Beastmaster of the Ages

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Yun Tianque was rather familiar with the Azuresoul Palace.

"You guys are hilarious. You made a deal with me first, and now you want to hide?" Li Haochen sneered. He didn't care about their casualties. When the battle began, the celestial orderians wouldn't be the ones to die. However, he had been embarrassed before Li Ruoshi and Long Youyou.

Upon contemplation, the Tumulus Pill God said to the other two, "We'll fight! They're bluffing. When we defeat them, we'll take the grade-eight divine herb."

"The little prince is right. This battle might pay off after all. We can crush their morale and pave the way for future battles."

"Alright." With him taking the lead, the other two could only nod their heads.

"Yun Tianque, you do the talking," said Li Haochen.

"Yes!" Yun Tianque stood in front of the army and was about to speak when a cold voice interrupted him.

"Why fight?"

Turning around, Yun Tianque noticed a cold, indifferent woman beside Li Haochen. "A head-on conflict is most stupid. There's many ways to take control of the Azurecloud Divine Tree. Fighting when our opponent is being aggressive? Are you trying to lose as many lives as possible?" The speaker was Li Wushuang.

"Aunt."

Li Haochen calmed down when she appeared.

In fact, the Tumulus Pill God and others thought so as well. But they had no choice, Li Haochen was pushing hard. If they wanted to compete for control of the Azurecloud Divine Tree, organizing small group attacks so the Azuresoul Palace wouldn't dare leave was the best approach.

"Is it a grade-eight divine herb?" Li Wushuang asked.

"Yes." Li Haochen nodded.

"Yun Tianque, have them send an expert from their side to duel one of ours. The divine herb and divine tree will belong to the victor, otherwise we'll cut off the branch the grade-eight divine herb grows on and destroy it," she said.

Although the Azuresoul Palace guarded the grade-eight divine herb that was growing on the divine tree, they had no way of holding on to an entire branch that was tens of thousands of meters long. Once cut off from the source, this treasure that had yet to fully mature would basically be useless.

"Yes!" Yun Tianque's eyes lit up.

That approach was obviously wiser than a deadly battle with the Azuresoul Palace. Yun Tianque went to discuss it with Gujian Qingshuang, but was refused. They had the second-best wargodean expert, the Tumulus Pill God, and the sun emperor's younger sister, Li Wushuang. Who could possibly be their opponent?

"Two wins out of three. We'll each send three experts, or no one gets the divine herb," said Li Wushuang.

Yun Tianque went to negotiate once more.

"Who will you send?" Gujian Qingshuang asked in front of everyone.

The suggestion was acceptable. Compared to the destruction of the grade-eight divine herb and a large number of casualties, a confrontation between their experts would allow the Azuresoul Palace to maintain their dignity, and at the same time have an opportunity to win the treasure. Unfortunately, they were at a disadvantage when it came to the strength of their experts. So if the odds of winning were slim, Gujian Qingshuang wouldn't agree.

After speaking to the others, Yun Tianque said, "Gujian Qingshuang, you're the head of the Azuresoul Palace and I'm the leader of the Supracloud Sanctuary. Let's heat things up with a duel!"

Gujian Qingshuang remained silent. Yun Tianque's suggestion had pricked his heart. He had once lost to him. Their opponent had issued a challenge; as head of the sect, a show of cowardice would deal quite a blow to their morale.

"What about the second duel?" he asked.

"We'll let our guests face off. The Tumulus Pill God is very interested in fighting the Empyrean Sword Sect's Shi Yan. She isn't afraid, is she?" Yun Tianque smiled coldly.

"How scheming of you! The Tumulus Pill God is the second-best expert among the wargodeans. The Warlord is his disciple. I'm not even in the top five in the Empyrean Sword Sect, and you want me to fight him?!" Shi Yan laughed.

"What about the third duel?" Gujian Qingshuang asked.

Yun Tianque turned around to confirm something. Then, he said, "Miss Li Wushuang from the celestial orderian clan would like to fight the Whitedragon Empress to resolve the grievances of the past. She's agreed to a life and death battle. If she's killed, you won't bear the blame. The celestial orderians won't seek revenge, either. Those present will bear witness!"

His words were shocking. A life and death battle to resolve the grievances of the past!

A woman dressed in blue appeared next to Yun Tianque. Her indifferent gaze landed on Long Wanying. Ever since Li Wushuang had appeared, Tianming had noticed something was off with Long Wanying's emotions. When he turned around, Tianming saw her red eyes and her fists clenched under her long sleeves. She breathed heavily, a strong killing intent emanating from her.

Tianming knew a little about her husband and son's death. It was rumored that her husband, Long Junxuan, had intended to violate Li Wushuang. The sun emperor was furious and beheaded him in public outside the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect. With his dying breath, her son desperately fought the sun emperor and was slapped to death in one move. She was in the sect at the time and had left upon hearing the news, only to be greeted by two cold corpses.

