Chapter 1161 - Genius Beastmasters

"You're pretty decent, but do you think I'm afraid of you coming close?" Yun Feiyang wildly whipped his spear as he unleashed his constellation, the trump card of all constelliers. Different constellations had different abilities and they varied between beastmasters, totem users, and specters.

Three nimbus phantombeasts appeared as the constellation was being conjured. Then a flash of astral light could be seen forming into four points that surrounded an area, within which the nimbus phantombeasts reigned supreme. They blended in with the nebula of the constellation to form a prisoncloud. The three beasts and beastmaster were the wardens of the prisoncloud that spanned the entire battlefield, enveloping Tianming and the rest. Putting aside the starlight within, the cloudy mist was like a swamp that surrounded Tianming and all of his beasts, causing their speed to be affected. It achieved a similar effect to Feiling's Temporal Field.

This was Yun Feiyang in his peak fighting condition. His beasts executed a joint ability called Seacloud Titan, causing them to fuse into a single cloudy giant. Yun Feiyang stood on the shoulder of the titan and looked down on Tianming. "You've already shown your skills, so make way. Don't get in my way of dealing with Yu Ziqian."

"You haven't even started fighting yet. Do you think you've won just because you've shown off?" Tianming asked.

"You don't know what's good for you. Why are those of the Azuresoul Palace so foolish?"

"Hmph," Tianming smirked. On paper, his foe was powerful. But there was one thing Yun Feiyang had forgotten to account for: Xian Xian hadn’t yet interfered with their battle over here, and that meant Tianming had been fighting on a completely different level up to now.

By then, Lingfeng had dealt with Yun Xiaolu and her nonachromic cloud stags. She had collapsed on the ground, foaming at the mouth. The rest of the disciples were also easy prey for Lingfeng, given the current strength of their souls. A single Infernal Soul Curse was all that was needed to force them to kneel.

Xian Xian was finally free to answer Tianming's summons. It let all four of its flowers, the Radiant Daffodil, Scarlet Lily, Evernight Rose, and Fiendsong Mares, bloom. At the same time, Lan Huang propelled itself forward while Ying Huo stalked Yun Feiyang from behind. Meow Meow, on the other hand, shrank and began zipping around so quickly that eyes couldn't follow it! Some time back, Tianming had used totems more often and split them up into providence swords, but now he had returned to his roots and fought like a pure beastmaster.

"Go! Beat him up!" Ying Huo proudly cried, then vanished without a trace. It was a sneak attacker, after all, while Xian Xian and Lan Huang were the ones who fought from the front. With Xian Xian's help, Lan Huang was a completely savage monster. Tens of thousands of Radiant Vines came flying, working with the black roots to burrow into the body of the cloudy titan. Then Xian Xian used Evernight Curse, Bloodrain Swords, and Trisoul Fiendsong against them. Before the titan could break free from the vines and roots, it noticed that its abilities were weakening.

Faced with Xian Xian, fusing into one was a bad idea. Not to mention, the slowing ability of the constellation wasn't doing them many favors, especially with Xian Xian having taken the initiative to weaken its foes and Lan Huang crashing straight into the titan, knocking this two-thousand-meter-tall figure down. Xian Xian's roots had an even easier time pinning it down as a result. Then Lan Huang's two heads began biting at the throat and head of the titan while it used its sword-tail to pierce into its heart. Though, as the titan was a cloud, it was easily able to escape being pinned down, only for Meow Meow to come blasting down from above with its many fulgurous abilities. The lightning blasts were so relentless that the titan couldn't reform a solid body.

"Urgh!" Yun Feiyang threw his spear toward Lan Huang's eye. At that moment, Ying Huo appeared and slapped the spear away.

"Do you think I'd let you harm my brother?" At the same time, it used Death Inferno. Coupled with the powerful storms of the sun and Meow Meow's lightning, the storm of fire and lightning scattered the cloud titan even more. It then flew toward Yun Feiyang and used Hexapath Samsara Sword, engaging in a pincer attack with Tianming, who also used the same move. The reason he didn't use the stronger Moonnight Subdued Strike was that it was a move mainly designed for use with totems, not to mention it was created by the Eightmoon Swordsage, a famous historical figure in Orderia. Tianming didn't want any association to be drawn, as the fight was being broadcast across the whole world.

Tianming even helped Lingfeng change his appearance with Dreamdemon Arcana so the few celestial orderians that had seen him on the moon wouldn't recognize him. Though, even if they did, they would probably disbelieve their eyes. Nobody that had been exiled to the xenomemory space had ever made it back, after all.

Tianming now faced an obvious problem: his relatively weak battle arts. That was why he wanted to go to the wondersky realm, but Yun Feiyang's appearance had ruined his plans. Even so, he was confident that he could use the Hexapath Sword God's life's work to take him down with Ying Huo.

The two of them struck in tandem. His black sword used Hadean Reincarnation, forming a black vortex. The white sword used Empyrean Reincarnation, carrying with it the complex laws of all things. Though it was a simple sword strike, it contained high levels of insight and nobody in Orderia knew about it. His Octasaint Sky astralforce was unleashed in full force!

"Break!" Yun Feiyang thrust three of his spears toward Ying Huo and six of them toward Tianming. However, Ying Huo managed to use its wing and battle art to knock away his grade-four divine artifact. On the other hand, Tianming fused his sword and sent five of the spears flying. Meow Meow managed to use Cosmic Lance to strike the sixth away in an amazing show of teamwork.

