking, it shouldn’t be something that Ling Han could grasp now. However, Ling Han had constantly studied the formations on the Revere Life Sword earlier, and this killing formation was more kickass than the Ice Dragon Ground Blast Formation.
He was quite the clever and intelligent man. In the previous life, he’d resolved quite a few ninth-tier formations, and had considerable fundamentals. Now that he’d obtained the detailed explanation of a tenth-tier formation, his improvement was obviously fast.
On the other side, he was also collecting various rare metals.
Buying, buying, and buying along the way, he bou
ght all the rare metals that could be bought.
Don’t doubt his financial capability!
He was a tycoon with the Black Tower, and if he took out a Dragon Blood Tyrant Ginseng, a large party of the Spiritual Infant Tier would probably have to pay out all its resources for it. Of course, Ling Han wouldn’t sell Dragon Blood Tyrant Ginseng, but how much treasured medicine was inside the Black Tower?
He refined some pills, and if there wasn’t enough time, he’d simply sell the raw materials in exchange for wealth, which all turned into rare metals.
Inside the Black Tower, Ling Han took out the Heaven Transformation Bowl and refined these rare metals.
First tier turned into second tier, second tier turned into third tier, third tier turned into fourth tier… spending huge amounts of raw materials, he definitely could turn it into a pile of tenth-tier rare metals used to construct a tenth-tier formation.
Soon, the Shinra Sect also chose to pay allegiance, then the Beast Emperor Sect, and, at last, the Blood Flame Valley was the only one left.
After Ling Han spent a shocking amount of wealth, he finally refined enough tenth-tier rare metal; probably half of the entire north region’s rare metals were swept up by him. This was something that even the Half Moon Sect, the Winter Moon Sect, and other such super forces didn’t dare to imagine, but Ling Han did it.
An alchemy emperor and the Black Tower, the combination of the two…
Money? No big deal!
Of course, without the Heaven Transformation Bowl, all would be naught.
This treasure was truly nature-defying!
Ling Han forged the tenth-tier rare metals into 108 short swords… In reality, he wanted to make them normal in size, but there was too little rare metal and he could only opt for the second-best option.
The number 108 was the demand of the Ice Dragon Ground Blast Formation, which needed that many formation’s eyes. Inside the Black Tower, it was too easy for Ling Han to refine tools, and the so-called tenth-tier rare metals were no different from dough, which he could knead at will.
The next step was the key—he had to carve the formation patterns on the swords.
Ling Han still hadn’t thoroughly grasped the Ice Dragon Ground Blast Formation, and if he forcibly copied it, then he would only draw out its shape without obtaining its essence. Formations needed to communicate with heaven and earth to attract Spirit Qi, or else it would be but a bare outline, so Ling Han could only wait till he truly grasped the formation’s essence to lay out the large formation.
He believed that it wouldn’t take too long; Ling Han was very confident in himself.
The party hastened towards the Blood Flame Valley. It was obviously not difficult to subdue a mere Spiritual Infant Tier force, but hurrying on the journey was somewhat time-consuming. After all, north region wasn’t small, either.
Since they were constantly on the way and had little time to rest and eat, Hu Niu had enough, fervently requesting to stop for a rest. Ling Han thought that they would be able to reach the Blood Flame Valley tomorrow and a night’s time wouldn’t matter, so he agreed.
There was obviously fine wine and dishes prepared. In the north region, everyone was very relaxed. After all, they could declare themselves as kings or overlords as they were invincible beings here.
With the bonfire raging, Zhu Xuan Er specially played a song on the pipes and danced, agitating Ling Han’s heart and mind as he watched, thinking that exceptional beauties were exceptional beauties after all, making him want to turn into a beast by the minute.
Hu Niu was unconvinced, and started to dance amusingly, shaking the ground with rumbles that scared off the nearby beasts.
Ling Han laughed loudly and felt very happy. Under such a harmonious atmosphere, he even forgot about ruling the world and simply wanted to live on undisturbed; as for the important matters like splitting open the skies, other people could do it. Why should he carry the burden on his shoulders?
Hong!
At this moment, a frightening strong wind assaulted straight for Ling Han’s back.
The time of surprise attack was grasped extremely well. It was not only when Ling Han was eating, but also when he was the most relaxed, and the attack’s destructive power was also extremely terrifying, reaching the level of medium-level Heaven Tier.
Zi , Ling Han’s body turned into lightning, avoiding the attack by a hair’s breadth.
No, no, no, he didn’t completely avoid it. His left rib was still hit, the cloth on it torn apart, and a black mark shockingly appeared on his waist as if clawed out by five fingers. It was not only terrifyingly black, but it also emitted a faint odor and was extremely likely to be containing poisonous Qi.
