Master of the Second Hall

Upon entering the Second Hall, Lin Ming glanced at the scene before him.

The moment he entered the grand hall, his gaze froze at the very end of the massive structure. Then, a look of shock and horror appeared in his eyes.

At the far end stood a golden throne. The throne was several meters tall and was made entirely of some kind of Pure Gold metal. On the back of the throne was carved a fierce Flood Dragon with its head raised and its tail coiled, like a living dragon frozen in metal.

And at that moment, a figure dressed in purple robes stood before the throne.

The figure was about the height of an average person, wearing a wide purple robe embroidered with dense, dark Yun Lei patterns. These patterns shimmered with a faint purple light in the dimly lit hall.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his back to the palace gate, facing the golden throne, like an emperor worshipping his own throne.

His imposing aura was overwhelming, his domineering presence was palpable, and a chilling aura emanated from him, as if even the heavens and earth were trembling before him.

The imposing aura was like an invisible mountain pressing down on the hall, making the surrounding air feel heavy. The moment Lin Ming stepped into the hall, he felt a weight on his shoulder, as if a hand had been placed on it.

The overwhelming aura caused Lin Ming's expression to change drastically.

He was horrified to discover that the purple-robed figure was not an illusion, but a real physical body!

The purple robe on the body had a clear fabric texture, and there was fine dust in the folds of the hem. The hands exposed outside the cuffs had a pale skin, long and slender fingers with distinct knuckles, and neatly trimmed nails.

This was a living, breathing body, not the skeletons he had seen elsewhere, reduced to mere bones after thousands of years.

Within this Second Hall, who else but the Second Hall could possess such an imposing aura?!

What shocked Lin Ming the most was that he actually sensed a faint, life-like fluctuation within this body!

The fluctuation was extremely weak, like a dying ember stubbornly burning a tiny spark deep within the ashes.

The heartbeat was extremely slow and subtle; if his Spiritual Energy hadn't been exceptionally sharp, he wouldn't have been able to detect it at all.

The breathing was almost imperceptible, the rise and fall of the chest barely visible, yet it was definitely still happening.

Could it be that the Second Hall did not perish?!

The Second Hall, dressed in purple robes, stood before the throne, his overwhelming aura causing the surrounding space to distort.

The terrifying pressure enveloped the entire palace in layers, like an invisible, towering mountain being crammed into a palace. Every inch of air was compressed and heavy, and even breathing became a struggle.

As Lin Ming stepped into the giant hall, he was also enveloped by this terrifying pressure, and his body immediately tensed up.

His steps stopped almost the instant he stepped into the palace. His dark, abyss-like eyes narrowed slightly, and the Four Elements Origin Power around him involuntarily accelerated at that moment, like an engine that had been suddenly accelerated.

Faced with this unknown situation, Lin Ming clearly dared not relax in the slightest. His World Power was circulating wildly within his body, like a city wall that had been repeatedly reinforced, blocking the oppressive aura emanating from the Second Hall layer by layer.

But the pressure was too immense and too condensed, like a vast ocean compressed for millennia and seeping outwards. Although his World Power wall blocked most of it, there were always wisps and strands of pressure seeping in through the gaps in the wall, like tiny needles pricking his skin.

These once-powerful figures can be made to pay an extremely heavy price with just a few of their remaining methods.

Even if a body at the Perfected Earth Sovereign is just an empty shell, the residual power of the Laws within its bones is enough to crush a Tier 9 Peak expert into dust.

He dared not gamble on whether this physical body had left any hidden tricks, just as an ant dared not gamble on whether a dead tiger might suddenly turn around.

While activating his defenses with all his might, Lin Ming also watched the purple-robed figure warily, a look of horror deep in his eyes.

Because in that brief moment, he clearly sensed a faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation of life force within the Second Hall's body.

The fluctuation was extremely faint, like a tiny ember buried under thick ashes stubbornly burning. Had his World Power not been so acutely sensitive, he would have been completely unaware of it. The heartbeat was extremely slow and subtle, only one beat per breath, like the occasional muffled sound of a broken drum left in an ancient temple deep in the mountains when the wind blows.

The breathing was barely perceptible, the rise and fall of the chest almost imperceptible, like a feather trembling slightly under a stone slab.

Could it be that the Second Hall did not completely perish? But judging from his appearance, he clearly doesn't still retain any consciousness.

Lin Ming frowned, mentally considering all the possibilities. If the Second Hall was still alive, why hadn't he even blinked after standing there for so long?

