Beastmaster of the Ages

Needless to say, Tianming's nine totems had more than enough offensive power to surpass the Evernight Skywings! Not to mention, he was using the totem ki of a ninth-level constellier, which was more than enough to match the astralforce of his opponent. Many providence swords tore through the wings and shot toward Ji Lingxian. Tianming saw how horrified she looked.

"How are you doing?"

"Get away!"

He smirked as his sword turned into a black dragon as he slashed toward Ji Lingxian. Her Evernight Skywings collapsed from the blows; Tianming's single wave of attacks had managed to swiftly dominate her. Not even the sword in her hand could fend off the attacks as she was immediately overwhelmed and sent smashing back toward Lady Floral. The many providence swords shot past her wings and dug into her body, making her a pincushion and drawing much blood.

However, Tianming spared her life. The horrifying wounds were only surface level and served only to temporarily incapacitate her. Primalwings were like totems in that they could recover over time, as long as the wing bones weren't destroyed. Even the people who caught Ji Lingxian were shaken by the force. Most of the senior royals were only fourth- or fifth-level solarians, after all, and Tianming's power wasn't far off from their level.

"Xian'er!" Lady Floral was heartbroken to see her daughter in such a state. When she rushed toward her, Tianming pulled his providence swords back, leaving her with a bloodied daughter. Though it definitely hurt, the wounds weren't permanent.

"Waaah!" She immediately hugged her mom tight, having seen her life flashing across her eyes. Death had been just a step away. Her cold sweat mixed with the blood from her wounds.

"He almost killed you! Don't worry, Xian'er! I won't let them leave alive!" Lady Floral hatefully said.

"Mother, he showed me mercy. I lost. If he's really only in his twenties, then I'm fully convinced of his power.... It was only one move...." Her expression was one of complete conviction. It wasn't too hard to defeat someone, but it was harder to make them accept their defeat. Ji Lingxian, who was unrivaled among the young primalwingers, had completely acknowledged Tianming's talent.

It was a fair fight, yet Lady Floral had wanted to get back at Tianming for doing exactly what he was supposed to do, much to her embarrassment. "Xian'er, are you sure?"

"I wasn't convinced before, but this fight changed my mind. Against an opponent like that, I shouldn't cause more trouble for our people by getting on his bad side. With someone like that in my way, the Longevity Lifewings are as good as if they'd never appeared in the first place," she said, coughing out a bit of blood.

"Alright." Lady Floral gave it some thought and understood the implications. Looking up again, she saw that the white-haired youth had sheathed his weapon. When he wasn't speaking, he looked polite and refined. "Sigh, we weren't able to best him! Then again, he's in the same league as Ye Chen. There's no way this was going to work out anyway."

Lady Floral had accepted the reality of the situation. If even she was convinced, no primalwinger would say otherwise. Seeing their top talent defeated in a single move by someone half her age gave them a crushing sense of defeat that was hard to recover from.

"He's too powerful...."

"As expected of someone on par with Ye Chen."

"What's there even to fight for? Let's not embarrass ourselves."

"Even our royals have to take that slap from a brat in his twenties...."

Hundreds of millions of primalwingers had witnessed the duel and seen how they'd so horribly lost. They backed off and made way for Tianming and the rest without being asked to.

"At least they know their place," Gong Xiong said with a shrug shrugging.

"Brother Xiong, Lin Feng truly is impressive. We really got something good," a subordinate said.

"He isn't just good, he's on par with Ye Chen. Ye Chen's just flashier. This is just the beginning. The Divineglory Dynasty celebrated their triumph a little too early." Gong Xiong smiled. "Let's show them what real totemancers are like!"

Tianming found it rather refreshing that those on his side were mainly totemancers this time around. Not to mention, they knew that his lifebound beasts weren't any bit weaker than his totems.

"He really is a super all-rounder." The way they looked at him was filled with hope. When he rejoined Tianming, Gong Xiong said, "I'll make sure to recommend you to go to the Astraldome. That way you can spread your name there as well."

"There's no need. We can achieve the same thing when I defeat Ye Chen," Tianming said.

"Impressive. Young and bold like a true hero indeed."

"You flatter me."

Going to the Violetglory Star marked a new beginning. The Violetcloud Imperium was a top faction on par with the Divineglory Dynasty, unlike the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect, which was inferior to the celestial orderians. Thus, Tianming felt like he could be bolder. He would use his talent to win as many privileges and resources for himself as possible. I don't have to hold back—I'll be a great help to the Violetcloud Imperium. Now that I have a top faction backing me, I should take this chance to rise to the top.

The Xuanyuan Dragon Sect was only the second most powerful faction, with the celestial orderians above it being far more powerful, so there were limits. He even had to resort to stealing the grade-seven sword ki. Now that he had picked the Violetcloud Imperium, however, he would completely side with them. As long as they didn't turn their back on him first, he wouldn't do it either.

Joining the Violetcloud Imperium sooner than I'd anticipated might not be so bad after all. It saved me a lot of time, at least. He would definitely grow much faster cultivating with them than in his astralship. After all, part of the caeli imperius in the Violetglory Pagoda was donated by them. Maybe going to their main sect in person would be even better than the wondersky realm.

He was now clear about his future goals: all he had to do was to rise up and return to Orderia one day!