Twin Beastmaster

To be honest, any twin beastmaster was basically a renowned, peerless genius, drawing attention from the moment they were born.

So, being born with two lifebound beasts really was something others envied.

Li Tianming had once envied them too. He had never imagined that one day, he might become a twin beastmaster as well.

More importantly, he still had nine eggs that had not hatched. Once they all hatched, he would be a ten-born beastmaster.

The very concept was too terrifying. He did not dare think any further.

After all, there were legends of three-born beastmasters in heaven and earth. At most, they possessed three lifebound beasts—and that was merely a legend, with no evidence whatsoever.

No one even dared imagine what ten lifebound beasts would mean.

The only certainty was that Li Tianming's bloodline would be transformed by ten lifebound beasts, and the power he possessed would surely be the sum of all ten.

That was the charm of the Symbiotic Cultivation System. The more lifebound beasts a beastmaster had, and the higher their grades, the greater a genius the beastmaster would be.

The reason Li Tianming paid such close attention to twin beastmasters and knew so much about them was because Lin Xiaoting was one.

His talent was renowned precisely because he possessed a pair of lifebound beasts!

"The road to revenge begins now." Li Tianming sorted out the four battle arts and prepared to pay.

The road ahead might become even bloodier, but what mattered was challenging it step by step.

Mu Qingqing was in this city too. Four years ago, they had come to the Flame Capital together. Back then, Li Tianming had thought those were the happiest days of his life.

They had entered the academy examination together, helping each other throughout it.

At that time, Li Tianming had never imagined that the woman he trusted most would, in order to climb higher, seduce Lin Xiaoting and deal him the most fatal blow.

Therefore, he hated Lin Xiaoting, and he hated Mu Qingqing too.

He was someone who drew a clear line between love and hate. He was not a saint, nor would he hide his intentions.

He had returned to the Flame Capital to put those two to death. There was absolutely no room for negotiation.

Only then could he face his true brother, Jin Yu, who had grown up with him and fought shoulder to shoulder with him for more than a decade.

Perhaps Jin Yu was not as lively and mischievous as Little Yellow Chick, nor was he so heaven-defying in talent, but Li Tianming remembered the debt he owed him every moment of every day.

Everything that had happened on that stormy night, every feather torn from Jin Yu's body, was a dagger steeped in Li Tianming's fury and hatred.

Thinking of those two in the Starfall Heavenly Palace, Li Tianming stopped where he stood, his eyes brimming with heavy Killing Intent.

Three years had passed. He had returned to the Flame Capital, and he was now very close to them.

Perhaps he would see them at the academy examination the day after tomorrow!

"Li Tianming?" While he was lost in thought, someone suddenly called his name from behind.

Li Tianming broke free from his hatred and turned around. He had not expected to run into an acquaintance here in the Starfall Heavenly Palace.

Behind him, a radiant young man stood amid a group of youthful boys and girls, looking Li Tianming up and down.

He was the young master of the Starfall Heavenly Palace, Chen Yao, the youngest son of Saint Chen, whom Li Tianming had met at the Chen Palace just yesterday.

"You know me?" Li Tianming remembered that Chen Yao had not called out his name when they met yesterday.

"I have long heard of your great name." Chen Yao smiled faintly. The young men and women behind him all laughed as well, though their smiles were somewhat strange.

"I know quite a bit about Li Tianming's glorious deeds. You could be considered quite the celebrity in the Flame Capital. Of course, if you had not returned, everyone would nearly have forgotten you."

A delicate and pretty young girl beside Chen Yao spoke.

"Ying'er, don't put it so bluntly. It would be bad if trash like Brother Tianming were left with nowhere to hide from shame."

"After all, he had such a hard time gathering the courage to come back and make a fool of himself."

A burly, imposing short-haired youth over two meters tall sneered.

These people were actually younger than Li Tianming. Three years ago, they might have been children like Liu Qianyang.

