Chapter 2246 - Grand Examination
Tianming stood up and stretched. His body audibly snapped from being filled with so much more astralforce than before. A body like his was just like a universe, and the snapping sounded like thunderous lightning. As he was now a fourth-level stellaminor, the minor stellar chart in the inner walls of his albi glowed and displayed a grand map of the cosmos. Within it was a black-and-gold imperial star that was surrounded by countless black-and-white asteroids. The imperial star shone brightly while the monochrome asteroids orbited it in cycles.
"Eventually, the minor stellar charts in my albi will become clearer and clearer. Once I become an astral god, the countless minor stellar charts will fuse to form a cosmic atlas. Once that's done, I’ll reach the Cosmic Cartography stage." The Order stage was basically an intermediary stage.
"If I were still on the sun, my minor stellar charts would have a much better time taking in power from Omnisentient Threads than my sacrosuns." Tianming was incredibly careful with controlling his new explosive power, especially when his divine wills had made great leaps without a proper foundation. As he cycled his astralforce, he punched a few times to test his output.
"It doesn't look like there's any big problems. There's no vomiting sensation like Xiaoxiao suffers." That meant his foundation was still stable.
He projected his disciple card and saw that the clan registry had detected his breakthrough thanks to the sudden growth of energy in his body and he was listed as a tenth-level stellaminor. "I can probably even take on eleventh-level sovereigns now." Perhaps he wouldn't even have an issue facing the Three Sovereigns Mysterium, who were said to be twelfth-level sovereigns.
"Those nobodies from backwaters really do love their impressive titles." That said, the title 'Three Sovereigns Mysterium' did sound rather intimidating. It took until Tianming came to Ebonia to truly learn that the mysterians were nothing but a small faction.
"With my breakthrough, I might be able to be ranked a thousand places higher than I am now. While there’s still around four thousand plus people who are stronger than me, it isn't that bad, considering they're older than a hundred and were born in the Infinitum Mundus itself!" At thirty years of age, there was nobody, even in this world of higher standards, that would be his match.
Lin Lele heard him moving around and came back in. Seeing his face, she shrieked so loudly that his ears hurt.
"What's the deal with you? Haven't you seen a handsome man before?" Tianming said.
"What in the.... You broke through another time?" she said, in a daze.
"Is that not allowed?"
"It's not a matter of it being allowed or not! I recall that you were just at the seventh level during the council succession override. When you came here, you were at the eighth. How could you break through twice in less than half a year? Even though you aren’t an orderan yet, that speed is still unthinkable! Not to mention, didn't you just reach the ninth level not long ago? You practically broke through to the tenth in no time at all!"
As someone who was just barely considered an infinitum-class genius, Lin Lele was shocked at that kind of progress. The sudden growth of Tianming's power back in the Infinitum Swordsea was simply brushed off, as others believed that the clan registry had just failed to evaluate his proper strength, an error that was rectified after the council succession override. Yet he still continued making crazy progress, and there were no excuses for it any longer. Coupled with the extra boost from the pinky finger, even Lin Lele was taken aback.
Tianming, having anticipated that, laughed and said, "Sis Le, that's why you don't get it. I’m from a skypiercer-class world, and even while I was there, I managed to reach the Stellaminoris stage before the age of a hundred, beating out everyone else. My talent's definitely above infinitum class, I'll tell you that! I'm the greatest of all time! Even in Ebonia, there isn't anyone that can be my match. After coming to a higher-class world with much better resources, I only need a bit of time to catch up. Then I’ll be able to shrug off everyone in Ebonia without breaking a sweat."
His explanation was also meant for the spectators to hear. While it sounded surprisingly close to the truth, the sheer ludicrousness of the notion simply made him out to be a liar. The explanation intentionally made him look like a backwater fool who simply didn't know the true extent of the talent of infinitum-class geniuses, which would make others underestimate him. Additionally, it also helped draw attention away from his recent discoveries, like the giant skeletons. It seemed to be working well, given Lin Lele's reaction.
"Keep bullshitting, why don’t you? You just haven't taken a proper beating before if you're still delusional enough to think yourself better than infinitum-class geniuses. I'm barely an infinitum-class genius myself, but compared to the cream of the crop here in the Oldgod Domain, I'm nothing! There’s at least ten others in our clan alone that’re stronger than me, let alone you!" She gave him a harsh glare. "Now stop being so arrogant and making a fool of yourself."
She knew that others, especially members of the Swordgod Lin Clan, would no doubt be laughing at his expense, especially as he was Lin Mu's son. Tianming merely smiled without confirming or denying her words. His goal had been achieved and he’d managed to throw suspicion off him. All he had to do was keep laying out his plans in the Oldgod Domain. I'll keep looking for more green skeletons, and if there's more of those finger things, it'd be even better. Countless invisible cockroaches made the Oldgod Domain their nests, constantly spreading out after duplicating themselves.
......
A dark undercurrent spread out, bringing with it a frosty stream of air. Dark green plants that looked like claws were covered in venomous insects, some of which were nova wildbeasts. A man and a woman, both clad in black-and-red robes, flew past the plants. The violet light from their bodies illuminated the plants, and by extension, the insects, causing them to scatter in a panic to pave a path for the two of them.
Only ebons could make low-level nova wildbeasts fear them so much. These two, in particular, didn't quite stand out among their three thousand compatriots. They were Qi Hongzhen and Qi Qiling.
As they’d lost the ordered manna to Shuntian Bohan, Qi Qiling had quite the long face. Their performance in the Oldgod Domain would determine their future. Reaching the hundred-year milestone was an important turning point and they would have to prove themselves. If they did, they would be granted glory and status. If their performance was average, though, they could be assigned to very distant territories of their clan, exiled far away from the core of its power. It was the grand examination that determined the trajectories of their lives!
"Sis, don't stay mad. The Central Shuntian Clan started off as thieves to begin with. They're good at sneaky things like that and don't dare to directly confront people," Qi Hongzhen said, disdainful.
"Don't run your mouth," she said, glaring at him. While it didn't look like there were spectators watching them, even the lowest-ranking person in this event was constantly being scrutinized by many eyes. Shit-talking a powerful Infinitum Regal Clan like that would definitely earn one their ire.
"Oh!" Qi Hongzhen immediately clammed up, though he was still visibly upset about it. Then his ears shook and he raised his palms, pointing the soul eyes toward the dark river ahead and shining violet light on it. "Who goes there?! Come out!"
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