As the battle was about to begin, Meow Meow wasn't in the lifebound space, but on Lan Huang's back instead. However, it had ended up slacking off and slept through the battle.
"Cat Bro isn’t on my back! It's still inside the formation!" Lan Huang said in a panic.
"Darn it! If I knew it was that lazy, I'd have left it in the lifebound space instead!" Tianming was going insane. He tried to telepathically locate Meow Meow's rough location. It was still in the center of the formation. How could it still sleep despite all the noise and commotion?
"Darn it. I’ll definitely give its balls a harsh squeeze!" Ying Huo spat.
"What do we do? Cat Bro is going to die, waa!" Lan Huang cried.
"He won't die, you fool. We'll go back and fetch him. This is my fault for forgetting him," Tianming said. It was an accident, and there was nothing else to be said. They were all brothers, and everyone made mistakes. Meow Meow wouldn't be itself if it didn't slack off.
"Chen Fang, Liu Yuyi, take them out of here. I'll be away for a minute."
"Sir, where are you going? We're heading out immediately! We can't dally!" Chen Fang said.
"One of my lifebound beasts was left behind. I'll come back immediately. Go see the Astral King or Hall Lord Ye Yi and tell them what happened," Tianming said.
"Left inside?" Chen Fang and Liu Yuyi gave each other a look of dumbfoundment. What kind of lifebound beast would actually get left behind? Not to mention, wildbeasts were roaming the area now and would attack indiscriminately, even other wildbeasts. The situation inside the formation was now pure chaos.
When Tianming finished saying what he wanted, he had Ying Huo and Lan Huang enter his lifebound space and shot away with Celestial Wings.
"Brother Tianming, let me come with you," Ye Lingfeng said.
"The soulfiend is too huge. You must leave it outside the formation."
"No need." Ye Lingfeng called out and caused the soulfiend to morph into a black twister that wrapped around him. Its body had disappeared, and it helped boost Ye Lingfeng's speed. Tianming had seen it morph in the tomb before; it was a shockingly terrifying ability.
"The soulfiend had quite a lot of souls to eat today and grew much stronger. It can help us when we're in danger, too."
"Alright, let's go!"
The two of them, both clad in Dark Astral Armor, charged stealthily into the fray toward Meow Meow.
......
"Old Fifth!"
A middle-aged man clad in a fiery-red robe with a grim expression took a headless corpse out of the mouth of a third-order empyrean wildbeast, a Twinhead Fiendwolf. He, Dongyang Fen, recognized the corpse to be Dongyang Feng based on his clothes.
He was Autarch Yun's eldest son, and close to seventy years in age. Though he still looked middle-aged, he was at the peak of his strength.
"The cut is too straight. It looks like he was killed by a person rather than a wildbeast. Fourth and Fifth went to kill Li Tianming, so did they die by his hand?"
He squinted in doubt.
"I heard Li Tianming managed to defeat Jiang Liuting at the Grand Sky Gate. After he came in, he defeated my two fifth-level sky saint younger brothers...."
His eyes burned with killing intent.
"Your Highness, the wildbeasts are growing in number. Why don't we go back first? His Majesty will be chasing the wildbeasts out of the formation to let his foes deal with them," said an attendant beside him.
"You guys should return first. I’ll keep looking for Fourth. He might still be alive. We've only found the corpse of his lifebound beast for now, so he isn’t necessarily dead yet."
"We’d better stay to defend Your Highness then."
"Leave! Why would I need defending by the likes of you?" he roared angrily. The two brothers with whom he got along had just been killed, pushing him to a breaking point.
"We, the Ancient Theocrats, have reigned unrivaled for millennia. How did we end up like this? Now, everyone, their mothers, and their pets are trying to topple us!"
His angry steps shook the ground, causing many wildbeasts to notice him. However, the fearsome beasts didn't dare approach him.
Suddenly, a muddy cat turned up beneath his feet. It stared angrily at Dongyang Fen and said, "What the heck?! Why are you yelling about the crummy Theo-whatevers? I'm trying to get some sleep here! Buzz off, you mother's spawn.... Go, now!" Meow Meow cursed without even seeing clearly who it was. It turned around again and went back to sleep.
