Li Chiling, a tribane, definitely had a lifebound beast of at least eight stars or above. She was from the Fire Bloodline of the Li Saint Clan, which was said to be the most amazing of the four bloodlines. The reason for that was their secondary element, fire, which was the polar opposite to the water element shared by all members of the clan.
The ancestors actually managed to invent a technique that fused the energies of fire and water into the same spiritsource, which was nothing short of a miracle. Not to mention, the technique could even allow for conversion between the two elements. The cornerstone of the Li Saint Clan's domination in the realm was their dual-species and dual-type properties. For them to be able to come up with a technique to take advantage of those qualities was a sign of how mighty the ancestors truly were. It wasn't an overstatement to say that the current generations were merely riding off their ancestors' coattails.
Whoosh!
All of a sudden, a bright, fiery-red roc descended from the sky. The flaming roc spread its wings and made it seem like the clouds themselves were on fire. The Grand-Orient Sect had lots of space for the lifebound beasts to roam freely; that was the largest difference between the sect and Ignispolis, whose streets were so small that lifebound beasts were forbidden from being let out.
This beast was a Crimsonflame Azuresea Kunpeng, and was on the same level as the Ink Qilin. The kunpeng came swooping down. Amidst the dancing flames, Li Chiling's gaze looked ever more prideful. She held peak-quality sixth-grade beastial weapons in each hand. The blade in her right hand was savage and fierce. It was named the Crimsonflame Sunderer, and was specifically made to cleave apart gigantic lifebound beasts. In her left hand was a blue shield, the surface of which undulated like waves. It was as if a lake was sitting on its face: the Ninefold Aquashield! With sword and shield in hand, she truly seemed imposing, like her father Li Yansheng.
"Li Tianming, die!" She came at him with the intent to kill, for it was only by ending Tianming's life that she would be able to retrieve the Kunpeng Sacred Seal. That was the only chance the three bloodlines had for getting the position of junior sect master. As the common adage went, 'blades don’t have eyes'. Death as a result of battle was considered a natural consequence of one's own negligence, rather than the opponent's fault. Before the fighter and kunpeng arrived, the flames had already reached Tianming.
"Playing with fire in front of me?" the chick chirped snidely. Fwoosh! Its terrifying Infernal Armor slobbered onto Tianming like sludge. He was now covered in feathery armor, and looked like the personification of a war god. Beside him, on the other hand, was a flaming war chicken.
"Do you want to let Meow Meow out to fight?" the chick asked.
"Let it sleep a little longer." Tianming looked at the incoming Li Chiling with a burning gaze. "Showing my talent as a pentabane, huh?"
A pentabane was mythologized so heavily because these people hadn't actually seen a real one in action. But even a pentabane couldn't fight someone so many levels beyond them. Tianming's main edge was in his huge spiritsources and beast-ki capacity, thanks to being a twin beastmaster. He also had a strong body, a simplified Heavenly Will technique, the Bewildering Eye, and Feiling. With the compounded advantages he had, only then could he stand a chance against Li Chiling. It wasn't due to him being a pentabane alone; that merely stood for talent in cultivation. But since they had been brought up on the myth of Li Shenxiao, the legendary pentabane, Tianming wouldn't shy away from taking advantage of it. It was the perfect cover for his true monstrous talent!
"Go!" They attacked at the same time. Boom! The Crimsonflame Azuresea Kunpeng flared up. When it flapped its wings, countless balls of fire descende like meteors. That was its spiritsource ability: Crimsonflame Meteor!
Countless meteors shot toward Tianming and the chick. However, they merely soared straight for the clouds. Tianming even rammed straight into one of the meteors, his armor causing the projectile to shatter entirely.
"How could that be possible?!" Li Chiling stared with her mouth agape.
"Crimsonflame Field!" She activated a double Unity field with her lifebound beast, within which their energies circulated. The eight spiritsources voraciously devoured the spiritual energy in the surroundings and focused it in their attacks.
That was one of the major advantages offered by a Unity field—they could tap into the spiritual energy in the natural environment, and within the field, beastmaster and beast could coordinate even better; the beastmaster would fight with battle arts and beastial weapons while the lifebound beast used its spiritsource abilities and tougher body to fight. They made up for each other's weaknesses for ultimate synchronicity.
Within the completed Crimsonflame Field, the kunpeng stood as the vanguard. Tianming still didn't have his own Unity field, so this was a feat he couldn't accomplish. Even so, before absolute power, those were mere parlor tricks! All of a sudden, the chick shot forward with blinding speed using Infernal Blaze, shattering all the meteors in its way.
Whoosh!
At the same time, the roc turned into a large fish! But how could the fish remain flying? By temporarily suspending its fall by flapping its gills at horrifying speeds, of course.
Bam!
All of a sudden, countless icicles shot out from the fish toward the chick's Infernal Blaze. But there was no chance mere water could put those flames out. With an audible sizzle, the icicles instantly evaporated.
"Out of the way!"
