Beastmaster of the Ages

To kill the body, one must first slay the mind. The Three Exalted Houses might look down on the two million cultivators in Myriadpath Valley, but Tianming trusted their power. The masses were his chance to achieve total domination, and the Three Exalted Houses would be nothing but a husk if they lost their mandate!

Even so, they still stubbornly believed in the innate superiority of their bloodlines, believing that that alone would let them control the Million Mundi, control public discourse, and rewrite history! They didn’t care about public opinion at all, not that it would do them much good even if they did. The reputations of House Yumo and House Qitian were already ruined.

Suishen Ranxing’s scandal would also soon spread and he would be grouped in with the likes of Suishen Hongtian. His complete falling out with his wife and sister—who both stood on Tianming’s side—would send a clear signal to the other cultivators of Myriadpath Valley. They would know who the players struggling for the future reign were.

Before word got out, people still thought that Tianming, Suishen Ranxing, and Eminent Jiguang were on the same side and represented House Suishen. But the truth had just gotten out. As Tianming saved the former valley lord, the people could see him gaining more and more legitimacy.

”I heard the current valley lord didn’t even inherit the Grand Myriadpath Ruins!”

”Historically speaking, a true valley lord controls both the Myriadpath Celestial Formation and the Grand Myriadpath Ruins, right?” ”Did you just arrive? Eminent Jiguang already revealed the truth. The valley lord from House Qitian kept the former valley lord imprisoned here and tried forcing him to hand over the ship by feeding his fellow Qingchuans’ myriadpath source spirits to their beasts! It’s gone on for a long time, but the former valley lord has yet to submit!”

”Even the former valley lord received the blessing of the previous valley lord, being his personal disciple. He has true legitimacy!”

”Qitian Xiao’s truly sick for imprisoning and humiliating his master and father-in-law here like that.”

Suishen Jiguang’s announcement would soon spread out all over Myriadpath Valley. But she didn’t mention that House Qitian was about to wipe out House Qingchuan, lest that expose Qitian Muyue as their spy.

Both she and Suishen Xiyue only did the things they could plausibly do without revealing that they knew what was going on. Suishen Xiyue didn’t even need to make anything up and could just say she wanted to travel with her daughter.

”House Yumo are truly crooks! All of their kind want to use starblood to cultivate! House Qitian, on the other hand, are complete hypocrites! They pretend to be good but are also rotten to the core!”

”At least House Qitian’s better—”

”Not by much. I just heard something that made me piss myself. It sounds like the only good people are Eminent Jiguang and Pathkeeper Li.”

After all, Qitian Xiao and Suishen Ranxing had instigated the entire thing, wanting to take the former valley lord and Suishen Yao hostage. Tianming had to save them before they got their hands on his weakness!

He acted incredibly fast, not distracted in the least by the commotion around him. He focused on unlocking the formations with his inborn talent, something the Three Exalted Houses never could have predicted. Otherwise, Qitian Xiao would have acted with much more haste. Little did he know that there was a monster that could free the former valley lord and take the Grand Myriadpath Ruins away just like that!

At the final moment, the cuffs that had locked up the former valley lord for so many years had been released. The Sky Plundering Hand had managed to find the breaking point of the divine celestial patterns, turning the cuffs into a huge smokey wave that sent Tianming flying. A large amount of midsky essence surged toward the former valley lord, whipping up a storm!

”Those cuffs sealed him and prevented him from absorbing midsky essence all this time! That’s why his astrons were withered and dark! But as long as his order’s around and he’s able to retain his cultivation insights, he should be able to recover as long as he has midsky essence, right?”

The former valley lord had once been a super-zenith foundationeer, but he’d been declining in power from age when Qitian Xiao had defeated him. He was currently close to ten thousand years old. Apart from the demonesses at Fallengrace Peak, he was one of the oldest people around.

Much of it was thanks to the life force of myriadpath source spirits. Unlike the Three Exalted Houses, which thrived on the strength of inherited legacies, there was almost no chance for House Qingchuan’s line of descendants to break! Tianming and the others watched as verdant green flora budded around them, rapidly growing until they withered.

”Oh, myriadpath source spirits are like plant-type beasts within the bodies. I imagine the old man’s lifebound beast is still there.” Tianming saw specks of green leaf-like patterns around the old man’s limbs, as well as some vines.

His body continued rapidly absorbing midsky essence, seemingly restoring his appearance to that of his youth. He looked no different from the older eminents of House Suishen.

Tianming could clearly feel the power pulsing from him. ”Old man, are you still able to fight?”

The old man shook his head. ”I’ve already lived for so long. Even though I’ve managed to extend my lifespan by constant meditative practice, I’m still unable to overcome the great equalizer of death. I’m probably only able to fight at a major-zenith level. In two thousand years, I’ll expire and wither away!”

”Holy shit!” Tianming was impressed. Not even Qitian Xiao would dare to claim that he could live another two millennia. Perhaps he would be the first to die of age. Myriadpath source spirits were amazing!

Tianming had never thought that someone of that age could still measure up to major-zenith foundationeers; it was a huge delight for him. Including Qitian Muyue, he had four major-zenith foundationeers on his side, while the opposing faction had the valley lord, three leaders, and the old patriarch, making up five in total.

Tianming had almost achieved parity with his faction.

”The former valley lord’s free!”

”What power and life force! Is that truly someone who’s ten thousand years old?”

The myriadpath disciples and saints gasped in shock. They weren’t surprised that the demonesses from Fallengrace Peak were young and vigorous, for they took the lifeforce of others, replacing their aging astrons with those of their victims. And there were other side effects apart from having to remain celibate for most of their lives. The blood-cocoon sister was the prime example of that, living a ghastly existence.

The former valley lord, on the other hand, possessed true longevity.