"I've never met anyone so dimwitted before."
"Shouldn't he at least have done some research on Wei Wushang's abilities before the fight?"
The audience believed that Tianming was a fool, yet there was nothing dumber than swallowing infernal flames. The next instant, things unfolded as Tianming had predicted. The Flare Fiendwolf let out a painful howl and its expression changed. It collapsed to the ground and twitched, as if it had eaten something that didn't agree with its stomach.
"Buddy, before you try swallowing my spit next time, you’d better make sure your stomach can take it. It can be extra spicy, you know," Ying Huo said gleefully in a voice that rang clear throughout the plaza, silencing everyone.
However, that was only the beginning. At the same time, a black cat swept past and turned into a Regal Chaosfiend. Now, its body shape resembled that of the Flare Fiendwolf. It came pouncing down like a lightning bolt and latched on to the wolf's neck with its fangs.
The blood-colored Soulchasing Hellthunder shot out from Meow Meow's eyes and tore through the hide of the wolf, sending electricity running through its bloodstream. Though the wolf tried spitting out the infernal flames, it had been completely paralyzed by the shock to its body.
Meanwhile, Lan Huang and Ying Huo worked together to intercept the Gale Fiendwolf and Wei Wushang. The Wei scion executed an earth saint battle art, Tornado Blades, but it was completely blocked by Lan Huang's ability, the Mountainsea World.
In addition, Lan Huang used Primordial Soundwave and targeted the other wolf, shaking it to its core. The wolf took a few hurried steps back, and the beastmasters in the audience couldn't help but wince at the loud sound as they wondered what Tianming's plan was.
Soon, they saw Tianming appear in front of the Flare Fiendwolf, executing the Voidgod Sword Intent—Myriad's Only. The two swords struck at once and dug into the wolf's eyes, causing it to howl in pain again. At that moment, the two Grand-Orient Swords fused into one and Tianming used the third strike of Shenxiao Sword Art. By the time Tianming had descended to the ground, the gigantic wolf’s head had parted from its body and fallen audibly to the ground.
As the audience reeled from the shock, Tianming joined Meow Meow and immediately charged toward the other fiendwolf. Such was the terror triple beastmasters were capable of inflicting; not even twin beastmasters would be able to hold off against their sheer numbers. Not only that, each member of Tianming's group was strong in their own right, being Primordial Chaos Beasts.
Upon reaching the Saint stage, the three's physical abilities had been further enhanced. Though Ying Huo still looked small, it was far stronger than before.
Ying Huo, seeing that the Flare Fiendwolf had been killed, went straight to Wei Wushang and crossed swords with him. Tianming and Meow Meow, on the other hand, were blocking the angered Gale Fiendwolf.
It all happened within a blinding flash. The raging wolf used Myriad Sandstorm Gusts, blanketing the battlefield with numerous sandstorm twisters. Little did it know that its ability would be weakened by the Temporal Field that covered the whole battlefield.
Tianming flew into the skies even faster than before, charging through the storms and appearing before the wolf. At that moment, Meow Meow's ability, Misty Hellthunder, came crashing down on the wolf's head like a millstone from the skies. A loud crackle sounded out as the spinning lightning vortex sealed the wolf within it and continuously sent black lightning bolts into its body, tearing its hide apart. Right as the wolf was terrorized and about to crumble, a silhouette pierced through everything to reach its weakest point: its abdomen.
The figure was none other than Tianming. he raised his two swords and stabbed them into the wolf’s abdomen as he shot past the beleaguered beast. The crowd watched as the wolf's innards spilled out of the two gigantic gashes. With another pained howl, it collapsed dead on the ground.
"You!" Wei Wushang snapped, watching blankly. He had lost all the vain pride and mocking smiles from before. No longer did he seem like a classy disciple, training in the Divine Capital. Now, he was just a broken wretch. He faced Tianming like a powerless bunny, unable to fight back in the slightest.
With his two lifebound beasts dead, even if he could convert them into lifebound spirits, he was as good as half-crippled. There was no chance he could match up to peers his age any longer, and that fact alone made him feel unimaginable pain and dread. He saw that Tianming's white hair had been stained red with blood. Tianming glared back at him with a deathly gaze, causing him to feel the true meaning of terror.
As he blanked out, Ying Huo knocked his weapon flying while Lan Huang sent its tail crashing into his body. The heavy blow caused him to vomit out almost all of his innards and flop to the ground like a kite with a broken string. The horrific sight completely silenced the audience, and every one of them widened their eyes in disbelief. While some might have expected an exciting fight, none of them had imagined it would end with Tianming dominating so heavily.
