There were five gates in the Grand-Orient Sword, one colorless, one dark gold, one black, one light gold, and another grey. With the dark gold door opened, only the colorless door in the center and the black door were left closed.
Tianming was still relying on the heavenly patterns on the doors for his Earth Saint cultivation, so he hadn't been expecting such a welcome surprise after receiving the legacy. The heavenly patterns on the dark gold door were even more mystical and complicated, containing some Imperial Will from the Primordial God-Emperor. This was the 'most righteous path' as mentioned by the Primordial God-Emperor from before.
"Perhaps I won't be facing any problems in my Sky Saint cultivation either."
What he was now curious about was what lay beyond the dark gold door. He went to it with anxious anticipation and peeked inside. Within, he saw a gigantic, black and gold spheroid formed from black and gold sword ki, billions of strands of them densely packed together. It was enough to fill the whole world.
The mass of sword ki undulated according to a regular pattern. It seemed to be a heavenly pattern formation formed from black and gold sword ki. Thanks to the Grand-Orient Sword, Tianming knew this was called the Sword Imperealm Formation.
It reminded him of the Evil Suppression Formation. Those two were godly heavenly pattern formations that could be unleashed from divine artifacts and be activated without any preparation beforehand. While the Evil Suppression Formation seemed to be a defensive one, this Sword Imperealm Formation seemed like it would be wonderful for offense.
At that moment, a fifth type of energy appeared next to the three saint springs within his saint palace. It was a smaller version of the Sword Imperealm Formation. When Tianming wielded the Grand-Orient Sword, traces of black and gold sword ki would flow from the dark gold door into the spheroid, much like how it worked with the Grand-Orient Vortex.
It was apparent that Tianming's growth would also allow the Sword Imperealm Formation to draw even more sword ki for him to use. The golden sword ki was known as Imperial Sword Ki and the black was Realm Sword Ki, symbolizing the dignity and ruthlessness one would need to rule an empire.
"Let's give it a try."
Tianming gripped the sword and willed, causing a black and gold formation to immediately manifest, with the sword at its center. It was around ten meters in diameter, and the area it covered was rampant with those two types of sword ki. They ricocheted throughout the formation according to some predefined pattern, much like heavenly pattern formations that could attack foes. Naturally, if someone Tianming didn't want to kill approached, they would be fine.
"This means I have an offensive heavenly pattern formation that can automatically attack, and it’ll also grow stronger as I do! Then again, the formation is powerful enough as it is now. It can even be used with the Invincible Sword Body. Simply amazing. Putting aside the other legacies of the Primordial God-Emperor, the Grand-Orient Sword alone is already a priceless treasure."
Even though it was powerful, Tianming didn't let it go to his head. If he wanted to survive the tomb, he would have to be on his utmost guard. After familiarizing himself with the Sword Imperealm Formation, he proceeded to improve himself according to the original plan. After that, he would wait for Feiling to wake up and fight the innate godchild's soul.
......
A curious relationship had developed between Ye Lingfeng and the soulfiend, thanks to their spiritual connection and the Primordial Demonlord's legacy. Whenever he cultivated, he would sit on the rough belly of the soulfiend. It had three heads and six arms and would put one of its palms on Ye Lingfeng's body, another on his head, and used the remaining four to guard his sides, sealing him up within a separate space.
Of the three heads of the soulfiend, one cultivated with Ye Lingfeng, one looked to its left, and the other kept watch on its right. Tianming rather envied him for getting a soulfiend like that.
"I wonder what the nine soul servants I have are...." He looked at the nine red dots on his chest and thought they were a little embarrassing. The soul servants didn't appear to do much, so Tianming ignored them and continued refining his understanding of heavenly will.
Ever since accepting the legacy and seeing that vision, he had grown even more familiar with the most righteous path.
"If gods really exist, then my Imperial Will is only the start. There’s still a long path ahead. I have to take it step by step and properly comprehend Imperial Will."
The Grand-Orient Sword in his sea of consciousness grew over time. Tianming noticed that he was rather sensitive to the heavenly patterns on the sword after receiving the eyes as part of the legacy. Coupled with his black arm, his comprehension speed skyrocketed. It all piled above the innate talent granted him by having the physiques of the Primordial Chaos Beasts, as well as the Aeonic Grandbane.
