My saint springs are too small. I’ve already entered the Earth Saint stage, but my saint ki is still insufficient for me to reach first-level Earth Saint. But luckily, this is the spiritual energy fountain, not to mention that I also have saint crystals and the Prime Tower, Tianming thought to himself. The next step would be to circulate his cultivation techniques to strengthen his saint ki. The process of transcending to a saint is complicated, but the transformation coming with it is huge. With the same amount of energy, my saint ki is stronger than others. Even my physique can give me a bonus in battle.
Although there weren't any changes to his Imperial Will, the transformation of his body and ki had made him look younger. And when Tianming glanced down, he saw that his bloodline had transformed the three Primordial Chaos Beasts’ bloodlines in his body. His vitality was surging and powerful, and he had also become stronger.
I’m done. The Grand-Orient Sword will be stronger now… Tianming smiled when he thought about Ling’er and continued his cultivation. Strengthening his saint ki was a simple process. Tianming took out a thousand saint crystals and placed them around him, then gathered the surrounding spiritual energy for the highest possible efficiency.
As he circulated his cultivation technique, he could see his saint springs growing at a visible speed. He could even divide his attention and focus on the Grand-Orient Sword to comprehend the changes to his Imperial Will.
When he held the Grand-Orient Sword, the Grand-Orient Vortex appeared again. But this time, even the Grand-Orient Vortex had changed its shape into a saint spring. The black and gold energy tumbled and started growing stronger until it was on the same level as his other three saint springs.
That was the fortune that Tianming had received from the first gate of the Grand-Orient Sword. No matter how powerful Tianming’s saint springs grew, it would also rise to the same level. Under the Insightful Eye, Tianming looked over at the fifth gate.
“Mhm?” Tianming saw that the black door on the far right had opened. Before he had made his breakthrough into the Saint stage, he clearly remembered that the door was still closed. “Did it just open?
“And here I thought that the dark gold gate would be opened next. I never expected that this door would open first!” Tianming hurried over. The gate’s opening meant that Tianming’s control over the Grand-Orient Sword had reached the second level. There were three gates left, including the colorless one in the middle, but Tianming had no idea what was in there.
But right now, Tianming was more curious about the newly-unlocked gate. There were many black heavenly patterns on this gate, and when he touched it, he sensed a boundless Imperial Will coming from it.
The previous light gold gate had been about the path of a righteous and benevolent monarch. But the heavenly patterns on this black gate were filled with murderous aura and suppression. It was also a kind of Imperial Will. When conquering more territories, killing was necessary. Both benevolence and slaughter were indispensable ways of an emperor, and a combination between them would only make it more perfect.
Clearly, the black heavenly patterns on this gate would enrich Tianming’s Imperial Will, allowing the Grand-Orient Sword in his consciousness to continue growing. But what was behind this gate?
Tianming pushed it open and entered. But what he saw left him stunned. He saw another him, just that this doppelganger was black-haired—it was similar to the black-haired doppelganger in the Prime Tower!
Tianming was shocked, but started to calm down when the black-haired Tianming smiled and took no other action. When Tianming saw this doppelganger, he sensed a bizarre change coming from his soul. Within his soul, the Imperial Will that was in the form of the Grand-Orient Sword suddenly separated into two. The Grand-Orient Sword used to be black and gold, but now it had separated into two swords—one black, and the other gold.
The most incredible thing was that everything had happened by itself, and Tianming hadn’t expected it at all. Then, even his soul started splitting in two. Half of it went to the black Grand-Orient Sword, while the other half went toward the gold sword. At that moment, Tianming felt something new; it felt like he could divide his mind in two. This wasn’t a form of split personality, nor was it like having two thoughts, but gaining the ability to process two things at once in his mind. This change was brought to him by the Grand-Orient Sword. It felt as if he could use his left and right hand to do two different things.
“Could it be…” Tianming suddenly opened his eyes and realized that the Grand-Orient Sword in his hand had started changing after he unlocked the second gate. The Grand-Orient Sword produced a harsh metal grating sound as the Grand-Orient Sword separated into two swords right before Tianming’s eyes!
One was black, and the other was gold. The two swords still retained the appearance of the singular Grand-Orient Sword, but they had changed from a two-handed sword into two three-foot swords. The two swords were slender, and felt natural in his hands, and their shapes were almost similar to the Onyx Dragon.
“Dividing into two, with the golden representing righteousness, and suppression for the black?” Tianming held both swords and found that he could use them naturally. He could even divide his mind in two, swinging the swords like two completely different people.
“Yueling Long also used two swords, but her swords could only complement each other, not be used simultaneously. But for me, dividing my mind in two is more advanced!” Tianming immediately gave it a try. When he released the swords, they automatically merged into one and returned to their original form. The entire process only took a single moment. He then grabbed the Grand-Orient Sword again, and with a thought, the sword separated into two again.
