After reaching the eighth level of Heavenly Will, Tianming was now much closer to the Saint stage. As a result, the pressure that the Aeonic Grandbane placed on him had decreased.
The first gate of the Grand-Orient Sword and the heavenly patterns of the Infernal Soul Barrier can allow me to make at least one more breakthrough. My next goal is to complete my Heavenly Will and the fourth sword of the Shenxiao Sword Art. Tianming’s cultivation was on the right track. Within the black heavenly pattern barrier, Tianming narrowed his eyes into slits. I’ve already caught up with my peers in the Ancient Qilin Sect now, right?
Exalted Mo Yu had once said that Tianming was a frog in the well, since there were many people out there who could defeat him. What Tianming was wondering right now was how many of such people there were.
I wonder if I can discover any new spiritsource abilities for Ying Huo, Meow Meow, and Lan Huang if I sacrifice some beast souls? Honestly speaking, meditating for over a month had left him somewhat exhausted, so he wanted to relax by going to hunt. Knowing how powerful the spiritsource abilities of Primordial Chaos Beasts were, Tianming wanted to give it a try. After all, a Saintbeast War-Soul didn’t cost any money now.
“Big Sister Bai, why don’t we go hunting again?”
“Let’s go. I’m bored watching you cultivate every day. You won’t let me play with your yellow chick,” said Bai Zijin.
“The chick won’t be able to take it. What do you think of the cat?”
“No, it’s too ugly.”
When Meow Meow heard that in the lifebound space, it felt the urge to vomit blood. Opening the heavenly pattern barrier, Bai Zijin appeared before everyone’s eyes together with Tianming.
“Li Tianming finally came out of his turtle shell again!”
“Everyone, let’s scold and attack together. I don’t believe that he can beat all of us at once!”
There were at least a few hundred people outside Bai Zilin’s heavenly pattern barrier, and when Tianming saw them, he immediately grew enraged because the people hadn’t given up. These people had been pestering him for the past few months.
“All together!” Right now, they had a new way of playing; that was for hundreds of them to scold at once. “All of you know what to do, right? Insult his mother, the more vulgar, the better!”
Shortly after, foul language started coming from their mouths. “Tianming, aren’t you very capable? Come and beat me then! I’ll take your surname if you can safely walk out of the Infernal Soul Purgatory!”
“Hiding in your turtle shell after beating someone up. What a coward. And here I thought that you’d hide in that shell of yours for six months!”
“Li Muyang must’ve given birth to you with a female turtle!”
Most importantly, it wasn’t just one person doing the insulting, but hundreds of them together. They were all looking at him ferociously. When Bai Zijin heard the insults, her face turned dark. If she knew that this would happen, she definitely wouldn’t have opened her heavenly pattern barrier. But then again, she felt assured, since Tianming had gotten stronger compared to when he’d first came in.
“Tianming, you have to learn—” But before she could even finish speaking, Tianming was already standing before the crowd, and all of them took several steps back.
“What are you guys afraid of! Go at him together!” Someone tried instigating the crowd from behind. Everyone immediately stepped forth, riding their Qilin lifebound beasts.
“Turtle Li, do you dare to even touch us?” The crowd laughed. But suddenly, Tianming turned sideways and charged to the left, passing by the crowd.
“What’s wrong with him? He’s terrified now?”
“Hahaha!”
Their laughter grew louder. But among the crowd, there was someone whose face had changed. It was Baili Zhuixing. He had been waiting an entire day for an opportunity, and Tianming had coincidentally come out right at this time. He was standing far away from Tianming, hidden in the dark; he had no idea how Tianming had discovered him. When the two pairs of eyes locked on to each other, Baili Zhuixing could feel a fire blazing in Tianming’s gaze.
“What can he do to me with so many people around?” The rage of having his mouth slashed grew in his heart. Riding on his Nine Starry Qilin, he could feel his anger raging.
However, he had no idea that his cultivation was only two levels higher than Tianming after a month of cultivation, not to mention that the quality of his saint ki might not even be comparable to Tianming’s three types of beast ki. Under everyone’s attention, Tianming appeared before Baili Zhuixing as the crowd gathered over.
“Why is he looking for Baili Zhuixing?”
“Baili Zhuixing is a saint. He’s not going to beg for forgiveness, right?”
“Baili Zhuixing, you managed to escape last time. Although I promised Big Sister Bai to spare your life, you should still take the beating that you deserve.” Tianming had only discovered Baili Zhuixing when he used his Insightful Eye.
