NOVEL WEB CHAPTER 271
CHAPTER 271: THE PRICE OF A LOW-TIER PATH
Hissss…
The sharp, grating sound of something sizzling, like steel being corroded by a potent acid, echoed suddenly from Lu Ming’s body.
The moment the purplish-black poisonous gas touched him, a silver glow flared up, enveloping him in protective light. The gas, seemingly alive, writhed as it tried to burrow into his skin, but the shimmering silver aura held fast, fighting back with equal ferocity.
The silver patterns on Lu Ming’s chest pulsed violently, flickering in sync with the intensity of the struggle.
“Your strong endurance comes from a body protection technique,” Esek muttered, observing the scene with a detached air. “A rather conventional approach.”
It was common for many to ascend to the Ancient Realm using such methods—relying on body protective techniques. While simple, they weren't particularly powerful and were considered a lower-tier path within the realm.
Esek remained silent, his eyes narrowed as the purple poison began to erode the protective light, inching closer to Lu Ming’s skin.
“It’s even weaker than the lowest tier,” Esek mused coldly. “Can’t even withstand a single spell…”
He had already surmised Lu Ming’s situation from their brief exchange. The silver patterns, he realized, must have been formed by stacking numerous low-level protective techniques, perhaps even ones from the Spirit Realm or below.
Esek was no fool. He wasn’t surprised by what he saw now—only disappointed. He shook his head, a hint of pity flickering in his eyes as the poison crept closer.
"Exceptional talent, but an unfortunate background," Esek mused, his tone indifferent. "A lack of resources often leads to such outcomes. Using numerous low-level defensive techniques to form these silver patterns… their strength is even weaker than ordinary methods."
He shook his head in mild disappointment. "If this is all you have, I doubt you’ll survive my Zombie Beast Poison..."
Strictly speaking, Esek’s Zombie Beast Poison—while derived from the Foundation of Matter—wasn’t particularly deadly on its own. Its primary function was to infect and transform exotic beasts into zombie creatures. Toxicity and corrosiveness were secondary, almost incidental side effects.
By Esek’s estimation, the poison’s direct lethality was only marginally stronger than the silver patterns of typical poison-based magic sources. It wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful.
Even so, the gas easily penetrated Lu Ming’s protective light and the silver patterns that constituted his Source of Mystic. The fact that it managed this so effortlessly revealed just how fragile Lu Ming’s defenses truly were.
Weaker, in fact, than even the lowest tier of the Ancient Realm by a wide margin.
“Let’s end this,” Esek muttered, standing as if to assist. He had the ability to withdraw the poison if he chose to—an easy feat for him.
But just as he was about to intervene, something stopped him. His gaze fixed on the scene unfolding before him. The poisonous gas pierced through Lu Ming’s protective barrier and seeped into his pores, invading his body.
The pain that followed was immediate and excruciating. Lu Ming’s eyes widened in shock as agony tore through him, as if sulfuric acid had been injected directly into his veins. His body trembled violently, muscles twitching in response to the assault.
Countless cells within his body began to collapse, disintegrating under the infection of the Zombie Beast Poison. Large ulcers erupted across his skin, festering and spreading within moments.
Yet despite the agony coursing through his body, Lu Ming remained composed. He let out a quiet sigh, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Ancient Realm... Ancient Realm.”
Having experienced its power firsthand, Lu Ming had begun to grasp the true essence of the Ancient Realm. Its strength lay in the power of the natural order—an immutable force that governed everything.
The moment mystical patterns were born on a superhuman’s body, they stepped into the Ancient Realm. These patterns signified that they had been accepted by the very rules of the world, gaining intrinsic strength far beyond anything the Spirit Realm or Origin Realm could offer.
The mystical patterns granted natural immunity to spiritual pressure and even enhanced the bearer’s own spiritual force. They provided immunity to the manipulation of origin power while amplifying the user’s control over it. The patterns also significantly boosted the strength of related abilities—such as Lu Ming’s body protective technique.
From the moment his mystical patterns manifested, the defensive power of his technique had skyrocketed. On his attribute panel, it had evolved into something new: [Absolute Defense (Level 1)].
In battles between Ancient Realm experts, the real contest was in the strength of their mystical patterns—their mastery and connection to the natural order itself.
Esek’s Foundation of Matter gold patterns, however, were far superior to Lu Ming’s Source of Mystic silver patterns. The difference wasn’t slight; it was overwhelming.
Esek’s Zombie Beast Poison, despite its limitations, had exploited the gap in their power. It easily corroded Lu Ming’s protective technique, bypassing his defenses to wreak havoc on his body.
The gap between Lu Ming and Esek wasn’t just one of skill or experience—it was the fundamental difference in their connection to the power of the natural order. When Esek’s Zombie Beast Poison pierced through Lu Ming’s protective technique and unraveled his mystical patterns, it felt as though the battle had already been decided.
The poison infiltrated Lu Ming’s body with no resistance. No matter how strong Lu Ming’s physical form was, it was powerless against the force of the natural order. This was the harsh reality of the Ancient Realm.
