Chapter 1005 – Lin Ming’s Choice
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“We have already chosen, Lord Messenger.” Xiao Whitesnow said. He was satisfied with his own choice of totem stone. Although it was a bit regrettable that it couldn’t compare with the 100 Foot Royal Skyseal, it did match up with his Concepts more. It could be considered passable.
“Mm. Then speak out what you have chosen. Once you have made your choice you cannot change it, so think well over your decision.” The black-robed messenger said without expression.
“Reporting to Lord Messenger, this disciple has chosen the 90 Foot Burning Heaven Tablet!” Xiao Whitesnow spoke out loud. The 90 Foot Burning Heaven Tablet was 90 feet high, so it seemed only 10 feet shorter than the 100 Foot Royal Skyseal. But, the truth was that the 90 Foot Burning Heaven Tablet was shaped like a rectangle and it was only 20 feet wide. Thus, it was less than a fifth of the size of the 100 Foot Royal Skyseal.
Even so, the 90 Foot Burning Heaven Tablet originated from the ninth Patriarch of the Ancient Phoenix Clan. This person was called Burning Heaven, and he had an extremely grand and famous history within the Ancient Phoenix Clan. When Lin Ming had gone to Timeworn Phoenix City, the Burning Heaven Totem Stone he meditated over also came from this person. At that time, Lin Ming didn’t possess the ability to perceive the chaos stones, thus he stepped back and requested the next best totem stone – the Burning Heaven Totem Stone.
The 90 Foot Burning Heaven Tablet and the Burning Heaven Totem Stone were both works created by Patriarch Burning Heaven. But, the Burning Heaven Totem Stone in Timeworn Phoenix City only recorded the most preliminary Concepts of the Fire Laws. As for the 90 Foot Burning Heaven Totem Stone, that was etched with the first eight level Concepts of the Fire Laws. The mysteries inherent within were far superior. Of course, this was to be expected. The 90 Foot Burning Heaven Tablet was 1800 times larger than Timeworn Phoenix City’s Burning Heaven Totem Stone.
“Alright. The 90 Foot Burning Heaven Tablet.” The black-robed messenger recorded Xiao Whitesnow’s choice on a jade slip and then turned to Lin Ming. “Lin Ming, what choice have you made?”
As the black-robed messenger asked this question, everyone’s eyes turned to Lin Ming. They wanted to hear just what he chose. In their opinion, Lin Ming and Xiao Whitesnow had similar talent, but Lin Ming was more oriented towards actual combat, and Xiao Whitesnow was oriented towards comprehension of Laws. Originally, with Yan Littlemoon here, no one would have cared about Lin Ming so much. But now that Chu Redcloud and Sun Cyprestar had made a bet, that bet had pushed Lin Ming to the crest of the waves.
“Lin Ming is in a bind. The best 100 Foot Royal Skyseal was taken by Yan Littlemoon, anything he chooses will just be leftovers.”
“Yah, but that’s just how things are. Who let Yan Littlemoon have the perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline? I think that Lin Ming will choose the Extreme Dao Heaven Tablet. That stone tablet is 120 feet high and 15 feet wide; it’s similar to the 90 Foot Burning Heaven Tablet. Since it comes from Senior Xiao Daoji, it is also an extremely high quality work!”
“I think so too.”
Several disciples discussed amongst themselves. At this time, Lin Ming finally opened his mouth to speak. However, he didn’t state his choice directly. He first asked the black-robed messenger, “Lord Messenger, I have a question. If I choose those stone tablets that no one else has chosen, can I choose more than one?”
“Mm?”
Lin Ming’s suddenly question left all the martial artists present dumbfounded. What was the meaning of this? Lin Ming wanted to choose totem stones that no one else had chosen?
Fire Spirit Star’s Totem Tower had an incomparably rich collection of totem stones. There were far more totem stones than disciples that had come, this was without doubt. But, those totem stones that no one chose did not originate from Patriarchs of the Ancient Phoenix Clan, but from the hands of Elders.
