Beastmaster of the Ages

Lingfeng struck four times, sending countless soul thorns into the dragon and causing it to howl out in agony. Long Renshe had just avoided the fate of being killed, only for one of his lifebound beasts to be beaten to the brink of death. Then Lingfeng shrunk the staff to its normal size with the Soulfiend landing beside him, baring its claws and fangs at Long Renshe.

"That was the first one. Who's next?" Someone less than half of Long Renshe's age had cold-bloodedly beaten his dragon up and uttered such words! Though it was taking a page out of Tianming's playbook, it was effective, to say the least. A proud and arrogant opponent that was easy to provoke was perfect to use this tactic on. Long Renshe's eyes turned even redder as his third eye brightly burned.

Once more, the sheer pressure from the sixty million troops generated a boundless sea of flames, but Lingfeng wasn't afraid. In his divine soul were his eighty thousand kin, who would face this with him. Once more, he said, "Long Renshe, who'll come next after it dies?!"

The Ninedragon Army erupted with morale from the magnificent display. Even Long Renshe's teeth chattered from such blatant provocation. He gripped his spear tight and yelled, "Kill!" then charged in with his four dragons.

This was the first real battle that would cause Lingfeng's reputation to spread. The clash grew bloodier and bloodier as the battle progressed. Though Long Renshe was powerful, Lingfeng had his own eerie tricks to counter and gain ground with! The Skyfiend Soulscorch Curse, Heartpiercer Soulblade, and Soulvisceration Thorns, as well as the Soulfiend's Spirit Tornado, were all unavoidable. The more physical damage Lingfeng took, the more spiritual damage he dealt!

"If we go on, we'll lose. Soulfiend, let's gamble it all on one final blow!" he said, crawling out of a pool of his own blood. The Soulfiend nodded in an angry gesture, prepared. "Send me across! Ignore the dragons!"

The Soulfiend roared in response. Though their relationship wasn't a symbiotic one, they still shared boundless synergy. Lingfeng grit his teeth and gave Qingyu one more look, wiping blood off his face. She seemed heartbroken to see the wounds on him. It was clear for all to see how much she liked him, which made the celestial orderians and Veildragon Palace's situation even more awkward.

Then a rapid new development took place on the battlefield. Lingfeng and the Soulfiend rammed into each other, turning into a black tornado. The grand contrakarmic torchdragons' abilities and strikes landed on the tornado, causing the Soulfiend to cry out in pain. However, the attacks did nothing but wear away at its lifeforce. It kept protecting Lingfeng without relenting.

"Hold on!"

The tornado began speeding up, shooting past the dragons, but it didn't have to go further ahead as Long Renshe charged toward it with his spear at the ready.

"Now!" Lingfeng roared with all his power. Blood rushed straight to his head, causing the tornado to spin even faster as it closed in on Long Renshe. The Soulfiend used Soul Embrace, its most powerful ability that allowed it to infiltrate the sea of consciousness of others at great cost to itself. Every time it did so, it had to give up on a certain volume of its body, which was essentially its lifeforce. That was on top of the amount it had already lost from taking all that damage to approach Long Renshe. Using the last bits of power it had, it coursed through Long Renshe's spear and entered his head.

Long Renshe closed all three of his eyes as he stopped the tornado. Little did he guess that the black tornado would instantly materialize in front of his human-shaped vita, turning into the Soulfiend. It embraced the vita with its six huge arms, like a huge beast attempting to crush a baby. Long Renshe felt like the whole world shook as his senses left him in an instant. The pain only lasted a moment, as the Soulfiend vanished soon after, returning to Lingfeng's body and entering another period of recovery. But that single moment was enough. Lingfeng managed to make it straight in front of Long Renshe, the bloody glow of his staff piercing through the black mist he exuded all over him.

"Die!" He used Animitta, Skyshaker, executing it in tandem with Soulvisceration Thorns; it was the most powerful strike in his arsenal and could scatter any god or fiend! The staff slammed into Long Renshe's head as his eyes rolled back, crushing his skull that instant. Lingfeng's twelfth-level constellier astralforce was enough for the strike to be fatal, putting aside the countless Soulvisceration Thorns that pierced Long Renshe's vita countless times.

Only after that did Long Renshe recover consciousness, but his head had already been blasted open. He looked at Lingfeng, who glared back at him with a cold, deathly gaze.

"Perish."

Hearing that single word was enough to tell Long Renshe that it was all over. Even if he could, he wouldn't dare look back. He couldn't imagine what kind of shock his death would bring to the Veildragon Palace. Today should have been a glorious day for him as he took the Ninemoon Goddess as his wife, yet it had ended before it even began. It even ended far too quickly, which was probably a blessing that would spare him from the cascading consequences that would result from his death. His consciousness slipped away, for good this time, as he weakly slumped to the ground.

The entire battlefield world fell silent, then a figure appeared beside Long Renshe, striking Lingfeng with a palm and sending him flying off. He coughed out blood and collapsed. Nobody knew if he still lived. It was the Torchdragon Emperor. He had made preparations, but it was still too late. He wasn't surprised that Lingfeng had defeated his son, only that he had struck and killed him so quickly that not even he was able to react in time.

Things were dire—the sun emperor's grand design had been thwarted. The Torchdragon Emperor's face turned pale, knowing that the nightmare was upon them. All of his dreams had been crushed, just like Long Renshe's skull.