Beastmaster of the Ages

While the eight flower buds grew eight green bodies at the imperator level, a cloud of blood mist drifted over.

The Adjudicator, his blood cocoon reformed, had arrived seething. As he approached and was about to speak, he hadn’t expected Dao San to react with even greater anger.

Countless green vines sprouted from the flower, binding the Adjudicator’s blood cocoon. They shimmered with chilling light as they lashed viciously at the cocoon, leaving eerie green scars that refused to fade, due to a power that marked its victims and penetrated deep into the bone. The powerful and violent Jie Ba was unable to resist in the slightest.

A cold, emotionless female voice sounded. “You acted on your own without an explicit order. That is a serious crime. Considering your past efforts, I will not report this. But from now on, everything you do must follow my orders.”

The blood-red figure within the cocoon clenched his teeth, burning with resentment and unwillingness. But sensing the strange green power flowing through his body, he ultimately endured it. Jie Ba finally lowered his head and nodded.

Then he looked toward the growing eight buds and said coldly, “What use is it to revive these pieces of trash?”

“Borrowed lives have their own uses,” Dao San replied icily.

“Fine.” The Adjudicator asked no further questions, though recalling the battle at the Vermilion Bird Starcage still left a sour taste in his mouth.

He said coldly, “The egos of those walking corpses are too strong. They’re completely immersed in their roles. They’ve been dead so long, yet their combat strength was still formidable. Are you sure this won’t cause problems? Don’t actually bring them fully back to life.”

“Silence. Such pathetic mistakes are beneath me,” the merciless reply came.

“I hope so.” Adjudicator Jie Ba said nothing further.

***

Outside the Vermilion Bird Starcage, Tianming stood together with the various imperatores and senior figures, discussing their next move.

Li Muyang had proposed a plan. “Aquamarine and Torch Dragon lost most of their troops here. Their governments have collapsed and their worlds are in chaos. We can infiltrate their starcages and seize their dazzling radiances.”

Tallying the casualties concluded that both Torch Dragon and Aquamarine had each lost two to three billion cosmic gods. The only surviving cosmic gods were all routed remnants from the battle who were still far from home.

“Then why not Yueling Starcage?” Xian Xian popped out curiously. “They’re the strongest in the Realm of Chaos. It must have the most red balls. Why not go there and snatch them?”

“Because Yueling Starcage didn’t participate in this war,” Tianming said with a smile. “They have at least twenty billion soldiers, and Yueling Xiao is stationed there. It’s too tough to crack. But Aquamarine and Torch Dragon... we’ve got this.”

Tianming produced their two starsources. Imperator Lan and Imperator Zhu had been slain before they had any chance to swallow their respective starsources, leaving them to be claimed after their defeat.

“What are those for? You can’t use them anyway,” Xian Xian asked in confusion.

“You don’t get it, do you? Starsources are the core of imperial-class star worlds. They are equivalent to the mark of a starcage’s ruler.” Li Yanfeng explained with a smile. “That’s why the violetblitzians’ morale was shattered when I seized Violetblitz’s starsource last time. Without the Adjudicator, unifying Violetblitz Starcage afterward wouldn’t even be difficult.”

“I see. So it’s basically a symbolic token of authority?” Xian Xian nodded, then withdrew again.

She glanced at Jiang Qingluan beside Tianming... Heh, heh, heh! Her laughter carried a rather meaningful expression.

“What are you laughing at...” Tianming muttered with a headache.

In short, their next targets were clear.

“The Adjudicator just suffered a major defeat, so he probably won’t act immediately. If we move quickly, we should succeed,” Li Muyang said seriously. “We must divide into three groups to be efficient. I’ll take those of Vermilion Bird back to the Nullity first. Tianming and Tianzi, split into two teams and head to Torch Dragon and Aquamarine respectively.”

“No problem,” Li Tianzi said, his battle spirit surging. The Adjudicator had retreated early in their fight, leaving him unsatisfied. Now he could finally enjoy another fight.

“In that case, I’ll go with Tianzi to Aquamarine,” Li Yanfeng volunteered. Then he looked at Tianming and Zi Zhen. “Tianming and Miss Zi Zhen can go to Torch Dragon together. That shouldn’t be a problem.”

“No problem with that arrangement,” Tianming nodded. “But I need to ask Imperator Cheng first. Prince Liehun might be hiding in one of those starcages. If we encounter him and he tries to stop us... how should we deal with him?”

Prince Liehun had betrayed Vermilion Bird with more than a billion cosmic gods. When they suffered crushing defeat, he had fled with his trusted followers.

“A traitor who refuses to repent deserves death,” Imperator Cheng showed no mercy in such matters.

“Understood.” Tianming nodded.

They didn’t know which starcage Prince Liehun had fled to, but both Tianming and Li Tianzi could kill him if they encountered him without issue.

Once the discussion ended, they split into three groups and set out.

***

Meanwhile, the prince in question was fleeing toward the Torch Dragon in disgrace, accompanied by his trusted followers and Granny Longya.