Chapter 652 – Goddess
It wasn’t just Lin Ming who was completely stunned – even the five others behind him were petrified.
Before this, they had seen the previous sarcophaguses that had low-grade earth-step Demon God Bones, a priceless treasure that was the profound gold divine fruit, and then the heaven-step Demon God Bone that not even the rulers of the Blood Slaughter Steppes had ever obtained.
It was fair to say that no matter what was in the fourth sarcophagus, they would already be numbed to it. But they absolutely never thought that it would be what it was.
Lin Ming took a deep breath and completely shoved open the sarcophagus’ lid. Looking inside, he was left speechless for a long time.
Lin Ming had imagined what could be in the fourth sarcophagus. If it were a trove of medium-grade or high-grade heaven-step Demon God Bones, or even if it were empty, he wouldn’t be too surprised.
But he never imagined that in this fourth sarcophagus, there would actually be a woman lying down!
A peerless woman!
Her black hair fell down like a waterfall of night, her crystal clear skin seemed to be crystallized from the purest essence of the stars and moon, and her unrivalled features seemed carved from the finest jade.
She didn’t even seem like a woman that could be born within the world, rather, she was like an ultimate sense of aesthetics formed from the energy of heaven and earth.
The woman lay down in the sarcophagus as if she had fallen asleep. One even suspected that her long and tender eyelashes would tremble, and then she would open them, revealing brilliant eyes like liquid moonlight!
‘Just what is this… heavens, could she be a young woman from tens of thousands ago? Or perhaps a Supreme Elder of ancient times?’
Lin Ming found all of this incredible. The young woman in front of him seemed to be in her twenties at the most, not much older than he was. Moreover, beside this young woman, she had also been buried with her weapon and it was even a spear!
However, this spear had broken off and all that was left over was less than half, and even this small portion seemed immeasurably damaged. Once a treasure was damaged, it would be hard for it to resist the erosion that accompanied the passing of time. After tens or even hundreds of thousands of years, this half of a spear already appeared far too rusted.
It could be imagined that she once used this spear on the great battlefield, and, after a fierce battle, her weapon was damaged and even her life slowly faded away…
It turned out that she used the spear…
Lin Ming found this astonishing. In his experience so far, young women tended to use weapons like soft swords; it was rare to see one using such a mighty long spear!
Subconsciously, he wanted to touch that spear that had rusted to the point where it seemed as if it could break apart at any moment. But at this time, Demonshine’s frantic voice sounded out in his mind, “Don’t move!”
Lin Ming drew back his hands like lightning, taking deep breaths. Yes, his actions just now had been crude and reckless. In this incomparably mysterious Eternal Demon Abyss, any reckless action could invite a disaster upon everyone here.
Demonshine hesitated for a moment before saying, “This girl is clearly dead, but her body seems to be overflowing with life force. In my knowledge, this is really… I, I have no idea…”
Demonshine shook his head. When he followed the Demon Emperor within the Realm of the Gods, he could still have been considered quite a character there. But the Realm of the Gods was far too vast. Compared to those true hidden powerhouses within the Realm of the Gods, the Demon Emperor wasn’t even worthy of being an ant. It had to be known that when the Demon Emperor joined the siege of the Verdant Feather Holy Lands so many years ago, there had been 10,000 characters that were all at the same rank – if not higher – than the Demon Emperor.
The Demon Emperor was in no way a pinnacle existence within the Realm of the Gods. As his familiar, Demonshine’s knowledge was even more limited.
“This corpse has probably laid here for at least several tens of thousands of years. For all this time, she hasn’t decayed at all. Instead, her body is full of exuberant vitality and she seems to have fallen asleep. This phenomenon has already gone beyond my scope of understanding…” Demonshine shook his head. It was very rare to see the usually boastful and proud Demonshine sigh in such a depressed manner.
Lin Ming looked at this young woman’s corpse. Although he didn’t know why she lay here for so many tens of thousands of years, what Lin Ming was absolutely certain of was that this woman was a terrifying character before her death. She had been at least at the same level as the Saintess of the Verdant Feather Holy Land, if not higher!
Perhaps after one’s strength reached a certain boundary, their body could still exist like an immortal idol for hundreds of thousands of years after death. Who knew?
“Brother Lin, just… just what is this?” Duanmu Qun stared at the young woman in the sarcophagus. He had to admit that this woman was the most perfect being that he had ever lain his eyes on. Even knowing that she had died, her unrivalled beauty still stirred his heart.
The Fey were born with a natural desire to pursue beauty and beautiful things. As Lan Xin stepped forwards, she also sighed as she saw this young woman. How could such a perfect woman die like this?
“I have no idea. She should have been one of the original masters of this tomb. Her corpse hasn’t decayed for 100,000 years… the boundary that she has reached has surpassed any of our imaginations.”
Lin Ming looked deeply at the woman one last time and then decisively closed the sarcophagus.
“Mm? What do you plan on...” Duanmu Qun said, a bit startled.
“Forget it. Let her rest in peace.” Lin Ming shook his head.
“You plan on giving up this woman’s corpse?” Demonshine asked, a bit surprised. Not mentioning just what use this woman’s corpse would have in the future, just any object on her body would be a colossal fortune, yet Lin Ming hadn’t even searched her, instead directly giving up on the body. This required a very strong will. The reason that Demonshine had prevented Lin Ming from touching that broken spear was because he wanted him to study it first without rashly acting out. He hadn’t intended for Lin Ming to completely abandon this sarcophagus.
Lin Ming said, “Since Senior died she has soundly slept here. Opening her sarcophagus is already disturbing her peace. If I were to search her body for treasure then that would make me no different from a grave robber desecrating the graves of the dead and blaspheming their lives. I don’t want to draw the grievances and punishments of heaven upon me. Moreover, she was likely a remarkable and powerful ancient king. In her life she had limitless glory, and if in her death her grave were to be desecrated, then that would be far too sad.
