When the battle began, the three torch dragons spread out and spewed crimson Skyscorch Blaze. It was among the hottest flames Tianming had ever seen, almost capable of burning the sky itself.
The three dragons formed a triangle, covering the area with fire and flame. The sudden onset of heat caused a flame twister to manifest. As they continued spewing flames, the twister grew larger and larger, eventually covering the battlefield entirely. The dragons had made a sea of fire that submerged Tianming, Ying Huo, and Meow Meow. This was their spiritsource ability: Skyscorch Furnace.
With the furnace established, Yueling Long would have an edge as long as she fought within it. Even so, Tianming and Ying Huo's resistance to fire made it less of a threat. Meow Meow's Ninefold Chaos Thunderscape could also hold up, albeit not quite as well.
"Ying Huo, get to Meow Meow and form a unit," Tianming decided. He had to make up for Meow Meow's elemental disadvantage. Once the barriers were gone, it wouldn't be able to hold on for long. Not to mention, their drastically different sizes would open up many possible tactics during the chaotic battles to come.
While they were up against two Heavenly Will fifth-order lifebound beasts, he trusted them. Currently, he was being teamed up on by Yueling Long and her third dragon.
It's a shame Ling'er isn't here. The Grand-Orient Sword isn't unleashing its true power either!
The battle had started so suddenly with the flames. If it weren’t for his Aeternal Infernal Body, he would have been charred from the start. How could others possibly hope to match up against Yueling Long under such circumstances? One Skyscorch Torch Dragon was hard enough to deal with, given its amount of beast ki, huge physique, and powerful abilities, but it only became more difficult with a hidden beastmaster.
There was no way Yueling Long would look down on her enemy. She had grown through fighting and made sure to use everything to her advantage. Even though she was third-level Heavenly Will, she chose to let her torch dragon protect her until she had an opportunity to kill Tianming straight away.
"Die!" she cried as she charged out of the flames like a vanishing mirage, swords flashing azure and violet as she used Azure Heartslay and Violet Soulsmite. Yueling Long's mastery over heavenly-ranked battle arts was obviously much higher than Tianming's, and probably even stronger than his saint-ranked ones. After all, her heavenly-ranked battle arts were the real deal, while Tianming could only utilize a simplified saint-ranked technique.
Her strength is close to Mu Yang's when he demonstrated Demise of Man-Earth-Heaven! That kind of talent wasn't something even Jun Tianyi could match up to. Some people were strong because of their inner will rather than their outer power, and Tianming and Yueling Long were prime examples.
Her eyes burned with crimson flames, yet her gaze still felt strangely cold as she charged toward him. Her first move, Azure Heartslay, Green Light, caused a green beam to shoot toward his throat. Though it only had a weak glow, a hit on the neck from it would no doubt be fatal.
She followed it up with Violet Soulsmite, Purple Shade. This move caused countless violet-colored shadows to manifest. They were hard to detect, yet they tore through the air and made a piercing sound. This was all coupled with yet another stream of fire coming from the torch dragon above him. The fire enveloped him whole in an instant, and despite his Infernal Armor, he still felt a little overwhelmed by the flames and couldn't do much to help Ying Huo and Meow Meow.
"Break!" He swung the heavy Grand-Orient Sword around, though it felt more like a mountain that was pressing down on him. Not only did he not get any benefits from wielding it, it made him worse off.
He executed Cosmic Break under a barrage of enemy attacks. The sword was so heavy that Tianming's movement was badly slowed; he was relying entirely on his beast ki and sword intent to unleash the full power of his strike.
The heavy sword, coupled with the sword intent from Cosmic Break, managed to break both of Yueling Long's strikes, saving him from one deathly predicament. However, his foe didn't let up, nor did she seem the least bit surprised that her moves were intercepted.
Instead, she smirked and said, "That was a pitiful amount of power to come from a powerful weapon like the Grand-Orient Sword." She had no idea that Tianming wasn’t leveraging any bit of power from the sword, but relying on his own strength instead. That strike was far weaker than it would have been, had it been executed with Onyx Dragon.
This is the weapon the founding ancestor brought back? Was it really passed through the Li Saint Clan for millennia? Why does it feel like a bad fit for me? He was really tearing his hair out over it. Not being able to utilize the power of the sword in such a crucial battle like this could spell the end of him.
Yueling Long seemed determined to kill him, and attacked unrelentingly. It was far from ideal to wield a dead weight in a fight against a foe like this.
No, giving up just like that isn't me! It is not my way! How can I earn the Grand-Orient Sword's respect if I give up right here? How could a mere Onyx Dragon compare to a divine artifact like this? Why would a divine artifact that’s been passed down through millennia submit to me just because I'm a decabane? It must be waiting for me to comprehend it! I must show it my heart and resonate with it! I must show it what kind of person Li Tianming really is!
If he couldn’t do at least that much, even he himself would feel he didn't deserve the sword. He had only managed to obtain the Prime Tower through circumstances that could easily have seen him dead, and even now he still didn't know how to use it properly, so there was no way the Grand-Orient Sword would be any easier.
Having thought it through, he tossed notions of life and death out of his mind. He wielded the sword like it was a part of his body and faced Yueling Long and her dragons with nothing but pure passion.
The scales of the Skyscorch Torch Dragon flared as it attacked Tianming with all kinds of abilities and claw attacks. Each clash of its claws with the sword let out a piercing sound. The next instant, Yueling Long came charging in again with Azure Skyfire pointed toward Tianming's heart. The thrust was so swift that it would no doubt be a killing blow. Azure Heartslay, True Strike, was a move so terrifying that Tianming could taste death when he saw it.
He had already been pushed to a corner from the dragon's attacks, and it was behind him when Yueling Long charged in. Its big claws scratched his back and left five bloody streaks across it.
Despite the deep wound, he focused his burning gaze on Yueling Long, as she was the true threat that could take his life. He used his strongest strike, Voidgod Sword Intent, Myriad's Only. But as the sword was too heavy, the strike wasn't much stronger than when he had used it against Jun Tianyi. Even so, his sword intent still managed to force her back.
The power of that strike caused Yueling Long to drop Azure Skyfire, and the sword ki it manifested managed to leave quite a lot of bloody marks on her. Right after that, she swayed and came charging toward him once more with Violet Skyfire, executing Violet Soulsmite, True Strike, the quintessential move of the battle art. It would smite his soul for good, killing him for sure.
Tianming had just executed Myriad's Only and couldn't retract the heavy sword in time. In fact, his back injury was gravely affecting his movements.
"Be on your way to your next life, trash." Yueling Long smirked as she zipped toward him.
A loud clang rang out. To her complete astonishment, Tianming actually let go of the Grand-Orient Sword and grabbed hold of the blazing fast Violet Skyfire with his scaly left arm. The friction from the grab caused sparks to fly, but her strike wouldn't be stopped so easily. Even with Tianming grabbing it, it still pierced into his chest, narrowly missing his heart.