Meow Meow was so gutsy that it took the first step and shot a Chaos Voltball toward the Saintfiend Taotie that was a few times its size. Ying Huo and Tianming took the chance to engage Yuwen Shendu during the opening Meow Meow’s Chaos Voltball had created. This was the time when their abilities would be tested. Faced with the attack, Yuwen Shendu smiled from atop the taotie's head.
"Is this the extent of your abilities?" He sounded far too relaxed.
"I'll use this chance to practice. I won't have an opponent like this before I fight at Heaven's Elysium.” His blade, wrapped in an aura of death, came swinging down. "Darksoul Hellblade!"
One look was all it took for them to know this was a heavenly-ranked battle art. To master it was extremely difficult, requiring high levels of comprehension ability. Yet Yuwen Shendu had managed that feat in a short one month.
The first strike: Humanity.
The slash seemed to cut its way through mortal concepts that embodied what it meant to be human, symbolizing death's will as it crushed the world to claim what was due. The strike collided with Ying Huo and Tianming's Voidgod Sword Intent. The man and chick both used Countercurrent, forming two strong walls of sword ki.
Yet that blade swing was far too powerful. Tianming's strike attempted to intercept the swing while Ying Huo went for its weak point. They even thought that Yuwen Shendu wouldn't be able to take them both at the same time, but Tianming had underestimated him.
The power of that blow felt like the weight of an entire world of the dead pressing down on him. Not only was Spatial Wall broken through, it even shook Tianming's entire unity field. It was as if the force of death itself had sent Tianming and the little chick flying.
The disparity between the two parties had immediately been revealed. Now, Tianming was the one who was being completely dominated. He felt far more pressured than the time he had faced Li Xuanchen. Worst of all was the sheer killing intent Yuwen Shendu gave off.
Next came the taotie's other spiritsource ability: Claw of Purgatory.
The Saintfiend Taotie's claw burned with a grey flame. Coupled with Necrohell, the taotie was nigh invincible in a melee. If Tianming and the rest weren’t careful, they might even suffer from the taotie's spikes. There was nothing Meow Meow could do to it. In fact, they were busy running from the attacks and couldn't counter at all. Tianming seemed to see death before him as he got up.
"Big Brother, it looks like we can't win. Are you scared?" Feiling asked with a hint of a shiver in her voice. This situation wasn’t far off from how Tianming had imagined it would play out. A real Heavenly Will expert was far stronger than him in terms of both battle arts and beast ki. Yuwen Shendu definitely had the upper hand against a fifth-level Unity beastmaster like him.
"Scared?" Even if he were on the brink of death, there was no point feeling afraid. At least, Yuwen Shendu hadn't managed to kill him yet. Now, Ying Huo and Meow Meow were barely able to hold off the taotie's attacks. With the situation playing out this way, most people probably believed he was destined to die.
"Everyone faces moments like this in their life. There’s always someone stronger, so this was bound to happen. While I have to acknowledge their strength, that’s no reason to give up. Not to mention, I can't afford to give up!"
It was fight or die.
"I don't want to lose either!" Feiling said calmly. All of a sudden, Tianming felt the same sensation he’d felt when he was fighting Mu Qingqing in the Abyssal Battlefield. That time, Spiritual Attachment had resonated the most strongly when Feiling was worried that Jiang Qingluan would die. This time, she was worried for the lives of Tianming and herself.
"I want us to continue living together! I don't want to die, and I don't want you to die either!" It all clicked at that moment. They had survived obstacle after obstacle. By the time Tianming was back on his feet, his body glowed brightly as a result of the Spiritual Attachment. While his power hadn’t increased, it grew much more turbulent than before.
Feiling's fighting spirit had been stoked.
"Fight!" Tianming felt like she was fighting by his side. Her incredible abilities moved Tianming's body and ushered in unthinkable change. "Ling'er's giving it her all, so I can't lose to her!"
He didn't know how much more powerful Spiritual Attachment had grown; he just knew his body felt like it was going to explode.
"Yuwen Shendu!" Spiritual Attachment probably reached grade twenty synchronization.