A true Ancient Phoenix Clan Elder was on the same level as a branch palace’s Palace Master. It was more accurate to say that there were far more Elders than there were Palace Masters. This was because the Ancient Phoenix Clan Headquarters had a great number of Merit Elders, Disciplinary Elders, Highest Elders, and all sorts of other Elders. When combined with the 72 Palace Masters, there were well over a hundred Elders.
One could look at the number to see what the difference in strength was between a Patriarch and an Elder. The Ancient Phoenix Clan only had a single Patriarch, but there were over a hundred Elders!
The Ancient Phoenix Clan had existed for countless tens of thousands of years. When all past and present Elders were added together, they had to be counted with 10,000 as the base unit!
Of these Elders, many would leave behind totem stones before they died. These totem stones certainly couldn’t compare with one made by the Patriarch. Thus, most of them were used by martial artists of the lower realms, and only the highest quality ones would be kept in the Divine Realm Totem Towers.
Of course, the so-called highest quality totem stones still couldn’t compete with those like the 90 Foot Burning Heaven Totem Stone.
So when Lin Ming suddenly asked this question, the black-robed messenger and the other disciples had all been extremely shocked.
“What’s Lin Ming trying to do? Is he going to wait until all the other disciples have chosen before he chooses again?”
“How could that be? Do you think that he is an idiot? Even if 100 of those poor quality totem stones are combined, it still wouldn’t match up to a single top quality totem stone!”
Lin Ming’s words left all the disciples scratching their heads. Even Yan Littlemoon was puzzled as she stared at Lin Ming. “What sort of tricks is this fellow trying to play?”
The black-robed messenger was a bit startled as he looked at Lin Ming. Then he gently smiled and said with some interest, “If you choose the totem stones that no one else has chosen, then I will allow you to choose multiple!”
“Great! Thank you Lord Messenger for the help. This disciple has chosen four totem stones. They are respectively: Atlas World’s chaos stone number one, the Yin Yang Chaos Stone! Atlas World’s chaos stone number two, the Endless Years Chaos Stone! Atlas World’s chaos stone number three, the Universe Space Chaos Stone! Atlas World’s number chaos stone four, the Five Elements Chaos Stone!”
Lin Ming’s clear voice spread throughout the entire audience. For a time, a pall of stunned silence fell over the entire crowd. All of the disciples were stunned silent. Lin Ming had listed four stone tablets in a single breath, and all of them were chaos stones!
The chaos stones had always been mostly ignored in the Ancient Phoenix smelting trial, and there were rarely any trial challengers who chose them. But, there was still the occasional person, and those people tended to be Divine Transformation realm powerhouses on the level of White Daohong and Lu Xiaoyun. They had already meditated on the other totem stones many times, and it was difficult to make further breakthroughs. Only then would they choose a chaos stone in the hopes they would obtain some inspirations and make a breakthrough. But now, a junior disciple had actually chosen the chaos stones, and moreover, he had also chosen four. This had simply never happened before.
“Just what is Lin Ming thinking? He actually chose four chaos stones, and listening to their names, Yin Yang Chaos Stone, Universe Space Chaos Stone, Endless Years Chaos Stone, and Five Elements Chaos Stone, only that last Five Elements Chaos Stone has anything to do with the Fire Laws. Is he planning on perceiving the Fire Laws through the Five Elements Chaos Stone?”
This was what all the martial artists present were thinking. Even White Daohong and Lu Xiaoyun weren’t too sure just what was happening. Yan Littlemoon’s eyes were wide like plates; she didn’t think Lin Ming would make this choice.
As for Xiao Whitesnow, who had entered Totem Tower with Lin Ming, he was looking at Lin Ming with a floored expression, as if he were trying to say, “Are you kidding me here?” However, even though he opened his mouth, no words came out. He had been left speechless. He had already mentioned this point to Lin Ming, and since this was the choice Lin Ming had made, he naturally couldn’t say anything else.
