Beastmaster of the Ages

They wouldn’t be fighting for territory but rather to wipe out enemy forces! Tian Jue’s eyes brightened with a hint of playfulness when he heard the plan. ”Amazing! I was far too focused on acquiring territory that I forgot we can just go for the people! While they went to pledge their fealty to the Eightpart Pantheons, we’ll send our forces to kill those dogs and give their owners a slap on the face!

They were already itching to take action. The Tian Jiu Cult had been wanting to vent the frustration for far too long, yet they couldn’t achieve much from Jadeglow Haven.

”The key to the plan is to wear down their effective forces while boosting our morale. We need a strong opening gambit against the Eightpart Pantheons to inspire confidence among ourselves, especially the primalwingers on their side. They need to be confident that they can face off against the Eightpart Pantheons!” Tianming spoke as he approached the entrance of the ship and looked at Grand Jiang.

Taking Pu Fengyun and the rest down was an incredibly risky move that caused all sorts of divisive discussions in the Jiang, Lin and Chen stars. The Fengs, Yues and Mengs had chosen the other path, and Tianming wanted to prove to them that traitors would be the first to fall. He would show them which of them chose the correct side.

”Alright. So, how do we go about it?” Tian Jue asked.

”Pick Grand Yue or Grand Feng,” Tianming said.

”Since Grand Feng angered you after you saved them the last time, I’ll let you have them.”

”Very well! As expected of my good junior,” Tianming said.

”Oh my!” The pope was speechless.

”Now, let’s get to business, everyone. Off you go,” Tianming said, opening the entrance of the ship and motioning them out.

”Can we worship the ancestor one more time?!” the pope nervously asked.

”Scram! Don’t disturb our romantic time together,” Tianming said as he dismissed them. They fumed as they were rushed off the ship. ”Remember! Don’t ever reveal her existence. If something happens, I’ll come knocking!”

”Rest assured, Ancestor Li. I know how to handle this,” Tian Jue said before looking at his paladins sternly.

”Understood!” They hurriedly nodded.

”Good.” Tianming opened his palm and revealed a silver butterfly in it. It flew to the pope. ”Here’s a gift for you.”

”What is this?” He seemed rather puzzled.

”You’ll understand how useful it is once you head into the battlefield.” Tianming shut the door once he was done. The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb then rose into the air and flew out of the astralguard formation of Jadeglow Haven, disappearing from sight.

The pope watched as they left, respectfully sending Tian Jiu off. Only when the ship was gone did he turn around and said, ”Assemble all forces! We shall embark soon!”

”Pope, do we let them know the true purpose of our excursion?” Mo Lingji asked. Originally, they were supposed to regroup and recover in Jadeglow Haven, so it would be odd for the pope to ask them to deploy so soon.

”We’ll tell them the mission once we reach Grand Yue,” Tian Jue said.

”Understood!” There were definitely spies among the ninety million troops of the cult, so announcing their purpose would easily prompt Lord Yue into mounting defensive preparations.

”There are three main factors that our victory depends on. First, Lord Yue isn’t around, so the astralguard formation of Grand Yue is only eighty percent effective at most. Second, they’ve already lost ten million troops! Third and most importantly, they are all too busy sucking up to the Eightpart Pantheons, so they would never imagine that we’ve partnered up with Ancestor Li willingly!” This true alliance would be a great strength.

”Onward!” The ships of the cult all fired up and left Jadeglow Haven. Instead of heading straight for Grand Yue, they took many detours. Initially, the adherents of the cult themselves didn’t know their destination until the ships took a final turn and shot towards Grand Yue when it wasn’t that far off. When they reached the star, the pope opened his palm and looked at the silver butterfly. ”How can this little thing help me?”

The butterfly looked up and said, ”All of... Grand Yue’s... cosmic gods... are locked... on by... yours truly... even if... they scatter... and run... it’s pointless!”

”Damn...” Tian Jue finally understood the source of Tianming’s terrifying information-gathering capabilities. Since their goal wasn’t territory but the elimination of their foes, they would be worried about them fleeing. A maniverse-class world was large and it would be hard to hunt down cosmic gods who went into hiding in a short time, but with Yin Chen’s help, things were simple. ”Were you the one who discovered Empress Xia and Lord Yue’s affair?”

”Exactly so,” Yin Chen said.

***

Grand Feng’s cloaking formation had yet to fully recover, exposing the beautiful blue star of ice to everyone that was looking. The primalwingers who had fought in the earlier fight were relieved to hear of how Feng Linxue didn’t side with Tianming over Lord Yue’s betrayal and kept her cool to welcome the Eightpart Pantheons. They had also heard of the rapid changes within Grand Jiang and were mocking the main branch of the primalwingers to no end.

”Heavens, have we, the kunlan primalwingers, grown strong enough to fight the Eightpart Pantheons?”

”Those folks at Grand Jiang have been brainwashed by their own supremacist ideology! Do they even hear themselves?!”

”They’re nothing but fools with an inferiority complex.”

”To think that we’re the same race as those idiots... We should reflect on ourselves.”

The populace of Grand Feng were rather optimistic about their prospects of siding with the Eightpart Pantheons, so the atmosphere wasn’t tense at all. All they had to do was wipe out the Tian Jiu Cult.

”I want to thank Li Tianming. If not for him getting the Jiangs, Chens and Lins to revolt, which star would Empress Xia claim as her territories?”

”What we need is more fools like Jiang Tianzhou! The more the better!”

”As long as we’re alive and comfortable, it’s enough. Who would be stupid enough to ask for beatings nonstop?”

”Civilization in the past ten thousand generations have all come from the Eightpart Pantheons. They are meant to reign supreme! How do they not understand that?!”