Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming was at his most high-spirited, so trying to scare him because of his age was naive to say the least. After defeating Ye Chen, the mere mention of his name in the next few months would cause an uproar. That was why he had chosen to accept Ye Chen's challenge before demanding resources from the imperium. If it weren't for the duel at the Observatorium, there would be no way he could stand on the same level as an astralking and demand ore veins.

In an organization as complex as the Violetcloud Imperium, status and backing were important for him to get around. He had Sovereign Starfeather as his backing, and his status came about from his talent and achievements. Both of them combined made him unstoppable.

Astralking Xuanluan kept quiet for a long while, before compromising. "There's something I'm curious about. What would an individual like you need so many ore veins for? Additionally, if I have the guards leave, how would you deal with the loss of divine ores when you're not around to guard it?"

"If any problem results from it, seek out the sovereign," Tianming said with a smirk.

"Very well!" With that response, things would go fine.

"Thank you for cooperating, Astralking Xuanluan. I'll be seeing you again." Five ore veins would be enough to last Yin Chen for quite a while, and he would definitely come to ask for even more when they were emptied out.

"Again?" The astralking grimaced at the sound of impending doom. Turning back, he saw that Tianming, Gong Xiong, and the Starchasers were already gone.

"What does he mean by that? Will he be coming back for more?" Astralking Xuanluan asked the others around him, but they all had their heads lowered and couldn't say a word. "Why in the world would he need so much?! Does he cultivate by eating metal or something?!"

The worst part was that he couldn't even do anything about it. He had seen Tianming defeat Ye Chen himself. Tianming had already made a legend out of his own person, so there was nobody in the imperium that could refuse him now. Even the astralkings had felt vindicated by Ye Chen's defeat.

"Astralking, this youth's potential is terrifying indeed. However, he was brought here by the Gong Prime Clan. Seeing how well the sovereign is treating him, he might be trying to set him up to be the next sovereign and ensure that the throne stays with the Gong Prime Clan. This isn't a good sign for the Pentarchy or our archclan. While Ye Chen is a threat to us, Li Tianming might be an even bigger threat," said another.

"I don't need you to tell me that. It's plain as day to see." The astralking shot his subordinate an angry look.

"Then what do we do?"

"Dammit, if only both Ye Chen and Lin Feng died!"

"He's Li Tianming now."

"Who cares what he's called? All of them can die! Who knows? The next sovereign might be Mu Ziyan from the Violetcloud Archclan!"

"Yeah! The imperium is only the imperium if the sovereign is from the archclans of the Pentarchy!"

......

Tianming left Yin Chen to deal with the mines itself. It could freely multiply as long as it had access to ores and wasn't disturbed. For now, he still didn't know the upper limit of Yin Chens it could have at its current level. At any rate, there should be a limit. After all, it did have a range limit to control its bodies, so it stood to reason that there would be a number limit as well. Back then, they didn't have enough ores to test that out, but now they did.

"Shengui still hasn't gotten me all the universal manna I asked for yet, but he did get me divine hazard sword ki." Shengui even said that he had a surprise for Tianming, so he immediately went to see him.

As Shengui had served the imperium as the sovereign's personal servant for a long time, he had way more authority and contacts than Gong Xiong. Most often, he didn't even need to show an emblem, as he had spoken for the sovereign himself for so long. He was already waiting at Violetpeak's entrance when Tianming arrived.

"Come, Tianming, I'll take you to the Violetcloud Swordsea."

"Alright."

With Shengui leading him, Gong Xiong went back. The two of them went to the Violetcloud Swordsea with the Starchasers following in the shadows. It was located to the north of Myriadmile City and was where divine hazards were gathered, similar to the Sworddragon Ocean Purgatory. However, it was ten times larger, even taking all of the purgatory's layers into account. Like a gigantic pool of sword ki, all kinds of divine hazards were gathered within. It was a forbidden place for most, who would only be allowed to cultivate outside it.

"The Gong Prime Clan has controlled the divine hazards of the imperium since time immemorial. That's why it wasn't any trouble getting you all of this. I already talked to Astralking Gongsu about this and he suggested that I bring you to an exciting place," Shengui said with a mischievous smile. Astralking Gongsu was the Gong Prime Clan's only astralking, as well as the current clan leader.