Beastmaster of the Ages

The old man continued, ”Son, the current situation is completely different. Nobody could’ve predicted that House Yumo would suffer such a loss! If it weren’t for that, the valley lord wouldn’t have left seclusion at all. Not to mention, if you didn’t support Suishen Yue, Hongtian would blame you once he comes out. The two of you are already at such an age, so I don’t want you brothers to argue any longer.

”You should just let me be the target of his rage. All I hope is that, after I’m dead, you two brothers will truly prioritize House Suishen and stop giving outsiders chances.”

”Yes, Dad! I won’t let you down,” Eminent Ranxing said. ”The problem now is what we’ll do about Suishen Yue if we let Li Tianming come back.”

”He’ll resent it. He’s a sacrifice, after all, and it can’t be anyone but him. I plan to make it up to him by giving him a low-maniverse-class cosmic artifact, which should be enough to bring a great change to his current situation. That kind of weapon is something that not even Yumo Qiangming, an eminent, has.”

”Low-maniverse class? That’s indeed a huge deal. I believe he’ll feel better about it.”

At the end of the day, the old man had decided everything that would happen henceforth. Even if Suishen Hongtian was unhappy about it, he would direct his anger at the old man instead of Eminent Ranxing, who had already punished Tianming enough.

”Yes. All I need is for you to understand the hidden undercurrents in Myriadpath Valley. House Yumo’s heavy loss is a completely new turning point,” the old man said.

”Even though the Three Exalted Houses are united, it doesn’t feel nice to be the weakest one,” Eminent Ranxing said.

”There’s only one thing that we need to keep in mind. With Jiguang and Yaoyao around, we’ll always have the initiative to act, whether we work against Li Tianming or not.”

”Yes! Even if we want to kill him, we’ll have to get someone else to make the move, perhaps House Yumo or House Qitian. Let them be the bad guys.”

”Yes. By the way, has anything turned out from House Yumo’s investigation?”

”House Yumo’s mobilized nearly a million myriadpath disciples and saints and listed out all the mundi with stareyes. Right now, they’re systematically visiting different mundi to seek out Infinitum.”

”They’re going at it that hard, eh?” The old man smirked. ”Remember this: before we know what we’re dealing with, never send any eminents to join the effort. Anything else is fine.”

”Understood!” Eminent Ranxing could tell that his father resented the fact that House Suishen was the weakest of the three houses even more than he did.

***

Suishen Yue and a gold-clad woman approached a courtyard from a distance. Before they were close, the woman tidied up her son’s clothes and said, ”You have to act a bit more pained later to move Eminent Ranxing. Only then will he agree to let Yaoyao marry you, got it?”

”I know. I’ve recited what I have to say a thousand times already,” Suishen Yue said, taking a deep breath.

”How your life will turn out will depend on what you do today. Listen to your father. Don’t care about reputation, focus only on attaining ultimate power and making others bow down to you”

”I know, stop nagging,” Suishen Yue said, leering at her.

”I won’t go in there with you. Eminent Ranxing doesn’t like me anyway. Do your best,” she said with a sigh.

”Okay!”

”Mom will wait for you here.”

”I’m going now.” Suishen Yue took a deep breath and knocked before entering. The lady nervously waited, but it didn’t take long for Suishen Yue to leave with an odd expression.

”How’d it go?” she asked.

Suishen Yue seemed confused. ”I told him what I thought and promised that I would let go of the matter of the Suishen Blood and treat Yaoyao well for the rest of my life, but....”

”But what?!”

”He told me to ask what Yaoyao thinks about it.”

”That means he thinks it’s fine, so it depends on Yaoyao!” the woman excitedly said.

”Do you think there’s a chance she’ll agree?”

The lady in gold froze.

”He didn’t say that the wedding would definitely happen. Isn’t getting me to ask for Yaoyao’s permission the same as a refusal? Normally, a father can make that decision for his daughter.”

”You’re right.” The lady’s expression soured. ”His daughter’s already ruined used goods. My son gave her a chance and decided to take her in regardless, yet he still didn’t get the memo? Ridiculous!”

”Mom, I have to get Yaoyao no matter what. Even if she doesn’t agree, I have to come here to beg uncle for her hand in marriage every day.”

”I guess we’ll have to do that, then.” The lady’s hatred seethed even more than before.

***

A dreamlike white star floated in the void of space within Skydome, shining like a white pearl. Its radiance was a stark contrast against Ebonia’s cold beauty. Skydome was dreamy and enchanting to the eye, just like Fengqing Youmeng, fair and unblemished.

Come to think of it, I’m originally a native of Skydome, Tianming thought. He had only ended up in Infinitum after getting the Sun to move there. The Flameyellow Continent and chaos skyjail were still within the borders of Skydome, making it his actual hometown.

He cultivated in a place where the stareye was in sight. It wasn’t far beneath him, powered by ten skypiercer-class worlds. If I destroy it, Skydome and Infinitum would be much safer. But then I’d never be able to return to Myriadpath Valely or the Xenoabyss....

Since he couldn’t destroy it, he would watch it just in case something happened there. His omnisentient threads didn’t extend to Skydome, so he could only fight on the level of first-level foundationeers, which was enough to defeat Xiaodao.

Tianming spent three months there, during which he sent Yin Chen down to Wondrium to eat more ores and replicate until there were enough Yin Chens to completely surround the stareye and Wondrium. Once he was done, he went into deep cultivation.