He had not expected even them to have heard about that mess. It seemed Lin Xiaoting had publicized the matter widely enough in order to smear him.

"Chen Ying, Chen Ding, do not mock others. If he cannot bear the humiliation and kills himself, it will be on your heads." Chen Yao shook his head with a smile.

"Brother Yao underestimates him. He did not die of shame even after three years, which means his skin is already thick enough." Chen Ying muttered. At her words, everyone laughed again.

Petty people were as sly as ghosts. So this was all the children of the Flame Capital's great clans amounted to—especially Chen Yao.

He walked up to Li Tianming and said in a low voice, "That old hag yesterday was your mother, wasn't she? She really is old and decrepit. Let me tell you one thing: don't bring her to see my mother again."

"Look at how poor and shabby you two are. Not only did you dirty my Chen Palace, you also damaged my mother's reputation."

Li Tianming's reverse scale was that he would never allow anyone to use vicious words against Wei Jing.

He had not held much hostility toward Young Master Chen Yao before, but once those words came out, Li Tianming's gaze locked onto him.

In any case, Chen Yao would also participate in the academy examination ranking battles. He wanted to enter the Heavenly Court too, making them competitors.

"Chen Yao, do not speak too soon. Otherwise, when the time comes, it will be too late for regret," Li Tianming said.

"What? You mean I will regret looking down on you and your mother?" He laughed in disbelief, while the young men and women behind him burst into uproarious laughter.

They supported one another as they laughed until they doubled over. The way they looked at Li Tianming was as though he were the greatest joke beneath heaven.

"Interpret it however you like. Just open your eyes, shut your mouth, and watch what happens next," Li Tianming said.

His level was far too high. Mockery of this caliber could not break through his defenses.

By now, he was no longer that tragic man who would want to die after being insulted a few times.

His heart was tougher than anyone's, and he knew better than anyone that slapping faces and taking revenge had to be done at the most explosive moment.

How could losing his temper and fighting this man to the death now compare to defeating him in the academy examination ranking battles, before the eyes of the masses, and crushing his desire to enter the Heavenly Court?

"Are you issuing me a challenge?" Chen Yao looked at Li Tianming as though he were an idiot.

After their uproarious laughter, even his friends and followers now stared wide-eyed in shock.

"How pitiful. It seems the blow from three years ago damaged his brain," Chen Ying said sympathetically.

"Brother Yao, why do you think this fool came to the Starfall Heavenly Palace today? He is holding four battle arts. Could he be here to steal them?"

"That's right! This is the area for source-grade battle arts, and battle arts are all expensive. He grabbed four at once—he must be here to steal them!"

They were not joking. They truly believed Li Tianming had been driven mad by the trauma and was now a lunatic.

If he were not mad, he would not have said such wishful, delusional words to Chen Yao.

"Do not let him steal them! Take them back quickly! Someone, throw this thief out of the Starfall Heavenly Palace!" Chen Ying cried anxiously.

"Throwing him out is enough? Anyone who dares steal in the Starfall Heavenly Palace must be beaten senseless," Chen Ding said gravely.

They thought they were clever, and indeed, they had the standing to speak that way.

But in Li Tianming's eyes, these young people were so snobbish, arrogant, and blind to everyone else that they would not go very far in the future.

Still, now that the young master of the Starfall Heavenly Palace had spoken, many experts immediately surrounded him, glaring at Li Tianming like tigers eyeing prey.

"A thief?" Li Tianming curled his lip, admiring their imagination.

He could not be bothered to argue on someone else's turf. His foremost task today was still to take these battle arts away.

If he could successfully cultivate them after returning, there would be plenty of chances to shine brilliantly and plenty of chances to make these people shut up.

He headed toward the cashier counter.

There were many young and beautiful women at the cashier counter. They had witnessed everything just now, so naturally, they watched Li Tianming with hostile eyes.

The exit was directly behind the cashier counter. If Li Tianming wanted to run, he was being rather naive.

