Beastmaster of the Ages

”Aaaaagh!” Huang Daoxiong had wanted to lock down Tianming in close combat for his final counterattack. However, his body had been filled with cosmic impulses and genesis ancestral nova source that tore his astrons asunder and damaged his cosmic charts.

Tianming coldly split the Grand-Orient Sword into two and used his spacetime sword arts. Compared to Huang Daoxiong, his lightning-guarded body was far more agile! The specter’s body was pierced countless times, gaining quite a lot of holes in a short time.

Then Tianming appeared above Huang Daoxiong’s head and gave it a harsh kick from behind with his right leg, covered in Primordial Swords and Myriadstar Rings! With an agonized cry, he was sent flying off.

The crowd watched, completely dumbfounded at the sight of Huang Daoxiong’s artifact-grade specter body getting absolutely demolished by a kick from a beastmaster’s bare leg! He should have been even tougher than the armor of infinitum-class ships, but not only had his flesh caved in, the Primordial Swords and Myriadstar Rings had also pierced through his vital spots, cutting through his crimson mane.

The moment Huang Daoxiong fell flat on the ground, his myriadpath ring marked him as defeated. He lost a third of his points and fell to third place, below the yet-undefeated Chu Tianyu.

Tianming obtained thirty thousand points, raising his record even higher! Having defeated Huang Daoxiong, Tianming’s spot in first place was left unchallenged. Many people simply couldn’t quite bring their hearts to accept the truth.

It wasn’t a fluke at all. Tianming, being an outer mundi genius, had used pure power and prowess to overwhelm Huang Daoxiong! Not only did he have a huge arsenal of techniques, his execution of them was elegant and almost artful. Many had to admit that he looked rather attractive as he rested the tip of his sword on the ground while his white hair fluttered in the wind.

People broke into waves of discussion.

”I didn’t think he’d actually be stronger than Huang Daoxiong!”

”What a monster. Even though he’s older than Huang Daoxiong, he’s only cultivated in the outer mundi so far. That’s nothing to scoff at.”

”He got first place and created a whole new record for the outer mundi! He managed to bring us glory! Impressive!”

Many outer mundi geniuses had also made it into the ranking. Before, they were merely participating as prey to be killed by the inner valley geniuses, a fact that had frustrated them to no end. But Tianming had managed to help them vent.

”Huang Daoxiong still doesn’t seem convinced.”

As they spoke, Huang Daoxiong crawled back up despite his battered body and angrily charged at Tianming. Tianming didn’t hold back at all and kept beating him down, crushing his astrons until he stopped getting up altogether.

”Do you yield? If not, get up and let’s do this again.” Tianming sent him flying again with a kick while he stood at the exit of the Skyward Grandpath. He couldn’t leave before the door opened, anyway. Once it did, he would go out and set the score in stone. Whether he would survive the ordeal that was to come could only be left in the hands of fate. His heart rate increased as he waited.

”Li Tianming! Haha!” Huang Daoxiong had reverted to his normal state with two eyes and two irises. He struggled to get up, covered in astral blood from head to toe. The blood was made up of coagulated, destroyed astrons. ”You may have bested me, but so what? You offended me and many of our comrades, and even killed Huang Jihuang. Even if you get first place and become a disciple of Myriadpath Valley, your days here will be nothing but nightmares!”

Hearing that, Tianming couldn’t hold back his laughter. ”If I can have nightmares every day, that means I won’t die! That’s a blessing, right? Thanks for the good news!”

Huang Daoxiong was completely speechless. After a good while, all he could say was, ”Just you wait! You’ll see!”

Either way, he no longer bothered to keep attacking. The fact that he couldn’t defeat Tianming was plain for all to see. Rage kept boiling within him. ”In another two hundred years, I’ll crush you myself! I’ll never forget this humiliation.”

”Two hundred years?” Tianming shrugged. He acknowledged that Myriadpath Valley was much stronger than the Infinitum Mundus, but in two hundred years, he might have already conquered the place.

Soon, Chu Tianyu managed to catch up. Seeing Huang Daoxiong utterly defeated, he wasn’t deterred from trying his luck and was crushed by Tianming all the same, losing a third of his points. Huang Daoxiong became second place again as a result, but it was humiliating all the same!

......

There wasn’t much time before the Skyward Grandpath’s exit opened. Within Skyward Hall, the pink-haired girl watched everything while curled up in her golden seat. ”This is so much fun!”

There had been so much to marvel at—the chaotic battle royale that started when the nightmare rabbit’s location was revealed, Tianming making his appearance and taking on a dozen plus people alone, Huang Daoxiong’s betrayal of the other two to kill the nightmare rabbit instead of holding Tianming back, and Tianming defeating Qiu Ciling and Huang Daoxiong while getting a million points in the process.

There were so many twists and turns in this cycle, making it easily the most exciting to watch to date. It was filled with intrigue, betrayal, plots, and struggles, and could be considered emblematic of the human condition. All those fine details had been clearly revealed within such a short time. The pink-haired girl relished in the show and thought of herself as something of a director that had put everything in motion.

”This was amazing. Future Skyward Grandpath trials should use my rules! That’ll keep them interesting! Otherwise, the ranking will be filled with nothing but those from our valley. I’d thought there was nobody interesting in the Million Mundi until now!” she chuckled.

Huang Daolie kept his head low, his expression as sour as it could be.

”Hey, Huang Daolie, your son was beat up and completely wrecked. You won’t be mad about that, right? You’re a member of an ancient house, you know, so you can’t be too loose with protocol,” she mocked.

”Minor Pathkeeper, why would I? Dao’er lost because of his own shortcomings. As the proctor of the trial, I’ll do things by the book,” Huang Daoxiong said, looking up and instantly smiling.

”I don’t think you’d dare to do otherwise either. After all, the one in first place was hand picked by none other than me. He’s so much more skilled than anyone you would’ve picked. Listen well: we’ll do the trials this way moving forward. I’ll come to watch every single one.”

”Understood.”