Li Tianming took a closer look at the youth in green robes who was obviously not from Flamehaven. He didn’t expect to see a stranger in the deepest parts of Red Twill Mountain.
“Why is it so easy to run into geniuses these days?” Li Tianming thought. One glance was enough to tell that the youth was at Li Zifeng’s level.
There was no reason for him to fall out with the youth, but he needed the clear spirit grass which was below the youth’s feet. Li Tianming winced as the youth stepped forward, crushing two strands of the grass under his feet, causing the spiritual energy to dissipate.
“You aren't from the Lightning Manor, so what gave you the courage to step foot in this part of the mountain. Aren't you afraid to die?” The youth in green glared at Li Tianming, arrogance radiating off his very being.
“Lightning Manor? Of course I’m not from the Lightning Manor.” Li Tianming was stunned by the question. What did the Lightning Manor have to do with this? “What do you mean? Are you from the Lightning Manor, and telling me that only people from the manor are allowed entry to Red Twill?”
Disciples of the Lightning Manor generally had lightning-type lifebound beasts, while this boy’s beast was poison-type, so Li Tianming thought the odds of him being from the Lightning Manor weren’t high.
“Well since I asked that question, it should be obvious that I’m from Lightning Manor. I’ll let you know that the Lightning Manor has things to do in Red Twill, and that if you don’t scram from the mountain right now, you’ll never make it out alive again.” The youth’s arrogance lent credit to his claim from Lightning Manor. Unbridled megalomania seemed to be a common trait among the geniuses of Lightning Manor, Liu Qianyang included.
“Sure I’ll leave right now. I was planning to anyway, but I just hope to gather some clear spirit grass here to cure my mother’s illness. I’d appreciate it if you just give me a minute or so.”
“Clear spirit grass?” The youth in green lowered his head, noticing the spirit herb with red heavenly patterns under his feet.
“Yes, a few strands and I’ll be on my way,” Li Tianming replied.
“Oh.” The youth nodded. Just as Li Tianming thought the youth was about to make way for him, the youth ground his foot against the ground, killing all the clear spirit grass, while smiling at Li Tianming. “If I tell you to scram, I expect you to ask how far. How dare some bumpkin like you bargain with me?”
Li Tianming was pretty good-tempered in general, and never one to pick a fight. But in this case all the youth needed to do was to back off a few steps. To make it worse, he destroyed the clear spirit grass when he himself clearly didn’t need it. Li Tianming couldn’t tolerate this kind of outrageous insult, especially not when the grass was needed to save Wei Jing’s life!
Li Tianming seethed with fury, what with the clear spirit grass all dead, and the intolerable smugness on the teenager’s face.
“I don’t care who you are, I’ll kill you!” Li Tianming cursed, his Crimson Blood Dagger already in his right hand. He clenched his left fist so hard, it almost tore the cloth used to cover it.
“You bastard!” The little chick was way more irascible than Li Tianming, shooting out from the top of Li Tianming’s head like a bullet.
The youth could never imagine a ‘bumpkin’ had the courage to pick a fight with him.
“Are they idiots? End them.” He clearly didn’t see a need to confront the pair himself, commanding his lifebound beast to attack Li Tianming instead.
“You can only blame your luck on entering the mountain at this wrong time. We can’t risk the odd chance that you become the first to find the manna,” the youth muttered in a soft voice that Li Tianming couldn’t catch.
Despite its size, the Blue-Tailed Scorpion was incredibly agile. Its razor-sharp claws and poisonous tails were as deadly as top quality beastial weapons. The scorpion made use of these to hunt down prey in the fastest time possible, poisoning them in the process.
BANG!
The moment Li Tianming’s black arm clashed against the Blue-Tail Scorpion’s claws, he knew that his opponents were at seventh level Beast Vein stage. Considering that the lifebound beast was poison-type, Li Zifeng would probably be no match to him, but that was not the case for Li Tianming! On top of that, the youth had yet to make a move, which presented a great chance for Li Tianming to take them down one by one.
“Now!” Since the chick and him could communicate telepathically, they could coordinate perfectly during battle.
It was the Bloody Soul Hunt! Li Tianming and Ying Huo executed the supreme beast-ranked battle art at the same time, Li Tianming using its battle arts and the little chick using the beastial arts. The Bloody Soul Hunt placed great emphasis on the movements of its users, and within the bat of an eye, Li Tianming had dashed in front of the Blue-Tailed Scorpion!
