Beastmaster of the Ages

The youth remained prostrated, waiting. He had finished his report, but didn't dare to excuse himself. Instead, he waited for the sun emperor to speak. After some time, he felt rather uncomfortable as the person he worshiped stood up and approached him. The flames from his body completely enveloped the youth. The youth began charring, his hair starting to singe. However, he endured it without uttering a sound, not moving an inch.

He saw a pair of crimson legs in front of him even with his gaze lowered. There were ten toes in total, each one looking like a fierce beast and roaring at him.

"She," said the booming voice.

"Yes!"

"Do the memories of betrayal and genocide still exist inside you?"

"We remember it across thousands of generations! Now, their descendants occupy our race's lands! It is an insult to the Xuanyuan Dragon Clan."

"Very good." The man didn't move an inch, but his toes were still glaring at the youth's charred face. He stopped bringing up the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Instead, his voice sounded much gentler. "What about the goddess? How's she doing?"

"She is giving it her best and hasn't disappointed Your Solar Majesty's hopes in her."

"What I'm asking is what she is doing apart from cultivating."

"She... is watching the Voidsky Skirmish with close intensity. I believe she understands Your Solar Majesty's intentions and keeps trying to improve herself by getting to know the achievements of her peers as well."

"Hmm." Suddenly, a huge palm slammed into the youth's head, stunning him. "She, you have done well these past years. We have promised your parents to let you be Our son-in-law. Now that the date of your marriage has been decided, tell Us what you think is fitting as a dowry for wedding Our daughter."

"Your Solar Majesty has truly spoiled me by allowing me to take the goddess's hand in marriage. It's nothing less than multiple lifetimes of karma. I wouldn't dare to make any additional requests. I swear to protect the goddess with my life," said the youth nervously.

"No. Dowry is part of the ceremony. We're a civilized people, so the rituals must be observed." The flames in the hall burned bright once more. The rising crescendo of roaring beasts almost caused the youth to push his ears shut. The youth wouldn't forget what the sun emperor said next: "Our daughter must have a dowry befitting her status. She, I'll give you the entire Xuanyuan Dragon Sect."

......

"Damn...."

"Damn?"

"Dammit!" Yu Ziqian was being dragged around by Tianming. He turned to look at the Skyward Stele and had no other way to express how he currently felt. The closer they came to the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, the larger he noticed it was. "Word is that the Divine Sun Palace is huge beyond imagination. I didn't think the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb would be comparable to it. How could such a huge structure have been hidden underground?"

Tianming ignored him and continued approaching the tomb; it was a grand place filled with an air of history. Having been buried for far too long, dirt and rocks were falling from its side. Boulders thousands of meters wide were crumbling as they crashed to the ground. Nine dragon sculptures roughly a hundred thousand meters long surrounded the structure, though they looked rather unique. Some of them had three heads and six arms, some had the heads and tails of dragons but bodies of other creatures, and there were four that only had their top halves. The gigantic structure itself looked like a sleeping giant.

It was covered in countless dragon scales, each roughly a hundred meters wide, and all of them glittering from the light of the flaming storm. They almost seemed alive. A faint roar could even be heard as people approached.

Tianming and the rest had been pretty lucky, finding themselves not far from one of the nine entrances of the tomb. This entrance was none other than the head of a dragon sculpture. From a distance, hordes of people could be seen entering the dragon's mouth like ants. Some were flung into the entrances by the flaming storm, while others blended in with the rest as they entered.

"As expected, the people that enter will have a red dot next to their names in the ranking. All of this was planned by the Sky Palace. To think that they'd go so far for disciples under the age of thirty.... Isn't this something everyone in the Myriad Solar Sects would fight each other over?"

The disciples within the Voidsky Realm had no idea how their seniors were reacting at witnessing the reappearance of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Chaos had erupted all across the sun after the revelation. All of the sects had assembled to hold emergency meetings. Far too many people were wondering what the Sky Palace was planning by doing something like this.

"The appearance of the tomb marks this Voidsky Skirmish as different from the others. It isn't just a competition among disciples anymore."

"If it weren't for the Sky Palace sealing off the Voidsky Realm, countless people might be trying to make their way inside. It's a place that'd attract even peak elites."

"Well, those above thirty don't really care about things as long as the sect rankings stay the same. Initially, they weren't going to pay too much attention to the Voidsky Skirmish, but now everyone's keeping an eye on what's happening here."

"The skyward eyes have all switched to displaying the view of the tomb."

"Does that mean anyone inside the tomb won't be visible through the skyward eyes?"

"Not necessarily. The Sky Palace could have other ways to broadcast what's inside."

Tianming was right in front of the gigantic labyrinth, but there were millions of other disciples in front of him. No part of his vision wasn't filled with people. The commotion caused by the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was enough to attract almost all the disciples in the Voidsky Realm. So far, only some twenty million had been eliminated, so the bulk of them were still there. Tianming would have to pave a path of blood to enter it.

"I have to go in no matter what!" With his target decided, he decided it was time to take action. The tomb was still rising from the ground, but there was no saying when entry to it would be forbidden. So, time was of the essence.

"Do you see the scores of the names on the stele that don't have a red dot next to them? Their points are rapidly rising!" Yu Ziqian said.

In other words, there were others near the tomb that'd begun culling the prey that had gathered in one place on their own accord. However, getting points and ensuring one's entry into the tomb wasn't going to be easy.

"Let's fight as we make our way to the entrance," Tianming said. The entrances were the most crowded places, after all.

"Let's not risk it. We can try sneaking in instead. There's no way we'll be able to defeat so many of them!" Yu Ziqian said. As far as he was concerned, getting into the tomb was now far more important than gaining points.

"Who said we can't?" Tianming smirked. At least nine million out of the ten million people there were samsarans. When Tianming was still a samsaran himself, he had used Vitasteal to completely dominate saints. But now, his soul had become a divine soul at the Ascension stage, so samsarans with normal souls weren't able to withstand his Vitasteal. He had already tried it a few times before against 'mortals' without divine souls. It was a shame he hadn't encountered enough people in the past month, but that was no problem now!

"Even though we risk not entering by staying outside, the ranking is still more important for the future! If I can get back to the top ten in the ranking and enter the tomb, I'll be able to catch up with the current frontrunners." Tianming was currently ranked a few thousand places down. "Not to mention, the skyward eyes won't be able to clearly see what I'm about to do. I can more or less keep Vitasteal a secret."

Immediately, Tianming charged into the crowd and made his move, with Lingfeng and Xiaoxiao flanking him and taking advantage of the situation. As for Yu Ziqian, he merely chased after them, cursing the whole way.

"Die!" There were at least ten thousand people directly in front of him, most of whom were samsarans. "Vitasteal!"

The power of sky plunderers was channeled from his outstretched hand as his black arm grasped the air ahead of him. All of a sudden, seven thousand people collapsed to the ground as if they had lost their souls, their eyes wide open in a daze. Their vitae leaving their sea of consciousness caused them to lose control of their bodies. While they wouldn't die from it, they were no longer able to resist. Though Tianming couldn't keep them in that state for long, he only needed a little time.

"Go!" The whole group charged in, lifebound beasts and all!