Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming's words came as quite a surprise.

"What do you mean by that, Tianming?" the Saintdragon Emperor asked. These days, they had learned a bit about Yin Chen's abilities and were utterly astonished. Even though the ore mines of the sect couldn't quite compare to the Empyrean Sword Sect's, they were still among the top three in the Myriad Solar Sects in terms of scale. Most of them were occupied by the Veildragon Palace for now, as they were an important resource, hence the ores and divine herbs had to be kept from the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect to stunt their growth.

Once Long Wanying brought it up, the others had been trying to think of a way to bring Yin Chen to the mines. Tianming currently had a total of five million Yin Chen units and he'd brought four million of them over to the sect with him. Once he reached ten million in total, it would be a completely different scale. So far, the lifebound space was still big enough to store even more units.

Yin Chen's abilities had immediately earned Tianming the trust of the Seven Dragon Imperials, to the point that they were even willing to hear out what he meant about falling for the enemy's plan. They knew that it was a judgment he had made after gathering all the information he could.

Tianming scratched his head and said, "Well, I wanted to ask a bit more about the Infernal Dragon Purgatory first before I decide whether to take the risk."

"Alright, ask away. We'll answer everything we know," Long Wanying said.

"Well, first, I want to know how big the place is and what kind of environment it has. Is there any way for me to hide inside?"

"It should be pretty huge and filled with fire divine hazards of all sorts, mainly in the form of sword ki. It's basically a volcano, so there's quite a lot of huge blind spots. Normally, it would be harder for larger lifebound beasts to manifest within, but if beastmasters really try to run and hide, it would take a pursuer quite some time to find them."

"I see. What about the Sworddragon Ocean Purgatory? How do I get to the deeper levels?"

"There's a different type of elemental divine hazard on every level, and each level is separated by a defensive formation. The deeper you go in the levels, the higher the grade of divine hazards. The first ten or so levels are guarded by grade-six divine formations while the lowest one has a grade-seven divine formation, all of which are controlled by the azure dragonspring that's is in the Torchdragon Emperor's possession. We are unable to enter it."

The Azuresky Myriadsword Formation was one such grade-seven divine formation, yet the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect was using a formation of such high grade to keep the divine hazards locked up. Quite a few of them, in fact.

"I see. So, what would happen if I say I want to fight Li Shenjian but secretly try to sneak into the lower levels?"

"The Infernal Dragon Purgatory is filled with fire divine hazards. According to our sect's rules on death duels, only the two of you may enter while the rest must watch from outside. If you disappear, most people will just think that you're trying to hide. We won't be able to see if you've gone to the lower levels for sure. However, if you destroy a formation to enter, the bearer of the azure dragonspring will definitely notice something," the Saintdragon Emperor said.

"That might not necessarily be the case," Tianming said with a smile. With enough time, he could just use his unique trait as a sky plunderer to burrow his way down to the lower levels without alerting the owner of the formations. The only issue with that was that the first level of the purgatory was usually guarded by the Veildragon Palace, so he had no chance to even get in in the first place.

"Tianming's also a really impressive formation guru. He claims that there's no formation that can keep him locked up for good," Long Wanying said.

"Surely, that can't be." The other Dragon Imperials were skeptical.

However, Tianming already had the information he needed. "Seniors, is there a special significance to death duels in the Infernal Dragon Purgatory?"

"There is, in some sense. That's the place where our forebears broke off from the Veildragon Palace. Eventually, it became a place we went to settle our conflicts and disagreements. No outsider is allowed to interfere, and there's strict and fair rules to be observed during such duels."

"So nobody's allowed to leave until one or the other dies?" Tianming asked.

"Backing out from a fight is really humiliating. If you lose or run away, it'll greatly affect our morale. After all, our disciples and even full-fledged sect members already see you as a symbol," Long Wanying said.

"I see." He gave it a little more thought and smiled. "I have a good idea of what I need to do now."

"Are you sure you'll have to go along with Li Shenjian's plans and arrange a death duel with him to infiltrate the Sworddragon Ocean Purgatory? Putting aside whether or not you can bust through the formations, it probably isn't a good idea to let Xiaoxiao be captured and have the Dragonblood Desecration taken away, right?" Long Wanying asked.

"Aunt Ying, Xiaoxiao won't be that easy to deal with. We don't have to risk her safety by letting her be captured. We just have to use a part of the Dragonblood Desecration as bait and spark some old grudges to get it to work."

"Are you really confident?" Long Wanying was still skeptical about the details, but she didn't press it, seeing that Tianming still seemed rational.

"I can't say for sure, but at the very least, I know that neither Xiaoxiao nor I risk losing anything from this." Even though it would be really hard to take down Li Shenjian without his totems, that wasn't Tianming's goal. What he wanted was to enter the deeper levels. Given his current power, he wouldn't be able to take out Li Shenjian, but the same was the case the other way around, especially considering the fact that Tianming's survivability far exceeded most of his peers. He had already done his best to mitigate most of the risks, so it would be a shame to miss out on such a good opportunity just because of cowardice.

"Alright. We trust your judgment," Long Wanying said, representing them all. While the Saintdragon Emperor and the rest were still a little hesitant, they still nodded in agreement.

"I'll get Xiaoxiao to start," Tianming said.

"We'll eagerly watch the show, Tianming," the Saintdragon Emperor said. He had a feeling that this youth was different from most from the moment he'd met him at the Voidsky Realm.

"I can't promise a good show, but I won't just sit there while someone else takes the sect's treasures away, either."

That was how the plan within the plan came to fruition.

……

In the Grandcloud Palace, which was situated on Grandcloud Peak, Li Shenjian stood at the window with his hands behind his back, looking into the distance. There were tens of handsome celestial orderian youths around him, all of whom looked to be the best of their ilk. Though the cultivators of the Blueblood Starocean were cultivators like them, it was immediately obvious that they were in a completely different league.

The celestial orderians were a massive race of people, with subraces among them ranging from soul tribulators, soulswords, and many more. The totems of these dozens of people in Grandcloud Peak were incredibly varied as well, but they were all loyal followers of Li Shenjian.

At that moment, a transmission stone flew into his hand. He looked at it and his eyes brightened with joy. "The prey is leaving the cave. Let's go."