The youths from the Ancient Qilin Clan watched silently, then burst into a clamor.
"Didn't Li Tianming grow up in the Grand-Orient Realm?"
"That's right. Qin Feng said he was only at the eighth level of Heavenly Will, but how could he be so strong?"
"Where's Qin Feng?"
"Qin Feng! Qin Feng!"
Everyone began looking for him, but he was nowhere to be found. He had probably left ages ago. Among the remaining hundred or so people, the Qin brothers were probably the strongest among them. The saints wouldn't have bothered wasting a whole month insulting a Heavenly Will brat, after all. As such, after the three brothers were defeated, nobody else dared to step out.
As they were still standing there, dazed, Tianming looked around and said, "Curse all you want. I'll make sure to remember you. As long as I can recognize you, you'll end up like this sooner or later. I’ll beat up all of you youths from the Ancient Qilin Clan in half a year. Make sure to line up for it. I won't kill you, but you must pay for the profanities your mouths utter. That's all. Keep cursing if you're dissatisfied."
He didn't care if they continued or not. He would simply vent on them if they were those he could defeat, or wait until he was stronger for those he couldn't. Li Wudi could take the kind of abuse he had taken for fourteen whole years, so there was no way Tianming couldn't withstand the five months he had to remain in purgatory.
Without Feiling around, his fierceness was unrestrained. Usually, he would hold back while the beautiful angel was with him, as he didn't like showing her this side of him, but now he had nothing holding him back.
After he warned the rest, none of them dared to speak.
"Let's swarm him!" somebody cried.
Tianming immediately charged through the crowd and punched him in the stomach.
"Agh!" The youth collapsed, clutching his stomach, his face contorted by pain.
"Still want to give it a go?"
"No.... Enough...."
"Still think I'm a pushover?"
"No... you're not...."
"You learned your lesson, I see." Tianming walked back out of the crowd. Just like that, only two ninth-level Heavenly Will beastmasters remained in the crowd. The rest had run away, likely to call for reinforcements.
"They really wasted time I could've used on training my third strike!" He was still rather pissed about it. He didn't really know much about Li Muyang, so he didn't care too much about them insulting him. However, Wei Jing was the most important person in his life, and he couldn't let those who insulted her slide.
Had he not held back this time around, he would have killed Qin Ming outright. The twenty years Wei Jing had spent bringing Tianming up, teaching him everything from the basics of speaking to cultivation, all the while suffering from Lifesbane, was nothing to be understated. She had done so alone, and still prevailed. Had the Ancient Qilin Clan not gone so far, he really wouldn't have cared to bother with them at all. After all, it was a fact that Li Muyang had horribly wronged them.
"But what he did shouldn't be attributed to me! I refuse to bear his sins!" He had finally calmed down once more. "Let's get back to training!"
If he didn't continue growing stronger, the members of the clan wouldn't respect him in the slightest. While he could still fight back today, thanks to the small number of people around, more people would come provoking him later.
It was laughable, when he thought about it. They had insulted him and Li Muyang thousands of times, yet he didn't give a damn. But all it took for him to fight was a slight to Wei Jing's honor. This was something that overrode his rational mind completely.
It was clear that those who’d left had gone to look for more help. Tianming returned to the cold-looking woman, Bai Zijin. Her expression was one of surprise.
"He really did grow stronger. The sparsity of the spiritual energy here makes it impossible for normal people to cultivate, but he can do it, thanks to the Grand-Orient Sword and Prime Tower."
For a single youth from the Grand-Orient Realm to be able to take care of three ninth-level Heavenly Will beastmasters to the point they knelt and begged for mercy was nothing to scoff at. At the very least, her impression of Tianming had completely changed. She now seemed to notice a quality in him she hadn't before.
She had thought that he was the reserved, obedient type that would just let those insults slide, but he had seemed to blow up when he was fighting just now. At the thought of that, she said, "Li Tianming, don't cause too much trouble. It's best if you don't kill anyone. If you do, I doubt I'll be able to hold out against them."
Tianming nodded. "Don't worry, Sister Bai. There won't be a next time."
"Good."
Right at that moment, Tianming saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was Yun Zhenzhen. She also happened to be looking at him, but immediately turned and ran. Tianming immediately gave chase.
"Hey, what's going on?" Bai Zijin didn't know what to do. Didn't he say he would hold back from now on?
She watched as Tianming charged into the crowd alone to capture Yun Zhenzhen.
"Don't touch me!" she said, turning back furiously. She immediately summoned her lifebound beast, a lightning-type qilin. Bolts of electricity arced across its violet body, making it look rather pleasing, especially with the curved, lightning-bolt-shaped horn on its head. It was called a Thunderhorn Qilin.
The horn on its head sparked and sent a bolt of lightning toward Tianming, who immediately charged through it. The ability didn't do him much harm, and before long, he appeared directly in front of the qilin.
"Buzz off!" He executed Olympos Imperius, sending the qilin flying. It was bleeding profusely as it scampered off in fear.
Seeing what happened, Yun Zhenzhen took out a lightning-infused chain. Tianming saw that there were around thirty saintly heavenly patterns on them. However, Yun Zhenzhen shouldn't have a high enough status to obtain such a good weapon. Back in Ignispolis, Tianming had seen her wield a similar lightning chain, but it definitely wasn’t this one.
"You got this weapon thanks to me, right?" Tianming said with a smirk.
"No way!" Using her ninth-level Heavenly Will strength, she whipped the bluish chain toward Tianming. At the same time, the escaped qilin roared and used an ability that covered the skies in lightning.
