Archfiend was about thirty meters in length, which was enough for Tianming to attack even larger lifebound beasts. By now, the bloody eyeballs had surrounded the black fish. With countless audible squishes, the spikes on the eyeballs pierced into the beast's flesh, all the while gazing straight into the eyes of the kun.
The great fish shrieked in pain, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the fear Archfiend struck into its mind by secreting its black miasma into the beast through the wounds it wrought.
The moment the kun fell into the river, it dyed it red. The beast, in its frenzy, pulled Tianming into the river with it. The moment he was submerged, his armor caused the river water to sizzle and evaporate into steam. Like a fisherman struggling with an overly large catch, he was pulled into the water after his hook caught the monster.
"Come out!" Tianming tugged on Archfiend and ripped the kun straight out of the river. swinging it around in the air then bringing it bashing toward the ground. In an instant, a web of cracks spread from the thirty-meter-wide crater left at the point of impact. Blood seeped out and filled it, marking the complete defeat of the Crimsonflame Azuresea Kunpeng. All it could do now was flop and twitch.
"Wow, I sure caught a big one!" All of a sudden, Tianming appeared before the experts of the three bloodlines. He smirked, then gave his formless, invisible wings a flap. When cloaked, nobody could notice Spiritual Attachment at all. Tianming made sure to hide Feiling well. In the next moment, he rushed to Ying Huo.
The chick had no Spiritual Attachment, so it appeared to be slightly weaker compared to Tianming, who also had an additional lightningsource. However, it still managed to hold its ground against Li Chiling using its sword techniques, pushing her to the edge of desperation.
All of a sudden, a bloody chain descended from the skies. Li Chiling hurriedly backed off and raised her shield to block, only for the chain to bend and strike her anyway. The spikes tore through her thighs in an instant.
"Aaagh!" she cried. It was only then that she saw Tianming before her; the white-haired youth was flying in mid air!
"A pentabane!" She finally felt fear. Everything she’d witnessed had completely convinced her. Right after that, Tianming's horrifying beastial claw clutched her neck. The bloody claw almost seemed to tear into her flesh, endlessly terrorizing her with the threat of death.
"Do you yield?" Tianming asked.
"I yield! I yield!" she squeaked in fear.
"Good. Mess with Qingyu again and I'll cut your tongue out. I am a man of my word. You're free to test if that's true."
"I would never dare." Tears of humiliation trickled down her face. It was over. The moment Tianming retrieved Archfiend, she slumped onto the ground with her face pale with fear.
"Climb your way back!"
"I will! I will!" she said and obediently clawed her way back to her father. Li Yansheng's eyes were seething with rage. Had it not been for Li Xuanyi stopping him, he would have stepped forward with the intent to kill.
"Third Patriarch, are you still dissatisfied after seeing me win fair and square? Should that be the case, feel free to send your other children to fight me. I'll beat as many down as you can send." Naturally, Tianming was aware that Li Chiling was the best of his children.
All Li Yansheng could do was stomach his rage and keep silent. How could a fourth-level Unity beastmaster lose to a Spiritsource beastmaster? Not only that, his lifebound beast could even execute a simplified Heavenly Will technique! The chick had made significant progress in the past few days, so it could finally use the whole set of Demise of Man-Earth-Heaven attacks.
Those from the three bloodlines couldn't do much else but be awed. It was a fair battle in every sense of the word, and had left no room for dissatisfaction with the results. While they could have argued the previous case when Tianming had defeated a third-level Unity beastmaster, and disputed that evidence of his pentabane status, there was no way to do so now. There was no other explanation for his lifebound beast being able to do what it did, nor for a Spiritsource beastmaster to be able to defeat someone at the fourth level of Unity.
Tianming turned back and saw Qingyu smile at him. It seemed that she’d completely acknowledged him, given that he had stood up for her. As for Jingyu, she was just as shocked as the rest, but her bafflement soon devolved into hearty laughter.
"Did you see that? That's my grandson! Amazing! Did you all see that? Anything else you lot want to say?" Jingyu hadn't felt so great before a crowd like this in a long time.
"I'm not convinced!" A purple-clad youth stepped out at that moment. His hair had a slight purplish tint and lightning bolts seemed to shine from his eyes and mouth. Tianming had heard from Qingyu about him; he was the son of the fourth patriarch, Li Chenlei.
Li Chenlei was a year older than Li Chiling, despite being a tribane and fourth-level Unity beastmaster like her. However, his extra year of cultivation put him at the brink of breaking through to the fifth level.
Needless to say, he had also done his fair share of bullying Qingyu. Being a year older, he had the advantage in power. It wouldn't be odd for him to abuse it at her expense.
