Chapter 1443 – Drawing
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At this time, outside of the game world, over four hours had passed since Lin Ming had entered the dimensional realm.
Normally, a martial artist would have to spend 14-16 hours to gather the 50 skull badges needed for the blue soul level reward. This was mainly because no one could be like Lin Ming and simultaneously possess an extremely powerful sense and combat strength. In the broad grasslands he was able to rapidly find the hiding prey and kill them.
“Four hours… someone said that this human youth’s goal was the zenith black level reward. What do you think?”
Currently, no one doubted that Lin Ming would be able to easily complete the blue soul level checkpoint. After all, that was just how strong Lin Ming was. He had even easily defeated a one-star Asura. Moreover, Lin Ming’s cultivation had been the lowest of all the trial challengers that entered, so the prey he had to face would be weaker.
In this sort of situation, it could be said that gathering the 50 skull badges for the blue soul level reward was as easy as taking a stroll through the park, with absolutely no difficulties at all.
If the people present had to sum it up, they were simply on a completely different level from Lin Ming.
As for the zenith black level reward, that degree of difficulty caused all the martial artists present to feel daunted.
In the City of Discord, let alone collecting a hundred badges to obtain a zenith black level reward, even collecting 60 or 70 badges was a rarity that had almost never occurred.
Throughout the entire history of this city, there might not be anyone who had accomplished that.
Perhaps in ancient times there were some people that had obtained a hundred skull badges in the City of Discord, but that sort of knowledge was long lost in the dust of time. No one was able to keep records that far back.
No one knew just what Lin Ming would achieve, but at this time, the transmission array portal suddenly shimmered.
Someone was coming out.
Besides Lin Ming, everyone else had been eliminated. If there was someone coming out then it could only be Lin Ming.
“How could this be… four hours, it was that fast?”
In the opinions of these people, taking four hours to complete the zenith black level mission reward was impossible. Even completing the blue soul level checkpoint was impossible in such a short time.
“That human boy was defeated?”
“Impossible! He is so strong that he can complete that blue soul level checkpoint even if his eyes are closed. If he used only four hours, that is simply because he is too strong, not because he was unable to complete the checkpoint. It's just that with only four hours, obtaining the zenith black level reward is unlikely…”
No one knew just what Lin Ming had experienced in the game world. The portal flashed once more and then Lin Ming appeared.
He didn’t have any visible wounds or injuries. Or, perhaps he was wounded but had already recovered in the game world. In the slaughter-filled Asura Road, no one wanted to be injured with enemies all around.
The guards of the Silver Snow Corps brought forth the Wheel of Destiny.
The simple and heavy metal disc was set down in front of Lin Ming. It looked stained and ancient, revealing an aura that seemed to come from the beginning of time.
“Trial challenger, you may place the skull badges you obtained within the Wheel of Destiny to obtain the corresponding rewards. 50 skill badges correspond to a blue soul level reward and 100 skull badges correspond to a zenith black level reward.”
As the Silver Snow Guard spoke, he looked curiously towards Lin Ming. He too was looking forwards to seeing just how many skull badges Lin Ming had obtained.
Lin Ming thought for a moment. He was thinking to somehow conceal the fact that he won the zenith black level drawing reward, but with the method to get the reward the way it was, he was doomed to be unable to hide it.
In the City of Discord, being too high profile wasn’t a good thing. This was especially true if it was known he had obtained something like a zenith black level reward. After all, this was bound to arouse the jealousy of others and even bring life-threatening dangers onto himself. In the City of Discord there were always those that were stronger, for instance, Holy Lord level martial artists.
Lin Ming took a deep breath and placed all the badges in the Wheel of Destiny. His speed was extremely fast, and along with him blocking the view of his hands, no one was able to see how many skull badges he put in.
“How many were there?”
“I couldn’t see it but I feel… there were more than 50…”
If it was more than 50 but less than 100, then the reward was still the same as obtaining 50, a blue soul level reward.
“You may draw.”
A Silver Snow Guard said from not too far away.
Lin Ming had completed two checkpoints at once, so he could draw twice. Now, he began his first drawing.
This was also the blue soul level drawing. At Lin Ming’s level, a blue soul level drawing reward wasn’t too valuable to him. He was aiming towards completing over 90% of the Asura Road’s smelting trial. To him, only the second drawing mattered.
Lin Ming stood before the Wheel of Destiny. Everyone’s eyes were locked onto him. The legends said that this Wheel of Destiny was an artifact created by the Asura Road Master himself. It grasped the destiny of the world and controlled strange and profound Laws.
According to a trial challenger’s destiny, three types of drawings were possible.
The worst drawing choice was to obtain a blue soul level mission badge. The next possibility was to obtain a rare blue soul level god rune. As for the best reward, that was also the most mysterious. That was to draw ‘Destiny’. In these last several millions of years, no one had ever managed to do this.
After two-star and three-star Asuras made their drawing, even they were unable to draw the third possibility. The most they obtained was a rare blue soul level rune. This was already an extremely good result.
Lin Ming didn’t hesitate in front of the Wheel of Destiny. He poured his true essence into it and started his drawing.
