Beastmaster of the Ages

Myriadpath Valley was nowhere near as glorious as it had been ten years ago. In such dark times, they were nothing but a paper shell of their former mighty self.

The Myriadpath Celestial Formation had been completely dominated by the Three Exalted Houses, so the two million cultivators were unable to leave and had been forced to tread carefully. Half of them were looking forward to the youth’s return. They were ready to wait hundreds or a thousand years even if they had to.

The power of faith only grew stronger under pressure, much like magma that was about to burst out of the compressed opening of a volcano. They needed just a tiny spark to set everything alight!

There was no way that the Three Exalted Houses hadn’t noticed the recent development. They had changed tactics in the past decade to controlling the narrative, hoping to quash all talk about rebellion. However, it was clear that their plan wasn’t going too well; nobody knew how many Tianming sympathizers there really were.

”Only the august houses are easy to manage,” the old patriarch of House Suishen said with a deep sigh in the Myriadpath Celestial Formation.

”As long as the august houses are in our grasp, we don’t need anything else. The juniors in the august houses have all been taken hostage within our three caves. There’s nothing the rest of the rabble can do about it,” Yumo Diyan said.

”The only thing I’m worried about is that the august houses are saying what they don’t mean,” the old patriarch said.

”Li Tianming poses a great threat. It’s a fact that our pet cultivators idolize him. It is pointless to win through righteous means anymore. We need to be decisive and ruthless to ensure the Three Exalted Houses’ ancient legacy survives,” Qitian Muyu said.

There was nobody else there but the three of them.

”We still have to kill Li Tianming to extinguish their hopes. Otherwise, the problem will keep hanging over our heads,” the old patriarch said. He turned to Qitian Muyu and asked, ”How’s your dad recovering?”

”He got hurt again during the last fight, but he’s almost fully recovered over the past decade. But you must know that he isn’t much stronger than a major-zenith foundationeer after the loss of his tensource beast,” Qitian Muyu said.

”It’s still decent. He’s still the most powerful fighter in the astralscape,” the old patriarch said.

”The most pressing issue now is the copper coffin secret realm!” Yumo Diyan said. ”We got quite a lot of information in the past few years, but if you study it closely, you’ll find that it’s mostly useless!”

”How’s it useless? House Qitian has already set up so many cattle farms in Wondrium. We took Li Tianming’s people hostage! Even if he comes back to fight us, we can use the lives of the people from his world to threaten him!” Qitian Muyu said. He had grown much colder than before, completely abandoning his gentlemanly facade.

The news he’d received had all been from the people that were ostensibly sent back by Qitian Yi. The temptation of the copper coffin secret realm had grown stronger and stronger, but none of the leaders of the three houses went to explore it in fear of the Grand Myriadpath Ruins.

”Would Li Tianming make his people end their own lives just like the former valley lord tried to do with House Qingchuan? Well, even if he does, we’d be able to refine quite a lot of starblood from it,” Yumo Diyan said.

”Considering his personality, I think he has a soft spot for them. He isn’t cold-blooded enough to be decisive. It’s a good way to handle him,” the old patriarch said.

”Old Patriarch, aren’t you a smart one? You let House Yumo and House Qitian do all the offending while your Suishens just went there for a vacation!” Qitian Muyu said.

The old patriarch awkwardly smiled without saying anything else.

”Where’s Suishen Ranxing?” Diyan asked.

”The house has been rather internally unstable. Many people have begun to dissent. He’s busy dealing with that,” the old patriarch said.

”You Suishens are always so disunited!” There was one thing Yumo Diyan didn’t say out loud, however. Not to mention, you Suishens are the most disloyal of the Three Exalted Houses—especially your women!

”Ten years have passed and the preparations at Skydome are more or less done. The three caves have also been sufficiently fortified. When my father recovers a bit more, each of our houses can send one person to Skydome,” Qitian Muyu said, turning to Yumo Diyan.

Yumo Diyan’s gaze turned cold and he said, ”Fine, I trust you! House Yumo will take part, but I want Qitian Muyue to defend Yumo Cave while I’m gone.”

He had no choice, as he was the sole powerhouse remaining in House Yumo. They didn’t have many options. Qitian Xiao was already recovering, and the old patriarch was waiting for Suishen Ranxing to advance. House Yumo was the only one without a future hope.

”As long as you agree, we can proceed with the planning,” Qitian Muyu said.

”Aren’t we going to wait a little more?” the old patriarch asked.

”Let’s see what my dad says about it,” Qitian Muyu said.

”Fine. Either way, even if Li Tianming is a threat to us, based on his rate of growth, it’ll take at least a century for him to be able to do anything. We have at least ninety years left—wait, what’s that?!”

The old patriarch’s eyes widened as he saw a gigantic golden object expanding in the distant sky.

”The Grand Myriadpath Ruins!” they cried in unison. it was a golden pyramid, the fortuna-class astralship!

”What’s that old fuck doing, coming over at a time like this?!” Qitian Muyu furrowed his brows.

”Notify them!” Yumo Diyan roared.

The ship had flown over far too fast for them to react. It had been nothing but a small dot in the distance moments before. The gigantic pyramid rapidly rotated and whipped up an astral storm before slamming into the Midsky Myriadpath Stele again!

In a single instant, the huge, stable stele was sent spinning away. Even though it didn’t shatter, the collision let out such a resounding boom across all of Myriadpath Valley that it shook the mountains and rivers within. The Grand Myriadpath Ruins shot toward the Progenitor’s Altar, shining bright at the heart of the Three Exalted Houses’ territory!

”What happened?”

”No idea!”

”Let’s go out and see!”

Myriadpath Valley had been rather uneventful for so many years, so the sudden commotion startled the cultivators. They all looked up at the blinding astralship.

”It’s the Grand Myriadpath Ruins!” ”Heavens, did it come back to attack Myriadpath Valley?”

”It’s only been ten years! What’s going on? Is Pathkeeper Li within?”

”Let’s go look!”

”Careful. Don’t get wrapped up in the battle that might take place!”

”Battle? There hasn’t even been enough time for Pathkeeper Li to grow yet.”

The two million cultivators slowly gathered and approached the Grand Myriadpath Ruins, which was slowly rotating above the Progenitor’s Altar, suspended in mid air and remaining closed. That alone was enough to give everyone a sense of foreboding.

”Will this be the day the fate of Myriadpath Valley and the astralscape of order is decided?”