Tianming shot toward the skies. When Meow Meow bloodily clashed once more with the taotie, Tianmming came swooping in. Onyx Dragon roared as he used Starfall. The blade shone with thousands of beams of light as he shattered the ground into countless small rocks. The strike was beyond the level of the Unity stage, instantly causing the audience to watch with their jaws dropped. A fifth-level Unity beastmaster actually fought with the power beyond the Unity stage! Yuwen Shendu had just blocked Ying Huo's Skyscorch Featherblast and the taotie was about to swallow it entirely, but they failed thanks to Tianming's strike.
"Now this is getting interesting," Yuwen Shendu said with a cold smile as he jumped off the back of his beast.
Darksoul Hellblade, Pagoda!
This was the second heavenly-ranked battle art. As it was unleashed, the projection of a seven-story pagoda appeared and clashed with Tianming's godly glow. The energies of Heavenly Will exploded between the two combatants.
Quickly after, people saw Tianming crashing into the ground. As for Yuwen Shendu, while he was knocked back quite some way and his hands shuddered, he didn't spit out blood like Tianming did.
"This is getting boring. Kill them!" he instructed his taotie. He’d known from the beginning that he would dominate the fight.
"If I can't even kill Tianming, all my training over these ten plus years would've been meaningless! From the age of three, I persisted. I didn't do this to kill Tianming, but to go to Heaven's Elysium and fulfill my destiny. Give up! Die by my hand! Even a pentabane wouldn't be ashamed to die fighting me!"
Having forced Tianming back, he changed his target to Meow Meow. With but a single slash, the black cat suffered a bloody wound that revealed the bones underneath.
"Buzz off!" the little chicken chirped as it used all three strikes of Demise of Man-Earth-Heaven to get Yuwen Shendu to stop pursuing Meow Meow.
"You know how to use battle arts too? Interesting! I'll kill you first!" Yuwen Shendu let his taotie continue chasing Meow Meow and morphed into a shadow, then charged toward Ying Huo. At that moment, a blood-colored glint came from behind him, causing him to turn back and slash. He didn't think the red beam of light would be that fast. All he could do was dodge, but the sharp spike still managed to find its way into his arm.
It was Archfiend. Yuwen Shendu immediately pulled out the whip's spike. His eyes bloodshot, he let his terrifying unity field surge, turning the battlefield ten times darker. Right in front of him was the bloodied Tianming. He had stood up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Yuwen Shendu found it really hard to forget the gaze Tianming now cast in his direction; he’d never seen such fierce eyes apart from his own.
"Don't touch my brother! If you force me, I'll kill you even if it means I'll die!" Tianming raised Onyx Dragon and traced a bloody line on the ground.
"Are those your final words?" he calmly asked. One of Tianming's lifebound beasts had already been injured. The slash it took to its back had almost split its spine. Now, his Saintfiend Taotie could take on two enemies without issue.
"Very well, then I'll send you off to the next life. Best of luck, Li Tianming!" He took a single step on the silent battlefield, but instantly made his way to the front of Tianming. It was his most terrifying and fastest slash, and it struck Tianming's arm. It went without question that the arm would come off.
However, people were shocked with disbelief when they saw the black, scaled left arm take the cut without damage at all. Instead, Yuwen Shendu's grade-eight beastial weapon suffered a chip. Even so, Tianming still spat out fresh blood from the impact, making him look much worse for the wear. He tightly grasped Onyx Dragon and glared at Yuwen Shendu like a beast.
"That hand is pretty decent. I'm going to add it to my collection," Yuwen Shendu said, raising his blade for another slash.
Meanwhile, the Saintfiend Taotie was fighting against Ying Huo and Meow Meow. it had used another spiritsource ability, Palebone Mountain, to pierce through half of the arena. The taotie seemed to be having a hard time dealing with the two fast, little critters that were taking on a monster a few times their size and strength. Ying Huo even dared to charge into its mouth for some savage attacks.
"You want to kill me, eh? I'll make sure you'll have a hard time of it! An ugly monster like you shan't be the one to harm me!" Sometimes, its small size gave it a huge advantage.
Seeing that, the black cat cancelled its Regal Chaosfiend transformation and instead attacked between the spaces of the taotie's spikes. The taotie, in an attempt to swat it away, only hurt itself by smacking its spikes straight through its claws. As it shrieked in pain, the black cat appeared like lightning and sent a Chaos Voltball into its mouth, blasting its weak point—the tongue—apart.
