Beastmaster of the Ages

The Gladean Ruins had far too many secrets. Even Lin Xiaodao, its sole controller, didn’t know its real name. Not to mention, he more than likely only had control over a limited set of its functions. However, that wouldn’t stop him from unleashing its destructive power as an infinitum-class ship.

As the ebon expeditionary army neared them, it had finished charging completely. Despite its relatively small size for a ship, it was able to charge up to a hundred thousand times the energy of the Divine Moon Realm.

The Ebonfiend and the other fifty ether-class ships got into a large ship formation, with the Ebonfiend at the very front, piercing through the pink netherclouds without fear. Its divine astralship formation glowed red hot from resistance and friction from the netherclouds. If one was far enough, the glowing-hot ships looked like a floral tiara atop Gladeus.

The heavens and earth rumbled and shook. People in Gladeus, regardless of their affiliation, held their breaths as they watched the fleet of astralships shudder as they passed through the formation. This was no normal clash between mortals or astral gods, but one of divine astralships and the astralguard formation. They represented the combined efforts of tens of millions of years of their respective people, as well as the resources their forebears had obtained through war and conflict. Lin Xiaodao was merely the leader of the Tenth Branch of the Swordgod Lin Clan and shouldn’t have had the right to challenge the ebons in a conflict of this scale to begin with. Yet, he had a fifth-class nova source world and the Gladean Ruins propping him up, as well as Yin Chen and Ji Ji’s help.

”Ebons, this is my territory! Return from whence you came!” He stood proud and tall atop Skyhold Palace; the Gladean Ruins was actually located within it.

Tianming looked down and saw the sky island on which Skyhold Palace was built begin to move. Then, it split in half where the palace was. A cold, frosty, and ancient divine astralship seemed to have awakened amidst the dust and smoke, revealing the tip of its iceberg. The ruins of indeterminate age was fully charged up. It looked like a world-sized two-headed dragon, the eyes on its gold and black heads glowing in the darkness. Two beams of light shot out like pillars of flame towards the Hellstar Formation above, the sight of which made Tianming feel like a volcanic eruption had occurred in his chest! The upcoming battle was just as crucial to him. He would only have a safe place as long as Gladeus held. Otherwise, he would lose his life, freedom, and access to top-tier cultivation resources.

”Ji Ji, go help out!” Ji Ji could split into three parts. One of her parts was inside Gladeus itself, while Tianming had the other two with him, which could boost Tianming and his lifebound beasts as well as hypercharge the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Tianming had Ji Ji leave the ship to go to Lin Xiaodao. As the two-headed dragon ship left Skyhold Palace and soared into the sky, it swallowed up one part of Ji Ji. After a few moments, a pink glow covered the black-gold ship, making it even more powerful.

”Master’s control over the Gladean Ruins is definitely not comparable to that of the second rex mundi’s over the Ebonfiend. Hopefully, Ji Ji will be able to even the playing field somewhat.” Even if Lin Xiaodao’s own strength couldn’t quite match up against the second rex mundi’s, it didn’t matter when it came to a battle of ships of similar classes. Not to mention, the Hellstar Formation was backing him up. Tianming didn’t seem all too worried about his master as the ship soared into the skies.

”Looks like my master’s greatest trump card is this infinitum-class divine astralship. No doubt, this puts him on the level of Yi Daiyan and Shenxi Xingtian.” Shenxi Xingtian had personal power, a huge clan, and an infinitum-class ship, making him the most well-rounded of the three. Yi Daiyan’s personal power was off the charts, putting her at the very top. Not to mention, she controlled the astralguard and fusion formations of Ebonia, though she didn’t have a ship of that caliber and her clan itself was weak. Lin Xiaodao was the weakest combatant of them all, but he had the Swordgod Lin Clan behind his back, a moderately powerful clan, and an infinitum-class ship. The Gladean Ruins evened the odds greatly and made it possible for the Swordgod Lin Clan to stand on par with the ebons. Even during the reign of the two reges mundi, the Swordgod Lin Clan didn’t have an infinitum-class divine astralship to close the gap between the clans. As such, the strength of their reigns was at best on par with Yi Daiyan, who didn’t even have a powerful clan.

