Jian Lingchen dropped to fourth place. To begin with, he already had a thousand points. Adding Jian Mugu’s six hundred, he now had a thousand six hundred and fifty points, just slightly lower than Tianming.
Xuanyuan Muxue had a thousand and seven hundred in the beginning, but her points began to soar in the last three days. There was a high chance that she was defeating Heaven Branch disciples, since she acc.u.mulated about two thousand and one hundred points.
But Fang Xingque was the most exaggerated one. In the last three days, they fully brought out the advantage of numbers, suppressing everyone in their way. In a short time, his points reached two thousand eight hundred. He was simply invincible on the battlefield. Furthermore, his points also seemed to be increasing, judging from the current pace. After all, he probably didn’t have to do anything aside from dealing the finis.h.i.+ng move.
The battlefield also started becoming chaotic. Even Heaven Branch disciples were getting eliminated in the process. Although Xuanyuan Muxue was a few hundred points ahead of Tianming, the changes in the rankings were too great.
If Jian Nichang and the ladies helped Tianming defeat Dugu Jin’s disciples, Tianming might be in second place by now. That battle marked Tianming’s rise; he was already a dazzling existence, and he was just one step away.
“Isn’t he a little too powerful? What do you think will happen if he encounters Fang Xingque’s group?”
“Fang Xingque has nine Heaven Branch disciples.”
“Xuanyuan Muxue isn’t ahead of him by much now, and she probably has to take down Tianming’s party to stabilize her ranking.”
“That’s right!”
While they were discussing among themselves, Tianming joined up with Jian Lingchen’s group of five. They had all witnessed how Tianming’s ranking rose and how he’d suppressed Xuanyuan Yutuo and Jian Chenzhong.
“I asked you guys to make them stay behind, so why did you go help Lingchen? He’s fully capable of handling his opponents,” Tianming said unhappily.
“Th-that’s because we were worried about Lingchen.”
“Yeah, what if he gets injured?”
The four of them hid behind Jian Lingchen with their heads lowered. They didn’t dare to look Tianming in the eye. They were so embarra.s.sed that they even wanted to dig a hole to hide in right now.
“We thought you could catch up to them.… We didn’t expect you were so strong…” Jian Nichang said, ashamed.
“Sorry that we mocked you previously. Right now, you’re the one who protected Lingchen’s points,” Jian Liuyang also lowered her head. They were all fiddling with their dresses as they stood behind Jian Lingchen.
“Erm…. Brother, why don’t we just forget about this?” Jian Lingchen said awkwardly.
“Sure,” said Tianming. He saw how Jian Lingchen came back to help when he was surrounded, and based on that alone, how could he possibly pursue this matter with the four ladies?
“I’d also like to apologize on behalf of my four wives for how rude they were in the past,” said Jian Lingchen. But for some reason, his apology sounded weird. Rather than an apology, it sounded like Jian Lingchen was flirting instead.
“Apology accepted.”
“Then are we still working together?” Jian Lingchen asked.
“Why not? We still have to deal with Fang Xingque,” Tianming smiled. The four ladies would have looked at him in disdain before the previous battle, but now none of them dared to utter a word.
“I pledge on my life that I’ll follow you.” Jian Lingchen cupped his hands together. “I’ve been with girls all the time, and I realized that you’re pretty interesting.”
“Go to h.e.l.l. I’m straight!” Tianming smiled.
Jian Lingchen turned around and looked at the four ladies with a bitter expression.
“It’s hard on me!”
“I also want to be in your position,” said Ying Huo.
“Why don’t I give them all to you?” Tianming asked.
“No thanks. There’s no way I can make babies with them. I’d rather go after the little phoenixes on the Sterling House of Fang’s side!” Ying Huo said with disdain and flew away.
Tianming continued his journey and looked for more prey. While they were walking, Jian Nichang shook Jian Lingchen’s arm and said, “Lingchen, he’s your compet.i.tor. What should we do about it? He’s strong!”
“What should we do? Nothing. It’s fair that we’re speaking with our strength. I finally made a friend with great difficulty, so why can’t you give me some peace? You forbid me from getting close to any women, so can’t I have a male friend?” Jian Lingchen reprimanded.
“Sure, sure, sure.”
……
The uproar caused by Tianming’s fight with Xuanyuan Yutuo’s group lasted briefly before calming back down. They were immediately attracted to another battle. The perspective was terrible in a team fight, and they couldn’t see the entire battle clearly.
A black-robed man stood before the window, looking at the Deepstar Formation in a chamber. He looked young, and it wouldn’t be exaggerated to call him a young man. One of his pupils was black, and the other was clouded in crimson mist.
He maintained his pose, standing like a statue for a long time. Right at that moment, someone knocked on the door and said, “Elder Dugu, Yuheng is requesting an audience with you.”
