Beastmaster of the Ages

Faced with so much pressure, the imperial guide immediately used her totemic calamity, Summernight Floralsea. The remaining four loti scattered into countless petals that looked like the countless stars in the cosmic aether. Each petal contained the power of wind, frost, metal, and moonlight. They surrounded her like thousands of swords that could scatter and reform. She could use it for attacking or defending against attacks.

Tianming had to admit that while totem users only had one calamity, they often had interesting properties or effects. So far, he still hadn't discovered the totemic calamity of his decapath era godswords. Though he was impressed, his attacks didn't let up one bit.

The imperial guide now knew how powerful he was. With him coming from behind, she had to spare some concentration to deal with him. "You two crooks will pay!"

The weapon she wielded was a grade-three divine artifact. However, even artifacts of the same grade could have different powers based on their divine patterns. When the divine pattern types were similar, the number of divine patterns decided which weapon was more powerful. For instance, when her weapon had been forged, six kinds of divine hazards were incorporated into it. In other words, her weapon had six divine patterns from divine hazards, making it much more powerful than normal grade-three artifacts.

It was a spear umbrella, basically an umbrella with a long pole and a sharp tip. When opened, the umbrella could be used as a shield, and it could be used as a spear when closed. Though it was unique, it afforded a good balance between offense and defense. Its name was an elegant one: the Goldenrain Aether. Needless to say, this was a gift from the sovereign, which she had spared no expense to purchase from Orderia.

The imperial guide used two third-realm divine arts, Floral Starscape and Shower Veil respectively, one for attack and one for defense, against Bodhi. Meanwhile, three-fourths of the Summernight Floralsea formed by the petals of her totems were sent to deal with Tianming. It seemed like she finally considered him a fighter on the same level as her. Though she found it hard to believe, she had to acknowledge how terrifying he was.

Even so, she had underestimated both Tianming and Bodhi. Among the three main cultivator types, beastmasters and specters were more powerful than totem users of the same level. Bodhi wasn't only equipped with a powerful body, he also fought with close combat swiftly and unrelentingly. His abilities were unleashed from nearly point-blank range and his limbs were as tough as divine artifacts, being able to strike and take hits from the Goldenrain Aether while channeling impressive amounts of astralforce. He easily struck the umbrella spear away with one fist and used his other to smash a small part of the Summernight Floralsea, applying constant pressure. His eyes were pale white in the darkness and completely expressionless.

"You're a specter! Where'd you come from?!" the imperial guide said, shocked.

Bodhi didn't answer her, but merely followed up with another dragon-like kick.

She used Shower Veil to block it, only to be sent smashing into the wall of the cauldron, causing her to spit out blood. "So you specters are astral raiders now, huh?"

Her face was pale as blood seeped out of her mouth. Specters were spread out all across the vast expanse of the astralscape of order, and those in the Ninefold Hell were merely one of the many groups. It would be hard for the imperial guide to link Bodhi with the Ninefold Hell. It would be far more likely for him to be one of the many specters from the vast astralscape, in her opinion.

Not to mention, she had only begun learning about the Flameyellow Continent and Heaven Cauldron recently. Tianming and Bodhi didn't say a single word throughout the entire battle, either.

While Tianming was surrounded by many petals, he quickly smashed them with the help of his beasts when she was wounded and forced the petals to return to their totem forms. Now damaged, the four remaining loti seemed dimmer than before.

Bodhi focused on fighting the imperial guide herself while Tianming took care of her totems. The totems continued being eroded away, with Tianming's godswords and Meow Meow doing most of the damage. The imperial guide also faltered against Bodhi's assault. To defend herself, she had no choice but to call one of her totems back, giving Tianming even more of an edge.

"Faster!" he roared.

Bodhi managed to land another punch on the imperial guide's shoulder, sending her slamming into the wall again. The impact had almost cracked the back of her skull. What made her feel even more helpless was Tianming's forceful suppression of her remaining loti. With a thrust of the godswords, two of her three remaining loti crumbled. The last remaining lotus escaped back into her bane-ring before it could be taken out.

"What are you two planning?" she asked, despairing.

"Guess."

Tianming and Bodhi charged at her and wounded her heavily.

"Go for the bane-rings!" Tianming said.

Bodhi stretched out his hand and pressed the imperial guide to the ground. Her bane-rings were on her back. They were in the form of six white loti, making them look rather like tattoos.

"No, please, don't!" she cried and struggled, but it was pointless. Bodhi was too physically dominant.

Tianming coldly pierced the bane-rings with his sword.

"Ah! Aaagh!" She moaned in agony as the pain spread through her back. All six of her bane-rings were destroyed one after the other. The hexamoon white loti were completely impaired.

"What are you crying for? Isn't the fact that you're even alive the best consolation you could get?" Tianming said as he pierced the sword through her waist once more, sending the Imperial Sword Prison into her body.

"What did you put in me?!" She turned to look at him alertly.

Tianming didn't answer her question. "She can still fight a little. Your fists won't kill, right? give her a few more punches."

"Don't kill?" Bodhi shook his head and smiled before doing as told, shattering many of her organs. The blood she coughed out contained chunks of them.

"You two sure are cruel...."

"Cruel? If this is cruel, what do you call sending a hundred thousand gods to kill innocent mortals?" Tianming held her up by the back of her neck and put the cauldron away. Then they went to the side of Divine Moon Skylake. The imperial guide had been rather confident, so she hadn't stationed anyone else at the Moonnight Patio, allowing Tianming and Bodhi to deal with her before reinforcements could arrive.

"Let's go," he said to Bodhi. The two of them immediately escaped. Bodhi was more than familiar with going into hiding, as he had done so countless times before. Along the way, the imperial guide kept vomiting blood and eventually passed out. She was barely alive by now.

Right after the two left the Moonnight Patio, countless people flooded toward it. Tianming turned to Bodhi in the dark alley.

"I've done my part to help you. How you deal with the sovereign is your business. I hope you'll fulfill your end of the deal now and return my daughter to me," Bodhi said stiffly with a serious look.

"Very well." Tianming nodded.

The two evaded their pursuers and turned back to look at the Moonnight Patio. With the imperial guide dealt with, nobody but Sovereign Xi could possibly deal with them now.