Beastmaster of the Ages

"The Clouddream Ark...." At that moment, a white warship emerged from the flaming clouds, causing the many cultivators outside the Voidsky Flame Pillar to draw a cold breath. Only a small part of the gigantic ship was visible under the clouds. The exposed part shone with a blinding light. The ark almost looked like a ten-kilometer-long swordfish swimming about in the sky.

"The dreamless celestial emperor came...."

"With the Clouddream Ark here, looks like the Divine Worldeater Cauldron will end up his."

"I heard that Weisheng Moran's actions completely enraged the Dreamless Celestial Nation."

"It's all over for that girl. It's such a shame. She had great potential and could've become a diamond among her peers."

"Little girl? Did you forget? They're both male and female at the same time."

"Ah, damn, I really did forget!" Weisheng Moran had always presented herself as a woman, causing most to forget the nature of her physiology.

The ark hovered like a gigantic sword above the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect's men, causing quite a lot of unrest among them.

"As expected of the top faction."

"Perhaps not even the Saintdragon Emperor would be able to take on the dreamless celestial emperor."

"He's already quite old. There isn't anyone in the next generation that can lead the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect."

"The husband of Long Wanying, however, was said to be a genius with the essence of the emperor, though. He used to be a Sky Palace member, but was killed by the sun emperor before he reached the age of five hundred after he offended him...."

"Offended him? Do you really believe that? It's obvious that the sun emperor was cautious of him. Only he would dare to kill someone from the Sky Palace."

"In recent centuries, the sun emperor has started to act more and more overboard, completely disregarding the Myriad Solar Sects. He keeps sowing discord among our own ranks, allowing the celestial orderians to push the envelope more and more."

"What can we do about it, anyway? The wargodeans themselves are suspected to have risen to new heights with secret support from the celestial orderians. Now, they're ranked fourth. With the appearance of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, they completely stopped hiding and started mingling with the Blueblood Starocean."

The rest could only sigh at these developments.

"What's worse is that the Dreamless Celestial Nation only cares about the power of their own race. They don't intend to aid the Myriad Solar Sects at all. The Xuanyuan Dragon Sect used to play that role. When they were in their prime, the Myriad Solar Sects had the most sway, especially during the age of the Ninedragon Emperor. But after that, they split into two splinter factions and the Veildragon Palace sided with the celestial orderians...."

"That sure is a hard pill to swallow!"

The Sky Palace was a special institution to the Myriad Solar Sects, being some sort of adhesive between them and the celestial orderians. It wasn't really a faction in its own right; in fact, if the Myriad Solar Sects had been a united faction, there would be no need for the Sky Palace to exist.

"There's no point counting on the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect. They'll fall even further after those from this generation retire. Didn't you notice how even second-rate factions like ours can't stomach how they claimed so many treasures for themselves? That's a sign of how far they've fallen!"

At the end of the day, might was right. Once power was lost, the loss of reputation would follow, preceding an imminent collapse. The celestial orderians were practically untouched due to how powerful they were.

"Looks like they're coming out." Everyone took a deep breath and looked at the Voidsky Flame Pillar.

"Do you think either of them can join the Sky Palace?"

"It usually takes a century or more for there to be a new member of the Sky Palace. Of those two, Li Tianming seems capable enough, but Yu Ziqian's just a minion. It doesn't look like both of them joining is possible. In fact, I'd say there's a six-in-ten chance that neither of them get accepted, and a three-in-ten chance that Li Tianming alone gets accepted."

"So the final ten percent is the combined probability of them both joining, or Yu Ziqian alone joining?"

"That's right. Aren't we all hoping that Yu Ziqian doesn't join so the Divine Worldeater Cauldron is free game?"

It was highly likely that a grand battle would break out. Heart rates began soaring as the moment of truth approached.

"There's someone there!" Countless eyes immediately turned toward the pillar.

"That's them!"

Everyone looked at their foreheads. The presence, or lack, of stigmas would say it all. At the very front of the pillar were the elites from the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect, ready to strike at any time. Even their lifebound beasts were charging up their abilities within their lifebound spaces.

Then the two youths hurriedly left the pillar. One had black and gold eyes, a black arm, and white hair, while the other looked much like a scholar with how he held his fan daintily. Immediately, they felt the billions of gazes. Even a single senior who had cultivated for more than five centuries on the sun would pressure Tianming, let alone the gazes of so many. Any junior under the age of thirty would no doubt be terrified by the spectacle.

"Dammit, this pressure...." Yu Ziqian stumbled and almost fell to the ground. It felt like he was staring down the countless mouths of large beasts. Fortunately, they weren't actively trying to apply pressure and were just looking for an answer to their burning question. The stigmas were finally seen. Countless gasps were heard, followed by exclamations like, "Both of them have stigmas from the Sky Palace!"

The whole place exploded with sound. It was almost scandalous.

"This has never happened before in the history of Orderia! There's never been two new Sky Palace members after a Voidsky Skirmish!"

It was out of this world, far from common sense.

"They both joined the Sky Palace!"

Transmission stones were sent out in an endless stream to spread the news all across Orderia. The impossible had just transpired as these two youths' status rocketed to new heights practically overnight. They had made history. The people who had been on the edge of breaking into a fight were completely stunned. They felt more envy for the youths than shock at how things had turned out.

"Does that mean that Li Tianming and Yu Ziqian's treasures, the legacy of the Ninedragon Emperor and the Divine Worldeater Cauldron respectively, still belong to the Sky Palace?"

"So they took it out only to take it back for themselves? Are they toying with us?"

"Coupled with the Ninedragon Imperius, it's like the Sky Palace was splitting up the spoils from the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb with the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect and only allowing the wargodeans, Voidword Shrine, and the Dreamless Celestial Nation a taste of those treasures." Many people thought it over and found that it made sense.

"So, this is what they had planned all along." The Sky Palace got the lion's share, while the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect got the main legacy of their ancestral leader. The other three most powerful factions got a divine corpse puppet, universal manna, and a divine pill respectively. Not the best of the treasures, but still nothing to scoff at.

"It's a perfect happy ending! All is well!"

"Guess we were being messed around with by the Sky Palace and the top factions from the beginning."

"I was wondering why Weisheng Moran would give the cauldron to Yu Ziqian. It appears that the Sky Palace planned for that to happen all along."

"Isn't that kind of pointless?"

Whether that was the truth or not, it would definitely be what most accepted to be the truth. Tianming knew better than anyone that things hadn't transpired as most believed. Though the Myriad Solar Sects were all curious of how the Sky Palace worked, few truly understood the far more complex truth that had played out behind the scenes.

Still, there was something that was without a doubt: Tianming and the other three wouldn't have to worry about being robbed of their treasures any longer. The Dragonblood Desecration immediately returned to Xiaoxiao.

"The Xuanyuan Dragon Sect?" Tianming turned to look at Lingfeng.

Lingfeng nodded and said, "They've been protecting us from the beginning."

"I see." Tianming had a rough idea of what'd happened.