Beastmaster of the Ages

”You can’t do it?!” Mi Shen Alpha was even more enraged. ”It’s not that you can’t. You chose to publicly betray the Eightpart Pantheons! You lured us into the imperial-class formation to get us all killed, didn’t you?!”

”Did you think a single imperial-class formation would be able to take out our army of a billion? Is your head filled with dog shit or something?!” Mi Shen Beta barked.

”No! Big Brothers, I really lost control of the formation! I don’t know why either--” Empress Xia was interrupted by a slap to the face from Mi Shen Alpha. Her head crashed into the wall of the main deck and tens of other walls beyond that. She ended up completely battered and bloody.

”You vile bitch, we’re giving you one final chance! Right now! This instant! Stop the formation’s attack or the Grand Xia imperials shall also face extermination!” Mi Shen Gamma roared. It took no time at all for them to drop the loving-siblings act.

The only way Empress Xia knew how to operate the formation was with the Grand Xia Flare Mirror. She gripped it tight as she cried in a panic. As she was trying to explain herself, many figures rushed into the flagship; they were the other marshals of the Eightpart Pantheons! Lord Yue, Feng Linxue and Meng Yao were also dragged there as prisoners and thrust into a pile with Empress Xia.

With a dark look, An Shen hissed, ”Xia Yuan, stop your madness. Your foolish act will ruin Grand Xia Voidback! You are committing a genocide on your own kind!”

”Are you insane?!” Goat Saint said with a smirk, arms crossed. The marshals simply didn’t know why the empress would do something like that.

”Xia, what are you thinking?! Stop this while we still can!” Lord Yue’s eyes were bloodshot from the fright. He understood Empress Xia the most and had no idea why she would do something like this. She had shown all the deference required of her to the Eightpart Pantheons, so why would she mess things up when it was finally her moment to perform?

”It really isn’t me! Something is wrong with this formation. Everyone, please retreat for now to minimize our losses!” She slammed her head against the ground repeatedly as she pleaded in tears. ”Marshals, please hold your anger! There really isn’t a reason for me to be doing this! There’s nobody alive who would be foolish enough to do this in my position!”

Her panicked and genuine display did make the marshals realize how weird this all was. The only logical explanation was that the controller of the formation was causing trouble, yet the motivations simply didn’t line up at all.

”Let’s calm down and retreat from the formation first before we discuss the rest,” Granny Yin of the devas said.

Mi Shen Alpha took a deep breath and glared at Empress Xia. ”If the investigation shows that you were the one who did this, Grand Xia is over! You’re all done!”

”I swear on the name of all my ancestors that I didn’t have anything to do with this!” Empress Xia said tragically. Mi Shen Alpha ignored her.

The other marshals gave the order. ”All forces, turn back!”

The troops snapped out of it and reacted. Most of their ships had been damaged within the short time in the formation, so many had to abandon ship and brave the return trip with their own bodies. It truly was a harrowing sight for an army so huge to be beaten back right after their spirited departure. Still not knowing what went down, they retreated in a panic.

”Someone will pay the price!”

***

Even though Jiang Royal Palace was really far from Grand Xia Voidback, they got the news back almost immediately from informants. Jiang Tianzhou and the rest paced around nervously to no end.

A messenger rushed in and announced, ”Alert! There’s been a setback at Grand Xia Voidback!”

”What is it?!” The tens of thousand-meter cosmic gods asked.

”Right after the army left, they were attacked by the Grand Xia Guard Formation! The attack is harsh and still continues! Their troops are trying to retreat from the formation!” Even the messenger didn’t seem to really believe what was happening.

”Impossible!” Lin Shenjian shook his head. ”How could something like this even happen? It can’t!”

”It’s true. At least three hundred of our informants reported the same news, and all of them can’t be lying at the same time. They don’t even know who each other is, so there’s no way for them to cooperate and make up a unified narrative! Starlord, even I didn’t believe it when I heard it, so I asked for confirmation a few more times!”

Only then did the elites receive the same news from their own sources through transmission stones.

”It’s actually true!” Lin Shenjian slumped to the ground with a euphoric expression.

”Who did this?” Chen Qing asked. Everyone immediately thought about the white-haired youth.

”It must be Li Tianming!” Lin Shenjian said. They all laughed. He really hadn’t disappointed them. The ones who were throwing shade at him earlier felt their faces heat up from shame. ”The question is how he did it at all...”

”There’s only one possibility!” Jiang Tianzhou confidently proclaimed, ”He managed to flip Empress Xia to our side!”

”But how?” Chen Qing asked.

”Perhaps with his own charisma... That kid is quite the looker, after all,” Jiang Tianzhou said.

”But if he could flip Empress Xia, why would she even lure the forces of the Eightpart Pantheons here?” Chen Qing asked after some calm deliberation.

Jiang Tianzhou paused and had a frightful thought. ”Could Tianming be trying to repeat what happened to the forces of the Ten Desolate Starforges? To lure them in first before beating them up badly?”

”Enough, let’s not speculate. We’ll wait for things to settle before asking him ourselves,” Chen Qing said.

”Makes sense.”

***

Everyone in the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb nervously watched the Grand Xia Guard Formation as it turned on.

”Leave, quickly!” the cosmic gods cried when they noticed that the ship was still. However, they realized that the formation was attacking the army of the Eightpart Pantheons instead. They watched as many of Grand Xia’s ships burst into flames, witnessing the terror of the words with their own eyes. ”What in the world?!”

Even the pope and his paladins were stunned by the unexpected slaughter.

”Is this why Ancestor Li asked us to stay put?” Mo Lingji said with a frightful look.

”Don’t tell me he is working with Empress Xia!” Xing Yuantian muttered. He had doubted Tianming’s abilities since the moment he began serving him.