Beastmaster of the Ages

"Sir inspectors, I defeated Yueling Ji and obtained the draconic water obelisk. Didn't I take the first place in the Abyssal Trials?" Li Tianming asked.

"Who said obtaining the obelisk meant first place? The trials end when the obelisk appears. It was the prize. Who gave you permission to snatch it?" Song Yixue barked, and a formless pressure fell onto Li Tianming's shoulders.

"The Abyssal Trials were determined by the person who killed the most! Yueling Ji killed eight, so she's number one, which is why the prize — the obelisk — appeared. Why else would we use a water-type manna as a prize? Can you even use it?" Jin Yixuan said.

It wasn't just Li Tianming. Apart from Yueling Ji, everyone else was shocked. Initially, everyone had believed that whoever killed the most would win, which changed to being the holder of the obelisk with its appearance.

Now that the trials had ended, they were saying it was the number of kills that was the winning condition?

Li Tianming was enlightened when he saw Yueling Ji smile at him. Everything had been decided from the start. The rules were left undeclared intentionally, so that they could be changed if needed.

If Yueling Ji obtained the obelisk, being the possessor would be the winning condition. If she hadn't, killing the most would be the winning condition. And if she hadn't killed the most, another factor would make her the winner anyway.

This hoo-ha, along with the deaths of eleven, all just to send Yueling Ji into Heaven's Elysium! What sort of status did she have?

Li Tianming, of course, was furious. This was the only way to save Wei Jing!

However, these two inspectors had statuses that surpassed even Wei Tiancang. How could Li Tianming reject their ruling on their private game?

Before powerhouses, the weak were just mute chess pieces, whose fate was to be moved around and discarded where necessary.

He now knew why Yueling Ji could use a grade six beastial weapon, why she could keep smiling until now, without any worries to speak of.

"I announce that first place of the Abyssal Trials goes to Yueling Ji of Torch Dragon. Her prize shall be the profound manna, the draconic water obelisk. And, on the day she makes a breakthrough to the Unity stage, she shall become an official disciple of Heaven's Elysium!"

"Many thanks, sir inspectors!" Yueling Ji emotionally received the draconic water obelisk, before sending a brilliant smile filled with mockery at Li Tianming.

"Fight with me? What a good joke." Yueling Ji's smile grew even wider.

This scene made everyone even more speechless, because everyone was now aware that the Inspectors had played them and the Heaven's Sanctums of the three countries for fools. The biggest victim of all was Aquamarine; with an entire generation of geniuses lost in the Abyssal Battlefield.

How could such figures be so shameless? And more importantly, who exactly was backing Yueling Ji?

"Youngsters. I know you all must have certain thoughts now, but this is the test of Heaven's Elysium. I hope there won't be tongues wagging unnecessarily after this. If your futures and your clans were to suffer because of this... it'll be a pity, no?" Vice-Inspector Song Yixue gazed at everyone, the fey chill in his eyes enough to frighten everyone present.

It was a naked threat, but one no one would dare to call him out publicly. With their status and power, suppressing a group of youngsters was too easy.

"Also, Li Tianming had an excellent performance in the Abyssal Trials, so the two of us have decided to give him a consolation prize, a royal manna. Li Tianming, what type do you need?" Jin Yixuan asked.

If there was someone unhappy here, the one who would be unhappiest would be Li Tianming! The whole time, he had a feeling that a candidate had long been confirmed, but once he obtained the obelisk, he'd decided that he had been overthinking things.

Alas, he had been played for a fool. However, this was something even Wei Tiancang couldn't change, let alone someone like him. It would be suicidal for him to voice his displeasure now.

Jin Yixuan was intelligent. By giving Li Tianming a royal manna now, it made it more difficult for him to speak out in the future.

"Lord Inspector, I need lightning-type manna," Li Tianming replied.

"Sure. This is the three-pronged electrospike. Work hard, and one day, you may make it to the ranks of Heaven's Elysium," Jin Yixuan said.

However, his words only made Song Yixue chuckle. For somewhere like the peninsula, without any special connections, a millennium could go by without any new blood for the Elysium, unless someone had luck that rivalled Lin Xiaoting.

