All of a sudden, all the steel needle fur detached from Ying Huo’s body, turning into blazing feathers as they fell toward the ground, creating a fiery downpour! Holes instantly appeared all over a huge rock—a demonstration of its power. These blazing feathers surpassed the Infernostorm.
Tianming looked up, throwing his head back in laughter, "You hairless chick, haha!"
Feiling and Qingyu broke out in laughter as well. Because after exerting its ability, the little chick’s feathers had all fallen off, leaving it stripped naked.
How embarrassing!
"Shut up!"
The little chick became angry from embarrassment and the flame on his feathers grew three meters. Just then, the little chick recovered its blazing feathers, instantly turning from a naked chick into a hairy one.
Its ability could be recollected and released, which posed a more formidable threat than the Magma Inferno Demon.
"Take a good look at my glorious feathers!" roared the little chick as it descended to the ground. Losing its feathers had it seething with anger.
"Hahaha...." Tianming couldn’t stop laughing. "Shall we call this ability ‘One Strike Featherless’?"
"Oh, fuck off! I’m going to call it ‘Skyscorch Featherblast’! You have no idea how terrifying this ability will be in the future, you frog in a well!" The little chick gnashed its teeth.
"Oh, how terrifying! Ying Huo, I’ll never provoke you again. I'm afraid you’ll hit me with One Strike Featherless!"
"Tianming, I can see that you’re jealous of my looks, hence the mocking. Don’t you know, doing so before the girls only degrades yourself!"
As Qingyu watched their back-and-forth, she laughed like she had never laughed before. This brother of hers was truly unique. It was her first time witnessing such shenanigans between beastmaster and lifebound beast.
"Ling’er, tell me. Who’s better looking, Ying Huo or me?" asked Tianming.
"Meow Meow is the best," Feiling answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Very well. Ying Huo, we shall feast on cat balls tonight," declared Tianming.
“You’re cruel, but I like it. Shall we add pickled vegetables?" Ying Huo grinned.
In the lifebound space, the little black cat shivered, quickly shielding its balls.
After the brief interlude, they set out once more.
"Big Brother!" About half the day had gone by when Feiling finally discovered something. She had previously discovered royal manna, but it was of little use.
In the Grand-Orient Sect, royal manna was a dime a dozen and worth little, certainly not as precious as it was in Vermillion Bird. Here, there were eight-star lifebound beasts everywhere, and the most basic of them was still better than the profound manna of the draconic water obelisk.
In truth, with Yue Lingji’s talent, she could only join the Grand-Orient Sect as an outer disciple. The same was true of Lin Xiaoting.
The Saintbeast War-Soul couldn’t conceal how much of a loser he was to have cultivated to Unity at the age of twenty. All it proved was how important it was to surpass oneself and battle in the vast and glorious world. Otherwise, even a loser like Lin Xiaoting would be taken for a genius. Vision was the key factor for a cultivator’s growth!
Thus, only profound manna could tempt Tianming.
"What have you found?"
"I’m not sure. It’s this way." Feiling was exploring the grounds in her soul state.
"We’re in the northern section, so if we continue on, we’re likely to wander out of Grandpeace Domain," said Tianming.
"Don’t worry. When we get to the border, there’ll be a warning from the sect," assured Qingyu.
"Alright then, let’s go!"
Although there were three of them, to outsiders, it was a young woman and a man with a little chick on his shoulder. Tianming and Qingyu hastened in the direction Feiling was guiding them toward.
"The feeling is growing stronger. Looks like there’s more than one manna," said Feiling.
Grandpeace Domain covered a large area, though many sections were inaccessible. At their speed, it had taken them several hours to reach the distant regions outside Grand-Orient Sect.
The closer they were, the stronger the sensation grew.
“We’re almost there!"
Once they reached the other side of the mountain, an abyssal stream appeared before them. Fog curled up within the stream and beasts ran rampant. Legend had it that manna was scattered all over the world by God himself; hence, it was impossible to predict what sort of manna one might suddenly discover.
Some would emerge on land, while others appeared out of thin air, as if tearing through space. The appearance of profound manna might even create phenomena, such as the draconic water obelisk. There were too many mysteries shrouding manna, which even the strong failed to comprehend.
Tianming finally caught sight of it. Within the black fog, a five-colored mist stirred above the ground.
"It’s a manna phenomenon—ascension of the five energies!" exclaimed Feiling and
Qingyu. Tianming had never imagined Feiling to be so well-informed that she could recognize manna phenomena.