His body, hardened by relentless training, was now like air before an iron blade. The Zombie Beast Poison, imbued with the power of the natural order, cut through him as effortlessly as a knife through nothingness.
"Once the mystical patterns are broken, the outcome of an Ancient Realm battle is almost always determined," Esek observed coldly. "Without mystical patterns, resistance becomes futile against those who possess them."
It was akin to how a Spirit Realm expert could effortlessly crush a Physique Realm opponent with sheer spiritual pressure, or how an Origin Realm expert could manipulate origin power to instantly defeat a Spirit Realm opponent. The gap was undeniable—insurmountable.
In the same way, when an Ancient Realm expert fought someone from the Origin Realm, the mystical patterns created an unbridgeable divide, one that could not be crossed by willpower or raw strength alone.
"But... I refuse to accept this!"
For countless days and nights, Lu Ming had pushed himself to the limits, ruthlessly boosting his attributes through the system, refining his body to be as hard as steel. Yet now, in the face of Ancient Realm mystical patterns, that hard-won strength had crumbled as if it were nothing.
How could he accept this?
"I refuse to believe that physical strength alone can't withstand the power of mystical patterns," Lu Ming muttered through gritted teeth. His voice was strained, defiant.
He hadn't calmed down. The searing pain from the Zombie Beast Poison was a constant reminder of his precarious situation, yet his temperament remained as stubborn as ever. Refusing to surrender, Lu Ming steeled himself for another round of the grueling battle against the poison.
Taking a deep breath, his muscles tensed, rippling with the surge of energy he summoned from deep within. A flood of raw power burst forth, rushing into his corroded cells. The parts of his body that had been ravaged by the Zombie Beast Poison began to regenerate at an astonishing speed. The ulcers that marred his skin slowly healed—only to fester again as the poison resumed its relentless attack.
It was a vicious cycle: healing and festering, destruction and regeneration. Over and over, his body was torn apart, only to knit itself back together.
Esek watched in silent awe, his brow furrowing slightly. What he witnessed was beyond anything he had expected.
“Incredible body constitution,” Esek muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. “And an iron-like will.”
It wasn’t just Lu Ming’s physical prowess that impressed him—it was his sheer force of will. To endure such a cycle of agony, regeneration, and decay required an unyielding spirit.
In the Spirit Realm, and even the Origin Realm, Lu Ming's attributes—more than 600,000—were overwhelmingly powerful. Combined with the weakest of the silver mystical patterns' wondrous benefits, he had effortlessly crushed Hao Huang and the Queen of Blade, both formidable in their own right within the Origin Realm.
But in the Ancient Realm, things were different. Here, those attributes were nothing extraordinary—barely enough to keep him from being a burden.
Ancient Realm experts had access to higher-level body-forging techniques, supplemented by natural treasures that refined their bodies over time. With lifespans stretching into thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of years, even those who didn’t specialize in physical refinement could maintain extraordinary attributes with ease. Their advantage was clear: while their efficiency in boosting physical strength might be lower than Lu Ming’s, their long lives gave them a massive edge in accumulation and experience.
What Esek didn’t know, however, was that Lu Ming was only 26 years old.
No one—not even the offspring of gods, who began cultivating body-forging techniques in the womb—could have reached the heights that Lu Ming had attained by his age.
Yet, Esek could only marvel at what was in front of him, unaware of the staggering context behind Lu Ming’s strength. What he did see was Lu Ming’s indomitable will, pushing back against the impossible odds.
After about ten minutes, the battle between Lu Ming and the poison came to an end.
Standing before Esek, Lu Ming was unscathed, though his face was pale from the exertion. He exhaled slowly, the tension in his body easing.
“It’s done…” he muttered softly, closing his eyes to assess the state of his body.
But the weariness was undeniable. “The consumption was too great.”
Using nothing but raw physical strength to resist the Zombie Beast Poison, imbued as it was with the power of the natural order, had drained him. It had taken him a full ten minutes to completely erode the poison’s effects, and the fatigue weighed heavily on him.
Still, through the exhaustion, Lu Ming had confirmed something important—those without mystical patterns weren’t entirely powerless against those who possessed them.
Despite its overwhelming power, the essence of the natural order was still just a form of high-level energy. Air couldn’t resist an iron weapon, but given enough time, even the sharpest iron could rust and degrade into dust when exposed to the elements.
“And now the question is,” Lu Ming muttered under his breath, his gaze locking onto Esek, “just how much of your strength did that bit of Zombie Beast Poison cost you?”
He could see that Esek had already suppressed his initial surprise. The look in Esek’s eyes had shifted—now filled with a seriousness that wasn’t there before.
After a moment’s contemplation, Esek waved his hand again. In an instant, hundreds of streams of Zombie Beast Poison surged from his palm, swirling through the air like dark tendrils.
Lu Ming’s heart sank. His eyes darkened as the realization hit him hard.
“There was hardly any consumption…”
The single stream of poison that had nearly drained him, taking ten agonizing minutes to eradicate, was nothing to Esek. With a mere wave of his hand, Esek could summon hundreds—no, thousands—of them effortlessly.
End of Chapter 271