Martial World

Chapter 1983 – Riddle of the Purple Card

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The words of the two old men dispelled Lin Ming’s last traces of doubt.

He needed to find some way to deal with Famine’s soul as soon as possible.

However, even though Famine’s soul had been suppressed for 3.6 billion years, it absolutely wasn’t something that would be easy to contend with. Lin Ming estimated that his current boundary was far from enough.

He needed to increase his cultivation.

He had no idea how much longer the artifact spirit of the Ancient Elysium Seal was able to live on for. The main body of a transcendent spirit treasure might be able to last for 10 billion years, but its artifact spirit wouldn’t be able to survive such a long span of time. In terms of lifespan, it was similar to a living being.

For instance, the artifact spirit that once inhabited Lin Ming’s Black Dragon Spear and Black Dragon Armor had long since died.

“Do you have any more questions?” The two old men smiled at Lin Ming.

Lin Ming pondered for a moment. He said, “Junior has two more questions. The first is about the Holy Scripture. Seniors, do you happen to know about this inheritance?”

“Holy Scripture...” Clear and Ink seemed to fall into a deep state of recollection. “The creator of the Holy Scripture was Immortal Sovereign of the past. He was the High Lord’s rival, and then he lost to the High Lord by a small difference. Afterwards they even became friends...”

The two old men spoke about the history that occurred 10 billion years ago. Their description was brief, but Lin Ming knew that their words involved innumerable secrets.

“Is Immortal Sovereign still alive?” Lin Ming asked.

The two old men shook their heads. “We are only guardians of the High Lord; we have no understanding of Immortal Sovereign...”

“Then, do seniors know if there was a peerless woman that was closely connected to Immortal Sovereign? Someone who possessed an extremely high degree of talent and was also familiar with the Laws of Life and Death?”

What Lin Ming most wanted to know was who the mysterious woman he had seen in the Asura forbidden land’s Ice Cold Mirror was. She was a peerless woman that resembled Sheng Mei and also Lin Ming’s final opponent there.

He wanted to know just how she was related to Sheng Mei.

However, the two old men shook their heads at this question. It was clear they didn’t know much about Immortal Sovereign’s affairs from 10 billion years back.

Lin Ming was slightly disappointed. But, his intuition told him that this secret shared a profound link to Sheng Mei’s own secret.

Lin Ming then asked, “My final question is, I wonder if seniors know about the three divine tools: the Stone of Eternal Life, Grandmist Spirit Bead, as well as a Purple Card?

These three divine tools had always been an enigma in Lin Ming’s heart. In particular, he wanted to know the whereabouts of the last divine tool, the Purple Card.

“Three divine tools...”

Hearing Lin Ming mention the three divine tools, the vision of the two old men turned deep and thoughtful.

“The three divine tools are the most mysterious items in existence. They have existed since time immemorial, and even before the High Lord was born, there were already legends concerning the three divine tools. From different times, from different people, they had different names. For those things names have no meaning at all...

“The High Lord believed that these three divine tools were things left behind by a previous universal era. They might be great worlds that weren’t able to grow, or they might even be formed from the collapse of the previous universe...”

“Universal era?” Lin Ming asked, stunned. This was the first time he had heard something like this before.

“The High Lord believed that even the universes of the 33 Heavens existed in a state of birth and death, creation and annihilation. The 33 Heavens that we currently live in grew out of nothing, having formed from a giant explosion... but before the eruption of the universe, there should have been another super universe before it. Perhaps it also possessed 33 Heavens, perhaps it was 36 Heavens, or perhaps only a single Heaven. No one can say for sure what the Heavenly Dao Laws that governed that universe were like.

“The High Lord called the birth, development, and destruction of a universe a universal era.

“The three divine tools respectively represent the condensed forms of ‘essence’, ‘energy’, and ‘divine’. They correspond to the matter, energy, and Heavenly Dao Laws of a universe. The High Lord speculated that these three divine tools were condensed from the matter, energy, and Heavenly Dao Laws of the previous super universe when it was destroyed. Their existence is filled with infinite mysteries, and the High Lord once obtained one in the past–that is the Purple Card which you speak of...”

Hearing the words of these two old men, Lin Ming was shaken. The Asura Road Master had obtained the Purple Card!

