Three days later....
"Damn it, more ants!"
Overcome with boredom, Ying Huo stared at the creepy ants on the ground as he relaxed. Tianming picked up a few, stretched out his hand, and squeezed them. The ants turned into blood droplets once more. Looking up, Tianming noticed that the ant colony was marching deep into the dark passage.
"Is this another means of attracting people to move toward a key location? What will be at the end this time? Two more corpses?" Tianming narrowed his eyes.
"I don't know," said Ye Lingfeng.
Over the past three days, Tianming had chanced upon several other Divine Tomb Formations. Despite breaking through them, he failed to find a similar sealed area like before.
"Should we follow them?" asked Ye Lingfeng.
"What do you think?" Tianming replied.
"I want to kill the Theocrats."
The presence of the ant colony here meant that they might also appear in other places. Thus, it was entirely possible to bump into other Theocrats.
"Alright then, perhaps we’ll meet others. We can ask what they’ve experienced in the Tomb of the Ancients," said Tianming.
With that decision made, they followed the ants.
……
Two hours later, they seemed to see the end of the ant trail. There was light at the end of the passage. This was the first time Tianming had come across light in the tomb. The two exchanged a meaningful look, slowed down, and quietly approached.
From within the light came a noise that sounded like something was being struck. Without the slightest sound, the two leaned against the wall to avoid revealing their whereabouts. The light in front of them grew brighter and brighter. By the time they reached the end, before them was a huge underground palace.
The palace was spherical in shape with thousands of openings in the walls, which meant that thousands of passages converged here. Tianming's eyes swept across the room and noticed ants marching out of most passages, then climbing to the bottom of the underground palace and gathering in a sea of ants. Billions of ants piled up together, creating a hair-raising scene.
In the center of the ant heap was a pillar formed by ants. And above the pillar was a transparent, spherical heavenly pattern formation that was only about fifty centimeters in diameter. The contents of the formation were visible. Though they were too far away to see clearly, it looked like a dagger.
"Who is that?"
They saw a familiar person attacking the heavenly pattern formation, hoping to remove the contents. Upon closer look, it was Chen Jinghong, the number one disciple of the Decimo Dao Palace, with his lifebound beast, a Blood-Eyed Nightfiend Eagle nearby. It was a huge, black eagle surging with devilish ki. Cold and sharp, it was a fighting machine in the air. This was a seventh-order empyrean beast with a total of seventy-six stars in its eyes, quite a feat for someone their age.
Armed with a black pike, Chen Jinghong attacked the heavenly pattern formation alongside his Blood-Eyed Nighfiend Eagle. The pike constantly caused ripples in the formation, so it appeared their attempts might eventually be successful.
Using his Insightful Eye, Tianming could clearly see the dagger in the formation. It was blood-red, similar to the Infernal Bloodsoul Daggers, with a hilt that was ten centimeters long and a body twice that. The hilt was black, and the blade crimson.
As Tianming’s gaze rested on the dagger that resembled a bloody star-filled sky, he was shocked to find ninety-nine crimson stars moving, forming strange blood-red heavenly patterns.
"Big Brother, I’ve read about this saint beastial weapon in the ancient books of the Decimo Dao Palace," Feiling said with some excitement.
"Tell me about it."
"It’s called the Crimsonblood Galaxy, a saint beastial weapon with ninety-nine saintly heavenly patterns, also known as the most powerful saint beastial weapon."
"The blood-red heavenly patterns are saintly heavenly patterns?"
"Yes, most saintly heavenly patterns are white, but there are other colors. Beyond saintly heavenly patterns, you can no longer distinguish the level according to the color," Feiling explained.
No matter what color they were, the difference between saintly heavenly patterns and ordinary heavenly patterns would be clear at a glance.
"Ninety-nine, close to the limit of a hundred." Tianming was astonished.
"Yes, if you exclude divine artifacts, such as the Grand-Orient Sword, the best weapons throughout the Theocracy have about eighty saintly heavenly patterns at most. I doubt you’d find a weapon with more than ninety saintly heavenly patterns."
"The Crimsonblood Galaxy is quite precious."
"Yes, the materials used to forge this weapon—both saint spirit ores and spirit hazards—have ninety-nine saintly heavenly patterns. It’s also forged with the blood of a ninth-order demon beast. Since there isn’t one in the entire kingdom, it’s clear this weapon originated elsewhere," added Feiling.
"Then why’s there a record of it in the ancient books of the Decimo Dao Palace?"
"The Decimo Dao Palace has a long history. It existed long before the Theocracy, and slowly migrated here. There are a few records about the Flameyellow Continent in the ancient books left behind. After all, the Theocracy is only part of the Flameyellow Continent, which is a large territory,” said Feiling.
"I see."
