The elites of the five divine realms were all respected by billions. But now, a mere kid like Tianming was insulting and taunting them all he wanted. Needless to say, they were boiling with rage. That was especially true for Ghoul King Xue Yi, who had suffered the most humiliation.
Thanks to the Kilostar Formation, Tianming had once again gained the upper hand and his life was no longer threatened. While the credit of resolving the crisis mostly went to Xian Xian, Tianming’s composure throughout was enough to irritate the seniors.
Geniuses weren’t the most valuable resource in the Flameyellow Continent. With enough resources and the right lineage, plenty of geniuses in their twenties and thirties could be raised. That was also the reason why it didn’t matter that plenty of juniors had died during the Number One Summit. It wouldn’t have that much impact on the five divine realms. As such, seniors were generally all high and mighty before juniors.
In the conflict between the major powerhouses, Tianming alone had managed to disrupt their plans multiple times. To those like Ghoul King Xue Yi, that was no different from being toyed with by a kid.
As annoyed as the seniors were, they didn’t lose their minds. Instead, they exchanged a few glares.
“You won’t be laughing soon, you brat. The Kilostar Formation can protect you now, but it can’t protect you forever. With us guarding the entrance, you can spend the rest of your life there. Without the right resources, your cultivation will only stagnate, and you can forget about being the elite of your generation,” said Li Caiwei.
“So what? I’m younger than you, and I’ll easily outlive you,” Tianming shrugged.
“What a joke,” the Quadform King, Long Cangyuan, snickered.
“Where’s Yi Xingyin?” asked Ghoul King Xue Yi as he looked at the other four ghoul kings.
“I arranged for him to be escorted back to the sect. We planned to show him some ‘hospitality’ before making use of him during our assault on Taiji Peak Lake,” said a scrawny Ghoul King in green robes.
“Ask them to send him back immediately.” Ghoul King Xue Yi said.
“You plan to threaten that boy using Yi Xingyin’s life?”
“We can give it a try. Young men like him are usually quite emotional, so it might crack him. Who could’ve thought that he could deal with the heartscourge worm? This was my mistake.”
“Don’t worry about it, that brat just got lucky. No more than three people in this world are capable of dealing with that worm of yours,” said the Ghoul King in green, “but do you think he is close enough to Yi Xingyin to be affected by this?”
“According to our intel, they’re quite close.”
“Understood, I’ll arrange for him to be sent back here immediately. Let’s not waste our time in the Kilostar Domain.”
As the two spoke beneath their breath, they quickly formulated a plan. Following that, the thousands of seniors just stared coldly at Tianming. No matter what he said, none of them reacted and the scene was dead silent.
“This will be problematic.” Tianming shook his head. Even though they couldn’t touch him for now, he noticed that they were completely ignoring him after their discussions. The chill in their eyes told him he was far from safe.
At least I’m out of their control for now. Worse comes to worst, I still have the Prime Tower to save my life. There’s no way they’ll give up on the Kilostar Domain, so they can’t possibly break the Kilostar Formation to kill me, Tianming thought as he wandered about in the Kilostar Formation, trying to seek a way to survive.
“I wonder how Ling’er will react when she hears about this...” Tianming sighed. It was unfortunate that the Archaion Sect wasn’t as safe a place as he thought. He glanced at Li Caiwei, only to see the beauty looking back at him with indifference. Not many people could resist her beauty, but to Tianming she was the person that landed him in this crisis.
“If one day I can rise to the top of the Flameyellow Continent, I’ll make sure every single one of you pays ten times the price for this.”
He could choose to close the Kilostar Formation, but that wasn’t necessary.
“Let me check out the ultimate tribulation manna.”
Tianming ventured deep into the Kilostar Formation until he noticed five dazzling radiances from the end of the formation. Behind the radiance, there was a black vortex—it was probably the gate to the Kilostar Domain. As he approached the end of the formation, the outline of the manna became clearer.
Between the ultimate tribulation manna and the formation was another formation that stopped Tianming in his path. He recalled Xuanyuan Muxue telling him that this was the last obstacle between him and the manna, and he would need an hour to break this barrier. It wasn’t part of the Kilostar Formation, but part of the domain itself.
