Beastmaster of the Ages

”Alright, we’ll get his lover to ask about what he thinks. As for House Qitian, we don’t even need to talk to them. They already want Li Tianming dead! Before he reached the Foundation stage, people were already paying close attention to his growth, but they all forgot because of the Yin-Yang World. Not even the valley lord expected him to be such an aberration, or he would’ve already had him killed,” Yumo Diyan said.

”I thought of something!” Yumo Dinai suddenly said.

”What?”

”The valley lord can probably find Li Tianming’s home using the Myriadpath Celestial Formation!”

”That’s right...! The valley lord neglected to pay attention to him back then because he was only a fortuna disciple. However, he’s outed himself as a complete monster!” Yumo Diyan squinted before suddenly breaking into a laugh. ”Life is truly interesting. A day ago, I couldn’t see the valley lord as anything other than my nemesis, but now I’m even considering working with him....”

”Who cares? His tensource beast is dead and the senior madame is at peace now. We’ve done our parts as her juniors,” Yumo Dinai said.

”That’s right.” Yumo Diyan looked at Suishen Jiguang one last time. ”We and House Qitian have suffered heavy losses. House Suishen, on the other hand, rose to the top. But think about it... won’t all three houses reach parity once more if Suishen Jiguang, Suishen Xiyue, and Li Tianming die?”

”That’s right! The Three Exalted Houses only work if all three are equal. House Qitian’s ambitions were too large and they suffered a huge loss as a result. It’s House Suishen’s turn next! Those two dogshit human factions keep pushing us down to get to the top like we’re animals! To fix that, the number of eminents and major-zenith foundationeers that exceed ours have to go. We also have to deal with that outsider with a different surname!” Yumo Dinai said.

”That’s right! Even though the Three Exalted Houses have been weakened, at the very least, none of us will have any capacity left to fight each other. All we can do would be to lick our wounds and take a long time to reflect while things return to normal in Myriadpath Valley.” That was Yumo Diyan’s goal, a goal that he couldn’t have set if his vengeance hadn’t been achieved yet.

”Let’s go!” Yumo Diyan ordered House Yumo to return to their base.

***

The battle at the Progenitor’s Altar came to an end when each of the Three Exalted Houses went their own way. The eminents and reverends who weren’t from those houses also left as they continued to talk about what had happened.

In the short term, it was unlikely that the Three Exalted Houses would start fighting each other. As such, Myriadpath Valley—which had been shut tight for the past decade—opened up once more. People began going back to the Ascension Colosseum.

After ten years of lockdown, cultivators couldn’t wait to return to the Heavensource Starriver, the Grand Myriadpath Ruins, and the myriadpath steles. When people met up, they didn’t talk about the death of the tensource beast, but Tianming! It was a testament to how many people were holding him out as their hope for the future.

It only took one day for the mood in Myriadpath Valley to change for good. Even though true peace had yet to arrive, people still felt stronger for having survived the first battles.

Among House Suishen’s procession back to Suishen Cave, the old patriarch and Suishen Ranxing walked at the very end of the group. The two of them wordlessly watched the thousand elites of House Suishen in front of them. It had been a truly tiring Ancestral Worship Ceremony for all of them. People were happy with how things turned out and nobody cared about Suishen Hongtian’s death; he had truly become an eternal laughingstock.

”Anything on your mind?” The old patriarch finally broke the long silence.

”On my mind?” Suishen Ranxing’s face immediately darkened. ”Don’t you know what it means for someone to kill an eminent at around a hundred years old?”

”Of course I do,” the old patriarch said as he sighed.

”Putting other things aside, I can see the desire and ambition in Li Tianming’s eyes. If he’s really elevated to that position, everything in Myriadpath Valley will be reshuffled. He’s the biggest threat to the Three Exalted Houses ever.”

”If we use him well, House Suishen will rise to the top and subdue Houses Yumo and Qitian both.”

”Stop daydreaming. By then, the Three Exalted Houses will no longer rule Myriadpath Valley. House Li will,” Suishen Ranxing said.

”I’m not daydreaming. No matter how powerful he becomes, he’s only one person. In ten thousand years, he will perish. We still have Yaoyao, too. All we have to do is to treat his descendants well in the future. They’ll carry the Suishen bloodline, anyway. When the sun sets on him, what he leaves behind will belong to House Suishen.

”I really believe he can help us achieve what House Qitian failed to do. We’ll truly be the sole ruling house in the center of the astralscape. With your sister and niece around, he can truly become a part of House Suishen.”

Suishen Ranxing’s rage grew when he heard his father’s words. ”Are you really trying to get him to secure our eternal reign using women? Has House Suishen fallen so low as to resort to that? Not to mention, his children will carry the Li surname. What say would the Suishens have?”

”It doesn’t matter what their surname is, as long as our bloodline survives,” the old patriarch weakly said.

”Dad! You’ve really gone senile. House Qitian was tempted by that very thing and forgot their roots. Can’t you see how far they’ve fallen? Li Tianming is the very same kind of temptation. You are basically retreading the failed path that House Qitian took! I know that your name sounds similar to Qitian Xiao’s, Suishen Xiao, but don’t tell me that you’re just as foolish as he is!

”Don’t you know why Myriadpath Valley has been ruled by the Three Exalted Houses for so long? There’s a core tenet that our ancestors passed down! Any house that tries to rule over the others will fail! My wife and sister have been brainwashed by temptation and they’re going to do what Qitian Xiao did! Are you also as deluded as they are?!”

The old patriarch felt hammered by those words.

”Once we return, go to Suishen Ancestral Hall and face the souls of our ancestors. Talk to them. See how laughable they’ll find it when they hear your plans. Are you really going to be more foolish than Qitian Xiao and repeat his mistake? Taking in someone with a foreign surname? Can you really live up to our ancestors’ expectations?!” Suishen Ranxing said, his eyes bloodshot.

The old patriarch deeply sighed and nodded. ”I know, I’ve let it get to my head. That child does have great ambition. Who knows what he’ll turn Myriadpath Valley into in ten thousand years? His existence is a good thing for the two million cultivators of Myriadpath Valley, but not for the Three Exalted Houses.”

”It’s good that you understand. Do you think Yaoyao alone is enough to keep him in line? If he lives for ten thousand years and has a lot of children, how many do you think will carry the Suishen bloodline? If Myriadpath Valley’s resources are shared with them, what’ll happen to the Three Exalted Houses’ privileges? If I were him, I’d keep pushing us down and monopolize the astralscape of order and form an empire for his descendants that carry the Li surname! What part will the Suishens have in that?!”

Suishen Ranxing clenched his fists tight. ”I expect House Yumo to come to me soon. If I have a chance, I’ll kill that brat to rid ourselves of future worries! As for your daughter, you should talk it out with her. She’s the one who’s in the deepest out of all of us. Her womanly kindness will beget eternal suffering!

”Women should stay in their lane and not have ambitions of power! All we expect is for them to not squander the wealth that our ancestors amassed over tens of millions of years!” At the end of the day, even though Suishen Ranxing had fought House Qitian, it was because the Qitians dared to break the taboo and had to be taught a lesson. With the lesson taught, Suishen Ranxing’s beliefs toward how the three houses should rule didn’t change. ”As long as we’re equal, we’re one!”