The Wheel of Destiny quickly spun as the runes atop it lit up one at a time. No one knew just where it would stop.
“It’s begun!”
“What great resolve. A normal person would take several deep breaths and pray to the heavens before starting their draw. After all, a person can only obtain a reward once in their lifetime in the Hunter Game, so how could they not avoid all chances of being careless. But, this human youth didn’t even bat an eye before he began his drawing.”
“Let’s see what he pulls out.”
Everyone’s eyes were glued to the Wheel of Destiny. It spun faster and faster, reaching incredible speeds. Then, it slowly decelerated. The lights lit up over and over, and the final shining rune would indicate just what Lin Ming would obtain.
After 10 breaths of time, the Wheel of Destiny stopping spinning. The final several runes shimmered, dimming down and leaving behind a single shining dagger rune.
“The Blood Dripping Dagger, that is… the first possibility, a mission badge!”
Many people present had already thoroughly researched the Wheel of Destiny. They knew what rewards every rune on the Wheel of Destiny represented.
The first possibility was a mission badge. It was also the worst possibility.
“This human, he is so strong and yet he draws out this garbage?”
“His luck is too bad. In the legends, the drawing that the Wheel of Destiny lands on is related to that person’s destiny. This human youth is so incredibly talented and yet he gets the worst choice. Does he not have any destiny upon him?”
“He made such a ridiculous scene but his final result was the same as Lord Dugu Li’s. Hilarious. I originally thought that at the worst he would draw the second possibility, or perhaps even the third.”
Many people came here to watch because they wanted to see a different result. After all, it was natural to want to personally witness something that only occurred every several thousand years.
But in the end, what Lin Ming drew was the first possibility. He was no different from the many other trial challengers that had come before him.
This left everyone a tad disappointed, but there were also many people gloating over Lin Ming’s drawing. As these people thought that even a peak genius drew something similar to them, their mood was much happier.
However, at this moment, something occurred that left them all dumbfounded.
After Lin Ming completed his first drawing, without any delay at all, he poured all of his energy into the Wheel of Destiny and directly began his second drawing!
What Lin Ming poured into the Wheel of Destiny was no longer just true essence, but true essence, astral essence, and spirit essence, all as one. This was also called the power of divinity!
“The second drawing!”
“Heavens! He really completed the zenith black level checkpoint!”
“It was just four hours; this is too abnormal!”
Before this, there were some people who speculated that no matter how talented Lin Ming was, it would be impossible for him to pass the zenith black level reward challenge. After all, besides the most ancient of times, in the last several hundred million years of the City of Discord’s history, there had never been a person who appeared that was able to obtain the zenith black level reward. This caused everyone to subconsciously think that no matter what happened, Lin Ming would never succeed.
But now, all of them watched as the Wheel of Destiny began to spin around, as if it was screaming to them that all their previous thoughts were wrong.
The Wheel of Destiny rapidly spun, yet Lin Ming maintained his calm. But in this moment, within his flesh and blood, there was a god rune that was faintly shimmering.
This was one of the two god runes that Lin Ming had obtained in the world of the Hunter Game after he defeated the 36 golden-armored warriors for a second time – the Blessing of God.
This was a zenith black level rune. With it, he could directly increase his own destiny! In a crucial life or death moment, or perhaps in the danger zones of a mystic realm, he could rely on this rune to turn bad luck into good, saving himself from the precipice of doom.
However, Lin Ming also believed that no matter how wonderful this Blessing of God was, it could not increase his destiny infinitely.
Destiny was illusory and ephemeral. Empyreans, and even True Divinities, could not fully unravel it. But, there was something that everyone knew, and that was that destiny was not endless, whether it was for a sect, a dynasty, or even an unrivalled martial arts master. If they freely spent their destiny then they would eventually overdraw it and it would slowly exhaust itself.
This was what others meant when they said that one’s destiny was over, that their days had come to an end.
Destiny needed to be accumulated. For a sect to raise a peak supreme elder, that could take hundreds of thousands or even millions of years of accumulated destiny. And once they succeeded, this would also greatly exhaust their destiny. Perhaps after that extreme supreme elder died, the sect would begin to decline. This was the so-called decline after the flourish; what goes up, must eventually come down.
Whether it was a sect or a dynasty, this sort of phenomenon would occur because their destiny was exhausted.
When Lin Ming made his first drawing, not only did he suppress the power of the Blessing of God, but he also only activated the Wheel of Destiny with true essence. His goal was to not pull out anything good.
But this time, he pushed the Blessing of God to the limit and activated the spinning of the Wheel of Destiny with his strongest energy – Three Essences as One.
He believed that since the Asura Road Master also cultivated the Concept of the 33 Layered Heavens, then using the combined power of essence, energy, and divine would allow him to obtain the approval of the Wheel of Destiny much more easily.
In addition, there was the Blessing of God that he had obtained from the Hunter Game. This sort of god rune might have been especially left in there for this exact drawing. Lin Ming had sacrificed his first reward in order to hedge everything he had on this second drawing to obtain the best result he could.
The Wheel of Destiny rapidly spun. The shining runes atop the disc had already gathered into dazzling beams of light…