Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming knew that everyone within the Inkwell Sea’s formation was looking at him with fear-filled gazes. The Black Panther Army had a simple mission: whenever divine astralships emerged from the formation, those would be their targets. Otherwise, they would pummel away at the formation itself!

”Commence the third wave!” Lin Xiaoxiao commanded. The army’s movements were accurately controlled by standards and drums. Thanks to the fact that the clan’s army was well coordinated, they had a huge advantage on the battlefield.

”Lin Xiaoxiao, eh?” Tianming could feel from her voice that she was a heroic and dashing woman. While her name sounded nice and fluffy, her actual person would be anything but. There would be no way for her to command an army like this otherwise. Tianming followed the commands and kept pummeling away at the formation with the sword-tail of his ship.

Wave after wave, Tianming saw the billion people behind the formation becoming more and more miserable. The formation itself already had many cracks and openings, with a huge crevice at its very top. The moment any enemy ship tried coming out, Tianming would immediately go for them. While the efforts of the ebons to push back against them made some headway from time to time, it still didn’t slow down the rate of collapse of the formation.

While those in the Inkwell Sea were waiting for reinforcements, Yin Chen reported that they were still a ways off and had been intercepted. The casualties they had suffered were more serious than that of the Inkwell Sea’s so far, thanks to the valuable information provided by Yin Chen, as well as the fact that the Gladean tenth branch was much more powerful than the Gladean ebons.

”Breaking the formation is the first step. The next is chasing down their divine astralships and wiping out all their warbeasts! After all that’s done, the Inkwell Sea will have been completely dominated.” The first phase of the plan was proceeding well so far. Lin Xiaodao had used the same plan to crush quite a few other bases of smaller scales.

”Once more!” The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and the Fiendclaw rammed the formation again, causing it to shatter and fracture like ice!

”The Gladean ebons are to be punished for treason! However, the normal folk won’t be blamed for what their leaders have done. As such, the etherean has shown mercy by declaring that everyone that surrenders their warbeasts shall be spared!” Lin Xiaoxiao kept broadcasting such messages to sway them. Ebons didn’t have very close relationships with their warbeasts, since they could easily tame new ones if they lost their current ones. On the other hand, exterminating the wildbeasts that live underground in Gladeus would take quite a long time to accomplish.

Tianming could clearly feel the enemy’s will to fight weakening attack after attack, broadcast after broadcast. Most of those billion people were normal folk that weren’t even ascendants. Should a divine astralship attack an area with a concentrated population, they would all perish.

”Victory’s within sight.” The first phase of the plan was about to come to a smooth close. However, what Tianming really wanted to know was where the Archaionfiend Eye was.

”Lin Feng, the other side already knows your identity. They’re about to launch a desperate last stand, so you should be extra careful!” Lin Xiaoxiao informed him through a transmission stone.

”Understood. Thank you, Aunt Xiaoxiao,” Tianming said.

”Aunt? Not bad, I like being called that.” She smiled and pressed the assault.

......

The mood within the Inkwell Sea was one of panic and fear. The crackling of the formation above caused many to wail in despair. The rhythm of the waves in the entire sea were incredibly wild and chaotic, punctuated by the angered and despairing howls of its residents.

”Accursed Swordgod Lin Clan!”

”Lin Xiaodao, you fiend! The heavens will judge you for this!”

The wildbeasts under the Inkwell Sea also howled in rage. While the ebons had released a few of them outside the formation, they’d quickly been purged by the divine astralships. They were being pressured on every single front!

Even the controller of the defensive formation seemed to be fuming with rage. The ebons in the Inkwell Sea were part of the Kunmo Clan, which had a rather impressive reputation on Gladeus. The strongest three members of the clan were known as the Inkwell Brothers, namely Kunmo Cang, Kunmo Chao, and Kunmo Yong. They were at the zenith of their power and the pride and joy of the Gladean ebons, playing an important leadership role that had brought their clan to greater heights. There were nine different grades of soul eyes, and the brothers had grade-seven violet eyes, which more or less corresponded to those of Qi Xuantian of the Ebonian Qi Clan. They also possessed sanctuary-class warbeasts!

The three brothers were the ones that stood at the very front of the billion-plus people of the Inkwell Sea. As they were triplets, they basically looked identical. They were legendary figures within Gladeus itself by virtue of that alone, as reproduction for astral gods was rare and difficult to begin with, yet they had been born as triplets. Currently, they were looking rather grim, thanks to the situation.

”Lords, we have a report!” A young man urgently rushed to them. ”Our informants report that Lin Feng is the one piloting the dragon-shaped ship! He’s the first ranker in the minor reges mundi ranking! Lin Xiaodao brought him here!”

”Is it really him? Are you certain?!” the three brothers said in unison.

”Absolutely! Many other informants have corroborated that report! Even the Black Panther Army is cheering his name! It can’t be anyone else!”

The brothers exchanged glances.

”The Swordgod Lin Clan really hit the jackpot. They got someone that’s just become an astral god but can also pilot a sanctuary-class divine astralship.”

”How daring of them to send such a treasure to the battlefield. Did they really think we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it?”

”He’s Lin Xiaodao’s disciple and the key to their clan’s future. He’s also a target of our rex mundi!”

They came to a quick implied agreement.

”Third Brother, you pilot the Rabblefiend while Second Brother and I see if we can sneak aboard the dragon-shaped ship and capture the brat,” Kunmo Cang decided.

”Can a sanctuary-class ship be breached just like that?” Kunmo Chao asked.

”We have to try. Today’s the only day we can turn things around here. Once we capture him, we’ll have rendered great merit and it’ll have been worth it even if we lose the Inkwell Sea!” Kunmo Yong said.

”That’s right. Bring your cosmic artifacts and focus on maximizing our individual combat capabilities. It should be fine. We’re running short on time—Second Brother, let’s go!” Kunmo Cang didn’t wait another moment.