Beastmaster of the Ages

With Lan Sha’s order, the people of the Blueblood Starocean finally fled. However, the moment they had turned their backs to their opponents, the red-eyed Empyrean Sword Sect swordpupils didn’t care to spare the desperate people. Dozens of swordpupils chased after them, slaying the blue-blooded people in the midst of their escape. Totemancers fell one by one.

“Vengeance! We must have vengeance!”

The fiery-eyed Lan Sha was being chased by dozens of people led by the Rain Swordgod. If they hadn’t fled, even he would have perished here. At this point, he didn’t care about the others. Putting away his totems, he jumped into Aix Lake. Relying on the cover of the water, he dodged the Rain Swordlord’s attacks like a shark in the deep sea and finally escaped her pursuit. Even so, his body was covered in wounds and the one in his back was so deep it almost pierced through his body.

By the time he escaped from Aix Lake, one of his arms was about to fall off. He was a tragic sight, his whole body covered in blue blood. The Rain Swordlord was, after all, grade six and considered Lan Sha’s senior. Her combat power was definitely stronger than his. Not to mention, she had dozens of aides by her side as well as all of their lifebound beasts. Having survived their attack was a testament to his ability.

With a sinister expression on his face, Lan Sha ran through the woods, frantically fleeing for his life. “Lady Wushuang, Tumulus Pill God, the Rain Swordlord, led eight thousand Empyrean Sword Sect swordpupils in an attack. Because we were slow to react, we were almost wiped out. We urgently request support! Lady Wushuang, you must kill the Rain Swordlord and avenge my companions!”

Lan Sha sent a transmission stone as he fled. He had also reported as soon as the battle began, but Li Wushuang and the others were still after Shi Yan at the time. There was no way they could have rushed there in time.

“Hold on, don’t die! Reinforcements will arrive soon!” the Tumulus Pill God sent in reply. Only then did Lan Sha breathe a sigh of relief. He had finally thrown his pursuers off his trail.

At the thought of the support they would soon receive, Lan Sha turned around, his gaze gloomy and ruthless.

“You will all die!”

Because the wound in his abdomen was still bleeding, he had to stop and deal with it. Their people were basically guarding the sapling. There was no way they could efficiently allocate personnel in such a short period of time, certainly not as quickly as Tianming could. All Lan Sha could do was heal himself first. Otherwise, his injuries would only worsen.

“Dammit!”

He hid in the depths of the woods as he healed up, smearing medicine onto his wounds and cursing. Unfortunately, he missed the silver cockroach on a leaf, just one meter in front of him. It coldly looked at him with its two black eyes.

……

“Stop chasing, they’re cornered. Return to Aix Lake!” The Rain Swordlord put away her sword, her gaze indifferent. Soon, she received the Wind Swordlord’s transmission stone.

“Immediately reclaim Aix Lake and set up a defensive formation. I’ll arrange for ten thousand swordpupils to head over, but that’ll take time. Hold out for as long as possible. If that doesn’t work, give up Aix Lake first.” Putting away the transmission stone, the Rain Swordlord immediately did as she was told. She wouldn’t hesitate on such an important matter like losing a thousand to kill three thousand of their opponent’s army.

“They killed Shi Yan first and provoked the Empyrean Sword Sect. I’m just striking back so they know we can’t be bullied. If they still try provoking us, let’s just see who’ll emerge victorious! The Swordsage is still working on an alliance. Our attack will be an example for our allies. These running dogs must die!”

The appearance of the saplings meant there was no turning back. There were still more than seven thousand Empyrean Sword Sect swordpupils remaining. They would defend Aix Lake and wait for the Wind Swordlord’s reinforcements. The purpose of the battle had been to avenge Shi Yan, and as far as the Rain Swordlord was concerned, they had benefited from it. Li Wushuang would be the one to determine whether or not their opponents accepted the loss or continued fighting.

……

“Dammit!” Lan Sha took a deep breath, his expression turning even more gloomy. He was poisoned. Perhaps it was someone’s sword or a lifebound beast’s ability. At the moment, Lan Sha’s body was green because the color of his blood had turned. He tried several different kinds of divine pills, but to no avail. There was nothing he could do but keep trying.

“Forget it. I’ll recuperate and leave revenge to them.” Thus, he concentrated on healing his body and expelling the poison. In the blink of an eye, two hours passed.

“What the hell! Nothing’s working! What sort of poison is this?”

In the chaos, he didn’t know who had caused his injuries. He cursed while searching for a divine pill that might serve as an antidote, surging with irritability, anxiety, and indignation. Unbeknownst to him, it had grown dark, but Orderia was a fiery world without darkness. Clouded by his emotions, Lan Sha had failed to notice the change.

