Beastmaster of the Ages

By the time three days had passed, Li Tianming had developed a complete headache. The path had forked again and again, and he'd already come across over a thousand of them without an end.

"How big is this tomb?" The ground was covered in a few centimeters of dust. Anyone passing through would leave traces, even if it was a sky saint flying past. However, in the three days Tianming had spent there, all the dust he had seen was undisturbed.

"This must be an endless maze." Going through an enclosed place like this would drive one crazy sooner or later.

As for the occasional footsteps he heard, Tianming was very wary of them and kept his attention both in front of and behind him. Nothing had happened yet.

Then, Tianming felt a huge disturbance up ahead. The sounds of combat and beasts roaring echoed. The roars seemed to be overlapping, and it was clearly from several different heads making the same roars. This meant a hydra or sydra was up ahead.

Tianming didn't say a word. Spreading his Celestial Wings, he soared forward. He passed by several forks, making his choice each time by listening to the roars. When he passed the third fork, he saw several people fighting up ahead.

One was a young man with black hair and red eyes who immediately drew Tianming's attention. He was in the midst of dodging what would have been a mortal blow.

It was none other than Ye Lingfeng!

"This way, Feng!" Tianming shouted anxiously as he shot toward him, Feiling increasing his speed through temporal boost at the same time.

Ye Lingfeng turned when he heard the voice, his eyes meeting Tianming's. This time he wasn't an image, but the real flesh and blood Ye Lingfeng.

For a moment, Tianming thought it was Dongyang Fengchen chasing him. The figure had a golden robe too, and the same stature. However, when Tianming looked closer, he noticed the man didn't have the same half-black face.

"He's the tenth prince, Dongyang Yunyi. First level of Sky Saint stage, with two Golden Hellthunder Hydras," Feiling said hurriedly.

After the Fireworks Festival Feast, while Tianming had been hard at work on the Invincible Sword Body, Feiling had been busy reading up on the thirty people going into the tomb. Dongyang Yunyi was a son of Autarch Yun. He was less than three months younger than Dongyang Fengchen, and had become a sky saint before thirty. If he were in the Decimo Dao Palace, reaching the top ten of the Decimo Sky Ranking wouldn't have been a problem.

Dongyang Yuiyi's two seven-headed hydras continuously spewed out lightning at the fleeing Ye Lingfeng. Several bolts landed on Ye Lingfeng, making him grimace. They could easily tear apart flesh, enter the body, and wreak havoc inside.

Most problematic of all was the golden bow in Dongyang Yunyi's hands that was aimed at Ye Lingfeng. He loosed an arrow, which turned into a fierce streak of lightning.

Seeing that Ye Lingfeng was about to be struck, Tianming used the Grand-Orient Sword to knock away the arrow. An ear-splitting screech rang out as the arrow was deflected. It struck a wall before falling to the ground.

The arrow didn't leave a mark on the wall.

"Buy one get one free?" Dongyang Yunyi grinned after seeing Tianming. He made a grabbing motion and the arrow flew back to his hand, whereupon he nocked it again. Exerting force, he pulled the bow to full draw once again.

"Li Tianming, Ye Lingfeng, neither of you should think about escaping today. Taking your heads will be a great accomplishment, enough to change my destiny." Dongyang Yunyi's expression was cold. He had already found both Tianming and Ye Lingfeng, and his two hydras split up to lock them down.

"Are you okay?" Tianming asked.

"Just some minor injuries." Ye Lingfeng's face was pale. He was only a seventh-level Earth Saint, so facing off against a Sky Saint was too difficult.

Tianming gave him a quick inspection. When he finally confirmed it was Ye Lingfeng, he sighed in relief. It seemed that the image of Dongyang Fengchen chasing him down was a fake. The tomb's illusions must have reached an incredibly high level for the Insightful Eye to be unable to pierce through it.

"Ignoring me?" Pointing the bow at Ye Lingfeng's head, he let it fly. Simultaneously, a total of fourteen heads from the two hydras unleashed a spiritsource ability, Lightning Calamity.

Tianming hurriedly pulled Ye Lingfeng out of the way and used his sword to slash out. Invincible Sword Ki burst out as Tianming used the Insightful Eye to track the arrow.

When they clashed, Tianming was blown away and his sword was nearly wrenched out of his grasp. "I didn't expect it to be so strong. Becoming a sky saint is another fundamental change as a living thing."

The arrow returned to Dongyang Yunyi's hand.

"Li Tianming, you're just too weak. You can block one arrow, but can you block a thousand?" Dongyang Yunyi gathered his power, and the arrow flew once more as Lightning Calamity filled the air.

"Let's go." Tianming made a snap decision. He was clear that his win during the Fireworks Festival Feast was due to the opponent not being a sky saint. The gap between earth and sky saints was just too huge. There was no benefit to staying here anyways.

Tianming immediately took out a heavenly pattern tome, the Hallucination Tome. Despite its incredible monetary value, Tianming didn't hesitate to use it. A fog quickly spread out and Dongyang Yunyi lost sight of his opponents.

"Li Tianming, the only reason you dare to be arrogant is because the Decimo Dao Palace protects you. Without them, you're just a rat! You can run now, but you only have three Hallucination Tomes!" Dongyang Yunyi's voice passed through the white fog. There had been an inspection before entering the tomb, so everyone knew what the others had.

As a patternscribe, special attention had been paid to Tianming.

"If you knew you would be so cowardly, then why did you act so cocky before? If you didn't, you may have had a path of survival. Alas!" Dongyang Yunyi laughed mockingly.

Dongyang Yunyi sighed helplessly. "People without dignity really are…."

……

Tianming finally came to a stop after fifteen minutes when he didn't see anyone behind him.

The tomb was so quiet they could hear their breathing.

"Here, one for you." Tianming tossed Ye Lingfeng a Hallucination Tome. "It can save your life."

"Don't you only have two left?" Ye Lingfeng was hesitant.

"What, you want the other one too?" Tianming smiled.

"Of course not." Ye Lingfeng kept the book.

"I didn't expect to run into you here with so many people inside. Tell me what's happened as we walk."

Tianming soon found out that Ye Lingfeng had arrived in a similar cramped little room built from green bricks.

In these three days, other than occasionally hearing footsteps, nothing had happened.

"Then you ran into Dongyang Yunyi?" Tianming asked.

"Right, he attacked immediately. I've been running for a while. Unfortunately, I can't fight sky saints, else I'd kill him. I haven't killed a Theocrat yet, especially the son of an autarch. Many people are anxiously waiting for me to take revenge." Ye Lingfeng's eyes were filled with killing intent. Even with his hazy memories, many people were still reminding him.

"Don't worry, there'll be opportunities."

The two continued on.

"Big Brother Tianming. It's like we can't do anything as we are now. We rank bottom in this tomb, especially me," Ye Lingfeng said bitterly.

"The tomb will be open for a while. We still have chances. The main thing now is that it's too strange here. There's nothing good for cultivation."

"Yeah."

If they wanted to accomplish something here, they needed to grow stronger. Tianming had heard every word of Dongyang Yunyi's.

"Dongyang Fengchen and the rest think of us as meat on a chopping board." Tianming had a gloomy expression.

As the two progressed, they came across several cramped little rooms built from green bricks, but they didn't approach them.

After a while, Tianming paused. "This route has a formation blocking it."

The formation was slightly concealed, and it was unnoticeable if you didn't get close.