The fall of the Li Saint Clan in general, and Li Wudi from the Apex Branch, had caused much dissatisfaction among the rest. The youths from the other bloodlines had long been brainwashed by their parents and lost all reverence for the Apex Branch.
Qingyu had nobody to look out for her, and it was beyond Jingyu's ability to care for her with all the other stuff that was going on. Qingyu ended up isolated and mocked by the youths, and their parents didn't put a stop to it either. After all, they were who the children based their actions on. With Li Xuanyi and the rest starting to look down on the Apex Branch after Li Wudi's fall from grace, the kids had naturally followed suit.
Li Chenlei, Li Chiling, and the rest had caused their fair share of trouble for Qingyi since she was young, and nobody had stood out to help her. She had nobody to complain to, until Tianming came and heard her out for the first time the night before. It seemed that today was the day those arrogant pricks would receive a sound beating.
As such, when Li Chenlei stepped out to challenge him, Tianming pointed at him and said, "Alright, you then. Get your ass over here. I'll make sure you lose all your teeth by the end of the day." His gaze was far too chilling. Currently, his mental state was far beyond what was fitting for a man of his age. Sometimes, he almost felt like a god of death staring down at his prey.
Li Chenlei was stunned by that look, and embarrassment turned into anger. "Li Tianming! Hand over the Kunpeng Sacred Seal!" The implication of his demand was for Tianming to die so the seal could manifest.
"Come, don't make me wait." Tianming was the avatar of a white-haired devil. He kept Archfiend away, and with a flick, caused Grand Thunderflare Sword to appear in his hand. He had lots of tools at his disposal.
"Ying Huo, go back in. Let's test out Meow Meow's new ability today."
"Alright, let me protect the lady!" The little chick flapped its small wings and landed on Qingyu's shoulder.
"Milady, do you find me enticing?" it chirped.
"Very, my handsome chicken," Qingyu quipped back with a smile. "But my Big Brother is more handsome."
"I knew it. You and Ling'er must be blind for you to be immune to my boundless charm and complex personality." The chick hung its head in despair.
Back on the battlefield, Tianming took out a cat, of all things, before his audience. The black cat merely squirmed and continued snoring in a different pose. It was a cute, harmless pet just like the chick before it.
During the battle five days before, the cat hadn’t shown itself. So, nobody knew Tianming was a twin beastmaster. But now, the proverbial—and literal—cat was out of the bag.
Though, what did a twin beastmaster like Tianming intend by having his lifebound beasts fight separately? There was only one implication: he was mocking them! How dare he hold back and humiliate him, Li Chenlei?
His rage flared. He didn't care if Tianming was some pentabane. There was only one thing in his mind: kill!
"Come to me, Skythunder Yinwater Kunpeng!"
Rumble!
A lightning cloud suddenly zipped over. When the cloud dispersed, a thunderous roc could be seen flying in the skies. It almost resembled Wei Qing's Sky-Propping Violet-Lightning Roc, though it wasn't as huge, given its still-immature form. Even so, its power and aura felt much more powerful than Wei Qing's roc.
It was also an eight-star lifebound beast! Its peng form was blessed with skythunder, while its kun form wielded Yinwater. Currently, it was in its peng form. Li Chenlei wielded a thunder-like blade, upon which nine gems were embedded. The power of lightning surged within each of the gems.
With a loud sizzle, tens of thousands of lightning bolts gathered within the blade—the Ninethunder Boltcleaver. Li Chenlei immediately deployed his Skythunder Field in tandem with his kunpeng. He looked like a knight mounting a great roc as he zipped towards Tianming.
Even now, the black cat in Tianming's hand was still snoring.
"Wake up," Tianming said.
"No, meow.... Fight yourself. I'm tired nyaah..." it lazily meowed. What it said wasn't far from the truth; it was worn out from a few days of nonstop training.
However, Tianming merely snickered, then flicked the cat's balls with his left hand. The resulting meow contained shock and rage in equal measure.
"Li Tianming, how could you?!" The bond of trust between man and cat was no more. Yet, the black cat didn't dare to hit Tianming as it wasn't his match. Having nowhere else to vent its rage from being awakened by having its balls flicked, it turned toward the incoming kunpeng and narrowed its blue irises slits.
"Meeeeooow!" The cat went into a complete frenzy and countless thunderclouds gathered in the skies.
"Rooooaaaar!" Meow Meow’s voice was now much deeper. Tianming noticed that the palm-sized cat was surrounded by a dense demonic aura that twitched and grew as its bones audibly snapped from a sudden increase in size. The demonic aura now permeated the skies as countless black thunderclouds appeared and fused into a gigantic ball of lightning. Amidst the demonic aura and gathering thunderclouds, a gigantic black beast could be seen creeping out!
1. Remember, kun is the fish form and peng is the bird form.