Beastmaster of the Ages

“After my brother finishes his matches, let’s duel. The one who doesn’t accept is a loser and a coward,” Lingfeng said.

“You!” Liu Xuanxuan felt anger simmering in her once more. Gritting her teeth, she snapped, “I’ll beat you up so badly that your face will swell!”

Lingfeng merely laughed.

“Aren’t I great? I brought the two of you such a great stone to step over,” Liu Wanwan said.

“Yeah, you’re alright,” Lingfeng said.

Liu Xuanxuan felt herself losing it once more. However, what’d happened during the fight just now had made her feel a bit of terror.

……

Tianming didn’t think his second fight would go so smoothly. He could only issue three challenges at once to those in the top hundred, and all of them that he picked were ranked pretty highly. The range from the eleventh ranker to the hundredth ranker was quite large, with the eleventh being a sixth-level constellier, somewhere near Weisheng Moran’s level. Though, of the three challenges that he issued, the twenty-fifth ranker was the one that accepted first. Being able to rank that highly among so many peers was no doubt something to be proud of. For someone of his level, it was rather rare to get a challenge from someone ranked in the six hundreds. Usually, anyone that was trying to go up to the top hundred bracket would issue a challenge to those ranked between eighty and a hundred.

So far, Tianming’s name still wasn’t all that famous yet, especially in comparison to his opponent, who was ranked the highest among all present here. After all, most people in the top twenty-four didn’t spend time near the Violetcloud Battlefield. The twenty-fifth fellow was looking for someone to fight to fulfill his minimum challenge quota before leaving. Given that he was a rather high ranker, all the spectators there were paying attention to the fight.

Hundreds of millions of people were spectating outside the battlefield. This battle was given tens of thousands of times more attention than the one before. Tianming could almost feel the overbearing weight of all the gazes on him. It was as if he was standing on the stage in a limelight, there to be beheld by the countless people in the audience who were chattering about him.

“Who’s that?”

“No idea. Looks like a disciple ranked around six hundred.”

“Is that a joke? He must be crazy, trying to jump from six hundred straight to twenty-five.”

“Don’t tell me it’s a challenger Han Xingluan privately arranged to fight so he can fulfill his quota without losing….”

“Are you kidding? Han Xingluan’s from the Violetcloud Imperium. His power is so well known that he’s challenged those in the top ten before. Normally, people wouldn’t dare to challenge him of their own accord either, with his rank at twenty-five. How’d he even get someone to fight him? Only a fool would pick him when there’s so many people in the top hundred that are weaker than him.”

The battle was one shrouded in mysteries. They didn’t know that Tianming had chosen the stronger ones to challenge so that he could get a quicker match.

“Han Xingluan!” Many fervent spectators cried out his name. It felt like a tidal wave coming from behind Tianming, almost like Omnisentient Will, but one that suppressed rather than aided him. They were definitely placing their bets on Han Xingluan winning.

……

Tianming’s opponent appeared in front of him. The wondersky fairy gave him a brief introduction: ”Han Xingluan, from the Violetcloud Imperium, one of the five grand Violetcloud Disciples, totemancer with seven bane-rings. Totems: firmament violetrain swords, fifth-level constellier.”

The Violetcloud Imperium was ranked second in the faction ranking, and the title of Violetcloud Disciple that only five people could hold sounded impressive, to say the least. A youth with long, sparkling, deep-violet hair appeared before Tianming, instantly giving off powerful sword ki. Tianming could see the sword-shaped bane-rings on seven of his ten fingers. It was the first time he had seen bane-rings manifest in such a form. His own ‘bane-rings’ took the form of text, while Li Wudi’s manifested as many beasts’ faces and Qingyu’s manifested as moons. It was no surprise that Han Xingluan was a natural-born sword totemancer.

In fact, Tianming could see half a sword on his eighth finger. He had seven and a half bane-rings in total, making him something like Sovereign Xi, who had only been a step away from having eight of them. Tianming could feel the piercing aura when he met his gaze, as well as the disdain he had for him. Han Xingluan didn’t even bother saying a word and struck immediately, sending a stream of sword ki blasting out from his finger toward Tianming. The sword ki turned into star-like sword apparitions.

Tianming didn’t find the underestimation surprising. He had done the same to Liu Xuanxuan moments before. It was built upon the confidence he had in his own strength. In the same manner, Han Xingluan considered Tianming, who only ranked around six hundred, to be much weaker than him, figuring him to be some no-name cultivator. If Tianming were in his shoes, he would also want to settle it in one strike and get back to his own business. Little did he know, though, that this time, he had run face first into a wall of iron.

