On the Deepstar Battlefield, the battle had reached its peak. Despite being only seventeen years old, Xuanyuan Muxue was the only first death phase disciple on this battlefield. Now that Fang Xingque was crippled, no one else their age could compete with her. The fact that Xuanyuan Muxue's elder brother had perished at the hands of Tianming was enough indication of a grudge between the two of them. However, Xuanyuan Yufeng's status in the family was very low. In fact, he could be considered as the family’s good-for-nothing waste. Judging from her expression, Xuanyuan Muxue didn't seem to hold bitter hatred.
"In her eyes, Li Tianming looks like any other ordinary opponent.”
"Let’s keep watching!”
As the audience watched on, Tianming's lifebound beasts and Xuanyuam Muxue’s dragons were staring at each other. Both of Xuanyuan Muxue's lifebound beasts possessed more than three hundred and sixty stars, which was considered rather high even in the Heaven Branch. Without Lan Huang’s presence, the dragons were the largest beasts on the battlefield. One of them was white, like cold frost, with icicles all over its body. Wherever it went, everything froze over. It was a frostsoul dragon. The other was called an oceansoul fatedragon.
As large as the sea, it was covered in blue scales and its head somewhat resembled Lan Huang’s. At this moment, it swallowed the clouds and exhaled, dancing in the clouds and mist, calling the wind and summoning the rain. The torrential rain it created complemented the frostsoul dragon, so it was even more dangerous.
Under the Deepstar Formation, the torrential rain swept across the battlefield, which was soon completely frozen and transformed into a snowy landscape. It wasn’t supposed to snow in the Deepstar Battlefield, but now there was only white as far as the eye could see. Bathed in frost and snow, the girl in the blue cape resembled a goddess.
Before Tianming could take his shot, she began forming dragon scales all over her body, with the third blue eye in the center of her eyebrows as the core of her transformation. In an instant, a light blue armor made of scale had completely enveloped her flesh, protecting her. This was the Frostsnow Draconian Physique.
The Frostsnow Draconian Physique didn’t make her burly or aggressive, but graceful and agile, with enchanting curves. She resembled a blizzard goddess. Not only did she possess the terrifying power of death tribulation energy, but her draconian physique also toughened her flesh.
The Trioptic True Dragon Branch of the Archaic House of Xuanyuan had extremely powerful body-refining arts. The weapon in her hand was an ice-blue metal rod, both hard and brutal. At both ends were dragon head sculptures. Severe injuries were inevitable if one were to be hit by the heads. Such a rough weapon was completely inconsistent with her elegant temperament. This tribulation artifact was a Twindragon Frostrod, and it had four tribulation patterns. Although it didn’t have as many as the Eight Phoenix Blades, each tribulation pattern consisted of at least six hundred saintly heavenly patterns.
Rotating the rod in her hand, Xuanyuan Muxue triggered a storm of ice and snow that swept toward Tianming and the others.
"Let's go!” She said coldly.
After a brief discussion with Jian Lingchen, Tianming decided on a battle plan. Tianming had personally witnessed the tyrannical power of Xuanyuan Muxue's death tribulation energy. In the absence of Lan Huang and the Prime Tower, he was uncertain if he could defeat his opponent alone. But Jian Lingchen's strength wasn’t too far behind Xingque's. Together with his four swordbeasts, he should be able to deal with one of Xuanyuan Muxue's lifebound beasts. Jian Nishang and Jian Yini didn’t have the ability to fight alone either, so they could help Jian Lingchen.
The opponent had three fighters. Thus, they were divided into three groups! Jian Lingchen and his group would target the oceansoul fatedragon. Ying Huo and Meow Meow would deal with the frostsoul dragon, while Tianming battled Xuanyuan Muxue one on one.
"Split the battlefield!”
Beastmasters usually engaged in team battles. Unsurprisingly, there were few people on the other team. Thus, the frostsoul dragon and oceansoul fatedragon both wanted to stay by Xuanyuan Muxue's side to support each other. Unfortunately, that was beyond their control.
Jian Lingchen and the swordbeasts were considered extremely powerful among first-level samsarans at life phase. The four tribulation beasts merged into a terrifying sword and slashed away. The oceansoul fatedragon was forced to dodge to the right as a huge crack appeared on the battleground.
Ying Huo and Meow Meow were more direct. The crafty chick and furtively sly cat made use of their small physiques. Ying Huo unleashed unpredictable attacks with Infernal Haze, while Meow Meow moved so fast the frostsoul dragon could only see the flashing of electric snakes, but not where its opponent was.
Furious, the dragon expelled a frosty breath that spread across the battlefield, freezing the air. Unexpectedly, Ying Huo combined the Sixpath Infernal Lotus and Skyscorch Featherblast, unleashing a hundred threads of tribulation sword ki along with the two techniques.
At the same time, Meow Meow invisibly used Myriad Thundernet, entangling the dragon’s head. The Myriad Thundernet tightened, trapping the dragon's head. Chaos Disaster constantly rained down from Meow Meow's body and crashed into the dragon.
