Beastmaster of the Ages

With a ferocious expression, Li Xuanyuan roared, ”We can’t let them escape. Li Tianming must die! They must all die!”

”Yes, we can’t let Li Tianming head to the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect. It’ll only cause more trouble and His Solar Majesty won’t be able to deal with him.”

Some supported Li Xuanyang’s idea.

”But they have a divine astralship. What else can we do? It’s not like His Solar Majesty and the Divine Sun Palace are here,” someone else retorted. That was a problem indeed.

”I have an idea!” Gritting his teeth, Li Xuanyang stared at the Azurecloud Divine Tree and said, ”Don’t these people place the importance of the divine tree over their lives? Let’s cut down the tree before they leave! I bet they’ll turn around!”

The others exchanged meaningful looks. Although some wanted to point out the value of the tree, they refrained from speaking because they didn’t want to go against Li Xuanyang.

”Cut the tree down! Kill it!”

”Yes!”

Countless celestial orderians quickly surrounded the tree trunk, hacking away with their sabers, swords, and totems. The ancient tree that had lived for eons trembled and let out a mournful cry. As the top of the tree vibrated, the blood droplets turned into a torrential rain. All of Azurecloud bore witness to the tragedy.

”The divine tree....” Their tears fell like rain.

The felling continued. Despite its incredible thickness, the trunk wasn’t hard. With hundreds of thousands of people hacking away, it wouldn’t take much time at all. As the tree started tilting, shock reverberated throughout the entire continent as the entire world seemed to be crying. In the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, sorrowful cries resounded. With tears of blood, they stared at the bright red divine tree that almost looked as if it was on fire. At that moment, they felt the trembling of their bloodline, their hearts drowning in sadness. They truly understood the agony of the weak, what it felt like to have their dignity trampled on and homeland invaded.

”The divine tree!” In the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, everyone fell to their knees. They were about to leave for a new battlefield. Although they had won this time, they were destined to lose the ancient tree that had nourished all of them.

Li Xuanyang had done everything he could to stop Tianming from leaving. At the sight of the astralship’s departure, he burst into rage.

”Cut it down!!”

His scream resounded through the top of the tree.

At a certain moment, the tree’s cry of despair reached a turning point. It was as if all its leaves had become vocal cords. Roaring loudly, the ancient creature vented its fury. Following a thunderous crack, the tree trunk tilted and cleanly split as the divine tree that had towered above Azurecloud for countless years came crashing down. But even so, the trunk fell toward an uninhabited, mountainous area. In the astralship, the passengers stared in wide-eyed shock, bereft of speech and blinded by tears. The humiliation of losing their home filled their hearts. This time, they wouldn’t be able to recover what they lost.

The divine tree had fallen. There would be no more shade or birdsong to accompany blooming flowers. Gone was its fruit that seemed to fill up the sky, and gone was their blood connection to the tree. Children born after today would never know Azurecloud’s beauty; that would only exist in their parents’ memories. For countless years, the divine tree had flourished, nourishing numerous generations. And at the end, the blood-red tree gave its people a chance to escape. The young saplings wailed because they knew that their mother had perished. Wiping away tears from the corners of his eyes, Tianming clenched his fists, but didn’t look back. He headed south, carrying the continent’s last hope.

......

”Die!”

With the collapse of the divine tree, the entire world was filled with dust, making it impossible to see. Amidst his angry rampage, Li Xuanyang seemed to hear a buzzing noise. He widened his eyes to try and see what it was. Something resembling a blood-red leaf flickered, suddenly stabbing his forehead. It turned out to be a leaf. After tearing a wound in his flesh, the leaf went from bright red to yellow and completely withered. The blood-like liquid had entered Li Xuanyang’s body.

”Ahh!!” he suddenly screamed. Like countless tiny bugs, the red liquid invaded his head, devouring his flesh and brain. ”Help!” Li Xuanyang didn’t know what it was. He screamed in horror, trying to attract the attention of others. But what followed were equally terrified screams that came from everywhere, more tragic than the battle they had just fought. It seemed like the entire world was screaming. There were red leaves as far as the eye could see, all of which must have come from the Azurecloud Divine Tree.

A sea of red leaves appeared before Li Xuanyang. They were beautiful, but in that instant, they swallowed him whole. When all the leaves withered, a large amount of red liquid flooded his body. Li Xuanyang struggled, his body twitching and eyes wide open as he foamed at the mouth. In the end, he was completely still. Li Xuanyang was dead. Like the leaves, his corpse was now bright red. Lines resembling leaf veins appeared all over his skin and a tiny green bud sprouted in his mouth, growing rapidly until a small pale pink flower blossomed. It was pure, unstained by blood and carnage.

When the dust finally dissipated, there were blood-red corpses everywhere. They gradually disappeared, submerged by colorful flowers that symbolized innocence and new life. Although the divine tree was dead, the place it had once taken root was now a beautiful sea of flowers that extended for miles. No one could guess that each beautiful flower meant the death of a celestial orderian. There was an even larger sea of flowers north of the continent. Most of the blood red leaves drifted over and eventually withered. The celestial orderians were the only ones affected. Meanwhile, the ordinary folk in the mountains and fields cried for the loss of their divine tree.

They would never forget this day. The history books would record the death of seven million elite cultivators in this unremarkable continent. Among them, 1.8 million died on Azuresword Soul Mountain, and another 5.2 million had been killed by the Azurecloud Divine Tree.