In the Vermilion Bird palace in Ignispolis, Jun Niancang was leaning against one of the pillars as he waited. Soon, his fifth brother, Jun Yifeng, landed before the palace on a pale blue dragon. The dragon had a sturdy pair of wings, making it a fast mount. In terms of its size and threat, it was perhaps two thirds of Ye Shaoqingâs Azureflame Dragon.
âAre you done?â Jun Niancang asked.
âYeap. There were five of them, four of them in Heavenly Will and an Earth Saint stage Grand-Orient Sect elder called Li Ling. I killed all of them, so no news will leak from this place. What about your side, Niancang?â Jun Yifeng asked.
âFinding them was a piece of cake, since most of them were in this palace. Zhenzhen checkedâone of them is Li Tianmingâs father-in-law, one is his loverâs sister, and we also caught his grandfather from the Wei Manor. Those three should be sufficient.â Jun Niancang said, a little gloomily. He questioned his fatherâs methods, but he also wouldnât forget his vengeance. This was the best opportunity he could find.
Together with his brother, he walked into the palace and found three people tied together by Yun Zhenzhen using a lightning-type chain. They were Wei Tiancang, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Qingluan. Their expressions were pale, and any movements from them would send electricity from the chain into their body, causing them to wince in pain. This was especially intolerable for Jiang Qingluan.
âWho exactly are you? If you want to threaten Tianming, shouldnât such dirty methods be disgraceful for someone in your position?â Wei Tiancang asked the moment Jun Niancang stepped in.
âYouâre right, but I have no other ways to kill him but taking you as hostages,â Jun Niancang replied indifferently.
âSo, whatâre your plans?â Yun Zhenzhen asked.
âBring them back to Heavenâs Elysium. With them as hostages, Iâll have plenty of ways to make Li Tianming fight me,â Jun Niancang said.
âLetâs go,â Jun Yifeng said as they walked toward his beast, a fourth-order Wind-Riding Azure Dragon. Yun Zhenzhen casually tossed the three hostages onto the dragonâs back, then hopped on. Outside the palace, almost all of Ignispolisâs powerhouses could only watch helplessly. To them, Jun Yifeng was an unstoppable force.
âFifth Brother, do you think heâll succeed?â Jun Niancang asked with a trembling voice as he stared southward. Heâd spent quite some time in Ignispolis, so the outcome should have been determined by now.
âIt shouldâve gone according to plan. Li Wudi and the Grand-Orient Sect barely had any time to react. As for Weisheng Tianlan, father knew that heâs a righteous, but indecisive, person, so heâll definitely save those people,â Jun Yifeng explained.
âSo weâre using his kindness to slaughter an entire sect?â Jun Niancang snorted. âOnce weâre done with Tianming, Iâll be leaving Heavenâs Elysium for good.â
"Alas..." Jun Yifeng sighed. âLetâs return.â
Once they got back, they could plan a way to lure Tianming out.
âTianming is a very sentimental person whoâs loyal to those he trusts. Iâve heard about how important these three are to him, so heâll definitely meet us, even if he knows itâs a trap,â Jun Yifeng explained.
Jun Niancang shook his head with a bitter smile.
âFather used Weisheng Tianlanâs righteousness against him, while I exploited Tianmingâs loyalty. Truly, like father, like son,â he mocked. However, that didnât stop him, and his eyes still reddened as he grasped at the crystal powder in his hand.
As the dragon rose into the air, another azure dragon of about the same size suddenly approached from the south and instantly locked on to them. The dragon approaching them was covered in blue fire and looked like a smaller Azureflame Dragon. It was Ye Yuxiâs lifebound beast, an Azurefeather Dragon.
The appearance of the Azurefeather Dragon stirred quite a commotion among the crowd of Ignispolis residents. The battle just now had already destroyed quite some buildings in the capital, but now it seemed that there would be a turn of events.
âLook, thatâs Li Tianming on that dragon! Heâs finally back!â
True enough, Tianming had come back to Ignispolis together with Ye Yuxi in order to fulfill his promise and take Jiang Qingluan with him. However, seeing Jun Niancang in Ignispolis, as well as Wei Tiancang, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Qingluan, who had been abducted, wasnât something he had expected. In fact, Tianming had assumed that Jun Niancang had died during the battle at Southsky Sect.
âHalt!â
Tianmingâs shout was of course heard by Jun Niancangâs group. They turned back and found a familiar white-haired youth sitting on the back of the Azurefeather Dragon.
âLi Tianming!â Jun Niancang felt himself flare up almost instantly. âThe gods mustâve heard my wishes!â
They turned their dragon around and charged toward Tianming.
âFifth brother, can you deal with the person beside him? Thatâs Ye Shaoqingâs sister, Ye Yuxi, and she is a fifth-level Earth Saint. You donât have to kill her, just keep her away from Li Tianming,â Jun Niancang asked.
âPerfect, this saved us the effort of looking for them.â
Jun Niancang thought he could almost see Yueling Long beside him, watching over him and saying, This is the perfect opportunity to kill him!
