Beastmaster of the Ages

Yingsang Daiqiong’s expression was an ugly mess. She was the picture of disbelief itself. ”There are nine Aeternal Beings... and you actually chose to help Li Tianming despite knowing that? You have thrown away all our lives just for the hell-rings! This is a grave mistake!”

The Eight-Armed Specter King said, ”Nobody knew that the Aeternal Beings were after Li Tianming back then...”

Imperator Yin looked at him without saying a word. However, he knew that what he said from earlier did reach this loyal subordinate of his.

”Either way, all of us devas are in a desperate situation. Since there’s no turning back, we should at least fight and stand our ground!”

One of the elites asked, ”What about Li Tianming? Is he sending anybody here to help?”

Imperator Yin calmly said, ”I’m not sure, but we should prepare for the worst.”

The others all fell silent. Yingsang Daiqiong stepped forward and looked at her husband, her voice softer than before. ”Dear husband, we are mighty and proud devas. We would never find ourselves in a desperate situation like that. Are you sure someone has tampered with the Heavenly Dao, or is this just speculation? As long as we hand over the world cores, the Eightpart Pantheons won’t be able to touch us. We would be able to avoid pointless fighting and emerge from this intact.”

Her sincere plea and gentle gaze did move Imperator Yin somewhat, but he looked at her, reaffirming his resolution. ”Please trust me. The only chance we have is to fight to the death and strike down any and all invaders. Aside from that, our whole kind would be doomed.”

This was his final decision, one that made Yingsang Daiqiong completely disappointed in him.

At that moment, a report came from the outside. ”Lord Imperator! Specter Kings! A wormhole opened up outside and a huge divine astralship emerged from it! We don’t know whose it is, but it’s approaching us rapidly!”

Imperator Yin quickly left the palace. ”The enemy troops have arrived! Join your imperator and resist them!”

Then, his massive body rose into the firmament to the ghoul-filled astralguard formation. He looked like a nova-source world himself, pulsing with power and fighting spirit.

Many of his subordinates within the capital who had sworn to fight to their deaths admired his powerful aura. They wouldn’t let themselves be defeated that easily. More and more cosmic gods and primocosmic gods flew out of the capital with their imperator, gradually blocking out the sky above.

”We devas have our own pride!”

”We are the strongest of specterkind and one of the Three Divine Races! We would never allow ourselves to be pushed around!”

”No matter what, I’ll never surrender to those wonderians or ashuras!”

Three of the specter kings, including the Eight-Armed Specter King, joined up with Imperator Yin.

”You guys!” Yingsang Daiqiong was the only one who remained standing outside the palace, filled with cold rage. She wanted to stop the pointless battle, but the imperator’s actions had inspired many others to join him. It was already unavoidable. Seeing so many people join, she had no choice but to join them.

As for the many cosmic gods that had tried to petition their imperator to give up, they fell silent for a long time before eventually letting it all go and flying up to join them.

***

Imperator Yin emerged from the astralguard formation of Deva Imperius. There were countless divine astralships up ahead. This was the Eightpart Pantheons’ army.

Behind him were the four specter kings and countless other devas. Their sheer number made it look like a dark veil had appeared above Deva Imperius, emanating a hellish aura.

At that time, a thin imperator dressed in a monochrome robe left one of the ships and approached. He was a hundred thousand meters tall and surrounded by black miasma. His white skin was covered in disastrous blood-colored patterns. This was Imperator Mo of the ashuras.

The two imperatores’ gazes met intensely. They were radiating so much power that threatened to cause everything around them to crumble if they clashed.

Imperator Mo’s long hair flapped from the power he exuded. Looking coldly at the leader of the devas, he said, ”Imperator Yin, we meet again. If you hadn’t stopped me the last time, we would’ve already killed Li Tianming and put an end to the war for good!”

He saw the countless devas behind him and said, ”People of the devan race, you have ruled the universe with the Eightpart Pantheons for countless aeons. Our alliance should’ve been unshakeable, yet Imperator Yin decided to help Li Tianming and committed many mistakes. Even so, the Eightpart Pantheons don’t hold eternal grudges.

”As long as Imperator Yin is willing to hand over the Eightworld Wargod Blades and Imperial Specter to the custody of the Eightpart Pantheons, we will give you a chance to atone. Li Tianming and the flameyellow menace are our common enemies. Once we wipe them all out, the Eightpart Pantheons shall be able to continue ruling the universe!”

Loud cheers erupted from the ships behind Imperator Mo to the point that they drowned out the entire Deva Imperius. Many devas felt rather convinced by his words. Even though they didn’t get along with the wonderians and ashuras, they were part of the Eightpart Pantheons at the end of the day. Many of them couldn’t bear to be enemies of the Eightpart Pantheons. They turned to look at their imperator.

Yingsang Daiqiong stepped out to the imperator’s side. ”Husband, you are the devas’ imperator. You bear our pride and fate. Even though you believe Li Tianming can win, he hasn’t even given us any hope at all. At this point, rejoining the Eightpart Pantheons is our only option.”