Chapter 2785 - The Transience of Victory and Defeat
Tianming smirked, then attacked with four of his beasts.
"You!" Not only did Tianming know his name, he even dared to attack despite that! How could he possibly have run into someone like that right after escaping the cult? Even if someone sold him out, they wouldn"t just send some random orderan to get him, right? "They must be trying to humiliate me for getting xeno fatigue! Do they think a mere orderan outworlder can possibly deal with me?!" At the very least, they should have sent a cosmic cartographer!
As Elder Bloodtower raged, he summoned a large cosmic artifact that he wielded with both hands. It was the Bloodstar Sawblade. As its name suggested, it was a greatsword that had a sawtooth edge, possessing a peak cosmic impulse. No doubt, it was a weapon that had been imported from the astralscape of order.
At the same time, patterns suddenly appeared on the two camel humps on his back. Faces appeared to grow out of the humps, making the old man look like he had three heads. The three different points of view would allow him to fight more adaptably.
But before he could make a move, the many words of Grand Xia came cras.h.i.+ng down on him with all sorts of weird energies.
"What in the world is going on?!" The old man was sent stumbling back right as he was about to strike. "What are these things?!"
Had he been in his prime, the divine wonder wouldn"t have done anything to him. Yet he suffered quite a lot from its meager power, and that was only the start. s.h.i.+ning vines and black roots sprouted from the ground to bind him as b.l.o.o.d.y sword-shaped petals and leaves rained down on him with a healthy serving of Ghoulface Fiendblossoms. Most of those abilities squarely hit their target.
Even though Xian Xian hadn’t unlocked any new flowers after its most recent evolution, being able to compress its body meant it could also condense the power of its vines, leaves, and flowers, making them much tougher than before to the point that they rivaled cosmic artifacts in toughness. Xian Xian had become much more effective against single targets.
Lan Huang, who had also gotten a huge boost, wildly charged toward the ten-meter-tall specter, activating its Primordial Swords and Myriadstar Swordrings and slamming into the old guy while he was bound by Xian Xian"s vines and roots and the wonder"s words!
The blow sent the old man flying, coughing out blood. Lan Huang had left a cavity in his body from the force of the collision, shattering all seven of his astral organs. What was even worse was the fact that xeno fatigue had greatly hampered the efficiency of his cosmic charts to heal him, significantly slowing his regeneration. On top of all that, Tianming"s a.s.sault continued without pause!
"Curses!" The elder realized that this orderan youth might well be capable of killing him. "Looks like even a mere dog can bully a weakened tiger!"
Roaring, Elder Bloodtower raised his sawblade, eyes bloodshot while the two heads on his back breathed fire. The bloodcamel flares formed countless blood-colored camels that stampeded toward Tianming, shattering the words, roots, and vines that were in the way. There was no way an experienced eight-level cosmic cartographer didn"t have any tricks up his sleeves to defend himself.
The stampede managed to push back against Tianming"s momentum, but unexpectedly, Ying Huo and Meow Meow unleashed their abilities to pave a way. This wasn"t even their link skill!
"Die!" cried the old man as he came in for a slash.
Alas, he had overestimated himself. His fatigue-afflicted arms were shaking, and the strike he unleashed was only ten percent of its actual potential. Merely attempting to circulate cosm.o.f.orce made his world spin. When he finished the slash, his vision entirely blacked out.
When it slowly recovered, all he could see was the youth splitting his sword into two. Then he attacked, using the power of s.p.a.cetime in tandem with his divine wonder and beasts. It only took a flash for the elder to be disarmed—that is, literally having his arms severed, followed by a clean thrust through his body that nailed him to the ground.
Tianming removed the spatial ring from the severed arm. According to Yin Chen, everything the elder treasured was inside it. The first thing he noticed after getting the ring was how much it weighed. "Wow! There"s so many soulstones and order fragments in there!"
It was clear to Tianming"s bedazzled eyes that Elder Bloodtower had nothing else on him worth taking. "Old fart, you"ve had your time in the limelight. I"ll consider you a good employee since you worked so hard to gather all this for me. You won"t be able to use this in the afterlife anyway."
"Aaaah! Aaaaaaaah!" cried the old man, shedding tears and coughing blood. He had lost! An eighth-level cosmic cartographer had lost to a mere orderan! Tragically, he cried and hammered his head against the ground. "Even mighty champions wither away with age!"
Alas, it was all the xeno fatigue"s fault that he had gone from his commanding position to that of a laughingstock; to think that he would meet his end at the hands of a mere child. He melancholically looked down at his fatigue-mangled body. "Is this all life has to offer? To think that a flame that burned bright just moments ago could dim to this extent.... Is this karma from the heavens? Huh?!"
He was completely breaking down as Tianming put on the heavy spatial ring.
"By the way, if I were you, I wouldn"t go to meet your little precious. She"s in cahoots with the third seat of your cult. They"re waiting for you in ambush," Tianming said, shrugging. "If you don"t believe me, feel free to go and see for yourself. However, you might just be killed if you don"t bring some kind of offering."
The old man spat out even more blood. His despairing expression was a sign that he believed everything Tianming had said. Before Tianming left, the old man asked the only question he wanted an answer to. "Child, who are you?!"
"Look at this." Tianming pointed at his hair.
With a sudden look of realization, Elder Bloodtower said, "It"s you? You have a bounty of three hundred million soulstones on your head! The one who offended the New Shrine?! Those folks from the Nascentis Mundus that came a few days ago wanted us to hunt you down!"
"Since you failed so hard, you might as well kill yourself."
"Ptooey!" Glaring at Tianming, the elder said, "Dream on. Even if I die, I"ll fight to my death! I won"t run!"
"Is that so?" Tianming snickered and turned to leave.
"How dare you mock me, child?! I"ll survive, you"ll see!"
"Right. Do your best." Tianming merely left.
"Why did you try to get him to kill himself?" Zi Zhen asked.