"Lifebound beasts can be let out right after entering Prime Tower." Tianming figured that the first floor of the tower had something to do with speed, and letting Ying Huo and Meow Meow out wouldn't affect his speed at all. Once he charged into the tower, he accelerated greatly with the two creatures clutching at his robes as they whooshed forwards, their fur and feathers dancing in the wind.
Ying Huo seemed a little troubled by the speed, swaying frantically as it dug its claws into its low-class mount, Tianming, while not forgetting to protect its hairstyle with its wings.
By then, the other sixteen had basically entered. All of a sudden, their lifebound beasts came out of their lifebound space, with the exception of Yuwen Zhenxing's. The moment he entered, he unhesitatingly charged forward at breakneck speed. However, Chen Xiaoji, who had followed behind him, manifested his Indigo-scaled Unicorn and mounted it. Like a rider from the stars, he charged forward with terrifying speed.
Tianming figured that Yuwen Zhenxing didn't let out his lifebound beast because it was rather huge and would affect his speed. Tianming was paying attention to what they were doing; he wouldn't go wrong mimicking them, at any rate.
"Let's go for the treasures, first!"
On the first floor, the treasure was a terrestrial manna, something even Tianming hadn't seen before. With his Celestial Wings, he flew gracefully like a bird and charged forward with the help of Temporal Field. He noticed the first floor was structured much like an ant's nest, with huge, maze-like tunnels that allowed enough space for lifebound beasts to fight. Each of the seventeen doors led to one of the twisting paths that intersected each other at certain points. Nobody could really tell where the entrance was, let alone the exit, once they were deep enough. The walls that separated the paths seemed a little like Feiling's Spatial Wall, but were transparent enough for Tianming to see all the other participants through.
"This is something called formless ore, a weird, semi-transparent ore with black heavenly patterns. However, it is really hard to break," Feiling said.
In other words, as long as they picked a door, their paths would eventually lead them to the exit, no matter how many turns there were. The final destination would be where the treasure was situated.
Essentially, the whole floor was a semi-transparent maze. Before many disciples could react after they entered, Tianming spotted Yuwen Zhenxing and the others through the walls. However, he couldn't see too far through the formless ore, as it wasn’t completely transparent. But that didn't stop the third eye on his left arm, which he didn't hesitate to use to find his way around.
"I see it!"
The first floor was huge and the paths were complicated, but the third eye could see through most of the formless ore walls and spotted a black spheroid at a corner of the floor. That should be a manna ball, a receptacle used to store manna. Manna balls were made using spirit ore, just like beastial weapons, so they were perfectly capable of containing manna. Once he got it, the treasure would be his.
"There's only one path that leads to it, and Yuwen Zhenxing and the rest obviously know which one it is!" At the very least, Tianming could see that Yuwen Zhenxing was heading straight toward the manna ball while the rest of the participants were hesitating about which way to go. Had he not taken Gongsun Chi's chosen path, Gongsun Chi would've already caught up with them.
"This is too unfair! The treasure is basically being handed to him!" Feiling complained.
"We'll see." Tianming hated underhanded methods like this, having achieved everything with nothing but his own power. However, his frustration only made him speed up even more.
With his third eye guiding him, he could quickly find out where to go once he lost track of his path. It was only helped by the fact that the path was made to be easier for Gongsun Chi to traverse. Tianming was zipping along so quickly that those in the arena saw him closing in on Yuwen Zhenxing and Chen Xiaoji.
Among the seventeen participants, Chen Xiaoji zipped toward the manna ball like a beam of starlight. With his lifebound beast, he was slightly faster than Yuwen Zhenxing. While most of the participants were making progress, some took the wrong path inside the maze. While formless ore was partially see-through, the manna ball couldn't be seen unless one was close enough. Most of them moved about like headless flies in the maze.
"Quick! Giddy up!" Ying Huo said, riding Tianming like a horse on wide plains. Feiling boosted the speed of his Celestial Wings even more, allowing Tianming to have an even further edge. One had to wonder if Yuwen Zhenxing's seniors were pulling their hair out over their bewilderment at Tianming not having taken even one wrong turn. Instead, Gongsun Chi, who had his path taken from him, had to spend quite a lot of effort to get back on the right track. However, he had lost his edge over the others.
When their paths met as they charged toward the manna ball, the audience were on the edge of their seats.
"Li Tianming is still a little bit farther than the rest."
"They're about to collide!"
"Li Tianming and Chen Xiaoji are ahead. Even Yuwen Zhenxing is lagging behind them."
"With him being so huge, speed definitely isn't his forte."
"I wonder if the junior sect master or Chen Xiaoji will get the first treasure."
"There must be something else!"
Soon, Tianming could see the unicorn at his flank at the path next to him. Their paths finally connected.
"Buzz off!" Chen Xiaoji shouted as he charged toward Tianming from the side with his spear raised. Instantly, the tip of the spear formed a galaxy with countless stars, with each of which was an attack on Tianming.
At the same time, his unicorn radiated bright blue like a great astral body. The horn on its head was as sharp as the astral lance in its master's hand. It was using its spiritsource abilities, Astral Glow and Meteoric Fall! The two spiritsource abilities were used in tandem with Chen Xiaoji's battle art, Stardust Charge.
Chen Xiaoji ignored the manna ball and charged toward Tianming instead, for his mission was to remove all obstacles for Yuwen Zhenxing. The threat from an eighth-level Unity beastmaster like him could be fatal. Right at that moment, Yuwen Zhenxing arrived at the path, but all he did was smirk at Tianming. While Chen Xiaoji kept him busy, he charged straight toward the manna ball.