A ferocious collision rocked the stage. The Invincible Sword Ki that broke out from the collision stabbed into Sun Xingyu’s hands. He yelled out in pain and released his grip on his Scarlet Flame Staff.
After Sun Xingyu released his grip on his weapon, he couldn’t really defend himself. Ying Huo and Meow Meow were just beside him; without his weapon, he could only block Meow Meow’s Misty Hellthunder with his fists. But there was nothing he could do about Ying Huo’s Invincible Sword Ki. Ying Huo had initially wanted to backstab Sun Xingyu, but after a second thought, it decided to go easy on him and stabbed into his waist instead.
“Argggh!!” Sun Xingyu screamed. His back was covered in blood, having taken a sword ki strand in his kidney.
“I’m sorry about that. I wanted to avoid your fatal spot, but I never thought that I would hit another fatal spot instead,” Ying Huo laughed out irresponsibly.
As the chick was laughing, three bolts of lightning descended on Sun Xingyu’s head, smashing him to the ground.
“Meow Meow, what the hell is wrong with you? Why’d you zap him when I was trying to apologize here?”
“I want to finish the fight quickly and sleep. I’m exhausted,” Meow Meow said listlessly. Their conversation left the spectators dumbfounded and shocked. They had no idea if they should laugh or cry.
There was no doubt that Tianming’s lifebound beasts were strong, despite their low cultivation. Furthermore, they were even using unique skills! Sun Xingyu’s eyes had already rolled back in his head from the lightning strikes, and one of his apes was out of the fight.
The remaining ape got besieged by Tianming, Lan Huang, and Ying Huo. The Burning Starfiend Ape immediately clamped its legs together and started running away. It had admitted defeat.
“I admit defeat!” Sun Xingyu said with a hoarse voice as he got up to his feet, his face terrifyingly pale. But he only looked to be in a terrible state. Tianming hadn’t tried to seriously injure him, and the worst injury to heal would be the Myriadfiend Venom that one of the apes was suffering from.
But the Myriadfiend Venom could be treated with Meow Meow’s pee. So anyone who refused to drink Meow Meow’s pee would be giving up on their life.
As a result, Meow Meow ran over to the ape and peed in its mouth before running off. Before it returned to Tianming, Meow Meow had already closed its eyes. In a half-asleep state, Meow Meow collapsed to the ground and slid to Tianming across the floor. The ten thousand people who were looking at Meow Meow’s performance couldn’t help shedding a bead of cold sweat.
“How embarrassing!” Ying Huo said and covered its face.
“Come and play!” On the other hand, Lan Huang turned to the uninjured ape. The scene looked joyful, but Sun Xingyu wasn’t feeling happy at all. He didn’t know what to say as he stood blankly before Tianming. But at that moment, Tianming’s image had changed within everyone’s mind.
“Deputy General Sun is sixty this year, and he’s slightly weaker than Dongyang Fengchen. Since the general defeated him, that means that he could also defeat Dongyang Fengchen!”
“So you’re saying there’s a high possibility that the general killed the crown prince!”
“Does anyone still feel that the general was boasting?”
“It would be arrogant if someone else said that. But coming from general, I believe it!” With several chiliarchs leading the conversation, the tension in the surroundings eased up.
At that moment, Deputy General Liu Yuyi spoke out, “General Li is already so capable at the age of twenty. He’s even more heaven-defying than his father, Li Muyang. Like father, like son. I’m fully convinced. In the future, I’ll follow his orders.”
“It’s our honor that he has become our general,” said the other deputy, Chen Fang. With the two of them speaking up, they instantly directed the conversation to Tianming’s benefit.
When Bai Zijin heard that, she smiled. She stood beside the two of them and said, “The two of you are still tactful. Astral General is just the beginning for Tianming. You guys understand?”
“Please rest assured, Lady Bai. At least I, Chen Fang, swear to follow him,” said Chen Fang.
“Me too.”
“Alright.” That was what Bai Zijin wanted. Tianming had gained complete control of the Dark Astral Battalion after this battle. Strength was the easiest method to conquer others. At that moment, even though everyone in the Dark Astral Battalion was older than him, they greeted him with awe.
Everyone then turned their attention to Sun Xingyu. He was the one who had challenged Tianming earlier, so they were curious what he would say. With a pale face, Sun Xingyu walked to Tianming and knelt, “Your strength has won me over, general. I have a straightforward and competitive personality, please don’t hold it against me. After that fight, I’m only filled with admiration for your strength. In the future.…”
Sun Xingyu was speaking with his head lowered. But Tianming suddenly noticed changes in Sun Xingyu’s eyes. The admiration in his eyes suddenly turned vicious.