In fact, during that time, Li Wushuang was said to have quite a few differences with the sun emperor due to her independent and unconventional character. She spent her time in the Myriad Solar Sects and was friends with Long Wanying and her husband. Judging from Long Wanying's reaction when she heard those words, what she had endured was not only the pain of her husband and son's death, but also vicious slander. With their happy marriage and his character, the so-called 'assault' was an extremely contemptuous and lazy attempt at a frame-up. Everyone knew exactly what was going on. Only the celestial orderians felt that not even his death could wipe out his crime.

"Don't go!" As the person who knew Long Wanying best, Yan Nuxia immediately grabbed her.

"She wants to kill you. It's a trap!" Long Wanying's friends immediately surrounded her, preventing her from being reckless.

"Aunt Ying." Tianming shook his head.

"Don't stop me. I won't have a better opportunity. Please, don't stop me...." Long Wanying's voice was hoarse and her every word seemed to bleed from her lips.

Li Wushuang was the emperor's younger sister. This would be Long Wanying's only opportunity. Li Wushuang wanted to seize the divine herb and knew she wouldn't be able to resist. Using Long Wanying's pain, Li Wushuang wanted to force her into a duel and take her life. As long as the Whitedragon Empress was still alive, people would point their fingers at Li Wushuang.

"Aunt Ying, being blinded by hatred and allowing your enemy to lead you by the nose is stupid. You'd only be letting down your dearly departed loved ones. Don't wait for her to give you an opportunity, find one yourself. That's the real opportunity. You've waited hundreds of years, why ruin everything now?" Tianming stood in front of her, staring deep into her eyes.

"The kid's right. You're still so young. Have you lost your teeth? Your breasts are still perky. What's the hurry?!" Yan Nuxia stretched out her hand, squeezing hard. This was the first time Long Wanying had seen such a method of obstruction. She was so angry she could vomit blood.

In fact, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that they were laying a trap for the Azuresoul Palace and its allies by threatening to destroy the divine herb. Their experts would most likely be defeated in the three duels. The enemy could easily achieve two wins out of three duels.

Long Wanying had calmed down and Shi Yan was clearly opposed to the fight. Gujian Qingshuang now had a way out of this unequal situation. "The Tumulus Pill God used to be unparalleled. He's now the second most powerful wargodean. General Shi is merely a junior of your juniors. She can't rival you. The Whitedragon Empress is a late bloomer. How can she compare to Lady Wushuang, whose talents are second only to the sun emperor? This so-called duel is just an excuse for you to take the divine herb by force. If you really want to destroy it, then go ahead!"

He was speaking the truth. The top experts in their alliance couldn't compare to their opponents. That was a fact that everyone understood. His refusal wouldn't affect their morale.

Li Wushuang had never imagined Long Wanying would be able to restrain herself. Narrowing her eyes, she smiled contemptuously. "You're such a failure. You don't even dare fight me when given the chance."

"Shut up, you vile bitch! Yingying is young and beautiful. She'll live longer than you, so why fight? We'll light joss sticks for you the day you're buried. That'll be our revenge, won't it?" Yan Nuxia said with a smile.

"You're courting death!" Li Haochen couldn't hold back upon hearing someone insult his most respected aunt.

"Am I wrong? Your aunt is so old she's probably moldy, yet she claims Junxuan violated her? Who likes old fogies like her?!" Yan Nuxia laughed.

Eyes cold, Li Wushuang stretched out a finger while Yan Nuxia was still speaking. In that instant, an ice-blue peak came crashing down. Yan Nuxia, Gu Tao'er, and Li Muli blocked the attack together and came through unscathed. They were rather strong as well.

"Destroy them!" Li Wushuang said to the others. She didn't care to waste her time; however, she would punish them for their provocation today. There were many ways to kill them.

"Aunt, that's a grade-eight divine herb!" Li Haochen shook his head. It was extremely important to him. He stared at Long Wanying and the others with disgust in his eyes. At that moment, he suddenly noticed a white-haired young man with a golden pupil in his left eye and a black pupil in his right. Having watched the final battle of the Voidsky Skirmish, he had been left with a deep impression of Tianming.

"Sky Palace disciples Li Tianming and Yu Ziqian, as well as that specter Feng and the woman with the Dragonblood Desecration are all here? Is this a gathering of the imperial star ranking?" Li Haochen asked.

"Yes, it's them," said Yun Tianque.

"I have an idea. Don't destroy the divine herb yet," said Li Haochen.

"What are you thinking?" Li Wushuang asked.

"I wonder if they'd be interested in a new best-of-three match."