1230 Golden Aura
Several days later, after Tian Yi recovered from his injuries, he began looking into the golden aura with the others.
The first thing they did was beat Tian Yi until he was near death since that was what triggered it in the first place.
"Go easy on me." Tian Yi said with a stiff smile.
"Sure." Dragon Goddess Yeyou said in a nonchalant manner. Clearly, she did not plan on going easy on him.
But before they could even begin, Tian Yi had to convince Eater of Stars, whom he named Xingrui, to not attack Dragon Goddess Yeyou when she beats him, as she was overly protective of him.
After all, if he were to meet his demise, her insatiable hunger would undoubtedly resurface. The prospect of reverting to such a state, after tasting the satisfaction of a full stomach, filled her with a profound dread. It was a fate she was determined to evade at any expense.
Eventually, their experiment began with Dragon Goddess Yeyou beating Tian Yi until his entire body was soaked in blood.
Meanwhile, Feng Yuming watched with great entertainment from a distance. As for Xingrui, she cleaned up the blood on the ground that was spewed by Tian Yi.
"Do you feel any different?" Dragon Goddess Yeyou asked Tian Yi as he lay on the ground in a near-death state.
"Besides immense pain all over my body? Nope…" He replied in a low voice.
"You probably aren't near death enough. I'll keep on going then."
"Wai—"
Thus, Dragon Goddess Yeyou proceeded to continue the beating until he was truly on the verge of death.
"How about now?"
"..." Tian Yi couldn't even respond to her in his current state.
"Haaa…" Dragon Goddess Yeyou sighed. Then she proceeded to feed some medicine to him.
Within minutes, Tian Yi fully healed from his near-death state.
"Alright, let's do it again." Dragon Goddess Yeyou said afterward, sounding oddly eager to beat him.
"I don't think physically torturing myself will do any good. According to you, the golden aura occurred during my fight with Xingrui. Perhaps I need an opponent and to be engaged in a real fight." Tian Yi quickly stopped her.
"That sounds reasonable… And since your opponent at that time was Xingrui, you should fight with her again."
However, Xingrui immediately refused, "I will not partake in hurting Master no matter what."
"How about I do it?" Feng Yuming suddenly volunteered herself.
"You?" Dragon Goddess Yeyou raised her eyebrows.
She nodded and explained, "I have been wondering about his prowess since I learned that he'd survived a fight with you a thousand years ago. I want to see for myself his talents."
"Let's do it then." Tian Yi agreed to spar with Feng Yuming.
Sometime later, Tian Yi and Feng Yuming went back into the starry sky and started fighting each other.
Much like Xingrui, Feng Yuming harnessed the formidable power of flames. However, in stark contrast to Xingrui, Feng Yuming exhibited flawless mastery over her fiery abilities, even boasting a vast repertoire of hundreds of unique techniques at her disposal.
For the first several months, Feng Yuming faced Tian Yi while in her human form, as she didn't really take the fight seriously. However, she eventually transformed back into a phoenix and started fighting him for real— with the intention of killing him.
Their battle raged with an intensity beyond measure, and the very expanse of the starry sky was ablaze with the searing brilliance of Feng Yuming's phoenix flames. Her flames surged with such blistering heat that they tore through Tian Yi's spiritual energy, reduced his clothing to ashes, and roasted his skin with relentless ferocity.
Although it wasn't enough to endanger his life, it did drain his stamina and strength constantly and quickly.
"That dumb pigeon has grown a lot stronger since our fight…" Dragon Goddess Yeyou mumbled to herself as she watched them fight. "Of course, she's still miles away from my level."
Though Feng Yuming may be weaker than Dragon Goddess Yeyou when it comes to raw prowess, her undying and relentless flames were incredibly annoying and difficult to deal with, especially for a tiny human like Tian Yi.
After enduring what felt like an eternity in the deepest abyss of torment and bearing the ceaseless scorching agony, Tian Yi found himself approaching his limits.
As he slowly approached his death, Tian Yi subconsciously started recalling everything he felt during his fight with Xingrui.
In the very moment when he teetered on the brink of being consumed by the relentless phoenix flames, an explosive surge of energy surged forth from the innermost depths of his being, before a resplendent golden aura emerged around his body.
The atmosphere underwent an instantaneous transformation the very second the golden aura materialized, and Dragon Goddess Yeyou's face lit up like a lamp with an expansive smile on it as she detected the immeasurable might it exuded.
"It's here!" She did not hesitate to rush into the starry sky and towards Tian Yi's location.
Meanwhile, Tian Yi faced Feng Yuming with his newfound strength.
"So this is the golden aura…" He looked at his glowing hands with great interest.
Not only was his depleted energy quickly being restored, he felt a divine power that did not exist moments before now in the grasp of his own hands.
After taking a brief moment to admire his new strength, Tian Yi turned to look at Feng Yuming, who uncontrollably trembled in fear when she felt his gaze on her.
As Tian Yi steadily advanced toward her, Feng Yuming fell into a trance, unleashing a barrage of techniques upon him with an intensity that suggested her very existence hinged upon their success.
Her flames quickly engulfed Tian Yi's figure. Despite that, Feng Yuming's anxiety only intensified, as she could tell that her flames were unable to touch Tian Yi and were merely dancing around him, almost as though the flames had their own consciousness and were consciously avoiding Tian Yi.
The following moment, with a nonchalant sweep of his arm, every ember surrounding Tian Yi dispersed like mere insects in his presence.
Seeing this, Feng Yuming did not hesitate to return to her human form.
"I surrender. You win." Feng Yuming sighed out loud.
"Oh?"
When Feng Yuming surrendered her will to fight, so did Tian Yi, and the golden aura around him quickly started diminishing.
However, just as it was on the verge of disappearing, the golden aura suddenly surged to life once more. Simultaneously, Tian Yi was turning around to confront the encroaching Dragon Goddess Yeyou, who was enveloped in her own aura that resonated with an unquenchable thirst for battle.