Beastmaster of the Ages

Some attacked from the top, while others attacked from the bottom. The violetdawn swordgods took on Lan Huang, while the crimson treefiends tangled with Xian Xian's many vines. The greenleaf bladedeges clashed with Ying Huo using swordsmanship, and the azuremoon seafiends matched themselves against Meow Meow's abilities.

At the same time, their users came charging toward Tianming. Violetmoon held a longsword and used a divine art. Crimsonmoon, on the other hand, attacked from the flank with his grade-three divine artifact, a Crimsonstar Heavensbow. Hundreds of thousands of crimson arrows fell like meteors. One single divine art seemed to generate countless variations. His crimson treefiends also shot out countless blood-red blades of grass toward Tianming.

Azuremoon came holding a net in an attempt to control Tianming, while Verdantmoon used Greenleaf Flying Blades. Lastly, the mysterious Onyxmoon and her totems came charging from behind him, completely unobstructed. She thrust her spear, an Obsidian Soulpiercer, toward the back of Tianming's head. Her totems also came charging alongside her. They seemed to symbolize the six paths of reincarnation. As the vortices spun, they didn't seem to generate any sort of attractive force. Instead, they let out an enchanting wave of power—it was their totemic calamity, Myriadllucination, Onyxmoon's sure-kill move!

It was known to be among the top three most powerful enchantment abilities in the Divine Moon Realm. Once under its effects, one would be unable to escape its illusions, and might not even be able to fight. Whenever the five of them attacked, they always started with Myriadllucination. Even the most powerful elites would struggle to survive after being struck by that move. The fact that the sovereign had sent them after Tianming was a testament to her acknowledgment of his abilities.

In actuality, him defeating Liu Qinghuan and having no more time to cultivate didn't actually warrant the Pentamoon Slayers from chasing him down and using the cauldron on top of Myriadllucination. It was overkill born of extreme caution. Little did they know that Tianming would be able to turn the tables precisely because of their unnecessary caution.

Tianming was stunned for a moment under the effects of the spell. Ying Huo and the rest definitely wouldn't be able to endure it, and even his decapath era godswords felt much heavier than before. However, the soul servants in his totems and the Soul Tower itself allowed him to snap out of it. Most other people would have a hard time using their totems under the move's influence.

"This is my chance!" He would counter right as his opponent's move failed. "Come!"

Now wielding two keys, he absorbed the orderian cauldron's power, causing every albus in his body to surge with maximum power. "You think you can swallow me up just because you have the orderian cauldron and an army of gods? Make sure to blow first before you swallow or you'll only burn your tongues!"

Tianming was already getting desperate, having been forced into such a situation. Not to mention, Ye Lingfeng hadn't shown up to their preplanned meeting, pushing him further toward the edge. Now, there was no turning back. This was a desperate fight to escape his fate! Now that Onyxmoon was unaware that her move had failed, and Tianming alone was more powerful than any of them thanks to the cauldron, he allowed himself to go wild.

"It's gonna get messy!" His roar shook the air around them. A sword in each hand, he shot forward and executed his moves, Seaborne Moon and Sight Across Shores, at the same time. "I'll use your ancestor's ultimate move to slay you selfish pricks!"

Tianming felt utter elation. The sovereign truly deserved this for attempting to gain more luck by sacrificing three thousand people. Destiny and fate had their own plans; in attempting to rewrite them, one would have to risk losing everything. Too bad the sovereign's luck was running out!

Tianming felt so powerful that he was going numb from the cauldron's assistance. He charged toward Onyxmoon right as she used her totemic calamity. "Help me hold the rest off!"

Ying Huo and the rest did as he asked and intercepted the other four and their totems. Lan Huang took three sword strikes while Meow Meow got caught in Azuremoon's net in the process before being struck by the azuremoon seafiends to the point of puking blood. Xian Xian was completely tangled up with the crimson treefiends and lost more than half of its leaves, and more than a tenth of its Radiant vines. Only Ying Huo alone had managed to go unscathed, striking at Verdantmoon's vitals and forcing him back, stopping his totems from attacking.

Their desperate struggles gave Tianming a one-in-a-million chance to execute both moves in quick succession with all ten of his totems. First, countless moons began rising. Then they abruptly fell with unimaginable power.

