Beastmaster of the Ages

Every one of those outer mundi geniuses would eventually become a member of Myriadpath Valley. It was a tradition that had been passed on for tens of millions of years, and the fact that the Three Exalted Houses’ rule over Myriadpath Valley had remained stable throughout was proof of its correctness.

The senior madame’s gaze cooled at that point. She took a deep breath and continued, ”However, the Myriadpath Sacred Codex doesn’t apply to what’s in the Yin-Yang World. As the two exalted houses that made new discoveries, isn’t it up to us to decide how we should deal with the legacies we’ve found here? House Suishen didn’t contribute anything to the discoveries, so why should they deserve a share?”

The valley lord sternly asked, ”Are you saying that we should leave House Suishen out when we distribute what we find here?”

The senior madame resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Wasn’t that what he had been hinting at all along? ”I’m merely thinking about it from our point of view. In my opinion, House Suishen’s already lost the essence of being one of the Three Exalted Houses across the tens of millions of years. There are many among them who are starting to be anti-starblood. That’s a sign that they’ve forgotten the core essence of being one of us. We are the rulers of the Million Mundi, and we do not do that for free!”

”Hmmm.” The valley lord nodded in seeming agreement.

”Valley Lord, if my words make sense, we should start with this black-and-white formation core. Everything else can be distributed according to the Myriadpath Sacred Codex, but our two houses alone should inherit this formation core. Everything in the Yin-Yang World is sealed within this astralship, anyway. This way, we can ensure that only descendants of House Qitian and House Yumo can enter it, can’t we?”

Everyone in the dark hall fell silent. House Yumo seemed a bit desperate to rush things so that they could obtain one of the formation core’s components before anything else could derail them. Not to mention, the storm outside was growing even stronger.

Additionally, they wanted to know what House Qitian thought of their proposition. If they decided to allocate the legacies of the Yin-Yang World according to the Myriadpath Sacred Codex, even normal disciples that weren’t from the Three Exalted Houses would have a share in it. House Yumo wouldn’t have gained anything significant from it at all.

But if they allocated them to all of the Three Exalted Houses, their might would grow even further, which would cause the other cultivators in Myriadpath Valley to despair. It would also mean that none of the houses would have an edge over the others.

Since House Yumo could no longer monopolize the legacies for themselves, splitting it with House Qitian was still something they could accept. Even if they would still be on the same level as House Qitian, they’d at least stand a chance of outgrowing House Suishen.

The balance within the Three Exalted Houses and between them and the other cultivators of Myriadpath Valley was something that was built upon the Myriadpath Sacred Codex. But if a new precedent was set that allowed certain factions to outpace others, it would in turn stimulate everyone’s ambitions. It was House Suishen’s own fault for not being present during such a discovery.

The nine specters of House Yumo weren’t worried about the valley lord disagreeing at all, since he was the one who led the conversation in that direction. They were already getting ready to assimilate their share of the formation core to seal the deal.

After some ’deep contemplation’, the valley lord sighed and said, ”What you say does make sense. Let’s do it as a temporary measure, then!”

Just like that, House Suishen had been excluded for the first time since House Qingchuan was stripped of its position as the fourth exalted house.

Tianming was stunned when Yin Chen described it all to him. Even though Eminent Jiguang was beside him, there was no point in telling her about it since charging in would be suicide. House Yumo only had the right to discuss sharing with House Qitian because they had numbers on their side. If the senior madame had been alone, she would have ended up as a corpse long ago. The treasures were simply far too tempting.

At that point, Houses Yumo and Qitian had reached an initial understanding. The formation core wouldn’t be split according to the Myriadpath Sacred Codex! As long as it existed, the two houses would have access to far more, even if they each only possessed half of the core.

”Little Meng, go ahead,” the valley lord said.

”Valley Lord, you go, too.”

The two of them approached the flower side by side. The valley lord stood on the side of the white flower while the senior madame took the side of the black flower, each one reflecting qualities that suited the assimilation candidates. The righteous aura of the white part of the flower blended well with the valley lord’s image, while the senior madame found comfort in the dark powers of the black part of the flower.

She was as vile as if she had just crawled out from the maws of hell. The countless baleful souls trapped in her body had endured torture for the longest time, having met their doom thousands of years ago. They had already lost hope of waiting for the senior madame to die of old age.

All nine specters of House Yumo were anxious at the prospect of making a deal with the valley lord. Despite their superior numbers, it was far from certain that they could win in a contest of pure might. Any hope of stealing the entire formation core for themselves had been lost the moment the valley lord had shown himself.

The senior madame and valley lord each touched their part of the flower. That instant, their eyes glowed bright as starlight poured out from their bodies while the divine celestial patterns of the flower flowed into them! The flower, even as small as it was, contained trillions of individual patterns. Like divine wonders, the patterns were inscribed on the surfaces of their astrons, making their bodies the nuclei of the formation.

As the senior madame had maintained her skyghoul transformation, she seemed much larger than the valley lord. Like a hellish banshee with twilight-yellow hair, her appearance perfectly matched the dark stream that flowed into her.

The valley lord, on the other hand, hovered like a righteous immortal saint as he gently fused with the stream of white celestial patterns. He seemed completely ethereal and out of this world. The two were polar opposites of each other.

”I didn’t think the formation core’s parts would complement both of them so well! Heavens bless Myriadpath Valley!” Yumo Diyan exclaimed. The senior madame had privately told him that she would pass the black flower to him once they went back, not that he was anxious to get his hands on it anyway. Anything that was House Yumo’s would eventually be his.

”It’d be more apt to say that the heavens bless our two houses. This has nothing to do with House Suishen or the other cultivators of Myriadpath Valley,” Qitian Muyu said, elegantly fanning himself as he smiled. He and his father’s auras did strongly contrast against those of the specters they were with.

”Indeed....”

The other eight specters could finally relax, now that they had secured their share of the legacy. They began hoping for the future. Having lost twenty eminents, the Hellfiend, and the Yumo Blood Crucible, they had suffered a series of huge setbacks. Not to mention, they had also lost a few major pathkeepers in the Yin-Yang World. They had practically let House Suishen rise above them without lifting a hand. Falling from first place to third place had greatly affected their morale.