Dongyang Fen was stupefied. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. "Li Tianming's lifebound beast?" His voice was both filled with wonder and crazy doubt.
"What the hell?! Are you trying to annoy me or something?! You think I'm weak cause I'm not beating you up?!" Meow Meow was feeling annoyed to the extreme. With a few shakes, black lightning covered its body and cleaned it up completely.
"Hahaha!" Dongyang Fen clutched his face tight and couldn't resist laughing. He looked around and made certain Tianming wasn’t around. Perhaps he had left the area entirely.
"Why does your ugly mug look so familiar?" the cat asked.
"I've seen you before. You're Li Tianming's lifebound beast, and you must be really precious to him. If I bring you back to the Imperial City, I'll have his weakness. He's gonna die for sure."
"Who are you? You sound so arrogant."
"I'm Dongyang Fen, the first prince of the Theocracy."
"Hahahaha..." Meow Meow was clutching its stomach with laughter.
"What's so funny?"
"Well... it's just...." Before it finished, it turned to run. "Darn it! I slept up big time! Darn it! Boss Tianming! Chicken Bro, Tortoise Bro, save meeeeee!"
......
Tianming rushed as fast as he could. "It's fighting someone, but I don't know who!" he said to Ye LIngfeng. Feiling was fully occupied using Temporal Field to increase his speed.
"Will Meow Meow be fine?" Feiling asked anxiously. She had named it herself, so how could she not be nervous?
"It will. It's lazy, not stupid. However, anyone who dares to harm it will die for sure!"
Tianming could see a few intense lightning bolts falling ahead of them. Meow Meow began heading toward him after sensing his presence. Whenever any wildbeasts targeted Tianming, he would immediately slay them. He was now filled with killing intent.
He even burst straight through a spirit hazard of the formation. Soon, the lightning bolts had spread to where Tianming was. He destroyed a dilapidated building and finally saw a bloodied Regal Chaosfiend who was unable to escape. A few wounds were so deep that they showed bone. Even its black fur was charred by flames. It looked to be in really bad shape. Tianming and the others were filled with rage at the sight.
"Meow Meow!" Tianming swung his whip hundreds of meters across and pierced it into the ground near it. Meow Meow immediately shrank and allowed the whip to grab it.
"Return!"Tianming withdrew the whip rapidly, avoiding the attacks that came Meow Meow's way before finally drawing it into his bosom. He picked it up by the skin on the back of its neck. While it was quite bloody, it wasn't too badly injured. It was just a little blacker than before, thanks to the charring.
"You sure took your time! I've been waiting forever!" Its big, blue eyes were shimmering, making it look really pitiful.
"You still dare to say that? Have you learned your lesson?" Tianming asked as he lifted it closer.
"I did...."
"What did you learn?"
"I'll just sleep in the lifebound space from now on."
"Can't you just sleep a little less?!"
"No... I'm too tired.... Can't muster... energy...."
Tianming gave up. "So, can you still fight? Want to get back at him?"
"Of course. That fellow actually dared mess with me... I'm angrier than I’ve ever been!” Its blue eyes turned crimson again as its ferocious aura seeped out.
"Then deal with it yourself."
"You're not helping?"
"Oh, I will. Imagine tossing the first prince's head to Autarch Yun. I don't know if it can get more badass than that. I've already killed a bunch of his children anyway, so killing his eldest is perfect icing for the cake. I'll make sure to ask him whether he can father children faster than he's losing them to me!"
Tianming then turned to Dongyang Fen, who had caught up and surrounded them as they spoke. Tianming couldn't escape even if he wanted to. Thankfully, he was their sole pursuer.
"You're alone now," Tianming said.
"Hehehe...." Before he even spoke, two of Tianming's lifebound beasts appeared next to him. The moment Meow Meow saw Ying Huo, it instinctively clutched its family jewels.
"I'll teach you a lesson when we get back," Ying Huo said.
"Chicken Bro, have mercy. I've decided to change by sleeping half an hour less per day!"
"Your balls are as good as gone unless you kill this first prince today."
Meow Meow despaired. "It's all that stupid first prince's fault! He must die!"
The Chaos Genesis Thunderfiend was finally getting serious. There was only one choice for them: kill their opponent. Running wasn’t an option at all.