Tianming fully trusted his compatriots’ abilities and left them to their own devices. He wouldn’t forget how they were helping him to obtain the treasure.
“No problem,” they chorused. The four beasts, Lingfeng, the Soulfiend, Xiaoxiao, and the Archaionfiend all spread out behind him.
After the first wave of attacks, the Blueblood Starocean disciples were finally able to react. They didn’t think that Tianming would dare to remain and even charge into their midst. Those whose totems weren’t damaged charged in to fight.
“Slay them all!”
“They’re still trying to get the divine artifact? This is a fourth-level divine formation! Even if we weren’t here, you wouldn’t be able to take the treasure within!”
Roughly a hundred of them attacked at once. However, they neglected to take into account the hundreds of disciples from other sects waiting nearby. Now that they had split off a considerable number of people to deal with Tianming, the other disciples could wait no longer.
“It’s a mess! They won’t be able to remember all of us!”
“Go!”
“Onward!”
“Those damn totem users that serve the celestial orderians never stop showing off. At the end of the day, they’re no different from the celestial orderians! I find their presence among the Myriad Solar Sects sickening!”
“The Azuresoul Palace already struck first. Since Yu Ziqian himself is fighting them, let’s give them a hand!”
Though they called it ‘help’, they were actually pining for the treasure. Thus, they didn’t go after the Blueblood Starocean disciples but headed toward the Millionblade Formation instead; however, that did draw the ire of the disciples they were trying to avoid. They couldn’t afford to let others pass through.
“You are courting death!”
“Don’t say we didn’t warn you!”
“We’ll send anyone that dares to come crawling back!”
However, they noticed that no matter what they said, it was all pointless. Thousands of lifebound beasts and their beastmasters were already charging toward them. The disciples of the top ten sects had their own pride that drove them to meet their foes in battle rather than let them reach the formation, which caused them to be entangled in battle.
“Let’s beat them up!”
“Die, totem scum!”
With their participation in the battle, Tianming managed to relieve quite a bit of pressure. Amidst the chaos, he used his black arm to slowly pry open the Millionblade Formation. This was a grade-four divine ordered formation whose main purpose was to seal something, rather than a defensive formation. So it was much harder to undo, requiring more time.
“Can you do it?” Ying Huo asked.
“As long as Yu Ziqian can hold Lan Feilin back, I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll go take a look!” Ying Huo zipped around the battlefield and spotted Yu Ziqian, who was still engaged in combat with Lan Feilin. She wielded a sparkling astral chain. It was a grade-four divine artifact called an Azure Galaxy, but it wasn’t just any grade-four divine artifact. It was among the strongest for its grade, forged with a combination of multiple divine ores.
As she was a master of chains, the Lifesteal Silverdragon was a dream weapon in her eyes. She was a heptabane and her totems were bluecharm starfairies. They resembled Sovereign Xi’s heptastar moongods, all of them looking like seductive, translucent blue goddesses. Their dresses were dotted with stars and their hair was long and loose like the chain in Lan Feilin’s hand. They formed a cage as they were hurled toward Yu Ziqian.
“Guess you won’t know what’s coming until it gets you.” Lan Feilin was pissed beyond measure, given how the situation had spun out of control right in front of her. Her chain danced through the air with the hair of her totems, even attacking the hundreds of disciples that came charging in afterward. But right at that moment of triumph, a figure appeared behind one of the starfairies, thrusting a blood-colored blade into her body and causing it to let out a blood-curdling shriek. Others found it hard to believe that such a small blade could cause a gigantic totem like that to immediately disintegrate.
The figure was Lingfeng. With the hundreds of disciples also fighting the Blueblood Starocean disciples, he was under much less pressure to buy Tianming time, so he took the opportunity to strike at Lan Feilin. At the same time, he sent the flames of Infernal Soul Curse flying toward the other bluecharm starfairies. They looked nothing like the goddesses they had looked like before as they screamed in pain. Though they didn’t disintegrate, their abilities were heavily affected.
“Junior Brother Lingfeng, I believe Lady Lan here doesn’t appreciate you butting into our time alone together,” Yu Ziqian said.
“Understood.” Lingfeng returned the foe to Yu Ziqian without another word. He was only good against her totems, anyway. Though he left, the black flames continued burning.
