Demise of Earth sword art: Earth-Quaker!
Just as when he was training, the Grand Thunderflare Sword buried itself in the ground. The earth began shaking and churning toward Lin Xiaoting like waves in the ocean.
The ground spat out an illusory sword and Lin Xiaoting threw himself out of its path, only for the sword to pierce his Scarlet Suanni Beast’s flank, causing blood to spray out. It had been fortunate and dodged quick enough to avoid a fatal blow.
However, what Lin Xiaoting wasn’t aware of was that Li Tianming had missed its vitals on purpose. There was simply no chance he would give it such an easy death.
Still, the attack had frightened Lin Xiaoting out of his wits. He remembered very clearly that it was this exact sword art that had reaped the lives of his father, his two uncles, and their four beasts! Their blood, along with the remnants of his father’s corpse, still hadn’t been cleaned up from the stadium.
Lin Xiaoting felt fear fill him. He was unable to understand how Li Tianming had gotten so strong; so strong that he could make him, who had been chosen by Heaven’s Elysium, tremble in fear!
His original plan had been to eliminate Li Tianming before he went to Heaven’s Elysium, so as to avoid him becoming an annoyance.
Yet now….
“I can’t die! I can’t die!’
Anyone could see that in this battle, it wasn’t Lin Xiaoting crushing Li Tianming, but rather Li Tianming crushing Lin Xiaoting!
Li Tianming’s beasts hadn't even taken to the field at this point.
It was something so wildly out of expectations that the current situation was even more shocking than seeing Mu Yang’s massacre.
At this moment, that youth had already become a white-haired grim reaper.
“THE SAINTBEAST WAR-SOUL! USE IT!” It was only in the depths of sheer terror that such shrieking could be heard. The battle had only just started, but Lin Xiaoting chose to utilize his greatest trump card. At this point, Lin Xiaoting hadn’t been embarrassed only by the Gelding Blight, but by Li Tianming as well.
The Saintbeast War-Soul had become a spiritsource ability after being refined into the lifebound beast’s spiritsource. However, it was of a standard rarely seen in all the world! As Lin Xiaoting’s greatest asset, it would be what determined his life and death now; yet the suanni beast was currently the most anxious of all.
The beast was even more frightened than Lin Xiaoting, and a soul quickly floated up from the spiritsource located at its heart.
Shocking power thrummed and filled its entire body, carried by its beast ki and causing it to undergo monumental changes. Its bones began growing and its flesh started swelling up, as if it had devoured some ancient beast. Furthermore, whether it was its scarlet fur, skin, fangs, claws or eyes, all of it turned black.
The final change was the devilish ki suffusing the air!
It was three times larger than before, and it didn’t look much different from a mature eight-star lifebound beast now. It even looked more savage than eight-star wildbeasts. The newly appeared devilish ki clung to its body, burning like a conflagration that covered the surrounding thirty meters.
Li Tianming was acutely familiar with this scene, as Midas had done it before, though it hadn’t been as familiar with it as the suanni beast.
This particular Saintbeast War-Soul was known as the ‘Devil Monarch Wildsoul’. When used to create a spiritsource ability, it would be the Devil-Monarch Possession.
The Devil-Monarch Wildsoul could strengthen a lifebound beast’s body by a large degree, as well as turn it into a wildbeast, a natural killing machine. Even more frightening was the Devil-Monarch Ki. It could be infused into the lifebound beast’s claws and fangs, granting it a corrosive property that could rend apart flesh. When used to injure, it would continue clinging to the wound like poison, further worsening it.
At that time, Li Tianming had realised this was a Saintbeast War-Soul, and was too fearful to disclose it to anyone, save who he thought at the time was the love of his life. Now, seeing its true power, the value of the war-soul was clear.
This war-soul had belonged to Li Tianming, and he had waited three full years to reacquire it. His heart was agitated, and his blood began boiling.
Li Tianming realized that he had underestimated Lin Xiaoting. It turned out he wasn’t just someone who would roll over and wait to die.
As for Lin Xiaoting, his lifebound beast had gotten stronger, but he himself could still feel the terror of death engulfing him. Glowering at Li Tianming, he began using a technique he had never expected to need.
“Devilblue Incantation, invert my blood flow!” It was the taboo technique, the Devilblue Incantation again. Wei Guohao had ended up bedridden for three months after using it, allowing Li Tianming to enter the Abyssal Battlefield.
The Devilblue Incantation had a heavy price. Lin Xiaoting, too, would be bedridden for at least three months. Just like his grandfather the Lightning Seigneur, he would become as feeble as a chicken.
However, it was undeniably a better outcome than death.
Not everyone possessed the Devilblue Incantation, a life-saving measure in critical times.
Just like his beast, Lin Xiaoting began pulsing with devilish ki as his blood turned blue.
Now, both man and beast had powered up.
“Li Tianming, alas, alas!” Lin Xiaoting smiled ferociously and hefted his halberd. “Kill KILL! KILL!” he snarled, each word further warping his face into that of a devil’s.
“Kill?” Li Tianming muttered as he shut his eyes. At that moment, he recalled all the times he had spent with Midas, from his birth until the goldroc’s death.
He could almost imagine Midas saying, “Brother, after this, you can travel the stars and conquer all of Primordial Chaos! All you need to do… is kill this person and erase your inner demon. No one will ever be able to stop you again, be they god or demon! Kill them! Kill them all and avenge me!”
