The fiendwing blaze seadragon, bladedge terra seadragon, greenthread bolt seadragon and nineclaw gale seadragon were dazzled by the sudden onslaught. They thought they had known all the opponents they would face in the Nether Battlefield, yet they would never have expected that a tortoise-like two-headed dragon and a tree would be able to beat the four of them back like that.
"They're in the death phase? Why does their death tribulation force feel so horrible?"
"I don't know!"
"What’s with these vines? I feel so tired all of a sudden!"
"What kind of lifebound beast is that?"
Despite them unleashing many abilities, Xian Xian still had them trapped. The monstrous two-headed dragon came to bite them one by one before pressing them to the ground and pummeling them nonstop. The fiendwing blaze seadragon then used Blazewater Pierce on Lan Huang, the clashing elements of fire and water forming a chain reaction that blasted its Mountainsea World apart. Then the bladedge terra seadragon used Mountainsea Quake, an attack with the same elements as Lan Huang.
However, the Infinite Stardragon Diagram came into play, protecting Lan Huang from any damage. It then turned to the earth seadragon and said, "That's so weak. Are you sure you're eating properly?"
The loud mockery infuriated the dragon, causing it to roar and charge toward Lan Huang at blinding speed, aiming its sword-horns toward its necks. Then, Xian Xian's Radiant Vines pulled on its own neck, creaking and groaning in the process but managing to raise the seadragon a few meters higher, exposing its neck.
Lan Huang immediately turned and swung its tail, swiping its Annihilation Godsword at the neck of the earth seadragon, managing to pierce its scales. The force of the physical attack was far more powerful than any normal ability, though the earth seadragon didn't die as its hell barrier formation came out to stop the Annihilation Godsword. Even so, it had been eliminated from the battle. Losing one member, despite having twice the enemy's number, was a mark of humiliation for Long Xiaofan.
Xian Xian and Lan Huang's elemental synergy was amazing. Even though they weren't as powerful as Ying Huo alone, they could last a long time in battle. Lan Huang, especially, was a battle maniac and didn't tire easily, thanks to how restless it usually was. Right after taking down one foe, it immediately turned to the others.
Even though the three seadragons' abilities managed to break more and more vines and even left a bloody mark on Lan Huang, they suffered even more damage. Lan Huang's two heads bit one dragon each and shook furiously, smashing them on the ground and causing the earth to quake before tossing the dragons into the volcano. Their scales were useless before its terrifying bite.
While Lan Huang was at a disadvantage in terms of star count, its bloodline talents were far too terrifying. Every inch of its body was like Ying Huo's, but there were so many more 'inches' in comparison. Even without its tails and heads, it was more than a hundred meters long. The Triflair disciples were utterly shocked at seeing Lan Huang fight. The same could probably be said for those watching from the Triflair Divine Realm. It was far too savage.
Meanwhile, Xian Xian was only a helper in this battle. Not only that, it was also helping out on other distant fronts too. Thanks to it, Ying Huo and Meow Meow were able to force the Quadform disciples away from Tianming. Even though there were many foes to fend off at the same time, Xian Xian's roots were bursting out of the ground and wrapping around man and beast alike.
Among the Quadform disciples, only Long Yinfeng and Long Xiaofan were fourth-level samsarans. The former was at the life phase while the latter was at the death phase. The others weren’t even at the fourth level.
Beigong Mengmeng and Ximen Xuanzi finally reacted and came to Tianming’s aid. Coupled with Ying Huo's sneak attacks and Meow Meow's rapid Misty Hellthunders, they kept everyone else apart from Tianming and Long Xiaofan, allowing them to fight one on one. Their goal was to take down the leader first. As there were so many foes, being surrounded would be a huge problem, as had been shown by Jiang Wuxin, who only had one lifebound beast.
All of this had happened when a single disciple took on twenty-four Quadform disciples. The ones watching the battle were shocked enough at Tianming's strength, but the disciples from the two sects on the battlefield were even more flabbergasted. Beigong Mengmeng and Ximen Xuanzi could almost cry at the show of strength.
