Beastmaster of the Ages

What Eminent Jiguang said was all true. Tianming could only nod and say, ”Don’t worry. I’ll make the two of you happy.”

”You only have to make Yaoyao happy. Why would you need to do that for me?” Eminent Jiguang gave him an odd glare before vanishing without even saying goodbye. Her pink dress closed around her like a flower and she disappeared.

Tianming turned and looked at the myriadpath steles. ”She’s going to take Suishen Yao out.... There’ll be absolute chaos in House Suishen.”

Even though Tianming’s life wasn’t in danger, he was worried for Eminent Jiguang and Suishen Yao. The wedding event between disciples of the core bloodline had been announced a year prior. The groom had been decided based on his performance on the Prehistoric Path. Suishen Blood was also a big factor in the wedding, yet that very thing was lost because the bride had spent time with an outsider. One could only imagine the chaos that would caused by such a scandal.

”Eminent Ranxing will be so mad that his beard will burn off.... Well, sucks to be you! Who asked you to look down on me?” Tianming wasn’t in a rush to leave. Instead, he had Yin Chen spread out across the Jiguang Sea to seek an answer to his question.

***

Suishen Yao hugged her knees as she sulked at the bottom of the Jiguang Sea. Her pink hair fluttered thanks to the buoyancy of the crystalline seawater. Though she had her head buried in her knees, her eyes were open, but unfocused. Eventually, she heard a voice from outside the water.

”Yaoyao, the wedding is tomorrow. You need to start getting ready,” Eminent Jinying said. She seemed displeased, yet she still had to pretend to be compassionate and pleasant. It only made her feel more disgusted. ”Eminent Jiguang, time’s almost up. Bring her out soon so we won’t be late. All the outsiders of House Suishen have returned to participate in the wedding. Everyone’s waiting.”

Eminent Jinying had called out for a long time, but nobody answered her. Suishen Yao didn’t want to speak and remained huddled up in a ball, staring at the water all around her. ”Mom, if you were still here, would he still treat me like this?”

But nobody could answer that question of hers. The voices outside grew louder and louder; Suishen Zhao was probably also there.

”Suishen Zhao, why don’t you go inside and call your sister?” Eminent Jinying asked.

Suishen Zhao said, ”What’re you so impatient for? My sister still has time to challenge Yumo Xue again.”

Everyone sighed at that. They knew it would be nothing but a final, desperate tantrum.

”Fine!” Eminent Jinying had been keeping her rage suppressed for far too long.

The entire time, Suishen Yue was completely silent, but Suishen Yao knew that he was definitely around. She kept her head low until she was shocked to hear a deep, stern voice outside. It was Eminent Ranxing, who’d no doubt been told of her tantrum and had come angrily marching along.

”Eminent Jiguang, take her out now!” It was short, but his order couldn’t be disobeyed. Quite a few people were waiting outside Jiguang Sea, some of whom were from Suishen Yue’s family branch. There were many youths there as well, including Suishen Zhao, Suishen Shuang, and Suishen Yuan. The three of them seemed rather morose, unable to do anything about the situation. Some other eminents from the core bloodline were also there, like Suishen Yuan and Suishen Shuang’s parents.

Nobody answered Eminent Ranxing’s call, causing the raging flames in his eyes to burn even brighter. ”Suishen Jiguang, if you keep messing around, I’ll destroy this place!”

People could tell that he was truly mad. Who could possibly endure the indignation of having the family of their daughter’s groom come to them about their stubborn daughter? If he didn’t teach her a lesson, she would never go along with it.

But what he hadn’t expected was that even an adult like Eminent Jiguang would be so childish and cause a scene like this one to unfold.

Even after all that, no response came from the Jiguang Sea.

Eminent Ranxing exploded and applied all his pressure on Suishen Yao, who was within the sea.

”Mom, Auntie, save me!” she cried in a panic.

A neatly dressed lady came to Suishen Yao’s side with a gentle smile. ”Yaoyao, let’s go out and face it.”

”Auntie!” Suishen Yao steeled her heart and grabbed her aunt’s hand.

”Be brave.”

”Okay! I’m brave. The worst that can happen is that I’ll die. I’m no longer afraid! I will not marry Suishen Yue, even if it kills me,” Suishen Yao said.

”There’ll be no marriage. You already have someone in your heart. Resolve yourself and accept the consequences,” Eminent Jiguang said.

Suishen Yao followed her aunt outside and suddenly said, ”Auntie, I plan to say that I willingly did it.”

”Didn’t he ask you to put the blame on him?”

”He did, but if I do that, it’ll be much harder for him to return to Myriadpath Valley in the future.”

Eminent Jiguang silently pondered the matter and agreed. She could only nod and offer her support as the two walked to face their fate.

Just as Eminent Ranxing was about to lash out, much to the building anticipation of Eminent Jinying and the others, two figures emerged from the eerie fog around Jiguang Sea.

”What’re they acting up for? They still had to come out at the end of the day,” Eminent Jinying said, raising her eyebrow at her son and smiling.

Suishen Yue shrugged with some glee. Everyone knew that Suishen Yao coming out meant she had given up on challenging Yumo Xue for first place.

”This isn’t a bad thing, either.”

”Just wrap up the marriage so our house will no longer be the subject of gossip.”

”Young people should just listen to their elders.”

As the seniors chattered on, Eminent Jiguang and Suishen Yao calmly stood before Eminent Ranxing and looked into his eyes.

”Stop messing around and act according to your station. It’s time for you to dress up,” Eminent Ranxing said, glaring at his daughter. He didn’t even want to say anything to his sister.

But as he was turning to leave, he felt that something was off. He snapped his head around and glared at Suishen Yao once more. All of a sudden, astral fire burst forth from his body. Immense power and pressure filled the surroundings, causing the unprepared youths like Suishen Zhao to fly off and slam into the walls of Suishen Cave, coughing up blood from their injuries. Eminent Ranxing’s primal rage was clear for all to see!