After all, experts were everywhere throughout the Starfall Heavenly Palace. Without paying, he would find it impossible to escape even with wings.

"How laughable. He wants to snatch battle arts in the Starfall Heavenly Palace? His brain really is broken." Chen Ding clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Under their watchful gazes, Li Tianming expressionlessly placed the four battle arts on the counter and said, "Wrap them up. I'm taking them."

The beauties behind the counter looked at one another. One of them said, "Does this gentleman know what the consequences of causing trouble in the Starfall Heavenly Palace are?"

"Oh? Is this how the Starfall Heavenly Palace treats its guests? I have learned something today." As Li Tianming spoke, he took out a money pouch.

The Fire Jade, crimson red and marked with yellow Heavenly Patterns, poured out onto the counter with a clatter. Only after more than four hundred and seventy Fire Jade had fallen out did he put away the pouch.

Then he smiled and asked them, "Paying for what I buy is such a simple thing. Does that count as causing trouble in the Starfall Heavenly Palace? If so, then there are troublemakers everywhere here. How do you intend to deal with them?"

The moment the Fire Jade appeared, they had already gone stiff with shock.

It was not just them. Chen Yao and the others had never expected this scene either.

They had been ready to watch Li Tianming make a fool of himself, but now every one of them stood frozen in place.

Li Tianming found it amusing. He would not tell Chen Yao that the money he was using to buy battle arts came from Chen Yao's father.

"Wrap them up. I'm taking them," Li Tianming emphasized again.

"Certainly, please wait a moment!" The Starfall Heavenly Palace had strict rules. So long as Li Tianming was a customer, even Chen Yao could not violate the Starfall Heavenly Palace's rules.

In fact, even when Chen Yao brought friends here to buy battle arts, he had to pay!

Because the Starfall Chamber of Commerce was not Saint Chen's commerce alone. The Starfall Chamber of Commerce was a commercial collective governed by strict rules.

Besides the Twin Saints of Starfall, there were many other key figures who held the lifeblood of the chamber of commerce in their hands.

Thus, Chen Yao and the others could only watch helplessly as Li Tianming paid before their eyes and took away four top-tier battle arts.

"Those battle arts are at least mid-grade source-grade battle arts. You spent so much money buying them back—are you going to use them to cook?"

Chen Yao had heard from his mother that Li Tianming had returned this time at the Seventh Layer of Beast Pulse Realm.

"Yes. Once I cook up a feast, I'll let you have a taste. If you think it tastes bad, make sure you don't roll around on the ground, throw a tantrum, and howl your lungs out." Standing at the entrance, Li Tianming turned back with a smile and said that.

After saying so, he flashed out, leaving Chen Yao rooted where he stood.

"Heavens, he provoked Brother Yao again. What kind of brain does he have...?" Chen Ying found it utterly inconceivable, her face full of disbelief.

But after she said that, it seemed there were no longer so many people laughing along.

"Forget it. There is no need to lower ourselves to the level of dust like him. It would cheapen us." Chen Yao shook his head.

Thinking carefully, everything he had said before Li Tianming today had indeed been somewhat beneath him. This had happened in public, and it would not sound good if word got out.

A lion mocking a toad in its own eyes?

What kind of thing was that? If word spread, other lions would laugh at him.

By noon, Li Tianming had returned to the inn.

After returning, he began cultivating at full speed, eating Fire Jade raw while allowing Little Yellow Chick to take the lead in cultivation.

Meanwhile, he studied the battle arts. Even if time was short, it would do no harm to understand them first.

This time, after consuming more than a hundred Fire Jade marked with yellow Heavenly Patterns, Li Tianming and Little Yellow Chick finally entered the Eighth Layer of Beast Pulse Realm.

Of the wealth he had borrowed, only four hundred remained.

Sure enough, cultivation devoured money like water.

Still, every coin had been well spent.

Today was the day of Yanhuang Academy's academy examination. The time to test the results had arrived.