Beastmaster of the Ages

“He has a different way of assimilating divine pills, making him the perfect test subject for us alchemy gurus! When he consumes divine pills, there are two effects. For instance, he and that blonde both consumed a grade-seven divine pill. The blonde one only absorbed less than a fifth of its effects immediately, while the rest of the potency of the pill would continue to be assimilated throughout his future cultivation. However, Feng can thoroughly dig out the full potency of the pill and digest it. Don’t think his two consecutive breakthroughs are the end of it. He might even fully digest decades’ worth of the pill’s effects in the coming month. As long as his body has the capacity, he’ll grow far more than the blonde in the short term,” said the portable grandpa.

“Wow… what a monster. The perfect test subject, huh? This must be something one can only dream of but never obtain, right?” Yu Ziqian said.

“Yes. There’s no wastage of the divine pills at all. Wastage is the greatest bane of people like us! He’s just amazing!”

It was akin to someone consuming everything the chef makes, down to the last bit of sauce.

“Gan Gangan, you have to make a decision,” said the remnant soul of the old man.

“What?”

“You have to fully commit to joining them. For the rest of the competition, you might even have to give them some of the things I gave you. Make sure they have an edge in the upcoming fight at the Imperialdragon Palace.”

“Heavens, are you insane? Those treasures are for me and even I hesitate to use them!” he said, feeling the heartache.

“Riches can be earned back, but friends are more important. Such is life. Once you meet someone who deserves it, never hold back and follow your heart. Things will turn out for the better. I’ve lived a long life and am a great judge of character, so I have my reasons for advising you to do this.” He sighed and continued, “The only reason I ended up like this was because I lived a solitary life, caring about nothing but refining pills. I ended up being targeted by a group of people and I had nobody else to help me.”

“Alright, I’ll do what you say this time,” Yu Ziqian said, taking a deep breath. He did hesitate quite a lot at the prospect of giving away what might be his insurance for the future. It was akin to asking Tianming to give the Grand-Orient Sword away. “At the very least, in the time I’ve spent with them, I’ve learned that they are direct and honest. Li Tianming especially is a decisive and good person that doesn’t attempt to fool others.”

“He has the makings of an emperor,” said the portable grandpa.

“Then what makings do I have?”

“The grand eunuch.”

“Like grandpa, like grandson, eh?”

……

The sword struck so quickly that it was unbelievable. Tianming felt like he was holding a beam of light rather than a sword. That beam could transform into countless forms and reach far distances. The wall of the pathway they were in had been pierced time and again. Sparks flew when the dragons bit into the walls. The black Grand-Orient Sword looked silver thanks to the light coming from the scale.

“It’s been three days. I’ve more or less got it.” Though the time seemed short, Tianming had been practicing tens of thousands of times each day. It wasn’t that he had learned the entire eighth-realm divine art in three days, but rather the sword intent of the move was complex while the execution of the moves themselves was only as hard as a fourth-realm divine art. Fusion was the hard part! When he finally mastered the first move, the nine-colored scale changed once more.

“Blooddragon Sacrifice.” The dragons of the silver world turned blood red. Then a sea of blood appeared, causing the dragons to roar toward the skies, exuding killing intent. “This is a ferocious and savage strike, completely unlike Silverdragon Flashkill. Its core lies in savagery!”

The tens of thousands of blood dragons gathered and formed one gigantic one. It roared from above the clouds before slamming into Tianming’s caelum. Back in the real world, the blood light on his sword dyed the sword red. His aura completely changed to a bloody, savage one like he had turned into a demonic fiend. It was as if he had climbed out of a bloody sea of corpses. His sword ki was filled with ferocity; even Yu Ziqian couldn’t help but duck away as he watched from a distance.

“The second move is here. This move isn’t hard in itself. It probably won’t take too long for him to figure it out, though fusing Flashkill and Sacrifice sounds difficult….” As Yu Ziqian mumbled to himself, Tianming suddenly struck. It wasn’t as fast as Flashkill, but his stance conjured the image of a roaring blood dragon. “Wow, he even managed to execute it….” More and more, Yu Ziqian was becoming certain of his decision.

……

Light footsteps echoed through the dark pathway, followed by the resonating sound of a drum. A really young boy emerged from the pathway with a black war drum, clad in a black robe adorned with much jewelry. The golden dragon patterns on his robe looked incredibly lifelike, especially when the robe fluttered about. His three eyes were beautiful and deep blue like the cold ocean depths. One of them was vertical and located between his brows, though his eyes weren’t the part of him that stood out. In fact, he had two black draconic horns sprouting from his head. It wasn’t part of any headgear, but something that actually grew from his skull. Though he was young, he possessed a unique countenance. He calmly pondered as he looked in the direction where the resonant drumbeat had come from.

“Longlong, wait for us,” a gentle female voice called out. Not long after, three beautiful girls came up to the youth. They looked somewhat older than him and were also of the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect’s Trioptic True Dragon Branch. They each had their own unique points, especially their third eyes, which were blue, fiery red, and purple, respectively, indicating their origins from different sub-branches. They seemed to care a lot about the youth called Long Longlong.

“Sis Yaoyao, this black war drum should be leading us to the last dragon palace. We have to hurry up,” the youth said to the one with the purple third eye.

She was clad in a light purple dress and looked to be the eldest from her rare, mature aura. “Alright, let’s hurry up then.”

The four of them nodded and increased their speed.

“Longlong, don’t be too anxious. This is the tomb of our ancestor. We’re the descendants of the Ninedragon Emperor, so we should be prioritized.”

“Longlong, the fact you were able to obtain the best divine artifact of our ancestor from the Saintdragon Palace, the Ninedragon Imperius, is proof of that. It’s a grade-eight divine artifact, you know. How many of these have shown up in the history of Orderia? You have the exalted blood. In terms of weapons, none of the Seven Dragon Imperials aside from Grandfather can compare to you.”

“Yeah. You definitely got the best treasure out of all of them.”

“Longlong, you’re no doubt the anointed successor of our ancestor. He’ll definitely have the legacy of the entire tomb prepared for you to receive, and we’ll make sure to help you get it.”

Long Longlong himself stayed silent the whole time. After a while, he said, “Sisters, if our sect was the one that discovered the tomb, what you said would make sense. But now, the Sky Palace has occupied it. So, they won’t have the legacies served up on a silver platter for me. I obtained Ninedragon Imperius with my own power.”

“That makes sense, too….”

“I’m not trying to be humble. I just want to remind you to forget who we are for the upcoming competition. It’s better for us to not assume things are going to automatically work out for us.”

“Alright. We’ll do whatever Longlong says.”

They knew that despite his age, he was a really calm and reassuring person.

……

The appearance of the treasures in the tomb shook the sects of Orderia. But when the fifth treasure to be found was revealed by the eliminated disciples, it sent a stronger wave of shock than all previous four combined.

“The Ninedragon Imperius! A grade-eight divine artifact!”

“It’s the ultimate weapon of the Ninedragon Emperor!”

“It’s been lost for aeons…. Finally, it’s returned!”

“Long Longlong claimed the exalted blood. Has the Ninedragon Emperor anointed a successor?”

“The Azuresoul Palace is basically with the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect now. They truly lucked out this time!”

“It was their ancestor’s treasure to begin with.”

“Wrong! The Sky Palace owned it and put it up for fair competition in the Voidsky Realm! It has nothing to do with the Ninedragon Emperor’s will. The Sky Palace must be fair in how it manages the affairs of the Myriad Solar Sects!”

So far, nobody outside had seen the legendary sword yet. But they were all twitching with anticipation.