Tianming picked up the blood sphere with Chen Jinghong’s face inside. Struck by a headache, Tianming muttered, “If this is really Senior Brother Chen, then it’s equivalent to me killing him.”
But there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t have a Hallucination Tome with him, and he couldn’t shake off Chen Jinghong. Sending his three lifebound beasts back to the lifebound space to rest, Tianming came out of the underground palace. Taking the new blood sphere, he fell into deep thought.
“Ling’er, what do you think about the five blood spheres? I wonder if others have also encountered the same situation as me,” asked Tianming.
However, there wasn’t any reply from Feiling. Tianming was briefly stunned; she was still attached to him, so why wasn’t she speaking? He immediately asked, “Ling’er, are you there?”
“You’re still short four more,” Feiling said in a cold voice.
At that moment, Tianming could feel a chill surging up from his feet. That wasn’t Feiling’s voice, it was the voice of the person who threatened her the other night!
“Who are you?! And what are you playing at?!” Tianming questioned.
“You’ll know the answer after obtaining four more. I’ve given you enough time, and now that you have the sufficient strength to accomplish the task, get started collecting,” said the other party.
Judging from what ‘she’ had said, she didn’t appear at the beginning to allow Tianming to grow stronger? Just when Tianming was about to ask, Feiling’s voice sounded out, “Huh? Big brother, I fell asleep on you earlier?”
“Ling’er, come out,” Tianming instructed.
Lights started to appear before him, then converged into Feiling’s appearance. Grabbing her shoulders, Tianming started examining her from head to toe to make sure that she was fine.
“What’s wrong?” Feiling asked.
“That ‘person’ appeared again, asking me to collect four more blood spheres,” replied Tianming.
“Why?”
Shaking his head, Tianming asked, “What do you think will happen if I don’t collect the four spheres?”
“Then you can wait to collect her corpse!” a cold voice replied on behalf of Feiling. She suddenly looked at Tianming briefly before regaining her clarity.
“I lost consciousness a while ago. Big brother, what were you saying again?” Feiling asked.
There seemed to be another person residing in Feiling’s body. With that person taking her hostage, there was nothing Tianming could do about it. Tianming’s eyes turned bloodshot as he clenched his fists.
“Big brother, it’s fine. Ling’er is blessed by heaven. I believe they’ll help us.” She held Tianming’s hand with a bright smile on her face.
“Yeah.” Tianming nodded.
“Big brother, do you know that the greatest fears come from the unknown? ‘She’ can scare us because she’s shrouded in mystery. Ying Huo is right. There’s a possibility that she’s not strong enough, since she’s threatening us. It doesn’t mean that we have no chance of winning at all.” Feiling’s eyes shone with belief.
Her words left Tianming shocked. Feiling was never weak, and she had displayed impressive courage in times of danger. But when she spoke, her face changed. She suddenly grabbed her own neck, strangling herself. This showed that the other existence in her was furious. Or rather, nervous?
“Don’t you touch her!” Tianming immediately pulled Feiling’s hands from her neck.
“Then cut the crap and do as I say. Do you want to see me? Then get four more blood spheres,” Feiling said in a strange tone. It was as if she had two souls within her.
Tianming had never imagined that Feiling would have another existence in her body. Otherwise, he would have had Ye Lingfeng take a look at her. This meant there was a high possibility that the other existence was watching him and Feiling. She might even have been observing ever since Feiling was born.
That meant that Tianming didn’t have any secrets from the other existence sharing Feiling’s body. This put a whole new meaning to the Tomb of the Ancients. But things were now clear, at the very least.
Tianming held onto Feiling’s face. She rarely cried, but now there were two streams of tears rolling down her cheeks. Even so, she still maintained her smile and replied, “I’m fine, big brother.”
“Okay.” Tianming knew that he could no longer share anything with her, since the other existence might eavesdrop on their conversation.
Gently taking her into his embrace, Tianming patted her back. Their path ahead was destined to be a treacherous one, but even so, Tianming’s gaze was still firm.
……
From that day on, Tianming never returned to the Sealed Palace. The other existence within Feiling wanted Tianming to gather four more blood spheres as soon as possible, and others probably had no such test. With that, Tianming began wandering around the Tomb of the Ancients, trying to figure out what the other existence within Feiling had to do with the Tomb of the Ancients.
“They say there’s a god buried in the Tomb of the Ancients, but that’s only speculation, since there were many divine artifacts found here. In the beginning, I thought the other existence was the god buried in the Tomb of the Ancients, making this place her territory. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. She isn’t powerful, otherwise, she would’ve done whatever she wanted the moment I came in. So that means she must have a weakness!”
From that day onward, he spent his time with taut nerves, pondering every word the other existence in Feiling said. There was a possibility that every doubt might turn out to be a weakness, and he even went so far as to lure the other existence out to talk.
