"He actually broke through the Astral Formation? He's as powerful as a samsaran!"
"Of course. If he wasn't at least that powerful, how could he have defeated Xuanyuan Yutuo in the first place?"
Hushed whispers rang out through the audience as they discussed the turn of events.
Xuanyuan Yutuo hurriedly picked up his Fatal Talon, but his hands were still covered in blood. He turned back at his dragon's roar only to see that the two of them had been beaten back the moment Ying Huo started going to aid Meow Meow and Lan Huang. All they could do was cry out in pain and shiver before the might of the Primordial Chaos Beasts. They shriveled together as their scales were violently torn off one after another. At that sight, Xuanyuan Yutuo spat out another mouthful of blood, now completely powerless and tossing Fatal Talon away as a sign of giving up.
"Li Tianming, you truly are impressive. I accept my loss. It took me nineteen years to distinguish myself from Xuanyuan Yufeng, but it only took you one month to catch up and humiliate me. Nobody but you has made me yield in all my life. As expected of the one Her Eminence favors! I’m fully convinced!" he said in a defeated voice.
"It seems you're not unreasonable. Otherwise I would've tested out some new tricks I learned on you," Tianming said.
Originally, he had planned to use the Imperial Sword Prison on him, but doing so after his surrender would only be an unnecessary humiliation. Even though Xuanyuan Yutuo's Astral Formation had been broken by Tianming, the seniors approached to fish him away from the battlefield, as he had been eliminated.
He really rose to prominence just like a god. I’d even believe it if someone told me he was a god's reincarnation! Xuanyuan Yutuo thought and felt a little better about his loss. Losing to someone like that wasn't humiliating. After all, the looks of shock were still present on the faces of the audience, including the disciples and even the seniors.
"He just became an empyrean saint not long ago, yet he’s already managed to defeat a samsaran...."
"Has he been hiding his power this whole time? If not, then this would be truly terrifying.”
"What do the seniors say about this?"
"I don't know. My divine mentor was here just now, but suddenly left after Xuanyuan Yutuo was defeated. I think he must've gone to talk to a friend about it."
"This is simply divine.... What kind of background does he have?"
Even though the battle had ended quickly, it was enough to rocket Tianming's fame in the whole sect. His rise during the faction battles wasn't too impressive, but the Deepstar Battle was a whole different story. Even then, all Tianming cared about was his points. They were now in the final stages of the battle.
"Wow.... Was defeating Xuanyuan Yutuo really such a feat?" he said as he saw that his rank had risen to fourth place. Now, he had nine hundred and fifty-one points. He had tasted how quickly he could rise in the rankings after defeating someone strong. Turning back, he saw that Jian Lingchen was having a rather hard time fighting Jian Chenzhong and Jian Mugu and his eyes immediately lit up.
"Friend, leave one of them to me," Tianming said.
"Li Tianming, did you get jacked up on drugs? How'd you get so fearsome all of a sudden? I'm utterly floored!" Jian Lingchen said, having watched Tianming’s battle. He shot Tianming an intense gaze and blushed heavily.
"What's with the blushing? Overexerted yourself?"
"No, I’m just embarrassed.... No, I mean to say this junior here is utterly terrified," he said incoherently.
"Can you just... shut up...." Tianming didn't know if his double entendres were intentional or not.
The casual conversation infuriated Jian Chenzhong and Jian Mugu.
"Are you even taking us seriously?" Jian Chenzhong snapped.
"You’ll do. Come to papa," Tianming said with a domineering point of his finger.
"I'll mess you up!" Despite what he said, Jian Chenzhong immediately exchanged glances with his brother and ran. It was clear that they were terrified after seeing Xuanyuan Yutuo defeated, so staying would be of no benefit to them.
"Li Tianming, just you wait! Let's see who’ll have the last laugh!" Jian Mugu yelled.
It wasn't just them. Even the four Heaven Branch disciples that were fighting Jian Lingchen's godsisters had fled in different directions. The sudden change was almost laughable in comparison to the bravado they had shown before. Dugu Jin's disciples had always had a fearsome reputation in the Archaion Sect, but their unanimous 'strategic retreat' was a sign that even they had been shocked by Xuanyuan Yutuo's defeat.
"Want to run? Have you asked my cat whether you can do so?" While Tianming's own speed wasn't really comparable to theirs, he had Meow Meow. With a wave of his hand, the Regal Chaosfiend came running. Tianming pointed to Jian Chenzhong as his first target, given that he was ranked fifth and had the most points among them. Meanwhile, Jian Lingchen chased after Jian Mugu.
