Beastmaster of the Ages

However, most people couldn’t imagine that day coming. All they could focus on was the miracle in the present day. The many elites of Myriadpath Valley continued to discuss what Suishen Jiguang had just told them.

”Eminent Jiguang, please protect Pathkeeper Li and let him grow in peace.”

”I’d like to see this genius break through the limits of the Foundation stage and bring Myriadpath Valley into a new era of prosperity.”

”Li Tianming, what a wonderful name! He truly is destiny itself!”

Many people were absolutely certain that Tianming would take over as valley lord if Suishen Jiguang managed to serve as the next valley lord. In fact, if they could take down Qitian Xiao, all they would need was for her to serve as acting valley lord as Tianming continued improving. He might just become the youngest valley lord in the history of Myriadpath Valley.

Either way, the cultivators were far more confident in him than they were in Suishen Jiguang—not only because of his talent, but because he was from an outer mundus and surnamed Li, not Qitian, Yumo, or Suishen! Deep in their hearts, Myriadpath Valley no longer belonged to the Three Exalted Houses. Everyone, no matter their surname, would be able to participate in it in the truest sense.

But whether or not that would come to pass was difficult to say for certain. Defeating ninth-level eminents was one thing, but it was still far from being a super-zenith foundationeer. There were many other eminents who were tenth level and above.

”Talent alone isn’t enough to grant one control over Myriadpath Valley. They also need overwhelming power to be able to stabilize it in its current state! Let’s see what Pathkeeper Li does from now on!”

”Hopefully, Eminent Jiguang will be able to protect him.”

Wings of hope sprouted in everyone’s hearts. Even though the battle still hadn’t completely cleared up, the two million cultivators of Myriadpath Valley were optimistic about their future.

As for the Three Exalted Houses, they felt completely different about the shocking revelation. It went without saying that those in Qitian Cave felt even more down than before. The Qitians had already fallen to the lowest abyss, only to hear about Tianming taking flight. The revelation almost drove them to finish their live burial themselves as despair completely filled Qitian Cave.

As for House Yumo, the specters led by Yumo Diyan and Yumo Dinai were snapped out of their victory celebration after having unleashed their deep-seated vengeance.

”While House Suishen has four major-zenith foundationeers and is the most powerful faction, they don’t have enough might to swallow up Houses Yumo and Qitian. Though their positions might have changed, the exalted houses still remain three. But if Li Tianming’s allowed to continue growing, there might only be one left in the future.”

A cold glint flashed across Yumo Dinai’s eyes. ”We just crippled a powerful tyrant, only to discover that the true monster still lays dormant in Suishen Cave....”

Yumo Diyan wasn’t afraid of Suishen Jiguang, no matter how stunning she had shown herself to be. However, he felt true fear at the mere notion of someone who could kill an eminent not long after his hundredth birthday. The two exchanged quiet glances.

”Do you think there’s a chance for us to work together with House Qitian for the sake of our survival?” Yumo Dinai couldn’t even believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. ”After all, we’ve had our revenge and vented our frustrations. If House Qitian doesn’t mind, we can work together to take on that monster and settle our differences afterward!”

”You still want to fight it out with them after all that? If we keep going, the Three Exalted Houses will be no more. The ruling houses will have completely different surnames,” Yumo Diyan said.

After achieving their revenge, everything else felt hollow. Yumo Diyan’s eyes were filled with deep worry. A monster like Tianming had no doubt instilled fear in him as well. Back then, House Qitian had been seen as a monster only due to their claim that they had the Yin-Yang World’s legacy. However, House Suishen’s living monster was no mere claim; it was the cold, hard truth.

”Then let me know what your plan is. It took that brat only decades to rise from the top of the Fortuna Ranking to killing a ninth-level foundationeer. Every day he lives is a day we’re haunted by nightmares.”

Yumo Dinai had some kind of understanding of Tianming. He firmly believed that no outer mundi cultivator would be okay with House Yumo’s past production of starblood, especially not when they took the reins of power. If he’d known that Tianming had been behind the deaths of twenty of their eminents as well, he would no doubt be utterly stupefied.

Yumo Diyan pondered in silence for a while. ”Did you see the look on Suishen Ranxing’s face?”

”What?”

”He’s holding back,” Yumo Diyan said, ”I noticed how uncomfortable he was when Suishen Xiyue came up to defend his sister and I’ve been paying attention to him the whole time since. When he heard about Li Tainming, I saw killing intent flash across his eyes for a moment!”

Yumo Dinai turned to look at Suishen Ranxing, who didn’t seem to have much of a presence in the crowd, despite being the leader of House Suishen. He should have been the most glorious of all of them. Even though he seemed normal and even merrily chatted with the others around him, Yumo Dinai could tell how unhappy he seemed.

”Are you saying that he feels like Li Tianming and Suishen Jiguang will be a threat to his position?” Yumo Dinai asked.

”He’s a rather conceited person with a strong obsession for control. Not to mention, he also has a bad history with Li Tianming. Do you remember when he declared the child the top fugitive of Myriadpath Valley?

”Not to mention, he has to deal with his sister’s rising reputation and achievements. His marital affairs are also in shambles, with his wife obviously completely estranged from him. I believe that he, just like his brother, had been left out of the planning of everything that went down today. He’s no doubt seething over it!” Yumo Diyan said.

”I guess all we have to do to find out is to get that lover of his to look into it. If we have a chance, we, Suishen Ranxing, and the Qitians, all of us who are wary of Pathkeeper Li, should put aside our conflicts and work together to deal with the monster. There’s no way we can rest easy with him around,” Yumo Dinai said, his brows deeply furrowed.

Tianming had tried his best to prevent himself from revealing his true power in the first place because he knew it would cause many to consider him a serious threat.

Yumo Diyan’s gaze grew even more grim as he thought about the white-haired youth. ”Do you see it? Cultivators who aren’t from the Three Exalted Houses talk about Li Tianming with a worshipful tone. It’s clear that they consider him their hope for the future, their representative. It’s a really dire situation for the Three Exalted Houses!

”All House Qitian planned to do to us was make us their dogs. However, if Li Tianming rises to power, the Three Exalted Houses would be nothing but tools for him! He might even seek to wipe House Yumo out!

”I believe the only ones protecting him are Suishen Jiguang and Suishen Xiyue. Suishen Ranxing definitely wants to get rid of him. That kid’s at least a dozen times more dangerous than the valley lord. Even though Suishen Hongtian was a fool, he still rendered great merit by forcing that kid to expose himself! I trust that all of us—Suishen Ranxing and the Qitians included—will finally realize that the Three Exalted Houses are at the brink of extinction.”

Things could no longer be the same as before. Before the battle, Houses Suishen and Yumo worked together against House Qitian while the unaffiliated two million cultivators watched from the sidelines. But now, the Three Exalted Houses were staring down against Suishen Jiguang, Suishen Xiyue, two million regular cultivators, and the dormant monster they supported.