Beastmaster of the Ages

”The descent of the Heavenly Dao Arena marks the beginning of the trial! Other than those who are named in the brackets, none shall interfere lest they risk divine penalty! None who are spectating today shall seek revenge for what happens within the arena at the risk of divine retribution! Those two laws shall remain in effect for the entire term of the trial!”

Strict laws applied to both the arena and spectator areas. Anyone within the Heavenly Dao Arena, regardless of whether they be spectator or participant, had a status similar to one planted with a seed of divine retribution. Any of them that dared to break the laws would die!

Tianming was quite shocked at the realization. He had only just learned about the capabilities of the Heavenly Dao Arena—it was another layer of security for their heavenly oath bet! Still, there were things he didn’t quite understand. ”Why do people from the Upper Star Ruin like competitions like these? Why does it have to be formal and fair? How come they’re so afraid of people breaking the rules that even spectators are bound by them?”

”Are competitions in the Lower Star Ruins not regulated by the Heavenly Dao?” Long Qian asked, puzzled.

”How’s that even possible? It’s all too common for fights and struggles to happen in the competition itself, not to mention outside of it!” Tianming helplessly said.

Long Qian hadn’t seen anything like that before, so she didn’t even have a good grasp on how it could work out. With a stern voice, she said, ”Honestly, ’competition’ just sounds good on the surface. It makes you think that it’s a friendly fight, but the essence of competition is still to strive to surpass others. Whether it’s over middlekin stars in the Middlekin Star Ruin, ordered manna, ore veins, astralships, or even battle techniques, all of it contributes to the strength and supremacy of a faction!”

”Well, I know that much,” Tianming said.

”Many trials in the Upper Star Ruin are conducted under the supervision of the Heavenly Dao to ensure absolute fairness. I believe it has something to do with the power structures in the Upper Star Ruin, which is comprised of the Eightpart Pantheons. There’s really strong competition among all eight of those factions, which has consequences for their survival! With so much at stake, the best strategy for everyone involved is to use an absolute weapon like the Heavenly Dao to ensure that all competitions are fair beyond question.

”If the Upper Star Ruin was controlled by just one powerful faction, they could easily make their own rules to benefit themselves. In that case, people wouldn’t put the Heavenly Dao Arena on such a high pedestal,” she explained.

Tianming immediately understood the reason: the Eightpart Pantheons didn’t want to incite any civil wars. That was the core principle that drove their rule over the Upper Star Ruin. All eight of the factions must defend that principle no matter what. If any of them strayed from it, everything would be for naught, and the regime, long united, must divide. That would lead to an even larger and more chaotic scramble for survival! The eight factions’ relationship with each other was far too complicated to allow it to disentangle in such a fashion.

It isn’t quite the same as the Three Exalted Houses. I don’t think there are any rivals in the Upper Star Ruin that can even come close to controlling any significant part of it outside of the Eightpart Pantheons! Tianming thought.

”The main reason that the Upper Star Ruin appears to be at peace is the Heavenly Dao Arena. At the very least, that’s what I gather from what people in our Middlekin Star Ruin say. I don’t know how it is in other places,” Long Qian said.

”Either way, as long as we’ve entered the Heavenly Dao Formation, they won’t dare to touch us at all. And as long as I, my sister, and Little Fish are in the arena, nothing we do—including killing people during the trial—will cause anybody to kill us, right? Those who try would definitely die, correct?”

”Yes. Not even cosmic gods are able to resist the penalties of the Heavenly Dao!”

”No wonder you asked me to stay hidden until the moment the Heavenly Dao Formation descended.”

There were two areas in the arena, the inner one being the main trial grounds, encompassing the entire Cosmic God Palace. The outer area was for spectators and was much larger in size, encompassing five million people including all the other astralships like the Blazestar, Scorchmoon, and the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Everything else would be committed in absolute fairness. The rules of the game were just and absolute! The Heavenly Dao protected all participants and spectators from any breach of the rules.

”At the end of the day, the rules of this ’fair game’ were created by the Eightpart Pantheons in the first place. Normally, flameyellow divinities would never even have a chance to compete. It looks like we’ve barged into a party for privileged elites!” They had been extended an invitation because the enemy lusted after the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Not to mention, Long Qian was powerful and would basically come with the ship as a package. Massacring the enslaved dragonoids also wouldn’t get them the ship, either, so this elaborate trap was the only thing that could guarantee the outcome they wanted, especially after they had learned that Tianming was the ship’s true owner.

”If I’m killed within the Heavenly Dao Arena, the members of the Scorchmoon and Blazestar Cults would rightfully be allowed to take the core of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb because of Sister Qian and Long Qian’s heavenly oath!” That was the reason Long Qian dared to risk so much to take that bet.

”Tianming, it looks like there’s some trouble.” Long Qian had never understood why Tianming dared to accept the bet. She knew that he had broken through, but he was still far from being able to suppress the two cults. She only managed to learn something even more troubling after the names were announced at the start of the trial.

”What kind of trouble?”

”Luori Guiyang, Xing Yue, and a few others don’t seem to be people from the Middlekin Star Ruin! They’re members from the Sundown and Starfall Pantheons from Starmoon Haven! They’re incredibly strong! Tianming, are you really sure you’re confident? You might lose your ship.”

Tianming smiled. ”Sister Qian, rest assured. I knew from the beginning that they had outside help. I just forgot to mention it to you.”

”What?!” She blankly looked at him, completely confused as to why he would go through with the bet despite knowing the scheme. Why was he so confident? Not to mention, he even chose Moran to join him, and her level was the lowest out of everyone! The dragonoids that were with her didn’t understand anything, either, but they were willing to stake their lives on protecting Tianming.

That was the moment the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb made its official appearance. Members of the Three Great Cults were all quite shocked to see it. There’d been far too many changes even before the trial had begun.

”Who does that divine astralship belong to?”

”No idea!”

At that moment, a group of dragonoids came out of the ship.

”The slave race?”

”Shit.... This world’s gone mad!”

All five million plus people gaped in abject horror as those they considered slaves exited such a luxurious ship.

”Dad!” Xing Baizhan’s irises narrowed with rage.

”Where’d Long Qian get that ship?” Xing Daoyin shot them a deathly glare and turned to Jiang Linxi and Mo Fan. ”The ship must have something to do with them allowing the slaves to join!”