Fan Wutian had been struggling to learn a heavenly-ranked sword art the whole time. Yet while he was still struggling, he saw a little chick use such a sword art before him. It was definitely not a mere unity-ranked sword art! He could do nothing but counter with a supreme unity-ranked battle art, the Gale Greatsword Art.
"I donât believe it!"
He must have been seeing things. What followed was him crossing bouts twice with Ying Huo. The first move by the little chick was Countercurrent; the instant their swords clashed, Fan Wutian haggardly dodged as his greatsword was about to bite into his own hands. He slammed into a tree, crushing it into small splinters.
Ying Huo followed up with Starfall, prompting Fan Wutian to roar and push himself to the limits as he used the only heavenly-ranked sword art he had decent comprehension of, the first move of the Gale Greatsword Art. His strike caused strong winds to blow at the splintered tree, reducing it to even smaller pieces. That strike was infused with a little heavenly will.
However, it was far from comparison with Ying Huoâs Starfall. While he was two levels higher than Ying Huo in terms of beast ki, his thirty-six spiritsources paled in comparison to Ying Huoâs infernalsource that was equivalent to more than sixty spiritsources, not to mention the quality of his beast ki.
Starfall slammed the greatsword out of Fan Wutianâs hands and cut through his wrist with a single slash. He cried out in pain as he was sent flying, breaking through a few trees before landing on the dying Trihead Gale Condor. Like brothers, beastmaster and beast were suffering alike.
Looking up, they saw the two terrifying little critters looking down on them and felt unimaginable fear. Fan Wutianâs swordsmanship that he trained so hard on had easily been crushed by a mere little chick.
The little chick knocked on his head and tossed him his severed hand. "Young man, donât mess around if you have no business being here. Go back home and have your parents reconnect your hand."
As one of the three most powerful Cloudmist disciples, Fan Wutian was terrified to the point his face paled. He endured the pain and scrammed like a madman. Nobody had managed to crush his will so utterly before this.
Ying Huo shook its head and said, "Young people these days really canât take any stress...." The little chick had easily pushed Fan Wutian to his limits without even trying.
If that wasnât already bad enough, Fan Wutian felt another shock and tripped when he saw Tianming again. He rolled on the ground before he got up, then picked up his hand and shuddered.
"Did the Grand-Orient Sect send a demon?" There hasnât been someone of Tianmingâs caliber for a hundred generations of prime disciples, and this was only the start. Yet that wouldnât stop Tianming from giving his all. A seventh-level Unity beastmaster like him had actually managed to deal with the ninth-level Unity Xi Menglin without breaking a sweat.
The beast ki in his infernalsource and lightningsource really put him far above his opponent. At the very beginning of the fight, Tianming had turned into a shadow as he charged in, executing the first fist of the Trivita Fiendfist, Skyshaker, using his black arm. Xi Menglin could only catch a flash of a dark color.
"Buzz off!" He opened his hands and used a supreme unity-ranked battle art, the Oceanspan Palm, manifesting a sea in front of him and using his beast ki to reduce his opponentâs attacks to nothing. At the same time, the Astral Crab he was seated on struck with its two pincers in an attempt to intercept Tianming.
Even then, he wasnât able to block that punch that could shatter even the skies, let alone the ocean. The merciless fist broke through the barrier like bamboo and instantly caused an explosion.
Right as the Oceanspan Palm was neutralized, the two beast kis surged and sent the punch digging into Xi Menglinâs abdomen, turning his face bloody red. His innards were probably reduced to powder from the punch and he was blown back from the sheer force, then crashed into a boulder. The shock shook his body and caused him to spit out blood before he collapsed, unmoving.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
RIght at that moment, the crabâs pincers were about to pierce through Tianming. Even though he had tried to dodge, they managed to grab onto his left arm. The crab was going to snap Tianmingâs left arm in half, only for it to use too much force and crush its own pincers instead. They shouldâve been tough enough to crush even beastial weapons!
Tianming pulled his arm out and saw the cracks on the pincers, then punched the crab on the back, creating a spider web fracture across its carapace. The crab spit out white foam as it crashed to the ground. It struggled to get up, despite how sharp its legs and pincers were.
The battle had ended almost too easily. Tianming clapped his hands and looked to the side, seeing Fan Wutian piss himself as he scrambled away after being beaten by Ying Huo.
"Even though Lingâerâs asleep now, we really did make a lot of progress this past half month, far more than others imagine." This time around, disciples on the level of Fan Wutian and Xi Menglin werenât his targets. If they blocked his way, he would take care of them. However, he still went to Xi Menglin and held him by his chin. Xi Menglin shuddered again, but couldnât run even if he wanted to.