"Die!" The godswords tore the black voids apart and the Grand-Orient Swords pierced through Onyxmoon's body. She widened her eyes as she was swallowed up in the seas below, but still managed to toss her key to Violetmoon.

"Next!" Tianming turned to Violetmoon, who was slicing chunk after chunk of flesh off of Lan Huang with his violetdawn swordgods. However, Lan Huang didn't retreat and took on all seven of them alone, even managing to crush one of the totems.

"Onyxmoon!" the four cried when they witnessed the sight.

"Not only has he grown stronger, he can also control the cauldron!"

"The way this is going, we won't be able to leave. We might die here. Are the heavens on his side or something?"

"We can only count on his weakness to take him down."

They all knew what Tianming's weakness was: his dynasty.

"We shouldn't give up just yet. Defeating him is still possible. Don't let Onyxmoon die in vain."

"Kill him then! At the very least, we have to take out his lifebound beasts for Onyxmoon. Her Majesty won't need them for her purposes."

"Kill! Kill!"

The remaining four pairs of eyes turned bloodshot, but Tianming was more desperate to survive than they were to kill him. Time was a luxury he didn't have; he had to end this quickly.

"The divine moonrace should've been our protectors! You shouldn't have come to our plane. It's a shame that you made such a ruthless choice, so don't blame me for making you pay the consequences like Bodhi did!"

Even though they were supposed to be the administrators of the Flameyellow Continent, everyone knew what Sovereign Xi's true goals were. She didn't care about the lifeforms that existed in the world below. That was no different from the specters, who ate the lifebound beasts and humans there. It was a cruel battlefield for survival, and planning to depend on the kindness of others was laughable.

Tianming felt his blood boiling with the power of his Aeonic Grandbane. This time, he would change fate! Every time he broke through would be a time when he was reborn. And this time around, he was about to get the Flameyellow Continent to go through that process of rebirth with him. Their will to fight would be renewed and reach higher heights!

He charged toward Violetmoon with his godswords, and two others stopped and came to Violetmoon's aid. Then all three of them used their totemic calamities at the same time: Violetdawn Skylight, Crimson Seed, and the Verdantsky Death Formation. The three godly attacks swarmed toward Tianming.

"Die, mindless fool!"

Though confident they were, they had underestimated Tianming's lifebound beasts. Ying Huo used its Death Inferno to neutralize Violetdawn Skylight and open a path for Tianming. Meow Meow then used its Cosmic Lance. Though the two lances didn't envelop the other two totemic calamities, they pierced through them and made holes Tianming could pass through. Once through, Tianming executed the Moonnight Subdued Strike once more, completely disintegrating all six violetdawn swordgods and killing Violetmoon. The balance had finally tipped. Now, Ying Huo and the rest fought back, empowered by the orderian cauldron.

"Slaughter them all!"

Working with Tianming, they killed Crimsonmoon, Azuremoon, and Verdantmoon. All five of the Pentamoon Slayers were dead! Tianming had never planned to spare them and use them to bargain with the sovereign. Someone like her wouldn't even bat an eye at the loss of their lives. He only cared about taking the orderian cauldron, as well as the many resources the Pentamoon Slayers had on their persons. He found many things he wanted in Onyxmoon's spatial ring—for instance, the blue tracking formation. Once he destroyed it, the Bluemoon Heart mark on his chin vanished.

"My guess was right. She won't be able to track me from now on." He then turned and looked at the gigantic cauldron. "So you were counting on my luck to boost yours, eh? Too bad your luck is crap, thanks to all the sins you've racked up!"

Tianming used all three keys to control the cauldron. It shrank to the size of his palm. It seemed like his control of the cauldron had achieved new heights thanks to the number of keys he had.

"It's mine now." Now, he had become the cauldron's defender. No doubt, Sovereign Xi would find out about what happened here, so he didn't stay a moment longer than he had to. He quickly left the Divine Moon Realm as he counted his spoils. Then he went to a spot where he could easily see any large movement of people.

"They'll definitely pass through here once they've gathered and set off. If she's already willing to send out five tenth-level ascendants to chase me down, how many people would she send in her army to subjugate the Flameyellow Continent?"