Chapter 3343 - Qitian Jian Once Again

"That's why Qitian Jian will fight with all he has if the fight really occurs. All he needs is at least one win to defend his reputation."

As people chattered away, Tianming started fighting. He immediately had Ying Huo fuse with his body and also summoned 900 billion Yin Chens to the battlefield. Then Ji Ji's terrifying energy filled his body, totems, and divine wonder.

After the decapath era godswords had obtained their fivefold simulacrum, they were much stronger than before even if he didn't specifically use the fivefold simulacrum. Killing twenty eminents had given him quite a dominant aura that allowed him to face off against any opponent here without the slightest bit of tension.

The eighth ranker lasted only a few moves before she and her beasts were defeated. Tianming's performance was shocking to see, even for the reverends and eminents in the crowd.

"Based on what I see, he can indeed match up against Qitian Jian."

"That's right! I think nobody weaker than Qitian Jian will stand a chance."

"That child’s truly scary."

"Everyone, let's not forget that he also managed to understand the intricacies of the Greatsun and Pentagram Suishen Steles."

"That's right!"

Tianming's opponents all began feeling a lot of pressure. While the Ascension Colosseum wasn't nearly as busy as it used to be, having most of their seniors watching them perform was unnerving, to say the least. The disciples from the other two exalted houses were under a great burden to protect the glory of their houses, but even if they were doing their best, they couldn't stop Tianming from rising to the top!

It didn't even take a month. Tianming was so fast that he would rest for no more than two hours before issuing the next challenge. His red-and-black name climbed rank after rank, appearing even more eye-catching than ever. Qitian Jian, Yumo Xue, and the rest had taken years to rise a rank after entering the top ten, but Tianming's climb completely left their records in the dust.

"Pathkeeper Li isn't just talented, he's also the perfect combat unit."

"He nicely combines the advantages of beastmastery and totemancy and can even fight with a specter-like body, not to mention his divine wonder!"

"He's gonna be ranked fourth after this fight."

Tianming's current opponent was Suishen Shuang, who used to be the fifth ranker but had risen to fourth place after Yumo Xue's death.

"Apologies, but I'll be sending you back to fifth place," Tianming said.

"You can boast after you defeat me," Suishen Shuang said. She wasn't feeling that much pressure to win, but she still gave it her all out of respect for herself and her opponent.

Her ten frost totems were interesting and rather powerful, but they weren't too effective on Tianming. Despite fighting foundationeers while not being one himself, he appeared monstrous nonetheless.

"It's crazy for a non-foundationeer minor pathkeeper to be able to dominate foundationeers!" People like Suishen Shuang who were talented geniuses that Tianming had once aspired to be like ended up defeated one after another.

After he defeated Suishen Shuang, Tianming faced off against the third ranker, another minor pathkeeper from House Qitian who had been Qitian Jian's teammate during the Prehistoric Path. He was stronger than Suishen Shuang somewhat, so it took quite a bit of effort to defeat him and his powerful sevensource beast, which was more powerful than the beastmaster himself. Tianming had to use Yin Chen and Vitasteal to deal with him.

Finally, his name rose to the third spot on the Fortuna Ranking, where Suishen Yao had once been. His current yearly stipend was half a million merit points a year and half a keg of springwater, five times as much as the first ranker! If he spent twenty years in that spot, Myriadpath Valley would have to bleed to give him ten kegs of springwater!

By now, the reverends and eminents figured that Tianming would be able to amass a total of twenty kegs of springwater before he reached the age of a hundred. It was insane to even think about. Many eminents couldn’t even get nearly that amount in thousands of years. The ten times multiplier was the biggest reason Tianming couldn't bear to leave Myriadpath Valley. "I can move up even further and get seven hundred bowls a year!"

As for Suishen Yao, Tianming didn't want to challenge her today. She was a level higher than the rest and he wouldn't stand much of a chance, even if he used all the tricks at his disposal. It could also risk hurting their relationship, especially with how their marriage ceremony had just taken place the day before. Tianming would only challenge her when he could easily take her down and frustrate her. The mere thought of getting back at her made him feel good.

But there was an even more pressing opponent today: Qitian Jian, the former first rank. Qitian Jian hadn't grown weaker since losing the top spot; in fact, he had grown stronger. With all the effort he had been putting in lately, people said he was at the cusp of breaking through to the second level of the Foundation stage. If it weren’t for Suishen Yao and Yumo Xue's sudden rise, Tianming would've already risen to the top spot.

He didn't let himself rest and immediately issued a challenge to Qitian Jian after defeating the third ranker. Quite a few eminents and reverends of House Qitian—and even Qitian Jian himself—were filled with fighting spirit.

"Qitian Jian, you can't lose!"

"House Qitian has to defend our honor as the house of the valley lord."

The members of House Qitian were no doubt proud that the valley lord was one of them. They wanted more than anyone else for Qitian Jian to take back first place, hence the huge burden on his shoulders. That was his main driving force.

"I accept the challenge!" Qitian Jian descended to the arena, his white robes fluttering. This Fortuna Arena was incredibly huge. Everyone looked at the two youths, one beastmaster, one totemancer, one from House Qitian, the other from House Suishen. As for House Yumo, they were watching from afar as if they had their tails between their legs.

The Fortuna Arena began sealing itself off.

"An eightsource beast...." Tianming had only fought sevensource beasts so far, so he was quite curious how powerful Qitian Jian's beast would be. "He's more or less an octa-beastmaster, but all eight of his beasts' powers are concentrated in a single body. That makes him stronger than a theoretical octa-beastmaster, huh...."