Beastmaster of the Ages

A sharp chain had Zhan Yingying tightly bound within. Even as a tough wargodean, her skin was still torn by the blades of the divine artifact. Her hair was completely frizzled and her body was covered in blood all over. Coupled with Lingfeng's Heartpiercer Soulblade, her face was now exceedingly pale. Though her injuries were only skin deep, the two hundred or so wargodeans' breathing intensified at the sight of their precious princess being treated like that. Golden flames burned bright within their eyes, let alone Zhan Yuance's, whom Tianming had just threatened. Yu Ziqian had said he was quite overprotective of his sister, after all.

Zhan Yuance's golden hair was practically standing straight. His eyes radiated seething rage that came slamming at Tianming's face. The heaving of his chest had a bestial quality to it. As if that wasn't expressive of his rage enough, his ears even furiously flapped, spewing flames with each movement. His rage and will to fight had risen to a never-before-seen peak.

The heavy breathing seemed to cause the environment around them to shake. Every wargodean gazed piercingly at Tianming and the rest, with what he said still echoing throughout the Imperialdragon Palace.

Zhan Yuance pointed at Tianming, opening his golden teeth to speak with the lowest and fiercest voice he could. "I have sworn that anyone who touches a single hair of my sister will be split into eight pieces and vaporized. Not only did you do that, you hurt her to this degree.... Congratulations. You've really pissed me off this time. Enjoy the moments of your life with your pals in the Azuresoul Palace before it all falls to pieces."

"Brother, don't hold back against them! These four won't know the consequences until they've felt it! I want you to make them kowtow to me until they're dead!" Zhan Yingying yelled, having waited for a long time for this. Her pain was all too apparent in her voice. Even now, they still didn't think much of their enemies and haughtily wielded their backing. The wargodeans were a peak race and ranked fourth among the factions of the Myriad Solar Sects, so the Azuresoul Palace couldn't compare at all. Not a single one of them thought of this as a transaction. They all charged toward Tianming and the others, who were standing at the entrance of the pathway outside the palace so that they could escape at any moment.

"Looks like they still don't understand the situation." Tianming expressionlessly looked at them without a hint of fear on his face.

Lingfeng immediately took out the Heartpiercer Soulblade from his head and jabbed it into the top of Zhan Yingying's skull in a ghastly maneuver, causing her to horribly shriek and twitch. Even so, Lingfeng controlled his power to only make her feel the pain in her soul without actually harming her. She would recover, given enough time. It was already merciful compared to cutting her limbs off or killing her lifebound beasts.

"Have them stand down," Tianming said, holding Zhan Yingying by the back of her dress and raising her up.

"Stop! Brother, stop!" she cried, tearing at her hair as tears uncontrollably flowed. Xiaoxiao couldn't help but poke out her tongue at the grisly sight. Even Yu Ziqian couldn't help but start at how Tianming and Lingfeng were able to so easily inflict suffering on a beauty of this caliber. Her constant cries of agony and Tianming's completely unfazed gaze, coupled with Lingfeng's terrifying blood-colored blade, stunned the wargodeans.

"Stop!" Zhan Yuance yelled angrily. "Li Tianming, you'll regret your reckless actions for the rest of your life!" His teeth could be heard grating after he finished.

"Have you run out of slogans yet? The Voidsky Realm is a place of fair competition. Don't bother bringing up your background to scare me just because you can't defeat me. I'm not afraid of you, don't you get it? Your threat won't work. Now, you have eight ears, so it's shocking that I even have to repeat myself to get you to listen. Hand over the Lifesteal Silverdragon and I'll return your sister. Any hesitation or threat will result in her experiencing even worse pain. Let's get this over with and stop wasting each other's time, shall we?"

Tianming's words were completely infuriating to Zhan Yuance. He felt utterly provoked and humiliated. "Huh, you're saying I can't beat you? Isn't it the opposite? Why would you take my sister hostage otherwise? You're the one resorting to underhanded methods! You allowed me to take the Lifesteal Silverdragon in exchange for the grandpath fiend pill. Are you going to return that?" His fists were gripped so tightly that his golden veins were visible.

