Beastmaster of the Ages

Ying Huo's eyes were sharp, and it quickly picked out a giant silver egg deep inside the palace.

When Tianming looked closely, he found that the shell of the egg was actually formed of scales the size of fingernails. The scales undulated with wave-like motions, making it seem like the egg was a living creature.

"What's that? An egg?" Xiaoxiao asked.

"No, it's a formation."

Tianming's group quickly reacted, rushing toward the silver egg.

"A formation?" Xiaoxiao had thought it was a living creature.

"That's a grade-four formation called the Millionblade Formation. It has strong defensive capabilities, and you need both a grade-five divine artifact and mighty astralforce to break it. If it's there, there must be a valuable treasure inside, worth even more than the formation!" Yu Ziqian was excited.

Tianming didn't need him to infer that what was inside the formation was what the hundreds of people were fighting over.

By then, several dozen had already gathered next to the egg. They were all wildly hacking away at the formation, trying to break it and get inside. Sharp scraping sounds rang out every time divine artifacts met formation.

Many lifebound beasts were wildly clawing at it as well, so desperately their claws were bleeding.

"Do they know what's inside?" Just as Tianming was thinking that, he realized that the Millionblades Formation would occasionally turn transparent, revealing what was inside for the world to see.

Tianming heard a snarl and was surprised to see a silver dragon inside the formation. The dragon's body was coiled up. It was over ten thousand meters long, and its entire body was covered in silver metal blades. However, Tianming realized it was actually a weapon, not a living creature. It was, in fact, a silver chain giving off silver light. So why did it snarl and feel like a living creature?

"An artifact soul! It has an artifact soul!" Yu Ziqian's exclamation answered Tianming's unasked question. As long as the artifact existed, so too would its soul. It was a special kind of soul that could last much longer than that of a cultivator. Only the best artifacts would have a soul.

Forging gurus weren't able to bestow a soul, so their birth was up to destiny, a miracle born from a weapon's transformation over the course of battle after battle.

"I recognize it! This is the weapon of the Ninedragon Emperor!" Yu Ziqian said. Actually, Yu Ziqian's fan had an artifact soul. The fan likely belonged to his portable grandpa. However, it was far inferior to the silver dragon.

"Is it strong?" Tianming asked.

"Duh. That's a grade-seven divine weapon! It's called the Lifesteal Silverdragon. All of the divine ores and hazards that make it up have grade-seven divine ordered patterns! The main ore used, voidslicerite, is practically the hardest material possible. It has the 'voidslice' divine ordered pattern and its sharpness can cut even space."

"The Ninedragon Emperor added four grade-seven divine hazards to it—frostvoid flame, skybreak bolt, infernal windblades, and absolute zero frost. It doesn't just have terrifying cutting power, but its attacks are imbued with fire, lightning, sharpness, and frost divine hazards. It's among the best even among grade-seven divine artifacts."

"Is grade seven high?" Tianming's reaction wasn't that strong as he really didn't know.

"Bro, Orderia as a whole doesn't have many grade-eight artifacts. For us constelliers, we can at best use fourth or fifth grade. Any stronger and we'll even suffer a backlash. The more powerful a divine artifact is, the harder it is to control. Even the artifact my master uses is only grade-seven, and it's far from this Lifesteal Silverdragon. If you bring this outside, disciples won't be fighting for it, but those old folks hundreds or over a thousand years old will be."

The constellier geniuses Tianming had met so far hadn't even used grade-five divine artifacts. Sixth and seventh grades were beyond the ability of constelliers. That meant this Lifesteal Silverdragon was nearly at the peak of Orderia.

"You need to be grade seven to develop an artifact soul." Tianming wasn't that worried about a weapon, since he had the Grand-Orient Sword. In truth, Tianming wasn't even a constellier yet. He could still use the grade-four orderian cauldron, but even a grade-five divine artifact would be beyond him.

"So, it's worthless even if I were to grab this chain," Tianming said. If it had been grade-five, it might have been viable to wait until he was a constellier before trying to use it. But grade seven? That would be overreaching.

"You can use it. Grade-seven and above artifacts are special. They have a soul, so they can control their power and recognize a master! You see that drop of blood next to the weapon? I guarantee you that's exalted blood the Ninedragon Emperor left behind. Our level may be low, but if we absorb it, the artifact soul will sense its previous owner's aura. It'll treat us as a successor and switch to a new owner!"

Yu Ziqian's eyes reddened. "While we're still growing, it'll hold back its power and won't hurt us. Even then, it'll still be much stronger than a grade-five divine artifact.

"Exalted blood?" Tianming finally noticed there was an ancient bottle next to the silver dragon. It was no wonder these hundreds of disciples were going crazy. It seemed the Lifesteal Silverdragon would be very useful to them.

"Then I won't hold back!"

The Lifesteal Silverdragon's class was on par with lifebound beasts with eight thousand stars. That was incredibly high. And, well, Tianming was very fond of the weapon's name. It was very fierce, just the way he liked it. From how the weapon looked, Tianming suspected that even a body as tough as Lan Huang's would be injured if he attacked with it.

Even ignoring the four divine hazards, just the voidslice ability the divine ore granted was enough to give him the shivers just by looking at its edges.

Yu Ziqian was confused. "Did Sky Palace really leave this here for us?"

Several dozen people were still attacking the Millionblade Formation. Their weapons had already broken, but the formation still stood proud.

Tianming hadn't used a chain for a while, and he felt slightly nostalgic.

"Cover me." Tianming told his group. He quickly approached the formation, reaching a spot where no one was. Lingfeng and Xiaoxiao flanked him.

Yu Ziqian didn't have the ability to break the formation himself, so he just tagged along as well. As he had his own artifact soul, his desire towards the Lifesteal Silverdragon wasn't that high.

Despite so many top-tier disciples madly attacking, the formation hadn't budged an inch.

"Make a commotion," Tianming said.

"I'll do it!" Meow Meow jumped out and sent a bolt of lightning into the sky.

Electricity flickered, completely concealing Tianming's position. Unlike the rest, Tianming wasn't using a formation guru's method or attacking. Instead, he prepared his black arm. Just as he was about to take action, he heard a whistling sound by his ear. A dark blue chain was lunging towards his ear like a venomous viper!

The attack was violent. Despite Lingfeng's attempt to block it, he was sent flying into the formation.

In the face of danger, Tianming was forced to temporarily give up. He dodged aside and the blue chain struck the formation instead, causing sparks to scatter and land on Tianming's body.

"So you were the one who cut off my brother's arm?" A charming yet cold voice called out from above.

Tianming looked up and saw a dazzling blue light. A seductive and curvaceous woman surrounded by a group of people was standing there, glaring at Tianming.

Upon spotting the new arrival, Yu Ziqian immediately shouted, "Retreat!"