Beastmaster of the Ages

”What?!” Huang Daolie froze for a moment and furiously shook his head. ”A million points? That simply won’t do, Minor Pathkeeper!”

”How will it not?” The pink-haired girl squinted. Anger emanated from her body and she no longer resembled a cute little animal like before.

”The highest ranking participant only has around a hundred thousand points! Having something worth one million points would allow the one that kills it to be ranked first right away! Not to mention, having a public marker like that will draw in countless people and create even more chaos! How many casualties would there be? The children from the valley would be facing quite a lot of risk as well!”

”Exactly! That’s the way I want it! The one who kills it will be ranked first! It’s only fun if people come together and actually encounter each other in a battle royale, got it?” The girl sounded even more excited than before.

”This....” As Huang Daolie hesitated, he shot his subordinate a glance.

”Huang Daolie!” The girl glared at him and growled, ”Are you telling someone to get my grandfather? Do you think you’re trying to save yourself some trouble? Once I grow up, you’ll learn the consequences of defying me. I remember my grudges really clearly. Destroying a shitty ancient house like yours is all too easy. I’m in a good mood right now, so let’s not ruin that for me, understood?”

”Yes, understood!” Huang Daolie almost knelt. He called out to his men and said, ”Go change the reward for the nightmare rabbit to a million points! Mark its location as well! Do it now!”

His men immediately began working. Huang Daolie forced a smile and bowed. ”Minor Pathkeeper, are you satisfied now? Are you?” He was annoyed, but he had no choice. Only the undisputed strongest person in the universe wouldn’t have to bow to any authority. Other than that, the rest organized themselves into neat pecking orders.

”Now move aside! Don’t get in my way of watching a great show,” said the girl.

”Very well! Your wish is my command.” Huang Daolie hurriedly bowed and backed away, utterly terrified about the consequences. His son, Huang Daoxiong, was currently number one on the ranking, and it had seemed like it would be really difficult to overtake him. But then the girl had introduced a variable that could change everything.

Xiong’er obtaining first place will be really good for his record, especially with how it’s his debut. It’ll make it much easier for him to fight for cultivation resources before the age of five hundred. But now... I have this little tyrant to deal with. He could do naught but sigh and endure it no matter how bad he felt.

......

Tianming calculated how many points he would need to close the gap with those of the top three. ”I have only half a day left. Let’s give it my all.”

Once more, Tianming increased the number of Yin Chens he had let out. Even if he defeated one of the three top rankers, he wouldn’t necessarily get enough points. The other participants that he had taken out had only granted him some ten thousand points at most. If he defeated too many of them in a row, his cheating would become widely known so he had no choice but to send Yin Chen looking for the top three instead of the rest. It was hard to say whether half a day would be enough for him to challenge and defeat them.

Along the Skyward Grandpath, he could sense that the astral fog was filled with chaos and killing. He smelled the scent of blood in the air. ”Looks like quite a lot of people have died.”

Most of the outer mundi geniuses that came to Myriadpath Valley to follow their dreams wouldn’t have good endings. Only a very few could find a proper foothold there and rise to prominence, and even then, they would draw in hordes of people who wanted to squeeze them dry.

”Maybe this is what the path of cultivation should be like. One has to go against the current and keep advancing! Anyone that can’t compete will be eliminated.”

Tianming rampaged across the battlefield. Soon, a row of golden words appeared near the Skyward Ranking that read ’rule change: the high-ether-class nightmare rabbit is now worth one million points!’

He thought he had misread it. The first ranker only had some hundred thousand points. High-ether-class wildbeasts were usually worth ten thousand points, so why would it be multiplied a hundredfold? ”Does Myriadpath Valley do things like this without any protocol?”

Tianming asked Li Fan the same. ”Brother, why’re they doing this?”

”I don’t know. Are you sure you’re not just joking with me again?” Li Fan skeptically asked.

”Nope. The words are clear. Everyone saw it.”

”Damn.... Are you a trouble magnet or something? Things seem to be changing a lot because of your mere presence! I’ve never heard of such a change in the thousand years I’ve spent here.”

”Fine. In other words, the one that kills the nightmare rabbit will rank first.”

”You can say that, but if time hasn’t run out and you get defeated by someone else, they’ll get the points.”

”Nope. You can’t just defeat them, since you’ll only take a third of the points. That still leaves 666,000, which is enough to keep someone in first place. Only killing will work.”

”You’re right. Then again, being ranked first is a huge deal. If the one that kills the nightmare rabbit doesn’t have high status, they might be killed, even if they’re wearing a gold myriadpath ring.”

Tianming now knew the extent of the value of a million points. It was a matter of life and death. There was no longer any point in hunting down the top three rankers. Right as he was about to get Yin Chen to change its target to the nightmare rabbit, a pink glow shone from deep within the astral fog. It was blindingly bright and visible to everyone on the Skyward Grandpath. The light formed an icon depicting the rabbit in the sky.

”What’s there?” Tianming asked Yin Chen.

”Only the... nightmare rabbit,” it said.

”Huh. Looks like someone’s trying to use the rabbit to trigger a chaotic melee before the end of the fight!” It seemed that Myriadpath Valley wasn’t going to do things by the books anymore. Since Tianming was still quite far from the nightmare rabbit, he didn’t hesitate.

”Meow Meow, come out and take us there!” he said.

”How? I’m stuck to you now!” Meow Meow snapped.

”Damn. I forgot.” Meow Meow’s body had been damaged and twisted. Tianming couldn’t possibly ride on his arm.

”Ride yourself, you low-grade mount,” Ying Huo mocked.

”Shut up.” Tianming had no choice but to speed himself up. However, he did find that his new body gave him immense speed. Thanks to being able to directly benefit from Ji Ji’s Spiritual Attachment, he became a beam of black with hints of pink across the ground as he zipped across it. He was one of the fastest entities on the Skyward Grandpath!