“What a joke,” Baili Zhuixing snorted. He still felt that, although he was defeated, the gap between them wasn’t too big, not to mention that he even had a crowd on his side, so he wasn’t afraid of Tianming. But in a flash, Tianming had suddenly appeared before him and was throwing out the Trivita Fiendfist. It was also a high-grade earth saint battle art. At the very least, it was better than Baili Zhuixing’s Starlight Art.
Tianming threw three punches out, all of them executed with his black arm. His fist flashed like a bolt of lightning, but Baili Zhuixing had reacted swiftly and retaliated immediately. The collision between their battle arts caused an ear-piercing explosion. Baili Zhuixing immediately lost control of his weapon, the Starry Swordbreaker, which flew from his hand as he took a punch from Tianming in the head.
The power behind that punch completely suppressed Baili Zhuixing, and he immediately became flabbergasted. He could clearly feel it. If Tianming was like a wolf a month ago, then he was a lion right now! Tianming threw the second punch, Godringer, on Baili Zhuixing’s abdomen, causing his stomach to cave in as he spat out blood, along with fragments of his internal organs.
“Argggh!!” Baili Zhuixing yelled out in pain with his eyes bulging out. His face had utterly turned pale. Lastly, the third punch from Tianming, Cataclysm, went flying toward the head of the Nine Starry Qilin. The starlight coming from the beast was blown away with just a punch from Tianming. As Tianming’s punch landed on the Qilin’s head, it caused blood to spatter everywhere and it crashed against the Infernal Soul Barrier, then passed out on the spot.
That was definitely a most brutal suppression, which left many in disbelief. After three consecutive punches, Baili Zhuixing, who was in the Saint stage, couldn’t even put up any resistance as he was defeated. When Tianming grabbed hold of his neck, Baili Zhuixing could only exhale, but couldn’t inhale.
The brief battle left the entire upper layer of the Infernal Soul Barrier in a dead silence. Everyone who had been calling Tianming names a second ago were all dumbfounded. Even the mocking looks that they had on their faces were frozen.
“W-what is his cultivation.…”
“I-isn’t he in the ninth level of Heavenly Will?”
“Isn’t he in the eighth level of Heavenly Will instead?”
“Is Baili Zhuixing putting up an act? This is a little too outrageous!”
“B-b-but Baili Zhuixing doesn’t seem to be acting….”
“But at least it’s certain that tur… Li Tianming still hasn’t reached the Saint stage. He doesn't have any saint ki.”
“He doesn’t seem to want to let Baili Zhuixing off. Did Baili Zhuixing provoke him somehow?”
Speaking of which, they had all been provoking Tianming just before this! But right now, all of them had shut their mouths as they watched Tianming step on Baili Zhuixing.
“Mhm? Has your mouth recovered?” Tianming’s cold voice rang out.
“H-how did you become so powerful in just a month?!” Baili Zhuixing had disbelief and pain in his eyes.
“That was a year for me,” Tianming sneered. He knew that his cultivation wasn’t easy, and a month for others would be a year for Tianming.
“What do you mean?”
“It has nothing to do with you. Let me ask you this: do you still remember what you said previously? Why don’t you repeat it again?” Tianming smiled, but his smile sent chills down Baili Zhuixing’s spine.
“No, I don’t dare. I don’t dare!”
“If you don’t say it now, you won’t have an opportunity to say it anymore.” Tianming then threw a punch at Baili Zhuixing’s mouth, causing his head to smash against the Infernal Soul Barrier and bounce back. When Baili Zhuixing’s head bounced back, Tianming gave a kick between the legs and sent him flying. Even without looking closely, everyone could see Baili Zhuixing’s pants were covered in blood. After Baili Zhuixing hit the ground, he immediately curled up like a cooked shrimp; he couldn’t even express his pain by screaming.
Everyone held their tongues. When they saw what Tianming had done to Baili Zhuixing, they instantly knew that the Earth Saint must have badly insulted Tianming’s mother. Otherwise, Tianming wouldn’t have taken it so far. After all, Baili Zhuixing could be considered a genius among the Ancient Qilin Clan’s younger generation.
All of them could feel their scalps going numb as Tianming turned to the crowd. Wherever his gaze swept past, the crowd would take a step back. All of them were breaking out in a cold sweat after witnessing Baili Zhuixing’s state.
“Who was it that insulted me earlier and called me a turtle? Those who admit what you said stay where you are, and those who won’t admit it leave this place crawling out.” Tianming’s gaze was ferocious. He walked toward the crowd with a yellow chick and black cat on his shoulders.
“Tianming, why don’t we forget about it…” Bai Zijin managed to say.
“Nope. From today onward, I want their mouths tightly shut. I will no longer hide from anyone. They’ve been insulting me, and I could do naught but hide for the past two months. But now, I will hide no more!”