Beastmaster of the Ages

Li Shenjian felt himself going mad as Tianming continued ignoring him. What was the point of getting his supporters to watch the duel if all he was going to do was play hide-and-seek? "This is the Infernal Dragon Purgatory, the most important battlefield of the sect! Only heroes get the honor of fighting here, yet you're turtling up right at the start? I bet the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect didn't think they'd be completely embarrassing themselves after protecting and nurturing you like that!"

He continued sweeping the entire battlefield with his totems, scattering every concentration of fire divine hazards he could find, but he still wasn't able to find Tianming. This was completely out of everyone's expectations. Putting Li Shenjian aside, even the audience on the outside was astonished at Tianming's erratic behavior. The celestial orderians began joining in the mockery.

"Is that kid serious?"

"Is he planning to slowly drag things out?"

"I'm impressed!"

"What a way to ruin the history of the Infernal Dragon Purgatory. This makes it look like the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect is just lying about how important it's supposed to be! Well, looks like their 'devilishly talented genius' is going to ruin the reputation of these sacred grounds."

"What a joke."

Some of them even broke out laughing nonstop.

"This is a historic embarrassment."

"No, I think Li Tianming's actually pretty smart. He knows he isn't Li Shenjian's match, so he's planning to run around and buy time while he secretly cultivates. Give it a year or two and he'll grow powerful enough to crush Li Shenjian!"

That joke was followed by a long bout of laughter. The celestial orderians were already bothered by Tianming's victory over Li Haochen, and even if Li Shenjian won this duel, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary, given the age difference. Yet Tianming was embarrassing himself without any effort on Li Shenjian's part, allowing them to finally expel all the negative feelings they had been holding this entire time. It was a breath of fresh air for the celestial orderians and those of the Veildragon Palace.

"That kid's reputation's fallen to rock bottom. Now, he's just a cowardly mouse," Li Xiaoyan said with a gleeful look.

"I bet the Seven Dragon Imperials didn't expect this. Look at how sullen they all look," Apothecary Li said. Everyone turned and saw the Dragon Imperials fanatically arguing over something.

"The Whitedragon Empress seems rather brave. She seems to be arguing with the Saintdragon Emperor in defense of the kid," the Voiddragon Emperor said.

"Who knows? I heard that she's been pretty loose since the death of her husband. Rumor is that her relationship with Gujian Qingshuang, Yang Ce, and Yun Tianque isn't simple. Judging based on how strongly she's coming to Li Tianming's defense, I doubt it's just as simple as her seeing a son in him," the Blooddragon Emperor said.

At the end of the day, those were all baseless rumors. In the current climate, such accusations were all too common for women who stood out from the pack, especially a beautiful widow like her.

"I wonder how long Li Tianming will keep hiding for. He's capable of that, at least. We haven't seen him once since he went into hiding," the Torchdragon Emperor said with a look of worry.

"It matters not. The longer he lets it drag on, the more embarrassing a display it'll be. With how much they're arguing over there, the Ninedragon Army will collapse without us having to lift a finger," Li Xiaoyan said.

"True. It's embarrassing, to say the least," Li Yunxi said, not able to hold back.

Qingyu gave her a look. She really wanted to tear off that mouth of hers, but she stifled her rage. Just you wait. My brother will smack all your faces so hard you'll be unrecognizable.

……

The argument between the Seven Dragon Imperials was only a show they put up to buy Tianming more time. As long as the celestial orderians didn't think that this was suspicious, they wouldn't catch on to Tianming's plans. However, making the tens of millions of troops in the Ninedragon Army feel a little uncomfortable was unavoidable. They could do nothing but lower their heads in shame at the mockery caused by Tianming's apparent actions.

"Grandpa, couldn't Li Tianming just fight his best and lose? That's less embarrassing than what he's doing now. What's the point?" Long Longlong asked the Saintdragon Emperor. Naturally, he felt just as bad as the rest of the sect. Even the others in the Redlotus Worlddragon Formation could hear it. The disciples had been burning with support for Tianming, only for him to hide away and leave his cat to play with Li Shenjian. It felt like they had been doused with chilling water all of a sudden.

"Just wait," the Saintdragon Emperor said.

"Alright…." Long Longlong grit his teeth and said, "I hope he'll at least stand his ground whether he wins or loses."

"That's right," many echoed. Hiding in the Infernal Dragon Purgatory was undoubtedly a bad look. The longer he did it, the more shame he brought upon the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect.

……

"Even though the infernal dragon sword ki suits me the best, it's at the outermost layer, so I'll give it a try at the very end." Tianming had already reached the lowest part of the Infernal Dragon Purgatory, where the grade-seven infernal dragon sword ki was. It was the king of the fire divine hazards in the area; the others were merely byproducts of its existence.

That strand of sword ki took the form of a flaming dragon ten kilometers long, coiled up at the bottom. The power it radiated caused Tianming's scalp to tingle.

"It's grade seven!" He grit his teeth and endured the pain as he crossed the sword ki to reach the formation at the bottom of the arena. "This is a grade-six divine formation…."

He stretched his black arm out. It had been quite some time since he used this unique talent of his, so he was feeling a little rusty. However, it worked like a key in a lock. He wasn't busting his way through the door, so it wouldn't alert the Torchdragon Emperor that held the azure dragonspring. He successfully passed through and entered a completely different world.

"This is the second level of the Sworddragon Ocean Purgatory, the Blackfiend Dragongorge!" There was another grade-seven divine hazard there called the blackfiend dragongorge sword ki. The world beneath him was pitch-black without a trace of light. Tianming looked down and saw a sea of black smoke, or rather magma, that incessantly flowed around. The roar of a mighty dragon also rang in the air, seemingly able to shatter eardrums and pierce souls.

"I guess you'll be it!" Time was of essence. He closed his eyes, charged straight down, and was immediately swallowed up by the darkness.

"Finally, found it!"