“Who is it!?” The others shouted angrily. Hu Niu was more direct and charged out, diving into the underbrush.
Peng, peng, peng , two figures came out fighting. One was obviously Hu Niu, who was distinguished by her small figure. The other person was tall and sturdy, and wore a black robe and a black cloak on his head, looking as if his entire person could fuse into one with the darkness.
This wasn’t an illusion, or else with their divine sense, Ling Han and Hu Niu definitely wouldn’t not know that someone had gotten so close… Unless the other party was a Shattering Void Tier elite, but, apparently, it wasn’t one.
Shattering Void Tier elites wouldn’t need to launch a surprise attack, and would just take them away with one move.
Ling Han called Hu Niu back, and said, “Sir, you’ve been following us for quite a while, right?”
“Nine entire days,” the person in black robe said in a calm tone, appearing composed. His voice was extremely low and deep, and even had an indescribable strangeness like the grating of metals.
“Such patience!” Ling Han said. This person had obviously long wanted to assassinate him, yet endured it silently, finding the best opportunity, and the result was that he finally got it and slightly injured Ling Han with one attack. “What are you called?”
The person in the black robe removed the cloak covering his head and revealed a square face that appeared very young, but Ling Han had a strange feeling that the other party should be extremely old because the wrinkles on his arms were very deep.
“I’m called Corpse Two,” the person in the black robe said.
Corpse Two, what sort of a name was that?
“From the Thousand Corpse Sect?” Ling Han asked again.
Corpse Two chuckled, and said, “It’s not a good given name, and once its said, people would guess so.”
“Then you can change it.” Ling Han also laughed.
“Forget it, I don’t mind others knowing,” Corpse Two said, not caring at all.
From the two’s harmonious conversation, who would’ve thought that Corpse Two had ruthlessly sneak attacked Ling Han and tried to kill him?
Chapter 758 - Old Corpse of Ten Thousand Years
Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
“This cloak has the effect of concealing the body, right?” Ling Han said.
Corpse Two nodded, and said, “Correct, it’s a mystical treasure that can escape divine sense and cut off vision within a certain distance. It’s a divine item for assassination and infiltration.”
“Thanks for explaining,” Ling Han said with a smile.
“You’re welcome. Anyway, you’re a person about to die, and I usually give a certain amount of respect to a person who dies in my hands,” Corpse Two also said with a smile.
“If there’s a Corpse Two, is there a corpse one?” Ling Han asked again.
Corpse Two shook its head, and said, “There’s no Corpse One, but there’s one called Corpse Boss that awakened one step earlier than me and unlocked intelligence.”
Ling Han’s heart instantly thumped fiercely. Awakened one step earlier and unlocked intelligence—what did this mean? Could Corpse Two not have been born, and like the Rock Spirit, its body existed for countless years, then it suddenly possessed intelligence and became a special living
thing?
Corpse Two cracked a smile, but the smile was extremely stiff and made it look strange. It said, “You’ve guessed right. I was originally a corpse, some elite in the previous life, but my corpse didn’t decay through tens of thousands of years and finally received the blessing of heaven and earth, birthing a new consciousness.”
Ling Han’s expression turned stern. No wonder he’d felt that this person was both extremely old and extremely young, which was extremely contradicting. It turned out that it was an old corpse that gave rise to a new soul’s appearance, an intriguing life form spawned by the heavens—the composite form of life and death—so it was obviously young and old.
“So, Corpse Boss is also the same?”
Corpse Two nodded, and said, “Yes, Corpse Boss is stronger than me because his skeletal corpse is better. However, transformed into a second life, I can cultivate again, and won’t lose to him in the future.”
Fu*ck, what a freak. It was a resurrected old corpse, and its battle prowess would be immeasurably astonishing. Would it be able to utilize the mystic arts from its previous life? The host of this body could actually make its corpse not decay over tens of thousands of years, and was definitely an extremely powerful being in life, definitely fusing their martial intent into every single piece of blood, flesh, and bone.
Now that their body wasn’t destroyed, their martial intent might be reactivated; was this not surprising?
“Thousand Corpse Sect really thinks highly of me, sending such a strong card to kill me!” Ling Han said. The opponent’s strength was at least Heaven Tier five stars, and such strength could probably be counted as that of an expert amongst experts in the Thousand Corpse Sect; there definitely wouldn’t be many people that were stronger than him.
Corpse Two laughed loudly, and said, “Why’d you have to follow the path to your own destruction, establishing a dynasty? This is something that our sect definitely will not allow!”
Ling Han suddenly came upon an idea, and said, “Could the Thousand Corpse Sect also have the intention of establishing a nation?”
Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294 Page 388