"Mmmmwwffh...." He couldnât even speak with how his mouth was gripped. Nothing but terror could be seen in his eyes, and his arrogant demeanor was nowhere to be seen.
"Still want to see the bane-rings?" Tianming asked.
"Mmmwwf!" He struggled to shake his head, then spat out another mouthful of blood.
"So now do you believe that I took Yuwen Shenduâs place here?"
"Mmmff...." He nodded as he shed tears of pain.
"Then remember how badly you ended up today. Tell your grandfather, Gu Qiuyu, that the bane-rings are merely symptoms. If he really wants to see if Iâm a pentabane, just have him watch me perform."
"Mmmff!" He nodded more earnestly this time.
Tianming stood up and said, "Though, you got me to think through one thing. Geniuses are meant to compete with each other. You must be pretty impressive in the Southsky Sect, for you to see yourself so highly. But the moment you meet someone who can completely dominate you, your fear and terror are completely identical to a normal personâs."
This was a warning for Xi Menglin, as well as for himself. He should never be satisfied just because people called him a genius; nothing but power could ensure his security at any moment. There was always a chance he could be defeated, too. There was no saying when he would end up like Xi Menglin.
......
"Whoâs this fellow? He fought one against two and defeated two ninth-level Unity beastmasters from the Southsky Sect and Cloudmist Sword School!"
Near the Throughgate, the battles on the path could clearly be seen. Many people were battling seventh-order wildbeasts, so not many people had paid attention to Tianmingâs fight.
"White hair?" Song Yixue seemed to recall someone like that.
"Those two lifebound beasts are... a chick and a cat. However, the cat turned bigger..." said Ling Yichen, his voice rough.
The three of them watched in shock as they looked at each other in disbelief.
"It must be a coincidence! That canât be him!" Song Yixue cried as her voice broke from sheer shock.
"What was his name again? Jiang Tianming?" Jin Yixuan said as he recalled Vermillion Bird.
"No, itâs Li Tianming," Song Yixue corrected. For Jin Yixuan to forget his surname meant that they really hadnât thought much of Tianming back then. However, they still remembered the fight involving the white-haired youth and his cat and chick three to four months ago at Heavenâs Sanctum.
"Are you sure itâs him?" Ling Yichen said with a shaky voice. He had lived a long time and heâd never seen something like that before.
"Let me see what he looks like!" Jin Yixuan said as he stretched his head out. It was a little too far off, but that youth happened to turn to him at that moment. He was so taken aback his face paled. "Thatâs Li Tianming! His left arm has beastial metamorphosis! Itâs definitely him!"
"What in the world..." Song Yixue said in a shaky voice.
Ling Yichen gasped and said, "Lin Xiaoting was first-level Unity, right? Back then, Li Tianming was about at that level too. But now, he had just defeated someone at the ninth level. He could even hold his own against Heavenly Will! That means he broke through a whole stage within three or four months!"
"Nobody in the Grand-Orient Realm is supposed to be capable of that!" Jin Yixuan cried.
As for Song Yixue, she merely stared blankly at Tianming, completely unlike the dignified invigilator from back then.
"Thatâs right. Itâs impossible. Even Elysian Long took three years to go through Unity. And compared to most other Elysian Children, who started cultivating at three years old, Elysian Long started relatively late. Even Elysian Yi took five or six years to go through Unity, right?"
Ling Yichenâs brows were furrowed so deep they were going to remain wrinkles. They felt a chill as they discussed the matter further.
"What kind of growth did he have back at Vermillion Bird?" Ling Yichen asked.
"We donât know, but we can be sure that he broke through two levels from the time he went to the Abyssal Battlefield to his battle with Lin Xiaoting. I heard Li Jingyu say heâs the illegitimate son of Li Wudi, so heâs definitely a true descendant of the Li Saint Clan. Donât tell me his cultivation shot up when he returned to his clan?"
Their worlds were falling apart as they spoke.
"Perhaps he awakened many bane-rings, three or four even," Song Yixue said. While they were quite detached from the matter, they were still rather familiar with Tianming.
"Boss, this wonât do. Thereâs definitely something wrong with him. We have to inform the elysian king and elysian elders about this immediately!" Song Yixue warned.
"They wonât give us an audience. We should go to Elysian Long instead!" Ling Yichen said. It wasnât an exaggeration to say that they would be treated like madmen if they bothered reporting this. "Letâs not be hasty and take a few more looks to be sure."
"Alright!"
Even if that were the case, they found it hard to believe something like this. Was that youth from back then really as terrifying as he seemed? If so, Jin Yixuan and Song Yixue shuddered, as Tianmingâs current prowess was rather close to their own, now.