Beastmaster of the Ages

Two hours. Two hours had never felt so long before. But was it enough for an avenger who was back to take his vengeance after three years of accusations? As cruel as Li Tianming might be right now, who would stop him? And as long as Lin Xiaoting was still breathing, their battle wouldn't end.

Even the two inspectors watched on with indifference, oblivious to the Lightning Manor crying and begging at their feet. When the manor was in power and abused it to its advantage, no one stopped it. Now that its downfall was within sight, it could only beg for the inspectors' mercy. Led by the Lightning Seigneur himself, the group continuously banged their heads against the floor for two hours nonstop. They didn't even stop as blood flowed down Lin Zhao's forehead.

"Benevolent inspectors, please save Xiaoting! He's a disciple of Heaven's Elysium!"

"I beg you, Yueling Clan, please help us convince the inspectors!"

At Lin Zhao's age, losing first his sons, then his grandson wasn't a trauma he could possibly endure. No one would be surprised if his heart gave out there and then.

But wasn't it all karmic retribution? When the clan members had harmed and killed others for their own benefits, did they ever imagine that the same fate could befall themselves? Had the Lightning Manor defeated the Wei Clan, would it have shown mercy to any members of the Wei family? The Lightning Manor would probably slaughter every last member of the Wei Clan to clear a path for the 'new king' of Vermilion Bird!

"Of course not, it was Lin Xiaoting's own promise to the inspectors!"

"The inspectors won't go back on their own words."

"Not only did Lin Xiaoting snatch Li Tianming's girlfriend and rob him, that monster even killed Li Tianming's beast and pushed all the blame to that poor boy. We were all fooled for three years!"

"Li Tianming is the real hero Vermilion Bird needs, not that filthy scoundrel! He proved himself innocent in front of the entire nation, and served his revenge after three years of suffering."

Since the events of the day before, many were having second thoughts on what had happened three years ago, thanks to the last words that Mu Qingqing had left behind at the stone gate. Now that the youngster had stepped out in Wei Clan's time of need and successfully defended the family, even the most powerful and influential figures were impressed by him. When he slew the two beasts and executed Lin Xiaoting, he showed a will and determination unmatched by anyone else! The black wildsoul sealed within his sword ki was further evidence of the truth of the events from three years past.

Even those with hearts of stone were moved by that youth who sent the crowd's blood boiling, and those who had previously jeered him for his 'deeds' were now standing on his side. They roared and cheered Li Tianming on, drowning out the pleading voices of the Lightning Manor.

How could the voice of a dying clan match that of a nation's?

No amount of pleading and regret could wipe away the evils that the Lightning Manor had committed in the past, and a debt of blood can only be repaid with blood. There wasn't anyone to sympathize with Lin Zhao, and he could only watch on in despair as his own grandson slowly died under Li Tianming's sword. He even tried kneeling in Li Tianming's direction and begging for all his life's worth, as the white-haired youth had terrified him more than anyone else in the world could.

It seemed like only yesterday when Lin Xiaoting returned with all smiles and told him that he had obtained a Saintbeast War-Soul. It was like a fortune bestowed from the heavens.

"Where did you get it from?"

"A poor, powerless countryside boy."

"Did you kill him?"

"Nah, he was still yelling and screaming about sending me to hell one day. What a joke. So I killed his lifebound beast and crippled him, so he can spend the rest of his life as worthless trash. I even pushed the blame on him and made it so I was the hero of the story. Did I do it right, grandpa?"

"Not quite." Lin Zhao shook his head.

"Why?"

"You're still young and mischievous, so you want to play with your prey. But you should know that the suffering of an ant is of no value to you," Lin Zhao explained.

"So what should I have done?"

"Killed him right there and then. Find out about his background, and rid the world of those related to him as well. That would be the safest card to play."

"Alright, I'll go do it now."

"It's alright this time, just don't make the same mistake next time."

…

The Lightning Seigneur cried. If only he hadn't said that last line. But now even he had to tremble before the white-haired devil, grieving about what he had done. Each time he roared, he could feel the regret burning inside him.

Yesterday, the Lightning Manor had lost most of its members in the current generation, destroying its dream of ruling the nation. Today, it had lost the only one who could take revenge for them in the future. With the death of Lin Xiaoting, Lightning Manor would be history in Ignispolis, and the heavily injured Lightning Seigneur would amount to nothing at all.