“Huh?” He froze for a moment, his hands stiff. When he looked up, a giant cauldron fell from the sky, trapping him beneath it. The earth rumbled. “The Divine Worldeater Cauldron?” Quickly rising to his feet, Lan Sha immediately materialized his totems.

In the darkness, terrifying shadows appeared, overwhelming the sharks. They were eight totems known as darknight truefiends.

“Yang Ce!” Lan Sha’s expression drastically changed. He couldn’t understand how they had managed to find him in an inconspicuous corner among the mountains and valleys. No one could have revealed information about his actions. As a totemancer, the last person he wanted to encounter was Yang Ce. Unfortunately, the man was already standing in front of him with eight darknight truefiends.

“He’s not the only one,” a female voice said from behind him.

Turning around in shock, Lan Sha began panicking. “Long Wanying, Yan Nuxia, and you… Jiang Qingliu!”

Out of the four opponents, Jiang Qingliu was the only one he could deal with. The other three were at least as strong as him. If it were any other time, these people wouldn’t dare go against him. However, Li Wushuang was considered to have killed Shi Yan. The Blueblood Starocean and Empyrean Sword Sect had also clashed swords, resulting in an acrimonious falling-out. At the moment, Lan Sha wasn’t just seriously injured, but also poisoned and trapped in the cauldron. The situation was anything but reassuring.

“The conflict is between us and the Empyrean Sword Sect, it has nothing to do with you. If you spare me, all of the Blueblood Starocean will be extremely grateful. Killing me won’t do you any good. You’ll only arouse the anger of my people. My brother Lan Huang will definitely avenge me. So think twice! This whole thing is merely a dispute over treasure. There’s no need to cause a civil war.” The tactful Lan Sha bowed his head, his voice calm.

“What civil war? This is a fight between the Myriad Solar Sects and lackeys of the celestial orderians,” said Long Wanying.

“You’ve overstepped your authority. You don’t represent the Myriad Solar Sects,” Lan Sha retorted. Unfortunately, no one seemed to listen to him.

The four of them acted at once. It was almost too easy for Yang Ce to take down the severely injured Lan Sha. Jiang Qingliu’s Azuresoul Tower suppressed Lan Sha’s body, crushing his spine and smashing him into the ground.

“Jiang Qingliu, you dare attack me? So you’ve finally grown guts?” Lan Sha roared, but unfortunately, he couldn’t move at all.

“Why can’t I attack you?” Jiang Qingliu trampled on his face. Loud popping and cracking sounded as he made a dent in his bones. “You brothers ruined half of my life, yet you arrogantly walk around, laughing and mocking. But my, how the tide has turned! Luck is on my side… Lan Sha, I hope you savor what’s about to happen. Both of you will get a taste of all the suffering I’ve experienced!”

The brothers had destroyed half of Jiang Qingliu’s power in the Voidsky Realm. After that, all he had done was muddle along for the second half of his life. Witnessing his enemy being crushed to the ground, seriously injured and dying, Jiang Qingliu felt a sense of peace. He even threw in a few kicks, shattering his bones so his face was deformed. The pain had him screaming without end.

“Jiang Qingliu, I swear you’ll die miserably,” Lan Sha roared, veins bursting all over his body.

“It doesn’t matter, you’ll suffer a hundred times worse than me.” Stretching out his hand, Jiang Qingliu ripped off Lan Sha’s ear, causing him to convulse in pain.

“Does it hurt? This is just the beginning.”

At that moment, Jiang Qingliu finally walked away and a white-haired young man appeared in Lan Sha’s bloodied vision. He almost couldn’t recognize him—it was none other than the junior, Li Tianming.

“You!” The young man’s smile frightened Lan Sha.

“You were going to die, but I wanted to see if I can squeeze something useful out of you, so I’ll let you live for a while longer,” Tianming said.

“What do you mean?” Lan Sha asked.

The small silver egg in Tianming’s hand suddenly turned into tens of thousands of metal ants.

“What’s that?” Lan Sha’s pupils constricted.

“The devil.” Tianming smiled.

Looking at the ants crawling all over Tianming’s palm, Lan Sha felt a chill. Then Tianming poured the bonegnaw ants into his ears.

A miserable scream echoed in the Divine Worldeater Cauldron.

This was the first time Tianming had been so rude. He was willing to cooperate with Gujian Qingshuang and Yun Tianque, but not Lan Sha. If Lan Sha didn’t want to die, Tianming would treat him like a dog. But it also didn’t matter if he didn’t care to live; they would just cast the blame on the Empyrean Sword Sect.