There was apathy in Tianming’s eyes as he split his Grand-Orient Sword in two. Without hesitation, he charged toward Long Yichen.
With the Skypierce Seashaker in his hands, Long Yichen used his Quad Azuredragon Slash. It instantly created a tide that crashed toward Tianming with unstoppable force. At that moment, he truly looked like a son of the sea.
As for Tianming, he was a lot less fancy when he used the Mortal Dao Sword, yet the sword intent behind the technique was beyond the understanding of mere mortals. It was a technique that combined two different sword arts, and with it, Tianming easily slashed through the torrent.
A shrill, ear-piercing sound exploded as the two weapons met. Tianming’s sword looked frail before Long Yichen’s trident, but it was capable of blocking the trident’s every strike.
On the other hand, Long Yichen wasn’t capable of blocking Tianming’s black sword. A single hit from the sword was enough to shatter his armor, stunning him on the spot. When he looked at the white-haired youth, he saw an inquisitor from heaven ready to judge his sins.
“No, I can’t lose here!”
At least Long Yichen hadn’t been injured. He grit his teeth and roared as he felt his blood rush through his veins. He summoned the Kilofold Drakeaqua Shield from his mountainsea worldshaker dragons, which had a similar effect as Tianming’s Infernal Shield.
“You can’t beat me, Li Tianming!” Long Yichen's body shone brightly and his seventh-level death phase power surged out. Once again he stabbed forward with his trident using the Exalted Imperialdrake Strike. It was a technique that gathered the strength of every single muscle on his body, and he lashed at Tianming like a fearsome dragon in the sea.
“Haven’t you learned your lesson?”
Tianming was quick to retaliate. He was way faster than the brutal Long Yichen, and his agility was exactly the key to winning this battle.
Using Animacorpus Eradication, Tianming parried Long Yichen’s offense. It was a technique he was getting better and better at. Unlike before, killing intent suddenly surged from Tianming’s body, turning him into a grim reaper.
With a clean swing, Tianming snapped the Skypierce Seashaker Trident in half and tore through the Kilofold Drakeaqua Shield. There was simply nothing Long Yichen could do to stop him. But the good news for Long Yichen was that the flexible nature of his shield had removed a good portion of force from that attack. It even deflected Tianming’s sword slightly, such that it cut into his arm instead of his torso.
Tianming made use of the opportunity to send the Imperial Sword Prison into Long Yichen’s body. Long Yichen managed to retreat just in the nick of time. Even then, the sword-shaped patterns that surged into his body exploded, tearing one of his arms off completely.
Long Yichen shrieked in pain, knowing that he’d had a close shave with death. This time it was his turn to run, and inside his mind he had already submitted to the man who almost killed him.
“Count yourself lucky,” Tianming didn’t bother finishing him off.
“Regroup!” Upon Tianming’s command, his lifebound beasts came back to him. None of the tribulation elders came close to their level, so most of them were dead or injured.
Needless to say, Tianming had shocked them. With over a hundred people surrounding him, he had emerged unharmed. No one dared to stop him, Long Yichen included. In fact, Long Yichen was the one in the most pain. Not only had he lost an arm, but one of his beasts had already been killed by Long Huang. He could only watch on in despair as the white-haired youth stepped into the center of the vortex. As expected, he was a hundred times faster than Ye Bodhi, and even Long Yichen was starting to worry.
“He’ll be dead for sure if he goes inside.”
“That’s right!”
The remaining tribulation elders blustered from outside. None of them even thought of reporting to the ghoul kings, as they all fervently believed in Ye Bodhi.
Long Yichen was just as much of a believer as the rest. But this time he couldn’t help but question the outcome of the upcoming fight. He could only watch on in suspense and pant nervously.
At that moment, Ye Bodhi entered the core of the formation. Without hesitation, he began sweeping the countless tribulation artifacts into his spatial rings. He never looked back, all of his focus on seizing treasures. But if Tianming were to enter the core, a battle would surely ensue.
Tianming didn’t treat me as a worthy opponent. He didn’t even use his Dragonhide… Long Yichen thought.
