The stillwater frost phoenix managed to avoid the fate of being killed, as it had been fighting Lan Huang. It immediately tried to escape; however, one of its wings had almost been torn off by Lan Huang before the blast from the starconvergence tome had struck. Now, it was Fang Xingque's only hope.
"He’s still a beastmaster even though he has only one left!"
His three dead lifebound beasts could be converted into lifebound spirits, so he could still cultivate. However, he could no longer be compared to how he was before.
"He’s three-fourths crippled. From now on, he’ll only be average. There’s no way he’ll ever be able to match up to Xuanyuan Muxue again."
"He’ll only have average talent in the Heaven Branch."
"He used to be so arrogant, but now he has fallen from grace."
Many others lamented his lost talent.
"As expected, one must be prepared to lose it all if one wanted to be able to do whatever they want. The only reason nobody could stop him back then was because he hadn't run into someone like Li Tianming, who doesn’t fear losing it all."
"I wonder what goes on in the head of Li Tianming. Isn't he afraid of blowback from the Sterling House of Fang?"
Currently, Tianming was still chasing Fang Xingque down. "Hey, Fang Xingque, looks like you lost your rainbow feathers."
Tianming's voice was like a nightmare to him. The core of his Rainbow Phoenix Bloodline talent was his numerous lifebound beasts. Now that three of them were dead, three-fourths of the hair on Fang Xingque's head had lost its color. Now those parts of his hair were gray, like Fang Xingying's.
Fang Xingque spat out another mouthful of blood and stumbled, then collapsed to the ground face first. He struggled to get back up, his face all messed up. Grabbing his own hair, he looked at it in despair as his tears and snot flowed.
"Li Tianming, I swear you’ll experience the worst kind of death possible!"
"You're still threatening me? You don't think I’ll just kill you now?" Tianming said as he approached with a smile. The Grand-Orient Sword looked so terrifying that Fang Xingque couldn't help but shake in fear.
"Come if you dare! Don't you know who I am?!" Fang Xingque said, raising his face proudly like a cockerel.
"You’re still trying to do that? Don't you ever get sick of that? Since you seem to like this line so much, let me ask you this. Who do you think I am?"
"Who are you? Jian Wuyi's illegitimate son? He’s nothing compared to my father!"
"You’re mistaken. I’m the disciple of Her Eminence. She was the one who brought me here to the sect. Are you satisfied?"
"Huh?" Fang Xingque widened his eyes in disbelief as if he was looking at a demon.
"Who do you think has a higher status in the Archaion Sect? Her Eminence or your father?"
Fang Xingque spat out blood again.
"Fang Xingque, many people know who I am. The core disciples of the Archaic House of Xuanyuan do, Jian Lingchen does, but you don't. It's obvious that your father didn't tell you about me! Let me guess the reason... Maybe your father wanted to use you to make me suffer a huge loss while you were ignorant of that fact so that he can avoid responsibility? I wonder why he wanted to do that.... To humiliate Her Eminence and the Archaic House of Xuanyuan, perhaps?"
That sounded too complex for Fang Xingque. "It doesn't matter. It’s over for you."
"Stop exaggerating. You broke the rules of the Deepstar Battle and used an illegal item to try to kill my brother, so I returned the favor by killing your lifebound beasts. It’s only fair. Fool, do you think you’re the only one with a backing? I also have support too," Tianming said as he looked down coldly on him.
By now, Fang Xingque had completely broken down. All of a sudden, Tianming struck with his sword and pierced Fang Xingque's mouth, inducing a scream and causing the Astral Formation to appear. Despite that, his mouth was still filled with blood.
He continued crying in pain as he rolled within his Astral Formation.
"I can break your Astral Formation and kill you. Want to see me try?" Tianming said with a sinister smile.
"No, please! I yield! Don't!"
"Then kneel."
"That won't do...."
"Say that again?"
"You... you!" Fang Xingque hastily kneeled.
"Look at your body," Tianming said.
"What’s this?" He looked down and saw complicated gold and black sword shapes had appeared on his body. The heavenly patterns looked like a cage that imprisoned him. When it finished forming, he was shocked to realize that he couldn't use a bit of his power. He was now as weak as a commoner.
"Something interesting," Tianming said after using the Imperial Sword Prison. He felt much better, seeing Fang Xingque in such a pitiful state. "To be honest, I would’ve already killed you if you weren't the son of the Heaven Branch's sect master."