"What kind of hero is this? I wonder if he’s already engaged," Beigong Mengmeng said. She was dressed in a long orange robe, making her look rather cute and energetic. She seemed to be Beigong Qianyu's cousin.
"I think not. He's the disciple of the goddess of the Archaion Sect. Some time back, he killed the Hexapath Sword Sect's disciples, but how could he be this powerful to the point of being able to hold Long Xiaofan back?" Ximen Xuanzi asked. She was a confident young woman with a head of short, boyish hair.
"He's not engaged? Wonderful!"
"Hey lass, how dare you forget about me so quickly?" Ximen Xuanzi snapped.
"Jealous? You're such an idiot," Beigong Mengmeng said, more relaxed. "Dogs of the Quadform Sea Sect, do you see? The one who’ll punish you for your shameless sneak attacks is here! There's no way you'll be able to kill us!"
"You're going to die sooner or later anyway. Why struggle?" Long Yinfeng said, though he was actually more nervous than he let on.
By now, even the greenthread bolt seadragon’s hell barrier formation was activated. With two of his dragons gone, how could he hold on?
"Vile fiend, don't think you can run!" Beigong Mengmeng's coral lifebound beast blocked Long Yinfeng's way.
"Get out of the—aaah!" He suddenly clutched his rear as Ying Huo flashed past with a sly smile.
"Exposing your rear to me, eh? That wasn't a smart move."
Beigong Mengmeng was dumbfounded as she watched the chicken blaze past her, leaving behind a near-dead Long Yinfeng in its wake, and chuckled. "By my mother's balls, I'm starting to like this chicken…. It's too amazing…" she said, laughing as she clutched her belly.
"Lady, stop swearing!" Ximen Xuanzi spat.
Then, a loud boom was heard from where Tianming and Long Xiaofan were fighting. The two girls turned back to look as they continued stalling the others; the battle was too significant to miss.
Tianming's white hair fluttered from the reverberations of the death tribulation force in him. He was death incarnate. Right in front of him was the blue-haired dragon-horned Long Xiaofan, watching coldly with his trident in hand. There was a spike at the other end of the trident, making four sharp points in total, which each contained a type of energy. It was the Divine Imperial Trident.
"Goddess' disciple, I didn't think you'd reach this stage in only two weeks…." Long Xiaofan's hands hurt from the last few clashes he’d had with Tianming. Traces of death tribulation force were in his flesh.
"Do you submit?" Tianming asked.
"What's there to submit? You really are naive. Your goddess counts for nothing. No matter how powerful you are, you can't compare to a god. Play hero for those damsels here all you want. You'll just die later anyway. Even Fang Taiqing and Xuanyuan Dao will have to kowtow to us and beg. Put up airs if you want. When the time comes, you'll still have to beg all the same."
"You're right. But before that time comes, I can kill you. I'll make an example of you for the Quadform Sea Sect. Your’s is the fate that will soon come to them."
"They do say wild dogs bark the loudest. You don’t dare kill me."
"Who do you think you are, anyway?"
"Hahaha, you really don't know a thing about the status quo, do you? Currently, only Hexapath and Biritual want all-out war with you. The other three divine realms, mine included, don't border yours, so we don't care about war. All it’ll take is for you to send your goddess to the next life. However, if you dare touch any of our disciples, we’ll also join the warmongering camp. You'll be involving lots of innocent lives. Fool, you should be pragmatic in life and know when to compromise, got it?"
"You may not know this, but I don't care if we go to war or not." Tianming's eyes grew redder as he smiled sinisterly.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Anyone that wants Ling'er dead shall die!" He and Feiling were just guests in the Archaion Sect. Even though there were many in the sect that had helped him, Feiling was still the most important one to him. She was his everything, much like Jiang Wuxin's wives were his world. He could understand where Jiang Wuxin was coming from, but he still wouldn't show him any mercy. Feiling hadn’t had a choice when she’d come to the Nine Divine Realms, so there was only one thing Tianming could do: pave a path of blood toward freedom!