âKill, kill him!â Jun Niancang almost turned into a beast as he roared, his eyes bloodshot. The sight of Yueling Long dying during the Realm War was like a nightmare that would never go away.
âZhenzhen, watch these three here. Should Li Tianming try to run away, just do what you have to do,â Jun Niancang instructed.
âDo I kill them?â Yun Zhenzhen asked.
âThat wonât be necessary. Just start with her.â Jun Niancang pointed at Jiang Qingluan, causing her to pale instantly.
âDonât you touch her! Take me instead, Iâm Tianmingâs father-in-law, and Iâm way more important to him.â Jiang Cheng howled.
âDonât worry, itâll be your turn soon.â Yun Zhenzhen took the chain with her as she leapt off the Wind-Riding Azure Dragon and landed back on the roof of the palace.
When Ye Yuxiâs Azurefeather Dragon tried going for Yun Zhenzhen, the other dragon had already appeared in front of them and blocked their way.
âYe Yuxi, howâre you doing?â Jun Yifeng sneered.
âWhat should I even expect from Jun Shenxiaoâs sons? Too bad, youâll end up just like him!â Ye Yuxi was fuming.
âWhat do you mean?â both Jun Yifeng and Jun Niancang asked nervously.
âI see the news hasnât reached you yet,â Ye Yuxi smirked.
âHold it there,â Tianming hurriedly whispered to her, afraid of what the brothers would do to their hostages.
âRight.â Ye Yuxiâs reactions were just as fast.
âJun Niancang, I shouldâve known better about your personality.â Tianmingâs gaze was cold. He needed to handle this situation with delicacy.
âWhat happened to my father?â Jun Niancang persisted.
âLet them go and Iâll tell you.â
âNiancang, donât waste your time with his bullshit. Get it done before their help arrives,â Jun Yifeng interrupted.
âUnderstood! Listen, Li Tianming, as soon as you disappear from my sight, I wonât hesitate to kill them,â Jun Niancang said coldly.
âYe Yuxi!â Jun Yifeng was even faster, as he dashed toward them with the Wind-Riding Azure Dragon, toppling many of Ignispolisâ buildings in his path.
âRun!â
As Tianming dispersed the residents around him, the gust from the dragon blew toward him and Ye Yuxi, blasting them toward the Vermilion Bird palace. As soon as they recovered, the Jun brothers were already in front of them.
âTianming, hang in there and wait for me!â Ye Yuxi frowned. She wanted to get rid of Jun Niancang first, but Jun Yifeng was standing in her way.
âDonât worry about me,â Tianming answered.
At that moment, Jun Yifeng launched a series of deadly attacks against Ye Yuxi, so that Jun Niancang could have an opportunity to personally take revenge. He couldnât care less for Ignispolis, and destruction reigned wherever he went. Left with no other choice, Ye Yuxi had to deal with him first.
As for Jun Niancang, he stood atop a pile of debris with his eyes locked on to Tianming. The next instant, he approached Tianming with a white spear in his hands. The spear was covered in golden scales and had a total of twenty-three saintly heavenly patterns traversing its body. That meant it was worth even more than the Imperial Ninefold Gates, and was about the same level as Ye Shaoqingâs Azureflame Empyrean. It was the Royal Elysian Spear.
Simultaneously, Jun Niancangâs lifebound beast left his lifebound space and inserted itself between Tianming and Ye Yuxi, making sure that Tianming was isolated. It was a beast that Tianming was familiar with, and in fact, had just seen a while ago. It was a sixth-order saint beast, the Firmament Saint Dragon. Compared to the emperorâs dragon, it had yet to fully mature, but that didnât make it any less magnificent. Not only was it equal in size to Ye Shaoqingâs Azureflame Dragon, but it also radiated a holy glow.
Jun Niancang was in the saint stage, meaning that his body had evolved from that of a mere mortalâs. For all those who had reached the saint stage, their spiritsource would transform into a saint palace, and inside of that palace rested the fountain of life. The fountain was also where saint ki was formed. Unlike beast ki, saint ki was on a totally different level, in terms of quality, and it was even fused with the power of a beastmasterâs heavenly will.
What were Tianmingâs odds against an earth saint with a sixth-order saint beast?
âThis is a crisis that I canât overcome by myself. I just have to stay alive and wait for aunt Yuxi to come and save me after she kills Jun Yifeng.â Tianmingâs brows were locked together as he faced an opponent that was just way too many levels ahead of him.
He wasnât given much time to think; and escape wasnât an option either, or his loved ones would die.
âDamn it!â
As Tianming blocked a blow from Jun Niancangâs spear with his sword, he was knocked back into Vermilion Bird palace and sent crashing through the walls.
âItâs a shame that I have such an unfair advantage over you, thanks to my age and beast. But thatâs fine, since you wonât be complaining about it once youâre dead.â Jun Niancang approached once again, his eyes as cold as a demonâs.