Beastmaster of the Ages

”Suishen Hongtian! If you don’t turn back now, House Suishen will never forgive you!” The old patriarch was so angry that he coughed out blood, but he had no choice and had to block Qitian Muyue.

Suishen Hongtian didn’t even look at his father. Since he had chosen the path he believed was right, he would never turn back until he reached the end, no matter what.

With House Suishen’s eminents joining the fray, the tide finally turned against House Qitian. However, House Qitian kept their cool and continued their organized retreat, keeping losses to a minimum.

“Suishen Hongtian, come help me kill Yumo Diyan!” Hearing the valley lord’s call, Suishen Hongtian immediately broke free from three minor-zenith cultivators of House Yumo. He wielded his Grandsource Imperial Seal and carved out a bloody path to the most intense part of the battlefield.

Even the tensource beast was in the battlefield. Its body was wreathed in a black poisonous mist, clearly still afflicted by the poison; otherwise, why would the silver-haired valley lord need both the tensource beast and Suishen Hongtian’s help to kill one specter?

“As long as we heavily injure or kill Yumo Diyan, House Yumo will collapse!” That was the very strength House Qitian relied on, the power of peak cultivators to dominate the overall picture. And with Suishen Hongtian’s support, they now had an extra major-zenith combatant to gang up on Yumo Diyan.

”Kill Yumo Diyan, destroy House Yumo, then subdue House Suishen and kill Suishen Ranxing! After that, regardless of what I’ve done, my father will beg me to take control!” Suishen Hongtian muttered.

Why? It was because the old patriarch would eventually pass, and House Suishen would need a major-zenith foundationeer to lead it. He had never felt so important. In that moment, he alone could decide the future of the Three Exalted Houses. Whoever he stood with would hold the advantage.

”This is the might of a major-zenith foundationeer! Old man, you supported my younger brother at every turn, but know that I, Suishen Hongtian, was the first of your sons to reach the major zenith!”

Filled with boundless resentment, Suishen Hongtian fixed his gaze on Yumo Diyan. House Qitian’s victory depended on taking him down. Just as Suishen Hongtian was about to reach his target, the valley lord coldly smiled.

It would be no easy task for Suishen Ranxing and the old patriarch to defeat their opponents, and Yumo Diyan and Qitian Baba were almost evenly matched. The specter was in grave danger as Suishen Hongtian’s laughter reverberated across the battlefield.

But just as Suishen Hongtian felt like he was about to experience his greatest triumph, a scream pierced his eardrums.

“Husband, save me!!” The voice of the gut-wrenching scream was unmistakably familiar.

Suishen Hongtian froze for a moment. In the chaotic tempest of the battlefield, he stopped and looked back in astonishment, just in time to see a woman in golden robes scream in agony as she was cleaved in two. The golden-robed woman’s face twisted with terror and despair, and her eyes were filled with hopelessness as she looked at him.

She was none other than his wife, Eminent Jinying.

As her body was torn apart, a woman in a crimson dress, wielding a two-meter-long blazing broadsword, relentlessly hacked at her cosmic charts and soul to finish the job.

Eminent Jinying was dead.

“The Onyx Furnace!” Suishen Hongtian’s eyes turned blood-red, staring at the weapon in the woman’s hand. The Onyx Furnace was only a low-maniverse-class artifact, inferior to Hongtian’s Grandsource Imperial Seal, a mid-maniverse-class artifact, in every way. But it was that artifact that had taken his woman from him.

“Suishen Xiyue...” Suishen Hongtian called out the name of the Onyx Furnace’s owner. The crimson-haired woman wielding the imposing broadsword was the old patriarch’s second daughter-in-law... and she had decisively killed his wife in the heat of battle.

There had been discord between the two women for thousands of years. However, the real reason Suishen Xiyue had chosen to kill her now was because she had helped orchestrate the kidnapping of Suishen Yao, Suishen Zhao, and the others.

Suishen Xiyue’s crimson eyes cut through the battlefield, locking on to Suishen Hongtian. She gestured at him with a slight crook of her finger and coldly taunted, “You’re both spineless traitors to House Suishen and your ancestors. I killed your wife and you’ve got no response?”

Her words set Suishen Hongtian’s eyes blazing with fury. His son was gone, and now his wife was dead, too! He was utterly alone.

Suishen Xiyue’s disdainful gaze struck his pride. He forgot all about the valley lord’s orders, his mind consumed with bloodlust and a single thought: kill Suishen Xiyue!

“You’re dead!!” he roared, tearing through the crowd with his Grandsource Imperial Seal as he advanced on Suishen Xiyue.

He noticed a woman with white armor and pink hair, holding a slender curved blade with an icy coldness that was the complete opposite of the Onyx Furnace beside her. It was Suishen Jiguang, with her Arctic Crescent.

No one had paid any mind to the two resilient women from House Suishen in the chaotic battlefield. Seeing them together set a vicious fire alight in Suishen Hongtian’s eyes.

For Suishen Jiguang, not only had her eldest brother betrayed House Suishen and kidnapped Suishen Xiyue’s children, but the incident in the Yin-Yang World had left a permanent scar in her heart. Even though she had ultimately escaped, the memory haunted her to that day.

The two women had orchestrated this chaos to have a solid, indisputable reason, backed by evidence, to kill Suishen Hongtian and cleanse House Suishen! As long as he lived, House Suishen would remain divided.

“Haha... walking right into hell itself, are you? Two minor-zenith cultivators practically begging to die in front of me. If the tiger doesn’t show its majesty, it seems you’ll think I’m a harmless cat...?” Suishen Hongtian sneered and bore down upon them.

“Oh? Wasn’t it just ten years ago that you attacked me in the Inner Yin?” Suishen Jiguang coldly replied, recalling that day as the Arctic Moon Crescent trembled in her grip.

“Oh, really? Have you already forgotten the terror of being under my power, Little Jiguang?” Suishen Hongtian considered that failure an embarrassment. If he ever hoped to rule House Suishen, his sister had to die! As for Suishen Xiyue, in his eyes, she was already as good as dead.

Up until that moment, Suishen Hongtian wore an expression of absolute confidence, as though he held their lives in his hand. No one could break free to stop him from killing the two women!

Under his oppressive assault, Suishen Xiyue laughed and looked at Suishen Hongtian with pity. Her crimson lips parted and she coldly said, “It seems you still haven’t heard that Suishen Jinxuan and the others failed and were captured. Your plan failed, understand?”

“What?!” For the third time that day, Suishen Hongtian felt his heart shatter!

The first was when the valley lord had been exposed, yet he still chose to risk it all.

The second was when his wife died, pushing him to revenge.

And the third was when the hostage plot failed!

Without that, the House Qitian would find it nearly impossible to control House Suishen and he would have no hope of taking control in the short run, unless he could kill his brother very soon.

However, the setbacks weren’t enough to crush Suishen Hongtian. The truly fatal blow came when he reached the two women.