Beastmaster of the Ages

"Chief Mentor Mu Wan, it's Li Tianming. I'm here."

"Chief mentor, are you there? I'll be heading over to the sanctum tomorrow, and I'm here to ask you about the various supernal mentors." Li Tianming continued to knock on the door, but there was no reaction.

However, the candles were lit, suggesting that the owner should be at home. After a moment of waiting without any response, Li Tianming decided to push open the gate and step in. He couldn't afford to head to the sanctum tomorrow without any intel.

As he walked across the courtyard, he could hear the sound of water flowing from one of the side-chambers. Apparently, Mu Wan was showering — and with that, Li Tianming decided to wait in the courtyard.

It didn't take long before the door of the side-chamber creaked open, and a slender figure dressed in a flimsy bathrobe walked out. Doused in moonlight, Mu Wan's rosy skin and wet hair gave off the charm unique to women of her age. Li Tianming wasn't going to lose to his desires. Hurriedly turning his head away, he asked, "Chief mentor, I'm here to enquire about the supernal mentors."

"Fire away." To Li Tianming's shock, she walked towards him in her bathrobes. He could already smell the faint fragrance before she even reached him.

"Chief mentor, how about I come back later?" Li Tianming said nervously.

"What for? What a coward you are, unlike me. I look at whatever I please." The little chick had poked its little head out of his chest pocket, its eyes glued to Mu Wan.

"That's right. Man up, Li Tianming. I'm not gonna eat you." Mu Wan seated herself beside him and grabbed Ying Huo, fiddling with it.

"Respect me, woman." Ying Huo held its head up.

A gleam appeared in Mu Wan's eyes. "What a cute little thing."

The little chick grinned. "Chief mentor, Li Tianming once mentioned to me that he wanted to ahem with you, it's just that he doesn't have the balls to."

"You twat!" Li Tianming snatched the little chick back from her and stuffed it back into his lifebound space.

"Did you really think that?" Only when he was done with the little chick did Li Tianming realise Mu Wan was staring at him with her eyebrow raised.

"No, I'm a righteous person, and it's not like me to..." Li Tianming tried to explain.

"Must a righteous person abstain from that?"

"..."

"Alright, I'm done joking. Give me a while." She stood up and headed towards another room. A while later, she reemerged, properly dressed this time round, and Li Tianming found himself now at ease.

"Those people must be blind, to think that such an innocent, pure boy like you would drug others," Mu Wan exclaimed. While being called innocent didn't exactly sound like praise, Mu Wan had at least figured out the truth and was willing to trust him.

"I saw Mu Qingqing's expression when you became the prime disciple today. She must be really good at acting pure and benevolent, considering how vicious she actually is. How lucky are you to meet a girl like that." Mu Wan patted his back, sitting beside him with her legs crossed.

"Too bad not enough people know about this side of her," Li Tianming said.

"That's why I'm looking forward to the show you intend to put on. Just remember to treasure your own life," Mu Wan reminded him.

"Thank you, chief mentor."

"Here is a list of the eighteen supernal mentors. Just take a brief look, because I don't think any of them will actually be interested in you." Mu Wan gave him a pitiful look.

"What do you mean, chief mentor?"

"Wei Zikun has been asking around, but he told me that not a single one of them wanted to accept you as their disciple so far. Chances are, things will be awkward for you tomorrow." Mu Wan smiled. "For the first time in the Flameyellow Scions Institute's history, a prime disciple will be chased back to the institute because no one from the sanctum will be willing to accept you. Congratulations on making history yet again."

Li Tianming rolled his eyes. "Then it sucks to be the supernal mentors for losing an unprecedented genius."

"Confident, hmm?"

"Of course, I'm chief mentor's disciple after all." Li Tianming smiled, flipping through the name list.

"If that's the case, it just means that you are fated to be under me. Let me put it bluntly. If no one is willing to accept you, just come back and be my disciple. I will make sure I give you whatever resources I get, and make sure you enjoy a prime disciple's treatment. And when I become a supernal mentor two years later, I will bring you into the sanctum with me." Mu Wan suddenly changed to a more serious tone.

"For real?" Li Tianming looked up at her.

"Do I sound like the joking type?" Mu Wan looked genuinely surprised.

"……" Definitely, because she was the type who never stopped joking around. But this time, Li Tianming could hear the sincerity in her voice. She valued his talents, and more importantly she wanted to help him fight the injustice he had shouldered.

"Thank you, chief mentor," Li Tianming said sincerely.

"No problem. After all, I'm interested in that youthful, vigorous body of yours." Mu Wan licked her bright red lips.

"Is that so? That means I have to end up sacrificing myself unwillingly to my chief mentor in order to cultivate here," Li Tianming said.