Those that walked down the road of martial arts most respected and admired characters with great ambition and drive. The Laws within the chaos stones were undefined and mysterious, without any specific content. To make an analogy, the totem stones left behind by all the previous Patriarchs of the Ancient Phoenix Clan could be considered extremely rare and detailed martial arts manuscripts. But, the chaos stones represented a general outline of every single martial arts manuscript that existed in the world. If one didn’t even learn martial arts but wanted to see the general outline of everything, this sort of approach even had Sun Cyprestar frowning, and Sun Cyprestar was the one here with the most confidence in Lin Ming. He simply didn’t understand Lin Ming’s reasoning behind all this.
“Lin Ming, do you know what you are doing? Those chaos stones are normally for Divine Lord realm powerhouses to meditate on, and that is only occasionally too. We cultivate the Fire Laws, and the Laws within the chaos stones are simply too general and mysterious. Even if you meditate on them for a long time, you still won’t be able to learn much from them; you will only be able to use them as a reference point. You are a first time rookie disciple so you have the advantage within Totem Tower. Didn’t you notice that even White Daohong and Lu Xiaoyun have lower priority of choice than you? This is your most precious opportunity. If you miss this chance then the next time you come here you won’t be a rookie disciple anymore, and it will be more difficult to choose a totem stone that you like. I know that you don’t feel too well about not being able to choose the 100 Foot Royal Skyseal, but the Extreme Dao heaven Tablet is also a very good choice. Many disciples who want to meditate on that totem stone don’t ever have the chance to do so.”
Sun Cyprestar sent Lin Ming a true essence sound transmission, sincerely worried for him.
Lin Ming faintly smiled and responded with a sound transmission, “I thank Senior Sun for the advice, but since I have made my choice I naturally have confidence in myself.”
“Well… okay.” Sun Cyprestar thought of saying something else but shook his head. Thinking about it, up until now, everything Lin Ming did or said had a clear goal behind it. In the past when no one believed in him, he had still emerged victorious. Perhaps he also had a special reason this time too?
As Sun Cyprestar thought this, he no longer stopped Lin Ming. He only ordered him, “Put your best into it!”
“This disciples understands.”
In the square of Totem Tower, the black-robed messenger had waited for 20 breaths of time. He meaningfully gazed at Lin Ming and said, “Lin Ming, have you determined your choice? Once you’ve made it, you can no longer change it. Do not regret the decision you made!”
“This disciple has chosen.”
“Good, then I shall write them down!” The black-robed messenger flourished a brush and drew a seal mark on a jade slip. “The third group of people to enter the Totem Tower – White Daohong and Lu Xiaoyun!”
Amongst talents of the same level, junior disciples went first. The black-robed messenger had used this method to tacitly signify that Lin Ming and Xiao Whitesnow were on the same level as White Daohong and Lu Xiaoyun. But, Yan Littlemoon was yet another level higher than them.
White Daohong and Lu Xiaoyun quickly flew into Totem Tower and made their choices.
After them was Huo Yanguang. Huo Yanguang was the only Ninefall Life Destruction martial artist of Phoenix Cry Palace, moreover he was also a four layered heavens Ninefall martial artist. In Phoenix City Palace, he was second only to Lin Ming within the group of junior disciples. All other geniuses that were superior to Huo Yanguang were no longer junior disciples.
After Huo Yanguang, the Ninefall Divine Transformation senior disciples went to choose.
Everyone slowly filtered in and out. It took a full day and night for the disciples of the three branch palaces to complete their choices.
“Very well. All disciples have finished their choices. From this point on, you may freely cultivate. Whether it is the 18 Hells of Flame or the Totem Tower, you may do as you wish. Two years from now we shall test your final results. This smelting trial is divided into two aspects. One is the 18 Hells of Flame that tests your comprehension of Laws and Concepts and the other is the Illusionary God Combat Array that tests your actual combat prowess! Those with extraordinary trial results may obtain rewards passed down from the Ancient Phoenix Clan Headquarters! Fire Elementals, top grade pills, top grade saint artifacts, phoenix heart blood, phoenix plume blood, and even phoenix coronet blood and transcendent saint artifacts! As long as you have the ability, everything is yours for the taking!
“Now, you are all dismissed! Cultivate as you will!”