Beastmaster of the Ages

"Naturally, the same still stands. As long as you're cooperative, your life will be completely unaffected. Don't threaten me or do anything unnecessary and I won't interfere with what you choose to do when it comes to your own affairs. I'll respect your freedom," Tianming said.

Ye Buzhiqiu fell silent in thought. "How am I to trust your word on that?"

"Only time will tell. The moment you think I'm not keeping my promise, feel free to kill yourself. Actually, you know my intentions. All I want is to control you, not harm you." Tianming sprinkled a little bit of hope.

"So what do you want me to do?" Ye Buzhiqiu said, obviously having relented to his fate.

"Before we talk about that, let it be made clear that you were the one who plotted to harm my master first, got it? I was only striking back. You are by no means innocent and this is merely payback, understood?"

"Alright, fine. It isn't important anymore. The fact is you've succeeded. So how do you plan to use me?"

"I'll be straight with you then. My goal is Gujian Qingshuang. I will use the same method to control him. After that, I'll control the entire Azurecloud Continent."

"Are you insane? Don't you know how deep his power runs? And you dare to plot against him?"

"Let's make it clear. The two of you worked together to harm my master and take the Azuresoul Tower. That forced my hand. I wouldn't have chosen this path, otherwise." Even though Jiang Qingliu wasn't really his master, he was indeed Yu Ziqian's master, and that made no difference to Tianming.

"You even know about that?" Ye Buzhiqiu said, shocked.

"That's right."

"You have a mole planted among us. Who is it?" He had no idea it was actually an invisible cockroach and thought it was somebody. "That damn Granny Mu Hua, how dare she betray the chief instructor? She deserves to die!"

Tianming didn't plan to tell him the truth and kept him guessing. Perhaps he might even think that she'd fallen to Tianming's bonegnaw ants before he had. "What kind of sick lifebound beast is that...." He despaired as he looked at Jiang Qingliu. "You... even though the Azuresoul Tower greatly benefited you, you're actually acting against the sect! You shame the souls of our forebears!"

"Enough drivel," Tianming said.

Ye Buzhiqiu's paranoia eventually simmered down. When he was finally calm, he asked, "Fine, it's true that the chief instructor and I had plotted to kill Jiang Qingliu and take the Azuresoul Tower. Now, tell me why you want to control the chief instructor and the sect."

"Let me explain it to you then," Tianming said, not the slightest bit afraid of the man before him.

"I'm listening."

Tianming paid close attention to his eyes. "Initially, my plan was to consider the chief instructor one of my allies. That way, things would go more smoothly for me. It's too bad that he intentionally distanced himself from me and tried taking my master's life. That would put me in a far too passive position in the long term, so I decided to take action first. After controlling the chief instructor, I'll look for a chance to get Yun Tianque to submit and control the Supracloud Sanctuary as well. That way, the continent will be united under one banner. The new faction will have enough power to drive out the wargodeans, Blueblood Starocean, and the Empyrean Sword Sect. Even if we only get half of the harvest of the divine tree, that'll still greatly increase the power of those on this continent. From then on, we can protect the divine tree ourselves and ignore the outsiders' demands!"

Only then could Tianming build his foundations on the continent and rise up from there; it was a proactive attack plan. "Let me emphasize that I'm doing this for the good of the continent. Both the chief instructor and Yun Tianque stand to gain from this if it works out. They'll only be subject to the same conditions as you. As long as they don't betray me, they'll be free to live their lives as they please."

The main reason they had always lost so much of the harvest to outsiders was because of the fundamental conflict between the two main sects of the continent. If they stood united, instead of fighting internally and enlisting outside help, each of their shares of the harvest would be far more than what outsiders would be willing to give them. Even if they didn't unite on the surface, it was enough for them to stand united against the outsiders when it came to the divine tree's harvest. Ye Buzhiqiu knew that train of thought fully well, but he couldn't have ever imagined that there would come a day when somebody could control the leaders of these two sects.

"That's nothing but a pipe dream. You won't succeed! If you could, someone else would've done it long ago. You're just an immature brat. Who put you up to this? Long Wanying? The Xuanyuan Dragon Sect?!" he spat angrily. He was never going to believe that a child could come up with something like this, let alone have the will to go through with it. Tianming had spoken as if he was the sole mastermind of this plan, but that sounded impossible.

"Ye Buzhiqiu, whether or not I can succeed is none of your business. All I need is for you to do what I tell you to. Lure Gujian Qingshuang over when the time is right. You'll see whether we succeed or not." If that worked out, his plan would have succeeded halfway. He wasn't worried about Ye Buzhiqiu snitching, since the ants wouldn't give him a chance to. "Do you know why I'm telling you all of this in so much detail?"

"Because you're not afraid I'll be able to leak it."

"Nope! I'm extending a sincere invitation to join my project of protecting this continent. I want you to know that everything I ask you to do has a purpose! If it works out, you can be proud of yourself for having contributed to this grand effort. Even though you've been controlled and are being forced into it for now, you won't lose out on anything, I promise," Tianming said, trying to brainwash him more.

Ye Buzhiqiu kept quiet. There was no way he could bring himself to believe Tianming's rhetoric. "I figured it out. Only you can think of something so idealistic and naive. It stinks of childishness. What's even more laughable is that the three of you are part of Li Tianming's crazy charade! Just you wait. You'll know how much pain you're in for when the time comes."

"If we lose, you lose too. I'm sure you won't be the one to have the last laugh," Tianming said. Ye Buzhiqiu had been forced to board his boat and there was no turning back now. "Tell your father that my master didn't fall for your trap and you're still figuring out a way to lure him into the Singularity Atlas. Use that time to heal yourself and wait for further instructions.

Ye Buzhiqiu took a deep breath and said, "Alright." He had finally submitted for real. Tianming's vision was still fresh in his mind, and now he couldn't tell whether it was childish or insane.