Beastmaster of the Ages

Within the Saintdragon Shrine at Great Saintdragon Peak, a bloody mist permeated the area, surrounding the dragon pillars and throne; the place looked like a microcosm of hell. The three Dragon Imperials of Veildragon palace, Li Xiaoyan, and Apothecary Li stood side by side within the hall with Li Shenjian kneeling in front of them. His face was pale and his wounds had yet to recover. He was even shuddering, his expression faint.

"I'm sorry, Aunt… sorry…" he said as he held his throat. Too many albi near his throat had been crushed and his spine was nearly severed. He had to hold his neck to make sure it wouldn't sway around.

As he spoke, a ghostly figure emerged from the bloody mist. Li Shenjian looked up at Li Wushuang and stifled some vomit. His scalp tingled with eerie disgust at the ugly visage he saw. The fanged green face wasn't something he could put into words. She was no human, but rather a corpse that had been left to rot for years.

He lowered his head and said, "Aunt, I never wanted to embarrass our kind. My abilities didn't fail me either. I just don't understand how Li Tianming could possibly overpower me. Perhaps he isn't even in his twenties…."

As he spoke, he heard a clear ringing sound. He looked up slightly and saw Li Wushuang holding her Skymoon Holyfiend. The ringing sound was her dragging the weapon across the ground. Li Wushuang's feet were already in front of him, along with her weapon.

"Aunt!" Something occurred to him, but it was interrupted by a whoosh. It felt like something had swept across his neck in an instant. He looked up and saw that Li Wushuang's blade was dripping with blood. "Huh?"

He felt like the world was tilting until he saw his headless body. "Am I dreaming?"

Feeling tired, he slowly closed his eyes, thinking that he would feel much better after waking up later. Perhaps nothing had actually happened. He did notice some commotion before he fell asleep, however—the Dragon Imperials, Li Xiaoyan, and Apothecary Li seemed to be arguing about something. What was it? It didn't matter, he was too fatigued to care. Drip. Drip. Crimson droplets flowed off the blade at an arrhythmic pace, sending ripples across the pooling blood beneath.

Li Shenjian was the best of the sun emperor's sons, the envy of everyone. However, his fate was stranger than fiction. "Did my aunt kill me?" He smiled at how implausible that notion was as his mind faded into eternal sleep.

……

"Enough blabber. Just say that his wounds were too severe and he didn't survive. Blame it on Li Tianming," Li Wushuang said, crossing her legs as she sat on the dragon throne. She was closely looking at her wrinkled, charred fingers, apparently used to her new appearance.

"Yes…. But Lady Wushuang, how should we relay this to His Solar Majesty?" Apothecary Li said, feeling a chill at the sight of Li Shenjian's smiling head. That was the sun emperor's child, and not even the most vicious beasts would eat their children! Surely the sun emperor wouldn't allow his sister to kill his son, right?

"What're you worried about? Even if he freaks out over it, he'll come to me for answers, right? It's got nothing to do with you." She glanced at him and smiled. "Not to mention, he owes me. This is only a son, one of many. It probably won't matter if a few more die, too. Those pieces of trash won't be able to inherit the legacy he forged anyway."

"Understood…." The rest lowered their heads in agreement.

"Let me arrange for Lord Ninth's corpse to be shipped back to our territory. That way the others can share in the rage and mourning," Li Xiaoyan said through clenched teeth.

"That's right. See how much more worth he has to us now that he's dead?" Li Wushuang said, smiling so wide that her lips eerily curved toward her ears, chilling the other five elites in the room.

"Hehe…." Li Wushuang seemed accustomed to seeing expressions such as theirs and had stopped caring about it. She had more or less forgotten what she used to look like. "Give me the azure dragonspring. Seal off the Infernal Dragon Purgatory and investigate how Li Tianming managed to get down there. Maybe there's some other hidden path toward the lower levels."

"Understood." The Torchdragon Emperor had no choice but to hand it over. Upon receiving the dragonspring, Li Wushuang chuckled and nestled into the dragon throne that used to belong to the Saintdragon Emperor. She stared at her ugly fingers once more like they were treasures. Even as she looked at her own face through her reflection in a mirror, she chuckled like a young girl.

The others in the room felt a chill throughout their entire bodies at the sight, exchanging glances from time to time. Fortunately, a transmission stone came flying into the Torchdragon Emperor's hand. Then the figure of a golden man appeared abruptly.

"Your Solar Majesty!" The five of them immediately knelt, not daring to raise their heads. They were aware that the sun emperor had definitely seen the head of his son being parted from his body. Only Li Wushuang alone remained engrossed with her fingers like a newborn child.

"I just heard that Shenjian was pulling something. I didn't think he'd fall asleep so quickly." As expected, he'd seen all that had transpired, but he appeared far too calm. It was almost like he had shrugged at hearing his son's death and moved on to the next thing.

"Co-father-in-law," said the golden man. Nobody replied.

The Voiddragon Emperor quickly nudged the Torchdragon Emperor. Only then did he realize that the sun emperor was referring to him. Hastily, he said, "Your Solar Majesty, I'm ready to serve."

"Congratulations. The wedding date of my daughter and your son has been decided. I've set it on the Origin Festival of the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect forty-four days from now. That's when my daughter will officially marry into your sect. We'll hold it at the Primodragon Cave. Many important figures of this world will be there. Naturally, I'll be there personally as well."

"Thank you for the honor, Your Solar Majesty! We're also grateful to the celestial orderians and the Ninemoon Goddess!" the Torchdragon Emperor said, prostrating himself with the other two Dragon Imperials.

"No need for all that. We'll be one family soon, understood?"

"Yes!" Though the Torchdragon Emperor said that, he knew that no such equal standing existed after the sun emperor mentioned the Primodragon Cave. That was a special ancestral land of the sect where their forebears were buried. Holding a marriage ceremony in a graveyard told the Torchdragon Emperor all he needed to know about the standing of a sun emperor's subordinate like him.

"Forty-four days isn't a lot of time, so I trust that you'll swiftly see to the preparations. My daughter wishes to have a ceremony grander than any other that has been held in this world. As the first-ranking faction on the myriad sect rankings, I trust that you all will be able to live up to this expectation. Make sure it's perfect, understood?"

"Yes, Your Solar Majesty! We'll make sure that the fanfare of this ceremony echoes through the next millennium!" He was so moved that he was almost in tears.

"Very well. I'll wait for the auspicious day. This will mark a grand occasion in Orderia." The golden figure began vanishing. Then the transmission stone fell to the ground and melted into bloody red, forming a character that represented 'auspicious joy' right next to the head of Li Shenjian, whose smile almost seemed to perfectly fit the joyous occasion.