Chapter 2344: Hitching a Ride
"No way, you're using your ultimate move right away?!" Tianming was speechless.
"Shut up!" Lin Hongchen had always been a serious person. He knew that Tianming's abilities were eccentric, as well as the rapid rate at which he progressed, so he didn't dare to hold back in the slightest.
Right as Meow Meow was about to take the blow, Tianming had it stop. He drew the Grand-Orient Sword and pointed it at Lin Hongchen, then split it into two. The black sword crackled with regal rage and the golden one burned with divine might as his black and gold eyes burst with light.
While Ying Huo and Meow Meow didn't directly join the fight, they still used their orders to create a space in the order field for Tianming to move. He wouldn't be able to fight against astral gods otherwise. His prime wonder hadn't fully recovered yet, so Tianming could only rely on the indestructibility of his black arm to take Lin Hongchen's blow head-on. Lin Hongchen's thumping swordheart caused the order field to slam against Tianming. Fortunately, the infernal and genesis orders from his beasts prevented him from properly using his sword art.
"Hmph!" Lin Hongchen smirked at the sight of Tianming's resistance. His strike changed as he infused the power of his frozen space order into his sword when his swordheart beat at its fastest.
Tianming immediately recognized it as a spatial sword art. In fact, it was one of Lin Xiaozhi's own moves, though it hadn’t been categorized under the umbrella of Xiaozhi Sword Art and was also not as renowned. Either way, it was still an ordered sword art and the inclusion of order in its execution made it far more powerful than fullstella sword arts. Tianming felt space rapidly compressing around him before it crumbled into shards that shot toward him! It was a fatal strike!
Impressive,?Tianming thought, noting that Lin Hongchen hadn't even used his swordbeasts. Yet he wasn't the least bit nervous. Even though he was five levels below Lin Hongchen, the strength he had gained from the Primordial Chaos Beasts, coupled with their orders, more or less balanced things out even without Ji Ji in play. He faced the fractured spatial storm head on and struck with his left arm. His energy was still a little volatile from his two subsequent breakthroughs, and being able to finally release it felt quite amazing!
He used the Xiaozhi Sword Art, Unistrike Singularity, powered by vapor lightning sword ki. Despite only being the first introductory move of the Xiaozhi Sword Art, it was much deeper than Lin Hongchen's move, boasting even more control and compression of space. The vapor lightning sword ki from the strike completely mitigated the spatial fractures. Not to mention, the force of the strike caused the order field around them to tear. Tianming had more than enough room to avoid Lin Hongchen's strike. Then, he shot through the torn order field towards Lin Hongchen and used Delayed Capture, a plain strike with nothing special to show for it but its ultimate speed.
"Huh?" Lin Hongchen watched as Tianming closed in on him with his golden sword pointed at him, seemingly in slow motion. The flint infernal sword ki that burned on the blade seemed to be slowly burning as well, almost so slowly that it was odd! However, Lin Hongchen felt a chill in his spine. Even though his opponent appeared slow, he couldn't move in the slightest—or react to the strike at all. In the instant it took him to retract his sword, Tianming's next strike had shot toward him like a force of nature, completely unstoppable!
Lin Hongchen was sent flying, his sword falling out of his hand as he slammed into the wall of the pathway. His organs were completely shaken and blood trickled out of his mouth. Tianming caught the Frostshower Crimson Sun. While the artifact soul in it resisted with all it had, it wasn't able to stop him, proving that Tianming's weak energy capacity was no longer an issue.
"Caught you." He pressed the sword down and looked at the stunned Lin Hongchen. "How is it? Do you want to continue? A star appeared down the path, and if we don't go now, our clan won't have anyone there."
"Hand my sword back," Lin Hongchen unwillingly said.
"Fine." Tianming tossed it over.
After Lin Hongchen caught it, he looked closely at Tianming. "You're still a normal god, yet you're able to defeat me in open combat. I have to admit that you’re a monster nobody can figure out."
"So?"
"No matter what you've obtained, you no doubt deserve it," he said, then started running down the pathway.
"Wait." Tianming caught up to him on Meow Meow's back. "Friend, do you want to hitch a ride?"
"Make sure to ask him to put his arms around your waist," Xian Xian softly said, filled with hope.
Tianming had not?meant it that way at all.
Lin Hongchen looked into his eyes. "Are you trying to pull the first branch to your side through me and my father?"
"You think too much. He's just smitten with your handsome face," Ying Huo said.
"Have your lifebound beast keep its mouth shut." Lin Hongchen got on Meow Meow's back without another word.
"Shut your mouth, you hear?" Tianming told Ying Huo.
"Fine! I'll use ventriloquism!" It turned toward Lin Hongchen and used its wings to make a mouth out of its tummy. "Friend, sit tight! Don't get your balls in a bunch! This cat's spine is really sharp."
"You little shit!" Tianming sent it flying with a slap.
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