“So, this is the second level of the Grand-Orient Sword? Dividing my mind into two?” There were some obvious differences compared to Ye Lingfeng’s daggers, or rather, short swords.
“How magical.…” In this way, he could have more varieties in his fighting style.
“I wonder what’s waiting for me in the remaining gates?” The first two gates left Tianming marveling. Moreover, the black heavenly patterns on the black gate could be used by Tianming to improve his Imperial Will.
“It feels different in the Saint stage, almost as if I’ve taken a step to heaven. Moreover, I’ve already successfully learned the Shenxiao Sword Art’s fourth sword. Right now, my body, Heavenly Will, saint ki, and the Grand-Orient Sword have undergone complete transformations.” After reaching first-level Earth Saint, Tianming was much stronger than before.
“I’m catching up to my peers in my cultivation, and now, I’ve surpassed the geniuses in the Grand-Orient Realm, catching up to the geniuses in the Divine Capital.” That was especially so with the Grand-Orient Sword split into two. He now had lots of room for variations in his attacks. It had been a long time since he used fast swords, but he was confident that he could master it. In short, the combined form was more ferocious, while the separated form could add more variety to his attacks.
With that, Tianming had completed his transformation to the Saint stage. He took a deep breath to calm down. At the same time, Ying Huo, Meow Meow, and Lan Huang had also stepped into the first level of the Earth Saint stage, establishing their saint palaces and saint springs. Their bloodlines had also transformed, and their shackles had loosened up.
“Tianming, I’ve changed! It’s time for me to slap your face! Hahahaha!” Ying Huo’s arrogant voice could be heard coming from the lifebound space. Flames flashed as Ying Huo appeared before Tianming’s eyes.
In the past, Ying Huo was only the size of an ordinary eagle. But now, it had shed its fur and replaced it with fiery red feathers and dazzling tail feathers. Right now, Ying Huo could finally be seen as a phoenix. People said that the phoenix has six orientations: the head is oriented to the sky, the eyes to the sun, back to the moon, wings to the winds, feet to the earth, and tail to the latitude. The five tail feather colors also represented benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and faith. A phoenix was also considered an auspicious beast.
Ying Huo’s body was still small, and could still perch on his shoulder, so Tianming couldn’t mount it. But at the very least, it no longer looked like a yellow chick.
“Hahaha!” Ying Huo laughed and started drooling. “I’m finally a handsome man now! Hens, behold and tremble with your legs clamped! Yueyue, didn’t you ignore me yesterday? The me today isn’t someone you can climb up to!”
Tianming was looking at Ying Huo. Wasn’t it still a chicken?
“Brother Chick, stop drooling all over the floor,” said Meow Meow.
“Meow Meow, don’t call me Brother Chick anymore.”
“Then what am I going to call you? Brother Birdy?”
“Nevermind, just continue calling me Brother Chick.” Ying Huo wasn’t the only one that had changed, as Meow Meow had also grown. It was three times its old size, and was no longer a palm-sized cat. But when Tianming looked at Meow Meow, it still looked as cute as usual, with its big blue eyes, small pink paws and nose, curiously tilted head, and a continually-flicking tail. As long as it didn’t reveal its blood-colored paws, it still looked harmless.
It seemed like Meow Meow was continuing on the path of being cute. At most, it had grown from a baby kitten to a juvenile cat, increasing its lethality against girls. But after this transformation, its bloodline had grown stronger, along with its combat powers, and it would probably have an easier time fighting a stronger opponent.
As for Lan Huang, it was still in the lifebound space. After all, it was simply too large. After this transformation, Lan Huang had gotten bigger and now looked like a moving mountain; there probably wasn’t any other sixth-order saint beast this big.
This time, the increase in their strength was pretty rewarding. The only downside was the thousand saint crystals—the spiritual energy contained in them had already disappeared, which meant Tianming also had a higher consumption compared to others when making a breakthrough.
In comparison, Ye Lingfeng had only used five hundred saint crystals to promote from the third- to the fourth level of the Earth Saint stage. And his cultivation consisted of eighty thousand people simultaneously cultivating! So as long as he had enough spiritual energy, his cultivation speed was on the same level as Tianming. Tianming waited for another three days as Ye Lingfeng made another breakthrough.
“Big Brother Tianming, why do I feel that you’re a lot stronger than before?” Ye Lingfeng’s senses were keen and he could feel a threat coming from Tianming.
“I can’t help it. Since someone wants to die, then I can only help him.” Tianming turned and looked at the Evil Suppression Plaza. As he counted the time, Wei Wushang’s birthday would be tomorrow.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay!”
“The next time we’re here, we’ll be in the first region,” said Tianming.
“Okay!”
They were aiming for the top ten on the rankings!