Beastmaster of the Ages

”Don’t you recognize me?” Tianming asked.

”You grew so much taller again!” Jiang Datou had been there to see Tianming before and after his mass increase. Tianming now stood close to the fifth-level Jiang Lincheng in height!

”A quasi cosmic god near four hundred meters tall!” The primalwingers behind Jiang Lincheng started muttering nonstop in hushed voices.

Jiang Datou turned to Jiang Lincheng. ”Brother Cheng! Don’t you understand why I hold Lin Feng here in such high regard? He must be some kind of talented monster! He genuinely wants to leave the Eightpart Pantheons because they’d put him down for standing out too much! Nobody but the Primordial Sands can properly back someone like him!”

”He’s not just some minor rogue. He’s an insane talent,” Jiang Xiaobai said.

Jiang Lincheng gave Tianming a long look before he said, ”Brother Lin Feng, I was foolish enough not to recognize your talents back then. Do forgive me for that. Since you are Datou’s friend, you are ours as well. I pray that you also watch over us!”

With his wife absent, the mood of the entire group had improved much from before. They gathered around to get to know Tianming. That forceful and vindictive madam had wrought quite a lot of damage on the group, which had only been discovered far too late.

”You flatter me. I’m not sure if I’ll necessarily be able to watch over you, but I do have a plan that needs all of you to cooperate. Let’s do this together!” he said, giving Jiang Lincheng an earnest look.

”Plan? Let’s hear it, then,” Jiang Lincheng said.

”So, your group went somewhere accidentally and encountered some devas, right? You saw a large bunch of ninelives fruits, but you had to escape,” Tianming said.

”You even know so much!” Jiang Lincheng seemed surprised. He noted that Jiang Datou hadn’t spoken a word of it to Tianming during the whole escape.

”My eyes are everywhere,” Tianming said, pointing at his eyes.

”Is that so?” The way Jiang Lincheng looked at him began to carry some trace of wonder.

Tianming then told them about the plan he had.

”Are you sure that the devas and ashuras have conflict with each other?” Jiang Lincheng sounded more and more pumped as they talked.

”I heard that the Eightpart Pantheons are incredibly united. The seniors are also strict on them. Even if there’s conflict, they’d deal with their shared enemies first before resolving the conflict fairly.”

”Wait, but the seniors aren’t able to come here anyway, right? The hot-blooded juniors probably won’t be able to help themselves.”

Tianming smirked and looked at the depths ahead. ”Well, actually, sparks are already flying between them.”

***

Right as Tianming joined up with the group, a different group of more than sixty people assembled in a hidden location. They had no choice; if the devas broke apart the formation, there would definitely be quite a commotion. There were many ashuras and members of the Sin Pantheon in the vicinity as well who would be drawn to them. The Skyfiendling, Yushen An, and the others had seen the tens of golden ninelives fruits and were wondering how many more were hidden in the depths, yet that alone was enough to make them thirst deeply.

”Who’s there?”

”Oh, if it isn’t the devas?”

Their eyes seemed to pulse with desire. The Skyfiendling exchanged glances with Yushen An before both of them hurried toward the rest of the devas. Among the Three Divine Races, the wonderians were the most powerful, which was a fact that the five other pantheons agreed with, even though the ashuras and devas wouldn’t. Regardless of the ashuras or devas who had struggled countless years to prove who was stronger, the Eightpart Pantheons had no qualms about saying that these two were the weakest among the Three Divine Races.

While the ashuras had good relations with the Sundown, Starfall, and Sin Pantheons, they were more akin to a subservient partner rather than the friendly rivalry that the Sundown and Starfall Pantheons had. While they weren’t outright servants, members of the Sin Pantheon held the ashuras in really high regard.

When the ashuras and devas saw each other, they immediately knew that violence would break out without even saying a single word. The ninelives fruits had caused the Skyfiendling to completely forget about the likes of Jiang Lincheng.

”What do you want?” said a dark voice from the side. Zhan Xiao stepped out of the darkness, looking ashen and gray. Not far behind him was the third-ranked genius of the Ten Desolate Cosmic Genii Ranking, You You, sitting on top of a rock and staring coldly at the two of them.

”Princess You You, what a coincidence,” the Skyfiendling said.

”What’s so coincidental about this?” Zhan Xiao said, looking around and pointing at the entrance of the cave. ”According to our seniors, any ninelives fruits that we discover are ours to keep. Others in the Eightpart Pantheons aren’t allowed to take them. The tracing rings keep track of everything here so that our unity won’t be affected. That’s why I have to ask you to leave.”

”You’re mistaken,” Yushen An said, smiling. ”Even though we discovered these fruits a bit later, it hasn’t been that long since your own discovery. Not to mention, you haven’t been able to unlock the formation, so your claim isn’t valid. Based on the seniors’ agreement, we are to split this and share it between us evenly!”

”Evenly?!” Zhan Xiao and the other devas’ eyes turned bloodshot immediately. They were just about to pocket them all after chasing Jiang Lincheng’s group away, and now they were forced to share them evenly?! None of them would be willing to lose half of the spoils.

”What? You don’t agree?” Yushen An looked at the people behind him, that outnumbered the devas two to one. ”If you wish to fight, then we’ll have no choice but to take you down and take all of them. You would be the ones breaking the rules and embarrassing your seniors, so it’s no loss to us.”

The devas grit their teeth unwillingly.

You You said, ”Let’s give them half.”

”Half?” Yushen An chuckled. ”Princess You You, you are mistaken. What we meant by evenly was that we should split it evenly between all three of our factions! The ashuras, Sin Pantheon, and devas. Each gets a third.”

Zhan Xiao and the others boiled over with anger. The ashuras had a large group, so it still wasn’t that bad if all they got was half of the ninelives fruits. Yet, the Sin Pantheon also wanted to stake a claim!

The Skyfiendling finally broke his silence. ”Splitting it evenly is pointless. Since the devas haven’t claimed so much as a single ninelives fruit till now, that means you simply aren’t fated to get them. I suggest that you all pack up and leave if you don’t want to have your asses handed to you!”