Dark clouds covered the lands as hundreds of people silently crossed. Only the Sterling House of Fang was able to gather so many people in the Deepstar Battlefield. More and more people joined their group, and eventually, quite a number of Heaven Branch disciples were among them.
"Fang Shuyu, how much farther is it?" Fang Xingque asked as he looked at the dark river ahead of him. They had been pursuing Tianming for close to four hours.
"Young Master Xingque, we're almost there. He's right ahead. I suggest we split our group up to encircle him and cut off his escape route," she said a little nervously from the back of her Whitejade Phoenix.
"Sure. I’ll leave the details to you," he said.
"Understood," she nodded with delighted surprise as she thought about how she would be accepted into Fang Xingque's circle for her contribution. The group of hundreds continued stealthily tracking Tianming.
......
Back in the Dimensional Battlefield, the audience was able to see what they were doing through the hundred plus viewpoints that were provided. It was almost as if Deepstar Hall was trying to shame the Sterling House of Fang for their tactics and behavior.
"Are they chasing someone down?"
"Looks like it."
"Fang Xingque and Fang Shuyu are conspiring together. The girl just escaped from Li Tianminng, so she probably has him tagged."
"That means Fang Xingque is chasing Li Tianming down!"
"The upcoming show will be interesting. Tianming killed Fang Chenhuan, and Fang Xingque isn't someone who would let something like that go.”
Once more, the audience grew excited as Fang Xingque began smiling as he encroached upon his prey.
Eventually....
"Xuanyuan Muxue!"
"Young Master Xingque, we've spotted her!"
"She's trying to escape!"
This had happened just as Fang Xingque was considering how he would humiliate Tianming. "Give chase!"
The group immediately deviated from their course.
"Chase her down! Anyone that manages to catch her will be rewarded with a tribulation artifact with three tribulation patterns!" he yelled. He himself gave chase at the very front with the other Heaven Branch disciples.
"Young Master!" Fang Shuyu cried, before she turned to Fang Chenyu. "Aren't we going to hunt Li Tianming down?"
"What are you thinking?" Fang Chenyu said as he gave the back of her head a smack. "Li Tianming is an annoying mutt at most. He's all bark and no bite. Xuanyuan Muxue is the real rival for Xingque. If we defeat her, not only will we humiliate the Archaic House of Xuanyuan, we’ll also be able to secure a spot for Xingque at the Deepstar Pool. The Xuanyuans can't be given that spot no matter what."
"Understood," Fang Shuyu said, nodding and cutely poking her tongue out.
The youths of the three great houses had always competed with each other, both openly and secretly. The stronger they were compared to their compatriots, the better their future would be. The Sterling House of Fang had only managed to rise to the top of the Archaion Sect through competition like that among their younger generations, after all.
Not only did Fang Xingque have to get first place in the Deepstar Battle, but he also had to suppress Xuanyuan Muxue and not even give her a chance. The sight of a few hundred members of the Sterling House of Fang chasing down a lone Xuanyuan Muxue was a sight to behold. Even so, only the Heaven Branch disciples among them were truly able to keep up.
The girl dressed in snow white was covered in ice as she threaded through the storm with countless pursuers on her tail, but her expression never changed one bit the entire time.
"Careful!" Fang Xingque called out as a snowstorm came their way. In an instant, ice covered the area around them. When the cold breeze swept by, at least a dozen of them were turned into ice sculptures. When they broke themselves free, they were freezing and covered in ice.
"Give chase!" Fang Xingque urged. The ones behind them that hadn’t been frozen had caught up and he ordered them to bombard the area ahead with their lifebound beasts' abilities. "Dammit, that f.u.c.k.i.n.g s.l.u.t's still trying to look superior to me. I'll see where that bitch can run to!"
Even though his behavior lacked class, the disciples of the Archaion Sect were long used to it and didn't dare to say a word about it. After all, an arrogant piece of trash was a fool, but an arrogant genius was a nightmare. Fang Xingque was a nightmare for many disciples in the sect. No matter how badly he insulted anyone, nobody had ever called him out on it.
"Fight me if you dare! Don't run! Or are all members of the Archaic House of Xuanyuan cowards like you?!" he mocked.
However, Xuanyuan Muxue simply ignored him. After all, who knew whether he meant he would fight her one on one or as a group?
