Tianming had once felt that the Flameyellow Rock had its own will. And now, he felt every single one of the eighty-one saintly heavenly patterns pulsating lively, like they were sapient. Countless mysteries of the arcane were contained within in the form of limitless condensed spiritual energy. The moment he touched the tombstone, the eighty-one patterns were like spiritual bodies that seeped into Tianming's body through his arm.
How terrifying. The spiritual energy in them is too intense. Each of the patterns seemed to have enough spiritual energy to fill an ocean. If even one pattern's energy flooded into his body, he could be torn apart from the raging powers! However, the eighty-one heavenly patterns merely gently permeated every corner of his being. Tianming was now shining as blindingly as the tombstone itself.
I feel like I'm surrounded by an endless ocean of spiritual energy.... The feeling was like nothing he'd ever experienced. However, why wasn't he being torn apart? He guessed it was because the ancestral blood had filled his own body. The combined power of the ancestors of the Li Saint Clan helped Tianming control the saintly heavenly patterns on the tombstone of Li Shenxiao. With them helping regulate the flow, Tianming felt safer than ever, as if he was being blessed by the ancestors themselves and enjoying their gifts.
While Li Wudi might not know that Tianming was a decabane, he definitely knew that the blood essence was circulating within his body. The tumultuous storm of spiritual energy continued intensifying; the effects of being surrounded by an endless spiritual energy storm was far better than using any spirit medicine or pills. This was proof that he was making endless progress. It only took him revealing himself as a pentabane for Li Wudi to bring him into the ancestral mausoleum to show him these benefits. Who in their right mind wouldn't cherish talent of that caliber?
The saintly patterns continued flowing in Tianming's body, as well as the chick's and cat's.
"This is great!" chirped Ying Huo as it continued converting the spiritual energy into beast ki using the Aeternal Infernal Codex. Its little yellow feathers danced wildly in the storm, revealing the small pink horn on its head.
As for the black cat, it jumped about, trying to pounce on the saintly heavenly patterns on Tianming's body, only to leave a number of scratches over him and miss the patterns entirely. Tianming was at a loss for what to do. Ever since he’d gotten the lazy cat, he was covered in scratches.
"You’d better cultivate seriously!"
"Myaaa!"
After a short round of discipline, the cat finally stopped. It had already refined the saint beast War-Soul and developed a horrifying new spiritsource ability that Ying Huo didn't have. Even with a saint beast War-Soul, the probability of a new spiritsource ability being developed was no more than five percent. Most of it could be attributed to unlocking of the bindings of its Genesis Chaos Thunderfiend bloodline. In other words, the old saint beast War-Soul, the Devil-Monarch Wildsoul, was no more, replaced instead by the Regalfiend Wildsoul.
Now, the cat was a Genesis Chaos Thunderfiend no more. Instead, it was now the Regal Chaosfiend! It was so powerful that Tianming had decided he wouldn't pester it about cultivating beastial arts anymore and let it fight with brute force in the future.
Each of the saintly heavenly patterns was like a sea of spiritual energy, rapidly fueling Tianming's progress. Within his dantian, his infernalsource and lightningsource grew stronger at a horrifying rate. His ten bane-rings and two primordial arts, coupled with the tombstone, made it so that his rate of progress was second to none in the entire Grand-Orient Realm! It was too early for Lady Long to claim to be the fastest rising star ever in the entire realm.
His infernalsource rumbled like a truly hellish realm as boundless magma flowed and shook within, while his lightningsource was covered in billions of black lightning bolts like a chaotic overcharged battery. Tianming, the white-haired devil, forged his way forward for four whole days.
The infernalsource and lightningsource in his body finally achieved full capacity.
"Finally, I've reached the ninth Spiritsource level." Now, he had finally caught up to the top genius of Ignispolis. However, his true combat capabilities were far beyond Spiritsource. It was only after he stabilized his foundations and ended his first round of cultivation that the tombstone began darkening. By the time Tianming opened his eyes again, his surroundings were dead silent.
The mountains behind Shenxiao Mountain were covered in bloody mist once more, having calmed down. It was as if nothing had happened.
Tianming turned back, only to see Li Wudi with three jars of wine beside him. He was flat on the ground with his limbs splayed, exposing his round belly and snoring away. He almost seemed to be spending his days too leisurely. Not one bit did anything in his appearance suggest he was a person who held a deep, lifelong grudge.
Tianming estimated the time he had been in here and reckoned the three other bloodlines from the clan would be arriving tomorrow outside the mausoleum.
"Senior Li, shall we go out? The three bloodlines will be here tomorrow. I have directly assimilated the seal, so I believe they won't just keep quiet and not make a commotion out of it."
Li Wudi drowsily opened his eyes. "Huh? Oh, go out yourself. Don't disturb my rest," he mumbled.
"Are you coming tomorrow?" His question fell on deaf ears; Li Wudi had fallen asleep once more. Tianming figured he wouldn't be of much use anyway, having been crippled by the Venomdrake Spike.
"Guess I can only count on myself."
As the descendant of the ancestors that had cared for him so much, he felt not an ounce of fear. He had risen from the ashes at Ignispolis despite all odds. But here in the Grand-Orient Sect, he was bound to blow through all obstacles during his meteoric rise. So, he descended Shenxiao Mountain alone. When he reached the bottom, he saw the Void Kunpeng once more.
