Free Web NovelChapter 379: Chapter 372: "Become My Weapon!
Fierce?
An enemy?
Shi Ming was skeptical.
What level of being would dare to be called fierce or an enemy before him?
The Deep Sea Titan was fierce.
The Dusk Whale was fierce, too.
The Great Black Heaven Dragon was the fiercest of fierce beasts.
And now, they had all become a part of him. Even the source of their ferocity—the essence of their abilities—had been transferred to him.
Don’t you understand the caliber of a Humanoid Fierce Beast?
Despite his thoughts, he didn’t underestimate the weapon. He cautiously maneuvered the Sun Piercer, slowly closing in. His Spiritual Power was on high alert, and three Holy Hall-level powers were ready to be unleashed.
The Three-Eyed Golden Crow and Ah Jian also sensed a turbulent, clamorous pressure emanating from beneath the magma, and their vigilance was at its peak.
’This artifact is even more complex than what I saw in the prophecy.’
「Three minutes later.」
Shi Ming’s Spiritual Power detected the target within the boundless ocean of magma.
At the same time, the portion of Spiritual Power he had sent out to scout even felt as if it were being ignited. The searing heat transmitted back to him, bringing with it the target’s specific form.
A greatsword.
A three-meter-long greatsword.
It was submerged in the magma. Its entire blade was incredibly broad, half again as tall as Shi Ming himself. Its black and red body was covered in flowing, incandescent patterns. On one side of the blade, fine cracks gave it a hint of decay, but this did nothing to diminish its imposing presence.
It was just lying there,
and Shi Ming had the distinct impression that his Spiritual Power was being incinerated.
Temperature: 7,820 degrees.
The greatsword, made of some unknown material, remained solid in the molten fluid.
WHOOSH—
As if provoked or in resonance, the Right Arm Red Pattern on Shi Ming’s arm grew scalding hot once more. This time, crimson flames erupted from his arm, as if the pattern had broken through the confines of dimensions and skin to burn with a tangible fire!
This made the Three-Eyed Golden Crow, which had been standing on his shoulder, jump down in alarm. It landed inside the Sun Piercer, no longer daring to perch on Shi Ming’s shoulder.
Even the Three-Eyed Golden Crow, a being born from fire, could not withstand such intense heat!
"It’s certainly not simple."
"Truly worthy of being the fifth-ranked artifact. Just a simple probe with Spiritual Power can cause such a resonance."
The Sun Piercer stopped its descent.
Shi Ming extended his right hand, telekinetically calling to the greatsword lying in the magma. But the greatsword seemed to resist, even as it seemed to be calling back to Shi Ming in turn. The already terrifying temperature climbed again, and the Earth Core became a brilliant red, like a furnace burning at its absolute hottest.
Shi Ming was summoning the greatsword,
while also resisting its pull.
It was like two magnets, each attracting the other, but neither willing to be the one to move first.
In a situation like this, it all came down to who had the stronger foundation and the greater magnetic pull!
"Hmph!"
The power of the Nine-Headed Sanctuary erupted. Shi Ming transformed into his three-headed, six-armed form. His three right arms exerted their strength in unison, and the three Holy Hall Powers within him stacked upon one another, more than tripling his control.
The greatsword lying in the magma could no longer resist.
It flew straight up, shooting through several thousand meters of molten rock strata and hurtling toward the Sun Piercer where Shi Ming was.
Ah Jian dissolved into Spiritual Power.
The Three-Eyed Golden Crow activated its Great Sun Wheel.
The Sun Piercer maintained its *Ten Thousand Realms Like the Sea*.
BOOM!
The smell of magma, sulfur, and metal transmitted through the lava sea. The furiously burning greatsword, wreathed in black-tinged crimson flames, streaked through the magma, rushing toward Shi Ming!
Unstoppable, its momentum was immense!
’It seems to want to kill its master?’
BANG!
The greatsword slammed into its target.
CRACK!
A shattering sound echoed from the area where the Sun Piercer had been. The greatsword’s strike had hit home, but it had no way of knowing it had struck a mirror image created by the Twin Mirror. As the saying goes, the first charge has the greatest spirit, the second falters. The momentum it had built up was instantly halved. Seizing the opportunity, Shi Ming moved his right arm, unleashing the power of the Arm of Conquest.
Countless mirror shards flew through the magma.
The three-headed, six-armed Shi Ming emerged from among the fragments of the Twin Mirror.
Conquer!
’A mere sword wants to kill its master?’
His red-patterned right arm swiftly gripped the hilt of the three-meter greatsword. In Shi Ming’s grasp, the terrifying heat only made his right arm burn all the more brilliantly. The massive blade looked utterly disproportionate to Shi Ming’s sub-two-meter height, yet it was wielded with a Conquering Power that the fifth-ranked artifact could not resist!
Submit to me.
Become my weapon.
The power of the Nine-Headed Sanctuary faded as the power of the Fallen Sanctuary surged. A cold that could reach absolute zero spread from the web of Shi Ming’s hand where he held the sword, combatting the high temperature of *Fen Yuan*. Then, it solidified into a brilliant, crystalline ice crossguard!
One victory leads to another!
Frost crept up the hilt like writhing vines, slowly climbing the three-meter blade and expanding its "territory"!
In the frigid temperature, the magma within the sword’s fine cracks and patterns instantly solidified into blackness, then was frozen into a glass-like state by the extreme cold.
In the silent confrontation, the black and red flames of *Fen Yuan* were extinguished bit by bit. Icy-blue crystals slowly consumed the greatsword from the hilt upward. Soon, within the four-meter area covered by the Sun Piercer, the temperature was no longer like that of magma, but rather an Ice Lake.
A world of ice and fire.
CHATTER CHATTER CHATTER.
The Three-Eyed Golden Crow was trembling, but Ah Jian had long since adapted. Brilliant ice crystals also formed on the outline of the Sun Piercer, making it an ice boat in a sea of fire—an utterly incongruous sight in this subterranean region of magma.
The surrounding, churning magma, affected by the Fallen Sanctuary, solidified into black Obsidian, forming a giant cocoon that enveloped Shi Ming and the others.
The stalemate lasted for thirty minutes.
CRACK.
The Three-Eyed Golden Crow heard a dull cracking sound, as if taut steel had snapped. Immediately after, the layers of frost encasing the greatsword in Shi Ming’s grip fell away, and the fifth-ranked artifact once again burned with firelight.
There was no longer any trace of hostility.
*Fen Yuan* had submitted.
Shi Ming took advantage of the moment and swung the sword underground.
CRACK.
The outer layer of solidified Obsidian also shattered. The eggshell disintegrated into dust before melting back into scalding magma in the high heat.
He leaped up and, using *Fen Yuan*, carved out a space a hundred meters wide deep underground. The 1.8-meter-tall Shi Ming stood atop the Sun Piercer, hovering in this subterranean cavern. He held the three-meter-long magma greatsword, his right arm and the sword burning in unison, looking like a true Magma Giant that had climbed from the abyss.
Then, flames flooded the space.
Shi Ming paid them no mind, allowing the flames to flow over his body.
He used his Spiritual Power to feel the greatsword he had just tamed, completely suppressing its now-inferior ferocity. He then descended calmly, his eyes pure and clear, devoid of any viciousness, like a harmless young beast.
"Follow me, and your prestige will not be tarnished."
*Fen Yuan*.
An ancient relic from the Age of Contention that had fallen into the Earth Core. Over thousands of years, it had transformed into the Sword of Ruin, capable of destroying everything.