While it was reasonable for Tianming to fight back after his lifebound beast was almost killed, he wouldn't be able to get away with killing Fang Xingque outright. In fact, even just killing three of his lifebound beasts was going a little far. Even so, Tianming was confident that he was still in the right and wouldn't have to worry about it, given his backing. At the very least, sparing someone from the Sterling House of Fang would be better for placating them.
At that moment, a rod entered Fang Xingque's Astral Formation and he was taken away by a senior. He was now properly eliminated. It was possible that those in Deepstar Hall were afraid that Tianming would kill him outright.
"Li Tianming, I’ll never let you get away with this!" Fang Xingque said after he was out of danger.
Haha, he really managed to escape. But don't worry, he’ll suffer so much from my Imperial Sword Prison and come to beg me to undo it! Tianming thought.
After Fang Xingque left the battlefield, everything fell silent. Almost everyone was looking at Tianming and wondering how he could be so brave. Now, his Astral Formation shone brightly. Everyone looked up at the ranking and saw that he was in first place with 7110 points. The runner up was Xuanyuan Muxue, with 3008 points. In third place was Jian Lingchen with 2500 points. Fang Xingque's name was no longer there, symbolic of his fall from genius to average. The huge blow to his reputation no doubt felt much worse to him than actually being attacked.
"He deserved it. Who knows how many disciples of the sect he’s killed?"
"He’s been throwing his weight around since he was seven with a bunch of minions. His punishment is long overdue."
"Evil people will be judged by other evil people. Li Tianming really is cruel."
"Let's hope that nothing bad befalls him after the Deepstar Battle."
"Still, his rate of improvement is too fast, probably even faster than someone with the Rainbow Phoenix Bloodline. Do you think someone powerful will take him in as a disciple, like Dugu Jin?"
"Let's hope that's the case."
At that moment, someone said, "What are you all waiting for? The Deepstar Battle is still ongoing!"
"That's right, it hasn't ended yet!"
"Li Tianming only has two lifebound beasts that are able to fight. Even if he’s more powerful than Fang Xingque, that doesn't mean he can take on tens of others at the same time."
"He has more than 7000 points. Go for it!"
Tianming was just about to catch his breath when he saw the other Heaven Branch disciples and those of the Sterling House of Fang charge toward him and Xuanyuan Muxue. It was no longer the battle royale it was before. Everyone was working together to target the two of them; there was little chance they could defeat them otherwise. As for those from the Sterling House of Fang, it was a little more personal—they wanted to kill him.
In an instant, Tianming had become public enemy number one. Not even Fang Xingque had had to deal with something like that. Only Jian Lingchen and his four godsisters were still helping him hold some Heaven Branch disciples at bay.
"Come get me, all of you! I’ll take on a hundred of you!" Tianming said as he turned tail and ran. There was no way he would be idiotic enough to face them head on. Instead, he would pick them off one by one. He immediately began by getting on Meow Meow's back.
"Since Jian Lingchen helped me a lot, I should help him get some points!" Tianming wasn’t intending to run far away, only controlling the crowd and looking for chances to take down other Heaven Branch disciples. "Let's deal with the annoying ones first and help Jian Lingchen defeat Xuanyuan Muxue after."
Tianming turned and looked at her, seeing her ganged up upon just as he was. However, she seemed really calm as she rode away on one of her dragons.
"As expected of a first level samsaran." Tianming felt the terrifying power of her death tribulation energy. While the amount was lower than life tribulation energy, it possessed even more destructive power and was far more fatal. That was why a first level death samsaran was much more powerful than a first level life samsaran.
"Why does it feel like she hasn't really exerted herself from the beginning? Not to mention, she even helped me earlier. What was she thinking?" Tianming's heart was filled with doubts.
......
The viewing room in the Sterling House of Fang had been quiet for quite some time. Nobody dared to speak or leave as they looked at Starlord Formation and turned to Fang Taiqing from time to time, immediately looking away when they saw that he had no reaction.
"Sect Master, the palace lord of Deepstar Hall, Yi Xingyin, requested to meet you. He’s brought Xingque back," someone reported, kneeling with his head lowered.
"Let him in," Fang Taiqing said. He seemed really calm, without the slightest outburst of emotion. In contrast, Fang Yuewei had tightly clenched fists and a pale look on her face. Her eyes twitched even though she was looking down.
The door opened and a handsome middle-aged man dressed in a starry robe entered with a solemn look, bringing the sword pattern covered Fang Xingque in with him. Having lost an arm, Fang Xingque had fallen into despair.
"Dad, avenge me!" he said pitifully.