Beastmaster of the Ages

Some said the slayers were five people, while others said there was only one. They were the left hand of the sovereign, the most powerful elites of the royals. Since Sovereign Xi wasn’t able to leave, she would have them hunt down the escaped Tianming.

Tianming’s bet had worked, in that she would be held up for a period of time. There was always a chance that Bodhi had managed to slip in, so she couldn’t really leave.

The fact that Tianming could kill Liu Qinghuan meant that he was among the strongest people in the Divine Moon Realm now. Apart from the sovereign herself, few others were likely to be able to kill him, let alone capture him. At the very least, the sovereign wouldn’t succeed in time for the nova source pulse tomorrow night. Unless he really had to, Tianming didn’t want to hide in the Prime Tower either. Even if he wasn’t killed, he would still be under her control if she got her hands on the tower.

Sovereign Xi had forced him into a corner, so destroying the formation to keep her from leaving the city was the only choice he had. He still had to watch for further developments before making his move. He was counting on Bodhi to enter the picture. Right as he escaped the city, he turned back to see how chaotic it was. Was there a white-robed man hidden among the crowd now?

……

Fifteen minutes before, Feiling and Lin Xiaoxiao had been staring at the girl for a long time.

“She’s definitely related to Bodhi. She might be his daughter,” Lin Xiaoxiao said.

“Should be. She seems to not have any astralforce, so she’s probably not an ascendant,” Feiling said.

“Why’d Bodhi leave her here? Is it safe?”

“It’s probably safer than leaving here in the Abyssal Battlefield. His wife was killed there. He has no choice but to bring her with him.”

“That kid is really careful and stays away from crowds without drawing attention.”

Feiling turned to look at the city. By now, the formation’s rumbling had stopped. Tianming might have failed.

“Ling’er, he’ll be fine, right?” Lin Xiaoxiao asked.

“I don’t know….” Feiling held her hands clasped before her chest, constantly turning to look at the girl, then the city. Time was passing gruelingly slowly. But soon, the formation began to crack, then it eventually shattered.

“Amazing! He succeeded!” Lin Xiaoxiao cheered.

“Xiaoxiao, I want to take a risk.” Feiling seemed far more relaxed. She turned to look at the gigantic wolf in the woods that was eating away at the grass. After eating up the infant, it began jumping around like an innocent, playful puppy, bathing in the river and even grazing like a calf.

“What kind of risk?”

“Just watch.” Feiling hushed her and kept staring at the wolf.

Lin Xiaoxiao stared at her and noticed that her personality seemed to have been changed somewhat from the repeated Perpetual Nirvana occurrences. She seemed more reliable in some way. Maybe that’s the price of growth. Nobody can afford to be gentle all the time.

Eventually, the formation collapsed completely, causing the wolf to excitedly look and jump about.

“Wonderful! Daddy can go in now!” it said in a childlike voice. “But grass tastes better. Daddy said that after eating the divine moonrace to avenge Mommy and my uncles, I can stop eating people. Daddy, must a grudge really be set straight by eating people? I miss Big Brother…. I miss Mommy….”

She began to sob and cry. However, her hair stood up when she noticed a beautiful fairy standing in front of her. “Wow… what a beautiful Big Sister….”

But after marveling for a moment, she immediately panicked and turned to run. However she turned, she could only find that girl still standing before her. The girl raised her fair fist and slammed it on the head of the wolf with a disproportionate amount of force, causing the wolf to spit out blood and whimper on the ground.

“Daddy… save me….”

“Pretending to be pitiful, are we? You didn’t look that way when you were eating human flesh,” the girl said as she pinned the wolf down.

“I’m only resolving a grudge. I have to eat to lessen the pain of Mommy and Big Brother in hell.”

“Who told you that?”

“Daddy did! He knows everything!”

“Alright. Don’t move.” She pressed down on the wolf’s head. Little You felt a stinging pain in her heart, as if something had entered it. “You have two hearts?”

“Mhm….”

“Then I’ll give you two Latticeheart Curses.”