"You shan't escape!" Tianming declared, much to their surprise. "Keep them from running!"
However, it seemed that the four godsisters chose not to pursue their former opponents. Instead, they ganged up on Jian Mugu with Jian Lingchen.
"Dammit." Tianming gave up on the others and chose to deal with Jian Chenzhong. "Now, don't run."
Meow Meow moved at terrifying speeds and soon caught up.
"Li Tianming, I don't have a grudge with you. Why are you targeting me?!" Jian Chenzhong said.
"Who's targeting you? I only want your points. Don't flatter yourself," Tianming said.
"Why don't you give me a chance to serve you? I'll help you deal with Fang Xingque!"
"I don't need your help." Tianming blocked Jian Chenzhong's way.
"You think I'm running because I'm afraid? If you really want to fight, there's no saying who’ll win yet!"
"Stop boasting and start fighting already!" Tianming snapped before he immediately charged.
Meow Meow didn't join the fight, instead choosing to use this precious time to nod off. After taking a comfortable position on the ground, it said, "Friend, do hold Tianming up for long enough if you can. I really need some shuteye."
"So you alone are fighting me?" Jian Chenzhong said with a gleeful look. All he was waiting for was a careless mistake by Tianming. Even though he didn't seem to have any lifebound beasts fighting beside him, he actually had Trisword Talent, so his golden rhinoceri had fused into his greatsword, the Goldbell Tai'e Sword, making him even more powerful than the four of them combined.
"Come!" Tianming split the Grand-Orient Sword into two and activated the Imperealm Sword Formation, filling his surroundings with sword ki. He also infused his two swords with a hundred and fifty strands of tribulation sword ki as he charged in like a swordmaster using Hexapath Samsara Sword's Mortal Dao Sword. By now, his mastery of the move had matured and its power was only further bolstered by his tribulation sword ki.
Jian Chenzhong countered with the Dawnbreaker Sword Art, charging in like a rhinoceros. His greatsword was as heavy as the sun of dawn, cleaving away the dark of night.
"Get out of my way!"
It would be a clash between a heavy sword and light swords. Tianming's split Grand-Orient Swords were light, fine, and long, making them move so quickly that one’s eyes struggled to keep up with their movements as they clashed with the Goldbell Tai'e Sword. The gold sword of life was infused with Omnisentient Sword Intent as it clashed with the charge of the golden rhinoceros while the black sword formlessly lashed out with a deathly sword intent.
Jian Chenzhong tried blocking it, only to have his sword break from the impact. His three swordbeasts were forced out of the sword and bloodied all over. Then, Tianming thrust his sword into Jian Chenzhong's head, but it didn't go far as the Astral Formation appeared. Even so, he was still sent flying and rolled across the ground, dizzy from the blowback.
"Too powerful! I yield!" Jian Chenzhong was hurting really badly from the effects of Tianming’s sword ki. If it weren’t for the Astral Formation, he would already be dead. He looked up to Tianming almost catatonically and said, "Are you... a monster?"
"I'm your daddy!" Tianming couldn't bother with wasting time on him. They didn't really have any grudge to begin with, and he had already gotten the points. Not to mention, there were others to chase down.
Lan Huang was still nearby, and Ying Huo had just returned from giving chase. "These folks really know how to run. Even I wasn't able to keep up," it said.
"It's fine. It's only a matter of time until we find them anyway." Nothing could escape from him as long as he was powerful enough.
"There’s only three days left but you're still going to wait? What an idiot," Ying Huo snapped.
"Hey, get off my case. Those four that escaped combined don't have nearly enough points as Jian Chenzhong. It won't matter anyway, since I'm going to take down Fang Xingque. Let's see how many points I have now."
He looked up and saw that Jian Chenzhong and Jian Mugu were among the top ten, while the other four were in the top hundred or two. Xuanyuan Yutuo, Jian Chenzhong, and Jian Mugu had been eliminated. It was no wonder Jian Mugu was done for, considering he was ganged up on. Xuanyuan Yutuo used to be ranked fourth while Jian Chenzhong was fifth, and Tianming had gotten all their points.
"1730 points!" His eyes glowed. Now, he was ranked third, and even higher than Jian Lingchen. Right above him was Xuanyuan Muxue.