Chapter 2364 - Mystery of the Simulacrum
When Yi Taoyao's slender figure emerged from her mini star, Tianming felt a little troubled. Her eyes shone and her hair fluttered, revealing her long, sharp ears. She shot him a cold glare and furrowed her brow before looking at the other sphere above. Both of them were silently waiting for Shenxi Shang to emerge, yet the mini star that sealed him didn't move in the slightest. A full ten breaths passed without any incident.
"Let's not wait. I won't come. The designer of this place only respects the strongest of us," Shenxi Shang coldly said. Had he known this would be the case, he wouldn't have bothered negotiating with Yi Taoyao to eliminate Tianming first. The three of them continued waiting in silence a little longer.
"Very well." Yi Taoyao's black rose-like dress slightly flared open, revealing her smooth, fair thighs. She landed in front of Tianming and ignored Shenxi Shang. "Taking you down won't require much effort. This mess started with you in the first place and it's about time we put an end to it."
As things stood, nothing Tianming said would work. If it’d been a three-way fight, he would definitely have joined hands with her, but he had been left with no choice. Still, he wasn't afraid of her; even though there was a difference of six levels, Tianming's astralforce was powerful enough, and his beasts had order as well. Not to mention, he had already defeated someone six levels more powerful than him. "Yi Taoyao, we meet again."
"I really don't understand how you managed to get all the way here, but it doesn't matter. Speak not with our words, but with our fists." She looked at his right hand. While she didn't say anything, her message was clear. She knew that the reason for his rapid growth—to the point of being able to reach the third rank—was no doubt due to the gigantic fingers from before. While she only had one, she had no way of tapping into it, so she wanted to figure out how he did it more than anything.
"Since we have no blood grudge to hold against one another, let's do a trade," she said, shooting him a challenging glance that contained a hint of pride.
"What kind of trade?" Tianming asked.
"There’s a few things that only you and I know of, right?"
"Oh? You mean that small bee's room? That was really cramped, I can tell you that."
Yi Taoyao almost facepalmed and wanted to get it over with. She wanted to make rapid breakthroughs as well! "Let’s fight fairly. If you win, I'll give you what you want. If I win, you'll give me what I want and teach me how to unlock it."
"What you want? How can I be sure that you don't want to defile me like that girl just now?" Tianming rolled his eyes. Though others wouldn't know what he meant, Shenxi Shang couldn't stand to hear it in the slightest.
"I don't want to talk nonsense with you. You know what I mean." Her gaze had never left his fingers.
"Fine, but what you propose isn't fair in the slightest," Tianming said.
"How so?"
"You’re an astral god. Once something gets cut off, you can grow it anew. I'm a normal god. Once it's gone, it's gone for good," Tianming said. Shenxi Shang was only just reminded of that fact, causing him to wonder what in the world was going on with Tianming's cultivation level.
"You're incredibly capable. Even if you aren’t an astral god, you're not much different from one. You can cut it off now, then when you become an astral god, it'll grow back," she said. The reason she had wanted to negotiate in the first place was to ensure she really got what she wanted just in case the Oldgod Ring broke too quickly during the fight. She would lose her chance then.
"But what would I do before it grows back? I'm a married man with a wife and two concubines, you know..." he said, scratching his head.
Yi Taoyao froze, then tightly clenched her fists and grimaced. His phrasing made it entirely possible for others to interpret it as her wanting him to cut off something really... private. Shenxi Shang's mind immediately went there. "You shameless—"
Right as she blew up, Tianming shrugged. "Fine, I promise. Let's stop once one of us yields. I'll abide by the agreement, so I hope you will too."
Tianming was also worried that she would escape after being defeated to keep the middle finger for herself. At the very least, Tianming felt that he didn’t need to antagonize the luxdaemons for now. He already had enough trouble with the ebons, thanks to Guchi Xiaoyin's matter. As for helping her unlock it.... The woman inside the mysterious ring was an existence that terrified him. Even now, he was wondering what he should do about the middle finger. If he really couldn't defeat Yi Taoyao, perhaps he wouldn't mind handing that particular problem over to her instead!