Lan Feilin unleashed her skyriver constellation, allowing it to boost her totems. The constellation connected to them with a river in the sky. Boundless amounts of astralforce started flowing, causing Yu Ziqian to feel like he was trapped in a current.
“You think your little tricks will work on me? Get ready for my fragrant constellation!” Yu Ziqian went all out. Though his constellation wasn’t visible, a thick fragrance assailed everyone’s noses.
“What kind of smell is this? Is this all your constellation can do? How laughable!” Lan Feilin endured the burning of her totems and used a fourth-realm divine art, Fiendflash Starbreaker.
“This is the smell of a true male! Give it a few more whiffs and I guarantee that your heart will sway at the sight of me! I am the enemy of all women!” Yu Ziqian burst out laughing as he swerved between the chain’s path. He was like a blur, evading all attacks with great efficiency; he was obviously using an amazing divine art.
Lan Feilin gave it another sniff and noticed an uncomfortable change in her body that caused her to moan with discomfort. That moan caused quite a few people to blush. “Damn you! To think that your constellation uses an underhanded method like this! What’s this mesmerizing smell?!”
She was fuming. With four of her totems damaged, she took them back into her bane-rings, leaving only three to fight beside her. The chain and totem hair weaved a cage so tight that even a mosquito wouldn’t be able to fly out of it. Yet the fact that Yu Ziqian was still holding his own was enough to dispel everyone’s doubts of him. They were all flabbergasted, the Blueblood Starocean disciples in particular.
Finally, Yu Ziqian’s time had come. Though Lan Feilin’s attacks were perilous, he had managed to evade them with a sly smile time and again. “Lady Lan, you seem a little distracted. If this is all your whip can do, I’m afraid you’ll need the help of a few more candles to tame me.”
“Die!” She attacked so fiercely that sparks appeared on the walls of the palace.
“Ouch, now that has more bite! Looks like I have to unleash my true power to leash you. Now, witness my Reginal Fan!” As he took the fan out, he sang his own background fanfare. The painting on the fan depicted five ultimate beauties. Though the grade-seven divine artifact was normally really understated, it only took Lingfeng one look to tell that it was Yu Ziqian’s trump card. “I’ll fan so hard that your skirt flips over!”
He used the fan to block attack after attack. Lan Feilin completely ignored his provocations and rained more divine arts and totemic calamities down on him.
“You don’t believe me, huh? Witness my ultimate move: Skirtblower!” Yu Ziqian gave the fan a huge horizontal swing and a formless storm manifested. It turned into a twister, instantly sending the chain flying off. Lan Feilin used her totem to defend against the twister, but it merely pierced through the totem and slammed into her. The strong winds did in fact blow her skirt inside out.
“Wow! What a pure white!” Yu Ziqian said with a perverse smile. Though he was devious and bombastic, that move of his was no doubt powerful. Not only had it busted through a totem, it had even sent Lan Feilin slamming into the wall of the Silverdragon Palace. The impact shocked her innards and caused blood to leak out of her mouth.
The others around them drew a cold breath at the sorry sight. Yu Ziqian was still crazily fanning away at the countless hairs that attacked him.
“Did a disciple of a second-rate sect really defeat the strongest disciple of the Blueblood Starocean?” Even though her totems weren’t in peak condition, it was still a shocking result that Lan Feilin’s fellow disciples couldn’t accept.
“Someone made it into the formation!” This exclamation only made Lan Feilin’s comrades even more anxious.
“Who is it?”
Everyone stopped fighting and looked around. Yu Ziqian’s three seconds of fame ended just as rapidly as it had begun.
“As expected of my junior!” Yu Ziqian said.
Tianming had managed to enter the formation. He expressionlessly swept his gaze across all of the spectators as he approached the ten-thousand-meter-long chain.
“How did he get in?”
“Did he destroy the formation? If so, how could it still be active?”
“Maybe he only destroyed a small part?”
“Quick, we have to take it!”
Though they were awed, they were just as anxious about losing the treasure. However, the formation wouldn’t budge at all no matter how powerful their attacks were. Lan Feilin stood before the formation with her fists gripped tight as she tried advancing, but before she could take a step, the purple-haired youth appeared before her once more with his fan raised. His intentions were obvious.
“This treasure belongs to my junior. You all should scram.”