"Die!" Sometimes he wondered what the essence of death was. Everything would eventually come to an end, devoid of breath, emotion, and love. Ying Huo, Meow Meow, Lan Huang, and Xian Xian would forever be gone. He would never be able to hear Feiling's voice, nor feel her warmth ever again. The pain that would entail was hard to even imagine.
"The way of the sword is one of slaughter and death. Hungry ghosts parade by the sidelines as one culls his enemies to fuel his own life. This sword is the sword of plunder and slaughter. Animacorpus Eradication!"
Ever since he had entered the death phase, he understood what the way of the hungry ghost and the sword of death truly meant. His two swords buzzed nonstop. Even though his mastery of Animacorpus Eradication was still minor, Lifesbane's unique death tribulation force had brought many insights to him, allowing his mind to infinitely approach the proper state to use this move to its fullest.
"I shall sever death and transcend mortal life, wielding the ultimate sword to slay body and soul!"
This move was the complete antithesis of the Mortal Dao Sword, which utilized the will of all sentient beings in the sword of life. This sword of death, on the other hand, slaughtered impartially. Even so, both of the moves were incredibly suited to certain states of mind. Human emotions were complex; the paradox of wanting to be a benevolent ruler was that one would always have to stain their hands in cold blood. It was impossible to avoid.
"I shall crush all obstacles to pave my own way forward! The ghosts pave the way, souls of the accused, your time of reckoning has come! Kneel and accept death!"
Tianming was like a vile demon that left a trail of mournful souls in his wake. Mountains of bones, blood, and flesh could be seen behind him. Now, all sentient life seemed to be an obstacle in the trajectory his sword was traveling in.
"Ghost Dao, Animacorpus Eradication!" The sword of life howled like vile spirits while the sword of death mourned like spirits of the accused, filling the entire area with boundless sword ki.
All that Long Xiaofan could see now was the lord of unfortunate spirits slaughtering his way, willing to cull an ocean of people to protect just one. Desolation, death, and violence made up that savage sword intent. Unlike the righteous Mortal Dao Sword, this strike was filled with endless resentment from the depths of his heart, mixed with explosive death tribulation force.
Long Xiaofan felt his scalp tingle at merely the howls of the ghosts and spirits. His world immediately fell into darkness. "You're courting death!"
He charged in and used a first-origin samsara battle art with his trident, the Quaddragon Imperial Art, Draconic rise. The power of fourth-level death tribulation force filled his body, forming four imperial dragons. Based on his level, he shouldn't be any weaker than Tianming, but everyone could clearly see Tianming's sword smash through the trident and trigger Long Xiaofan's hell barrier formation.
"May you perish from ghostly possession!" The black Grand-Orient Sword pierced through with death tribulation force, causing a huge explosion that shattered the hell barrier formation.
Fearlessly, Long Xiaofan attempted to threaten him. "Li Tianming, if you kill me, the Quadform Sea Sect will—"
However, he couldn't fully hide his primal fear of that terrifying sword.
"Will what? I hereby proclaim that the Quadform Divine Realm will be eradicated!" The final burst of power from Animacorpus Eradication gathered to a point and pierced through Long Xiaofan's heart. Tianming drew the sword back out.
Long Xiaofan clutched his chest and took two steps back, blankly staring at Tianming as his life left his body, replaced with death tribulation force. His flesh began to age and degenerate at a visible rate. "You… you…."
He couldn't even articulate properly as he pointed at Tianming.
"Stop with the threats and be on your way to your next life." Tianming gave him a push, causing him to fall off the volcano and lay there dead. He then turned back and looked at the stunned Beigong Mengmeng and Ximen Xuanzi. "I want to kill all the Quadform disciples. You don't have anything to say about that, right?"