In truth, he guessed that something like this had occurred. He even suspected that the entire Asura Road was created by the Asura Road Master using the Purple Card as its foundation.

“Is the Purple Card still in the hands of Senior Asura?”

“It once was...” Ink lightly shook his head, “But not afterwards.”

“This...” Lin Ming was surprised. “Could there have been someone who stole away the Purple Card from Senior Asura’s hands? Or, did Senior Asura pass down the Purple Card to someone else?”

To give away such a precious divine tool was a bit too unbelievable.

“I am not sure as to specifically what happened. In the codex left behind by the High Lord, the Purple Card is mentioned. In the era before the High Lord was born there was once a peerless powerhouse who wanted to gather all three divine tools. This peerless existence believed that by collecting the three divine tools, he would be able to reign supreme over all of creation and become an immortal being. It was even because of this that a great stormy war of blood and death was whipped up through the entire 33 Heavens. But in the end, the peerless powerhouse who tried to vainly gather the three divine tools was slain and the countless remaining powerhouses scrambled and struggled to obtain the divine tools. But even so, the three divine tools disappeared and no one knew just where they went.

“After hundreds of millions of years, the divine tools appeared. With their appearance, a great storm rose up yet again. Then they disappeared once more. They were like a curse of the world, their appearance frequently followed by a great calamity of the universe!

“These three divine tools once created peerless powerhouses, but they caused even more overlords to perish and sects to be destroyed. Even entire races were exterminated.

“But to these three divine tools, all those ups and downs were nothing more than passing history. No matter how the world changed, those divine tools never changed... as if they would continue spreading for all time, existing until the day that the universe is destroyed...

“The High Lord even thought that once the universe was destroyed, a new universe would appear, evolving from the three divine tools and using them as the foundation... to be born... if things occur like this, then those three divine tools are nothing more than travelers and witnesses passing through this universe. They were originally existences that stood above all, and what martial artists can utilize is only a tiny, almost trivial, part of what they truly are. In the end, how far one can walk down the road of martial arts depends on one’s self...

“They disregard the world. Even though countless chaotic tribulations and disasters are brought about by them, to these three divine tools, they are nothing more than insignificantly small events, as unworthy of mentioning as dust that falls on their surface...

“Because of this, the High Lord’s desire to pursue and obtain all three divine tools faded away. He concluded that everything came down to ‘fate’. The three divine tools could create a peerless being, but they could also summon a great disaster. Everything depended on ‘fate’.

“In the High Lord’s writings, he didn’t mention the Purple Card too much. He only wrote that, if possible, it would bring about inconceivable events and changes to the world and it might give the one who possessed it the chance to turn the world for the better. But, he also warned his descendants to not obsess over this, because one cannot force the hand of ‘fate’.”

As the two old men finished speaking, Lin Ming was lost in thought.

Everything depended on ‘fate’...

Lin Ming himself had once wanted to chase after the Purple Card. The Grandmist Spirit Bead was in the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign’s hands so it was impossible for him to obtain it. Thus, he wondered whether it was possible that the Purple Card was hidden in the Asura Road.

But now, after listening to the two old men, Lin Ming’s desire to chase after the Purple Card dimmed by a great deal.

As the Asura Road Master said, the three divine tools were objects that surpassed the limits of this world. But in truth they were only witnesses to this world. While they could create powerhouses, they actually destroyed even more.

The true road of martial arts was a path one could only walk down with their own two feet...

“Thank you seniors, this junior understands...”

Lin Ming respectfully bowed towards the two old men. To resist the saints, that was a battle he would have to rely on himself to fight...

The two old men smiled. “There is nothing you need to thank us for. We only told you what you need to know. The demon relic you obtained is a treasure refined from an extreme True Divinity abyssal demon that the High Lord slayed in the past. If you can refine it then your mortal body, blood vitality, and even cultivation will greatly increase. When combined with the third volume of the Asura Sutra, you will obtain an unbelievable advantage...”

Lin Ming nodded. During this return trip to the final trial his harvests were far too great.

Lin Ming didn’t know, but as he finished speaking with the two old men and started to read through the third volume of the Asura Sutra, the day of the final trial’s opening had arrived.

At this time, many influences of the Asura Road had gathered above the Asura Sea. Even the forces of Good Fortune Saint Palace and Soaring Feather God Mountain had come, tensely waiting for the return of their disciples...