Beastmaster of the Ages

On the other side of the battlefield, Di Zang charged toward Xuanyuan Dao with his lifebound beast. Currently, the power of Nine Dragon Formation and Dreamheart World was concentrated on Jiang Wuxin alone. His Regal Specter Bloodline had made him so much stronger after consuming fifty million lifebound beasts. Needless to say, the crown prince of the specters definitely had a similar bloodline, the only difference being that he hadn't consumed a single lifebound beast before. Who knew how many generations of specters had come and gone in the two hundred thousand years they had been imprisoned. They were all malnourished and starved in the Ninefold Hell, so they were far from their peak strength.

Di Zang's arrival immediately broke the coordination between Xuanyuan Dao and Li Caiwei.

"Come with me to kill this person so I may take the key!" Di Zang shouted to Jiang Wuxin, who poked his head out of Li Caiwei's Dreamheart World. Shocked, he blankly looked at the surroundings.

"Jiang Wuxin, obey your master!" Di Zang hollered once more.

Finally, Jiang Wuxin managed to break out of the Dreamheart World, though that only caused Li Caiwei to use it on Di Zang instead.

"Jiang Wuxin!" Di Zang was getting more and more furious at seeing Jiang Wuxin blanking out like that. This was the perfect chance for them to take the key!

Right at that moment, Jiang Wuxin shot a glare to where Po Suo was; that was where the white-haired youth fought. Almost immediately, Jiang Wuxin's eyes began to bleed a stream of bloody tears. "Aaaaah! Aaaaaagh!"

He pressed his head as he writhed and cried in pain. Then he charged to where Tianming was fighting.

"Jiang Wuxin, come back and help me!" Despite Di Zang's roars, Jiang Wuxin could see nobody but Tianming.

"Hehehe... hehehehe...." He giggled like a madman as he charged, only to be stopped by a sudden longsword that came thrusting from his flank. He immediately deflected it with the Firmament Godsword, sending sparks flying, but was sent stumbling away.

A green-robed swordsman appeared before him, exuding such boundless sword ki that it made him difficult to even look at. The man glared at him in pain and rage. It was none other than Feng Qingyu!

"Out of my way!" Jiang Wuxin growled like a beast as he glared at him.

"Wuxin, stop acting. The fact that you reacted like that after seeing him means you're no longer under their control. The Hexascript Sword Mantra managed to snap you out of it. You’re far more resolute than I imagined." Feng Qingyu then pointed the Hexafirmament Eradicator at his former disciple.

Jiang Wuxin wiped away the blood from the corners of his eyes. Though clarity seemed to return to his expression, the light from his four irises still seemed savage and feral. "Master, I only want to avenge them. Don't stop me, alright?" he said with a hoarse voice, his unshaven jaw shaking.

Feng Qingyu looked at Tianming and back at Jiang Wuxin. "Tell me one thing—why did you kill Jian Wuyi?" His hands shook at the mention of the name.

"Master, I'll give you one last chance. If you make way for me, I'll still respect you. I’m in a huge rush now. My chance for vengeance is gnawing at my flesh like countless bugs. I’m sick. My destiny... my antidote... is ending his sorry life. Please allow me to at least do that." His teeth began chattering as he peeked at Tianming past Feng Qingyu, both of his hands shaking with rage.

"You're giving me a chance?" Feng Qingyu said, taken aback, then chuckled. "If I don't move aside, do you think you're capable of killing me? Your own master? Wuxin, I'm asking you one last time. Why did you kill Jian Wuyi? You knew what he meant to me! You knew what our relationship was like!"

"Killing my master?" Jiang Wuxin laughed maniacally before he turned to lock gazes with Feng Qingyu. Tightly gripping the Firmament Godsword, he pointed it at Feng Qingyu. "Master, I’ll answer your question. These were your own words. You said that people without hearts know no pain. You said there’s no room for sentimentality on the way of the sword.

"Those were your teachings, Master. Those were the words that saved me from falling past the edge of despair. That was how I managed to live through all that suffering and struggling. It was all for the day I’d finally get my revenge. Can you even imagine what I had to go through, spending all those days in the Blood Cauldron?

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"You really had it easy, didn't you? You tricked me and traded me for a starmap, then casually taught me the Hexascript Sword Mantra, thinking that would solve all my problems. You were the epitome of a heartless person! Do you think that mantra helped at all? No way in hell!" His shoulders shook from another bout of manic laughter that forced even more bloody tears out.

"You will never understand this feeling. In a time of peak despair and agony, only boundless rage and hate could sustain me! Sustain my being! Allow me to remain as myself, Jiang Wuxin! Master, you were the one who trained me in the way of the sword! You were the one that made me a monster! That's why I both love and hate you! Even though those choices were my own to make, I knew deep down that you cared more for the starmap than my life!

"How I wish I could just cast my sentimentality away and focus on the way of the sword! No matter how heartless, it's the path you chose to tread! The path you preached, right? So I’m very curious as to how a purportedly heartless swordsman like yourself can even feel pain for the death of Jian Wuyi.

"The only reasonable explanation is that you've abandoned your way of the sword! Or, don't tell me you were never practicing what you preached in the first place? If even you can't do it, how can you expect me to, you hypocrite?! Do you have the answer you want now? I killed Jian Wuyi to mess with you and expose your hypocritical falsehoods! You’re someone that can care about someone after all! But like all the other dogs, you never cared about me!"

Jiang Wuxin grasped his head and started laughing like mad once more. "But there's one thing you were right about, even if you didn't do it yourself. Someone that casts away their heart will never lose sight of their goal. They’ll never be swayed, nor will they ever feel hurt. That's why I came to an epiphany! My suffering in the Blood Cauldron felt like it lasted a thousand—no, ten thousand years! Since being a human is so painful and hard, why bother? The only good thing about this ugly, dirty, and cruel world was them. Only they cared about me, nobody else! So now that they're gone, why should I care about any other humans at all? The world owes me too much, and the debt shall be paid!

"And now, it's perfect. I’m a royal specter. Perhaps one day, I'll even be king of the Ninefold Hell. I’m no longer human and can no longer be hurt. There's no reason I shouldn't start enslaving you and treating all of you like livestock! Since it's all going down anyway, I'll take everyone down with me.

"Once I finish dealing with Li Tianming and avenging my girls' deaths, I’ll no longer have any weaknesses. That's why, Master, if you don't stop me here, I might even consider leaving your corpse intact. That's right, I was planning to kill you after Tianming! You want to know why? That's because you’re the largest obstacle I still have to face in this world. Your death will be my eternity."

He began approaching Feng Qingyu with his sword raised. "Did you forget what you told me back on that snowy day at Taiji Peak Lake? You said you’d sell your soul to demons with me. It must've been easy to tell a plain lie like that. However, I'll make sure to hold you to your word. Your death will complete me. Do you dare to make that sacrifice? Do you know how painful it was to eat fifty million lifebound beasts? Can you imagine eating your own swordbeasts? If you can't, don't even bother lecturing me about good and evil.

"I said that I’d be loyal to the Hexapath Divine Realm in life and in death, but what I am now can't be called alive! I'm not even human anymore! I’ll ensure that the whole world dies with me. Doesn't that just sound wonderful?"

It didn't sound like he was looking for a genuine answer at all.

"Master, you might not understand what I mean. No worries, you will after I show you my true form." He giggled wildly and immediately began expanding into a gigantic mound of flesh five kilometers wide above Xuanyuan Lake. Countless tentacles sprouted from his body, all covered in countless suckers. Apart from the gigantic, bloody mouth, he looked like a fusion between a sea urchin and a squid.