Beastmaster of the Ages

The audience was already losing patience with how much time had passed. The celestial orderians and Veildragon Palace kept up their mockery, but even they were anxious about Tianming's disappearance in the Infernal Dragon Purgatory. They no longer cared about this fight between juniors and simply wanted to know how this would turn out at the end, but as long as Tianming was missing, there would be no end to this. It wasn't just them, even many people from the Ninedragon Army left to do other things rather than waste their time waiting. Both sides were growing more and more angry at the situation.

"Torchdragon Emperor, could Li Tianming have gone deeper? I heard that the Infernal Dragon Purgatory is only the first level of the Sworddragon Ocean Purgatory," Li Yunxi said.

A little surprised, he said, "Impossible. Every level is separated by a formation. I have the dragonspring in my hand, so I'd know if the formation was breached."

"But this can't go on forever. Why don't you let me go down there and drag him out so that he fights Li Shenjian properly?" she impatiently said.

"That won't do. It goes against the rules of the Infernal Dragon Purgatory, and the other side won't want that either. We'll let them deal with this embarrassing affair themselves."

Li Yunxi simply felt that it was offensive for them to make Qingyu wait for so long. Right as they were still talking about what to do, someone suddenly yelled, "I see him!"

"That bastard finally showed himself!"

"Did he disappear into his mother's womb or something? How could Li Shenjian not find him despite going through the entire Infernal Dragon Purgatory?"

"He's finally out, but I don't think Li Shenjian's seen him yet."

"What's he doing? Challenging the infernal dragon sword ki?"

Tianming's reappearance caused quite a lot of commotion, much of it thanks to the sword ki, which even Li Shenjian didn't dare to mess with. People watched as Tianming charged toward the infernal dragon with sword in hand.

"Is he insane?"

"What kind of childish behavior is that?"

"Does he think he's a kid in a sandpit playing with a worm or something?"

The yawning celestial orderians were suddenly startled into wakefulness and were even shocked to see that Tianming was managing to suppress the sword ki!

"He's insane if he thinks Li Shenjian will let him get his way."

"Li Shenjian spotted him!"

The battlefield began growing heated once more.

……

"Hurry up!" Tianming continued suppressing the sword ki, which had quite a fiery temperament. Fortunately, he had the benefit of prior experience from his previous assimilation attempts. The grade-seven divine hazard sword ki tore through his body. As fire was his most familiar element, it was also the easiest for him to absorb. The only trouble was that Li Shenjian would definitely disturb him. As expected, he showed up soon enough.

"So the tortoise finally peeks out of its shell." Li Shenjian's patience had long run out. He immediately swung his huge mace toward Tianming's head.

"Hold him back!" Tianming ordered. His lifebound beasts appeared. Even Meow Meow finally got into position after having messed around with Li Shenjian for quite some time.

"The fight's finally starting for real."

"Li Tianming won't be able to run now."

While the celestial orderians and Veildragon Palace's excitement rose, the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect felt more and more nervous. Tianming charged straight into the body of the flaming dragon sword ki while Li Shenjian paved a way through with his mace, obstructed by Tianming's beasts and the sword ki's indiscriminate attacks. Chaos once more filled the battlefield, then the audience had their jaws drop when they realized that Tianming wasn't just running away from Li Shenjian, but absorbing the sword ki in the process.

"Is he forging his sword body?"

"He's crazy! His enemy's right beside him! And this is a grade-seven divine hazard sword ki!"

Though the visibility of the battle was quite poor, thanks to the sword ki's volatile attacks, the audience could tell that Tianming was trying to buy time. Even more shockingly, they could see that the sword ki was losing its potency as time passed. Li Shenjian, on the other hand, was held at bay time and again, unable to harm Tianming at all despite his overwhelming advantage.

"What in the…."

"Is this a joke? A grade-seven divine hazard sword ki can't be that weak, right?"

People gaped at the sight, completely baffled. It was unbelievable!

"His greed will lead him to ruin."

"His lifebound beasts are amazing for being able to hold Li Shenjian back, those bugs especially…. Then again, the cat, tree, and bird are all pretty potent, too."

Thanks to them, Tianming had managed to avoid being caught by Li Shenjian. Yin Chen's many Infinite Silverthread webs, in particular, had saved him much trouble.

"The fact that he's even able to hold Li Shenjian at bay at all is a sign of his competence."

"If he was that capable to begin with, why would he bother hiding then?"

None of them knew the truth of the situation. They watched as Li Shenjian got even more desperate in his pursuit. Shockingly, the infernal dragon sword ki seemed to be shrinking at a rate that was visible to the naked eye as Tianming fought it, and the shrinkage was even accelerating. Eventually, Tianming got the upper hand and began dominating it, then assimilated it into his body. The illusion of a great flaming dragon appeared behind him, adding to his glorious appearance. The beams of sword ki that shot out of Tianming's eyes looked even more terrifying now.

"That's crazy!"

"He really did assimilate the sword ki!"

"What the hell? Am I going blind?"

At that moment, everyone on both sides were completely flabbergasted, unable to believe their eyes. The ones who had been mocking Tianming moments before couldn't utter a single word.

"That doesn't change how he tried to run just now!"

"So what? He'll get shown his place in a bit."

That was the only thing they could say to console themselves, though they still felt a bad omen coming from Tianming. Those from the Ninedragon Army saw Tianming as a miraculous figure once more when he dominated the infernal dragon sword ki. The worry they had felt before seemed to evaporate without a trace as they cheered fervently for him. Long Longlong and the other young disciples were completely entranced by what they saw.

"Li Tianming!" His name reverberated loudly through the Myriaddragon Mountains.