Xing Que’s weapon was called the Red-Sun War-God Halberd. Combined with his tall and sturdy frame, his attacks naturally carried an explosive quality to them.
“Star Cleaver Art!” A battle art that sought to cut down stars, it was an overbearing move that suited Xing Que’s battle style — a complete contrast to Chen Hao’s Cosmic Brilliante Sword Art.
One was domineering, one was beautiful.
If they weren’t both male, they would probably have had one of those arranged marriages. Although they weren’t sweethearts, seeing his brother heavily injured still left Xing Que furious, increasing the power behind every swing of his halberd.
“Li Tianming! You will end up worse than him, mark my words!” Xing Que snarled.
“Don’t brag so much! You’re just showing how scared now.” Li Tianming hovered in mid-air. With the Temporal Field up, he was unbeatable. After all, Xing Que wasn’t that much stronger than Wei Guohao or Chen Hao.
But Li Tianming, well, he was waaaaayyyy stronger!
As Li Tianming spoke, the Solar Horned Tiger’s horn suddenly lit up. Golden light shot outwards, its target Li Tianming. This was its spiritsource ability, Illuminating Sunlight. With the light as a cue, Xing Que leapt up a moment later, his halberd preparing to fell a star from the sky. His movements were explosive, this sudden eruption of attacks quite fierce.
However, Li Tianming was already prepared. Even though the Illuminating Sunlight was fast, it wasn’t that easy to land a hit on him when he was in the sky. His Infernal Armour had reverted into his perfect state too — even if he was struck directly, he wouldn’t be defeated.
Li Tianming dodged to the side with the Flaming Shadow Flash, its speed further boosted in the Temporal Field, and the Illuminating Sunlight passed by harmlessly.
“Die!” Xing Que’s halberd hacked down.
Li Tianming suddenly opened his left palm, revealing his Bewildering Eye again. Using an art of seduction against a man left an odd taste in his mouth, but it was ultimately just a means to an end.
With Xing Que beguiled for a moment, Li Tianming seized the opportunity to use the Soulless Seven Howls.
First stance, Wail of Evil Spirits!
Second stance, Torment of Vengeful Apparitions!
The Blazing Dragon Chainblade began to emit strange sounds, which combined with the Bewildering Eye, assaulted his sight and hearing in concord.
Third stance!
Fourth stance!
Fifth stance!
Xing Que could survive a hit from the chain, but he wasn’t able to stand up to the consecutive attacks by the supreme source-ranked Soulless Seven Howls. His grade five armour didn’t protect every bit of his body, as such armours were restrictive in battle, leaving behind some unprotected spots. The nimble Blazing Dragon Fang just so happened to excel in finding such spots.
As the Soulless Seven Howls reached its fifth stance, the Blazing Dragon Fang broke through Xing Que’s Star Cleaver Art, stabbing through a chink in his armour to pierce Xing Que’s waist.
Xing Que roared in pain, and with such an opening, Li Tianming descended from the sky, sweeping out with his legs and kicking Xing Que in the head. His massive frame was blown away, landing beside Chen Hao, who just happened to pull out the Hepta-Star Arcane Sword. However, at the sight of Xing Que flying over, Chen Hao hurriedly threw the sword aside, not daring to pick it up.
Xing Que attempted to struggle to his feet, which earned him another kick from Li Tianming that sent him crashing into a rock. Dizziness took hold of him again, and when he finally fought that off, he was greeted with the sight of Li Tianming working together with the little chick to turn his tiger into a bloody mess.
Several holes had been pecked out on the tiger, and it had been completely defeated.
When Li Tianming finally stopped, the surroundings were completely silent, save for the pained whimpers of two men and their beasts, as well as the constant roaring of thunder above.
Xing Que and Chen Hao looked at Li Tianming, terrified to the point that they didn’t dare exhale.
Li Tianming used his chain to bundle the two up, the dragonfire on the chain making them grimace in pain. The two arrogant young masters of Xing & Chen Merchantry tried to act tough, but they were unable to hide the trembling in their legs. Their terror only grew further when they saw the state that their once resplendent lion and majestic tiger were in.
When Li Tianming played with his Blazing Dragon Fang in front of the two, their expressions finally wavered.
“So, was that enjoyable?” Li Tianming grabbed Chen Hao by the hair and forced him to look him in the eyes. “Hey hey, why aren’t you answering?”
Li Tianming’s smile widened. He had been waiting for a long time to do this, ever since they mocked his mother back at the ranking battles.
“Weren’t you super pretentious before and liked to look down on people? Look at you now!” Li Tianming asked, patting Chen Hao on the cheek.
