"It has more than nine hundred stars!" Tianming’s enemies finally realized that his beasts had evolved when they saw Lan Huang in action.
"It's fine. No matter the star count, he's just a weak brat with a low cultivation. Let’s gang up on him together!" In an instant, more than half of them had launched an attack toward Tianming.
"Let's go!" Ying Huo spit out some flames at Tianming, covering him in Infernal Armor. Its upgraded form made it look brighter than the sun, and it was much tougher, turning him into a flaming god of war.
Tianming wielded the Grand-Orient Sword in two hands to parry Yin Po's Fiendfang Dragonstaff. The ghostchild beasts' Infant Fiendcry was getting louder and louder, to the point that he felt like his chest was being torn apart, affecting him and his beasts quite severely. Tianming managed to suppress Yin Po's blow before he went straight for the three ghostchild beasts.
Meanwhile, Ying Huo activated Imperial Radiance and turned into a glowing mass of flames, radiating sword ki and immense heat. On this lava star, it was the ultimate ruler. With it there, Chou Qiong's two ghostface flaretoxin crabs weren't able to threaten Tianming at all. Amidst the chaos, Xian Xian's Bloodrain Swords fired toward the three ghostchild beasts. By now, their cries were at their peak and were loud enough to numb anyone who heard them.
"Die!" he cried as he struck.
"Hehe, child, you are far too young and naive," said Yin Po as she came to reinforce her lifebound beasts. That same instant, the three ghostchild beasts suddenly bloated up as a sloshing sound rang out before they turned into green-faced fanged demons, each one taller than forty meters. This was their true form; they were as powerful as ghostly demons in close combat now. At the very least, they were no longer shrieking like before, something Tianming was afraid would draw in more people.
"Meow Meow, I'll leave them up to you!" Tianming retreated and the gigantic feline beast charged in to bite one of the ghostchild beasts. The beast tried to claw back in retaliation, only for its neck to be snapped by Meow Meow's fangs. Meow Meow's tail then shot out at lightning speed and pierced its heart, killing it immediately.
Yin Po's eyes grew bloodshot at the sight. Her partner for three hundred years had died just like that?
"What’re you blanking out for?" someone cried out from behind her.
Yin Po saw Tianming charging right up to her with his sword flailing wildly as he executed the Animacorpus Eradication. This strike was far more powerful than it was during the summit, filled with immense sword ki that made him look like an incarnation of all the aggrieved souls.
When she finally snapped out of it, it suddenly dawned on her that a young pup like Tianming was actually far more powerful than she had expected. The information she had been given must have been mistaken!
"Help me!"
Even if she hadn't cried for help, the rest would have surrounded Tianming and attacked him. However, their attacks couldn't pierce his Infernal Armor at all. In fact, some of their tribulation artifacts even shattered from the impact!
"Aaaagh!" Yin Po groaned as she executed a second-origin samsara battle art. Her Fiendfang Dragonstaff split into multiple afterimages as her death tribulation force flooded into it, helping her open a path straight through the lava before it clashed with Tianming's sword, only for it to break apart. The shards of the staff embedded themselves into her body.
"Fuck off!" Tianming swung his sword toward the old crone's head, sending it flying with a horrified look. His death tribulation force stole the life force from the old crone and sent it into his own lifesprings. He wanted to kill as many as he could to enter the next life phase! As he didn't know who Yin Po was, he wasn't aware of her reputation in the Nonahall Divine Realm as a terrifying, child-eating monster. Too many children that women all across the realm had given birth to after nine months of pregnancy had been consumed by her as a delicacy.
"What kind of power is that?!" Tianming wondered when he received some weird Omnisentient Will right before Yin Po's death. "This feels like... good karma?"
It was a rather refreshing feeling. He felt like a lot of people were thanking him for killing Yin Po, even though they hadn’t been there to witness it. It was fundamentally different from the Omnisentient Will he had received before, but it somehow felt more important to him. This good karma was a reward he got for dealing out justice on behalf of the heavens!
"Since they’re all evil crooks, I’ll clean them all up!" He leapt into the fray without delay and began his slaughter. "Die, die, die!"
As long as he had enough good karma, he could convert it into Imperial Will. It didn't matter how much evil his enemy had committed, as long as he killed them. "So I can kill evil crooks for good karma and steal their life tribulation force to enter my next life phase?"
He had found the perfect formula to rise through the Samsara stage, all while doing the world a service! His strength came from the fact that he wasn’t a power-hungry demon, but a walker of the righteous path.
