Xuanyuan Dao stood at the entrance, watching every change that occurred in Tianming. He finally breathed a sigh of relief when Tianming stabilized his first-level samsara cultivation.
"Congratulations, Tianming. I suppose I should congratulate myself for making the right choice too," he said.
"Sect Master!" Tianming was filled with gratitude. Without Xuanyuan Dao's generosity and trust, he wouldn't have been able to make so much progress.
"No need to thank me. You did your best, so this is a result of your own efforts."
"Understood!" Tianming didn't need to prove anything.
Xuanyuan Dao stared at him with a passionate gaze. "Best of luck in the Nether Battlefield."
"Alright." That word alone was his promise to Xuanyuan Dao and the entire Xuanyuan house, as well as to himself and Feiling.
"By the way, I think I felt some death phase waves just now. What was that about? It isn't possible to cross the life phase and reach the death phase in one go."
"I don't know either, but there shouldn't be a problem now that I've stabilized the life phase."
"Alright, let's go then."
The next instant, the Heaven Cauldron returned to its previous darkness. It was so dark and quiet that one wouldn't be able to see their outstretched fingers.
Xuanyuan Dao had begun flying back up, with Tianming following behind. He subconsciously used his third eye to look at Great Emperor Xuanyuan, only to shake with fear and struggle to breathe. For some reason, he felt like he had seen Great Emperor Xuanyuan open his eyes in the darkness. When he looked again, it seemed like it was just his imagination.
Before long, Xuanyuan Dao asked him to hurry. He couldn't exactly be seen here, given that he wasn't a descendant of the Xuanyuan house. Either way, he had managed to gain quite a lot from his time here. Within only eight days, he had managed to break through to the Samsara stage.
There were many top geniuses participating in Number One Summit, and by now, Tianming would be unmatched by anyone on the continent of his age. As for the strongest of participants, they were about twenty-six years of age and Tianming was now on even ground with them.
......
The two of them returned to Xuanyuan Lake. Xuanyuan Dao immediately entered Soulburn Hall. With the hardest part now behind them, Tianming was free to spend the next few days training as he pleased. The first thing he did was head to the Hexapath Sword Palace. The place was completely empty. Even the Sword Insight Rock, which the Tai'e House of Jian desperately wanted to reclaim, lay completely untouched at the bottom of the lake.
"Senior, I’m here to visit you again," Tianming said, breaking through the sword barriers with his left hand and causing the rock to morph into a white-haired old man.
"Yeah, you may go now."
"Let me demonstrate the Mortal Dao Sword. Please check if I got it right."
"Yeah, you may go now."
"Alright, here goes."
"Yeah, you may go now."
Tianming immediately executed the move. Throughout his many battles, he felt that his mastery of the technique was now incredibly high. With his swords of life and death, he attacked the Hexapath Sword God with boundless sword ki. That instant, billions of sentient lives seemed to appear all at once, swallowing the Hexapath Sword God whole and vaporizing him entirely.
Just as Tianming was wondering where he had gone, he heard a loud "Wonderful!" ring out beside his ear. Turning around, he saw a brand new Hexapath Sword God smiling at him.
"Senior!"
"Successor of my legacy, you have mastered the essence of the Mortal Dao Sword and fulfilled my requirement. Now I will teach you the second move of the Hexapath Samsara Sword."
"Thank you, Senior!"
"The second move utilizes the Ghost Dao, the realm of the hungry ghosts, as its core. This move focuses on using the sword of death for slaughter as a way of life. It is called Animacorpus Eradication. The name is a reference to the move being able to wipe out the target’s soul and body at the same time. One sword for the living flesh, and one for the eternal soul. With the lament of the countless hungry ghosts and the damned, the sword of life consumes the flesh while the sword of death consumes the soul!"
The old man seemed really pumped and confident in the move he had devised. When the swords struck, countless ghastly hungry ghosts would open their mouths and claws wide in anticipation. Even a single hungry ghost was more terrifying than countless sentient beings, not to mention millions of them, and that was still only the first strike of the move, which would be followed swiftly by the second strike, during which the countless spirits of the damned lamented the world with their tongues poking out. The sheer might of their begrudging curses was hidden in the strike, able to wipe out the soul of any being.
