Beastmaster of the Ages

The Windheed Pavilion encompassed a city that stretched thousands of miles. The clusters of buildings somewhat resembled Myriadmile City. From above, it looked like a sea of stars in the night sky, clustered together to form a brighter whole. The chains of tall buildings intermingled with parks, ponds, and beautiful facsimiles of nature that seemed organic, but were precisely designed and constructed. A relaxing breeze blew past the land in the sect, causing wind chimes to crisply tingle like the laughter of young maidens.

But this day, a cloud of gloom loomed over the gigantic city, within which was gathered millions of constelliers. Tens of millions of normal gods also ran about in a panic. As one of the higher-ranked sects, they weren’t weak as a whole and could barely be considered half as potent as the Blueblood Starocean, which was ranked tenth. They had four million elites and more than forty million normal gods. Their sect alone had the might of the five sects from the Land of Three Skies combined. And thanks to their unique culture, they had grown into the unshakeable rulers of the Xuanyu Continent, yet they were facing elimination this very day.

”The Divine Sun Palace is working again!”

”I heard it’s coming our way.”

”Even though our Chaos Windstorm Formation is a top-tier grade-seven defensive formation, almost a grade-eight one, it won’t stop the Divine Sun Palace! What do we do? Where’s the sect master or the alliance leader?”

”The sect master is assembling the troops. As for the leader of the alliance, you’re talking about Li Tianming, right? I don’t know either. The battles at the Land of Three Skies sound confusing. Not even I know precisely what happened. The Divine Sun Palace is already close... it’s over for us....”

The formation of the alliance and selection of the alliance leaders had brought much confidence to the many factions, yet they didn’t think that their efforts would be foiled once more by the Divine Sun Palace.

”With the Divine Sun Palace approaching us, will we have to abandon our sect like the Azuresoul Palace and Supracloud Sanctuary?” someone suddenly asked.

”No! If we leave, everything here will be destroyed! The celestial orderians will wipe out anyone that’s left behind, as well as the precious cultural treasures our ancestors have built! That’s the most important thing to us! We have to defend them to our deaths!”

”But how? Once the formation is broken, the sixty million troops of the enemy will swarm in and wipe us out! We don’t have that many even if we include our ascendants! If we lose our chance to run, we’ll be wiped out for sure!”

”But....”

Many people fell into despair over the prospect of abandoning their homes. Every plant and stone of the Windheed Pavilion was infused with deep sentimental meaning. If they lost all of them, would they still have any soul to speak of? Should they run, or should they fight? This was the question everyone was struggling with. Amidst the chaos, some people began panicking, while others froze up as a result of the dilemma.

”All we can do is wait for the sect master and the council to make a final decision. If we abandon our homes, we might yet survive.”

Everyone was nervous about having to be refugees, losing the comforts of their homes and risking estrangement from their friends and loved ones. They couldn’t bear to see their homes and treasures burn in the flames ignited by the vile enemy. Only those who had suffered the same fate would understand how they felt, such as the Azuresoul Palace and Skyseal Sword Sect. They knew that the Windheed Pavilion would have a really hard time abandoning the mighty constructs of their ancestors, all of which contained impactful and important tales to their kind. The flaming beast was threatening to swallow it all.

......

There was a tower at the center of the city. At the very top was a beauty dressed in green and white, sporting a tall figure and long, flowing hair. Her skin seemed incredibly smooth and her eyes were as clear as the freshest spring. While time hadn’t left marks on her appearance, she was by no means young. Among the cultivators of the Windheed Pavilion, she was the respected and revered Lady Windheeder, the sect master. Her name was Fengling Suyu.

The Fengling Clan was an old one, with roots tracing back to the very beginning of Orderia. When the celestial orderians began appearing in this world, the Fengling Clan had already claimed some territory on the sun as their own home. As the master of a second-rate sect, Fengling Suyu’s status was on par with that of Long Wanying. The two of them were tranquil, stoic beauties with an air of intelligence. However, Fengling Suyu seemed even gentler, like her sect. The sight of her alone made people feel serene. However, she didn’t give off that impression this time around, as death was knocking at her door.