Jin Yixuan handed over a royal manna to Li Tianming. It was a conical rock with a sharp three-pronged tip. Electricity flickered on it, giving it a breathtakingly strange aura. It was perfectly suited for the black cat.

Normally, this would be a royal manna that would make anyone envious. However, how could it compare to the draconic water obelisk? That could raise a lifebound beast to eight-stars!

However, Li Tianming could only accept it.

"Heaven's Elysium, heh…" Li Tianming now had a poor impression of Heaven's Elysium. Perhaps he would journey there one fine day and see if everyone there was just as shameless as the two in front of him.

Li Tianming didn't show any of his displeasure outwardly, making Jin Yixuan quite satisfied. Now, what was a small matter to them had come to a close.

At this moment, five people raced over, Mu Yang among them.

"Lord Inspectors!" Mu Yang rushed over. When he scanned the members of the Vermilion Bird team and found that only Mu Qingqing was heavily injured, he heaved a sigh of relief.

It was excellent that none had died. More crucial to their survival, however, was that none of them actually had a reason to die.

Xing Que and Chen Hao had wisely hidden away to lick their wounds after being beaten by Li Tianming, preserving their lives. Mo Lin had been saved by Li Tianming. As for Mu Qingqing, her Purple Blood-Imprint made it such that Yueling Ji may not actually be able to beat her. As for Jiang Qingluan, she had been taken hostage, which inadvertently saved her life.

Mu Yang was happy, but the rest weren't. One such example was Aquamarine's Sanctum Potentate, Murong Tianhai. A few years older than Mu Yang, he had assumed his post for just a few years, but the shock from the complete annihilation of Aquamarine's disciples had made him seem older in a matter of seconds.

Torch Dragon's Sanctum Potentate, Wang Kun, wasn't happy either. His disciple, Ji Changyan, was missing. Apart from Yueling Ji, who had been arranged to enter by the powers that be, only two of the original six were now left. While such a development wasn't unexpected, that didn't sooth his pain whatsoever.

"Lord Inspectors, where are the geniuses of my Aquamarine?" Murong Tianhai asked shakily, his face ashen.

"I've said before that life isn't guaranteed in the Abyssal Trials. They all perished in battle. You can only say they had poor luck, insufficient strength or weak wills," Jin Yixuan replied.

Murong Tianhai staggered back, his face paling more and more. "Aquamarine has lost this generation of geniuses!"

While it didn't matter now, twenty years later, Aquamarine would be suppressed in terms of powerhouses by the other two countries. Being conquered wasn't off the cards anymore.

In comparison, Vermilion Bird was the luckiest.

Staying alive was already a victory in the eyes of many. As for losing first place, that affected Li Tianming and Li Tianming only.

"First place belongs to Torch Dragon's Yueling Ji. She's at ninth level Spiritsource, holds the profound manna and defeated over eight of her peers. Such a talent is fully deserving of entering my Heaven's Elysium. Congratulations, Potentate Wang." Song Yixue smiled.

Potentate Wang was stunned. You're congratulating me? My Sanctum lost every single genius, all direct descendants of Torch Dragon's mightiest families! Screw your congratulations! That Yueling Ji isn't even in my freaking Sanctum!

Truly 'moved', Potentate Wang said, "Yueling Ji didn't let down our expectations. On her behalf, I thank the Lord Inspectors!"

Jin Yixuan and Song Yixue laughed.

"Come, let me make the introductions." Next to Jin Yixuan, there were two others. One was a middle-aged man around Mu Yang's age, while another was an old man. Both were dressed in white robes and were bursting with power.

Even the old man was still strong and muscular, he had to be a powerhouse. In fact, he looked like he didn't lose out to the potentates present.

"This is Yueling Hong, clan leader of Torch Dragon's hidden clan, the Yueling clan." Jin Yixuan gestured at the old man.

"Both potentates, I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time." The old man cupped his fists in greeting.

"Hello, senior." Mu Yang returned the gesture. However, if they were a hidden clan of Torch dragon, shouldn't Wang Kun be introducing them?

The inspectors also seemed very close to them. Also, how did they get here? Only potentates were supposed to be able to bring people here...