With that being said, the move synergised even better with the little chick. Given its small size and its ability to fly, the little chick was even harder to catch when using the Bloody Soul Hunt to look for its opponent’s weakness. In the case of the Blue-Tailed Scorpion, the Achilles heel was its eyes!
The scorpion, on the other hand, didn’t even consider the little chick to be a threat, its focus only on Li Tianming. It was almost as fast as Li Tianming, its pincers aiming directly for where Li Tianming’s arm was, ready to snap his arm into half!
“Say goodbye to your arm.” The youth smiled when he saw Li Tianming’s arm caught by the Blue-Tailed Scorpion.
Clank! The sound was loud and crisp!
Hearing that, the youth relaxed. He was almost certain that it was the sound of Li Tianming’s arm snapping, but upon taking a closer look he was completely stunned.
“How could it be?!”
In contrast to Li Tianming’s unscathed arm, the Blue-Tailed Scorpion’s pincer was riddled with cracks. It was an unimaginable sight!
“What a fool, you have no idea how tough his hand is.” The little chick laughed.
Li Tianming, unharmed by the scorpion’s attacks, made use of that opening to stab the Blue-Tailed Scorpion’s eye with his Crimson Blood Dagger, causing green blood to spurt all over the place. At the same time, the little chick charged at the scorpion’s other eye, its sharp beak tearing it out.
“Congratulations! Your prize today is one blind lifebound beast!” The little chick taunted the youth in green as it rose back into the air.
The severely injured Blue-Tailed Scorpion could do nothing but roll on the ground from the sheer pain of losing both eyes. Even with the best medicine, it might never see again given that amount of damage.
“Next comes your leg.” Li Tianming was done with the Blue-Tailed Scorpion, and had already locked on to his next target. The youth had crushed all of the clear spirit grass, and Li Tianming was going to make sure he paid for that.
“Go to hell!” The youth just recovered from the shock of his lifebound beast’s defeat, and in his fury he drew several needles. Those silver needles were evidently top quality beastial weapons, made with precious spirit ores. Li Tianming had a hunch that they were Heart-Piercing Needles, poisonous weapons with a distinctive blue tip.
Zoom! The youth threw the needle straight at Li Tianming and the little chick. Sadly for him, his weapon was countered by the pair using Bloody Soul Hunt. Top-tier movement arts could easily dodge this kind of attacks, and once the Heart Piercing Needle missed, the youth would be directly exposed to Li Tianming’s attacks.
Within moments, Li Tianming and his little chick had the youth surrounded. Li Tianming’s black arm balled up, and with the Crimson Blood Dagger in his right hand, he struck out mercilessly. Using a sudden burst of his Aeternal Infernal Beast Ki, he landed a direct punch on the youth’s abdomen area, sending the poor boy flying back.
BANG!
The youth struggled to climb up from the ground, blood dribbling out of his mouth.
“So you weren’t as useless as you look, but I’ll let you know that I’ll still kill you! I’m gonna flay the flesh off your body piece by piece and have you begging me to give you a quick death!” His eyes were blazing murderously.
“For someone who can’t even stand up now, you sure like to talk big.” Li Tianming stared at the youth coldly. No matter how much he beat up the youth, the clear spirit grass wasn’t coming back. “You deserve another slap.”
The youth was sent flying backwards again, leaving a trail of snot and blood in his wake. For someone who was deriding Li Tianming as a bumpkin just moments ago, the youth sure was in a bad state.
"Which damned leg of yours stepped on the clear spirit grass again?” Li Tianming asked, jabbing his Crimson Blood Dagger into the youth’s thigh. But it was at that moment, something unexpected happened…
“AHHHHH!! DAD, MUM, SAVE ME!” The youth let out a piercing shriek that echoed through the forest.
“Damn it.” Li Tianming was caught by surprise. Why would the youth take his parents with him on a trip to Red Twill? If he was from the Lightning Manor, then his parents must be too. If they caught Li Tianming, he would be in deep shit.
It was time for a tactical retreat. The landscape of Red Twill Mountain were complicated, and if Li Tianming got a head start, there was still a good chance of him making it out.
“Don’t you dare run! Before night falls, you'll be hunted down! And when you meet the king of hell, tell him Zhang Zixuan sent you there!” As Li Tianming scrambled for the bushes, the youth roared behind him.
"Zhang Zixuan? What a crappy, overused name!" Li Tianming muttered as he disappeared into the foliage.