However, the other party was very cautious, which proved that she didn’t have as much control over their lives as Tianming had imagined. If I want to win, I can’t treat her as an invincible existence, but someone I can kill.…
Feiling also shared a rapport with him, and rarely talked anymore. But he could feel her warmth when she was attached to him. He could feel their hearts close together. Tianming would never forget his vow; if he had to choose, he would rather die than see Feiling come to harm.
……
One day, a miserable scream was heard up ahead. It sounded as though someone was struggling with death. Tianming leaned against the wall and turned the corner, coming to a new passage. When he looked, he saw two people before him. It was a naked couple ‘fighting’ with each other.
When he heard the scream earlier, he was under the impression that someone was facing death. But it turned out that they were enjoying each other’s company.
“Stop right there!” a female voice sounded out. She was the one who had screamed earlier.
She had already put her clothes on. Tianming instantly recognized her—she was a famous figure in the Decimo Dao Palace who originated from the Saint Martial Manor, and was fourth on the Sky Ranking.
Her grandfather was the Saint Martial Manor’s manor lord, the leader of all the Theocracy’s generals. He was also known as the Grand Divine Marshal.
Her name was Huang Ziting, and her cultivation was in the second level of the Sky Saint stage, comparable to Chen Jinghong and Meng Qingqing. She had a high position in the Divine Capital, even higher than many of the Theocrats with the surname Jiang.
Behind her, the man had also put on his clothes. He was dressed in blue and looked majestic, with a pair of deep eyes and a gentle face. There was a drastic difference in his appearance compared to the other Theocrats, who usually looked ferocious. He was Jiang Yanwu, third on the Sky Ranking and a member of the Jiang Theocrats.
His grandfather was the eldest son of Autarch Qian, but it was unfortunate that his grandfather had passed away a long time ago. Although Jiang Yanwu’s lineage wasn’t strong, he was very competitive. The fact that he could step into the second level of the Sky Saint stage alone proved his talent.
The Decimo Dao Palace only had four people in the second level of the Sky Saint stage. They were Chen Jinghong, Meng Qingqing, Jiang Yanwu, and Huang Ziting. Other than Chen Jinghong, they were all followers of Dongyang Fengchen.
Among them, Jiang Yanwu was Dongyang Fengchen’s strongest aide. That was why he could be paired with Huang Ziting, who was gifted in her talent and appearance. Otherwise, she would already have been brought to the Sky Origin Palace by the crown prince.
Tianming had accidentally bumped into them doing the deed, so he immediately turned around and left; he didn't want to be entangled with them. But he never imagined that they would have no intention of letting him off.
“What is it?” Tianming asked.
“What did you see?” Huang Ziting stared at Tianming in shame.
“Tingting, don’t care about it. He didn’t do it on purpose. He’s the crown prince’s opponent, so just let the crown prince deal with him. Let’s go,” said Jiang Yanwu while reaching out to Huang Ziting.
Since Jiang Yanwu had already spoken, Tianming turned around and continued walking away.
“STOP RIGHT THERE!” Huang Ziting yelled.
This time, there was a ferocious glow in Tianming’s eyes when he turned around.
“Gouge your eyes out and cut out your tongue. After that, I’ll send you to the crown prince,” said Huang Ziting.
Before Jiang Yanwu could even speak, Huang Ziting glared at him. “Are you stupid? He’s a thorn in His Highness’s eyes. Even if His Highness will deal with him, it’s better to deliver him to His Highness. It’ll be a merit if we do it.”
“Then why do you have to gouge my eyes out?” Tianming interrupted.
“Because you’ve seen something you shouldn’t,” replied Huang Ziting.
“With that body of yours? I even felt the temptation to blind myself when I saw your body. Yet you’re treating it like a treasure?” Tianming was speechless. Honestly speaking, he wasn’t in a good mood.
Huang Ziting and Jiang Yanwu exchanged looks of disbelief when they heard Tianming’s words. They both had the same question going through their mind: who gave Tianming the guts to speak such bold words before them?
Jiang Yanwu was speechless. He still wanted to carry on what they were doing, but Tianming had aroused Huang Ziting’s anger. Even the mood was ruined.
“Li Tianming, are you courting death? Do you think that the Earth Ranking is the same as the Sky Ranking? Or are you treating the both of us as Dongyang Zhuo?” Huang Ziting sneered.
“That’s enough, Tingting. Calm down for now. Let me handle it.” Jiang Yanwu patted Huang Ziting’s back.
“Remember, his eyes and tongue!” Huang Ziting glared.
“Roger. I assure you that I’ll deliver them to you fresh.” Jiang Yanwu smiled.
“Get lost. I don’t need them.” Huang Ziting rolled her eyes. They were just getting in the mood, and Tianming had ruined it all. How could they not be furious?