"Xingque, defeat Li Tianming and take his points then run away. You’ll have more than five thousand points, so it would definitely be enough for you to win," Fang Chenyun said.
"Run away?" Fang Xingque fumed at hearing those words. It was as if everyone was trying to challenge his dignity, and it was all because of Tianming. He glanced at Tianming and roared as he summoned his lifebound beast, breaking through the crowd and charging at him with a punch. "Die!"
"Buzz off!" Tianming hurriedly turned around and used his black left arm to perform the Ninenether Fiendgod Claw, clashing against Fang Xingque's Samsara Stage power.
"Aaaagh!" Fang Xingque cried in pain as his fist bled.
"Fang Xingque, no matter how much of a spoiled rich kid you are, your petty little tactics haven’t worked against me. As far as I'm concerned, you’re nothing but a little brat!" Tianming finally had a chance to truly beat up Fang Xingque. He summoned Ying Huo, Meow Meow, and Lan Huang and began focusing on him.
The others around them didn't dare to come close and instead left quite a lot of space for Tianming. Perhaps they were trying to wait for an opportunity to get points for themselves after the fight, which ironically allowed Tianming to fight Fang Xingque on equal standing.
"Dammit, don't you know who the Archaion Sect belongs to?" In the past, Fang Xingque had never been so infuriated. Anyone that even came close to doing so would have long been killed.
"It's Her Eminence's territory, understood?" Tianming said with a smile.
"Her Eminence is.... Forget it, just die!"
As Fang Xingque spoke, four phoenix lifebound beasts flew around his head; he was a quad beastmaster! Coupled with his Rainbow Phoenix Bloodline, it made him among the most talented people in the entire sect, along with Jian Lingchen.
The four phoenixes had different types. The snow white one shone brightly and elegantly and was called a sacred sky phoenix. The lightning covered one sported brilliant purple plumage and was known as a sky blitz phoenix. Another was entirely blue and cold as icy water, it was a stillwater frost phoenix. The last one was covered in flames and had a draconic head, and was known as a helldragon flare phoenix. Each of them had more than three hundred and fifty stars.
Even though Fang Xingque was only a first level samsaran, his four lifebound beasts made him among the most powerful of his level. Even many more powerful seniors wouldn't be his match if they didn't have as many lifebound beasts, or theirs had lower star counts.
He was someone blessed with ultimate talent. Given that he was only sixteen, who knew how much further he could progress in the coming fourteen years he would spend in the Heaven Branch? At the very least, he was expected to achieve far more than any disciple ever had. After all, the Heaven Branch rankings, something that ranked the most powerful combatants in the Heaven Branch, only considered their fighting power and not their age.
"You should be honored that you’ll get to have a taste of the sword guiding art my Sterling House of Fang is famous for!"
Sword guiding arts were special techniques that were rarely seen. As the name suggested, they allowed someone to control swords without even wielding them in their hands.
Eight swords appeared beside Fang Xingque, each one having a different color corresponding to different elements. The hilts of the swords resembled the wings of phoenixes and each sword had four tribulation patterns, making them not the least bit weaker than Xuanyuan Yutuo's Firestorm Sword. These swords made up the famous set of Eight Phoenix Blades.
Fang Xingque only held two of the eight swords in his hands while the other six flew around him, as if they were held by invisible hands. He could execute sword arts with each of them. He seemed especially imposing on the battlefield with four phoenixes circling him and his rainbow colored hair fluttering in the wind. Not to mention, the light coming from his Astral Formation was far more blinding than Tianming's, making him even more eye-catching. Almost all of the audience members were watching their battle.
Fang Xingque tried to throw even more shade. "Li Tianming, let me tell you—"
But before he could finish, Tianming said, "Just shut up and start fighting. Don't waste time talking."
He split the Grand-Orient Sword into two and activated the Imperealm Sword Formation. The moment the rampant sword ki exploded out into the surroundings, many empyrean saints of the Sterling House of Fang had their Astral Formations activated. The countless strands of gold and black sword ki formed a gigantic vortex around Tianming. As his white hair fluttered in the wind, he looked even more imposing than Fang Xingque.
"How handsome!"
"I only just realized the charisma he has on the battlefield! He looks so fierce, cool, and domineering!"
The cries of many female disciples resounded throughout the audience.
Tianming's lifebound beasts emerged and engaged Fang Xingque's four phoenixes. Almost immediately, the entire area shook from the abilities that were unleashed. The ground turned into the ocean when Lan Huang activated Azure Oceanic Purgatory. Lightning, fire, ice, and light shot out in all directions.
Lan Huang used its Primordial Wheel and knocked the phoenixes apart, stopping their abilities from piercing through the oceanic realm. Amidst the chaos, Ying Huo used Infernal Haze, causing many clones to manifest, then used Skyscorch Featherblast. As the only fourth order tribulation beast in the battle, Ying Huo's ability was really powerful. The other phoenixes that were struck by it immediately started bleeding from all orifices. Even Fang Xingque was struck by a few feathers on his thigh, causing him to wince in pain. The feathers even burned with Infernal Blaze. If it weren’t for his body refining technique, he would be forced to kneel from the pain.
