Beastmaster of the Ages

Somewhere far in the south of the tree amidst the dense leaves roamed a group of women. Like celestial maidens, they played around as they happily plucked fruits. It was as if they had returned to their worry-free youth.

"Strawberry, where are you? I have a flower for you!" Yan Nuxia said, a multi-colored flower in hand.

"Over here!" Long Wanying called out from a distance.

Yan Nuxia blinked and flew to her back, putting the flower into her hair. "Not bad. You're as beautiful as ever. A good fit for me, Young Master Tangerine!" She firmly patted Long Wanying's shoulder, only to see her holding a transmission stone with a grave look on her face. Then her expression contorted into one of hate.

"What's wrong?" Yan Nuxia asked.

"Tianming sent me a transmission stone. Look." She handed it to her.

Yan Nuxia immediately cursed. "Even that animal Li Wushuang is here?! Has she finally resolved herself to die? I've been wanting to skin her since forever!"

"Stop boasting. The Xuanyuan Dragon Sect wasn't even able to protect itself once they set their sights on us. Who dares to kill the sun emperor's sister now? The Myriad Solar Sects are no longer as strong a force as we thought. We just noticed it too late."

"I really don't know what the Sky Palace is doing. They're already at our doorstep, but they're not doing shit! Why isn't anyone overthrowing the Sky Palace to control the distribution of nova source ourselves?" She couldn't figure out what was going on. Thinking about what had happened back then, she felt even worse. "I've never seen anyone as despicable as Li Wushuang!"

"That's enough. We can't do anything to her. She can't be offended, unlike Shi Yan," Long Wanying said, processing her feelings and letting them go after a deep breath.

"Just because we can't offend her doesn't mean we can't curse her. I suspect she was the one behind the deaths of your husband and son. Why would she approach you otherwise?" Yan Nuxia said, clawing the branch beside her in frustration.

"What's wrong, you two?" the others asked when they came.

"Li Wushuang is here."

They all launched into a tirade of curses when they heard her name.

"It's fine, it won't make a huge difference. All she did was bring the sun emperor's youngest son here. She didn't remain with the Tumulus Pill God and the others. However, I heard Li Haochen wants all the fruits of the divine tree because of his unique totems. In other words, those three factions are going to completely serve Li Haochen, but how they operate among themselves is none of our business. However, they did set their sights on a grade-seven divine herb in the territory of the Azuresoul Palace," Long Wanying said. She began rationally considering the situation. She couldn't let herself act according to her emotions, especially in recent years. She was on her own, and the slightest misstep would cause her to spiral down into an abyss.

"Grade seven? Not even we've found anything that good yet!"

"Maybe the Azuresoul Palace found it and kept it secret from us. There's more of them, after all."

Long Wanying said, "Let's not get anxious over it. We'll get the location soon enough."

In about an hour, another transmission came with the coordinates of the divine herb. Long Wanying narrowed her eyes. "This is located at the southmost part of the divine tree. It's deep within the Azuresoul Palace's territory and not disputed land at all. Would they dare to come in and take it?" It was one thing for them to negotiate with a strong enemy about disputed territory, and perhaps even give some concessions. However, if the enemy didn't care and wanted to go that far south to take the divine herb, that was going overboard.

"Let's go!"

"Do we tell the Azuresoul Palace about it?"

"Of course. We're here to cooperate with them, so there needs to be a baseline level of respect," Long Wanying said.

Soon, they grouped up and headed toward the location of the herb. It wasn't too far off from where they were. The thousands of people sped through the dense greenery. There were a few cockroaches with Long Wanying that could give her really precise instructions.

"It's up ahead. It isn't ripe yet, so be prepared to fight," Long Wanying said.

"If they dare to mess around, we'll kill them all!" Yan Nuxia roared.

They swiftly encircled the area. There were already a few people from the Azuresoul Palace there, among whom was one of the six Swordbearers of the Gujian clan, Gujian Daoyi, the younger brother of Gujian Qingshuang. He was a grade-five swordpupil and looked like the chief instructor, but somewhat younger and beardless, which gave him a righteous look.

"Whitedragon Empress, how'd you know that they were coming?" Gujian Daoyi asked.

"Our scouts noticed them!" Yan Nuxia said.

"Ah, I see...." Gujian Daoyi nodded. He had been summoned because this was the Azuresoul Palace's territory, so it would be more appropriate for someone from their sect to face any invaders.

Soon, the elites arrived. Long Wanying spotted them from a distance away. "There aren't many of them, only tens at most, but they're all elite," she warned

"Understood!"

The celestial maidens and Azuresoul Palace members numbered around ten thousand. They swiftly set up a defensive perimeter. Nobody from the Empyrean Sword Sect was there, since they numbered rather few and wanted to keep things low profile.

Long Wanying spotted the Tumulus Pill God, Lan Sha, and Yun Tianque attending to a golden-robed youth like loyal servants. The youth looked to be quite satisfied at the sight of the divine herb, but their group was shocked to see Long Wanying and the rest arrive.

The Tumulus Pill God looked around and said, "They're here."

"I see." Li Haochen paid attention to the inconspicuous fruit. "Pill God, you're someone in the trade, so you can tell, right? This fruit looks normal, but its divine ordered patterns are incredibly complex. Each piece of its flesh contains countless patterns that are still in dormant form. Once the fruit ripens, it could even mature into grade eight!"

"Yes, there's a seventy percent chance that'll be the case," the Tumulus Pill God said.

"We must take it no matter what, understood?"

"Yes! We won't stop no matter what." Even though there was no argument that the territory belonged to the Azuresoul Palace, this divine herb alone was enough to start a war. It was so precious that no other location on the tree mattered in comparison. After all, a divine herb of this grade could be used to make a grade-eight divine pill, one grade higher than even the yinyang skyscorch pill. Even celestial orderians like Li Haochen barely got treasures of that grade; he was already dreaming about keeping it for himself.