Little You was now returned to human form. She was entirely pale white, including her eyes and hair, just like a completely unstained piece of white jade. Tearing up, she said, “It hurts… Big Sister….”

“It won’t hurt if you’re obedient.”

“Obedient…? Are you trying to control me to make Daddy listen to you?”

“That’s right.”

“Why? We have no grudge between us… I only hate the divine moonrace.”

“You also hate someone else. The one who killed your brother.”

“He’s Li Tianming. Are you with him?” Little You said with a fierce look.

“Yes.”

“Big Sister….”

“What?”

“I’ll eat you up! You deserve to die!” she said, glaring at Feiling with a naive, yet tearful gaze.

“Okay.” Feiling took a deep breath.

“What did Bodhi say to indoctrinate the kid? Is he raising her to become a mindless killing machine fueled by revenge?” Lin Xiaoxiao said.

“It isn’t indoctrination,” Feiling said.”What is it then?”

“He thinks the exact same way. It feels like he has no sense of self.”

Everyone had their own perspectives and reasons for their actions. Who was to say who was right? When the Ninefold Hell had returned and threatened to destroy the Flameyellow Continent, Tianming didn’t allow it. So, not only did he kill the crown prince of the specters, he also killed tens of thousands of others as well.

Bodhi hated Tianming and the divine moonrace with a passion. He used the most cruel method to announce his hatred for them, and had even dragged his daughter into the mess. On the other hand, Sovereign Xi controlled Ye Lingfeng’s fate and used it as leverage to get Tianming to help her break through. Everyone was acting in the interest of their own race. Good and evil, right and wrong… they were never that simple in reality. The only thing that mattered was who would prevail in this struggle and liberate themselves from the cycle of hatred and who would kill the innocent to start the cycle anew.

However, Feiling didn’t need to consider any of that. There was only one thought in her mind: survive every obstacle that came her way, even if that meant becoming someone she wasn’t. She wanted to make sure Tianming survived the clash of the races to fulfill his destiny.

……

The desperate repairs proceeded for two hours. Finally, the formation core was restored according to its basic framework. It had taken the participation of three thousand patternscribes, but the formation had been restored in the shortest time possible. This was far too important to the royals, and the people in the city breathed a collective sigh of relief. Then Sovereign Xi turned in the direction she sensed Tianming was at.

“Don’t worry. The five killers you personally raised are on his trail. He won’t be able to escape. Leave chasing him down to them and wait here. What you planned will take place tomorrow,” the imperial guide said, worried that the sovereign would run off.

“That kid really has a few tricks up his sleeve. We didn’t think he could defeat Liu Qinghuan. His rate of growth is too impressive. If it weren’t for Ye Lingfeng, he wouldn’t have come to see Us at all. Huiye Shi alone wouldn’t have lured him here.”

“Yes. Do you intend to pursue him yourself?”

“Yes. The more time passes, the more powerful he’ll become. We don’t know if Ye Lingfeng is dead. If he’s already dead and We anger this fellow and don’t deal with him while we still can, there’ll be a heavy backlash.”

“So we have to use him up as soon as possible, while nobody else is aware of his talent. But what we don’t know is whether or not the killer managed to come in. If he starts slaughtering away, I won’t be able to hold him. It’s best we wait,” the imperial guide said.

“Then We have no choice.”

“Oh, I thought of a way we can turn this around.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“We can take Ye Lingfeng out, then use him as a bargaining chip to get Tianming to do what you say.”

The sovereign stayed silent.

“What’s wrong?”

“We gave him Ye Lingfeng’s blood.”

The imperial guide stared at her, dumbstruck. “To think that someone as smart as you would make a blunder like that….”

“The victor hasn’t been decided yet, so don’t come to conclusions that quickly. It’s true that We’ve been played, but this isn’t the end.” She wasn’t angry at all. She merely bit her lip and did the only thing she could; she waited. There were only two things she needed to know: whether the killer had entered, and whether the Pentamoon Slayers would be able to hunt Tianming down in time. Those moving pieces would decide her next move.