I have amazing lifebound beasts, totems, and divine wonders. I don't lack a treasure like this. My survival is the most important! He was still troubled over the matter of the giantess, to the point that he could give it all up at a crucial moment. I already made off with amazing breakthroughs from the four fingers and the ring, after all.
Yi Taoyao, hearing his response, said, "You agreed to the terms with everyone here as witness. I hope you will see it through."
"Fine. If I don't follow the terms, may the witnesses spit on me to no end."
"Good. Enough nonsense. Let's see what you’ve got that gives you the confidence to act so arrogantly before me!" She immediately went flying toward him. Back then, Yi Taoyao hadn’t fought Tianming, so he hadn't faced off against a totemancer for a long time.
She struck without hesitation, circulating her cosmoforce right after sealing the deal, stretching the power of her order toward him. Her colorful, glowing eyes and shiny, snow-white hair gave off an aura of purity. Her nunchuck appeared in her hand, half green, half crimson. It didn't look too unique or refined on the surface. The cosmic impulse within was explosive, like a falling hammer or axe. Tianming could feel the weight just by seeing her wield it.
His own Grand-Orient Sword was also heavy in nature, but he preferred to split it into two fast, light swords for rapid follow-up attacks. He pointed his sword toward Yi Taoyao, intensely staring at her with his black-and-gold eyes. The five types of order from his lifebound beasts filled the battlefield and began seeping toward her.
As ebons and totemancers didn't have lifebound beasts with their own orders, they're much weaker than normal beastmasters in terms of that. That’s Shenxi Shang and Yi Taoyao's weakness! Tianming was all too aware of the disparity.
Yi Taoyao's gaze turned cold when the beasts attacked. Her bane-rings should be located near her smooth back. As her totem ki surged, ancient divinities seemed to rise behind her, manifesting all nine of her nonachromic spiritfiends, which reminded Tianming of Qingyu's infinite lunar goddesses. The spiritfiends took the form of goddesses as well, each of them standing tall and graceful, moving with an unearthly and sacred grace. They were all distinct in color from one another, shielding Yi Taoyao from any harm and enabling her to look just as beautiful and graceful, despite wielding a brutish weapon like a nunchuck. Such totems were incredibly rarely seen in Ebonia, which was the haven of beastmasters, so they usually drew a lot of attention.
Now that's imposing! Tianming's mouth curved into a smile at the sight of the totems. The highest number of totems mysterians can have is nine, so is that the same in Ebonia too? I wonder how different their talents are.... Tianming recalled that there was a 'nonsimulacrum' remark on his record when he entered the Skydome Battlefield, and he believed it to be related somehow.
Yi Taoyao turned her colorful gaze to Tianming as her totems manifested different weapons in their hands, ranging from blades to polearms.
Huh, normal totemancers have their totems wield similar weapons to them to coordinate their battle arts, like the Ninedragon Tribulation. It's only possible if the weapons utilize similar principles, but Yi Taoyao's totems all wield different weapons. Hers isn't even the same as any of her totems'. Is there a battle art that makes use of ten weapon types? He found it rather hard to believe. Totems were still part of the user, much like an extra limb they had to manipulate. It would be difficult to maintain fine reactions and motor control when those totems were using weapons of such different natures.
"Wait a second!" he called out right as she was going to launch an attack.
"What is it?" she said, annoyed. If it weren’t for their deal, she wouldn't have stopped.
"Sis, can you tell me what 'simulacrum' is about?" Tianming asked. He had a feeling that her totems were different from all the other totems he had seen in some way.
"Who are you calling sis?" she said, biting her lip in frustration.
Gah, why’s she focusing on that? "What in the world does 'simulacrum' mean?"
Yi Taoyao felt like she was going wild, but since it was supposed to be a friendly match, she endured it and answered, "It refers to a leap in the quality of totems and is a crucial path to evolve totems into olden totems. I won't go into details. To summarize, every layer of simulacrum can cause the totems to fundamentally change."
"Totems can evolve?!" Tianming was quite shocked.