Li Tianming’s eyes snapped open. Suddenly, to him, Lin Xiaoting and the suanni beast seemed like clowns prancing around. Never before had Li Tianming’s eyes been so indifferent, as he saw past life and death.
Then, sword ki burst out.
Demise of Earth sword art: Hell-Shaker!
Lightning and flames were entwined around the sword ki, which instantly detonated, creating an attack that would shake even hell in its wake. And the current Lin Xiaoting and his beast looked exactly like denizens of hell!
Under that one swing, Lin Xiaoting’s halberd split in two. Next in its path was his right arm, which flew three hundred meters away before colliding with the barrier.
Lin Xiaoting collapsed on the ground, screaming miserably as blue blood spurted out.
“Devilblue Incantation? What the hell is that?” the white-haired devil snarled.
No one in the audience of thirty thousand responded.
“Who the hell is the disciple of Heaven’s Elysium!”
No one responded again.
However, the current Li Tianming only had his greatest enemy in his sights right now: not the suanni beast, but the Devil-Monarch Wildsoul!
“I couldn’t tame you three years ago. But today, I shall make you kneel before me!”
Demise of Heaven sword art: Divine-Fury!
It wasn’t a true-blue heavenly-ranked battle art, but it was a true manifestation of a deity’s rage! Endless power gathered as a sword of judgement struck.
The suanni beast threw itself at him, claws swinging and fangs snapping!
The sound of sword ki meeting bone rang out as the suanni beast’s left foreleg was torn off.
Demise of Heaven sword art: Heavenly-Judgement!
Li Tianming was currently in the sky, and it was as if heaven itself was delivering judgement as a streak of sword ki three thousand meters long swept forward.
The wildsoul was cut in two, leaving a giant wound on the ancient wildbeast’s body.
What do we struggle and pursue in life? In the end, it’s just for dignity, for our relationships, to protect and to prove ourselves.
Our relationships can range from brotherhood, to romance, to familial love. I’m currently trapped in this quagmire. My love for them is my inner demon. But so what? I’m willing to be bedevilled by such emotions! You killed one of my inner demons, so today, I’ll become a demon just for you! This is the final time. From now on, only I do the killing and no one shall ever kill me! Li Tianming told himself.
Now that he had tasted bitterness, he never wanted to do so again. Mu Yang had said that Demise of Heaven was about having a god’s will.
It was no problem, even if he had exaggerated things, because sword-intent could be as exaggerated as it needed to be and the heart had no limit. At this moment, Li Tianming’s comprehension of Demise of Heaven wasn’t any worse than a Heavenly Will expert’s!
In its death throes, the ancient wildbeast in front of him mounted a bloodthirsty counterattack.
But right now, Li Tianming was just like Mu Yang had been the day before.
Before his sword, deities and the heavens alike fell!
Mortals were slain.
Earth was no longer left whole.
Heaven was no longer qualified to be called Heaven!
When the final Demise of Heaven, Apocalyptic-Will, was unleashed, the sword-ki immediately reduced the ancient wildbeast in front of him to flying ash.
The Scarlet Suanni Beast had perished in battle!
The Saintbeast War-Soul was now a black blob, sealed within Li Tianming’s sword ki. It shivered in submission toward him, proof that it had once belonged to him. Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter if Li Tianming had beaten it, it would simply dissipate.
That was the reason why no one had snatched away Lin Xiaoting’s War-Soul. He had almost completely fused with it.
Only the real owner could do this.
Finally, the truth had come out. Who was framed and bullied, and who the real villain?
But the truly important matter, the winner here and now had also been decided.
The Four-Eyed Divine-Lightning Eagle was already plucked bald and covered in blood. Li Tianming landed in front of it.
“Get another beastmaster in your next life.” A sword fell, and a head tumbled down onto the ground. Now, both of Lin Xiaoting’s beasts had been killed.
Lin Xiaoting grabbed the stump of his right arm, his body still a deep blue, and crawled out of the ground just in time to witness this. Then, Li Tianming’s apathetic gaze shifted to him.
Lin Xiaoting’s body was convulsing, and as he took a step, he fell to the ground.
By the end, he was crawling toward Li Tianming, then assumed a kneeling position in front of him.
“I was wrong. I’ve lost, so I beg you, please show mercy.” Tears fell as Lin Xiaoting said this. He rubbed his neck, feeling the desire to break it himself, but was unable to muster the strength to do so.
Lin Xiaoting was well aware that he would die here today.
This was a complete nightmare, an all-consuming terror that had started when he had been frightened into using the Devilblue Incantation. Li Tianming hadn’t just defeated him physically, but utterly crushed his spirits, leaving none of his previous arrogance intact.
As of now, the only thing Lin Xiaoting could do was plead for a quick death.
“Fat chance.” Li Tianming smiled, instantly crushing Lin Xiaoting’s hopes. “If I show you mercy, who would show me mercy for my past three years? And what more, my brother? The world is fair. For every debt, there is a debtor, and I have finally come to collect.”
The barrier wouldn’t open until one of the two inside stops breathing.
The following scenes made many people turn away, but it didn’t spare their ears from Lin Xiaoting’s mournful screams over the next two hours, leaving them flinching.
After a full two hours, it finally ended.
Perhaps, centuries later, this would still be passed on from parent to child, a story of the day Lin Xiaoting suffered the punishment of death by a thousand cuts.