Beastmaster of the Ages

A group of eminents and reverends had busted out of Qitian Cave and headed toward the Grand Myriadpath Ruins. When Suishen Xiyue took Suishen Yao away, the valley lord had immediately shut the entrance to Myriadpath Valley, as well as the Myriadpath Celestial Formation.

House Qitian had thought that the times ahead would be quiet and restful while the valley lord was recovering, yet something was already happening. After some discussion, people began learning of what was happening. The eminents and reverends wouldn’t do much against Tianming, especially with the elites protecting him.

Some moments earlier, Qitian Muyu had received quite a few updates. ”Father! I can be certain that Li Tianming’s trying to find a way to unseal that old man’s cuffs.”

”Did I hear that right?!” Qitian Xiao said. It sounded like the biggest joke ever.

”I’m not kidding! Tens of thousands of people are watching him!” Qitian Muyu said, completely serious.

”What a joke. The Skyprison Seal is a divine artifact passed down in House Qitian since the days of antiquity when Myriadpath Valley was a nova source world. Nobody can open it unless they have the key. Who’s he trying to fool?” The valley lord burst out laughing right away.

Qitian Muyu also knew what kind of impressive artifact the Skyprison Seal was. Artifacts from the days of antiquity were some of the most arcane ones they had, with countless complicated divine celestial patterns.

”Myriadpath Valley’s already closed. That brat was foolish enough to deliver himself to us, and he can’t escape now! I bet that he and those two bitches would never have expected that Suishen Ranxing would give up on keeping all four major-zenith foundationeers in House Suishen and split the house to protect the legacy of the Three Exalted Houses! Hahahaha...!”

Suishen Ranxing’s decision indeed required commitment and decisiveness. Since he didn’t care about his wife or sister, the valley lord saw a chance to avenge his tensource beast.

”Have House Yumo and House Suishen taken any action?” Qitian Xiao asked.

”House Yumo deployed much earlier than we did. There’s some small issues at House Suishen, so Suishen Ranxing didn’t bring too many people with him, but they’re mostly eminents so it’s a decent force.”

”Not bad. We’re only going after a few traitors, so a few eminents will do. Having a large mob is pointless.” The valley lord’s expressions had grown much more sinister since the death of his tensource beast. He could no longer be bothered putting up a facade.

”As long as the Skyprison Seal’s there, the old man shouldn’t be able to activate the Grand Myriadpath Ruins. Li Tianming’s attempt is a complete waste of time. He should know that he’s in trouble after hearing about Myriadpath Valley closing. I bet he’s incredibly desperate now!”

Thousands of reverends from the Three Exalted Houses and around a hundred eminents heard of it and immediately headed toward the Myriadpath Grand Ruins, only to see it rumble and rise into the air from afar. Their expressions completely froze from the whiplash. They all stopped, completely stupefied and petrified, as they watched the ship absorb a storm of midsky essence.

”Dad!” Qitian Muyu’s voice was hoarse. His eyeballs almost popped out as he looked at his father in disbelief. ”Didn’t you say that nobody could undo the Skyprison Seal?”

Everything they had been confident about had been shattered, and this was the most unbelievable possible result of them all. Qitian Xiao felt like he had been repeatedly struck by lightning.

”Impossible!” His veins popped and he almost broke his teeth by clenching them so hard. However, he couldn’t do anything about it; it wasn’t something that could even be changed any longer. The ship rose so high up into the air and absorbed so much energy that it was visible from everywhere in Myriadpath Valley. The midsky essence storms that it caused made his messy hair flutter.

”Valley Lord, that old man’s saying that you’re not a true valley lord.”

”He handed the formation core of the Grand Myriadpath Valley to Li Tianming and said that he would be the next one!”

”That old man must be insane to accuse us of going against the Myriadpath Sacred Code. Did he forget who wrote it in the first place?”

”He’s gone mad!”

”He’s getting high off the fact that he has the Grand Myriadpath Ruins.”

”It really can’t be helped! I’m more concerned about how Li Tianming was able to unseal him in the first place.”

The Qitians looked at the valley lord, confused, only to see his angry face in response.

No matter how hard it was to believe, the only thing they could do was attack the Grand Myriadpath Ruins before the old valley lord fully recovered. Qitian Xiao angrily proclaimed, ”Li Tianming, Suishen Jiguang, and Suishen Xiyue have betrayed the Three Exalted Houses by commandeering the Grand Myriadpath Ruins. As valley lord, I sentence them to death! Carry it out immediately! Kill anyone that dares to resist my decree!”