Tianming managed to make it to the front of Yun Feiyang, who retrieved one of the spears and thrust it toward him. "Die!"

He seemed rather confident, at least until he suddenly saw red and cried out. Tianming's forcefulness had caused him to forget about Ying Huo! In combat, even a single extra lifebound beast opened up boundless possibilities. Ying Huo had come with full force.

"Do you think you can take my strike, boy?!" Ying Huo's laughter echoed in the air. While Yun Feiyang was crying out in pain, Tianming rapidly deflected the short spear and used another sword to pierce his throat, sending blood flying. However, the sword was stopped a centimeter through the pierce by the imperial star formation. It worked like most protective formations, but when it registered a fatal strike and activated, Yun Feiyang had been eliminated from the competition. However, the rules here were slightly different in that lifebound beasts weren't afforded the protection of such a formation and could die without causing their beastmaster to be eliminated.

"You!" Yun Feiyang glared at Tianming with a shaking gaze. However, his lifebound beasts had been drawn back into his lifebound space by the power of the formation. Now that the formation was no longer protecting him, he was sent flying out of the Voidsky Flame Pillar by the flaming storms. "No! I just got here!"

He had chased after Yu Ziqian to expose him, only to be eliminated by some nameless fellow right away. None of his ambitions had been fulfilled! Yun Feiyang wasn't the only one feeling horribly disappointed about that, either.

After the battle, Tianming turned back. Even Yu Ziqian gulped nervously at the look of him before he smiled foolishly. "Senior Brother, I didn't think that a disciple of Supracloud Sanctuary would be so weak. If he couldn't beat me, then he's years away from beating you," Tianming said with a smile.

"Ah? Oh!" Slapping his chest to snap out of it, Yu Ziqian said, "That's right! He wasn't worth my energy, I already said as much. Just get used to it. Supracloud Sanctuary is filled with small fries like him."

Their conversation could be heard on the outside, as the skyward eye was still focused on them. When they left, the eye also vanished, meaning that what happened next wouldn't be visible to the spectators.

Tianming wrapped things up and said, "Let's go somewhere else." Had there been no skyward eye watching them, he would have tried stealing some caeli.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Wait," Yu Ziqian said as he walked towards Yun Xiaolu. Though she wasn't doing too bad, she was shocked and terrified. "Junior Xiaolu, I already said that your senior brother is a weakling. Do you believe me now? If he couldn't even defeat my junior… sigh… there's no way he would be able to take me on. Now, I wonder if you'd be interested in coming with us?"

"Screw off!" Yun Xiaolu snapped with anger. "I can tell that you're fake! These two are the ones who’re truly powerful. Just watch. Someone will expose you."

"Ah, the folly of youth. Just you wait, then."

Yun Xiaolu and the rest angrily left. Before they did, they didn't even dare to look closely at Tianming and Lingfeng—they were far too terrifying. Now, the Supracloud Sanctuary's morale had been shattered.

"You two are amazing! This battle was definitely watched by many on the Azurecloud Continent. You're going to be popular for sure! Yun Tianque and the rest must be vomiting blood after seeing that. Not only did they fail to expose me, they also lost one of their contestants!" Yu Ziqian was at the top of the world.

However, Tianming wasn't too pleased. Though he had managed to secure his place in the Azuresoul Palace, he had his eyes set on loftier goals. After fighting Yun Feiyang, he noticed that his current level of power was far from enough to face off against the top ten geniuses on the rankings.

"Cultivation is key. After that comes battle arts!" If he kept using battle arts from the Flameyellow Continent, he would be at a huge disadvantage. Not long after the fight, they departed. Tianming toyed with two eggs in his hand, both of them the 'fifth'. He wasn't too worried about accidentally crushing them, since there were more than a thousand such eggs in his lifebound space now. Being within the Voidsky Flame Pillar made the fifth egg really excited. It was like it was clamoring at Tianming about its imminent hatching.

……

Outside the pillar, Yun Tianque remained frozen as the broadcast ended.

"Brother Yun, does the Supracloud Sanctuary have any information on that white-haired youth? That's a disciple of the Azuresoul Palace, so they shouldn't be too far off from your sect, right?" someone asked.

"We don't," Yun Tianque said.

"Gentlemen, that's my disciple. I've kept him hidden for two decades. They're interesting, aren't they, Sect Master Yun?" Jiang Qingliu said from behind in a teasing tone.

"That child is rather decent. However, that doesn't change the fact that Yu Ziqian is a weakling. Claiming that he'll rank in the top ten is an empty boast."

"Don't be too quick to judge, Sect Master Yun. Just keep watching. By the way, that son of yours should be flying out any time now. Better go console him. He isn’t a child anymore, so it wouldn't look good if he burst out crying in front of everyone here," Jiang Qingliu chuckled.

Yun Tianque's expression darkened. "You will die."

"What's so surprising about that? Everyone dies one day. However, if I ever die, I'll be remembered by all as a magnificent teacher with such great disciples."

Yun Tianque gave him one last look before turning and leaving.

……

When the projection near the vortex at the Supracloud Island ended, everyone fell silent. All the seniors and disciples couldn't forget the sight of the white-haired youth.

"Senior Brother Yun… was defeated by a nameless pawn…"

They were all in complete and utter shock.