Li Shenjian still insisted on fighting, but no one from his camp spoke out in support of him. They probably didn’t want to feel more embarrassed than they already were.
“Lord Ninth, please come back for now,” Li Xiaoyan said, unafraid of offending Li Shenjian. His expression was deathly calm like still water, but anyone who was familiar with him would know that he, just like the other celestial orderians, had suffered a huge mental blow.
“That’s right.” The sentiment was echoed by Apothecary Li, the Torchdragon Emperor, and the rest. If Li Shenjian were allowed to cause more trouble, things would look even worse for them. Everyone had seen Tianming use his sword ki to crush two justice emblems. The near thirty million of them were completely stone faced, as if they had been utterly humiliated. First Li Haochen, now Li Shenjian! The youths of the celestial orderians seemed to be completely defeated. Even though the one remaining genius on their side, Long Renshe, was the most impressive genius in the history of Veildragon Palace… having him defeat Tianming was pointless when he was easily twice his age.
“Ugh….” Li Shenjian looked back at his kin, seeing the faces of disappointment and humiliation he had imagined. It was worse than he thought. He had single handedly lowered the morale of those on his own side, achieving nothing and screwing up instead! His mind blanked out.
No!” He glared at Tianming and roared, “Die!”
It seemed that only killing him would absolve him now. This looked like the move that would salvage his mistakes. The cold reception of the celestial orderians had pushed him to his utmost limit. He swung his mace toward the back of Tianming’s head—if it hit, Tianming’s head would burst.
The crowd cried out in shock.
“Shameless!”
However, nobody could stop it now. People anxiously widened their eyes. That instant, Tianming turned back and ended his cultivation before slashing with the Grand-Orient Sword, parrying the mace without backing off from the shockwaves. He had clearly grown in strength.
“You’re annoying,” he said as his eyes flashed. Then he split his sword into two and carried the bow on his body. He used the golden sword to block the incessant mace strikes and the black sword to rapidly and fiercely slash. Once more, their fight built up to an intense crescendo.
“Since you chose to embarrass yourself, I’ll make sure you get your wish!” Tianming had almost reached the seventh level, so he was much stronger than before. All five strands of sword ki gathered in his black sword as he executed the Blackdragon Abyssthrust while applying the power of his two constellations on Li Shenjian. He intertwined the attacks with more strikes from his golden sword, putting his melee talent on full display.
Li Shenjian struck with his justice emblems again, but Tianming channeled totem ki and sword ki into both hands to defend himself as quickly as lightning. When the golden sword deflected the totem attacks, the black sword went in for a rapid counter, his thick black arm that was holding it piercing the sword through Li Shenjian’s defensive aura and even his throat!
“Ugh!” Li Shenjian’s eyes widened as he stretched his hand out to touch the black sword that had pierced through his neck. Tianming pulled the sword out. “You….”
He widened his eyes so much that his eyeballs were about to pop out. He had fought with his full power and without any handicap, only to lose even more thoroughly! It seemed that Tianming had truly made another breakthrough, much to his horror.
“Do you admit your loss now?” Tianming immediately retreated after drawing his sword out. Then, he swung the Lifesteal Silverdragon toward Yang Ce, who rapidly pulled him over before Li Xiaoyan and the rest could arrive. The moment Tianming was pulled out, the gold-robed man appeared in front of Li Shenjian.
“Save… save me…” he said, struggling to hold his throat tight.
“Don’t worry, you won’t die,” Li Xiaoyan said, shaking his head as he brought Li Shenjian back. The whole arena was silent. It no longer mattered if Li Shenjian survived this. Losing that horribly was no different from being killed, after all, not to mention how bad it looked when he was pushed back the second time even after such a shameless attack. Tianming could have killed him, but he left some face for the celestial orderians and chose not to. It was already debilitating enough for the celestial orderians’ reputation after Li Shenjian tried to sneak an attack on him.
When both sides parted, the audience broke into an uproar. The Ninedragon Army seemed even more passionate, their fighting spirit rising to new heights. If war really broke out now, their enemies wouldn’t get off with light casualties.
Tianming returned to the Seven Dragon Imperials after being dragged by the chain. “Xiaoxiao, here you go.” He tossed the bow in her direction and it returned to her right away, marking an end to Li Shenjian’s failed ploy.
“He reaped what he sowed! Hahaha!”
Laughter began spreading across their ranks. It went without saying that this fight had polarized the two sides even more, but at the very least, the oppressive efforts of the celestial orderians up until now were all for naught. Tianming was a beacon of hope for the Ninedragon Army, and the more respected he was, the more Omnisentient Will he would receive. On the other hand, the celestial orderians were even more sullen after Li Shenjian returned to them, half-dead by then.
“Let’s take our leave!” Li Xiaoyan ordered without saying anything else.
“Let’s go back,” the Torchdragon Emperor said.
This humiliation wasn’t something they could take any longer. This loss had come out of nowhere, and it was all so… unnecessary. They all left, faces flushed red with anger and embarrassment.
“Looks like the celestial orderians no longer have anyone capable of stepping up for them!” someone from the Ninedragon Army cried as they were retreating. Li Shenjian vomited another mouthful of blood from the anger as he was carried away. They returned to the inner sect while everyone else celebrated Tianming’s victory at the outer sect. His divine will only continued growing more potent.
“If I can be the ruler of a nova source world one day, wouldn’t I be able to power an astralguard formation with Omnisentient Will alone?” The day he’d been hoping for had arrived, but he knew that there was so much more that he had to learn to become a truly eternal ruler.
