Li Tianming didn’t expect such a big hoo-ha because of his perfect synchronization. But now, almost every supernal mentor had shown up, and even the Vice-Potentate had appeared.
Back at the Hall of Ancestry, all the supernal mentors were indifferent to his plight, and some of them had even mocked him outright. But now, after walking out of the innermost ring unscathed, all Li Tianming could see was them gawking in disbelief.
“Perfect synchronization……”
“When was the last time we had such a genius?”
“But why is it him? I’d rather believe that Lin Xiaoting had it.”
“Is the rock malfunctioning?”
“If he had cultivated beside the Flameyellow Rock since young, he would have been stronger than Lin Xiaoting by now!”
As the supernal mentors of the sanctum, they knew the Flameyellow Rock better than anyone else, the true importance and meaning of Li Tianming’s feat.
On their side, a lot was going on in their mind, considering that their attitude had changed from one of disdain to envy. Quite a few of them had even jeered at him when he first appeared in front of them as the prime disciple. But now that he had redeemed himself with his perfect synchronization, how were they supposed to react now?
Who would still think of him as the joker from three years ago? Who would still consider him to be an unqualified prime disciple?
“How did you even do that?” Mu Yang was standing at the front of the crowd, and even he could only shake his head in shock.
Li Tianming shrugged.“Of course I did it with my talent that the supernal mentors were not interested in.”
He savoured the supernal mentors’ expressions. Li Tianming never intended to keep a low-profile, and he never could, considering the power of his Primordial Chaos Beasts. Now that the opportunity presented itself, he wouldn’t hesitate to stomp on their faces.
“Having perfect synchronization is enough to mark you down as one of the legends of the Flameyellow Scions Institute. Not bad, not bad at all.” Mu Yang wasn’t going to hold back his compliments. Given Mu Yang’s authority in the sanctum, his words signified that Li Tianming’s situation had changed completely.
Supernal Mentor Feng Wuguang sighed.“It’s been years since someone with perfect synchronization appeared. We did make a wrong judgement that day.”
“Too bad Li Tianming was born in the countryside, and we only found out about his talent for cultivating now. If he had been born in a reputable clan in Ignispolis, he would be so much more.” Another of the supernal mentors, Gao Yuanding, set aside his opinions and praised Li Tianming.
Mu Yang’s lips curved when he heard that. He knew that Li Tianming was in fact born to one of the most powerful clans in the nation. Unfortunately, he didn’t grow up there.
“With the Flameyellow Rock’s recognition, his cultivation will rise at an unimaginable pace. It shouldn’t take long for him to make up for all those lost time and catch up with those of his age,” Supernal Mentor Qin Shi added, having felt that Li Tianming and Jiang Feiling being together wasn’t all that bad now.
Hearing the compliments from the supernal mentors, the rest of the disciples who were still there knew that the tide had changed for Li Tianming.
“Don’t be too happy about this. With your current level, you will be needing a long time to match those of your age even with your perfect synchronization. On top of that, your lifebound beast is only six-star, and with its poor bloodline you shouldn’t be considering yourself the top of the sanctum.” However, a different opinion came from Supernal Mentor Zhao Tianchen.
“WHAT? Whose bloodline are you calling poor? Your bloodline is the trash one!” the little chick snapped back, clearly enraged by the insult.
Most beasts could only telepathically communicate with their own masters, and this was probably the first time Zhao Tianchen got scolded by a lifebound beast.
“Supernal Mentor Zhao, my beast is still young, and I apologise if it offended you. But I will remember what you have said, and one day I will make sure you take back those words.” Li Tianming smiled at Zhao Tianchen. He was obviously not suppressed by that rude mentor.
“Take back my words? Keep dreaming.” Zhao Tianchen sneered, and said nothing else. After all, Mu Yang was still here, and he shouldn’t be talking too much.
“Vice-Potentate, Li Tianming once mentioned that he wanted to be your disciple. Are you in the mood to mentor anyone today?” Qin Shi asked, her opinions of Li Tianming changed after seeing his perfect synchronization.
As she spoke, Li Tianming saw Jiang Qingluan standing beside her, winking in his direction. Despite her shocked face, he could tell that she was genuinely happy for him.
Well, it would have been better if she hadn’t followed that up with a fearsome stare, clearly a sign warning him to stay away from Jiang Feiling.
That being said, Jiang Qingluan was probably the one that prompted Qin Shi to say that. Clearly, she was helping him.
Thoughtful, really.
“I did make a promise to him. The day he defeats Wei Guohao in a fight would be the day I accept him as my disciple. It’s fair since they are about the same age,” Mu Yang announced, in an inexplicably good mood.
