Beastmaster of the Ages

Yumo Qiangming’s two halves began parting and his eyes widened as he hatefully wondered why Qitian Yi had allowed him to take Tianming’s fatal strike alone. As his bisected body separated farther and farther, he noticed that Tianming behaved as if he had eyes on the back of his head, adeptly dealing with Qitian Yi’s barrage of attacks.

Her white kirin had only just managed to tear itself out of the grand lexicon wonder’s net of words. It was only then that Yumo Qiangming realized that Qitian Yi had tried her best. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, but that she simply couldn’t. What was even scarier was that he hadn’t even been able to take a single strike from Tianming, despite being the top specter on the Maniverse Ranking. Being bisected, his combat capabilities dramatically fell.

If he’s already this powerful in combat, how will anyone in Myriadpath Valley be able to match up to him after a century?! Yumo Qiangming completely despaired. A century to him was what a year was to a mortal. It passed almost without him realizing it. The thought that a youth could reduce Myriadpath Valley to ashes in that short a span of time terrified him to no end.

He tried his best to fuse his bisected body back together, but the power of Tianming’s slash had internally ravaged him, damaging his heptastar organs. Recovering would take quite a bit of time; there was no way for him to resist.

Even without turning back, Yumo Qiangming knew that the three hundred specters who had come with him had had their spirits completely shattered based on how silent they were. They looked at Tianming like he was something out of a nightmare.

House Qitian didn’t fare any better. Qitian Yi had just managed to break out of Tianming’s grasp, only to see Yumo Qiangming completely defeated. Tianming immediately turned back and looked at her, his gaze filled with merciless resolution. She felt like she had been electrocuted by lightning. It was the first time in her life that she had felt so scared before she’d even properly fought someone.

Then a familiar sight unfolded. She used every ounce of Qitian elegance she could squeeze out and put down her weapon before kneeling toward Tianming in the void of space. ”I, Qitian Yi, submit! Valley Lord, please spare our lives!”

”Valley Lord?” Tianming wasn’t expecting to be called that at all. Qitian Yi truly had a penchant for flattery.

The four hundred other Qitians immediately knelt as well and yelled, ”Valley Lord, have mercy!” All of them prostrated deeply and sincerely toward Tianming.

”Oh, looks like House Qitian’s signature talent is surrendering,” Tianming chuckled after a long pause.

”All of you!” Yumo Qiangming had just reformed his body, but the glow around him seemed much darker than before. Qitian Yi had surrendered right after his defeat, marking the end of their chances. Even with Tianming right before them, there was nothing they could do.

If they surrendered, like House Qitian, they could probably still be spared. However, Yumo Qiangming wasn’t Yumo Dinai. Angrily, he howled, ”House Qitian, you’re the embarrassment of the Three Exalted Houses! Every one of you is pathetic! How can you bend like a blade of grass under the slightest wind?!”

His rage surged as he turned to his compatriots. ”House Yumo, join me and fight! We’ll carve a path of blood out of here!”

”Die!” If they didn’t fight, there was no way they would survive.

”Do you think you can escape?! Stop them!” Qitian Yi saw a chance to perform and immediately directed her Qitian reverends to form a perimeter around the Yumos.

Suishen Qin had wanted to act as well, but Suishen Xiyue had her stay put.

”All of you, don’t move. You don’t have to die today,” Tianming said. Both the Yumos and Qitians seemed elated to hear it, but not dying that day didn’t mean they would be spared forever. However, Tianming wouldn’t waste so much manpower when it was offered to him for free.

”Will I be spared?” Yumo Qiangming blanked out. All of the Yumos turned and coldly looked at Tianming, some of them still stubborn. ”What do you intend to do?! You can’t use us to infiltrate Myriadpath Valley!”

”It isn’t up to you.” Tianming had no choice but to let the baleful souls in their bodies wait a bit longer before their liberation for the sake of total victory.

”Hahaha! What do you think you can do to threaten us into working for you?! Do you think we’re pushovers?!” Yumo Qiangming said.

”Threaten you? Do you think me incapable of that?!” A vile look flashed across his eyes as a huge object appeared beside him. ”Take a look at what this is.”

”The Yumo Blood Crucible!” all of them cried out in unison. Their eyes all twitched like they were suffering from a stroke. How could the Yumo Blood Crucible fall into Tianming’s hands? What about the Hellfiend and Infinitum?!

”Yumo Qiangming, I’ll let you in on a secret. The deaths of Eminent Baigui and nineteen others, the destruction of the Hellfiend, and the death of Yumo Dinai.... All of it was my doing! I was also the ’Mistrunner’ who killed your kind in the Yin-Yang World!”

Tianming had already revealed those things so many times that it no longer felt novel at all. Still, it felt wonderful to see the blank looks on their faces. The youths of House Yumo had completely been mentally decimated. Even the bravest of them crumbled.

”Run!” they cried. The three hundred specters tried escaping toward Wondrium, possibly in an attempt to take hostages to threaten Tianming with, while the Qitians didn’t move.

”Where do you think you can escape within my territory?” They would all fall into his grasp.

Suishen Xiyue and Jiguang finally made their move as they picked off the reverends one by one. Being major-zenith foundationeers, mere sixth-level foundationeers didn’t stand a chance.

The method they used was simple. Merely destroying the bodies of specters was enough to greatly reduce their combat capabilities. The cosmic charts that remained could scarcely escape in the void of space.

The two beauties reaped the souls of the specters like graceful goddesses of death. With the new weapons that Tianming had given them, their efficiency had risen like never before. The specters’ body parts were strewn all across the void of space, though they weren’t dead, so their subsouls wouldn’t shatter.

”Get in here!” Tianming expanded the Yumo Blood Crucible and sucked up all the specters before closing the lid. He had caught them all without exception.

”Li Tianming! No matter how incredible you are, there’s only a few of you. The full might of the Three Exalted Houses will no doubt wipe you out!” Yumo Qiangming cried, though it was self-deceit at best.

After the lid was closed, no sound could be heard. The remaining four hundred Qitians immediately knelt on the stareye at the sight, forming neat ranks.

”Valley Lord, have mercy on us!” Qitian Yi cried, tearing up with horror.

”Did you hear any pleas when you went to other mundi to consume their lifebound beasts?” Tianming said, smiling.

”Huh?” They began panicking as Tianming opened the lid of the Yumo Blood Crucible.

”Are you going to walk in yourselves, or do you want me to destroy your physical bodies first?”