"Quit it, you little fox, hurry up and read the list!" Mu Wan gently pulled his ears and let out a laugh.

Li Tianming took a brief scan at the eighteen names and the short introductions about them.

"Who is Mu Qingqing's supernal mentor?" Li Tianming asked.

"Liu Xueyao, a shameless old bitch. Makes a perfect duo with Mu Qingqing with her acting." Mu Wan rolled her eyes with displeasure.

"Why do you dislike her so much? Is she perhaps prettier than you?"

"Bullshit, she can be ten times more beautiful than she already is and she still won't compare with me," Mu Wan replied, a proud smile on her face.

Li Tianming just laughed it off and continued reading. As he flipped across the pages, he furrowed his brows and asked, "Chief mentor, is there perhaps someone you have missed out on this list?"

"Impossible. All eighteen of them are on this list. I compiled it carefully for you personally," Mu Wan said. That was quite evident, from the line scribbled under Liu Xueyao's name: Ugly old hag, don't be her disciple.

"But there's someone that's not here," Li Tianming replied.

"Who?"

Li Tianming looked at her. "Mu Yang."

Mu Wan stared at him for a while, before pinching his face with a grin. "Little idiot, where did you hear that name from?."

"Chief mentor, what's that supposed to mean? Is there not a supernal mentor named Mu Yang?"

"Yeah yeah, but my elder brother is the vice-potentate now. In another three years, he will be made Sanctum Potentate. He stopped accepting new disciples a year ago after the current potentate announced him as the next leader of the Sanctum."

"Mu Yang? Elder brother? Vice-potentate?" Li Tianming couldn't process the amount of information in the sentence.

"Are you dumb? The whole Flameyellow Scions Institute only has two people with the surname Mu. If he wasn't my elder brother, then what could he be, my father?" Mu Wan rolled her eyes.

"So chief mentor has such a background, no wonder you dare to be so haughty in the institute…" Li Tianming found out the reason why even Wei Zikun had to be cautious around her when pursuing her — she had such an influential brother. Now that she mentioned it, Li Tianming remembered that Wei Jing seemed to have reacted to Mu Wan's name as well. Perhaps they knew each other.

"What do you mean, calling the kind and soft-hearted me 'haughty'?"

"Oops, my tongue slipped," Li Tianming replied. He reckoned that even Wei Jing didn't expect this Mu Yang to be appointed as the vice-Potentate, and that he was the next Sanctum Potentate as appointed by his grandfather. Now what?

"Chief mentor, any chance I can still get him to accept me as his disciple? Can you, perhaps do me a favor and beg him or something?"

"Don't even think about it, I can knock my head onto the ground and he won't buy that." Mu Wan shut him down on the spot.

That gave Li Tianming a headache. If he couldn't be Mu Yang's disciple, then meeting the Sanctum Potentate would be near impossible, not to mention that Wei Jing was running out of time. If he had no other choices, he might have to admit to Mu Wan that he was Wei Jing's son, and hope that she would pass this message to Mu Yang.

If he failed to become Mu Yang's disciple and was abandoned by all the supernal mentors, he could only end up as Mu Wan's disciple. While that may still carry some hope, the best option was still to get into the sanctum. No matter which supernal mentor accepted him, he could at least move freely in the sanctum. If not, it would be pointless for him to become the prime disciple.

"Forget about my brother, he only has three disciples, and any of them could be the next potentate after him. The requirements to become his disciple is incredibly hard, and he even rejected the chancellor's son," Mu Wan added.

"Oh." Li Tianming figured out how difficult it was. He simply didn't expect Mu Yang to be doing so well.

"Oh, you probably know his third disciple too." Mu Wan grinned mischievously.

"Who?"

"Lin Xiaoting."

Li Tianming had expected that. Ever since he obtained the Saintbeast War-Soul, Lin Xiaoting's cultivation had rocketed, and it was only normal that he received the future Sanctum Potentate's attention! He was the brightest star of their generation, and that was only made possible by the Saintbeast War-Soul!

Tomorrow was the day Li Tianming would find a mentor, and he still had no idea how things would turn out.

"I can only give you a few recommendations. If you perform well tomorrow, there's a chance they might still accept you." Mu Wan also couldn't do anything else for him.

Li Tianming remembered those names. It was already dark, and Li Tianming left with the name list.

The next morning, Wei Zikun was already here for him. When he saw Wei Zikun, he had the sudden realisation that his appearance somewhat resembled mother's…

Wei Zikun… Wei…

A new idea, one so unique that he'd never thought of it before, flashed through his mind. This hall overseer from the Hall of Phoenix could very well be Li Tianming's relative!