Beastmaster of the Ages

"That's right. That could be the final battleground," Yu Ziqian said.

"So even though we've escaped for now, we have to eventually head back?" Xiaoxiao asked.

"We're in no rush. Zhan Yuance has that place occupied, and we won't be able to do much head-on. We'll sit back and hide and observe how the situation develops."

They weren't that far away from the Imperialdragon Palace. It wouldn't take too long for them to return if anything changed.

"We have no choice in the end. If it wasn't for Zhan Yuance, staying at the Imperialdragon Palace would be for the best." Their difference in strength was insurmountable. Tianming clearly felt it, especially after Zhan Yuance had consumed the yinyang skyscorch pill.

"If that place is designed to be the last palace and final battleground by the Sky Palace, the fighting there will be intense. There's no way Zhan Yuance will be able to obtain the treasure there without anyone noticing. Even if nobody fights him for it, the Sky Palace will have some kind of trial for him," Tianming reasoned. That was why he wasn't worried about it. Some treasures weren't obtainable just because one squatted there the whole day.

"Meow Meow," Tianming called out as he pulled the sleepy cat from his lifebound space."Hey! What gives?!" It subconsciously clawed at the one who had disturbed its slumber with a look of annoyance.

"Monitor the situation at the Imperialdragon Palace. Come back immediately if something changes."

"No. It's off hours for me. Time for me to enjoy my slumber," it refused, shaking its head.

"Ying Huo, lend me a feather."

"What for?" Ying Huo asked with a smirk.

"It's about time for the neutering," Tianming said.

"Meow?!" Meow Meow tightly clasped its legs and immediately zipped back where they came from as it complained, "You ruthless beastmaster! I only wanted some well-deserved rest! I'll claim this time back, you hear?!"

The others held back their laughter as it left.

"It won't go there and just fall asleep, right?" Ying Huo said.

"Let's hope not...." Though Tianming had a bad feeling about it, he chose to trust Meow Meow. It was the fastest to run from any trouble compared to the rest, after all. "Zhan Yingying said that Weisheng Moran also got one of the treasures. Apart from the Imperialdragon Palace, there are two more palaces that we don't know of yet, but they probably pale in importance compared to it. They might also be empty by now. There's bound to be a lucky few among the millions that came in. That means the Imperialdragon Palace will be the final goal."

As they didn't know how the points on the ranking had changed, the dragon palaces were the only thing they had to go on. The biggest question was yet unanswered: why would the Sky Palace take over the legendary Ninedragon Imperial Tomb just to give these young disciples all of its treasures?

"Well, it isn't something we can just figure out like that. Let's make the best use of our time and get stronger." The difficulty of the upcoming battles was bound to be much higher. "The Imperialdragon Palace might be the key to joining the Sky Palace!"

With too many treasures on hand, they could no longer turn back. They needed sufficient backing just to survive. Not to mention, Tianming had a new thing to cultivate: the eighth-realm divine art, Ninedragon Tribulation!

......

There was a dark atmosphere at the Imperialdragon Palace. The words with the name of the place high above made it even eerier.

"Waaah...." At the center of the large palace was Zhan Yingying, surrounded by a group of wargodeans. Her crying made them feel strongly for her.

"Stop crying now. Big Bro will keep my promise to you," Zhan Yuance consoled as he hugged her.

"That white-haired animal... I want to pull out his teeth one by one and gouge out his eyes!" she hissed hatefully.

"Alright. Big Bro will dominate him. I'll even let you disembowel him. You can dance with his intestines, alright?" He stroked her long, blonde hair and spoke as he would to a child.

"That's better. Hmph, Big Bro, I'm fine now. You should find out what secrets this place holds! It's a large place and Tianming already knows its location. He'll definitely be attempting something. We have to act first while he's still away to find any advantage we can!" She wiped her tears, light returning to her eyes.

"Alright, let's proceed." Zhan Yuance didn't dare to make too much noise to avoid drawing more people to them. Now, the location of the Imperialdragon Palace was known to others that weren't them. Thus, he planned to adopt a new strategy.

"Does anyone have any ideas?"

"The key must be the wardrum formation."

"There's nothing here but walls and the name of the palace."

"That's right."

Zhan Yuance looked up and said, "Let's study the words up there. Someone else, take a look at the walls."

"Nine-five Prince, we have to be wary of Li Tianming coming back. He's slimier than a sewer rat and we can't let him steal from us again," someone said.

"Steal from us?" Rage returned to Zhan Yuance's eyes. "My sister is safe now. If he dares come again, I'll make him spit out everything else he took apart from the one he stole from me." He had to know that Tianming had fused two war drums to get the black one which he also had. "In other words, when someone kills enough dragon golems, they'll get a small wardrum formation. Fusing them together gives a black war drum, the same one produced by the nine-headed black dragon. That must mean the black dragon was worth thousands of times more points than normal dragon golems. If others kill thousands of them to get their own black war drum, they'll be here sooner or later. I have to hurry." He had a feeling that victory would be his once he got the treasure from the Imperialdragon Palace.

......

"Tsk tsk." Meow Meow rolled its eyes at their conversation. It laid flat in one of the pathways with its limbs lazily stretched out. As it yawned, its vision blurred. Gradually, its soft body conformed to the ground beneath it.

These folks found out nothing new... so it should be fine if I take a half-hour nap, right? No... the mission is important. I can't mess this up, so I'll only nap for fifteen minutes! At that thought, it smiled and entered dreamland. It was so comfortable that it rolled over and exposed its belly with its legs hanging in the air. Its tail slowly slumped to the ground and everything went dark.