Beastmaster of the Ages

The spectator area of the Heavenly Dao Arena fell dead silent once more as people watched Tianming and Qingyu slay the injured Xing Yue. Before she died, everyone had slung all kinds of insults toward Long Qian and her group, but it did nothing! All they could do was watch as Xing Yue perished! The million members of the Blazestar Cult were flushed with anger. They were ten times more mad about the slaughter than Xing Baizhan’s forceful violation of Xing Yue.

”Xing Baizhan’s a deva, so if she had died by his hand, it wouldn’t have been that bad! But dying at the hands of stink bugs, of slaves, is a grave humiliation!”

”Yeah! Xing Baizhan didn’t even kill her!”

Never would Xing Baizhan have imagined that Tianming had helped him wipe out all accountability for his vile actions. His reputation instantly rose like never before as the hatred and rage was fully concentrated on Tianming—which he had expected to begin with. People always chose to vent on the weaker offender when they could.

”They should’ve arrived by now,” Mo Fan said, drawing a cold breath.

”They’re here,” Jiang Linxi said. A seventy-meter-tall man of immense beauty walked out of the starlight behind her, clad in a robe of stars. His long strands of hair were like ethereal dreams. In the Lower Star Ruins, people would call him an ancient deity.

”Xing Han!” Mo Fan’s eyes narrowed as he greeted the man in a shaky voice. The man turned and looked at him. ”I didn’t think you’d come here personally.”

”I wasn’t the only one who came,” Xing Han said, giving Jiang Linxi and Mo Fan quite a shock. There were actually more! Had matters gotten so far out of hand?

”If Xing Yue had only been defeated in a proper fight, it’d be no big deal. However, she ended up dead in this Middlekin Star Ruin thanks to her heavily injured state. That won’t do! It won’t!” Xing Han said, his voice as cold as frost. It was a humiliating state of affairs! The humiliation hadn’t just affected her alone, but had also extended to her family.

”Don’t tell me that personage has been alerted...” Jiang Linxi gingerly said.

”That’s right. Her grandfather’s been alerted by her death and sent us here to deal with it,” Xing Han said.

”Lord Xing Han, have you been informed about the entire incident?” Mo Fan asked.

”More or less.” Xing Han looked into the Cosmic God Palace. ”In other words, based on these results, we have to release a million slaves and won’t be able to take over that divine astralship because of the heavenly oath.”

”Yes!” Mo Fan seemed incredibly troubled. ”However, there is still a way for us to obtain the ship and not have to release the slaves.”

”Li Tianming just needs to die inside!” Xing Han said.

”That’s correct,” Mo Fan said, nodding. The Blazestar Cult’s score had already been exceeded by Tianming’s.

”Luori Guiyang should know what to do!” Jiang Linxi said, confident in the sunny youth in the Cosmic God Palace. It was a shame about Xing Yue, but she hadn’t truly lost to Tianming; she had lost to Xing Baizhan.

Xing Han laughed. ”If Luori Guiyang loses and someone exceeds his score, you’d have to release two million slaves, right?”

”Yes!” Jiang Linxi and Mo Fan both seemed rather awkward.

”If we lose the slaves, your two cults would be useless. Currently, the slaves in Starmoon Haven are being encouraged by that cosmic god slave. Where would we be able to find more slaves for your Middlekin Star Ruin? If we lose the slaves, the members of your cults will have to do all the mining themselves!” Xing Han coldly said.

Jiang Linxi and Mo Fan had no tears left to shed. All they could think was how they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it if even Xing Yue, a genius from Starmoon Haven, had lost.

If it wasn’t for the presence of those geniuses here, we would’ve fallen for Long Qian’s schemes! Jiang Linxi thought. ”We have to trust in Luori Guiyang, then!”

”That’s right! Those two stink bugs only managed to take advantage of our openings. But the trial’s about to end and Luori Guiyang’s already been thinking of ways to kill them,” Mo Fan said.

”There’s another way we can keep the two million slaves,” Xing Han said, staring at those two.

”Oh? What is it?” they wondered out loud.

”We can let the two of you intentionally trigger the heavenly retribution and die!” Xing Han said with a hateful stare.

Jiang Linxi and Mo Fan’s faces seemed to melt. They knew that Xing Han was just saying that out of anger, but if the top brass was indeed angered enough by the matter, they might actually act out against the cults! They were the ones who had let Tianming into the Cosmic God Palace, after all! Without him, the Three Great Cults wouldn’t have fought each other and lost so many geniuses! Even if they put the matter of the ship aside, they had already suffered heavy losses.

”My father has an order!” Xing Han suddenly said.

”The cosmic god....” Mo Fan and Jiang Linxi immediately lowered their heads.

”These two stink bugs have piqued their interest after hearing about their capabilities. As such, we have to capture them and take them to Starmoon Haven. This is of the highest priority, even higher than the ship or slaves, understand?” Xing Han said.

”What?” Mo Fan and Jiang Linxi looked at each other. Could Tianming and Qingyu really be worth more to that cosmic god than their astralship and the slaves?

”Understood!” The order made them somewhat relieved. In other words, if they were able to capture Tianming, all of their losses would be made up for.

”What if they die during the trial?” Jiang Linxi asked with worry.

”In that case, the corpses or scattered remains have to be collected for research.”

”Alright!” The two nodded. With the Heavenly Dao Arena active, they weren’t able to control whether Tianming lived or died.

”Take a look,” Xing Han said, pointing at the Cosmic God Palace. ”Luori Guiyang found Xing Baizhan and is planning on working together with him. The fact that he extended the invitation shows that they know who their true enemy is.”

”They’ve all been played by Li Tianming!” Jiang Linxi said.

”Even so, we still have to talk to the Wargod Cult. Even though we compete among each other, we’re on the same side at the end of the day,” Xing Han said.

”Yes!” The two of them nodded.

With that, both inside and outside the Cosmic God Palace, everyone knew who their allies and true enemies were: the slave race was at fault!

***

Within the Cosmic God Palace, Luori Guiyang shook with rage when he heard of Xing Yue’s death. ”I worked so hard to finally have a chance to cultivate with a galaxy-class order, but you simply won’t let me cultivate in peace!”

Since the very beginning, Luori Guiyang hadn’t felt too antagonistic toward Tianming and Qingyu. All he knew was that they had popped out of thin air, only for them to kill Xing Chen and Xing Yue. Before word of Xing Yue’s death reached him, the only one he hated was Xing Baizhan. That was the only opponent that was worthy of him!

”So some rats think they can bite off scraps from a fight between lions, eh?”