They didn't manage to catch up, almost causing Fang Xingque to freak out. He had even derailed their original plan. "Xuanyuan Muxue, one day, I’ll make sure you kneel before me and lick my feet!"
He was desperate to do anything to anger her. The disciples around him laughed when he said that, and, as expected, Xuanyuan Muxue paused for a moment and caused the snow to grow even colder.
However, she was not one bit weaker. She had only stopped for a split second before choosing to leave immediately, ignoring any further insults Fang Xingque threw her way. He wasn't afraid of any blowback from his insults, since the Deepstar Formation blocked off all voices. Even if the seniors heard it and chided him for it, all was fair in love and war. He could justify it as a tactic to anger his rival.
"Does Young Master Xingque like Xuanyuan Muxue?" Fang Shuyu asked.
"I don't know. However, there was talk of their engagement in their childhood," Fang Chenyu said.
"Why haven't I heard this before?" she said with a puckered mouth.
"The relationship between the houses has been sullied in recent years, so the matter was no longer brought up."
"Thank goodness! How could a Xuanyuan be worthy of Young Master?"
Right then, they heard Fang Xingque calling out to them from ahead. "Chenyu, take Fang Shuyu with you and capture Li Tianming for me. Break his limbs but don't kill him and activate his Astral Formation. I'll keep chasing Xuanyuan Muxue!"
"Understood. Come," he said when he turned to Fang Shuyu.
"Understood, Young Master Chenyu." She finally had a chance to be alone with Fang Chenyu. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the handsome youth beside her. The two then proceeded to hunt down Tianming with the Whitejade Phoenix.
"By the way, Young Master Chenyu, Li Tianming is rather capable. We’ll have to sneak attack him. Like Young Master Xingque said, we'll break his limbs first so he can't escape. Otherwise, we can also kill his lifebound beasts."
"I don't need you to tell me that."
"I... it seems that I've spoken out of my station. But don't get at me.... We have to focus on completing our task," she said coquettishly.
"Don't put up that cutesy act in front of me. I'll at most do it once with women like you before forgetting about it entirely."
Fang Shuyu stood there speechless for a moment. "Young Master Chenyu...."
"What is it?"
"So what if it's only once? I'll give you a night you'll never forget," she said with a shy look.
Stunned, Fang Chenyu hurriedly changed the topic. "I'll have you know that nobody beneath the Samsara stage is a match for me."
"A match in what? If you're talking about intercourse, you have yet to meet your match."
"I'm talking about combat!"
"I see...."
......
The ground rumbled as Tianming fought a ninth-order empyrean saint beast with Lan Huang. The ground in front of them cracked open as the mountains shook and rivers spilled over their banks. A huge beast surfaced from the cracks and charged at Lan Huang with the single horn on its head.
It was an armored beast with a long, tough body. The scales covering it were at least a meter thick. Its claws and teeth were just as sharp as the tens of bladed spikes on its back, and the tip of its tail was razor sharp. Its unique figure allowed it to course about underground unimpeded. It was known as a worldbore wyrm.
"Press it down!" Even without Tianming ordering it, Lan Huang already engaged the beast. It turned the ground into an ocean using Azure Oceanic Purgatory to force the wyrm out from underneath before slamming into it with its humongous body; it was at least three times the wyrm's mass. However, the wyrm was small and agile, making it a rather hard target to hit. The clash between the two gigantic beasts thus began.
The wyrm was an a.d.u.l.t ninth-order empyrean saint beast and undoubtedly the ruler of the surrounding area. Then Tianming came descending from the skies as he executed the Ninenether Fiendgod Claw, which was further enhanced by his soul servant. Even though his black arm was too small to tear off the flesh of the wyrm, the soul servant more than made up for it.
The wyrm's cry of pain spread throughout the area, then Lan Huang pinned it down and used Primordial Soundwave. The wyrm struggled and managed to wrestle free, then used its ability, Tectonic Grinder. The next instant, dirt and rock gathered around its body. It coiled its body up, pointing its tail in front and exposing its tough, bladed back, turning into a meat grinder. The material that it gathered increased its size even further.
The mountain-sized grinder fell toward Lan Huang from the skies as the wyrm spun rapidly, causing its back blades to spin like a saw and scr.a.p.e against Lan Huang's claws, sending sparks flying. The countless stars on Lan Huang's body gathered at one point to block the attack as Tianming came flying down with the Grand-Orient Sword.