Beastmaster of the Ages

When the decapath era godswords came swinging, Huiyue Hai finally broke free from Trilife Mirror and raised his Ninering Blitzdragon, but it was too late. If it weren't for the shock of seeing ten totems manifest in total, he wouldn't have been so dumbfounded. In a real battle, the slightest mistake could cost one's life.

"No! We can talk about this!" he cried in despair as he tried executing a battle art to block the blow. However, his primalblitz fiends were too caught up to be able to respond to his commands in time. Not to mention, during his stupor, Ying Huo had pierced more than ten Cosmic Blade feathers through his body.

Tianming's swords finally collided, slashing through all five of the primalblitz fiends with the power of the heavenly path. Ying Huo worked with Tianming to strike away Huiyue Hai's spear, as well.

"Die!" When Ying Huo slashed toward Huiyue Hai's head, Tianming's Grand-Orient Sword bisected him at the waist. The corpse ended up split into three parts—even for a powerful ascendant, that was certain death.

"Noooo!" the head cried as it fell down.

"Shut up." Ying Huo blasted some Infernal Blaze at it.

"Burn the corpse and let's go!" Tianming urged. He didn't have the luxury of enjoying the results of his kill at all. All he was concerned about was escaping with his life. He unmanifested his totems and looked at the surroundings with the Plundering Eye. For now, there didn't seem to be anyone around, so his decabane status was not exposed.

Tianming made sure to toss the possessions of Huiyue Hai far away as the corpse burned, without taking any of them. He couldn't be sure that they weren't tracked in some way, after all. After that, he had his lifebound beasts return to his lifebound space.

"Ling'er, let's go." He took her hand and looked into her eyes. Once more, they were going on the run. If it weren't for their cooperation and Tianming's sudden use of all ten of his totems, they would have had a hard time dealing with Huiyue Hai, given their relative strength. The best they could do was stay alive. There was no chance he could take on someone at the Hexaunity Sky level with only the four cardinal godswords.

Either way, he had managed to profit from his journey here, having awakened his totems and ascended. They could finally return home. They smiled at each other in relief as Tianming led her by the hand on the way back.

......

Sovereign Xi had been waiting for fifteen minutes at the divine moon hall. Then, Yuehe came rushing over. "Your Majesty, there's been a complication."

"Elaborate."

"That child managed to somehow leave the sealed formation. Perhaps he no longer dared to stay behind after the conflict with my grandson."

"What else?"

"I arranged for someone to mark him. He's given chase and should soon be back with him."

"So, do you expect Us to keep waiting?" Sovereign Xi stood tall, her cat mask making her look even more mysterious.

"Your humble servant is mistaken and deserving of death!" Yuehe said, kneeling in a panic.

"Your Majesty, it's urgent that we remind the other skycities to devise a plan to kill the culprit," reminded a royal.

Sovereign Xi glanced at Huiyue Jie and said, "Huiyue Clan, capture that kid and have him sent to the royal capital. Understand that if this is not carried out, the masters of this city will have to change."

"Your Majesty's will is our command!" Every surviving member of the Huiyue Clan knelt fearfully as they saw their sovereign off.

......

Tianming and the rest returned to Taiji Peak Lake that night. It was really quiet there, as if nothing had happened. As he had expected, Bodhi didn't want to let the divine moonrace associate the murders with the remaining specters, so the humans of the continent were safe from him for now.

It was a fine balance for Tianming to maintain. Neither he nor Bodhi would intentionally ruin it. These days, Li Caiwei, Yi Xingyin, and the others led the effort to seal off the bottomless pits that led into the Abyssal Battlefield, so humanity was safe to a certain degree. They no longer had to seal up entire cities and returned to normal life.

Tianming had only now found out that Lin Xiaoxiao had also ascended and gone to the Divine Moon Realm to look for them. She didn't find us. I'm sure she'll come back once she hears about our escape.

As expected, she returned three days later with the Archaionfiend. "I have something to tell you," she said.

"Sound the imperial fanfare!" Tianming said, reveling in his status as emperor.

Lin Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. "When the divine moon hall was destroyed, Wu You and I happened to be watching from the air. It consumed more than a hundred thousand caeli and kept it in its stomach."

"Really?" Tianming's eyes flashed as he looked at the beast.

"What?! It's my personal property! I'll expose you to the Divine Moon Realm if you dare touch it!" the Archaionfiend snapped.

"Lan Huang, go play with it!"

"Sis! Let's play high bump! I'll send you far higher than before!" Lan Huang roared as it charged and started ramming the Archaionfiend high with its head.

"Will you spit them out or not?" Tianming asked again with a smirk.

"I will! Enough! Stop!" it cried.

Tianming wasn't worried that it would pull any tricks. After all, they were in the same boat, so exposing Tianming wouldn't do it any good. With all those caeli, the Old Deepstar Path would be filled to the brim and Li Caiwei, Xuanyuan Dao, and the others in the dynasty could grow far stronger. However, he would only allow his core circle to cultivate first. He would also have the Archaionfiend swallow them back up when he was absent to prevent the divine moonrace from noticing.

"How's the situation up there?" he asked.

"I'm not too sure. The royals are chasing the culprit down while the Huiyue Clan seems to be searching for you."

"For me? All I did was ruin one of Huiyue Jie's bane-rings. Are they still holding a grudge?"

"I'm not sure." Apart from taking the caeli away, she hadn't done much up there. "What's your plan for now?"

"I'll cultivate. Without power, no plans will do me any good. I can't even save myself, let alone make sure we all survive."

In the Divine Moon Realm, Tianming would always be someone's inferior no matter how hard he tried. Only here on the continent would he feel like his own master. He belonged here with Xuanyuan Dao, Li Caiwei, Ye Shaoqing, Jiang Qingluan, Xuanyuan Muxue, Yi Xingying, Ouyang Jianwang, and many more, not to mention his grandmother, grandfather, Bai Zijin, and Mu Wan of the Decimo Dao Nation. They were all important to him.