“Also, the Eternal Demon Abyss is an extremely strange place and there is a powerful force here. If I do something so wicked that offends the heavens, then I might suffer the curse. Those four corpse devils stayed in this ancient tomb for so long, at least thousands of years, and yet none of them dared to even touch this sarcophagus. There must be something that made them fear this grave and stop, allowing her to sleep peacefully here…..”
As Lin Ming spoke, he arranged several array symbols around the sarcophagus and sealed it away.
Demonshine nodded. Indeed, those corpse devils loved to eat things that were full of life force. Yet that young woman in the sarcophagus and had lain there, her clothes neatly ordered and her hair smooth and undisturbed. Obviously, after she was buried, there had never been anyone or anything that had dared to move her. There must be many reasons for this. Or perhaps, those corpse devils were scared by the aura of someone that had once been a peerless powerhouse…
When the array symbols fell onto the sarcophagus, they completely sealed it away. As Blackstone saw this, he opened his mouth but ended up not saying anything. He was reluctant to give up on whatever treasures might be in that coffin, but he didn’t have the qualifications right now to openly refute Lin Ming’s decisions.
“Alright!”
After Lin Ming completely sealed the sarcophagus, he turned towards the other martial artists and casually said, “So about the distribution of treasure…”
As these words were spoken, Blackstone and High Lord Cloud Demon’s hearts rose into their throats. The distribution of this lucky chance!
That was the most important matter!
Of these three sarcophagus, casually taking out something from any of them would be a priceless treasure. Especially that golden disc-shaped fruit and that heaven-step Demon God Bone. Those were treasures that even the ruler of the Blood Slaughter Steppes would go crazy over!
“In total, there is one heaven-step Demon God Bone, a golden fruit, and 16 low-grade earth-step Demon God Bones. I want the heaven-step Demon God Bone, the golden fruit, and half of the low-grade earth-step Demon God Bones. You may divide the rest amongst yourselves.”
Lin Ming’s casual words seemed to rip Blackstone’s heart out. F*ck! This fellow was far too sadistic!
In other words, that meant there were only eight low-grade earth-step Demon God Bones to divide among five of them. As for him, he was the weakest of the group. It would already be excellent if he could be apportioned even one!
Entering the 1000 mile forbidden zone, experienced countless life or death dangers, and yet all he got for this was just a single earth-step Demon God Bone? Blackstone couldn’t accept this!
High Lord Cloud Demon also grimaced. With his strength, he could be given two earth-step Demon God Bones. But, a low-grade earth-step Demon God Bone was mainly used for four-star Demon Kings to break into the quasi Emperor realm. If he truly wished to break through that Emperor level bottleneck, then the use of a low-grade earth-step Demon God Bone was limited. Even one or two low-grade earth-step Demon God Bones wouldn’t guarantee that he could break through to the Emperor realm.
High Lord Cloud Demon grit his teeth. He stared at the heaven-step Demon God Bone in the third sarcophagus, his eyes flashing with pure avarice and unwillingness.
This Demon God Bone was just too important to him! With this lucky chance in front of him, if he missed out on it then he would never have any hope for his future!
“Lin Ming… your portion is a bit too much…” High Lord Cloud Demon was dissatisfied, but he tried to ease his tone down as respectfully as he could. At this time, he didn’t dare to cause trouble with Lin Ming.
He felt that Lin Ming had suggested this distribution because he was willing to bargain a little. If High Lord Cloud Demon didn’t fight for it, then it would settle like this. But if he did try to struggle a bit, then there might be some hope for him.
This heaven-step Demon God Bone could only be found through serendipity. At this time, now that he saw one, how could he give up so easily?
“Yes, ahem, Lin Ming, you are just too callous right now. You can eat the meat, but you should at least leave the soup for us. I’m not suggesting that the six of us equally divide the treasure. As long as I can have 10% of the treasure then I will be content. I entered into this 1000 mile forbidden zone, risked my life, lost my arm, paid such a great price, I should at least have a little bit of harvest.”
Blackstone echoed. Him mentioning 10% was only a high point he set so he could bargain with it. In truth, he only expected around 5% of the treasure. Now that he had lost an arm, he would no longer enjoy the status and treatment that he previously received in his Holy Land. In addition to his strength sharply dropping, his chances of breaking through to the Emperor level became even more dubious. If he could grasp this lucky chance in front of him, then his chances of breaking through to the Emperor level in the future would be much higher.
Feng Shen, Duanmu Qun and Lan Xin didn’t have much of an expression. Although it was true that they too desired the heaven-step Demon God Bone and that golden fruit, they were well aware that without Lin Ming, they wouldn’t even have their lives, much less treasure to divide. In truth, if Lin Ming wanted to take the entirety of the treasure for himself, there wasn’t any way they could object to that either.
Moreover, for them, if there weren’t any surprises, they would be able to fully step foot into the Emperor level in the future. Because of this, their desire for the heaven-step Demon God Bone was not as intense as Blackstone and High Lord Cloud Demon’s.
After listening to Blackstone’s words, Lin Ming’s lips curved in a caustic smile. Towards this sort of greedy clown, he simply didn’t want to bother with him. If Blackstone had quietly accepted matters as they were then Lin Ming wouldn’t mind bequeathing something onto him. But, now that he had to chirp up with his stupid suggestions, Lin Ming directly changed his mind.
Lin Ming coldly said, “Blackstone, I seem to remember that you once said that if I could take you out of here safely, you would give me everything within your spatial ring and you wouldn’t keep anything at all. I think I remembered that correctly, right?”
With this light rebuttal, Blackstone was left speechless.