“Allow him to enter.” The black-robed man stretched his muscles and retracted the crimson mist in his right eye. His pupils returned to normal and his temperament underwent a drastic change. He gradually transformed into an elegant scholar. Then the door was opened, and a white-clothed young man stood before him.
“Yuheng, I have a few questions for you,” said the black-robed man. It was clear that he summoned Xuanyuan Yuheng over.
“Please ask away. I’ll definitely answer everything I know.”
“When you guys went to fetch the eminent, this Li Tianming was only a sky saint, right? And you nearly killed him with a gentle push?” asked the black-robed man.
“That was more or less the case. But he was disrespectful to Lord Qingfeng. I only pushed him gently, and he’s fine since he was a sky saint,” replied Xuanyuan Yuheng.
“Then the rate that he’s improving is horrifying,” exclaimed the black-robed man.
“Yeah. Our house king also thinks that. It means the eminent’s foresight isn’t something that ordinary people like us can comprehend,” said Xuanyuan Yuheng.
“Wonderful. Impressive.”
“Elder Dugu, are you intending to take him as a disciple?” Xuanyuan Yuheng asked.
“What are you talking about? How could I, when he’s the disciple that Her Eminence wants?” The black-robed man smiled.
“Okay.” Xuanyuan Yuheng nodded.
“Back down for now. Do your best in the Number One Summit.” said the black-robed man.
“Yes, Tribulation Elder.” Xuanyuan Yuheng left.
The black-robed man stood before the window and looked at the white-haired youth for a long time. He narrowed his eyes into slits, and the crimson mist started spreading out once more on his right eye. “Ouyang Jianw.a.n.g, Yi Xingque, and Gou Yuqiu are intending to get on the eminent’s good side through this young man?”
……
Tianming was fighting a tribulation beast with Meow Meow. This was the first tribulation beast that they had fought, and it was also a lightning-type demon beast. Meow Meow had failed to awaken any ability despite using over thirty beast souls.
There were two days left until the finale, and Tianming attacked whenever he coincidentally ran into a lightning-type tribulation beast. This was a riverlightning beast. It looked like an alligator and lived in the Abyssal Battlefield’s river. It was a lightning overlord in the river.
The back of the beast was decorated with thousands of spikes with flickering violet lightning. But the moment it exploded, it could kill half the demon beasts in the river. Together with Meow Meow, Tianming slew the demon beast and had Meow Meow refine its beast soul.
“Show some results!” Tianming knocked on Meow Meow’s head.
“Got it! I won’t disappoint you this time.”
“If you disappoint me again… hehe….” Tianming smiled coldly when Meow Meow returned to the lifebound s.p.a.ce. The cat’s abilities were powerful, and it had enough abilities. But having more would only make it even stronger.
“Let’s go,” Tianming said.
“Okay!” Jian Lingchen and the four ladies obediently followed. The last day would come soon. Tianming raised his head and looked at the ranking board. The ranking was extremely weird right now because there were only seventy people left, and all of them had high points. As for those with one or two points, they were all from the Sterling House of Fang.
On the current ranking, Fang Xingque was first with three thousand five hundred points, Xuanyuan Muxue was second with two thousand six hundred points, Li Tianming was third with two thousand one hundred points, and Jian Lingchen was in fourth place with one thousand nine hundred points.
They had nearly ten thousand points if the four of them added their points together. Twenty thousand people had partic.i.p.ated in the battlefield, and those four had gathered about half of everyone’s points.
The fifth rank frequently changed over the next two days, with candidates being eliminated and replaced. The person in fifth place only had six hundred points at this moment. The Deepstar Pool only had two spots, and there was a high chance that it would go to someone among the four at the top.
The first and second rankers’ locations would be revealed on the last day. The remaining ones were mostly Heaven Branch disciples, aside from Sterling House of Fang. That meant whoever took down Fang Xingque and Xuanyuan Muxue could instantly replace them, even if they only had a single point. This was the most exciting segment in the Deepstar Battle.
……
The stars began changing in the sky, and everyone who was hiding saw the changes. Right at that moment, two brilliant rays soared into the sky. The thicker ray represented Fang Xingque, while the slimmer one represented Xuanyuan Muxue.
“The finale has come.”
“Honestly, I think everyone already knows about it. Xuanyuan Muxue is all by herself. No matter how powerful she is, there’s no way she can resist being besieged. So can you imagine how many people will go after her?” Jian Lingchen said.
“That’s not certain. Fang Xingque might have many people around him, but he only has nine Heaven Branch disciples. It’s inconvenient for him to move in a large party, and he could only intimidate others at best,” said Tianming.
“But his threat is effective to many people,” said Jian Lingchen.
“You’re saying that going after Xuanyuan Muxue is more dependable?” Tianming asked.
“That depends on what you think. Then again, I personally want to beat her up. I’m just concerned that there won’t be many people going after him,” said Jian Lingchen.
“You don’t have to worry about it.” Tianming raised his head with a smile, because he saw the two rays approaching each other.