"Die!"
The moment he even managed to shout that, Meow Meow's Soulchasing Hellthunder burrowed into his head. Meow Meow's abilities had been powered up significantly since its evolution, this one in particular. There was no way to hide from it unless one had a really big and powerful shield. After Fang Xingque was struck, he bled and twitched from the shock. Even though it wasn't fatal, it severely hampered his ability to fight. There was no way the ability of a Primordial Chaos Beast would be so simple.
Most of the abilities of the phoenixes had been blocked by Lan Huang, leaving nobody to stop Ying Huo and Meow Meow's abilities. That was a huge advantage of having lifebound beasts with different body sizes. Even though Fang Xingque had four of them with different types, they were basically homogenous phoenixes and not one of them was big enough to act as a shield, like Lan Huang.
Fang Xingque was growing ever more infuriated now that three of four of his phoenixes were being targeted. Ying Huo appeared behind the helldragon flare phoenix and attacked it, Meow Meow kept the sky blitz phoenix busy, and Lan Huang fought the stillwater frost phoenix, leaving only the sacred sky phoenix beside him. But just as it was about to attack Tianming with its master, a gigantic white tower came out of nowhere and knocked it flying.
"Fang Xingque, now nobody can protect you," said Tianming in a cold voice.
Fang Xingque looked up and saw that Tianming was already in front of him. Insulted once again, he didn't know whether he was shaking from anger or the aftereffects of the Soulchasing Hellthunder. "I don't need to be protected!"
Even though the sacred sky phoenix was blocked off by the Prime Tower, it managed to shoot a white pillar of light toward Tianming.
"This is my chance!" Fang Xingque immediately struck. It was an advantage he had, having four lifebound beasts. As long as one of them was free, he would outnumber his opponent. He used a tribulation ranked art, Sterling Arcane Sword, Serene Arrogance! Allegedly, it was a sure-kill strike. His Eight Phoenix Blades rapidly swirled around, unleashing torrents of sword ki.
Tianming used the Imperealm Sword Formation to mitigate the ability of the white phoenix then concentrated his hundred and fifty strands of tribulation sword ki into the gold sword and struck.
"It’s over for you!" Fang Xingque said with a sinister smile. He used Sterling Arcane Sword, Exaltation. He had eight swords and Tianming only had two; there was no way Tianming would be able to keep up with the speed of his attacks.
"You think your swordsmanship can match mine?" Tianming said. At that moment, Meow Meow's Soulchasing Hellthunder's effect activated and drew a blast of Chaos Disaster to Fang Xingque's head like a lightning rod, frying him until he was charred and his flesh was raw and visible.
Tianming then executed the Hexapath Samsara Sword. Omnisentient Sword Intent swelled in both the swords, pairing up with tribulation sword ki and the Imperealm Sword Formation to unleash a devastating barrage of attacks on the Eight Phoenix Blades. The black Grand-Orient Sword struck out with such ferocity that Fang Xingque's numb body struggled to parry it. Then Tianming’s sword curved, allowing him to thrust it into Fang Xingque's shoulder. It only took a simple swipe for Tianming to completely amputate Fang Xingque’s arm.
"Aaaaaaaaaaagh!" The cry of pain was harrowing indeed. The worst part, for him, was that Meow Meow's Chaos Disaster followed and vaporized the severed arm.
"Apologies, looks like you only have one arm left," Tianming snickered.
Fang Xingque was forced to kneel from the pain as he bled out from the stump on his left shoulder. His expression contorted unnaturally from the burning pain he felt. He stumbled and rolled on the ground to avoid Tianming's attacks, covering the battlefield in his own blood.
Everyone else, both among the audience and the combatants in the battlefield, was completely shocked by what they saw. Fang Xingque had actually performed rather well in the battle, as he was far stronger than most others had expected, yet Tianming was able to cut his arm off.
Not only that, but his Astral Formation had not yet appeared, which meant that Fang Xingque hadn't been eliminated yet, so Tianming continued his onslaught. Fang Xingque ran and cried in pain just like he had before in an embarrassing display. He had completely broken down.
"Li Tianming, I swear I’ll have you drawn and quartered! Otherwise I’m even lowlier than a beast!" he cried in desperation. His mind was now entirely blank apart from terror and rage.
"You and your boasts. Didn't you ask Fang Chenyu to cut my limbs off? I’m still waiting for you to fulfill that promise." Tianming's laughter sounded like a demon snickering.
As Fang Xingque continued escaping, he suddenly turned back and took out a tome whose use was forbidden in the Deepstar Battle. "You’re still trying to force my hand! Do you think you're a big shot? Then I’ll let you witness the death of your lifebound beasts!"