“Don’t go overboard in trying to humiliate us. You may have beaten us, but you’ll end up worse eventually.” Chen Hao tried to snarl, but it was difficult with several teeth missing.
“Go overboard? I humiliated you all? Please. Did you even think this would happen when you and your mother said all those words?” Li Tianming gave him a loud slap, finally shutting Chen Hao up.
“After you go back, properly describe to your mother how I beat you up and embarrassed you.” Li Tianming punctuated his words with another slap. Chen Hao’s left side had already become swollen from the chain just now, and Li Tianming was going for the right side now. With both sides starting to swell up, Chen Hao's face was completely ruined.
“I know you wanted to kill me. If I lost today, I might not have kept my life. Still, I have more morals, so I won’t kill you. We don’t have any deep enmities after all, and Sage Chen did give me a hand.” Li Tianming continued to slap him as he spoke, his sentence long enough to land three nice satisfying slaps.
Chen Hao finally lowered his head. He still couldn’t accept it, but there was nothing he could do.
“Li Tianming! Come at me if you have the guts!” Xing Que roared.
“Damn it, why are you so excited? You’re up next!” Li Tianming walked up to him, and slapped him on the face.
“Xing Que, will you still send me a coffin for free?” He had never forgotten those words. Xing Que had given him an address for him to pick up a free coffin for his mother.
“Was it very fun, taking the suffering of others as entertainment?” Another slap fell, turning Xing Que’s face purple.
“Li Tianming!” Xing Que gritted his teeth and looked at Li Tianming.
“What?” Li Tianming pressed the Blazing Dragon Fang against his neck and said coldly. “I don’t know your daddy, nor did he do me any favours. I didn’t kill Chen Hao, but you on the other hand…”
“You!”
“I’ll ask you again. Are you still offering the coffin?”
Xing Que’s eyes spat out fire.
Another slap!
“Still offering? Well, are you?!” The last slap made Xing Que tear up. With the Blazing Dragon Fang against his neck, Xing Que didn’t dare to speak up.
“Hmph, we’ll see if you dare act cocky in front of me again!” Li Tianming stood up, and he placed his foot on Xing Que’s face, breaking his nose.
“Xing Que, remember this humiliation! Next time you see me, be more polite.” Li Tianming finally removed his foot. After calling over the little chick, he collected his chainblade and swaggered off.
Xing Que and Chen Hao were left snivelling on the ground. Who was to blame except themselves for being too weak? The winner was in the right, and as the losers, no one cared about them. It was the case for Li Tianming back then, and it was the case for the two brothers now.
In truth, apart from the Hepta-Star Winged Lion, the rest weren’t injured all that badly. They didn’t have internal injuries, and they could rely on the large amounts of spirit herbs they possessed to quickly recover their combat strength. Only the lion had it tough; Li Tianming had taken special care to ensure that it couldn’t get back up. Otherwise, the one on the ground would be him now.
It was their fault for saying such hurtful words in the past. Li Tianming was looking forward to them passing on his reply to Xue Lan. However, although they had kept targeting Li Tianming, they weren’t his true opponents. Today’s lesson was quite harsh, but it might actually end up a blessing for these pampered young masters to experience such humiliation.
“This is the meaning of power. Dissatisfied? Unhappy? Your fists provide the answer!” Li Tianming understood the path of cultivation better now.
“This is a world that belongs to the strong.” Li Tianming looked up at the sky. “Ying Huo, this is how we’ll do things from now on. If anyone bullies us, we beat them black and blue. Then, we beat them up even harder!”
“That’s easy!” The little chick, perched on his shoulder, puffed up its chest heroically.
“What about me?” Jiang Feiling asked.
“Ling’er, did you dislike how cruel I was just now?” Li Tianming asked. Jiang Feiling was just so pure that Li Tianming felt discomfort doing any bloody things around her.
“Nope. Those slaps were very enjoyable and cool!” Jiang Feiling said with adoration.
“I didn’t think Ling’er would be such a cruel girl. Ah, there goes her image!” The little chick sighed emotionally, its vision seemingly filled with the cruel actions of mankind.
“Well, I never cared about my image in Ying Huo’s heart. The only thing that matters is how cute big brother thinks I am.”
The little chick was furious. “You two pieces of trash! I, Grandpappy Chicken, am running away from home!”
“No, don’t go. Without you, I and Ling’er will be heartbroken,” Li Tianming said anxiously.
“Why?” The little chick puffed itself up even more somehow.
“Because you’re too beautiful a chick to let go of.”