Beastmaster of the Ages

As the princess of Myriadpath Valley in all but name, Qitian Muyue’s appearance was unparalleled.

Unlike House Suishen, which had an array of eye-catching beauties, House Qitian’s women exuded a serene, elegant temperament. While they might not seem striking at first glance, their understated beauty grew increasingly captivating over time, evoking a strong desire to conquer them.

And Qitian Muyue was undoubtedly among the finest of them.

While Yumo Dinai had already succumbed to hopelessness, she made a shocking decision. She clenched her teeth and slowly knelt before Tianming. Her reddened eyes were brimming with tears as she said in a trembling, pitiful voice, ”Their words earlier mean nothing. But I hold authority within House Qitian. Please listen to what I have to say!”

A proud major-zenith House Qitian cultivator kneeling? Tianming faintly smirked and asked, ”What do you want to say?”

Biting her lip hard, Qitian Muyue could hardly believe she was enduring such humiliation. For someone as prideful as her, it was utterly intolerable. But her fear of Tianming overwhelmed her dignity, forcing her to bow her head and kowtow to him. With utmost sincerity, she declared, ”Master! Qitian Muyue is willing to die in service to you!”

“Hahaha!” Tianming couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Seeing that proud princess kneeling and calling him master was undeniably satisfying. That was the allure of power. No matter how lofty or aloof someone seemed, they would inevitably bow before the shadow of death. Unless Qitian Muyue wanted to end up in the Yumo Blood Crucible like her fellow house members, that was her only choice.

”Qitian Muyue, have you gone mad, yielding without a fight? Where’s your dignity as a pillar of House Qitian? With one action, you’ve trampled over the glory of your ancestors!” Yumo Dinai roared, his face contorted with rage as he hysterically screamed.

Qitian Muyue trembled, but remained prostrate, tears streaming down her face without lifting her head.

Yumo Dinai was struck as if by lightning. Qitian Muyue’s surrender had plunged him further into despair. He had still held hopes to possibly take Tianming’s relatives hostage, but now he would have to face Suishen Jiguang, Suishen Xiyue... and also Li Tianming, who outmatched even the valley lord.

In a desperate bid for survival, he clenched his teeth and fell to his knees as well. He pathetically cried out, ”This lowly dog, Dinai, is also willing to die for the master! I’ll follow you to slaughter every last member of House Yumo.... Just spare my life!”

”Aren’t you also a Yumo?” Tianming asked.

”No!” He raised his head, fearfully glancing at the Yumo Blood Crucible. ”I bear the surname Li! I’m merely a loyal dog of the master. Whoever you command me to bite, I’ll bite! Upon returning to Myriadpath Valley, I’ll even kill my wife and children to prove my loyalty!”

He prostrated himself even lower than Qitian Muyue. He was even able to wag his cow tail like a dog.

The scene left the two Suishen women utterly astounded. Their gazes toward the young man had entirely transformed. Where they had once regarded him as a junior, a sense of awe now surged within them, as if they were looking up at him.

He had crushed his opponents’ will to fight without even fighting them. If he had simply defeated and killed them, it wouldn’t have evoked the same profound shock.

For a moment, the desert was only filled with the sound of Qitian Muyue’s falling tears and Dinai’s pitiful pleas. The latter even convincingly imitated a dog’s barking.

Unfortunately, his starblood was too thick and revealed the countless agonized souls trapped within him. As he barked like a dog, the cries of despair and anguish from those countless souls filled the air. The spirits were keenly aware of what was happening outside, and they desperately pleaded with Tianming.

”Please kill him! We beg you!” They wept, wailed, and mourned.

”Give us a chance to be free....”

”Kill him, won’t you? We can’t endure this torment for another moment.”

They had once been living beings, with emotions, souls, growth, aspirations, loved ones, and stories. They weren’t mere dust. To Tianming, no matter how powerful Yumo Dinai might be, he was of equal value to each of those people.

His eyes blazed, unwavering in their resolve. From on high, he gazed down at Yumo Dinai and pronounced his judgment.

”Yumo Dinai! I, Li Tianming, have no right to forgive you on behalf of your victims.”

A chill ran down the specter’s spine and he abruptly rose, his bloodshot eyes staring at Tianming as he roared, ”They’re nothing but specks of dust in the cosmos, with lifespans of less than a century! How are they different from mayflies that live and die within a day? I, Yumo Dinai, am at the major zenith and can singlehandedly command the Million Mundi! How could someone like you, who stands above all, be unable to distinguish between the noble and the lowly?”

Tianming quietly listened, then shook his head. What point was there in discussing his principles with such a man? He softly, but resolutely said, ”Sorry, but I, too, once had less than a lifespan of a hundred years.”

That single statement laid bare the chasm between them.

Tianming had risen from the mortal dust. No matter how far he climbed, in his heart, he would always remain that young boy of the Flameyellow Continent’s Theocracy of the Ancient’s Grand-Orient Realm’s Vermilion Bird Kingdom who had once lost his lifebound beast.

How could he possibly agree with Yumo Dinai’s belief that some lives were intrinsically worth more or less?

He said no more. At that moment, he swung the Grand-Orient Sword and his divine might fell once more. ”Die!”

Against a major-zenith opponent, he unleashed his full power. The grand lexicon wonder and decapath era godswords manifested, all the powers available to him joining together. The second fold of the Greatsun Suishen Art, Flood!

”No!” Yumo Dinai roared, desperately resisting. But when Tianming’s devastating sword, as radiant as a sun-swallowing starry river, swept past, the so-called strongest specter body was utterly shattered.

With his final, despairing screams, Tianming hurled Yumo Dinai’s remains into the Yumo Blood Crucible before sealing its lid once more.

Thus, a major-zenith cultivator of House Yumo fell in the ‘countryside’ of the astralscape.

”Master!” Qitian Muyue prostrated herself at Tianming’s feet while uncontrollably shivering like a half-drowned dog.