Animacorpus Eradication was less flashy than the Mortal Dao Sword, but definitely far more effective. Tianming had seen it all too clearly, and countless permutations of the move emerged in his mind. After practicing the Mortal Dao Sword so much that the visualization came so easily to him, he could easily remember Animacorpus Eradication. Once the Hexapath Sword God finished the move, he stood still and smiled at Tianming.
"Then, I shall be leaving, Senior."
"Beautifully done, young man."
Did his repeating phrase change? "Senior, your balls are gone."
"Beautifully done, young man."
"I'm going to kiss you...."
"Beautifully done, young man."
He found it to be lots of fun. After messing around for a bit, he turned to leave as the same repeated words echoed in his mind.
......
In the coming days, Tianming regularly visited the Deepstar Pool, Heaven Cauldron and Fiend Palace. Soon, the two week recovery period would be over.
"The Nether Battlefield opens tomorrow. After reaching the Samsara stage, my body is filled with life force, allowing me to absorb astralsources and tribulation sword ki even more easily. I now have five hundred astralsources, so my Ancient Deepstar Godbody is even more powerful now, probably more powerful than any other participant in Number One Summit. I also have a thousand strands of tribulation sword ki, a tenth of what Ouyang Jianwang has, and he's already a hundred. I'll definitely exceed him one day!"
Additionally, Archfiend now had six tribulation patterns, making it a really powerful weapon for the Samsara stage. It had absorbed too much of the essence of the Archaionfiend Eye, causing it to exude a natural aura of dread. Coupled with the Soulshaker Eye, it would be even more oppressive.
"If I can master the Animacorpus Eradication to attack the soul, I'll have nothing to worry about with regards to offense."
As he had the Soul Tower, he wasn't afraid of his soul being attacked either.
"Four Primordial Chaos Beasts, Aeonic Grandbane, Grand-Orient Sword, Prime Tower, Godsoul Canon.... That puts my talent far above everyone else. There's nobody I can't catch up to now."
That was how he could defeat enemies five or six levels more powerful than him. Any one of those alone would make him an unparalleled genius, let alone all of them.
"These two weeks have been most beneficial. Sect Master Xuanyuan really did me a huge favor. Since he faced lots of pressure making that possible, it's time I repay him. The disciples of those five divine realms better wash their necks. I will repay the blood debt soon enough."
......
That night, Xuanyuan Dao called him out of the Fiend Palace. "Why are you still cultivating now?"
"What else would I be doing?" Tianming said.
"The forty-seven Heaven Branch disciples that’ll be going to Nether Battlefield have gathered to discuss their strategies. You should join them. Allies are imperative in the Nether Battlefield."
"Alright. Where will I find them?"
"I'll take you there and introduce you to them."
Soon, they arrived at Xuanyuan Yucheng's residence. The others had been there for a few days.
"Sect Master!" they greeted when Xuanyuan Dao brought Tianming in.
"No need for formalities. This is Li Tianming. He wasn't here the past few days, so I've brought him here to introduce him to you all."
"Understood!"
Feng Qingyu's disciple was the one with the highest status among those killed by the Archaion Sect, so Tianming had helped them vent their frustrations quite a bit. The Hexapath Sword Sect's disciples had killed many of their own, after all, so most of them had a good impression of him.
"Have you picked a leader yet?" Xuanyuan Dao asked.
"Sect Master, I’m the temporary pick for now," Xuanyuan Yucheng said.
"It’s a huge responsibility. You’re to spare no effort, understood?"
"Yes, Sect Master. I’ll give it my all!" Xuanyuan Yucheng proclaimed.
"What about vice leaders?"
"They’re Fang Yuewei, Beigong Qianyu, and Fang Chenjing respectively."
The sect allowed them to pick their own leaders, since they would be more willing to listen to them rather than anyone directly appointed by the sect. That was all too crucial, as the group couldn't function effectively without firm leaders. If everyone did what they wanted, they would fall apart. Currently, the four leaders were the four strongest on the Heaven Ranking, two men and two women.
"Let Li Tianming be one of the leaders too," Xuanyuan Dao said.