Chapter 28 - One Against Seven!

A variety of lifebound beasts surrounded Li Tianming right now. There was the Hurricane Swallow, a wind-type avian beast that was constantly surrounded by gusts of wind. The Rumble Rodent, a lightning-type terrestrial beast that excelled in attacking from the shadows. The Mythical Ice Bug, an ice-type bug beast that could freeze its opponents. And the last one was a steelclad-type beast known as the Steelclad Giant Shrimp, its armor impenetrable by many weapons.

Against the seven lifebound beasts of different species and types, the little chick looked so powerless. How could it even stand a chance?

Li Tianming was trapped by a circle of fourteen opponents all staring at him fervently. But why would they be so interested in him when he had already refined the manna?

“Ohhh.” He figured out the reason when he looked down and saw the spirit core in his pocket. So they thought that was the manna!

“Li Tianming, we hereby inform you that this manna is Lightning Manor’s property. The manor has decided that even if you bear Princess Qing’s jade pendant, you shall compete with the seven disciples to contest for the manna. Can you agree on that?” Liu Qianyang was the first person to break the silence.

“Of course! Don’t waste my time, the seven of you can come at me together.” Li Tianming gladly accepted that condition. After all, he returned to Flamehaven today to fight for his pride, and to escort his mother away in dignity. One against seven? He had nothing to fear, and in fact, welcomed it!

The disciples of Lightning Manor obviously saw this as an insult. As prodigies from the Lightning Manor of Ignispolis, they usually wouldn’t even spare a second glance at people with such background.

“Pretty cocky, huh.”

“Don’t bother. He’s always like this. He’ll talk a big game, then run off like a coward.”

“Don’t regret your choice. We were having difficulties deciding on the sequence anyway. From now on, whoever obtains the manna first wins!” Zhang Zixuan proclaimed. His intention was to pick Li Tianming off after the rest had first weakened him, since he knew he couldn’t beat Li Tianming.

“Sorry, what did you say? How’s your scorpion’s eye?” Li Tianming taunted, causing Zhang Zixuan’s face to flush in fury.

“No point squabbling, let’s go.” Liu Qianyang was already in a battle stance, confident that he would be the one to get the manna as the strongest out of the seven.

“Liu Qianyang, is our deal from a month ago still on? Or are you too scared to hand me the Flameyellow Order if you lose?” Li Tianming’s eyes locked onto Liu Qianyang.

“A promise is a promise. And when you lose, you better hand over the manna!” Liu Qianyang replied, dashing towards Li Tianming. He knew that he had an advantage over the other six contestants, which was the Flameyellow Order that Li Tianming desired. Because of that, Li Tianming would definitely focus on him and then he could easily defeat that fool to get the manna!

The moment Liu Qianyang made a move, the other six immediately followed suit. They were all competitors who didn’t plan to let Liu Qianyang get the manna that easily. And from Li Tianming’s perspective, it was much easier for him to deal with seven enemies that were like loose sand.

“First, don’t disturb mother’s rest. Second, it’ll be good to let more people know who’s the real winner of the Flameyellow Selection! And finally, I’ll trample those Lightning Manor geniuses, and make Li Yanfeng regret his choice!”

Ever since that fateful day, Li Tianming’s goal had never changed. He wanted to get the Flameyellow Order, to walk out of the Flamehaven in dignity with Li Yanfeng personally sending them off. It had been three years, and Li Tianming had enough of being a loser.

With a clear goal in mind, Li Tianming used his Ghost Steps to break out of the siege. Another few swift steps brought him up a rooftop, whereupon he dashed towards Halcyon Hotel. This was too far away from Li Yanfeng and Li Tianming wanted to fight directly on top of the hotel where Li Yanfeng had front row seats.

“He’s escaping!”

“Quickly, chase him!”

Man and chick were chased by seven pairs of beastmasters and lifebound beasts on top of the city district. Some of the beasts like the Lightning Bolt Cheetah were so destructive that any roofs they launched themselves off crumbled instantly, even causing one building to collapse. It wasn’t long before they reached the Halcyon Hotel, the tallest building in the area. Ignoring the group of adults in the hotel, Li Tianming hopped onto the roof of the hotel.