The Yueling Clan was in no position to help them, either, since it was having a headache of its own. Among its younger generation, there was no one else who could challenge Li Tianming! In other words, the Wei Clan had obtained two out of three points for the Sanctum Replacement Challenge and successfully defended its position.

During the Abyssal Trials, Li Tianming had defeated Yueling Ji and won the draconic water obelisk. At that time, there were no spectators, so the two vice-inspectors could rig the results without concern. But this time, the challenge was witnessed by tens of thousands of audience members from Vermilion Bird. As powerless and weak as they might be compared to the inspectors, could the two of them still cover up the truth this time?

"Damn it! We shouldn't have made this event public for the Yueling Clan to build up its reputation. It's going to be quite troublesome for us to fix it now, and if anything goes wrong and harms Lady Long's reputation, we'll be screwed for sure!" Song Yixue's brows were furrowed.

"You are wrong. Our real mistake was picking Vermilion Bird, thinking that the Lightning Manor would be strong enough to help the Yueling Clan. Who would've thought that the Wei Manor had not only the freak, Mu Yang, but also the absurd Li Tianming. Even if we hadn't opened the event to the public, the Lightning Manor wouldn't be able to win and we still ran the risk of getting into trouble if we were to forcefully get rid of the Wei Clan." Jin Yixuan felt his head aching.

Both inspectors were at a loss right now. They were much stronger than those in Vermilion Bird, but their weakness was the fear that something might go wrong. Without Mu Yang, that possibility would be almost zero. However, Mu Yang was strong enough to the point that this possibility was almost guaranteed.

If they failed to kill Mu Yang and let him run, it would no doubt be a potential threat to the Yueling Clan. And if anything happened to the Yueling Clan, they would be doomed for sure.

Their safest bet now would be to call their 'boss' over, but that would cast them in a bad light, as they would be proven incapable of settling such a simple matter. Mu Yang and Li Tianming's presence had completely foiled their plans, and even they were flabbergasted at the Saintbeast War-Soul in Li Tianming's hands.

"So the Saintbeast War-Soul really was his. That makes him the most talented youth in Vermilion Bird… no, in this entire peninsula."

"His lifebound beasts are pretty special too, and they look like they have great potential. But more importantly, he's a natural in cultivation, being able to use a simplified heavenly-ranked battle art at just Spiritsource!"

The inspectors knew better than anyone that the bloodline quality and stars of lifebound beasts were of utmost importance to a beastmaster. But for a cultivator himself, his own talent was based on how well he could comprehend things like spiritual energy and the will of heaven and earth. Their level of understanding would make a key difference, once they reached Heavenly Will stage, and just having a good beast would be insufficient.

That was also why the two inspectors were shocked when Li Tianming used the three Demises to crush Lin Xiaoting and his lifebound beasts. They had seen far too many beastmasters who were crowned as 'geniuses' because of the strength of their lifebound beasts, but this was the first time they saw a beastmaster at Spiritsource who was even stronger than his beasts! It was a special kind of talent they had never seen before, even in Heaven's Elysium.

The two inspectors had seen Lightning Manor's pleading as well, but they chose to ignore the dying clan. Once Lin Xiaoting had lost his Saintbeast War-Soul and died, the Lightning Manor was completely useless to them.

"Looks like there's no way to take the Wei Clan down now." Jin Yixuan shook his head bitterly.

"Thankfully, we have a plan B, which we really should have opted for earlier."

"Yes, the younger generation of Heaven's Sanctum in Aquamarine had all died in Abyssal Battlefield. Murong Tianhai is about as strong as Lin Tianjian, and his father is old and useless."

"Not to mention how Sapphire Hall's been telling us they wanted to assist the Yueling Clan to overthrow the Heaven's Sanctum there for quite a while already. They're quite a strong clan, too—perhaps even stronger than Lightning Manor."

"Whatever. Let's stop wasting time here. If we reach Aquamarine today and find someone in Sapphire Hall to marry Yueling Ji tonight, we can start the challenge tomorrow, which will only take another three days."

"Hopefully it goes smoother this time. If it weren't for Lin Xiaoting, we wouldn't have picked this place anyway. Damn it!"

"Remember not to make the event public this time."

As the two inspectors arrived at their decision, Lin Xiaoting finally breathed his last. It was over.

As for Li Tianming, he walked towards his two brothers with the Saintbeast War-Soul at the tip of his sword.

Between the Aeternal Infernal Phoenix and the Genesis Chaos Thunderfiend, which would inherit the Saintbeast War-Soul?