Beastmaster of the Ages

”What do you mean by that?” Tianming asked.

”Master and servant, teacher and disciple, or even... lovers. It all depends on your own capabilities. You’ve already got an opportunity to be tied down with her in some way. How you use her status and resources depends on you,” Uncle Hei said with a serious look.

Tianming understood. All in all, he had to ensure that he maintained an amicable relationship with Suishen Yao. As long as he could be on House Suishen’s good side, the small fry of Myriadpath Valley would no longer dare to get in his way.

Lan Yun was gone, but Uncle Hei and Jian Qinghe weren’t able to publicly be on good terms with Tianming. So that left only one real choice for his backer: the ’Little Demon Lord’ of Myriadpath Valley, Suishen Yao.

”In some sense, Suishen Yao’s as dangerous as Lan Yun. You were able to escape Lan Yun in one piece, so learn from the experience. You should know what you have to do,” Uncle Hei said.

Tianming nodded. ”I believe teacher and disciple would be the best. It’s something we can be public about, after all. I’m not sure I can stand being her servant. As for lovers... forget it. She has more than her fair share of suitors, including major pathkeepers to boot. I was tossed out of Suishen Cave by one of them when I was brought there last time.”

”Hahaha....” Uncle Hei patted him on the shoulder. ”No matter what, I have a good feeling about you. Even if the entire Myriadpath Valley believes that your potential is limited, I think they’re wrong. I’ve never heard of another person in the astralscape of order that could undo these formation locks, yet you were able to find the key to do so in two short hours. There’s no way someone like you would be a mere early bloomer.”

An unbelievable victory and the miraculous ability to unlock formations ended up becoming how Tianming got them as allies. Now that they had revealed their cards to one another, they were in the same boat.

Tianming didn’t think much about Uncle Hei yet, but he trusted Jian Qinghe based on the sole fact that she had saved external-mundi cultivators that normal disciples of Myriadpath Valley would never care about. That was enough. Perhaps it was the true reward that Tianming had gained from his mission to Darkfiend Den. It was far more valuable than the Archaionfiend Eye of the centuroptic beast.

”We’ll watch you from the shadows and protect you to the best of our ability. But never forget this. She is the key to your path of growth!” Uncle Hei emphasized once more before he left.

”Suishen Yao?”

”That’s right!”

Tianming nodded. Based on Suishen Yao’s name alone, he would think that it belonged to a radiant, handsome man, a far cry from the energetic pink-haired girl who only treated Tianming as a toy. He watched them leave with a heavy heart.

”It’s fine. Lan Yun also treated me like a toy, but she ended up dead by messing with me.” If it hadn’t been for her broken fiendart’s consequences, Tianming wouldn’t have been able to kill a fifth-level foundationeer like her, injured as he was.

Her entire body had turned to ash. Thinking back to the ’battle’ he had fought under the influence of the evil impulses, Tianming felt a little taken aback. ”I... actually did something like that. Yi Daiyan, you’ve placed quite a heavy curse on me!”

Having regained his senses and truly processed the weight of his actions, he was starting to feel distraught. He looked up and saw that the golden crystal star still shone near the Upper Star Ruins. ”It’s all over.... Once Ling’er comes back, I’ll definitely be slain by her!”

Things were bad. ”Then again, if I think about it from another point of view, if she wants to kill me enough and goes berserk, wouldn’t this give her even more motivation to overcome her tribulation, slaying all gods and fiends that stand in her way?”

He looked up once again. The golden crystal star seemed to glow even more blinding than before, causing him to shudder with a chill.

”How can I get rid of that thing in my head?!” He was annoyed as hell! The evil impulses kept messing things up for him at key moments.

Ying Huo and the others were gradually regaining consciousness and Tianming decided that he would pretend that nothing had happened. The four of them had been out cold, after all. Ji Ji had also entered hibernation after using Vaporize. There was just one single loophole... one unkillable leak: Yin Chen!

”Fifth?” Tianming called out.

”What’s up?” Yin Chen asked.

”I’ll call you Grandpa.”

”Ha ha!” Yin Chen knew that its time had come. ”Tianming my... good grandson... your future... is bright!”

From that day onward, Lan Yun was past tense. Having overcome an obstacle like her, Tianming realized that his options in Myriadpath Valley had greatly expanded. The only people left who had a grudge against him was House Huang.

With Suishen Zhao’s proclamation that he would challenge Tianming again in a decade, and the apparent master-disciple relationship with Suishen Yao, House Huang wouldn’t dare to tempt fate where Tianming was concerned. They weren’t freaks like Lan Yun or the cocoon woman who would go to great, risky lengths to extend their lifespans.

”Finally... the hole I dug for myself by killing Huang Jihuang at Skyward Grandpath stopped getting bigger.” His coming days would be filled with cultivation and advancement! ”I’ll start furiously cultivating from now on!”

With newfound motivation and a carefree heart, he immediately went to the Grand Myriadpath Ruins. ”Grandpa, what kind of story are you writing today?”

”Umm... it’s called ’I Have Seven Immortal Elder Sisters,’” said the old cleaner.

Tianming almost fainted when he imagined what kind of fantasies such a story could have.

***

Two people returned to the Myriadpath Celestial Formation from the Xenoabyss. One of them was Eminent Tiankui, who had a huge eye right in the middle of his chest. He was the strongest cultivator Tianming had met before he had encountered Suishen Yao’s father, Eminent Ranxing.

