Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming and the three beauties returned to Myriadpath Valley, where he would put the plan to use Qitian Muyue in motion. Yumo Dinai and the others had been refined to death for quite a while, so the folks at Myriadpath Valley were probably freaking out.

At Skydome’s stareye, Tianming told Qitian Muyue, ”You should go first.”

”Yes, Master.” She obediently nodded and disappeared, leaving Tianming behind with Suishen Jiguang and Suishen Xiyue. The two women seemed rather dazed.

”I would never have dreamed of seeing such a prideful woman like her wagging her tail before you,” Suishen Xiyue said, impressed.

”Hehe....” Tianming feigned a harmless look. ”Umm... I was going to ask if the two of you have decided to support me.”

Suishen Xiyue looked at Suishen Jiguang, who in turn looked at Tianming and said, ”What’re you asking at this point for? Aren’t we already in it together?”

That was all Tianming needed to hear. ”I, Li Tianming, will not disappoint you!”

After that, they returned to Myriadpath Valley. He wanted to be there to listen in on Qitian Muyue and judge her performance.

***

Within Qitian Cave was a misty corner where a silver-haired elder stood, timid and pale faced. It was the valley lord, Qitian Xiao.

Large numbers of white snakes swam through his astrons, constantly destroying his body and torturing him. He had overexerted his powers and received a strong backlash from the divine toxin. Ten years of suppression and effort had been ruined in a single moment. He couldn’t even leave Qitian Cave to use the Source Progenitor’s energy to recover.

His expression was stern and his eyes were filled with hate and resentment. He clenched his fists tight, like a champion who had hit his twilight days. His rage caused the hills before him to break and the current to flow in reverse.

”Dad, save your energy. Hate’s pointless at this juncture. Let’s wait for my sister to send word back,” Qitian Muyu said, seeming just as downcast.

His father was weaker than him now, giving him an even heavier burden as the leader of House Qitian. Even if Qitian Xiao recovered, he wouldn’t be much stronger than a major-zenith foundationeer, considering his age and loss of his tensource beast. In a thousand years, he might even fall short of the major zenith again.

”Let’s not think about ruling over the others now. Once we take care of Li Tianming, House Qitian must take time to recover. One day, our house will return to our glory days like a hundred years ago,” Qitian Muyu sighed. All the leaders of the Three Exalted House wanted nothing but stability and a return to the good old days.

”A hundred years ago? So our grudge against House Yumo will magically disappear?” the valley lord said, angrily glaring at his son.

”To be honest, we killed their senior madame. That just evens it out. The tensource beast didn’t die at House Yumo’s hands anyway—”

”Shut up!”

Qitian Muyu could only sigh. He had already accepted the current state of things and wanted to focus on the bigger picture. He would be fine with temporarily leaving the grudge untouched, but his father was still dreaming about keeping Myriadpath Valley under his foot. He still seemed unable to accept the terrible loss.

”Qitian Muyu, you’re my son, yet you haven’t achieved the super zenith yet. Our house’s ruin will be due to your incompetence!” the valley lord said.

”Yes....” Qitian Muyu nodded and couldn’t be bothered to argue. His father hadn’t achieved the super zenith when he was his age, either. The valley lord had once said that he would help his son with it, but those plans had long been dashed.

Qitian Muyu clutched his sister’s transmission stone, waiting for the good news. He wanted to get rid of the more pressing worry first. Just then, another transmission stone rang; it was his wife, Eminent Qinglian.

”Husband!” the hologram of his wife said. ”The subsouls of the eminents who were sent to Skydome shattered!”

”What?!” Qitian Muyu’s jaw fell. The valley lord heard it as well and coughed out astral blood, weakly slumping to the ground like a ragdoll. ”Are you certain?!”

”Absolutely,” Eminent Qinglian said, her voice sounding worse. Her brother was among the people who had died.

”Nine more eminents were killed... this time in Skydome?!” Qitian Muyu clutched his chest. It felt like his heart was bleeding out. Coupled with the casualties of the grand battle, House Qitian had lost half of their eminents and only had fifty or so left! It was a historic loss, worse than House Yumo’s.

”Impossible!” The valley lord, who’d once been the strongest cultivator in the astralscape, had been beaten while he was down time and again. He crawled up and hoarsely said, ”How could eminents die in a normal mundus?!” Hadn’t he sent the strongest force he could to prevent accidents like that from happening? There were two major-zenith and four minor-zenith foundationeers! The rest were tenth level!

”Impossible!” His eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Despite already being badly injured, he’d suffered yet another blow and his life’s glory had been ruined in mere moments. He was now the worst thing that had happened to House Qitian, to the dismay of their ancestors.

”Could it be House Yumo’s machinations?” Qitian Muyu wondered. Perhaps they hadn’t gotten over the death of their senior madame yet.

Then Yumo Diyan’s transmission stone rang and his raging voice boomed, ”Qitian Muyu, how dare you resort to something so underhanded! Is there no low that you won’t stoop to?!”

”What are you saying?” Qitian Muyu asked.

”Still playing dumb, are we? Who but House Qitian can kill ten of our eminents?! Who could possibly kill my brother?!” Yumo Diyan was so loud that the transmission stone almost cracked.

”Calm down. We also received word of heavy losses. Apart from my sister, all the eminents we sent had their subsouls shattered! All nine!” He felt like his head was about to burst just by repeating what he had heard.

”What...!” Yumo Diyan lost his voice.

”Are you certain Yumo Dinai and the rest are dead?” the valley lord said, furrowing his brows. He was slightly glad that somebody else had suffered as heavily as the Qitians had. Just slightly.

”They’re dead. Their subsouls have all shattered,” Yumo Diyan repeated. They had lost yet another ten eminents! House Yumo first lost some at Infinitum, then some at the Yin-Yang World, more at the battle at Progenitor’s Altar, and this time in Skydome.

Only the valley lord and Qitian Muyu could possibly understand how heart-rending a loss it was. Yumo Diyan’s losses were only marginally worse than theirs; he was now House Yumo’s sole remaining major-zenith foundationeer. The rest were completely dead. Of the nine specters that had been on the Blissful Union back then, only five were left.

”But my sister’s still alive!” All things considered, it was good news. ”Let’s meet up. Something must’ve happened in Skydome,” Qitian Muyu said.

”Keep Suishen Ranxing out of it! He might’ve had something to do with it, considering that he didn’t join us when we set out. Perhaps the four major-zenith foundationeers from House Suishen are the culprit!” Yumo Diyan roared.

”It really isn’t likely. I met him and the old Suishen patriarch yesterday. They’re still in Myriadpath Valley. Only the two Suishen women are away, but they can’t possibly kill so many people. Not to mention, the subsouls all shattered at the same instant this time, too.”

That could only mean that their foe was much stronger than they could even imagine. A creeping doom loomed over their hearts.

***

Qitian Muyue finally returned to the Myriadpath Celestial Formation.