Beastmaster of the Ages

The reason celestial orderians had celestial in their name was because their totems were all heavenly being types. Lan Xingyao basked in the starocean greatfiends' radiance. He wielded a two-handed greatsword about the length of the Grand-Orient Sword. Its name was Lingering Astralight and it was forged using divine ores and divine hazards with grade four divine patterns, making it much stronger than other grade-four divine artifacts Tianming had encountered before.

Though Lan Xingyao looked impressive, his glory wouldn't last uninterrupted for more than a moment. The moment his totems appeared, Lingfeng's Infernal Soul Curse had already spread to them. Though it was only a small amount of black flames, they were like a toxin that continued to spread throughout. There was a limit to Lingfeng's power, so the flames didn't really burn too brightly. In fact, Lan Xingyao managed to react in time by having the totems cut off the flaming parts of their body, temporarily decreasing their fighting capability to mitigate the harm caused by the attack. Suffering a loss before the fight truly started, the short-tempered Lan Xingyao felt a seething urge to kill Tianming. "Are you courting death?"

First-rate sects really were different from second-rate sects. Apart from Yu Ziqian, no other disciple from a second-rate sect had dared to behave like this before him. Even if they were stronger than he was, they still lowered their heads.

Tianming's beasts emerged as he ignored Lan Xingyao. The Radix World Tree immediately spread its roots and vines to take over the battlefield, causing quite a commotion. Tianming's different beasts of different elemental types was quite a surprising sight and they looked more impactful than the homogenous starocean greatfiends.

Xian Xian began shaking as it used the whip battle art Tianming had taught her and rained down Bloodrain Swords toward the fiends. Lan Huang even dared to use Azure Oceanic Purgatory, flooding the entire area with seawater that looked red. The gigantic beast ignored Lan Xingyao and slammed into the starocean greatfiends as they attacked. No matter where Lan Huang was, it would always drag its enemies down for some underwater play.

The red sea began flooding the entire area and Lan Xingyao was forcefully submerged, thanks to Tianming. With Lan Huang ahead and Xian Xian harassing from behind, Tianming, Ying Huo, and Meow Meow struck in unison. Clouds of black lightning formed above and sent a lightning bolt hundreds of meters in diameter striking down on the water. A few fiends had barely poked their heads above the surface, only to be forced down once more.

"Both of Yu Ziqian's junior brothers are so fierce...."

"Are they really not constelliers?"

"Who knows? They aren't using any constellations. Are they going to keep them as a counter against other constellations?"

"With how ferocious those lifebound beasts are, that might not be necessary."

"Li Tianming is really showing them what beastmasters are made of. Totems are no big deal."

"Haha!"

An edge constelliers had over ascendants was their constellation. Aside from that, it would be hard to tell a constellier from an ascendant. The fight continued on with full force. Lan Xingyao was only affected by Infernal Soul Curse at the start, so he hadn't lost all ability to resist. He managed to last through Tianming's first wave of attacks. Now, he and his seven totems activated his skyfall constellation.

A formation-like domain immediately appeared. Thanks to their many totems, totem users had the most powerful constellations. Skyfall was capable of linking all seven totems and Lan Xingyao himself together via countless thumb-sized stars. They swirled around them like a galaxy, slowly picking up speed and colliding with Tianming and the rest nonstop, leaving quite a few bloody holes. It was troubling indeed.

"Guess no genius in Orderia is a pushover." Tianming hadn't looked down on his enemy at all. However, he was in a rather passive position without being able to use totems himself.

"Li Tianming, is that all you've got? You're gonna kneel after just this?" Lan Xingyao mocked as his starocean greatfiends charged out of the sea. They then used their totemic calamity, Heptastar Divine Ring. "Keep groveling, trash!"

The seven-colored fiends linked together and formed many rings that looked like Lan Huang's own Kilofold Rings. They were further boosted by the constellation, allowing it to suppress Tianming and his beasts immediately. The starlight from the rings was so bright that many couldn't look straight at it. Then Lan Xingyao raised his sword, an action mirrored by his totems, and used a battle art in unison with them. "Heavenly Starslash!"

This was a fourth-realm divine art; it was far more powerful than third-realm arts, as it incorporated the constellation's power in the move. The skyfall constellation's power made it even harder to block.

"It's over for you!" Lan Xingyao smiled as he and his totems slashed, their swords falling from the sky toward Tianming like meteors.

"What an annoying showoff." Tianming smirked, facing the huge pressure. He raised his sword and gathered Ying Huo and the rest near him. "Go!"

Their blood boiled when he roared as they charged forward. Ying Huo used Skyscorch Featherblast and Death Inferno, its strongest abilities, while Meow Meow turned into the Regal Chaosfiend and launched two Cosmic Lances. Lan Huang used the sword on its tail in a heavy slash that threatened to reshape landscapes and Xian Xian used all four of its abilities. As it was satiated, its countless Radiant Vines alone had made the entire battlefield a part of its body.

Between them all, Tianming gripped his sword with both hands, his eyes flashing with a blinding light. Now, his aura was domineering to behold. His stance changed as he executed Imperial Descent. As Tianming didn't have a constellation, there was only so much power he could unleash from the fourth-realm divine art. Still, it was stronger than Moonnight Subdued Strike. Not to mention, it was the move he had spent quite a lot of time picking that best suited his Imperial Will. The compatibility only increased the damage he could deal. With his beasts paving the way and neutralizing much of the incoming attack, Tianming had a clear path to Lan Xingyao.

"Feel divine wrath as my sword cleaves all directions!" The power of the Grand-Orient Sword was greater combined than split. Black and gold light gathered around Tianming when he struck with the force of an army behind him. This was the ultimate will of a ruler radiating with the power of subjugation. A black and gold sword beam blasted out from the strike, vaporizing whatever it touched. Needless to say, the frontmost starocean greatfiend was cleaved in two at the waist by the move!

Then the greatswords collided, the power of stars and omnidirectional cleaving clashing. Lan Xingyao's totems didn't harm Tianming all that much, but Meow Meow's Soulchasing Hellthunder managed to rampage across Lan Xingyao's body. His heart began twitching, affecting his strike's power. The moves of Primordial Chaos Beasts were filled with surprises that could tip the scales of battle. Not to mention, one of Ying Huo's feathers pierced through Lan Xingyao's thighs, spilling much of his blue blood and inciting a cry of pain. He couldn't hold up against Tianming's most forceful strike as his totems were pushed back. Then the white-haired youth's strike connected.

First, Lingering Astralight was sent flying. The next slash took off Lan Xingyao's right arm that had four bane-rings. Now that he had lost control, his totems returned to the bane-rings of his severed arm. He shrieked in utter agony as he collapsed on the ground, scrambling to escape. His expression was one of utter defeat. "My arm...."

When he looked up, he saw Tianming thrust his sword into the ground, pick up the arm and remove the spatial ring. Then, he tossed the arm back to him. "Lan Xingyao, I'm only reciprocating the way you treated me. You're always welcome to come challenge me again, but make sure to make it worth my time." In other words, he was going to take his belongings as payment for humoring him in a duel.

"You!" Lan Xingyao caught his arm and pathetically spat out a mouthful of blood. He looked up at the skyward eye. The countless people watching him on the broadcast were definitely mocking him.