He didn’t comment on the old valley lord, who had gone public with his true identity and recovered somewhat. He had to deal with him with much more care. Either way, Qitian Xiao had still made his declaration of war against those three clear.

When word spread, people thought House Qitian was biting off more than they could chew by going against House Suishen. But when they heard the next two announcements, they were confused.

”House Yumo’s announcing that they support the valley lord’s decision to declare war against Li Tianming, Eminent Jiguang, and Eminent Xiyue!”

”House Yumo and House Qitian are working together?”

”Did they lose their minds? How’d they mend their relationship so fast? Was it a couple’s argument or something?”

”Perhaps House Suishen’s might scared them into working together.”

Right as they were considering that possibility, they heard House Suishen’s announcement. ”The old patriarch, Suishen Ranxing, and many reverends and eminents of House Suishen have also echoed the declaration of war....”

Everything was different. The cultivators had been wanting more civil war to go on between the Three Exalted Houses, but all they got was a unified declaration of war instead! The three most prestigious houses in Myriadpath Valley were declaring war against three ’traitorous’ individuals!

”How could this be? Eminent Jiguang helped House Suishen kill the tensource beast! Aren’t House Suishen and House Qitian supposed to be enemies?”

”Pathkeeper Li’s the future of Myriadpath Valley, right?”

The confusion prompted the cultivators to look into the matter right as rumors about the old valley lord and House Qingchuan, as well as Suishen Ranxing’s treatment of his wife and daughter, spread like wildfire.

”Oh, so Qitian Xiao was the one who was scheming to rise to the top.”

”The former valley lord’s been tortured for so many years, but right as he was about to hand over his position to an outsider like Pathkeeper Li, the Three Exalted Houses got anxious.”

”Suishen Ranxing was such a despicable person all along! He and House Suishen are all rotten like that!”

”What else did you believe? House Suishen kept quiet about the atrocities that House Qitian and House Yumo committed. He also has ties with a specter from House Yumo....”

”The Three Exalted Houses are in on it together! I’m amazed....”

The revelation spread faster and faster. Before, it had all been suppressed and nobody dared to speak it out loud, but now it was all pouring out. Everyone else in Myriadpath Valley began to change their minds at the news.

”This isn’t a matter of who the traitors are anymore. Instead, it’s a struggle between the interests of the Three Exalted Houses and the rest of the Million Mundi.”

”Do we belong with the Three Exalted Houses or the Million Mundi?”

”Are you joking? Even if you side with them, they won’t take you in! Do you have the bloodline for it?”

”The Three Exalted Houses are getting desperate. They want to kill Pathkeeper Li before he matures! The former valley lord must’ve felt it and decided to pass the Grand Myriadpath Ruins to him!”

”Yeah! That must be it!”

The common folk made their own theories, since they didn’t have all the details. Either way, such sentiments were uncontrollably spreading like wildfire.

”The Three Exalted Houses want to stop the Grand Myriadpath Ruins!”

”We can’t do anything to help.... All we can do is watch.”

”I hope someone steps up and leads the two million cultivators to help Pathkeeper Li.”

”Who would do that? Forget it. We’re nothing but a disorganized mob. It’s too hard for us to band together for a single cause. All of us have our own interests in mind, especially the august houses. Many of them were raised to their current position thanks to the Three Exalted Houses. They’ve owed them quite a lot across many generations. Do you think they’ll betray them?”

”It won’t happen until Li Tianming personally kills the valley lord!”

The normal folk could tell that much. Before Tianming was powerful enough, the mob wouldn’t be inspired to rally around him. After all, they cared quite a bit about their own lives, of course. The suicidal ones numbered few and far between, and needed careful direction as well.

Eventually, the Grand Myriadpath Ruins seemed to have absorbed enough midsky essence and began moving. Three groups of people were flying towards it, armed with maniverse-class artifacts. Among them were Qitian Xiao, the old patriarch, and the three current-generation leaders of each house!

Qitian Muyue, on the other hand, was escorting the Qingchuan prisoners from behind. A few eminents followed her and brought over every member of House Qingchuan on the orders of Qitian Xiao, Uncle Hei and Jian Qinghe among them.