Wooo!
That sparked another round of gasps from the crowd. That rumour about how Li Tianming could be the Vice-Potentate’s disciple had been proven true after all! Everyone knew how difficult it was, considering that the previous disciple he accepted was that monstrous Lin Xiaoting. Furthermore, Mu Yang would be taking over as the new Potentate soon, meaning that his disciple would stand a chance of being the next Potentate afterwards!
If Li Tianming really managed to become Mu Yang’s disciple, he would literally reach the peak a disciple could possibly achieve in the sanctum!
“Well, even with his perfect synchronization, he’s still three levels lower than Wei Guohao.”
“That’s right, breaking through the later levels of Spiritsource is the true wall here.”
“More importantly, Wei Guohao is still going to cultivate, and as someone with level four synchronization level, their difference in talent is not that obvious.”
“It’s a formidable task to catch up with all that lost time.”
“Which is why I’m saying, this challenge Vice-Potentate has for him is practically impossible.”
“Sounds about right. Furthermore, it’s hard to imagine Lin Xiaoting accepting Li Tianming as his apprentice brother, given the bad blood between them.”
“Li Tianming should just make use of this opportunity to settle on a supernal mentor who is willing to guide him.”
“If he missed this opportunity, he would only be wasting his perfect synchronization.”
“But look at him, clearly he won’t go for anyone other than the Vice-Potentate himself.”
“Then too bad for him, because he'll soon find out talent is useless without proper guidance.”
The Flameyellow Pagoda was spacious and enclosed, meaning that many of the discussions and murmurs amongst the disciples had travelled to Li Tianming’s ears too. There were a whole bunch of them there, some impressed while others jealous. And Li Tianming would prove them all wrong!
Still, without a mentor, Li Tianming would not be a proper member of the sanctum, and this would cause him to lose out on some opportunities.
“If there’s nothing else, you all are dismissed. Li Tianming, follow me,” said Mu Yang, while the crowd continued to chatter within themselves.
“Yes, Vice-Potentate ”
The supernal mentors have seen Li Tianming’s synchronization level with the rock and had nothing else to do there. But what they did realise was that Mu Yang seemed to pay quite a lot more attention to Li Tianming. This puzzled them. How would Lin Xiaoting, who was in seclusion on top of the Flameyellow Pagoda, think?
The crowd gradually dispersed. Mu Yang would bring Li Tianming with him, and Jiang Feiling needed to return too.
“Vice-Potentate, let me send off Princess Ling first,” said Li Tianming.
“Go ahead.”
Li Tianming brought her to Jiang Qingluan. Although this was their first ‘date’, it was a pity that he wouldn’t be able to send her back home, and could only leave her with Jiang Qingluan.
“Greetings, Supernal Mentor Qin.” Li Tianming was polite.
“Just do your best.” Qin Shi dropped this and left the pagoda as well, leaving Li Tianming with the two princesses.
“Look at you, Li Tianming. Are you here to show off your perfect synchronization?” Jiang Qingluan asked.
"Naturally. Are you still going to ask me to go back to farming?”
“Who told you someone with perfect synchronization can’t be a farmer? Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because of that, our Ling’er isn’t that easy to score points with,” Jiang Qingluan warned him.
“Yeah, your difficulty level looks lower.” Li Tianming grinned.
“You! Grrr, jokes aside, your perfect synchronization is pretty impressive. I will put it out here, if none of the supernal mentors are willing to accept you, you can choose to serve the Vermilion Bird clan. I promise we will treat you well,” Jiang Qingluan said.
Li Tianming nodded. “I don’t mind.”
“That straightforward?” Jiang Qingluan didn’t expect to earn her clan a genius this easily.
“Obviously. He wants to be the king’s son-in-law after all.” The little chick chipped in.
“Keep dreaming.”
“Why are you so nervous? It’s not like he wanted to marry you,” the little chick asked.
“...” Jiang Qingluan was lost for words.
“Then I will make my stand clear too. The two of you are the only friends I have in the sanctum and no matter what happens, I’m willing to take a blade for the two of you,” Li Tianming replied. No matter how much he joked with Jiang Qingluan, he had always treated her as a genuine friend of his. As for Jiang Feiling… hmmm. If only he could add another word in front of ‘friend’.
“Pretty sure there's something else you wanna take, isn’t there?” The little chick suddenly chuckled.
What else could I take from these two girls?
“KHHHH!”
Li Tianming was done. How could that damned chicken make such an honorable promise sound so obscene? That had to be a talent, no?
Luckily, the two girls hadn’t figured out what Ying Huo meant, or they might have just strangled the chicken on the spot.