”It’s time for the final push. Master, it’s time for you to shine brightly in the sky!” While they hadn’t known each other for that long, Tianming’s master-disciple bond with Lin Xiaodao had been forged firmly. He was Tianming’s protector, while Tianming was his future!

......

Loud blasts could be heard all throughout as the Ebonfiend forced apart the hellstar reaper sword condensate vortices using its divine astralship formation, making a deep hole in the defensive formation. All other divine astralships also activated their formations at full power to aid with the push. Pillars of flame stretched far and wide behind them, signaling maximum thrust! The fierce fiendish head with countless hair-like chains kept on pushing through the turbulent hellstar reaper sword condensate while the other ships cruised behind its wake.

The sword condensate hammered on them like torrential rain, pushing back as heavily as it could. Once the Ebonfiend made it through the formation, it would be completely unstoppable. There were five hundred thousand astral gods within it, much more than all the astral gods in Gladeus combined. Not to mention, Shenxi Xingtian was also with them. There was no way the Gladean Ruins could hold up against such might. Many people soon realized that Gladeus was in huge peril when they saw the Ebonfiend in all its defensive and offensive glory.

”It’s over! Even if we can stop the blasts, we can’t stop them from advancing!”

”If those ships come in, Gladeus will fall!”

”Even if the Ebonfiend alone makes it in, that’s enough to end us! We’re going to be fighting quite a substantial number of their forces!”

”It’s over for us!”

Those that cried out in a panic were top-tier astral gods. The normal mortals below couldn’t even get a good look at the battlefield and didn’t even know how bad things were. The Gladean ebon elites, on the other hand, were cheering nonstop.

”Congratulations, Rex Mundi!”

”Gladeus is saved!”

”The traitor Lin Xiaodao shall finally face righteous judgment! All of the Skycross Lin Clan have conspired with him, so they deserve to be punished as well!”

”The rex mundi’s might knows no boundaries! The ebons shall ever triumph!”

There were many who cheered and knelt in worship at the sight of the Ebonfiend piercing through the pink sea of sword ki. The waves of the Hellstar Formation grew larger and larger, looking as if it was under huge duress. No matter its thickness, it wouldn’t be able to stop the enemy ships from entering at all!

In actuality, the fifty-odd ships that trailed behind the Ebonfiend were also under assault by the defensive formation. Even many of the hairs of the Ebonfiend snapped from the assault and were instantly vaporized. The formations and walls of the many other ships also began to crack. However, due to the sheer size of the fleet, the power of the Hellstar Formation was spread a little too thin. Soon, the fleet made its way to the center layer of the formation. There was only half left to go before the ebons could declare victory.

As long as Yi Daiyan didn’t interfere, the side that won would be the side that was in the right! All this was as the second rex mundi had predicted. Seated upon his Myriadbeast Throne, his hollow eyes didn’t reveal the slightest hint of annoyance. He seemed rather relaxed.

”We’re halfway through! Lin Xiaodao and his so-called Skycross Lin Clan must be panicking,” Lin Jie said, wide-eyed, his voice shaking from agitation.

”There’s no more suspense,” Shenxi Xingtian said, looking down slightly at the man. ”Lin Jie, you should be thankful that Lin Xiaodao was the one who started the conflict. That gave us the right pretense. Once we deal with this, we’ll be able to attack the Infinitum Swordsea with this revolt as a justification and overthrow Lin Xiao and Lin Changkong, thereby reinstating you to your former position.”

”Thank you, Rex Mundi! The Swordgod Lin Clan will serve as the ebons’ sword from then on!” Lin Jie knelt, full of gratitude.

Shenxi Xingtian merely offered a pleased smile. He looked past Lin Jie at the pink storm outside. All of a sudden, the watery pools that were his eyes began to boil. Bubbles floated to the surface nonstop, and those that were familiar with ebons would know that this was a sign of extreme shock and disbelief. Lin Jie also knew that particular quirk. What could have changed his mood that abruptly?!