Beastmaster of the Ages

"Ninedragon Tribulation?" Tianming had a look of dislike when he heard the name.

"Is something wrong?" Yu Ziqian asked, confused.

"Isn't the name a bit too… blergh? It's the kind of name I came up with for my imaginary techniques when I was a kid." Tianming snorted. However, as he did so, a ray of light shot out of the scale and cut him on the face, the pain making him hurriedly shut his mouth.

"Big Brother, such an overbearing, mighty and explosive name and you say that? It's the kind of name that makes people crap their pants! When you use it in public, just watch out for people's reaction."

"Is it really that great?" Tianming was half-convinced, but still doubtful. It was just a battle art.

"According to history, this battle art has infinite possibilities. It can even contend with grade-nine battle arts. Grade-nine battle arts are the pinnacle of Orderia, and only appear in legend. And even then, it only appeared in the hands of Orderia's founding ancestor. If you can really use the Ninedragon Tribulation to its maximum one day, your strength and position will at least be on par with the Sun Emperor!" Longing was in Yu Ziqian's eyes. He was truly envious of Tianming, and further impressed with his calm. After all, anyone else would be going crazy with joy.

"I still think the name is lousy and makes it sound third-rate—" The scale started lighting up again, and Tianming hurriedly stopped. Giving a light cough, he said seriously, "Still, at our level, we can use grade-four or grade-five battle arts at best. Without exalted blood, how can we use it? Is there a point to getting it so early if we can't use it?"

Tianming was still working on his grade-four battle art, Imperial Descent.

"That's the amazing part of this battle art. Honestly, at our age, even the grade-six battle art, Divine Sun, is beyond us. Trying to practice it would just be a waste of time, let alone a grade-eight battle art. But this sword art is different." There was a rare seriousness to Yu Ziqian's tone.

"Another kind? Is it a simplified version?" Tianming asked. He remembered he had started with a simplified version when he had learned the Moonnight Subdued Strike, which was how he had started on it early.

"Of course not." Yu Ziqian smirked. "The specialness of the Ninedragon Tribulation lies in its fusion sword dao."

"It has nine basic attacks. Each is individually just a grade-three battle art in difficulty. There's nothing that even requires you to be a constellier. They aren't very strong alone. To become stronger, it has to be fused! Second fusion strikes are stronger than most grade-four battle arts. Third fusion strikes will have the power of a grade-five battle art!

"The path ahead is fusing more and more. Every tribulation added will increase the difficulty and power of the strike by frightening amounts until, finally, the sword intent will be complete at the ninth fusion strike. It'll have the power of a grade-nine battle art. You'll be able to dominate the world!"

"Supposedly, this is counted as a grade-eight battle art because the Ninedragon Emperor himself only managed to fuse eight. Nine fusions is the level of legends! If the Ninedragon Emperor had been able to fuse that last one back then, he could've overthrown the celestial orderians and united this world. He was just missing that last step…"

Tianming's expression was strange.

"Isn't this the Shenxiao Sword Art?" Ying Huo rolled its eyes. They had learned the Shenxiao Sword Art at Li Shenxiao's tomb at the Li Saint Clan. That, too, had used the theory of fusing sword daos. Although Tianming hadn't completed the last bit of the wind element, he had grasped the concept of fusion strikes. This world was definitely filled with many fusion sword daos. Even the Flameyellow Continent had people developing them. However, this Ninedragon Tribulation was definitely the apex among them.

"The concept may be the same, but after seeing Silverdragon Flashkill, the basic strikes of the Ninedragon Tribulation are thousands of times more complex than the Shenxiao Sword Art's." This was Tianming's evaluation, and he had the feeling he had only seen the tip of the iceberg thanks to the scale. The more he focused his mind on the scale, the more shocked he was. If the silver dragon sword art was a silver dragon tens of thousands of meters long, the Shenxiao Sword Art would be half of one of its scales.

"And that's not all." Yu Ziqian looked at the scale with envy. Although he didn't use a sword, he knew that to many powerful seniors a Ninedragon Tribulation art that could be trained and passed down to juniors would be at least three or four times as valuable as the Lifesteal Silverdragon.

To sword fanatics, its value would be over ten times.

"Something even more incredible?" Tianming was excited.

"Right, fusion sword daos is its brand, but that isn't its limit. It can also absorb divine hazards that have sword-type divine patterns and infuse them into your albi, creating the Ninedragon Sword Body. Can you imagine how scary that is? Other people have divine patterns in their weapons, but yours will be in your body! As long as you can endure and cultivate it, the 'fusion' and 'sword body' will mutually reinforce each other, allowing it to step into the realm of a grade-nine divine art!

"The Ninedragon Emperor absorbed a grade-eight divine hazard called the voidshaker sword ki, and supposedly one puff of breath from him could massacre an army. There's a lot of fusion sword daos, and there's a lot of arts to cultivate a sword body. But this is the only divine art with both." Yu Ziqian looked at Tianming again and gave a sigh of praise.

The real unlucky one was Lan Feilin. Just one step away, and she would have gotten her Blueblood Starocean a grade-eight battle art. But alas, her seniors hadn't given her a grade-seven divine artifact. Otherwise, she may have broken that Ninepole Dragonsword Formation before Tianming arrived.

Ying Huo's mind was in shambles. "Dude, this is exactly the Invincible Sword Body. This is literally the Shenxiao Sword Art combined with the Invincible Sword Body."