If he is already dead, then where does this glimmer of hope come from?

Was it the lingering effect of some secret technique, or was his incredibly powerful body instinctively maintaining the last vestige of his life?

Lin Ming then turned his pace and walked a few steps to the right along the stone bricks inside the hall, reaching another location.

This spot is directly opposite the Second Hall's figure, and from here, you can see his face clearly.

He walked very lightly, testing the stone bricks before each step, like a cat groping its way forward in an unfamiliar room.

The shattered stone bricks made a soft, rustling sound under his feet, echoing in the empty hall like a string of beans scattered on a stone slab.

The moment Lin Ming saw it clearly, his expression changed drastically again, and he couldn't help but gasp.

Because he saw that the Second Hall's face remained resolute.

The face appeared to be around forty years old, with a broad face, square nose, sharp eyebrows, high cheekbones, and a short mustache, resembling a roughly sculpted stone statue.

His eyes were wide open in anger, his pupils slightly bulging out of their sockets, frozen with the last moments of shock, rage and resentment, like a tiger that had been shot through the throat by an arrow while pouncing on its prey.

He slightly raised his head, gazing at the sky, his chin arched in a defiant curve, like a warrior who would never bow his head until death.

What truly horrified Lin Ming was not the frozen expression on his face.

In the very center of that face, between its eyebrows, was a dark, bloody hole. The hole was about an inch wide, and the skin around its edges was dry and curled, like a charred edge of paper.

There were no extra cracks or large areas of burn marks around the blood hole; it was as clean and neat as a red-hot iron needle poking a hole in tofu.

It seemed insignificant, but Lin Ming knew that it was this seemingly insignificant force that had almost instantly destroyed all of the Second Hall's life force.

That finger pierced through the space between the eyebrows, penetrated the Consciousness Sea, and evaporated the Divine Soul and brain marrow within the skull in an instant, leaving no room for struggle.

Lin Ming couldn't say exactly how strong a Perfected Earth Sovereign was, but he did know that there were very few super strong individuals at the Perfected Earth Sovereign on the Sky Luo Continent today.

Each of those Old Monsters reigns supreme in their respective regions, secluded for hundreds of years at a time, and their every move is enough to shake the very fabric of the land.

Yet such a terrifying being was annihilated with a single finger. Just how powerful must the person who did that be?

Lin Ming's skin radiated a chill. That chill rose from the base of his spine, like an icy hand stroking upwards along his spine.

He looked up at the dome of the enormous hall, his eyes gleaming with spiritual light as he scanned the area.

The dome hangs about a thousand feet high, and although most of the stone beams and reliefs at the top have faded, its scale still makes people crane their necks to look up.

His gaze swept across the dome several times before settling on one spot.

There was a small, equally Black Hole in the dome, no more than a finger's width in size.

The Black Hole was as insignificant as a needle tip in the vast dome, which was about a thousand feet high, like a hole pricked in a huge piece of unfurled silk.

But when Lin Ming's gaze fell upon this Black Hole, the hairs on his body seemed to stand on end in that instant.

The hairs on my arms, back, and nape stood on end, like a group of startled hedgehogs. An indescribable fear welled up inside me.

The fear came without reason or warning, like a mouse in the wilderness suddenly hearing the sound of an eagle flapping its wings in the sky. Although it saw nothing, the chill that surged up from the depths of its bones was so real that it made its teeth ache.

In that instant, images seemed to appear in Lin Ming's mind.

Those images were like a collection of fragments forcibly stuffed into his mind, pieced together to form a complete scene.

When the Extraterritorial Clans invaded the Sky Luo Continent, an unimaginably powerful being descended upon the Ancient Heavenly Palace.

The moment he appeared, the heavens and earth seemed to sink downwards, and the powerful figures on both sides who were fighting were frozen in place as if they had been frozen in place.

And in the instant he appeared, he made his move casually, even before the Heavenly Emperor of the Ancient Heavenly Palace could act.

He simply pointed casually upwards, towards the dome of the Second Hall.

Then a small Black Hole appeared in the dome of the Second Hall, and that finger pierced through the thousand-foot dome, like a red-hot iron needle piercing through a thin piece of paper.

Then, the Second Hall, who had just noticed and suddenly stood up, found a bloody hole between his eyebrows.

Before the Second Hall could even utter a sound or activate any defenses, the finger pierced through his brow and exited from the back of his head.

All the life force within its body was completely and utterly destroyed in that instant, like an oil lamp whose wick has been crushed, the flame going out completely before it could even flicker.