Beastmaster of the Ages

With Meow Meow watching the wargodeans, Tianming felt 'safe' enough to turn his attention to cultivation.

Yu Ziqian didn't really understand why they weren't even letting a single second go to waste. "The treasure of the Imperialdragon Palace might show up at any time. This is pointless."

Whether it helped or not, Tianming was used to not wasting any time. Normally speaking, cultivating for some tens of days wouldn't do much, but Tianming could enter the wondersky realm and head to the third level of the Violetglory Pagoda for more caeli scanning. There was an endless number there for him to scan through, much more than the Azuresoul Palace could ever dream of having. Not to mention, getting stronger had allowed him to stay on that level for longer. This time around, he lasted five days before being defeated by a fifth-level constellier.

Since that time, his alias Lin Feng had attracted a lot of attention. He was famous across the Violetglory Star, so he didn't stay there long and immediately left when he was done, then had Ying Huo check out the palace. So far, the wargodeans were still the only ones there. They had tried many methods but hadn't been able to uncover the secrets of the place yet. It allowed Tianming to calm his nerves. There would be five more days before he could enter the Violetglory Pagoda again, so he decided to practice the Ninedragon Tribulation.

Lingfeng and Xiaoxiao were also cultivating. Even the lazy and relaxed Yu Ziqian caved in the face of peer pressure and started cultivating as well. Though, he did have a point. Cultivating when danger was just around the corner wasn't really efficient.

These days, Tianming had scanned lots of caeli, though his Lifesbane Will's growth was meager. "Looks like the growth period started slowing when I reached the tenth level, much like my godfather's. He also slowed down after a while." His decreased efficiency put him closer to the levels of the Orderian geniuses, though he was still among the top of them. Since he was no longer able to burst through levels like before, he turned to the ultimate sword art left behind by the Ninedragon Emperor and analyzed it with his Trisoul Prime.

"There isn't any divine hazard sword ki here and I can't show my totems, so I can only unleash a third of the power of this eighth-realm sword art. Even so, it should give me a move stronger than one anyone our age can unleash if I manage to fuse two moves together."

The nine-colored scale was like the minorsky stele and allowed Tianming's caelum to enter it. When he did, he found himself in an icy, silver world filled with blinding light. There was only one thing in his mind: speed. It felt like Meow Meow's lightning, but this feeling came from the silver light. It was the speed of light! The light formed a silver dragon that flew around his body before entering it.

"Silverdragon Flashkill." Tianming had already used that move, but back then, he had merely experienced it. The one that actually executed the move was the nine-colored scale itself. "This dragon scale is a legacy formation for an eighth-realm battle art. Without its guidance, a normal disciple of my level wouldn't be able to master it with just the mantra alone."

The scale was secure in the Grand-Orient Sword, having recognized Tianming as its owner. "The sword intent should be based on the concept of speed, the ultimate aspect for most battle arts. Meow Meow's speed is in its movement, while this move's speed is in the movement of the sword before it connects with its target. That's why disciples of Zhan Yingying's level are completely unable to match my pace if I use this move. I can even use tens of thousands of different variations of the same move without anyone knowing how to counter it. If I used it with totems and the Ninedragon Sword Body to triple its power, this Flashkill move alone would be stronger than Imperial Descent."

Based on what Yu Ziqian had said, the full potential of the Ninedragon Tribulation had yet to be witnessed. The Ninedragon Emperor didn't have totems, after all, so he could only use two-thirds of the move's power.

"So the basics of this move, without involving totems, won't look too different from a fourth-realm divine art, but when used to the utmost, it's definitely superior to all fourth-realm divine arts. By fusing only two of its moves, it'll be more powerful than most fifth-realm divine arts."

The key to that would be absorbing divine hazards. The higher the quality of the hazards, the more powerful they were. As one of the nine basic strikes, Silverdragon Flashkill wasn't that difficult. The real hard part was fusing it with other strikes.

Tianming studied the move from start to finish. Ying Huo, being his lifebound beast, wasn't able to enter the scale, but Tianming was able to explain his own insights to it through their telepathic connection, allowing both of them to train together. Ying Huo also had its own ideas, which helped him to some extent.

Tens of thousands of silver dragons manifested within this silver world, occasionally taking the form of silver swords. They gathered together to form an amalgamation of a ten-thousand-meter-long silver dragon. Regardless of the form they took, they were as fast as a flash. By the time one saw the light, they would already be dead.

The sharp sounds of swooshing swept past Tianming's ears. He stretched out his fingers and touched the silver dragons. Once they passed through his finger, they accelerated to a blinding speed. It was such a simple sword strike, yet it contained boundless profundity.

"This sword intent will change again once it reaches its peak." The killing flash was so fast that it couldn't be blocked. Tianming kept reading the mantra out loud, watching the silver dragon change as he executed the move with his fingers, going faster and faster.

"Piupiupiupiu!" rang a voice beside him.

"What's with that sound effect?" Tianming said, looking at Ying Huo.

"You're going faster and faster. I bequeath you the title of 'quickshot'," Ying Huo said.

"Idiot." Tianming closed his eyes and continued to immerse himself in his practice. He let his hands follow the silver dragon's trails at a blinding speed—it was as fast as Ying Huo had described it. The slashing sounded almost like high-pitched firing. The enemy wouldn't even see his sword before they were killed.

"This strike isn't suited to the Grand-Orient Sword's combined form. It has to be split." After doing so, Tianming was able to go even faster, killing without even being seen doing so. Days soon passed. His caelum had executed that move countless times inside the nine-colored scale, while in reality, the black Grand-Orient Sword in his hand was piercing the walls of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb with silver light.

"How quick! It's amazing!" Yu Ziqian said, his eyes wide with awe.

"What is?" Xiaoxiao said, rolling her eyes.

"The sword strike, of course. What else?"

"I thought you'd fallen for him or something."

"Why you— aahh... so you like that kind of naughty stuff, huh?" Yu Ziqian sighed and shook his head.

Xiaoxiao glared at him and ignored him. She held the Dragonblood Desecration, still studying it seriously. Nearby, Lingfeng seemed to have blended into the darkness. The vortex in his chest seemed to be expanding and shrouding his body in mist.

"This Feng friend of yours is impressive," said the portable grandpa within Yu Ziqian.

"How so?" Yu Ziqian asked.