At that moment, Tianming's three terrifying lifebound beasts were summoned. They had already recovered, and pounced on the qilin.
"Beat him up!" Ying Huo cried.
It didn't take more than a few moments until the qilin was foaming at the mouth. Fighting a triple beastmaster always meant being ganged up upon. Yun Zhenzhen watched with a look of disbelief.
"It's your turn next!" Tianming used the second strike of the Shenxiao Sword Art, fusing lightning and fire together and bringing the Grand-Orient Sword slashing down. Yun Zhenzhen, having seen his ability, couldn't do much about it. Her weapon was sent flying away and the spot Tianming cut immediately began bleeding, causing her to collapse with a pale look. However, Tianming pulled her up before she fell to the ground.
"If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn't have had to come to such a place. It's all thanks to you, so it's not overboard for me to give you a beating, right?'
"No, it isn't," she said with a lowered head.
Wham!
Tianming slapped her squarely in the face, causing her to howl in pain and slump to the ground in a daze.
"What's this weapon called? I kinda like it," he said, holding the blue lightning chain. It felt really powerful in his hands.
"It's called the Thunderfiend Chains. It has thirty saintly heavenly patterns and is crafted from thunderfiend ore and the spirit hazard, ninebane thunder...." She was already tearing up.
"You seem to be unwilling to part with it. You wouldn't have gotten it if it wasn’t for me anyway, so it's mine!" He gave her another angry slap. She landed on the ground this time, and began crying. Tianming called Ying Huo back, finally feeling much better now that he had managed to get back at her, even getting something useful out of it.
"How could you be so strong? You're actually cultivating in the Infernal Soul Purgatory! Even then, you shouldn't be improving so fast, right?" Yun Zhenzhen said with a shaky voice. A month ago, Tianming had relied on a Spiritburn Tome to defeat Jun Niancang. His power was only on par with hers, back then, yet now she had been completely dominated. The only explanation for this was that Tianming was making rapid progress.
"You're right. I've been cultivating, but it's no use. Only you truly believe I’m cultivating, but the others don't. Now, my time is really precious, so make sure to stay far away. I feel like I'll get mad every time I see you, so you’d better not come near me if you don't want to get beaten up. Scram."
Yun Zhenzhen got up and fearfully scampered off.
"With Tianming’s cultivation speed, let alone the young geniuses here, not even the descendants of the exalted ones would be able to mess with him..." Yun Zhenzhen mused.
The upper level of the Infernal Soul Barrier was where the younger members of the clan would be. In other words, Tianming would soon dominate the entire area. The thought of that caused her to grimace even more. She had just lost the weapon she had been rewarded with—it felt like she had lost her very life itself.
"Yun Zhenzhen!" someone called out from afar.
"Huh?" She turned back and looked.
"Someone from the Moon Branch is looking for you."
"Who is it?"
"Someone who can help you get revenge and retrieve the Thunderfiend Chains."
......
"Did that feel good?" Bai Zijin said with her arms crossed, coldly staring at Tianming.
Tianming looked up and felt his heart skip a beat. The sight of Bai Zijin was truly one to behold.
No, Ling'er's not here, so I must think pure thoughts. He hurriedly turned to her and said, "Sister Bai, that was the person who reported me to the Ancient Qilin Clan and caused me to end up here. I wouldn't feel relieved unless I beat her up first."
"Fine. Just remember to lay low and spend the next five months quietly. Don't cause trouble." Her tense expression relaxed.
"No worries. I've always tried keeping a low profile, but trouble still manages to find me."
"You slimy little fellow...." Bai Zijin wasn't normally one who liked to laugh, but she couldn't help curving her mouth into a charming smile.
"My fellow isn't slimy at all," Tianming said with a serious look.
"Just put some spit on it," Ying Huo said.
"Shut up. I'm a cultivator! Don't put this nonsense in my head!" Tianming snapped at Ying Huo.
His next goal was to master the third strike of the Shenxiao Sword Art. Now that he had used Olympos Imperius a few times, he felt like he had gained some insights into it.
"Tianming, is your mother really important to you?" Bai Zijin asked out of nowhere. She recalled that he had immediately ushered in a slaughter the moment she was mocked.
"That's right."
"Aren't you a filial child? It seems your mother has treated you well." Though she had initially looked down on Wei Jing for being a 'mistress', her views had changed.
"Of course! She's the most amazing person in the universe."
"How about this, I'll make a heavenly pattern barrier for you. You can train inside so you won't be able to hear their insults. You won't even have to look at them."
"Thank you, Sister Bai."
It was rather annoying, having so many people constantly shouting at him. The next moment, a black heavenly pattern barrier surrounded Tianming, cutting off all sound and sight.
"Aren't you going to stay outside, Sister Bai?"
"Of course not. I'm sick of them, too. Let me watch you train the Shenxiao Sword Art instead."
"Alright."
......
Meanwhile, in the lifebound space...
"Tianming you vile swine! Let me out now! I want to ride the ultimate mount! It's an ideal time for me to get cuddly with her!" Meow Meow cried out in rage.
"Cat Bro, why can't I be your mount? I have nine peaks on my back, you know, much more than this woman has on her front," Lan Huang said.
"They're too sharp, they ride up into my balls!"
"Your balls aren't that big, so I doubt you'll have any problem," Lan Huang said with a troubled look.
Meow Meow looked at Lan Huang's giant balls, then back at his own, before lowering his head in shame.