A deafening crash was produced from the battlefield. With his punch, Tianming broke Jiang Junhe’s arms on the spot, making them look twisted. The power behind that punch then fell onto Jiang Junhe’s chest. Under that tremendous power, Jiang Junhe’s chest caved in. Letting out a scream, he was smashed to the ground and stayed down.
It was an instant defeat, and it hadn’t even taken a single breath! Before everyone could react to the shocking scene, Jiang Junhe’s lifebound beast appeared. But it was useless for the lifebound beast to appear now; it could only watch its beastmaster lying on the ground before it could even join the battle.
A deadly silence swept the entire battlefield. Jiang Junhe’s lifebound beast belonged solely to the Theocrats, and Tianming couldn’t help taking a second look at it. It was rumored that the Ancient Theocrats had two kinds of lifebound beasts, and only those with the purest bloodlines could inherit them. As for Jiang Nancheng, his lifebound beast didn’t have much to do with the Ancient Theocrats. The two lifebound beasts were the hydra, used by the men of the Ancient Theocrats, and sydra, used by the women. The strongest hydras and sydras had nine heads, but there was a slight difference between them.
The hydra's heads were more ferocious, covered in thick scales, had sharp fangs, and mouths shaped like a crocodile’s. It had powerful hind limbs and agile forelimbs, with a thick tail much like Lan Huang’s. The back of a Hydra was also covered in spikes. On the other hand, a sydra was smaller, and had round, silky heads. It had the body of a giant snake, so a sydra was actually a nine-headed giant snake.
The two kinds of lifebound beasts had been passed on for thousands of generations. But not all hydras and sydras had nine heads. On the contrary, nine heads were rare, and they represented the purest bloodlines and strongest talents. For example, Autarch Qian’s hydra had nine heads.
Within the Ancient Theocrats, as long as one had a pure bloodline, the heads of their lifebound beasts represented their talent, and the heads wouldn’t increase in number even during evolution. Previously, when Ye Lingfeng had defeated Jiang Yutong, Tianming had seen her lifebound beast, a three-headed sydra.
As for Jiang Junhe, his lifebound beast was a gigantic four-headed hydra. Obviously, with just a look, a hydra was clearly stronger than a sydra, which was why women had relatively low status in the Ancient Theocrats.
Jiang Junhe’s lifebound beast was a sixth-order saint beast, an Azurestorm Hydra, and it had four, blue-scaled heads. It had a total of sixty-five stars in its eyes. Even just possessing a hydra meant that Jiang Junhe had a pure bloodline, and the four heads further signified his status. But as soon as the Azurestorm Hydra came out, Ying Huo quickly pounced on it with Meow Meow, giving it a beating before it could escape with Jiang Junhe.
“What’s Jiang Junhe’s cultivation?”
“Fifth-level Earth Saint, but he’s stronger than Wei Wushang.”
“Did Tianming trounce Wei Wushang as well?”
“Probably not.…”
The moment Tianming stepped out onto the battlefield, he easily defeated his opponent and took seventh place. When everyone watched Tianming leave, they had a concept of his strength in their minds.
“Speaking of which, being able to fight someone stronger is also an ability.”
“That’s not what you said earlier.”
“You got slapped in the face!”
As the same person couldn’t challenge consecutively, Ye Lingfeng went up as soon as Tianming came down. This black-haired youth was mysterious, and not many people knew anything about him. They only knew that he didn’t have a lifebound beast, but he had still defeated Jiang Yutong. However, no one cared about his existence. Everyone had their attention focused on Tianming, wondering who he would challenge next.
“Ye Lingfeng challenges the fifth ranking, North Hall’s Zhao Tianlu!” Zhao Tianlu came from Saint Martial Manor, and he belonged to someone on Zhao Shenhong’s side. He was unfortunate, running into Ye Lingfeng, but he was also fortunate because he wasn’t a member of the Ancient Theocrats.
In the end, Zhao Tianlu, someone in the fifth-level of Earth Saint, was easily defeated by Ye Lingfeng. The stinging pain that he felt during his battle with Ye Lingfeng was deeply engraved into his soul. With that win, Ye Lingfeng’s strength had also attracted many people’s attention.
It had been a month since Ye Lingfeng had made his breakthrough, and he had already reached fifth-level Earth Saint when he came out with Tianming. The farther the road, the more difficult it would be. So it was beyond Tianming’s expectation that Ye Lingfeng had only needed a single month.
Fortunately, they had both completed their missions before the final ranking battle came to an end. On the other hand, Tianming had reached second-level Earth Saint five days ago, and he had just been waiting for Ye Lingfeng to come out.