“I’ll need to break this barrier to obtain the ultimate tribulation manna, and only with those can I unlock the Kilostar Domain,” Tianming thought to himself.
The Kilostar Formation was a joint effort between the nine divine realms, and any power that broke the formation would also destroy the barrier and the ultimate tribulation manna within it. Breaking this barrier would have been a piece of cake for the Ghoul Kings, but it was more than enough to stop Tianming from taking the manna… or was it?
As a descendent of the Sky Plunderer Clan born with a black arm, no formation could ever stop Tianming. He ignored the barrier and instead looked at the five ultimate tribulation manna.
“These ninth-grade tribulation manna are said to be the best one can find across the entire continent. Each of them is capable of giving a lifebound beast over nine hundred stars.”
Tianming was just a short distance away from the five tribulation manna that were supposed to be his. He saw five brilliant stars, arranged based on the elements. There was a flaming star at the bottom, a freezing star at the top, a platinum star toward the left, a dark star to the right, and right in the center was a yellow star surrounded by a ring. The five manna were interlinked with one another, as if they belonged to the same set. Whether they were a gift from nature or made by gods, no one could tell.
There were lifebound beasts in the continent, like Fang Taiqing’s, that had over nine hundred stars, and they had no doubt evolved using ninth-grade tribulation manna. But even that didn’t seem that rare, compared to this entire set of tribulation manna.
I should be able to grab those without opening the Kilostar Domain. They can’t risk breaking the formation, as the self-destruct mechanism of the formation will destroy me together with the ultimate tribulation manna. But if I try evolving my lifebound beasts on the spot, I suppose they’ll be too mad to care about anything else, Tianming thought. In other words, he would be dead for sure if he evolved his lifebound beasts right here.
Nevertheless, Tianming deemed that it was necessary to gain possession of the manna first. If he was lucky it might even be a chip he could use to bargain with. Without hesitation, he started clawing at the Formation Barrier with his black arm.
“What is he doing?”
“There’s no way this kid can break the barrier.”
“From past experience, even a cultivator at the tenth-level Samsara stage will need an hour to break that open.”
“Let him waste his time.”
The seniors from the five divine realms couldn’t care less about Tianming’s futile attempts. But just as they finished speaking, Tianming easily tore a hole in the formation and stood before the gate of the Kilostar Domain. The ultimate tribulation manna were within his reach!
“How is that possible!”
This junior from Archaion had taken them by surprise once again. How did Li Tianming continually do the impossible? His methods of removing the heartscourge worm and opening the barrier were simply unheard of.
“It’s still fine for now, but what if he dares to use the manna on his lifebound beasts now?”
“We can’t allow that.”
The situation was tense once again, and killing intent shot out of Ghoul King Xue Yi’s bloodshot eyes.
“Then we’ll try to trade Yi Xingyin’s life for those five manna. He’s just a kid, so we should be able to scare him.”
It wasn’t just Tianming’s wits or techniques that were causing them trouble, but his composure and maturity. Not many teenagers could resist their lures or threats, but Tianming was unlike any other junior they had ever had to deal with. The crowd began looking grim once again.
Just then, things took an unexpected turn. As Tianming walked towards the five ultimate tribulation manna, they shone even brighter than before. Suddenly, Tianming’s Dragonhide automatically appeared on his body, and like a magnet, it drew the manna flying toward him.
“What’s happening?” Tianming was in shock. He’d just entered and things had immediately gone out of control. Before he could react, the five ultimate tribulation manna had fused with his Dragonhide and disappeared. The armor gleamed with starlight, as if it had absorbed all the stars in the sky.
“Are the ultimate tribulation manna perhaps related to Great Emperor Xuanyuan?”
Tianming didn’t think it was possible. They were two hundred thousand years apart after all. But off the top of his head, he couldn’t find any other explanation for the current phenomenon.
But that wasn’t even the end. As the manna completely fused into his Dragonhide, the black vortex suddenly erupted with a brilliant five-colored light!