Beastmaster of the Ages

”That’s right,” the old man said.

”Won’t that make me the sole bad guy?” Eminent Ranxing said with a troubled look.

”Why should that bother you? You’ll be his father-in-law in the future, and the grandfather of his children. What can he do to you, especially when I become his benefactor? Not to mention, your rage as Yaoyao’s father is only natural. The only thing that matters is whether you can mend your relationship with him after the reconciliation.”

”I don’t think it’ll be a problem. I’d just be losing some face. However, there’s still one thing I don’t understand, Dad.”

”Ask away.”

”You’re to become his grandfather-in-law and benefactor, so I want to know whether you really intend to treat him as a member of House Suishen and a weapon we can use. Are you really planning to rope him in with us and nurture him?”

”That isn’t how I’d put it.”

”How would you put it?”

The old man paused for a moment. ”What I’m saying is that we’ll bring him back, first. That’ll give us the initiative, rather than letting him run around away from our eyes. Whether House Suishen will be cast as the good guys or bad guys will depend on the overall situation and how he feels about us.

”If we can become the good guys, we’ll be able to benefit from him. If we have to be cast as the bad guys, we’ll at least have gained enough time to wipe him out. We’ll know where he is and be able to act when the time calls for it, instead of leaving him to his own devices where he could be doing something completely out of our knowledge. Things are more unpredictable in the latter case.”

”Couldn’t we just trick him into coming back and kill him? We’ll seal off any possibility of revolt that way,” Eminent Ranxing said.

”It’s clear to me that you have a bias against that kid. However, I can understand why. He’s truly made you lose a lot of face.” The old man heartily laughed for a long while. ”In the minds of the two million cultivators of Myriadpath Valley, that kid has a really high reputation. Many people are unhappy about his punishment and exile. But If I step out and announce that he’s allowed to return, only to kill him once he does, it’ll cause House Suishen to completely lose public support.

”It’ll also disrupt the balance of power among the three houses. We’re already the weakest among the three. If we lose public support, we’ll be at a lower position in future discussions about resource distribution. We can’t afford to let that happen.”

”Public support....” Eminent Ranxing’s gaze turned solemn.

”That’s right. Don’t underestimate public support, or the two million cultivators of the august and sacred houses of Myriadpath Valley. After being dominated by us for so long, all of them bear a certain level of resentment that they aren’t able to vent.

”The Three Exalted Houses rule over them by internally dividing them, creating conflict between humans and specters, as well as beastmasters and totemancers. That’s how we keep them too busy and worn out to even bother thinking about working together to fight against us. It’s the precise reason why we don’t want House Suishen to be the most hated of the Three Exalted Houses among the populace. It’ll create many problems for us.”

”That’s why we can’t kill him if we make that announcement, huh....” The situation was making it quite a headache for Eminent Ranxing.

”I also have another reason for making my decision.”

”Enlighten me, Dad.”

”I asked the valley lord about Li Tianming after he left seclusion.”

”Did he also take note of him?”

”Yes.” The old man furrowed his brow. ”You should already know that Li Tianming and House Yumo have huge grudges against each other, so House Yumo won’t take him in at all. House Qitian, however, hasn’t done anything to give him any negative impression so far. Not to mention, Li Tianming’s still the strongest as a beastmaster.

”While House Qitian has suffered at the hands of an outsider before, that won’t be enough to cause them to leave an unknown element unattended. Instead, it makes them uniquely qualified to manage situations like these while keeping the three houses’ rule stable.

”Think about it. If Li Tianming goes to House Qitian and serves them, we’ll have lost our initiative to House Qitian. Won’t it be really awkward, especially given that you were the one to declare him a top fugitive in the first place?”

”So is that the main reason you’re summoning him back? You’re right, Dad. Rather than letting House Qitian take him in as a contingency and letting them elevate themselves using him, we should use what we already have to pull him to us instead, eh? I’ve heard enough.”

”It’s good that you understand. The most crucial fact is that the valley lord can find Li Tianming as long as he’s willing. I bet he’d have done that sooner than we expected if not for what happened to House Yumo. We have to find him before they make a move,” the old man said.

”Fine. It’s only the first step. I’ll lose face and be clowned on because of this, however, and it’ll no doubt affect our relationship with House Yumo,” Eminent Ranxing said, troubled.

”House Yumo?” the old man laughed. ”They’re far too busy dealing with their own problems to be worried about you. You’re only worried about your relationship with that wench, right?”

”Dad, don’t make it sound so nasty,” Eminent Ranxing awkwardly said.

”You know best what you’ve done. If it wasn’t for the fact that I already have one son in the Midsky Well, I would’ve had you sent there as well. The only reason I didn’t is because I still want to maintain at least some semblance of reputation,” the old man coldly said.

”Yes, I get it.” Eminent Ranxing nodded.

After a while, the old man said, ”Forget it. Your affairs aren’t something I’m interested in. If House Yumo starts making noise, just blame it on me. I was the one who made the decision. All you have to do is to play the role of someone who got slapped in the face. You just have to fume at me along with House Yumo.”

”I wouldn’t dare....” Eminent Ranxing awkwardly smiled. It seemed that things were settled. ”Had I known this would happen, I would’ve just gone with the flow instead of flipping out with rage.”

”Did you think that you would’ve been capable of such a decision given your emotional state?”

”I wouldn’t,” Eminent Ranxing admitted after thinking about it for a bit. In fact, even changing course now was displeasing to him. If the old man hadn’t made the decision for him, he would have shamelessly persisted in his course. Not even his sister would be able to sway him.

Regardless of how unhappy he was, he understood the old man’s considerations. The rationale made sense to him. He couldn’t tell if letting Tianming return to Myriadpath Valley would be a good or bad thing, but he knew that there was no stopping it from happening.