211 A MYSTERIOUS MAP-“What a monster!” The crowd gasped a breath of cold air. Silence permeated the whole environment, as they watched the scene with shock in their eyes. Although Lu Ming’s previous performance did lead the crowd to have huge expectations from him they never expected the performance to be so dazzling.
Xuan Ying, who was viewing this performance from the VIP station, breathed a sigh of relief. “I guess my choice was right. This person shouldn’t be offended. It would be better to have him as a friend than an enemy.”
Even the Teng and Peng households looked at the scene with a grave expression on their faces. They made an enemy out of such a talented person. I’m sure it will backfire on them in the future. They need to make some amends with this person.
“Prepare some gifts to be delivered to Lu Ming after the end of this competition. We need to have a good relationship with him.” The elder hoped that Lu Ming didn’t bother with the past and would be willing to make amends with them.
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“These soul beads might also contain some hidden secret within them.” Lu Ming was trying his best to reach the end of the competition. Only 20 beads were remaining and he wanted to verify his gut feeling that there might be a secret hidden within these beads too.
“Even if the beads don’t hold any secret, they are quite good for your soul training. The moment you hit a border, start using the soul rejuvenation art and Heaven pestle at the same time.”
“How would that be helpful? Although soul rejuvenation is capable of replenishing my soul, Heaven pestle would start to consume my soul Qi and I would be facing a soul deficit.”
“The runes within your soul space are not yet working with 100% efficiency. You will feel the difference once you start using the art in sync with the beads. The beads work in a similar mechanism as the heaven pestle. They soak in your soul Qi. If I am not wrong, if you do use the art in sync, the replenishing runes would be aggravated by the expenditure. It would be a good time to upgrade them.”
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“But the runes would require soul energy to advance and most of my soul energy would be consumed by the soul beads.”
“I have a hunch that you need to verify it for me. If the hunch turned out to be true, you might get a significant boost in your soul strength from this test.”
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Lu Ming began utilizing his soul arts along with the Heaven pestle arts, and the soul energy began to deplete with enormous speed. Lu Ming started feeling dizzy after some time. The number of beads had only increased by a small amount, and the burden was already too great to handle.
“Bear through the process and you will come out of the other end with a huge boost in your soul cultivation.”
Lu Ming clutched his teeth and continued the process. By the time the beads reached the number 88 Lu Ming’s face was pale. Even the audience began to believe that this would be the end of the process.
“The last ten beads are the hardest to handle. Each possesses a soul expenditure of around twice a normal bead. He shouldn’t be able to handle the weight of the last ten. Yet his performance was the most dazzling among all the participants in the last century or so.”
“We need to establish contact with the boy. His future is limitless.” Various fractions possessed their own thoughts to handle the situation.
Xuan Ying’s expression was getting better and better when his hunch was confirmed. He just wished that the mistress would come back home safely and the relationship with Lu Ming could be improved. Contradictory to him, the faces of the members from the Ten families were getting worse by the time.
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“Could he surpass the barrier never broken before?” The first elder spoke out of nowhere.
“Which barrier are you referring to?”
“The last ten beads refer to the strongest oppression provided by the test. Those who are capable enough of passing this barrier are destined to have reached higher than level 6 alchemist. The highest score ever recorded in this competition is 93. It is held by an ancestor of the Shimu family. He is said to have reached the level beyond emperor, and became a Qi Monarch. His current situation is not known to the general public, but he must be a member of the inner valley.”
“What are your expectations from Lu Ming?”
“The very fact that he entered the level of soul grandmaster while being in Qi general level is shocking and hence guarantees the performance until now. Even the man who holds the record was said to have reached the level 4 marks. It would depend on his actual soul quality.”
“I hope he can perform better than that person.” The hall master was surprised by the first elder’s comment.
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The beads finally reached the whopping number of 90, and Lu Ming’s soul space was basically cleared out. He could no longer feel the presence of soul energy and his consciousness slowly began to shrink. Lu Ming could feel himself losing control of his body and about to collapse. The rejuvenation rune could no longer keep up with the huge expenditure, and the Heavenly pestle was consuming a huge amount of soul Qi too. When the soul Qi was finally drained out, Lu Ming felt darkness looming all over his eyes.
The beads started to fall, facing a lack of soul Qi to keep them up.
“It might just be the end. He must have reached his limit when the last bead fell.” Many of the elders started to discuss among themselves. The record stood at 93 and Lu Ming almost reached the step.
“I guess achieving the feat is no small deal.” The first elder sighed a difficult breath. Lu Ming had always been a character who defied expectations. He wanted to see his disciple break the myth which had lasted for such a long time.
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As the bead slowly descended and was about to touch the ground, the elder in charge decided to come forward and announce the result to the world.
“The performance has left me spellbound and I am elated to confer the first prize to.” He stopped mid-sentence due to the silence which suddenly dawned on the stadium. Everybody was looking at a scene elsewhere with surprise in their eyes. The first elder turned around and looked at the altar, just to see the beads rising back to the top.
The soul beads began to rain once again and the number started climbing up at a constant pace.
91, another bead fell.
92
93.......
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