Li Chiling was once again flabbergasted, having been separated from her beast by a streak of Infernal Blaze. As the distance between her and her lifebound beast widened, the effectiveness of their Unity field diminished. Though they tried to get back together, Tianming wasn’t about to let that happen.
"Go!" Before an audience of near a thousand people, a mere Spiritsource beastmaster actually managed to force back a beastmaster at the fourth level of Unity. Little did they know that Tianming had actually reached the peak of Spiritsource during his breakthrough five days before.
Without Feiling, there was a chance Tianming could lose, but that wasn't the case now. Li Chiling was desperately trying to reunite with her Crimsonflame Azuresea Kunpeng, only to seemingly ram into a wall of air, breaking her nose in the process. She was dumbfounded; she couldn't see anything in her way, so how could she have run into something? There was no way she could know it was actually Feiling's Spatial Wall ability.
Not only was Li Chiling ignorant of that fact, even Li Xuanyi couldn't tell what was going on. Spatial abilities were far beyond mortal comprehension. That drove Li Chiling to her edge; she had been forced apart from her beast for good after running into the wall.
"You're courting death!" she yelled as she soared once more with her sword and shield.
"Come. Granddaddy Chickie here will take you on," Ying Huo said.
Li Chiling almost burst out laughing. How could a small fry of a beast like that take her on? It only had seven stars in its eyes! Was that really a Void Kunpeng? Without a second thought, she used a Unity battle art and slashed away.
"Too slow! Too many openings! That's a stupid move!" the chick spat, then slashed its feathers and claws like they were swords, executing Demise of Man-Earth-Heaven.
Demise of Man, Spectral-Dance and Soul-Extinction! Demise of Earth, Earth-Quaker and Hell-Shaker! Those four strikes forced Li Chiling to block with her Ninefold Aquashield. Her Unity battle art was completely suppressed, and Hell-Shaker sent her flying back thirty whole meters.
"This can't be! It's impossible!" Li Chiling's face paled and she shivered. A few cuts manifested on her body and oozed blood.
The crowd immediately broke into a commotion. Those of the clan had only seen lifebound beasts fight with brute force, relying on their physiques and spiritsource abilities. Those distilled, impractical beastial arts were easily forgotten in actual battle.
Lifebound beasts had limited intelligence, after all, so they fared much worse in comprehending complicated Heavenly Will techniques, which was why most opted to fight with their bodies and spiritsource abilities.
Seeing a little chick at Spiritsource managing to execute a simplified Heavenly Will technique to force back a beastmaster at the fourth level of Unity was nothing short of a miracle. This was no mere chick; it was practically human! Even lifebound beasts at the Unity stage wouldn't be able to pull off such advanced sword techniques!
The little chick caused a huge commotion among the audience. But soon, its limelight was stolen by Tianming. While the chick was forcing Li Chiling back after the Unity field was shattered, Tianming engaged in a melee with the kunpeng, taking on the role of a lifebound beast himself! It was a glaring contrast. Some would even be tempted to believe Ying Huo when he joked that Tianming was his mount after seeing this.
Tianming had caught up to the Crimsonflame Azuresea Kunpeng. With the chick’s Infernal Armor and his flame immunity, there was no need to fear the fire-type spiritsource abilities of the kunpeng. He only needed to use brute force to fight it.
Wham!
He used Three-Spring Heavy Strike to pummel the kunpeng. Did this human not fear fire?! In a fit of rage, the kunpeng morphed into its kun form once more and dove deep into a river, its home turf!
"Think you can run?" Tianming spread his Celestial Wings and flapped; the flap was so quick that it caused a windstorm!
All of a sudden, the kunpeng suddenly stopped in mid-air. It was the Spatial Wall again! However, the force of its fall shattered the wall this time. While the beast wasn't hurt, the impact did stun it. Tianming took that opportunity to rush in front of the kunpeng.
Bewildering Eye! The eye in the middle of his left palm blinked, causing the great beast to shriek in agony. Perhaps because it had been single for far too long, it immediately fell for the eye's seductive charm!
Lifebound beasts were gendered and could engage in lovemaking, even though they weren’t able to procreate that way. That was the key differentiator between them and wildbeasts. The ability to make love also gave them libidos, which was why the Bewildering Eye worked on them.
In the next instant, Archfiend emerged! Tianming wanted to test out the kind of power a grade-seven beastial weapon could wield. All of a sudden, hundreds of bloody eyes appeared, all of them sporting black spikes.
"What kind of sinister weapon is that?"
"Its mental impact is far too powerful!"
"Wait, how can Tianming fly on his own? Don't tell me it's a pentabane ability?"
They discussed the Spatial Wall and Celestial Wings as well. Everything they couldn't understand, they attributed to Tianming being a pentabane. After all, the wings weren't visible to others.
Even in the Li Saint Clan, they were shocked to see the weapon Mu Yang had gifted Tianming!
Whoosh!
As the Bewildering Eye took effect, Archfiend shot out. Soulless Seven Howls was unleashed three consecutive times on the kunpeng! With each strike, its skin parted to reveal battered, bloody flesh underneath. The weapon was far too powerful; it was purely made for slaughter!