Although the Crimsonblood Galaxy wasn’t a divine artifact like the Grand-Orient Sword, it was definitely the top beastial weapon in the Theocracy. For many, the Crimsonblood Galaxy would be more effective than the Grand-Orient Sword.
However, Chen Jinghong was currently fighting for the treasure, and he was a brother disciple of the dao palace, hence Tianming’s hesitation. Should he seize it? While he was contemplating, a noise came from another passage.
"Chen Jinghong!”
From the passage left of Tianming appeared four people, three of whom were juniors of the Theocrats and the Saint Martial Manor. And the man in the middle with half a black face and overwhelming majesty was clearly the crown prince, Dongyang Fengchen. He had obviously been drawn by the ants as well.
"Chen Jinghong, the treasure belongs to me, and so does your life!" Dongyang Fengchen smiled sinisterly.
"How fearless! Now that your grandfather is dead and your father is fighting Jiang Ling, you still dare provoke the Dao Palace?" Chen Jinghong frowned. Success was in sight, but at this critical moment, the one he was most reluctant to face had suddenly appeared.
"So what if I provoke you?" Dongyang Fengchen sneered.
"In this tomb, you’re the only one capable of killing me. If I die, they’ll know it was you," said Chen Jinghong.
"You’re wrong. This time, there’s been strange changes in the tomb. What can they do if I insist you were killed by the tomb?" Dongyang Fengchen stood before him, face to face.
Chen Jinghong could already feel the tremendous pressure. Although they were peers, and the strongest talents of the Theocrats and Dao Palace respectively, it seemed Dongyang Fengchen was much stronger.
"Have you made more progress?" Chen Jinghong frowned.
"Yes, you’ll never catch up."
"Let’s go!" Chen Jinghong decisively summoned his lifebound beast and rushed out of their encirclement, exiting through the passage.
"Don't bother chasing him!" shouted Dongyang Fengchen. His gaze fell upon the Crimsonblood Galaxy. "Let’s get the treasure first. We have plenty of opportunities to kill him."
"Your Highness is wise."
"What treasure is this? It has ninety-nine saintly heavenly patterns!"
"Your Highness, you’re very lucky. If we were any slower, Chen Jinghong would’ve left with the treasure."
"Who would’ve thought there’d still be such a precious treasure here, especially since the tomb has been opened so many times. Has no one been here before?"
"I’ve never heard of ants pointing the way. Obviously, this is a treasure specially given to Your Highness by the god."
"It makes sense."
They were in great delight; even Dongyang Fengchen smiled. After studying the heavenly pattern formation for a moment, he began attacking it like Chen Jinghong. Dongyang Fengchen was indeed much stronger. His fists alone sent the formation shaking.
……
Tianming stood in the corner of the passage.
"Godfather is in his forties and at fourth-level Sky Saint. This prince is thirty, and probably at the same cultivation level as my godfather. As expected of the crown prince—he’s perfect in terms of talent and combat power."
Dongyang Fengchen was close to breaking the formation.
"After all, it’s easy to advance before the age of thirty, but after that, everyone slows down," said Feiling.
"It’s enough for him to reach Empyrean Saint," replied Tianming.
Cultivation had its shackles. Even the top talents in the Theocracy were limited to Empyrean Saint. The closer one got to that lofty height, the more difficult it was to progress. One could only struggle as hard as they could. The progress from Heavenly Will would only get harder and harder.
"Little Feng, wait here for me. I’m going to snatch the Crimsonblood Galaxy," said Tianming.
"Isn’t it too risky?" asked Ye Lingfeng.
"I’ll give it a go. I’ve yet to return a gift for the Infernal Soul Heavenly Pattern Canon," Tianming laughed.
He sensed that the Crimsonblood Galaxy was suited to Ye Lingfeng.
"Alright, be careful," added Ye Lingfeng.
He knew what Tianming was about to use: a Hallucination Tome.
Predictably, a Hallucination Tome appeared in Tianming’s hand as he spread his Celestial Wings. He immediately told Ye Lingfeng to retreat.
Dongyang Fengchen struck away at the formation while the other three remained on guard duty, watching the room with vigilance.
At this time, a burst of white fog swept across the underground palace. In a matter of seconds, the entire place was shrouded in fog. Various illusions emerged from the two star Hallucination Tome, creating remarkable changes.
"A Hallucination Tome. Damn it, it’s Li Tianming!" one of the men gave a cry of alarm.
Dongyang Fengchen’s fist sank into nothingness. In front of him, the heavenly pattern formation and Crimsonblood Galaxy had disappeared, replaced by endless fog.
A transformation occurred and the image before him continuously flashed. The sound of laughter drifted into his ears. Amid his trance, Dongyang Fengchen seemed to have returned to the Romance River, where the sweet sighs and laughter of fair ladies filled the air.
"Li Tianming?" His eyes blazed.