Beside the measured Eminent Tiankui was Reverend Daolie. The flaming lion of a man respectfully bowed down. He already lost count of how much Eminent Tiankui had tortured him. By the time he returned, he no longer had any tears to spill. He had lost the order fragments and been beaten up. The only silver lining was that the Kilopath Net had been retrieved.

”Greetings, Eminent!” Huang Daosheng, the Little Lion King, earnestly knelt toward Eminent Tiankui.

”Huang Daosheng, were you going to listen to your old man and use order fragments to reach the Foundation stage?” Eminent Tiankui asked in a low voice.

”Yes, Eminent,” Huang Daosheng reluctantly admitted.

”The Foundation stage is the most important phase of your life! How far do you think you’ll be able to progress if you do reach it using that method? You can only become an eminent after reaching the eighth level. You have a long, long path ahead of you!”

”Eminent, I was wrong!” Huang Daosheng said with a look of realization. Eminent Tiankui was the one who had said that he had the talent to become an eminent one day. He wanted nothing more than to be Eminent Tiankui’s disciple.

”I promised to take you as my disciple once you reached the Foundation stage, but it seems that it’s harmed you instead. Let’s not discuss the matter of you becoming my disciple for now. You should focus on finding your way back to the right path. Tread carefully!” With a cold snort, Eminent Tiankui walked past Huang Daosheng without looking back.

”Ugh!” The youth knelt on the ground, face completely pale from yet another mental blow. Ever since Tianming had appeared, Huang Daosheng’s life kept getting derailed. His reputation and future had been ruined! His mental state completely crumbled when the eminent left.

At that crucial moment, Reverend Daolie lifted him up and scolded him. ”You useless brat! Are you an idiot? I already endured so much of his temper in the Xenoabyss and thought that it would be the end of it! Why would you come here to welcome us back?”

Huang Daosheng was about to burst into tears. ”I only wanted to... beg for some leniency for you....”

”What’s there to beg for?!” Reverend Daolie coughed out blood.

”Brother Daolie!” Reverends Shujian and Qingyuan came over after they saw Eminent Tiankui off.

”The child didn’t think it through. Don’t blame him for this. We didn’t think that the eminent would be so mad, either,” Reverend Shujian said, shaking his head.

”It’s my fault! Sigh... I just can’t figure out how I ever managed to piss off a bigshot from Antiquitas Mortis....” Reverend Daolie seemed rather troubled.

”Since that bigshot returned the Kilopath Net, doesn’t that mean he fears the eminent too? Maybe he isn’t as powerful as we think,” Reverend Qingyuan said.

”We may never know,” Reverend Daolie said.

”Dad, two things happened while you were away,” Huang Daosheng said, voice cold.

”What happened?”

”First, Li Tianming defeated Suishen Zhao, a disciple of the Three Exalted Houses. The ’Little Demon Lord’ of Myriadpath Valley also said she would be taking him as her disciple.”

”What?!” Reverend Daolie suffered a mental shock once more.

”Don’t be anxious, Brother Daolie. Suishen Zhao is still young, while Li Tianming’s early talent is at the cost of his limited potential. It isn’t out of the ordinary that he managed to defeat the young scion. Suishen Yao, on the other hand, is just playing around with a new toy. It’ll only take Li Tianming uttering a single wrong word for him to be killed,” Reverend Shujian said.

Only then did Reverend Daolie calm down. ”I see.... Either way, that brat really knows how to make a scene. To think that he even defeated Suishen Zhao. Sheng’er, what’s the other thing?”

Huang Daosheng’s eyes were shaking. ”Lan Yun is dead!”

”What?!” Reverend Daolie was truly stunned. ”Who killed her?”

”I don’t think they’ve figured it out yet. Some people said that it could be an eminent. Some other bigshot from Fallengrace Peak died at the same time,” Huang Daosheng said.

”The eldest one,” Reverend Qingyuan hinted.

”Is that so?” Reverend Daolie pondered over it for a while before he finally smiled. ”Very good! That vile woman dared to go against me, and now she suffered a pathetic end!”

”Brother Daolie, you must be thinking the same thing we are,” Reverend Qingyuan said.

”That’s right,” Reverend Shujian agreed.

”What’s that?” Huang Daosheng asked.

Reverend Daolie’s gaze turned cold and stern. ”Li Tianming and House Suishen simply don’t belong on the same plane of existence. All he did was rely on flashy tricks to dazzle the inexperienced Suishen siblings. Once they surpass him, they won’t think twice about him. With Lan Yun dead, Li Tianming no longer has a backer. All we have to do is to wait until we no longer have to abide by the restriction to keep things among fortuna disciples.”

He then turned to the other two reverends. ”That black ring disciple has affected our reputations far too much.”

”Very much so.”

”We’ll always remain humiliated for as long as he lives.”

”Xiong’er, Chu Tianyu, Qiu Ciling.... We can’t let those three poor children die in vain. Even my Sheng’er’s reputation got brought down. It’s time we dealt with this.”

”It doesn’t sound good for three reverends to team up on a black ring disciple, but once the deed is done, it’ll be over!”

”I don’t wish to continue living in disgust. I reckon that we can make a move if Li Tianming doesn’t do anything crazy in two to three years.”

”That brat never would’ve expected that his backer, Lan Yun, would die all of a sudden! Hehehe!”