“Watch out!” Ying Huo was just on Tianming’s shoulder. In that instant, it had a bad premonition and immediately flew forth and unleashed the Sixpath Infernal Lotus at Sun Xingyu. But right before that, a fiery ancient book appeared in Sun Xingyu’s hand.
“Go to hell!!” Sun Xingyu roared and dripped his blood on the heavenly pattern tome. Judging from the heavenly pattern tome, it seemed to be a three star tome.
Tianming’s face changed instantly. The first thing he did was grab Ying Huo and retreat. The next moment, flames began flaring from the tome, forming a lump of black flames.
The black flame was clearly a spirit hazard sealed within the tome. In addition to the profundities of heavenly patterns, spirit hazards could instantly unleash lethal force. Only a three star heavenly pattern tome could seal a spirit hazard. That meant that the value of the tome was at least two hundred thousand saint crystals.
Frankly speaking, there was no way Sun Xingyu could afford it. So where did he get a three star heavenly pattern tome? Why did he want to kill Tianming? But that wasn’t important right now—the important thing was for him to survive the ordeal!
The black flames flew toward Tianming, but fortunately, Ying Huo had reacted quickly by breathing out the Sixpath Infernal Lotus, detonating it ahead of time. But even so, the two of them were still caught within the explosion.
“Holy shit! It’s hot!” Ying Huo turned into a black chicken immediately, along with Tianming. The two were blown dozens of meters out.
“Haha! Exchanging my life for the life of a genius. It’s totally worth it!” Sun Xingyu laughed.
Bai Zijin was stunned. She had never expected this would take place. But by the time she reacted, Tianming and Ying Huo were already burnt black.
“That’s the three star heavenly pattern tome, the Burrowing Flame Tome, containing the Bone Burrowing Flame. It’s a flame that can quickly burn bones and burrow into the heart. Is Deputy General Sun insane?”
“Why’d he do that?”
“Wait, where’d he get the saint crystals to buy something like that?”
“He’s a spy from Autarch Yun!” someone yelled out.
At that moment, everyone had figured it out. They immediately went over to surround Sun Xingyu, but it was already too late. From Sun Xingyu’s laughter, everyone could tell that Tianming and Ying Huo were probably dead from the flames. After all, it was a three star heavenly pattern tome. In an instant, everyone was panicking.
“Hurry, look for the astral king!”
“Look for the palace lord, hall master, and hall kings!”
“Holy shit!”
Many people immediately rushed out, and even more came to surround Sun Xingyu. As for Tianming, there was nothing they could do about it. After all, it was a three star heavenly pattern tome.
“It’ll be a great loss if the general dies!”
“Such a shame.…”
“Many geniuses have died before they could grow up since ancient times. But I never expected to witness one before my eyes.”
In contrast to Sun Xingyu’s joy, they were basking in sorrow.
“Li Tianming, you’re just a brat with some capability. You’re still too tender to mess with us. Dongyang Fengchen couldn’t kill you, but I did it easily! Genius? Geniuses who can’t grow up to be masters are just garbage! Yet, you want to go against the Theocrats?” Sun Xingyu smiled sinisterly. He was deathsworn, so he wasn’t afraid of death.
“You make sense,” a cold voice rang out from the black flames. Shortly after, a young man and little chick walked out from the flames, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
Part of their skin had turned black, especially Tianming, whose hair had been burned black. But aside from that, they didn’t seem injured at all and there weren't any changes in their expression.
“General, are you alright?” Everyone rejoiced when they saw that Tianming was fine.
Right at that moment, a gentle voice called out and Tianming found himself in a soft embrace. He could only see white skin before his eyes, and smell a sweet fragrance.
“It’s good that you’re fine!” Bai Zijin choked on her tears. She started examining Tianming all over, which made him embarrassed.
There were three reasons he hadn’t fallen for it. First, Ying Huo had detonated the threat beforehand, so they weren’t in the center of the flames. Secondly, Ying Huo took most of them. And lastly, they both possess the Aeternal Infernal Physique. They had absorbed too many flame-type spirit hazards recently, so the Bone Burrowing Flames could only pose a limited threat to them.
“Big Sister Bai, I'm getting you dirty,” said Tianming.
When Bai Zijin lowered her head, she saw her chest covered in a black smear. She replied, “It’s fine. As long as you’re alright.”
“Okay then. Let’s do it once more,” said Tianming.
“Me too! Me too!” Ying Huo pounced over.
“You two.…” Bai Zijin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she looked at them. The two had just undergone a life-or-death trial, so what were they trying to pull now?