Conversely, if he pursued the peak of martial arts, he was doomed to tread a road of suffering! He would have to explore his limits and seek fortuitous encounters, fighting with other masters and narrowly escape with his life! He would have to constantly and tediously cultivate, and he would have to live a lonely life. Although wealth and glory would be at his fingertips, to drown in this would only corrupt his martial spirit. To a martial arts master, they could go into seclusion for 10 or 20 years and not be able to enjoy any pleasures during it. This way of living was normal.
If one wanted to stand against their destiny and escape the endless Samsara, they had to experience pain and loneliness. Lin Ming, especially after having met Mu Qianyu, he had strengthened his resolve to pursue the pinnacle of martial arts.
A mushroom didn’t know its beginning and end, and a mole didn’t know spring or fall. A great figure of the mortal world, even if it were the State Marshal of Sky Fortune Kingdom, Qin Xiao, they would only live a mere 200 years or so. To a martial arts master who stood at the peak, people like Qin Xiao would only be a mole. At most, he would be a mole king.
The Sorcerer of the Southern Wilderness had lived for over 30,000 years, and he had left behind 72 Sorcerer Pagodas that would exist in perpetuity.
But to the common people of Sky Spill Continent, just what was tens of thousands of years? They could only listen to some legendary fables and stories that weren’t even listed in the ancient texts. As the saying goes, paper lasts a millennia and silk lasts 800 years. Silk scrolls would decay in 800 years and paper books would decay in 1000. How could there possibly be any ancient texts from tens of thousands of years ago? Even if it is a legend that is passed down to descendants, most of it is probably made up stories.
Lin Ming didn’t want to return to dust after a few hundred years. He wanted to free himself from the cycle of Samsara, and see just what the peak of martial arts was. What would it be like?
When Lin Ming walked off the stage, Zhao Jifeng and Jiang Bin watched him. They had already recovered, but seeing Lin Ming, they felt a deep sense of fear. Any thoughts of resisting had already fled their mind.
Although 13,000 jins of strength didn’t equate to one’s combat prowess, the scene of the shattering crystal stone pillar was simply too visually impacting.
Was he a human? Who had ever seen a crystal stone pillar destroyed like that? They had never even heard of it before.
Seeing Lin Ming approach, the two of them hastily stood up and quickly scurried away. To stand in the same place as an inhuman existence like Lin Ming was simply too stressful.
“Lin Ming, you can rest for the next quarter of an hour and adjust your condition.” The referee Elder said.
Lin Ming shook his head, “I haven’t used anything. There’s no need to rest, I can go up now.”
“Rest!” said Ling Sen. He was dressed in a tight black outfit with his trademark heavy sword on his back. “I want to fight you when you are in your peak condition, even if it means I lose!”
Lin Ming smiled and said, “Good! What you say is true. I too have long been looking forward to fighting you, from the first moment I saw you!”
The first time that Lin Ming saw Ling Sen was at the Seven Profound Martial House entrance examination. Ling Sen’s entrance on the stage had left an exceedingly profound impression on Lin Ming. His status as the Elder Senior-apprentice Brother of the Heavenly Abode was simply unshakable.
To the Lin Ming of then, Ling Sen had been an unreachable existence. But at that time, Lin Ming had also steeled his resolve that one day he would stand in an arena with Ling Sen and have an earnest match!