Chapter 530 - 319: Witty Words to Seize a Ship, a Mysterious Ancient Ship, People of a Bygone Era

He surmised that after the fall of a Divine Being, some of its residual essence had been left behind in the sea. That power was not something a Middle Fifth Grade Cultivator could withstand, nor was it something he could even begin to imagine at his present level.

Lu Mingyuan left the deck and returned to his simple room.

He sat down cross-legged and began to cultivate.

He could use the journey to increase his strength.

Ordinarily, now that he was just one final step away from becoming a Martial Saint, it should have been impossible for him to raise his Cultivation even a little.

This required forging a Martial Arts Saint Body and then transcending the Saint Tribulation to achieve sainthood with the Flesh Body.

The Martial Arts Saint Body was a Supreme Dharma Body, forged by withstanding the Saint Tribulation with one’s Flesh Body.

Generally, there were three tribulations. One who passed them all could enter the Fourteenth Realm and become a Martial Arts Great Saint.

Passing even one was harder than ascending to the heavens. Throughout all of history, how many had ever managed to pass all three?

Lu Mingyuan had met a living Martial Arts Saint Venerable and Martial Arts Great Saint.

The only one he knew of was perhaps Wei the Ninth.

The Blood Dragon Martial Saint, however, showed Lu Mingyuan another possibility.

He wasn’t a true Martial Saint, yet he possessed Martial Saint-level combat power.

This meant the Divine Fallen Blood Stone possessed a wondrous power that could help him advance even further.

’Perhaps I can also use the power of the Divine Fallen Blood Stone to raise my Cultivation to the Martial Saint Realm.’

By absorbing a hundred Divine Fallen Blood Stones, the strength of Lu Mingyuan’s Flesh Body would reach the Martial Saint Level, though it would be fundamentally different from that of a Martial Saint who had actually passed the tribulation.

Still, for him, this was already an incredible opportunity.

The journey into the Grotto Heaven was fraught with danger.

Every bit of strength he could gain would count.

Lu Mingyuan could hardly wait. He was eager to become a Martial Saint and raise his Cultivation to a whole new level.

The Upper Three Grades represented an entirely different plane of existence.

It was a leap from the extraordinary to the saintly, a state of omnipotence.

Lu Mingyuan took out a crystalline, scarlet Blood Jade from his Celestial Treasure Golden Pouch.

The energy of this Divine Fallen Blood Jade was so pure it had taken on the appearance of actual jade, making it exceedingly precious and rare.

A single one was worth ten ordinary Divine Fallen Blood Stones.

SWISH! SWISH!

With Lu Mingyuan at the center, a series of ear-piercing whooshes tore through the air. It sounded as if thousands of blades of Saber Qi were flying around him, yet an outsider would have seen no trace of Primordial Qi whatsoever.

Qi Muxue, Yun Qinghe, and Sui Yuqing all retreated to a safe distance, staring in unsettled surprise at Lu Mingyuan as he refined the Blood Jade.

"His aura is still climbing. Can it be? Is he about to break through and become a Martial Saint?" Qi Muxue asked in awe.

Yun Qinghe shook her head. "His Sword Intent hasn’t yet coalesced into the Dao; it’s still just Sword Intent. This shows he still has a ways to go before the Martial Saint Realm, though he is infinitely close."

RUMBLE!

As Lu Mingyuan cultivated, the calm surface of the sea began to churn, sending up waves with a deafening roar.

At first, the waves were only one or two meters high. Gradually, they grew to seven or eight meters, then over twenty... until finally, they reached hundreds of meters in height, forming a wall of water that connected the sea and sky.

From a distance, the endless waves looked like a rolling mountain range.

Another dilapidated ancient ship sped toward them from the distance, radiating an ancient and tyrannical aura.

At the same time, chunks of ice began to appear on the water’s surface in this region.

They had strayed into a region filled with icebergs.

"What’s going on?"

Lu Mingyuan emerged from his room. Taking in the scene, he gazed at the distant ancient ship and asked, "Which Dynasty is that ancient ship from?"

"I don’t know. It doesn’t look like it’s from any of them."

Li Muwan, who had also emerged from her room, replied uncertainly after a moment of observation.

She had never seen an ancient ship like it. This one seemed to be from a much, much older era, even predating the one they were on.

"Quick, look! Inside the icebergs!"

Qi Muxue exclaimed, pointing at the chunks of ice and the icebergs near the ancient ship, as if she had seen something utterly bizarre.

Lu Mingyuan focused his gaze and finally saw it.

Countless living beings were sealed within the massive chunks of ice and the icebergs.

There were humans in robes of every color, fiends of various races, and grotesquely shaped devils...

All of them were frozen into ice sculptures.

Sui Yuqing’s gaze fell on the inside of one particular chunk of ice. Within it was a man of the Human Race, clad in ancient, celadon-colored armor with an animal hide tied at his waist. His expression was savage, his eyes bloodshot, as though he were locked in combat with something.

His expression was frozen in that exact moment for all eternity.

Her voice was grave. "I fear they are from the Human Race of tens of thousands of years ago."

Lu Mingyuan glanced at the vast number of ice chunks on the water and the countless icebergs, murmuring under his breath,

"People from a bygone era..."

"That ancient ship is coming right at us!"

Li Muwan warned the others via voice transmission.

Only as it drew closer did Lu Mingyuan realize that the mysterious ancient ship emerging from the fog was radiating a terrifying, malevolent energy.

He could feel a chill seeping into his body, and he shivered involuntarily.

...