For a while, thunder and fire raged. The formation of an empyrean gold body, as well as their evolutions, had resulted in a monumental rise in strength. Together, they fought against a lifebound beast at the first-level death phase, yet they weren’t at a disadvantage.
However, the dragon’s death tribulation energy was truly powerful. Its abilities carried the power of death. Every time its ice and snow infiltrated its target’s body, even Meow Meow’s Ninefold Chaos Thunderscape weakened, gradually dying out. Once it touched the cat’s flesh, it could certainly be frozen to death.
They had to be careful as they continued fighting. The task of defeating Xuanyuan Muxue fell on Tianming. Jian Lingchen was completely moved; he had never imagined that Tianming would take such risks for him. Jian Nishang and the others were also ashamed.
In the storm, Tianming’s Imperealm Sword Formation exploded onto the battlefield, turning the surrounding area into his territory. The terrifying realm sword ki and imperial sword ki continuously raged, piercing through the crowd and not only threatening Xuanyuan Muxue, but also both of her dragons. Similarly, the dragons’ abilities shot toward Tianming, who was completely unable to stop them.
In the raging ice and snow, Tianming felt cold all over. His movements slowed and the hands holding the sword were covered with frost.
On the other hand, Xuanyuan Muxue was still as calm as before. She drifted through the wind and snow with the Twindragon Frostrod in her hand. With each attack, a huge shadow of a dragon followed. Soon, more and more such shadows appeared, as if there were tens of thousands of frostsoul dragons dancing across the weapon.
A dragon’s roar sounded with each strike. This was the Frostfiend Dragon Art, a top death phase battle art. Fueled by death tribulation energy, the power of each strike was almost too difficult for Tianming to deal with.
Aside from a huge advantage in terms of battle arts, Tianming also possessed tribulation sword ki and the Imperealm Sword Formation. For a while, they were deadlocked.
"Is the power of a death phase samsaran so strong?” Tianming frowned.
"Of course. Ninety percent of a person’s lifespan is gone, so they gain power in exchange for that,” Xuanyuan Muxue said flatly.
"You’re very powerful, but I don’t sense any killing intent from you. I heard Xuanyuan Yufeng was your brother,” said Tianming.
"Killing intent? Kill you?” Xuanyuan Muxue smiled faintly, "I'm not that fearless. You’re the one Her Eminence brought back. She values you, and you have indeed lived up to her expectations. In just two months, you have risen from the Human Branch to here. And now, many disciples of the Heaven Branch can’t contend with you. The day you dominate the Heaven Branch is just around the corner. I'm no fool. Going against you and affecting my future isn’t worthwhile.”
"You do make sense. But what about the hatred involving your brother?” said Tianming.
"The loser is always wrong. Besides, I have several elder brothers, and Yufeng was the worst one. Without him, it makes no difference to me,” said Xuanyuan Muxue as she continued attacking Tianming. Although she was speaking, her moves were still brutal. With every strike, Tianming's bones grew more and more sore from the cold.
Death tribulation energy frantically invaded his body like a wildfire.
"From what you’re saying, I feel as if you’re trying to please me,” said Tianming.
"I am. I’m hoping to leave a good impression.” Against the falling snow, Xuanyuan Muxue’s smile was breathtaking.
If Tianming didn’t already have someone in his heart, he would probably be attracted to her.
"What have I done to win your favor?” Tianming grinned.
"It's very simple. You defeated Fang Xingque and crippled him, which indirectly solved the dilemma of our marriage agreement. Additionally, the Archaic House of Xuanyuan believes that you have a bright future,” said Xuanyuan Muxue.
"Is that so?”
When Tianming had first arrived at the Archaion Sect, there was a conflict between him and Xuanyuan Yuheng. In the Human Branch, he had yet another conflict with Xuanyuan Yufeng, thus his hatred for the Archaic House of Xuanyuan. But now that the situation had changed, the Archaic House of Xuanyuan was actually optimistic about him?
"Since that’s the case, would you give your place to Jian Lingchen if I asked?” Tianming asked tentatively.
"That won't work. The Deepstar Pool is too important to me. I want to be your friend, not serve you. You can't behave so shamefully. If you really want to win a spot for your friend, you have to defeat me to convince me," said Xuanyuan Muxue.
"Fine then. Don’t forget to show me around and introduce me to your brothers from the Archaic House of Xuanyuan,” said Tianming.
"Sure. The day you become Her Eminence’s disciple, you’ll also become a member of the Archaic House of Xuanyuan. You can consider Xuanyuan Lake your home,” said Xuanyuan Muxue.
"What an honor that is,” said Tianming.
Could he believe her words? Perhaps not completely, but he could get a glimpse into what the major forces of Archaion Sect thought.
Because Feiling was connected to Xuanyuan Xi, she should have a stable relationship with the Archaic House of Xuanyuan, regardless of Xuanyuan Yuheng. Additionally, Tianming and the Draconis House of Jian should be on agreeable terms, since he was friends with Jian Lingchen. If he could establish a friendship with two of the three great clans, offending the Sterling House of Fang didn’t seem like a big issue.