Beastmaster of the Ages

There was nowhere for the Eightpart Pantheons to hide, and they couldn’t hunt Tianming down even if they wanted to. It was a cycle that simply couldn’t be broken, much to the rage of the Eightpart Pantheons. All Tianming had to do was kill them, as many as possible; the more of them he killed, the bigger the provocation.

”The eight factions have reigned for far too long and naturally don’t like to be challenged. It won’t take much to get them all riled up.” Tianming, his two lovers, and Yin Chen made for quite the efficient combination.

A year passed in a flash as the killing continued nonstop. Eventually, the death toll reached around a hundred thousand cosmic gods. Even if most of them were lower-level ones who couldn’t even block a single strike, losing them still significantly bled the Eightpart Pantheons. And Yin Chen was the one who made it all possible. Otherwise, Tianming would only be swatting a few flies at a time and could fall prey to the many attempts to lead him into ambushes and traps.

No other group of three could achieve what they had, and most certainly because they didn’t have Yin Chen. So it wasn’t entirely a matter of the forces of the Eightpart Pantheons being laughably incompetent. Yin Chen was simply far too epic, able to calculate the relative power on both sides and make snap decisions to strike or pull back, using Tianming like a nicely sharpened blade to cut through enemy ranks with surgical precision. While he couldn’t take them all on at once, he had no issue dispatching tens of them each day.

I didn’t think the initial three hundred thousand would become a million even after I killed a hundred thousand of them.... He didn’t understand how that was even mathematically possible, but the real reason behind the mass deployment was the rage and wounded pride of the Eightpart Pantheons as a whole. The youth ignored the warnings of their seniors and volunteered to join the fight, all of them wishing to be the one to be the hero that put a stop to Tianming’s dastardly campaign. He had become the public enemy of all the geniuses in the Eightpart Pantheons.

The increase in the number of people here is troubling.... Yin Chen had gotten him to go on killing sprees nonstop lately. The enemy had learned and stopped dispersing their forces so widely. At every fortress, there were at least ten thousand cosmic gods who protected each other. Many cosmic gods of ninth level or stronger were also stationed at each fortress. Quite a few of them were from imperial lineages that were stronger than Tianming. It started with only a few hundred, but that number ballooned to a thousand after a year. With so much power at their disposal, Tianming’s ability to run circles around them was greatly hampered.

”Without Yin Chen, I wouldn’t be able to achieve even a hundredth of what I have.” Tianming was quite aware of that fact, even as the missions grew more difficult.

”If you think of it another way, the reason they’re huddling up is because they’ve grown truly fearful,” Zi Zhen said with a smirk.

”They’re afraid, but they simply won’t leave. Even more are coming—they must be feeling a lot of inner conflict,” Moran said.

”What do we do now? It’s gotten way harder.” The two of them looked at Tianming, waiting for the head of the household to say something.

”There’s around a million from royal lineages and a thousand from imperial lineages, right? Half the talented young geniuses from the Eightpart Pantheons must be here. The numbers should be enough by now, right?”

Just as he was about to go ask Mushan Xue, she arrived. ”How’s it going?” he asked.

”It’s more or less there now.” Mushan Xue smiled, but it didn’t mask the killing intent in her eyes in the slightest. It wasn’t directed at Tianming.

”Forgive me for asking, but what move will you all make?” That was the thing he was most curious about for now. What would they do after they lured enough of them there?

Mushan Xue turned to him and said, ”The Ten Desolate Starforges’ cosmic god army is entering the upper ruins. They plan to occupy it and start the invasion of the Primordial Sands.”

”So?”

”Just watch.” Mushan Xue left through a black gateway.

”Damn, she’s acting all mysterious again.” Tianming was speechless, but he still looked forward to it. ”Let’s hope they’re able to bleed the Eightpart Pantheons.”

***

The entrance to the upper ruins was a round and boundless black mirror, glowing beautifully. Countless cosmic gods gathered upon the mirror, wearing heavy armor of all kinds. It was a huge army that stretched on endlessly, a sea of people who were each a universe in their own right, all of them fifth level and above. The weakest were five hundred meters tall.

The army was completely unmatched in the Realm of Order, and it was just an army that was sent by the Ten Desolate Starforges. The full might of the Eightpart Pantheons was beyond imagination. Even a single one of those cosmic gods could completely crush a Lower Star Ruin. That was why the Eightpart Pantheons saw the Lower Star Ruins as insignificant bubbles.

”All forces, march deeper into the ruins!” The order to mobilize came from the very front of the army, where ten figures, all of whom were the starlords of their respective maniverse-class worlds, led from the front. There were two wonderian couples there, so their real number was twelve, all super cosmic gods who had come from Skyfiend Hall.

The Ninefold Wargod, Saturatia Dreamlord, Cobalt Overfiend, God of Original Sin, the Lone Fiend, and the rest were all supreme leaders of their own worlds. The Ninefold Wargod, in particular, looked like a black-smog-covered giant thousands of meters in height.

”Ming Xingwang,” said the Ninefold Wargod to a figure beside her before she left, ”I’ll leave the Ninefold Hellstar in your stewardship in my absence. If something happens, you’ll be held responsible for it.”

”Yes!” The gray figure knelt in obeisance.

”Here’s the starcore.” A black cauldron appeared in the hand of the Ninefold Wargod, which the other figure graciously received. It was a common sight for the troops that were watching; none of them were worried about it at all since the Upper Star Ruin was the absolute territory of the Eightpart Pantheons. There was no outer force that would threaten to subsume them from within.

The figure that stood thousands of meters tall backed away after receiving the cauldron. Then the ten leaders led their troops into the mirror that shone so bright it illuminated the universe.

”When the eight factions march, even the gods watch in awe!”

The hundred million cosmic gods took a few days just to enter the upper ruins. By the time they fully crossed through, the Ten Desolate Starforges were much darker and quieter than before.