"The ascension of the five energies is probably a phenomenon caused by the convergence of five profound manna in the same place, repelling and affecting one another. Among the five energies are flame, thunder, wind, earth, and ice water. There may be five profound manna present at the same time! This location is rather isolated, since the border is up ahead. It’s amazing how you can sense the presence of manna from such a distance.”
The two jumped into the abyssal stream. As Tianming plunged down, he opened the Bewildering Eye on his left hand. Even though darkness pervaded, he could still see clearly.
They sped toward the light. In the depths of a muddy lake were five different manna, laying side by side. From the phenomenon, they were obviously profound manna!
Perhaps due to their recent emergence, no wildbeast or imperial beast had yet arrived. However, now that there was a phenomenon, people would be drawn over.
Tianming smiled. Of the five manna, there were three he didn’t need. He currently required the fire and thunder-type manna, while the rest were extra profit.
"These five are high-tier profound manna which can propel your lifebound beasts to the same level as Shuo Yue," explained Qingyu.
Before setting foot in the Grand-Orient Sect, Tianming hadn’t been aware that imperial and profound manna were divided into high, mid, and low tiers. Low-tier profound manna could allow a lifebound beast to evolve into a low-tier eight-star lifebound beast, such as Lin Xiaoting’s Four-Eyed Divine Lightning Eagle. On the other hand, mid-tier profound manna would evolve a lifebeast to mid-tier eight-star, like Mu Yang’s Ink Qilin.
Here, the five manna were all high-tier profound manna, worth several times as much as mid-tier profound manna. Even the draconic water obelisk was merely a low-tier profound manna. The Fire Dragon’s Horn and three-pronged electrospike obtained by the little chick and the black cat were low-tier royal manna.
Although they didn’t require manna to evolve, such high-tier manna would help them break through their bloodline fetters. Below terrestrial manna, this was the best manna that could evolve a lifebeast into a saint beast.
"I know this. The fire-type manna is called the imperial wing, while the thunder-type is known as the electric fang,” said Feiling.
"What kind of evolution will they result in?"
"It varies with the lifebeast, but the former involves the evolution of wings, while the latter involves the evolution of teeth."
Wings? That was perfect for the little chick! And electric fang was suitable for Meow Meow, who preferred hand-to-hand combat!
"Big Brother, we have company. Hurry up," urged Qingyu.
For most of the Grand-Orient Sect disciples, high-tier profound manna were treasures! Although many disciples with low and mid-tier eight-star lifebound beasts had received profound manna, they needed high-tier manna to further evolve their lifebound beasts.
Despite only having a use for two of the five manna, the other three were still valuable. Tianming could exchange them for decent cultivation techniques and battle arts, or even beastial weapons and spirit ores.
Without another word, Tianming pulled out Archfiend from his spatial ring and threw it into the lake, hooking all five profound manna and, with a yank, they came flying toward him.
As the saying goes, riches should never be exposed. Thus, Tianming placed the manna in his spatial ring.
"Give it to me now!" shouted an impatient Ying Huo, his mouth watering!
"Wait till we get back. If we bump into anyone, I’ll have to fight alone!" laughed Tianming.
When they had obtained the Fire Dragon’s Horn and immediately refined it, Tianming was forced into a bitter battle with Ji Changyan.
There were people approaching!
God knew if the approaching people had discovered how precious these manna were. For most disciples of the Grand-Orient Sect, high-tier profound manna was the best they could obtain before their lifebound beasts evolved into saint beasts.
For example, Yuwen Shengcheng hoped to evolve his high-tier eight-star lifebound beast into a saint beast. However, lifebound beasts that weren’t born as saint beasts required a certain capacity for evolution. Thus, the safer option would be to wait for the lifebound beast to mature and evolve on its own, first. After all, terrestrial manna was precious!
Just as Tianming had expected, trouble arrived.
In a moment, a group of people descended from above, landing in front of Tianming.
"Are these all women?" Tianming stared blankly for a moment.
More than a dozen beautiful, well-dressed young women appeared, graceful and charming. None of them looked ordinary; some were adorable and playful, some were enchanting, and others were cold and elegant.
Surrounded by such beauty, Tianming almost wondered if he had entered the emperor's harem. He was immediately reminded of the Wuyou Faction.
Since the faction was led by prime disciple Su Wuyou, its members were all women. But why did he seem to spot someone special among the women in front of him?
