Beastmaster of the Ages

Yumo Qiangming looked his father in the eye before taking a deep breath and telling the crowd about what he had witnessed, from entering the monochrome sphere to running into the Mistrunner. He recounted quite a lot of details about the sphere.

”All in all, I can be certain that it’s a fortuna-class divine astralship that was constructed back in the days before the Yin-Yang World’s fortuna-class world collapsed!

All the seniors’ expressions shifted when they heard what he had to say. They turned to Eminent Diyan and the senior madame and waited to hear what they had to say.

”Did anyone else learn about it apart from you and the Mistrunner?” the old crone asked in a hoarse voice.

Yumo Qiangming shook his head. ”I’m not sure, but I can be certain that the object didn’t remain for long. After it vanished, only I and the Mistrunner were left. The mistrunner must be some native of the Yin-Yang World that everyone keeps talking about who exclusively attacks us from House Yumo!”

”Yes,” the old crone said with a nod.

Eminent Diyan said in a low voice, ”Mother, not even the valley lord has obtained the legacy core of the Grand Myriadpath Ruins. If House Yumo manages to gain control of a fortuna-class astralship, we’ll have a huge edge!”

”The valley lord doesn’t have the Grand Myriadpath Ruins’ core?” It was the first time Yumo Qiangming had heard about that and it left him stupefied.

”Do not spread that around, understood?!” Eminent Diyan snapped.

”Yes....” Yumo Qiangming’s heart was pounding. He had always wondered why the valley lord didn’t just kill his predecessor, but instead chose to slowly torture him. So that was the reason! As long as the previous valley lord didn’t hand over the Grand Myriadpath Ruins’ core, things would be troublesome. That was why he was kept bound there.

”How stubborn of him! After all these years, House Qingchuan’s members have mostly been tortured to the brink of extinction by House Qitian, yet the previous lord still won’t give up? What’s left for him to hold on for? Is he still against House Yumo for using starblood? Does he even have the power to care?” Yumo Qiangming smirked. Who would the previous valley lord hand the core to apart from the Three Exalted Houses?

It had always been customary that the valley lord would control the Grand Myriadpath Ruins and Myriadpath Celestial Formation. With the Three Exalted Houses united, they wouldn’t let any outsider claim control over those things and become the valley lord.

”Even though a fortuna-class ship isn’t useful in the immediate present, it’s something we can’t lack when the time comes. It might even be able to pose a threat to the entire valley!” Eminent Diyan said. The other elites who were present also knew that full well. In fact, something like that could even threaten the Myriadpath Celestial Formation and unbalance the Three Exalted Houses.

”If we get it, we don’t necessarily have to use it. Merely possessing it is enough to strike fear in others! Most crucially, not even House Qitian has a trump card of that caliber! Even though the wealth of Myriadpath Valley’s always been shared between the Three Exalted Houses, we’d be able to properly tip the scales if we had an astralship of that caliber. We’d no longer have to be three joint masters with the other houses. We can be the master and the other two houses can be our servants!”

Though there would no longer be a perfect balance of power, that power structure wouldn’t necessarily be worse. In fact, power would be better consolidated under House Yumo. The Yumo elites yearned for that far too much. They didn’t want to eliminate House Suishen and House Qitian, only subdue them to prop themselves up to the point that not even if the two houses combined would they be able to rival them!

A single fortuna-class ship would be enough to cause such a commotion. It would also help stabilize the new one-master-two-servant relations of the Three Exalted Houses.

”What do you think, Mother?” Eminent Diyan asked. Everyone turned and looked at the senior madame.

Desire flashed across the old crone’s eyes. ”What’re you standing around for? Go! Everyone, go!” She even immediately made a move herself.

”Wow, even the senior madame is going.”

House Yumo had truly reached a pivot in their destiny.

”Let’s go!” All nine elites immediately left as well.

***

”What? A terrifying old person that looks like the valley lord came in? You’re also saying there’s a group of House Yumo elites who’re all minor zenith and above?” Tianming had just heard Yin Chen’s updates.

”The valley lord must’ve come because of Qitian Muchen, while the Yumos must be here for the fortuna-class ship! They’re all really powerful. Yin Chen won’t be able to properly keep track of them, so I have to be really careful. I can’t afford to let them sneak up on me after they elude its surveillance.”

Tianming was in even more danger than before. To ensure his safety, he sent out ninety percent of all the Yin Chens he had to make sure there were no blind spots in his surveillance. That was the best way he could think of to protect himself while those top elites were in the Yin-Yang World.

”I’m a little too close to them and I can’t afford to mess up.” The entire group was made up of eminents, people who were truly at the pinnacle of Myriadpath Valley and the astralscape of order as a whole. If Tianming were stronger, he would jump at this chance to kill them.

But for now, he would tone down on hunting Yumos and focus more on obtaining baleflame and gaining insight from the monochrome planet order. His time in the Yin-Yang World was far less turbulent than before. When he got deep into cultivation, time rapidly passed. When he entered the monochrome planet order, an entire year passed in a flash. At the Foundation stage, a thousand years in cultivation wouldn’t feel like much time at all.

”Even though others are a few hundred times my age despite only being at the same level I’m at now, I wouldn’t have reached this point without all these resources. My talent’s only a few times theirs, not a hundred times!” The path of cultivation was difficult indeed, and Tianming was already a hundred years old.

Eventually, ten years passed in a flash. Not only did the number of Yumos in the Yin-Yang World not fall, but it had actually increased over that time! All those eminents who were minor zenith and above—including Eminent Diyan and the senior madame—hadn’t left since coming to the Yin-Yang World. They ventured deep into the Inner Yin, where Yin Chen dared not tread, to look for the sphere.

As for the valley lord, Tianming didn’t have any idea where he was soon after he entered the Yin-Yang World. Perhaps he was looking for the so-called natives. There was also a chance that he had left after eight years of investigation that led nowhere.