“Just what is he thinking!” The group of seniors were all puzzled by his behavior.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The seven geniuses caught up a minute later and positioned themselves on the roof. The roof was both wide enough to function as an arena and also tall enough to be viewed by close to half of Flamehaven! It was clear to the spectators that it was him, Li Tianming, taking on seven geniuses of the Lightning Manor alone!

“Good enough.” Li Tianming could feel the power flowing through his black arm as he clenched his fist. In his right hand, the hideous Crimson Blood Dagger’s sharp tip glowed a bloody red.

Li Tianming focused on his seven opponents, his eyes ablaze with fury. The seven of them had tried to interfere and even attack each other during the chase. As the strongest contestant, Liu Qianyang even had to deal with four of his peers. After all, it was allowed by the rules for the six of them to eliminate Liu Qianyang first before taking Li Tianming on!

“They think it’s a game with seven hunters, and me being the only prey! But is that really the case?” Li Tianming could feel that his Aeternal Infernal Beast Ki was even stronger than normal beast ki at ninth level Beast Vein. He was almost, if not just, as powerful as himself three years ago!

“Let’s do this.”

After dodging a few attacks, Li Tianming’s icy cold gaze found its first victim, Zhang Zixuan. The boy who claimed that he would shred Li Tianming into pieces didn’t intend to attack, as he wished to pick Li Tianming off only when he was weakened.

Hmm.

When Li Tianming’s eyes met Zhang Zixuan’s, he could sense his opponent’s fear. With a tap on the roof that sent tiles flying, Li Tianming blinked in front of Zhang Zixuan. With Li Tianming’s strength now comparable to those in the ninth level of Beast Vein, how could Zhang Zixuan, who was only slightly stronger than Li Zifeng, even stand a chance?

Voosh!

“Zhang Zixuan, you’re first!” Zhang Zixuan broke out into cold sweat as he saw the punch thrown towards his face. Before he could even dodge, Li Tianming’s fist had already found his face.

Wham! Zhang Zixuan’s nose sank into his face, and blood splattered all over the place!

That was the first scream that would be heard from the roofs of Halcyon Hotel today. The seniors on level three first saw Zhang Zixuan falling off the building with blood trailing from his nose, followed by a furious little chick piercing the Blue-Tailed Scorpion’s armor in a scarlet ray of light. Before the scorpion could retaliate, the little chick’s wings whipped across its face, the force of the slap throwing it far into the distance and slamming into nearby houses.

“Xuan’er!” Zhang Chong’s face was as white as chalk. Rage churned inside him as he picked up his son and saw his disfigured face. He had already murdered Li Tianming a thousand times in his mind, but he didn’t dare make a move. After all, the Lightning Manor had specifically instructed them that they would be disrespecting Princess Qing if they personally got involved in a fight among the younger generation.

“Oi, if you have other children, stop giving them common names! I can find ten thousand Zixuan, Zihan and Ziqis in Flamehaven.” Li Tianming’s comment from atop the roof almost made Zhang Chong puke blood. How would Li Tianming know that he took over a week to think of this ‘elegant’ name!

This first casualty from the battle had already thrown the spectators into confusion. The citizens of Flamehaven rubbed their eyes in disbelief, thinking that they might have seen wrongly. But no matter how hard they rubbed their eye or shook their head, the result was the same.

“Did Li Tianming, THAT Li Tianming, just kill a Lightning Manor genius in one punch?” They couldn’t see much details from a distance, so the only thing they caught was Zhang Zixuan falling off the roof with blood coming out of his head. Little did they know, this was just the beginning!

Li Tianming could see that the rest of the six were still divided, some of them still trying to block Liu Qianyang from Li Tianming. Their infighting brought a grin to Li Tianming’s face, since he would have an easier time taking them down one by one.

So far, only one of them had gotten rid of his competitors and made his way to Li Tianming. Amidst all the confusion, he probably didn’t even notice Zhang Zixuan being knocked out by Li Tianming.

“A Hurricane Swallow?” The first thing Li Tianming noticed was the lifebound beast. Before he could even see who the owner was, the swallow flapped its wings and sent a burst of wind in his direction. The gust even ripped off many of the roof tiles, shooting them at Li Tianming like hundreds of razor blades.

It looked like Halcyon Hotel would be needing a long time to fix their roof...