Beastmaster of the Ages

The woman with moon-white hair took out Solar Nucleus and stared coldly at Long Wanying. Smirking, she said, "You lowly cur... did you know that I came here to kill you after hearing that you were cowering and hiding here after your sect fell?"

"Oh, I'm most honored. I didn't think a busy animal like you would manage to find time in your schedule to come and deal with me," Long Wanying said, rolling her eyes.

"I know you're actually afraid of me. You'd better hide yourself well and not come out for strolls. If I get you, I won't let you have an easy death," Li Wushuang said. She was different from Shi Yan. She didn't need to hide her intentions at all. Just because she couldn't kill Long Wanying here, because there were too many people around, didn't mean she wouldn't have a chance to do so in the future. There was no way Long Wanying could stay cooped up forever like Jiang Qingliu, as she had too many things to attend to.

"Don't be so sure that you'll be the one doing the killing. If you end up getting captured by me, you'd better be ready for me to skin you," Long Wanying said, stretching out her hand. "Alright, enough nonsense. Just hand it over. You lost, so take it in stride and stop wasting time."

"Prepare your funeral," Li Wushuang said as she handed over the Solar Nucleus. Since she was so blunt with her threats, it meant that she didn't care if Long Wanying put up her guard against her. She had more than enough time to play the game with her, given the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect's current situation.

Even after Long Wanying got the manna, the two women still stared at each other, radiating their lifelong grudge. The memories from back then surfaced in Long Wanying's mind. Li Wushuang looked past her toward Tianming coldly with increasing intensity.

"Protect your new son well, though he'll eventually end up like Junxuan anyway."

"You were the one who got him killed. You have no right to say his name." Seeing Li Wushuang speak the name nonchalantly like that made it hard to control her temper.

"Got him killed? Didn't I tell you from the start? Nobody can have what I can't have! It was his fault for being too talented and getting my attention! Now that he's dead, I won't miss him anymore. It's a clean break." Li Wushuang smiled the entire time she said that.

"Li Wushuang, you're trying to threaten us just because you can't accept Li Haochen's loss. Do you think triggering me like this will help the sun emperor's son regain his lost honor? Did you forget how he lost? I doubt that's enough," Long Wanying said, crossing her arms. Li Wushuang's face was pulsing with anger. "Threaten us all you want, for all we care. It doesn't change the fact that your side lost. Suck it up."

Even though Li Haochen had accepted the results of the battle with stride, Li Wushuang couldn't bear the humiliation. It was like a poison in her mind. She was the kind of person who never wanted to lose even once. But the first time she did and wasn't able to get what she wanted, she destroyed it so that nobody could have it instead.

......

The Tumulus Pill God and the rest had nothing much to say about the results. They had come with confidence, only to return empty handed. Many cultivators of the Supracloud Sanctuary felt horrible about it as they returned to their base.

On the way, Li Haochen said, "Aunt, the three of us plan to go back and leave the matters here alone. Father said that I should go to the Primalfiend Boundary to cultivate, and I'd like to give that a try."

"You can't leave, especially not after how you lost," Li Wushuang said.

"Fine." He kept quiet, not knowing what else to say.

Li Wushuang ignored him and turned to the others. "After this, we celestial orderians will send a lot of killers here. I need you all to send scouts to keep me informed about the locations and actions of the six Swordbearers, Shi Yan, Long Wanying, and the rest."

"Understood!" The Tumulus Pill God and the rest hurriedly nodded.

"Thank you, Lady Wushuang, for the help. With the celestial orderians' help, Azuresoul Palace is done for. They won't dare to touch the Azurecloud Divine Tree at all," Lan Sha said gratefully.

"Divine tree?" Li Wushuang scoffed. "It has nothing to do with that. I only care about killing them."

"Even the Sky Palace disciples?" the Tumulus Pill God asked. It was a sensitive topic.

"So what if they're Sky Palace disciples? Can they not be killed?" Li Wushuang countered.

"Yes!" They bowed their heads once more, knowing that things were going out of control now that Li Haochen had lost.

They deserve what they get! That's right! It's their fault for knowingly going against the celestial orderians! Who cares if this territory belongs to the Myriad Solar Sects? Yun Tianque thought. Little did he know that it wasn't because of the battle from before. Li Wushuang had intentionally come to the continent to kill Long Wanying. In fact, the two-out-of-three battle for the divine herb was something Yun Tianque's side had proposed. They were the ones who wanted to take the divine herb from the Azuresoul Palace's territory, after all. Tianming had never expected that he would run into celestial orderians on this continent. The Supracloud Sanctuary and the rest were the ones who forced him to.