“There’s something weird about Ye Lingfeng’s fighting style. I have to look into it after the final ranking battle comes to an end.” The same thought crossed many people’s minds. They had a hunch that these two teenagers would do something big today.
Next, Tianming challenged the fourth place on the ranking. He just needed to cross this last hurdle and he could face Jiang Yu, who was first on the ranking. At that time, he would be able to accomplish his goal and obtain the empyrean manna. It’ll be smooth today, as long as everything goes according to plan.
He knew that these people would desperately try preventing him from reaching the top, but it didn’t matter. He had come well prepared, and his objective today was to suppress the Ancient Theocrats—next up was the fourth on the ranking, Gusu Yuyao from the Past Hall.
Gusu Yuyao landed on the battlefield, looking like an ethereal fairy and causing a commotion in her surroundings. Being from the Dazzling Pavilion only made her even more mysterious. As the fourth-ranked beastmaster in the ranking, she was the fourth-strongest person in the dao palace. In the Theocracy of the Ancients, who else could be ranked among the top ten aside from the royal family?
Tianming had read the information about her; she was in the sixth level of the Earth Saint stage, one level higher than Jiang Junhe and Wei Wushang. Her lifebound beast was a Dreamscape Butterfly with sixty-seven stars. It was a rare illusion-type lifebound beast, and those trapped in its illusion would suffer fates worse than death.
“Tianming, your footsteps stop right here, right now. I’ll make you kneel before me without lifting a finger,” Gusu Yuyao declared.
But twenty breaths later, her hair was in a mess and her clothes were torn. She was covered in blood and dirt as she knelt on the ground. Beside her was a gorgeous butterfly trembling on the ground from being electrocuted, and its wings had been torn to pieces by Ying Huo.
“You’re an illusion-type beastmaster?” Tianming couldn’t help laughing. Illusions were utterly useless before his Insightful Eye. With the Prime Tower, not even Ye Lingfeng’s soul attacks could suppress him, let alone a mere Gusu Yuyao. “Get lost!”
Gusu Yuyao’s world collapsed. She was talking big earlier, but she didn’t expect that she wouldn’t even be able to hold her ground for twenty breaths. She was pressed into the ground, kneeling before Tianming. When she left in tears, the Decimo Dao Battlefield fell into silence once more.
“He’ll be able to challenge Jiang Yu next.” In the next moment, many faces from the Ancient Theocrats turned pale. This would be the most exciting moment in the final ranking battle; could Tianming represent the dao palace and humiliate the Ancient Theocrats?
The suspense would be resolved in a while, but before that, it was Ye Lingfeng’s turn to challenge once more. The rewards for the second rank were generous. At the very least, it was better than Ye Lingfeng’s current ranking. His opponent was Jiang Chengfeng.
Jiang Chengfeng was also in the sixth level of the Earth Saint stage, only a level higher than Ye Lingfeng. This was a battle between the two Fengs. When Ye Lingfeng learned that this man standing before him turned out to be Autarch Qian’s great-grandson with a pure bloodline, his eyes turned red with murderous intent.
“Feng, you can’t kill him,” Tianming warned.
“Okay.” Ye Lingfeng nodded.
“There’s at least two hundred thousand people here with the surname Jiang. So the Hall Kings will have a headache if you kill someone,” said Tianming.
“I understand. But will I be able to kill them in the future?” Ye Lingfeng asked.
“That depends on the situation. I’m just afraid that you won’t be able to kill them all.” Tianming pursed his lips. He looked at everyone around him with the surname Jiang. Their eyes were clearly warning him, and he knew that it would be impossible for them to make peace in the future if this continued.
“I’ll be going, Big Brother Tianming,” said Ye Lingfeng.
“Feng?”
“Yeah?”
“You can’t kill, but if the other party is arrogant, feel free to teach him a lesson. At the same time, let these people know that we’re not people who will be stumped by some threats.”
“Okay!” Ye Lingfeng’s eyes lit up. He turned around and stepped into the battlefield, facing Jiang Chengfeng.
“Ye Lingfeng, I’m going to dispose of you before Jiang Yu takes out Li Tianming,” said Jiang Chengfeng.
“Okay,” Ye Lingfeng said with excitement flickering in his eyes.
“Okay? Are you an idiot?” Jiang Chengfeng said with disdain on his face.
“No. I want you to come harder at me,” replied Ye Lingfeng.
“Hahaha!” Jiang Chengfeng smiled. He didn’t expect that this person would turn out to be a fool.
“If you do, I can also become more ruthless with you,” Ye Lingfeng grinned. It was an innocent smile, both naive and creepy at the same time.