Beastmaster of the Ages

”That’s right! Forget Yaoyao for now,” Suishen Cang said. They were trying to give Eminent Ranxing a way to publicly step down from his outrage. Someone who cared so much about his reputation would even go so far as to react to Suishen Yao’s every provocation just to make an example out of her. If he didn’t have a reason to step down, he would have to go through with severe punishment.

As for the matter of holding Tianming responsible, everyone knew that Eminent Ranxing had never truly accepted him. If the brat was there, he wouldn’t even have a chance to explain himself and would be killed on the spot.

”That’s right! Where’s Li Tianming?!”

”Jiguang, get him to come out now!”

The others knew what they had to do to divert attention away from Suishen Yao. Being parents, they knew how bad a fight between a father and daughter could get. Things could turn irreversible.

”Where is he?!” Eminent Ranxing went with the flow and glared at his sister.

”I told him to leave and never return! Did you think I’d let him stay here and let a coward who didn’t even dare to nurture him kill him?!” Suishen Yao snapped. She no longer feared anything and spoke before Eminent Jiguang could say anything. All she wanted to do was end things with her father so people wouldn’t blame her aunt for what happened between her and Tianming. ”You don’t have a right to get mad at Auntie! She didn’t know about our decision. You’ll never be able to find Tianming. All you have here is me. If you want to kill me, do it! I’ve had enough of living!”

”Suishen Jiguang, shut her up!” Suishen Cang said. He was troubled as well; he wasn’t trying to help Tianming, but Suishen Yao. He had watched her grow up, after all. He and his wife made sure to console Eminent Ranxing to keep him in check. ”Eminent Ranxing! That child might not have escaped. We should immediately send people to the Myriadpath Celestial Formation! House Yumo’s tried to look up his background but nothing’s come up yet. If he really isn’t returning, we won’t be able to find him once he’s gone!”

”Such a talented child... and he obtained the legacies of the Greatsun and Pentagram Suishen Steles, as well as ten kegs of springwater. If we let someone like him go while he has a grudge against House Suishen, things could get pretty bad,” Suishen Ling said.

”Fen Nu!” Eminent Ranxing didn’t need them to remind him about it. ”Have the people at the Skyward Grandpath close the exit! Make sure to send people out all over Myriadpath Valley to hunt him down!”

”Yes!” Fen Nu immediately left.

Suishen Yao claimed that he was gone, but they didn’t fully believe her. Either way, they still had to try. Quite a lot of eminents began discussing the matter.

”That child cultivates like a monster. Things will get troublesome now.”

”We still have to go through with it. He benefited from House Suishen’s care, yet he dared to repay Eminent Ranxing with this horrid betrayal. He’s a traitor at his core! We shouldn’t let this go just because of his talent. Forget the fantasy of using him to dominate the other exalted houses. Outsiders will always be outsiders and we can never truly use them for our own ends. I suspect that the great Suishen steles have somehow been mistaken! There’s no way the ancestors would truly acknowledge him!”

”It sounds to me like you want to kill him if you can’t get him. That’ll save us trouble.”

”We should’ve done that long ago! He’s a ticking time bomb!”

”Weren’t you the one who said he was worth nurturing because he obtained the ancestors’ approval?”

”I did, but he’s shown himself to be a traitor before the age of a hundred! The audacity! What happens if he turns around and oppresses us once we raise him up?”

The elders of House Suishen’s opinions toward Tianming almost completely turned around, but Eminent Ranxing had made up his mind long before them. He coldly looked at Suishen Yao and announced, ”Let it be known that Li Tianming shall henceforth be the top fugitive of Myriadpath Valley! He’s to be pursued across the astralscape and his family and friends are to be eradicated along with him! Anyone that captures him or brings his vita to me shall be awarded with a bounty of three kegs of springwater.”

Everyone felt a bit shaken to hear that. Going from being ’Pathkeeper Li’ to public enemy number one was a big deal. He even had a bounty of three kegs of springwater!

”Any disciple or saint in Myriadpath Valley can only dream of having three kegs of springwater! That’s an astronomical amount!”

”Of course. Even eminents would want that, right? Li Tianming’s only able to get ten kegs because of that multiplier after he won first place on the Prehistoric Path.”

”Looks like Eminent Ranxing isn’t worried about the scandal becoming more widespread.”

”What’s to worry about? It already got out anyway. There’s no choice. There’s too many people here to pick up Minor Pathkeeper Suishen Yao for the wedding. The fact that the wedding won’t go through after everyone’s had a year to think about it needs an explanation.”

”We haven’t had a top fugitive for tens of thousands of years, right? Looks like Eminent Ranxing’s serious about killing Li Tianming.”

”Of course! You need the Three Exalted Houses together to declare someone a top fugitive. The other two houses no doubt want Li Tianming dead as well. There’s no way they’ll disagree.”

”Well... how do I put this? He had a great future, but he took a single wrong step and fell into the abyss. It’s such a shame....”

Everyone felt rather pitiful toward Tianming.

”Have there been top fugitives that managed to avoid persecution?”

”Basically none. Three kegs of springwater is too big a bounty. Even outsiders will go wild over it. No doubt, the reges mundi of the Million Mundi will work together to hunt him down.”

”That’s right. Most top fugitives are usually top elites. There’s no way they can keep a low profile and live a hermit life. As long as they show their power, they’ll leave traces. Either that or they die from old age. It won’t end well for them!”

”Not being able to stand out for the rest of your life is also torture in its own right. He’s still young, too. He used to have a bright future ahead of him, but leaving Myriadpath Valley means losing access to all the resources here. He’ll have problems breaking through and can only end up languishing.”

”What a crying shame!”