A silver egg before her turned into a metallic butterfly and perched on the back of her hand. While it wasn’t appropriate to let the sect masters of second-rate sects know of Yin Chen, Tianming didn’t really care too much about it anymore. He quickly reached out to her from the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. The butterfly briefed her about everything they were in for, such as the savagery the celestial orderians could commit.

With a solemn tone, Tianming said, ”Senior Fengling, I’ve seen the celestial orderians attack the Aeonic Infinidragon Formation. There’s no way that your defensive formation will be able to hold out. If your formation breaks, the normal ascendants you have won’t be able to contribute using the formation spirit threads, so you’ll effectively only have four million elites fighting against sixty million enemies. Your casualties will be heavy.”

”So, the only sensible choice to make is to abandon the sect and flee like beaten dogs, huh....” Fengling Suyu leaned against the windowsill with a stern look. She cast her gaze north, as if a hungry beast could be seen through the flaming clouds.

”Senior Fengling, in the face of disaster, survival is the only thing that matters. Only by surviving can we hope to turn things around and take back what belongs to us. The cultivators of the Windheed Pavilion all have a right to live on. Far too many third- and fourth-rate sects have already been forced to leave their homes, but if we band together, we’ll still have hope.”

No doubt, those words would take quite a bit of time for Yin Chen to relay. Tianming was flipping out over how long it took. The biggest challenge he faced in his position was to come up with solutions for their troubles, but nobody could do much about the Divine Sun Palace. Who could have known the sun emperor had a backup core that could be used to activate it once again?

Naturally, nobody blamed Tianming for not having a miracle solution to all of their ills. As natives of the sun, their ancestors had all been facing down the threat of the Divine Sun Palace. Even if someone else led the alliance, they wouldn’t be able to do anything against it. Fengling Suyu knew that defeating the sun emperor and the Divine Sun Palace was too much to ask of Tianming. Though, despite his heartfelt advice, her expression seemed unyielding.

”Li Tianming, the Windheed Pavilion isn’t like the Azuresoul Palace. This city is far too precious to our kind, filled with too much of our memories. It’s the crystallization of efforts over countless generations. I’m willing to perish together with it, if that’s what it takes to not abandon it. From my birth, I’ve been bound to this city, in life and in death. The Xuanyu Continent has seven other second-rate factions, and the sun emperor won’t spare them, either. I hope that our final struggle will at least help buy time for the others. Please greet our other friends of the Xuanyu Continent for me. Thank you.” She had always been known as a graceful and gentle sect master, often giving her all to serve the masses. The people of the continent saw her as a saintly figure that never took part in conflict, yet she had resolved herself to fight as death came creeping toward her.

”But there’s many others in your sect that haven’t chosen to fight! You can’t ask them to die on your own accord!” Tianming understood how she felt about the sect, but this was tens of millions of people they were talking about. They were all innocent and had no obligation to stay and suffer the sun emperor’s wrath.

Fengling Suyu merely shook her head. ”You misunderstood me. I’ll arrange for those who wish to flee to depart with you. Those that want to remain and fight will also get their chance. Li Tianming, you’re the most talented person I’ve ever met. Even though the Divine Sun Palace’s arrival is enough to paralyze us in fear, you managed to help the Land of Three Skies avoid complete annihilation. I hope you don’t mind letting us suffer the consequences of our own choice. Don’t feel crestfallen about us, either. I have faith that you’ll be able to defeat the sun emperor and avenge us. If that day ever comes, please bring those who left back to help them rebuild. I’ll no longer have that chance, so I can only repay you for this in the next life.”

Tears flowed down her face as she spoke. Then she crushed the metallic insect into smithereens and left her tower.