This was a legendary saint beast. It was asleep just like Li Wudi, seeming weaker than ever. He wondered how powerful it would be at top form; after all, even the Devil-Monarch Wildsoul was a spiritsource ability that awakened in a saint beast. Naturally, saint beasts with awakened spiritsource abilities weren't lifebound beasts, but rather wildbeasts. Wildbeasts that were on the same level as saint beasts were called demon beasts.
The Regalfiend Wildsoul was actually an awakened spiritsource ability of demon beasts. However, the cat was no longer a Genesis Chaos Thunderfiend, but a Regal Chaosfiend. This kind of change was akin to the process by which Jadefire Armor morphed into Infernal Armor.
Tianming hastened his steps and left the Li Mausoleum. The moment his figure disappeared into the bloody mist, Li Wudi, who was supposedly deep asleep at the peak of Shenxiao Mountain, suddenly curved his mouth into a smile.
......
That night, in the Grand-Orient Mountains, one could see countless lights in the direction of the main sect mountain peak. There were still countless lifebound beasts roaming the landscape, their fanciful colors a sight to behold. Tens of thousands of beasts of all kinds of species and attributes were everywhere. Only the very best disciples in the seven hundred plus nations neighboring the Grand-Orient Realm could come to the sect to train.
These nations weren't at all on the same scale as Vermillion Bird. The cultivators in some of them were easily tens of times better than those in Vermillion Bird, being able to take on ten nations their size. Not to mention, the Grand-Orient Realm itself was a place filled with dense spiritual energy and populated by tens of thousands of beastmaster clans. They all relied on legacies passed down through their bloodlines and spread their influence one generation after another. Even for them, they would have to travel really far to reach the sect, overcoming countless obstacles along the way.
Heaven's Elysium, on the other hand, was even more impressive. The main reason they set up Heaven's Sanctums in all the nations was so that they would be the first to detect rising stars and recruit them; Lin Xiaoting was one such example. That put them in a much better position than the aloof Grand-Orient Sect, which only accepted those that made an effort to come join their ranks. This was the real reason the disparity between the two factions continued widening. Most of the top talents were taken in by Heaven's Elysium first.
Tonight was a calm night like no other. When Tianming left the mausoleum, Feiling and Qingyu were chatting under the moonlight.
"Big Brother, did you know that I managed to achieve sixty percent synchronization when I attached to Qingyu?" Feiling smiled and exposed all her teeth; the curved up corners of her lips only made her seem more endearing.
"Wow, that's impressive!" Tianming approached them with a smile.
"Good evening, Brother Tianming." Qingyu stiffened, having felt the change in Tianming's aura.
"Miss Qingyu," he said as he approached. Ever since their first meeting, Tianming had a good impression of Qingyu. He could sense the careful upbringing afforded to her by a prestigious clan. While she seemed gentle, she was tough and brave and a fine lass indeed.
"Please just call me by my name." She had heard all kinds of tales about him from Feiling, up to the battle with Lin Xiaoting. She was already quite familiar with this 'big brother' of hers.
"Brother Tianming, did you make a breakthrough?" Qingyu asked.
"That's right."
"Back then, you managed to defeat Li Linghe with Ling'er's Spiritual Attachment. I believe that even I wouldn’t be your match now," she said humbly.
"Don't feel bad about it. I'm already twenty, and you're only fifteen and filled with potential. I'm the one who has to catch up to all of you," he consoled.
"That's right. Brother Tianming is a pentabane. The only reason your stage isn't high is because it hasn't been too long since you restarted your cultivation," Qingyu said.
Tianming recalled that she had lost her mother when she was only three. It was a truly tragic tale.
"Just call me Big Brother. I don't have a sister of my own, so I'll regard you as such from now on."
He recalled that he used to treat Li Xuejiao as his own sister back in Flamehaven. But now he knew for a fact that he wasn't related to her by blood. Not only that, he had cut ties to the family already, so they were no longer siblings at all. As for the Wei family, Wei Lingxuan was merely his cousin sister. They hadn’t exactly started off on a good note, considering the first thing he did was teach her a lesson.
As for Feiling, while she called him 'Big Brother', she was more his lover than anything.
"Big Brother...."
Tianming speechlessly looked at her. Given his straightforward personality, he wasn't quite ready to hear a sweet, quiet girl like her call him her big brother.
"You've already gotten a grandmother, and now you’ve got a sister. Yet you still insist on calling Li Wudi your senior. You really don't want to be his son, eh?" the chick teased.
"Shut up!" Tianming awkwardly retorted. Ying Huo was right; it was acceptable for him to call Jingyu his grandmother, and Qingyu his sister, but calling Li Wudi his dad was something he couldn't quite swallow. He had decided he would continue to call him senior. Perhaps he would use his name, once they were closer. If that really didn't work out, he would just call him foster father.
"Big Brother, can I hug your lifebound beast?" Qingyu asked after mustering her courage, now that they were on familiar terms.
Before Tianming could reply, the chick leapt at her.
"Come. Hug me however you like!" It opened both its wings, its expression drunk with pride for how it managed to charm her.
"I was talking about Meow Meow..."
"What?!" The little chick was dumbfounded.
The world was cruel.