Beastmaster of the Ages

Everyone within Skyfiend Hall, Cobaltium, could see the events transpire clearly. ”All those ninelives fruits do pose a great temptation....”

The seniors seemed incredibly addled by what had happened. The devas, who had come as guests for the celebration, appeared incredibly sour while the ashuras and Sin Pantheon primalwingers awkwardly didn’t know where to look.

”Even though the treasures are precious, they could have just shared them. Skyfiendling’s actions were inappropriate.” Had all that not happened with the grand celebration of the Cobalt Overfiend in the backdrop, things would’ve been fine. This just made the guests feel incredibly awkward.

Naturally, the ashuras in Skyfiend Hall who benefited from that arrangement were careful to appear apologetic toward the deva seniors even if they didn’t truly feel any remorse. It was playing out according to the Skyfiendling’s plan. Who could fault him, the young and hot-blooded son of the Cobalt Overfiend, for being callous and willful? Even the most elite guests at the highest table observed the broadcasts of the tracing rings in a calculated manner.

”Once we conquer the Primordial Sands, I will bring my useless son to the Ninefold Hellstar so that he personally apologizes to Princess You You,” the Cobalt Overfiend said. His voice was calm and without the slightest hint of remorse.

Sitting right across the Cobalt Overfiend was a beautiful cosmic goddess with a similar countenance as Princess You You, but appeared much more mature and alluring. Her charming, towering figure was shrouded in white astral mist. She seemed like a primordial universe in her own right. This was the Ninefold Wargod, and she was indeed a goddess. As specters paid heed to their physical bodies, and male and female specters were quite different in terms of build, males would normally be stronger than females. Yet, the fact that the current Ninefold Wargod was a woman who could dominate an entire maniverse-class world meant that there was more to her than meets the eye.

”There is no need to hold a grudge over the rash actions of the juniors. They are reckless and don’t know how to hold back sometimes,” the Ninefold Wargod said. Though, from her frosty tone of voice, one could tell that she did feel rather miffed about the whole affair and was trying to hold back.

”That’s true! The youth truly are brash. But alas, they are the future of the Eightpart Pantheons, the most elite of our young! How could they not feel competitive with each other? As seniors, we should not discourage their competitive spirits,” the God of Original Sin said in a booming voice, legs crossed.

Nobody said anything else. All of them continued to observe the progress of excavating the Ninelives Ancestral Tree. But soon, the scene of Tianming subduing Princess You You and fighting the devas appeared. The God of Original Sin sighed and said, ”The princess is far too young. If it were me, I would not have sent such a precious one to a dangerous place like that.”

The Ninefold Wargod didn’t say anything in response. Her shrouded eyes focused on the projection without the slightest movement as the pressure around her mounted. It was clear to see that the God of Original Sin seemed to be relishing in some schadenfreude over the matter, but that would only last until Tianming took the devas back whence they came.

”Huh?” Many of the seniors were stunned and tried to scrutinize that masked youth. ”Who is he?”

They couldn’t see him clearly, especially not through the projection of the tracing rings.

”He’s constantly grown stronger and caused trouble since he first showed up in the rings’ feed!”

”He managed to stoke the rage of the young devas....”

”They’re going to clash!”

The atmosphere in the hall grew even heavier. Their proclamations of unity from before sounded like empty jokes. Even the ashuras and Sin Pantheon members who had been relishing over the turn of events fell silent.

”Investigate who that is,” ordered the God of Original Sin and Cobalt Overfiend at the same time.

***

Back at Ninelives Cave, the Skyfiendling, Yushen An, and their fellow geniuses hacked away at the vines of the tree without caring about the commotion they were causing. Some of them bombarded the roots while others tried to work at unlocking the formation. Anyone who contributed would gain huge merit! The Skyfiendling and Yushen An weren’t slacking off either.

”That part is still completely obscured to us. If we do make it in, I can almost guarantee that there’s many more ninelives fruits than we had imagined,” Yushen An said, eyes sparkling.

”I just got confirmation that ninelives fruits are really useful for quasi cosmic gods and can help the astral organs’ astrons turn into middlekin astrons. From what I know, two quasi cosmic gods have successfully used this to become proper cosmic gods,” the Skyfiendling said.

”That would make these the most precious things in the Upper Star Ruin!” Yushen An said, nodding.

The final step to becoming a proper cosmic god was the most crucial one. Many people were stuck at that point. If that problem could be solved by the ninelives fruits, they would be valuable for sure. That was something that could change one’s destiny, after all. Many fortuna-class worlds and orbiters of maniverse-class worlds had countless cultivators who were stuck at the final stage without being able to become cosmic gods for the rest of their lives. That was also why the Skyfiendling refused to share the ninelives fruits.

”Hurry up! There might be more things inside!” Yushen An intensified his barrage, constantly thinking about the great merit he was about to render for the Sin Pantheon.

As they worked away, the Skyfiendling suddenly furrowed his brows. ”Someone’s fighting their way toward us!” His warbeasts were still patrolling near the outskirts.

”That soon? Who is it?” Yushen An turned back with a frown, but the moment he did, two groups of people burst through the entryway. Both in terms of numbers and ferocity, they far surpassed those of the ashuras and Sin Pantheon! The ashuras had suffered huge losses from the battle against the devas and Tianming, so they were far from being in their prime. As such, the kunlan primalwingers posed a huge threat to them!

The Skyfiendling glared at Zhan Xiao and roared, ”You! How dare you betray the Eightpart Pantheons to work with our nemesis?! Have you gone mad?!”

”I had no choice! They subdued Princess You You, and it’s all your fault for hurting our comrades! If you hadn’t attacked us, we wouldn’t have failed to protect her!” Zhan Xiao yelled. ”Comrades of the Sin Pantheon and ashuras, we have no choice but to fight you to keep Princess You You alive!”

They derived their justification incredibly easily, framing themselves as the victims right away. Then, the devas let loose and vented their rage, transforming into their ghastly forms. Like a torrent of galaxies, they swarmed fiercely over.

Zhan Xiao no longer cared about anything else. The ashuras were trapped within a tight space, which was the worst possible situation they could find themselves in a fight. There was no hiding in such a short time. Zhan Xiao charged straight at the Skyfiendling to try to take the weakest combat unit out! In the meantime, Jiang Lincheng and Yushen An, leaders of the two opposing primalwingers, met each other’s gaze.

”Die!”

The two groups of cosmic gods clashed in the tight space. Tianming didn’t appear even for a single moment, having hidden himself near the entrance of the hidden location. Given that Jiang Lincheng and Zhan Xiao had the numerical advantage, the tables had turned from before. The ashuras and sin primalwingers were the ones who were dominated!

”I bet some of them will try to run away....” Tianming made sure to seal the entrance and wait for the big fish.