Beastmaster of the Ages

“Li Tianming, how dare you take the game in my mouth away from me? Not only will I make you spit it back out, I’ll make sure to dig out your innards and eat them all up, too.” Zhan Yuance had bathed in combat and slaughter since his childhood. As he spoke, he and his skyapes manifested their constellations to suppress Tianming. The other people who had attempted to stop Tianming were all forced away; Zhan Yuance now had full control.

He looked at the Lifesteal Silverdragon in Tianming’s hands. Though he couldn’t use it even if he got it now, one day, he could. There was no way Tianming could worm his way out of this, especially with the sheer power of Zhan Yuance’s constellation. It made Tianming’s limbs feel heavy and applied a huge pressure on every single albus of his body.

“What a powerful constellation….” Tianming had never felt this kind of pressure applied all over his body before. From the very start, this wargodean had completely sealed off all his avenues of escape. Tianming’s body was on the brink of collapse, his flesh breaking apart and letting out blood. Without the Greenspark Tower, his albi would’ve collapsed by now.

“It’s over for him.”

“Serves him right for robbing Zhan Yuance.”

“What a fool.”

Many other participants watched with schadenfreude. Even so, Tianming managed to keep a calm look. It wasn’t the first time he had found himself in dire circumstances. He also knew that there was no running away after he had taken the divine pill.

Meow Meow charged out and Tianming swung the Lifesteal Silverdragon, wrapping it around all five of the skyapes! The sharp blades on the chain cut into their body and stopped their rampage. Struggle and roar as they might, they weren’t able to break free.

“Grab on to the chain and don’t let him pull it back!” Zhan Yuance ordered. The apes ignored the blades and clasped tightly onto the chain, intentionally wrapping it around them even more. “The Lifesteal Silverdragon is mine!” He smirked.

However, Tianming didn’t pull back the chain with full force as he had expected. Instead, he tossed the chain itself toward Zhan Yuance, who quickly grabbed it. Tianming had basically gifted it to him.

The onlookers were completely stunned. This was a grade-seven divine artifact! Even Zhan Yuance himself didn’t know what to make of this. Though he couldn’t use it, it was still worth far more than his golden staff. Then his body suddenly froze as the chain he held struggled discontentedly, having left its master’s grasp, and tried to escape, forcing Zhan Yuance to hold it down. The five skyapes were doing their best to not let the silver dragon escape!

“Will Li Tianming try taking back the chain?”

Right as the onlookers were wondering that, Tianming rode on Meow Meow and broke out of the encirclement.

“What in the world?! He’s really going to abandon the Lifesteal Silverdragon?”

“He must be trying to use the treasure as a ticket for his escape!”

“Looks like he’s no fool after all. Or is he? The chain is worth far more than the grandpath fiend pill in the long run. Even with the pill, there’s no way he’s gonna close the gap with Zhan Yuance.”

Tianming used the confusion to escape. There were still many people on his tail, though it was much more relaxed than before. With Zhan Yuance having to hold down the Lifesteal Silverdragon, he would be kept occupied.

“Not bad. He knew it was hopeless, so he abandoned the weapon to stay alive.”

Many people thought that Tianming would choose to abandon the divine pill, but that would have a completely different result. He knew that the divine artifact would resist being taken, which would serve to buy him some time. It was also worth far more to him than the pill.

The wargodeans were still giving chase, but Zhan Yuance wasn’t with them. He knew that given Tianming’s speed, there was no way he could catch up at this point.

……

“Brother!” One of the wargodeans brought the wardrum formation to Zhan Yuance. She was a tall blonde woman, a full head taller than Tianming and sporting an amazing figure. Her fair legs were surrounded by a leather miniskirt and her upper body packed the most appealing curves, which were prominently displayed by the form-fitting black leather top she wore. Despite her bombastic and loud figure, her facial features were demure and pure. Her golden eyes radiated a saintly glow, making her look somewhat like a war goddess. She was Zhan Yingying, known by the wargodeans as the Nine-six Princess, only one number away from Zhan Yuance. Most of the people nearby looked at her body rather than the wardrum formation she held, which looked somewhat larger and had even more intricate divine patterns.

“Where’d you get this?” Zhan Yuance asked.

“The nine-headed dragon turned into this after its golem formation was undone,” she said.

“Good.”

He put the drum away. The Lifesteal Silverdragon was still struggling in his hand, so he had no choice but to have two of his goldenmane skyapes hold onto it.

“Brother, won’t you give chase?” Zhan Yingying asked. She saw that Tianming had broken out of the encirclement and reached the pathway’s exit.

“His lifebound beast is shockingly fast. Speed isn’t my forte, so I won’t be able to catch up. I am quite surprised that he’d abandon this divine artifact so casually, though.”

“No doubt he has a good head on his shoulders, with the guts to match. His power does fall slightly short, though. Even so, losing the grandpath fiend pill is still a huge blow.”

“It’s fine for now. He shouldn’t be too well attuned to the pill. I doubt he’ll use it in the short term. Not to mention, he won’t be eliminated that quickly, given how well he can run. We still have a chance to get it back. Let him take a breather. We’ll have to hurry up and see what other secrets we can discover with this war drum first.” Zhan Yuance made a mental note to go back for the divine pill and moved on to the next phase. As the other participants were still chasing Tianming, he brought his wargodeans toward their next destination.

As he left, Zhan Yuance gave Tianming a glance before he disappeared into another pathway. “Where did this fly come from, I wonder…? He really has balls to dare take my divine pill.”

He was somewhat impressed at Tianming’s decisiveness, though that didn’t take away from the grudge he held toward him at all.

“I wonder what other treasure you’ll toss me the next time I catch you.”

……

“It’s over! We only just got that treasure, but now somebody else has it!” Ying Huo complained.

“Calm down.” Tianming turned back. Seeing that the wargodeans weren’t giving chase, he knew he was safe for now.

“Hey, aren’t you angry at losing it? Don’t you feel bad?”

“What’s to feel bad about? We didn’t have a choice. We did get the divine pill, but we underestimated the other troublemakers. I could’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for them. Just now, I couldn’t do anything else but abandon the Lifesteal Silverdragon. It was a necessary trade,” he said as he calmly navigated away from the other obstacles. By now, he had recovered substantially thanks to the Greenspark Tower.

“It’s a divine artifact for a divine pill! Was it worth it?”

“Of course!”

“How so?”

“Divine pills are consumable. Their value is gone after consumption and assimilation, so I’ll let Feng use it. Our group’s fighting strength will rise in a short amount of time. It’ll give us a bigger boost than the divine artifact ever could. The key to the Voidsky Skirmish is effective fighting strength. Without it, we can’t proceed to seek out more treasures and stay at the top of the ranking.” Though he did feel a little troubled about losing the Lifesteal Silverdragon, it wasn’t that big of a deal. As far as he was concerned, the risk had been worth it.

“Feng is like my own brother. If he gets stronger, it’s the same as me getting stronger.” Thinking about Zhan Yuance made him chuckle. “Not to mention, the key to those divine artifacts is the exalted blood! Without it, he’ll be weakened from having to keep Lifesteal Silverdragon suppressed. Now, it’s only a burden that’ll inconvenience him. No doubt, his aim is the Sky Palace as well. There’s no way he’ll be willing to get himself eliminated just to keep the chain. As long as the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb stays open, we’ll eventually run into him. By then, he’ll give back what isn’t his.”

Tianming knew full well what cards he had in his hand. “Without bait, we won’t be able to catch anything. Only by knowing how to let go can we go far on this path.”