The youngest of the sixth-level life phase samsarans were around a hundred, while some were as old as Yin Po at around three centuries old. When they saw her die, it finally dawned on them how terrifying he was. They immediately decided to call for reinforcements, but it was too late.
Xian Xian's Evernight Curse had burrowed deep inside their bodies, causing a good number of them to go on a rampage. It wasn't exactly unexpected behavior, as a good number of them would easily lose their reason when they were sufficiently hurt. The others merely believed this was just one of those cases, but in truth, the Evernight Curse's pollen had sent them into a nightmarish abyss.
"Old Zhao, why’d you hit me?!"
"It's just a mistake! What are you so anxious about? Are you afraid I'll tell others that you killed your elder brother and messed with your sister-in-law?"
"You're courting death!"
"I'm not afraid of you! Come on! I've wanted to kill you for a while now!"
That was the power of the Evernight Curse; it could draw the deepest aspects of their psyche up to the surface, instantly causing the tensions between them to boil over into a violent bloodbath. The ability was working at peak efficiency. Normally, the pollen wouldn't do much if their hearts and minds were in the right place to begin with.
By now, Chou Qiong had noticed that it was the doing of the tree and felt terrified. While the others weren't planning to leave, he still could. Who cared about merit when their lives were under threat?
"Notify the others now!" He immediately turned and left without even caring about his lifebound beast.
"How dare you run?! I activated Imperial Radiance, so you’d better have a taste of my sword! I'm the butcher of the north!" Ying Huo spat. Archaion was located in the north of the Flameyellow Continent, after all. Ying Huo soared through the sky like the sun and used its newly-learned Animacorpus Eradication on Chou Qiong's privates.
"Aaaggh!" he squealed, right before Archfiend pierced through his head and instantly killed him.
"Stop messing around, someone might hear us! Kill them all, quick!" Tianming ordered.
"Yes, Boss!" Ying Huo continued harvesting human heads as it streaked across the sky like a shooting star.
The Evernight Curse had turned the battlefield into a hell of blood, causing the enemies to chaotically fight among themselves.
Meanwhile, Meow Meow had easily crushed the three ghostchild beasts with its body that was toughened by the Venus Fiendbone and was unleashing lightning abilities to help Xian Xian seal off the battlefield.
After Ying Huo killed off the two sixth-level death phase ghostface flaretoxin crabs, it continued its ambushes, quickly raising its kill count to match Tianming's.
Lan Huang, on the other hand, had left lots of minced meat in its wake thanks to its Kilofold Rings. The massacre soon left the nine members of Blue Ogre dead. Tianming couldn't help but be impressed at their renewed fighting prowess. Not one of them was weaker than the rest, and they all had their unique advantages.
However, this was no time for him to marvel at their improvements. He quickly pulled them back into his lifebound space once all the enemies had been killed and left, as someone seemed to be approaching from the distance. Soon, he secretly left the fiery star and watched the others search for him with a cold smirk.
"I guess that means the strongest ones here are at the seventh-level death phase, and even the ghoul kings are sealed by the formation. In other words, as long as I don't leave this place, I won't die! I just need to be careful and remain undiscovered. In time, I’ll reign supreme here! Xue Yi, Li Caiwei, you two had best be in here! Just you wait!"
His eyes were filled with a storm of hate as he turned back and looked at the endless domain. "Since that's the case, I’d better start seeking out the secrets hidden in this place." The conversation he had overheard between Yin Po and the rest sounded really important to him.
"However, I still can't let my guard down. They outnumber me, and there’s definitely a lot of seventh-level death phase samsarans here. I can only deal with sixth-level death phase samsarans at most, right now. Not to mention, even if those above the eighth level have their cultivation suppressed, they’ll definitely have more methods and techniques they can use to dominate me. It won't be this simple. I have to be more careful."
He took a deep breath and looked into the distance before zipping away, disappearing into the starry skyscape.
"Lord, Blue Ogre has been eliminated!"
"The other four sects had an agreement with us not to kill anyone, even if there's conflict. However, this sight is too cruel. It might be Li Tianming's doing!"
"He can't be far away. Give chase!"
"Report to the ghoul king that traces of Li Tianming have been detected on Star one eighty one!"
Many people came flying from the fiery star. Seeing that, Tianming hurriedly left. "Take your time and look closely. I won't be waiting." He was far more concerned with what wonders could be hiding within the Kilostar Domain.