"Aaargh!" Before they could snap out of their stupor, Wei Wushang climbed back up, despite being all bloodied. Nothing was left in his eyes but savagery. He took out a tome from his spatial ring and cried like a madman, "Die!"
"Buzz off." Tianming lashed out with the Thunderfiend Chains, wrapping the heavenly pattern tome with it. Though he had reacted with lightning speed, he was still a step too late. Wei Wushang was bleeding too profusely and his blood had contacted the tome the moment he took it out, activating it. That was also a sign that the tome wasn't truly his, but he no longer cared about anything other than killing Tianming.
The tome tore apart in an instant, unleashing a terrible torrent of power in the form of a blinding, golden light that turned into a golden lance and shot toward Tianming with awesome might. Based on the power displayed, the tome had to be at least two stars. It could be worth tens of thousands of saint crystals, and even then, it was probably unbelievably hard to find in the market. It seemed that Tianming's death was set in stone.
All of a sudden, three consecutive clangs were heard. Three mountains stood tall in front of Tianming before crumbling from the golden light. Even so, they had managed to significantly decrease its speed. It only took an instant for Tianming to fly off with Celestial Wings, barely dodging the golden light as it swooped past. The blinding lance didn't have too much reach and Tianming was easily able to evade it in mid-air.
"Holy crap!" he exclaimed, cold sweat forming on his forehead. Had he not flown away quickly enough, he would've lost his legs.
"Ling'er, you almost suffered a tragic loss!" Tianming said.
"Huh?"
"If the lance had shot out a little higher, you would've lost our family jewels!"
The joke earned him a resounding silence. That aside, Tianming hadn’t stopped for a moment, and appeared right before Wei Wushang in a flash.
"You... How are you not dead?!" It was only now that Wei Wushang was truly afraid. He had wanted to take something else out of his spatial ring, but Tianming's black Grand-Orient Sword was faster and came slashing toward Wei Wushang's hand. It was so painful when the hand was lopped off that Wei Wushang shook in agony.
"Wait! I'll cripple my own cultivation!" Wei Wushang yelled with a broken voice.
"Like hell I'll believe you!" Tianming probably only had this one chance to act. If Wei Wushang would really cripple himself after breaking the rules and using a heavenly pattern tome he didn't make himself, Tianming would change his surname to Wei!
Right as the black sword cut off Wei Wushang’s hand, Tianming thrust the gold sword into his saint palace. The saint spring exploded and tore open a huge, gaping wound, out of which saint ki flowed before dispersing into spiritual energy.
Wei Wushang stood his ground, dumbfounded, as he looked at the golden sword in his abdomen before turning to Tianming with a look of despair. "You—"
Right as he was about to curse him, Tianming pierced the black sword into his mouth, cutting out his tongue.
"I don't want to hear you speak."
Wei Wushang's face contorted from the pain. His eyes were bulging so hard they were about to fall out along with the tears that flowed.
Tianming drew both swords out and kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing into the ground of the plaza with an audible thump. Silence followed.
Everyone turned to look at Tianming, casually putting his sword away like nothing serious happened. He took out one of his Mountshield Tomes and said, "Everyone, look. Wei Wushang illegally used a heavenly pattern tome, but I didn't. This Mountshield Tome was made by me, and I'm selling each for two thousand saint crystals. Feel free to come buy them. It might be able to save your life at a crucial moment, and I only have a limited number of them."
As he said so, the flaming phoenix landed on his head and spread its wings, gloriously posing while the black cat nestled in his embrace and stretched comfortably before falling asleep. Behind him, Lan Huang stood with its heads looking over his two shoulders. It seemed to be trying to mount Tianming like the other two.
Though Tianming was relaxed, the crowd in the plaza was still as pindrop-silent as before. He looked toward the Dao Pagoda and saw the West Hall King, Wei Ji, along with the Future Hall King, Bai Mo, the Life Hall King, Situ Qinghe, and some others he didn't recognize.
Tianming figured that since he could defeat Wei Wushang without those from the West Hall interfering, Bai Mo had definitely helped him in some capacity. He smiled at him as a show of respect.
By now, some people had come to take Wei Wushang away. Though his face was pale and he shook from the pain, he couldn't curse even if he wanted to. Everyone saw how his expression had changed. With his lifebound beasts dead and saint palace destroyed, he was a cripple through and through. He no longer had any power or say in anything, being resigned to an existence worse than death. He would be living a nightmare from now on.
"Wei Wushang," Tianming yelled, causing others to turn to him.
"Happy birthday."
His words caused the poor boy to spit out another mouthful of blood and faint in the hands of his seniors, blood pouring from all of his orifices.