"Aunt, who will be coming to help?" Li Haochen asked.

"It has nothing to do with you. Just care about yourself and don't even think of speaking of this to your father."

"Can you not kill Li Tianming?"

"Are you still sane?" She glared at him hatefully.

"If you kill him, I will no longer have a goal in life. People will just remember me as the one who lost for the rest of my life."

"You're overthinking things. No matter how impressive someone is, their reputation is worth nothing once they are dead. People will simply forget."

Li Haochen grit his teeth as Li Ruoshi and Long Youyou grasped his arms to stop him from saying anything else."Lady Wushuang," the Tumulus Pill God said.

"What is it?"

"The grade-eight divine herb has ripened and been harvested, so the group over there have returned. Only Gujian Daoyi and around a thousand others remain to deal with the roots of the divine herb." He lowered his volume to a whisper and continued, "As we have suffered quite a bit today, shall we strike back at them with something else?"

"Stop asking the obvious. Are they still there?" Li Wushuang asked.

"Yes."

"I'll personally go there and send a thousand corpses their way," she said nonchalantly. The Supracloud Sanctuary didn't want an all-out battle to break out because of the potential casualties, but they wouldn't mind sudden assassinations if that meant it could deal a blow to the Azuresoul Palace.

......

Back at the Azuresoul Sword Mountain, Gujian Qingshuang and the rest immediately had a meeting with Shi Yan.

"The Swordsage sends news that the lifesoul stones of the decapitator brothers have shattered. They are dead," Shi Yan said with a twisted look of disbelief.

"Impossible!" Though they said that, it wasn't the first shocking thing they had experienced today.

"They aren't that weak, so how could they die out of nowhere? They were there to kill Jiang Qingliu, but he looked completely unharmed! He didn't even say he met the killers! If he did and didn't tell us, does that mean he knows it has something to do with us?" Ye Buzhiqiu said.

"It's really odd," Shi Yan said.

"What do you think, Chief Instructor?" Ye Dongliu asked.

"I wonder if Jiang Qingliu was serious when he said he was about to break through," Gujian Qingshuang said.

"It can't be. I didn't feel anything when he left," Granny Mu Hua said.

"Even if he did, he couldn't be powerful enough to kill those two," Ye Buzhiqiu said.

"It's pointless to speculate. Let's test him when we get a chance," Gujian Qingshuang said.

"No matter what, the Azuresoul Tower is still with him so we're still in a passive position. If you had the tower, you could've taught Yun Tianque a lesson!" Ye Dongliu said.

They all fell silent.

"General Shi, can you send stronger killers to do the job?" Ye Buzhiqiu asked.

"It won't be possible. The brothers were specially raised by our sect and are trustworthy. While there are stronger ones, we can't trust them to keep this under wraps," Shi Yan said, furrowing her brows.

"How about this... I'll test him and see if he really killed those two to reassure us. If I have a chance, I'll kill him myself!" Ye Buzhiqiu said.

"If he really killed the brothers, do you think he'll be killed by you so easily?" Shi Yan asked.

"Given how meek he's been all his life, to the point that he won't even dare to utter a sound when I speak, I refuse to believe he's any bit capable. He's nothing but a weakling." He knew Jiang Qingliu far too well.

"Alright, just test him. I'll go to the spot where the battle was supposed to take place to see if there's any traces," Gujian Qingshuang said. Right as he finished speaking, he got a transmission stone, the message which was attached to it turning his face grim.

"What is it?"

"Daoyi was killed!"

"By who?" some asked.

"Was it Li Wushuang?" Shi Yan probed.

"Yes...." Gujian Qingshuang immediately teared up as the others waned from the shock.

"They're venting their rage! It's a statement! Even if we won't clash in a full battle, they can still mess with us like this!" Ye Dongliu said, sighing.

"General Shi, this mistress of the celestial orderians is obviously here to cause chaos. I expect the Empyrean Sword Sect has countermeasures for this, right?" Gujian Qingshuang said. His only brother had died just like that.

"Of course." She nodded, but her gaze was elsewhere. Things were developing far out of her expectations. Li Wushuang was adding too many variables to the equation.

......

Tianming expectantly took out his manna. "A seven-star divine beast...." He looked outside and waved. "My little chicken, fatten yourself up! Xian Xian is hungry and we're having chicken dinner tonight!"