Beastmaster of the Ages

Qitian Muyue’s eyes widened as she staggered backward. Even the proud ninesource beast, Qing Huang, quivered, clearly shaken to its core.

”This can’t be! Not even the valley lord can defeat so many eminents with a single strike! It’s impossible.... How can someone surpass the super-zenith? What kind of power is that? Beyond foundationeer?” Yumo Dinai let out a guttural roar. Though his tone remained fierce, a tremor in his voice betrayed his fear.

While the two invaders wallowed in disbelief and despair, the dying eminents continued pleading for their lives, offering to become Tianming’s dogs.

But he paid them no heed. He raised his hand and a blood-red cauldron appeared beside him, filling the air with an ominous aura. Engraved on it were countless depictions of hellish fiends, all labeled. It was practically an encyclopedia of House Yumo. Each carving seemed alive and drenched in blood, embodying the cruel destruction of countless heliacal-class worlds.

The Yumo eminents’ bodies were broken, but not entirely obliterated. Their astrons remained, keeping countless vengeful souls imprisoned and unable to move on.

“Refined and trapped within your astrons, they can only be freed upon your deaths. Is there any clan in existence more heinous than you Yumos?” Tianming’s cold words were like a death sentence as he unveiled the Yumo Blood Crucible.

“The Yumo Blood Crucible!” Whether they were House Yumo or Qitian, their very souls trembled. They stared at Tianming with even greater terror.

Even the two Suishens were stunned into silence. Their wide eyes fixed on the white-haired youth, their lashes trembling, betraying the magnitude of the storm raging within them.

At last, the long-buried truth had been revealed. The Yumo Blood Crucible, the Hellfiend, the mysterious deaths of twenty Yumo eminents, and the eventual gruesome deaths of three minor pathkeepers... all the dots were finally connected.

Tianming chuckled and placed a hand on the cauldron. ”You guessed right. During that time, I became Myriadpath Valley’s top fugitive and returned to my homeland. Then an astralship arrived at the borders of my Boundless Realm and refined one of my heliacal-class worlds. Billions of my citizens were turned into a single drop of starblood. That generated an irreconcilable hatred! From that day on, I swore I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t annihilate House Yumo in this lifetime!

“So I killed them all, destroyed the Hellfiend, and took the Yumo Blood Crucible. Then I answered Myriadpath Valley’s call, returned, and continued playing my part as a fortuna disciple....”

When Tianming revealed the secret, the Yumos and Qitians were plunged into despair.

Even Suishen Jiguang, who had always been close to him, felt her heart uncontrollably racing. At that time, she had been the one to escort him back to Myriadpath Valley. “That incident caused House Yumo to frantically search for the culprit, overshadowing the excitement surrounding his return. No one ever suspected the connection!”

Eventually, House Qitian had even been forced to take the blame for a time. The deaths of twenty eminents in the Infinitum Mundus gave rise to countless rumors and theories, some even tying the Yin-Yang World survivors to the chaos. But now the truth was finally clear.

Suishen Jiguang recalled the harmless facade Tianming had shown upon his return to Myriadpath Valley and her entire worldview shook. Although she knew it wasn’t necessary, she couldn’t help but feel a flicker of fear toward the boy; it was instinctive and unavoidable.

The Tianming she once knew had been so innocent in her presence. She and Suishen Xiyue could never have imagined that he was capable of such “wickedness.”

”It was you! It was all you!” Yumo Dinai shrieked, his sanity unraveling.

”That’s right. As they say, what goes around comes around. Now it’s your turn to experience the bliss of being refined in the Yumo Blood Crucible. Soon, I’ll bring this artifact back to Myriadpath Valley and throw your entire house into it. You owe the countless lives you’ve taken a blood debt.” Tianming’s icy smirk and unwavering tone left Yumo Dinai shuddering.

Without hesitation, Tianming acted. The Grand-Orient Sword moved and completely obliterated the remains of the specters’ bodies, releasing the countless tormented souls trapped within. They thanked him before dissipating into the heavens.

It was a tragedy, but Tianming had no choice but to act, striving to restore dignity to those who remained.

He tossed the eminents and myriadpath source beasts into the Yumo Blood Crucible. Though their physical forms were gone, their souls and cosmic charts remained intact, leaving them fully conscious.

“Li Tianming! Please spare us!”

“It was House Yumo that wronged you, not House Qitian! We uphold peace across the Million Mundi and don’t refine starblood! We’ll even help you destroy House Yumo!”

The House Qitian eminents uncontrollably sobbed.

“Oh, really? Don’t worry, even if you don’t refine starblood, I find you equally repulsive. Consider yourselves lucky to share the fate of your old friends from House Yumo.” With that, Tianming closed the lid of the Yumo Blood Crucible.

But he wasn’t in a hurry to start refining them yet. That was because these small fries were only appetizers. There were still two big fish right in front of him. They were truly monumental prey. If they were back in Myriadpath Valley, they would be beyond his reach.

But here, they had walked right into his grasp. Two major-zenith eminents! If they die, Houses Qitian and Yumo will be hollow apart from the valley lord. They’ll only have fifty eminents left!

It was a windfall beyond imagination.

For Yumo Dinai and Qitian Muyue, Tianming’s actions were a nightmare they couldn’t wake from. Yumo Dinai had already been shattered by the truth, while Qitian Muyue, once so proud, had fallen from her pedestal. Her once-beautiful face was now swollen and humiliated.