Chapter 1630 - Astralium Seeking
Within the Soulburn Hall in the wondersky realm, Xiaoxiao crossed her arms as she walked around in the snow. After some thought, she said to the others, "I'll go outside and see how they're reacting."
"Alright." Qingyu was also curious about the outside, but she couldn't leave as Feiling didn't feel too well. They had permission to enter Soulburn Hall as long as Tianming didn't explicitly lock it down.
Unsurprisingly, Xiaoxiao saw that the entire realm was filled with activity. Tianming's impressive performance had caused them to deeply worship him. For a youth in his twenties to defeat another from a deific-class world caused his reputation to skyrocket.
"Seeing their expressions, I think it's about time," the Archaionfiend said.
"About time for what?" Xiaoxiao asked.
"For the same thing that happened at the Flameyellow Continent to repeat! One day, their faith in him will brainwash them to the point that he'll be able to use their power. That's the most terrifying thing about him," it said with a whimper.
"Isn't that good?"
"Well, it certainly isn’t bad. If only you'd be more open minded and consume the caeli imperius inside the Imperius Ruins, we'd be able to progress much faster than he can! At the very least, you'd hold a position in his heart. But now, when he comes back out, you'll still be a nobody to him."
"Wu You, it seems you've forgotten the suffering you've been through. Looks like I’ll have to remind you of that lesson."
"Sigh, why will nothing stick? Do you have no ambition at all?"
"Shut up."
"Come on, at least discuss it with him. Those caeli imperius will go to waste if they’re left uneaten." At the end of the day, it was still driven by its instinct to devour souls. The slightest hope made it antsy. "Xiaoxiao, you have to think for both of our sakes. Just come up with a way to kill that woman. Then you'll be the main girl and my Bloodrose Curse will also be removed! Everyone's happy!"
"If you say anything more I'll tell Ling'er everything you told me."
"Sigh! Even though you like him, you're doing nothing but staying in a corner like a blade of grass on the roadside. You did it to yourself, you useless thing."
Xiaoxiao stopped. She quietly turned toward Perplexity Island and the countless cultivators that looked toward Tianming's projection in the sky. The way they looked at him was just like Xiaoxiao looked at him. All the way back at the Flameyellow Continent, she had already become one of Tianming's faithful followers, able to lend him power through his Omnisentient Threads. Her divine will was also connected to his Imperial Will like that of many others. In a way, she was a senior of these budding faithful Violetglorians! She had experienced everything they were experiencing now, especially during the narrowly avoided moon crash.
"Wu You, you don't understand me at all. I don't like him—I worship him. It's faith, and I wanted this for myself. Do you understand?" she said, seemingly relieved.
The Archaionfiend rolled its eyes. "Fine. They're believers, and you're the leader of the believers." Even so, it wasn't happy that this was how things would be resolved. "I'm the Archaionfiend, yet now I have to worship that brat just because I'm doing symbiotic cultivation with you. I really messed things up for myself. If only I hadn’t chosen you back then!"
......
After Tianming stepped into the pathway, everything around him changed. Unsurprisingly, he was transported back to the green hall where he had claimed rewards before. He was quite familiar with the place now. Without delay, he directly entered it and picked up a green glass ball before entering the space within in his caelum form. It was yet another battle art, one of the easiest rewards to fulfill in the wondersky realm.
"The Kilofold Starcluster Fist...." What surprised Tianming was that this move had reached the peak level of a seventh-realm divine art. As divine artifacts afforded huge damage potential, divine arts that used them were incredibly powerful. As such, divine arts using punches, finger, and palm strikes were rather unpopular, though there were gauntlet-type divine artifacts that could still augment one's attack power, rare as they were.
There were also benefits to this kind of divine art. If one were ever disarmed or have their weapons broken, a powerful barehanded technique would still allow one to use astralforce explosively and effectively. Tianming's tough black arm was just right for that move. Even without a gauntlet, his arm was comparable to grade-six divine artifacts in terms of destructive potential, and top-tier ones in terms of durability.
He also had a powerful sword body. While it didn't help with his defense, it gave his attacks a huge boost. He could even use this technique in tandem with his sword ki, basically using his bare hands as swords, which was its own distinct style of fighting as well. Specters with powerful bodies usually favored these bare-handed moves.
"So I gather the power of astralforce and let it swirl around my arm a thousand fold, constantly compressing it before I strike out heavily. It's rather crude and explosive. It's a shame that I don't have a sacrosun yet, or it would be even more effective."
Fortunately, he wasn't far off from becoming a solarian. However, with neither of his constellations working well in the wondersky realm, perhaps his pandemonium sacrosun and cyclic sacrosun wouldn't work well there, either.
"Either way, it's a good move to add to my arsenal." He looked up, seemingly imagining the countless stars above clustering into the form of a fist before instantly descending to the ground, smashing everything underneath it and shaking the entire continent. It was filled with boundless power. Whether Tianming would be able to unleash that kind of power still depended on his own cultivation. Normally, only a solarian would be able to use the full power of a seventh-realm divine art.
"The Astraldome has treated me rather well. Apart from the Shellsoul Manual, the rewards have been rather suitable for me," Tianming said.
"The Shellsoul Manual suits you too, you know," Ying Huo teased.
"Shut up." When he memorized the technique and left the hall, the building seemingly melted away as his surroundings blended together. It was a sign that he would soon reach the fourth level, the place he badly wanted to be.
"Let's go!"
Tianming’s wondersky fairy suddenly appeared among the lights. "Li Tianming of the Violetglory Star, the Astralium Seeking is about to start at the fourth level of the Tranquil Battlefield. Will you be participating?"