Beastmaster of the Ages

Long Qian was completely taken aback. ”Tianming, this is no joking matter. The youths of our race can’t possibly—”

”The three from my group can join too, right?” Tianming asked.

”Yes, as long as you don’t go against the rules of the bet!”

”Then you can promise them. I have the means to completely mess them up.” Not to mention, everyone in Tianming’s group was under a thousand years old, far from it! There was nothing to fear.

”Mess them up?” Long Qian’s eyes shone.

”Long Qian, have you made your decision? Where’s that courage of yours?” Jiang Linxi pushed again. She understood these slaves far too well. There were a few promising youngsters that she had been keeping a close eye on. Thanks to the heavenly shackles, they’ll merely be giving their lives away.

Long Qian suddenly took a deep breath and grit her teeth. ”I can agree to the bet using the heavenly oath for the youths of my kind to participate, but I have a condition!”

Jiang Linxi and Mo Fan were surprised that she actually took the bet, which was a second-rate trap at best. What they had intended was to force her to hand over the ship for a million slaves! They didn’t even need to use a heavenly oath for that. and could easily retake the million slaves when they were done, but Long Qian intended to fight back and even had conditions!

”What are your terms?” Jiang Linxi coldly asked.

”These three are younger than a thousand and they wish to fight for our kind! You have to include them in the list of participants in the heavenly oath!” Long Qian said, pointing at Tianming, Qingyu, and Moran, who had exited the ship. Everyone turned their gazes to them.

”Foundationeers?” The overflowers on the other side were all perplexed. It was all too obvious that they were less than two meters tall!

”Two humans and a wonderian with an odd bloodline...” Jiang Linxi mused. Her first reaction was to laugh, but she held back. After all, there was no way Long Qian would agree to the bet unless there was a chance. Even though the three tiny people didn’t seem capable, Jiang Linxi subconsciously felt the threat.

”Foundationeers have always been foundationeers, nothing more!” Mo Fan said.

”Wait, there’s something wrong about this,” Jiang Linxi said.

”The problem now is that our bet was a ploy to pressure her into surrendering the ship straightaway. Wouldn’t we be making a fool of ourselves if we go back on it now?”

”You’re right, but....” Everyone was looking at her, making her feel incredibly awkward. Heavenly oaths were no joke. She stared intensely at Tianming, Moran, and Qingyu. Based on her four thousand years of cultivation experience, there was nothing about them that stood out at all. They were weak—even more pathetic than the slaves! Not to mention, the little chick on the kid’s shoulder didn’t even look like a cosmic crest beast.

”Even if they randomly go to the Lower Star Ruins to pick out a few people, they’d seem more capable than these three, right?” Mo Fan said.

Long Qian then said, ”Li Tianming’s the controller of this divine astralship!”

”What?” Jiang Linxi was truly stunned.

”Do you dare fight him, oh mighty Sundown Pantheon and Starfall Pantheon?” Long Qian provoked. ”If not, we’ll leave right now.”

”Wait!” Jiang Linxi discussed it with around three hundred people beside her. ”I’m asking one final time. None of you are able to see anything special about that kid, right?”

”Based on our millennia of experience, we can’t be wrong, unless he possesses something that exceeds even the imaginations of those of us in the Upper Star Ruin,” said one of them who echoed the opinions of the rest.

”Don’t be too careful. There’s a few top geniuses from the Midway Tristars that came here to play. I’ll register them as members of the cult before swearing the heavenly oath. Long Qian can’t possibly know about those monstrous geniuses. Even if she has something to hide, we’ll scheme and overcome it!” Mo Fan said.

”Alright!”

Eventually, the heavenly oath was sworn. Tianming personally witnessed it. After they recited the oaths, three beams of light suddenly shot down from above into their heads, forming an insignia that read ’heaven’ that bound them. It was truly a miracle! Such was the power of the Heavenly Dao.

Tianming had heard the terms of the heavenly oath. Long Qian made sure to be really thorough with her choice of words. She even added a clause that the Three Great Cults wouldn’t harm the slaves in the Middlekin Star Ruin in any way before the Cosmic God Palace descended. The slaves that were to be freed were included in the terms of the heavenly oath bet and recorded by the Heavenly Dao, so it could no longer be taken back!

”The Cosmic God Palace shall soon descend. You’d better be ready!” Jiang Linxi said before leaving. The divine astralships gradually vanished from the view of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb.

***

Back within the ship, the dragonoids surrounded Tianming. Even Long Qian was closely looking at him.

”On that day, the three of us are enough,” Tianming said.

”Are you sure?” Long Qian asked.

”Of course!”

”If you can save them, then all of us will serve you with our all!”

”Very well. All of you are welcome to join the family of the Sun,” Tianming said with a relaxed smile.

”So are we going to the Sun right away?” Long Chen asked. He had been anticipating it for far too long.

”We won’t be going back right away,” Tianming said with a cold smirk.

”Then what’ll we do first?” Long Qian raised a brow, thinking that Tianming had something in mind.

”Sister Qian, the heavenly oath has bound them and will prevent them from harming our kind, but it doesn’t stipulate that we aren’t allowed to attack their people or territory, right?” Tianming asked.

”You’re right!” Long Qian said. The enemy wasn’t afraid of any such attempt, either. If they had included those terms in the heavenly oath, it would be a sign of fear and weakness. ”Tianming, the reason they aren’t afraid is that many locations in the Middlekin Star Ruins have top-tier illusory formations. Most of the crucial locations are equipped with them, so we don’t know their precise locations. If I’d known, I’d have gone to save them long ago.”

In other words, the enemy wouldn’t be worried about any attack from the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. If their bases couldn’t even be found, there was no need to worry about an attack. Only the smaller, less crucial locales were vulnerable.

”Is that so?” Tianming smiled. The enemy couldn’t know that he had Yin Chen and Bai Ye in his arsenal. It didn’t take long before Yin Chen reported the location of Aoyue Palace. A fortuna-class ship from the Midway Tristars had just arrived there from Starmoon Haven. Its cargo included a huge number of ordered manna, which was meant to be a reward for the Scorchmoon Cult, which was led by Jiang Linxi. There were more than a million pieces of decent quality ordered manna, which was something the cult urgently needed.

”Sister Qian, do you know about Aoyue Palace?” Tianming asked.

”I do! It’s the main base of Li Aoyue, one of Jiang Linxi’s harem members. However, we have no idea where it is. Li Aoyue’s really rich and provides a lot of help to the enemy! I’ve long wanted to rob him! Not to mention, even if we did know where it is, there’s no way a divine astralship can burst through their defensive formations, which are at least infinitum class or better,” Long Qian said.

”Is that so?” What a coincidence! Not only could Tianming find it, he could topple it! ”Let’s go! Before we return to the Sun, we’ll pick up some souvenirs from Aoyue Palace!”