Tianming and Ye Bodhi were more than a decade apart. Normally, it would take a hundred years for them to become equals. However, despite Ye Bodhi being in his forties, Tianming, who was twenty, was already approaching his level. At Ye Bodhi’s current age, he was barely considered an adult in Nine Divine Realms.
With the help of his black arm, Tianming broke through the vortex formation and dashed toward its core. Just moments after Ye Bodhi had entered, Tianming caught up. Ye Bodhi hadn't even collected a thousand artifacts by that time.
The core was in fact quite spacious, half of it covered by water and the other half sky. A hundred thousand tribulation artifacts were scattered around, some floating on the sea and others at the bottom. Tianming was surrounded by them the moment he entered.
Any artifact here would have been highly sought after back in Nine Divine Realms, not to mention the sheer quantity. Although these artifacts were ownerless, they still held great power from the spirit ores and beast blood that they had been crafted with. They could easily injure, or even kill someone carelessly exploring this place.
On top of the sea of tribulation artifacts, Tianming saw a bald man in a white robe. The man had one foot on a greatsword as he gazed at Tianming from above. There wasn’t a single trace of mercy in his eyes.
When Tianming looked at Ye Bodhi, he saw not the body that was pale as snow, but instead the overwhelming sin in his body. He bore the weight of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and Tianming saw countless souls howling below his skin.
“I’m curious, why do you eat human hearts?” Tianming knew he had to get out of this place as soon as possible, but he needed an answer. How could someone be so evil? What good does it bring him?
“Because it tastes good.” Ye Bodhi stopped collecting artifacts and crossed his arms before his chest. He flew toward Tianming.
“Stop wasting time. I demand an answer, and no one will be able to answer me after you’re dead,” Tianming replied in a grim tone. He wasn’t someone with a strong sense of justice, but the aura of sin from Ye Bodhi’s body was something he couldn’t bear to see. He felt his killing intent surge, as if his own heart was being eaten, and he felt the pain of those who died because of Ye Bodhi.
“My Saintking Bodhi Body was crafted by eating ten thousand hearts, and its strength is proof of the benefit of eating human hearts.” Ye Bodhi said, licking his lips. “I heard the heartscourge worm wasn’t able to eat your heart. Really makes me wonder what the heart of the imperial son tastes like.”
“Saintking Bodhi Body? What kind of taboo technique is that? Only the likes of Nonahall will use sinister techniques like those.” Tianming could tell that the jade white body was something to fear.
The Kilostar Domain didn’t restrict a cultivator’s physical strength, and in terms of his body, Ye Bodhi was even stronger than Ghoul King Xue Yi. Even Tianming’s Ancient Deepstar Godbody that had absorbed four thousand stars was no match. After all, he had only been practicing it for a few months, whereas Ye Bodhi had been at it for four decades.
“What do you mean by sinister? The people have given me their hearts so that I can become a god that blesses them with a new world. They made a worthy sacrifice.” Ye Bodhi said with a smile. “Now tell me, who told you that I eat hearts?”
“The heavens told me to do their bidding and take your life. ”
“Cut that bullshit,” Ye Bodhi smirked. “You’re quite someone yourself, so don’t fool me with those fancy phrases. I would’ve believed you more if you told me you were envious of my talent. Don’t you know heaven punishes those who enjoin kindness? ”
“Who told you I’m here to promote virtues to you? I’m here to take the artifacts and end your life.” Tianming said emotionlessly.
“Would you feel the joy of saving lives when you kill me?”
“No, but I’ll become stronger!”
“Then you’re not much better than me.”
“You’re absolutely right. You eat human hearts, but I’ll eat you here! ” Tianming saw little point in continuing the conversation and had already lost interest in Ye Bodhi.
In the sea of artifacts, Tianming would fight together with his four lifebound beasts. The core of the vortex was a concealed place, which allowed Xian Xian’s Radix World Tree to reach every single corner. Lan Huang was hiding in the sea, its body strong enough to be unharmed by the artifacts inside. And on Tianming’s shoulders were a bird and a black cat. He was dual wielding his gold and black swords, and his eyes glowed the same colors.
Tianming was like a starving man who had just found a feast. For once, he knew how Xian Xian felt when she was hungry.