Ten days later, he broke through to seventh-level Earth Saint, thanks to his abundance of saint crystals. A month after that, he reached the eighth level. The Sky Saint stage wasn't far away now. If this continued, Tianming felt that breaking Aeonic Grandbane's curse wouldn’t be a problem.
It wasn't just him who had experienced a fundamental transformation. Ye Lingfeng now had the soulfiend helping him out, so his cultivation speed had also risen tremendously. Ye Lingfeng was at the eighth level of earth saint, but as Tianming made his own breakthroughs, he reached the full potential of the ninth level.
After that, he began reaching for the Sky Saint stage with the soulfiend's help. Tianming also paused his training to keep watch for him, as ascending to sky sainthood was a crucial process that ought not to be interrupted.
"Feng's eighty thousand kin are cultivating together with him, so breaking through shouldn't be too hard for him. Coupled with his legacy and the soulfiend, he's almost as fast as I am now."
When Ye Lingfeng became a sky saint, he would be even more powerful, especially with the soulfiend helping him.
After Tianming had broken through two levels, even without Feiling's help, he would be able to face off against third-level sky saints with his three lifebound beasts and Sword Imperealm Formation. However, he didn't know how far he could push himself, given that he didn't have any frame of reference for his current strength. Even so, he believed that he might be able to defeat Jun Shengxiao, the Elysian Emperor, by now, given that his lifebound beast was just a sixth-order saint beast and he was rather old already.
"Those in the Grand-Orient Realm would never expect that I’d reach this point in such a short time. Even if I return to the Divine Capital now, I wouldn't be lumped in with one of the younger generation, given my power. Even sister Bai, a second-level sky saint, is no longer my match."
Never would the elites in the Divine Capital have expected that the two would improve at such a monstrous speed within the tomb. They were just 'teenage' juniors, but they could easily fight the strongest elites. In fact, Tianming and Ye Lingfeng were stronger than Li Muyang back when he was twenty and had just become a sky saint.
"I have to leave this place alive. Only then can I show the Theocrats and their ilk what’ll happen if they mess with me and Feng!"
......
Three days later, Ye Lingfeng became a sky saint at the young age of eighteen. The arcane ritual prepared by the Infernal Soul Race was indeed a one-of-a-kind miracle. Ye Lingfeng's existence was akin to an accident in this world; there was no doubt that he was chosen by the Primordial Demonlord because of his unique soul. Now, even he would have no problem facing off against third-level sky saints.
The soulfiend also needed to improve, but could only do so by consuming souls. It was called a 'fiend' for good reason, after all. If not for this ruthless means of improvement, it never would have been locked up here. Had Ye Lingfeng been unable to control it, it would no doubt wreak havoc if it managed to escape, consuming all souls that crossed its path.
Upon becoming a sky saint, Ye Lingfeng gained a grandvoid body, allowing him to use saint ki to levitate. He had lots of fun during his first time flying, and didn't even bat an eye when he ran headfirst into the walls of the tomb.
"Feng, I managed to take the Crimsonblood Galaxy back then, and forgot to give it to you. Here you go!" Tianming said as he took out a crimson dagger from his spatial ring.
"Thank you, Brother Tianming!" His eyes glowed when he caught sight of the blade. It was truly terrifying, with ninety-nine saintly heavenly patterns. Its sharpness would threaten many saint beastial weapons, not to mention it contained lots of power that Ye Lingfeng could use to tear his foes apart. He tested out all sorts of moves with the dagger.
"Is it useful? It's not too powerful to control, is it?" Tianming asked.
"It's fine. In fact, it fits me great. I’m able to move it around fairly well."
"Wonderful."
Ye Lingfeng continued playing around for the better part of the day. "Brother Tianming, the soulfiend said it knows a place where there’s another weapon with ninety-nine saintly heavenly patterns!" he suddenly said partway through his play session.
"Really?"
"It's true. It saw it before meeting me, but didn't seem too interested in it."
"Does it remember the way?"
While a weapon like that wasn’t a divine artifact, like the Grand-Orient Sword, it would still be endlessly valuable in the Theocracy.
"It does. Let me take you there. By the way, is sister Ling'er going to wake up soon?"
"I feel something from her. This time around Soulburn didn't last too long, so the repercussions probably weren't as severe as last time. Let's go get the weapon and come back here."
"Okay."