The power of Han Xingluan’s sword ki almost seemed boosted by the fervent cheers of the audience’ however, Tianming didn’t make any attempt to evade at all. “Is he insane?”

What transpired completely stupefied everyone watching: Tianming opened his mouth and bit the strand of sword ki before it pierced through him. Then the four strands of grade-six divine hazard sword ki within his body immediately devoured it. The sword ki in Han Xingluan’s body was only grade five, so it couldn’t compare at all.

“I pulled this trick as a warning for you to fight seriously. I wouldn’t want you to blame me for catching you off guard with an underhanded trick,” Tianming said.

“Huh?” Han Xingluan didn’t think he would hear something like that coming from the mouth of someone of that rank. Stunned, he said, “Who are you?”

“Lin Feng.”

“Ah, I remember. Are you the one who caused a commotion with the ancient idols?”

“That’s right.”

“Are you interested in joining the Violetcloud Imperium?” Though he appeared calm, he was actually growing wary of Tianming. People as powerful as him who were completely arrogant and foolish were far and few in between. For instance, the moment Han Xingluan got a feeling that Tianming would be hard to deal with, he immediately dropped all pretenses and even tried to make a friendly invitation.

“If you can defeat me, I’ll join,” Tianming said with a smile.

“Interesting! Alright, then I’ll fight you seriously!” He hadn’t expected that the duel he thought would be dealt with in an instant would actually become one that completely overwhelmed the spectators.

“Did you hear them talk?”

“That white-haired youth is the one from the ancient idols!”

“Interesting. I heard that people still aren’t able to track him down. Is he going to make a debut in the wondersky realm by stepping into the limelight here?”

“He’s famous for his ungodly comprehension abilities. I wonder how he’s going to deal with Han Xingluan.”

The audience soon exploded into cheers. Han Xingluan summoned his totems, the firmament violetrain swords. All seven bane-rings on his fingers brightly glowed as the totems appeared. Each of them shone with the brilliance of many stars. The seven swords looked like seven separate galaxies. Surrounded by the galaxies, Han Xingluan wielded a long, astral sword and thrust it toward Tianming. However, the audience weren’t cheering for him; they had seen it a few times before. They only truly marveled when Tianming brought out seven of his decapath era godswords. They were slightly smaller than the firmament violetrain swords, but each sword looked completely different; the power that radiated from them didn’t seem the least bit inferior at all. Tianming wielded the Grand-Orient Sword to match.

“Finally, I can use the Ninedragon Tribulation’s fusion strike with a sword body and totems!” Tianming wasn’t planning to get his beasts to help him in this fight. After all, his opponent was also a totemancer. “Come!”

The seven godswords pointed at his opponent as four strands of grade-six divine hazard sword ki surged in his body. The Wildvoid Bloodwheel, Ninecloud Flamesky, Darkstar Ringsoul, and Scorching Goldstar sword kis surrounded the Grand-Orient Sword, increasing Tianming’s power. Then, he used his totemic calamity, the Myriadsword Providence! His seven totems turned into countless small swords around him. It was like he was surrounded by a sea of swords.

“Go!” He unleashed a strike that was the fusion of four different moves, Flashkill, Fireblast, Sacrifice, and the new Abyssthrust. Abyssthrust unleashed a black dragon into the ground that turned into many black spikes, forming a field of black swords. The strike was coupled with the speed of Flashkill, the power of Fireblast, and the ferocity of Sacrifice! At the same time, all of the providence swords also executed the strike. It was such a grand display of power that it shook Han Xingluan.

“How powerful!” Even though he had prepared himself for a tough fight, he wasn’t expecting what basically amounted to a sixth-realm divine art. As a cultivator of the sword himself, he was well aware of how powerful it truly was, and that awareness only made him even more desperate. There was nothing he could do but give his all to defend against it. His seven totems gathered together and prepared to take the strike.

“Break!” Yet the one whose stance had broken was him. It was a complete domination with no room for resistance. Tianming’s move had completely crushed all of his totems and tore his body into shreds. For a Violetcloud Disciple to be vaporized outright like that was akin to being killed in the real world.

Han Xingluan was shocked, but the spectators were even more befuddled. They all turned to look at Tianming. Unsurprisingly, his alias spread across the entire Violetglory Star like wildfire in the next couple of hours. Even after Tianming left the battlefield, countless disciples outside the battlefield couldn’t stop talking about him. The curiosity in their eyes persisted alongside an utter sense of confusion. “Is he actually powerful enough to rank in the top ten?”