"I think you're misunderstanding something, Zhan Yuance." Tianming smirked and continued calmly. "First, this is a fair arena of competition held by the Sky Palace. The fact that they allowed hundreds of wargodeans to join means that they sanction team battles. As a result, taking down the leader of a team to cripple them is a completely viable strategy. It's like taking the king in chess. I don't know about your definition of shamelessness, but playing by the established rules certainly isn't part of mine. If we were to follow your logic, any tactic or strategy is an act of cowardice. That only makes you sound incredibly dumb and childish.

"Second, the grandpath fiend pill was never yours to begin with. I broke the golem formation of that black dragon myself and got it fair and square, so it wasn't yours to begin with. Not to mention, I'm not asking you to return the Lifesteal Silverdragon as if I had dibs over it. I'm making a trade with you. Your sister for the weapon. Don't think your pathetic guilt-trip will work on me. Think of some new material for your skit, why don't you?."

Those words completely shut Zhan Yuance up. Tianming saw that the Lifesteal Silverdragon was still being held down by two of his goldenmane skyapes; they were faring even worse now that the chain was reacting more powerfully in Tianming's presence.

"Zhan Yuance, allowing your sister to run into me was your mistake. Now stop wasting time. Torturing girls isn't my hobby," Tianming said. Seeing Zhan Yuance fuming but not being able to do anything about it, on the other hand, was absolutely delightful. It was so good that almost being killed by him back then was worth it.

Zhan Yuance still hesitated. He felt horrible, but wasn't able to do anything other than roar and cry like a great ape in a cage. Seeing more time being wasted, Lingfeng increased the power of his ability, causing Zhan Yingying's cries to rise to a new crescendo.

"Zhan Yuance!" Tianming urged once more.

"Release it!" Zhan Yuance practically felt his tongue rotting away. He had astralforce surging in him, but submission was his only option. He had never felt like this in all his life. The skyapes didn't hesitate and let go of the chain, which immediately zipped toward Tianming the moment it was free.

"Now, return my sister!"

Needless to say, Tianming held up his part of the bargain. He pulled the chain off of Zhan Yingying, bid her farewell, and tossed her far into the distance.

"It's over for you!" Zhan Yingying cried.

By now, Lifesteal Silverdragon had shrunk to a meter-long dragon and wrapped around Tianming's black arm. Meow Meow had been ready the entire time. Right as Zhan Yuance roared, they easily zipped away, their escape made especially effortless considering that Tianming hadn't even exited the pathway.

"Though I managed to mess with him this time, he's still more powerful than me. Fighting him would do no good." There was no point in fighting a losing battle. Not to mention, the Imperialdragon Palace seemed rather empty and had nothing that was worth fighting over. There was no point in him risking his life for it. "I already won when I got the Lifesteal Silverdragon back."

Meow Meow zipped through the twists and turns, easily losing the wargodeans. In that maze, it would be hard to stop Meow Meow if they didn't have it surrounded. The roars coming from behind told Tianming how frustrated Zhan Yuance truly was. Though, Zhan Yingying wasn't that badly hurt and could make a full recovery. He was only mad because he couldn't catch up to Tianming, and for having his pride crushed.

"He never took you seriously, and now that he did, you humiliated him. Though he wasn't faring too badly with the Lifesteal Silverdragon in hand, he has nothing now," Yu Ziqian said. He was the one who'd come up with the idea to seek out and take Zhan Yingying hostage, and it had turned out rather well.

Tianming put the chain away. "Now that it's back, we have four of the nine treasures. The only place the wardrum formation is pointing to now is the Imperialdragon Palace. So far, no dragon golems have appeared yet, and Zhan Yuance's group is still squatting there. That can only mean they've gotten nothing from it. Though I have a feeling that the wardrum formation led us there because the Imperialdragon Palace will be the key to the struggle within the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb."