Beastmaster of the Ages

Moments later in a dark hall within the Ninefold Hell, Bodhi sat on a throne of darkness, his pale, star-filled eyes filled with worry. Before him were some dozen specters, most of whom were of the royal bloodline. The royal specters were the ones among them who most resembled humans. They all looked worshipfully at their overlord.

"Yi Jun," Bodhi called out.

A huge specter approached in response. He was so big and burly he seemed to be over four meters in height. There were many black scales on his body, and he had four strong arms. When he looked up, one would see six eyes on his face. He was a six-eyed specter, which, according to Di Zang, was only inferior to the royal specters.

"Overlord, your servant Yi Jun awaits your orders."

"Have the people from the Divine Moon Realm left?" Bodhi asked.

Yue Shi is gone, but the two children remain. The girl demanded that Li Tianming take her around to have fun. The boy, on the other hand, is traveling alone across the Flameyellow Continent."

"The Divine Moon Realm has remained prosperous the whole time, so their population is definitely huge. But even to them, while the Flameyellow Continent is a lower world, it’s much wider and has many more interesting things to see. Those two children probably don't get many chances to come here. They decided to stay and mess around, but that’ll still be troublesome for us," said another royal.

"Overlord, can we still attack the humans? After eating wildbeasts for a few days, we've grown much stronger. Even though we still need more power, we're more powerful than before. The spiritual energy on the other side is gentler and easier to absorb, so it'll make up for our shortcomings," Yi Jun said.

"Currently, there’s too many humans. They’re all hiding in their cities and towns and protecting themselves within formations. Overlord, many of us are no longer able to hold back our millennia-long hatred for them," said another.

As many watched him, Bodhi waved his hand. "We shall not attack for now."

"Why?"

"Just do as I say." Bodhi stood up and his expression turned stern. "From now on, every specter is allowed to go through the bottomless pits to the Flameyellow Continent and absorb the spiritual energy to make up for what we lack. We’ll also continue consuming wildbeasts to strengthen our bodies. But remember this: do not attack their cities or consume lifebound beasts without my order," Bodhi decreed.

"I’m in favor of this too. The formations around the human settlements aren’t that weak, sometimes being able to make up for five times their number. Attacking them now will only needlessly sacrifice our numbers. That’s unnecessary, because our real enemies aren’t the humans of the Flameyellow Continent. Two hundred millennia ago, the ones who sealed us were Xuanyuan and the Divine Moon Realm. Apart from Xuanyuan, the livestock on the Flameyellow Continent aren't good for anything at all. They don't even have a single ascendant after all this time, so they're nothing to worry about at all. The ones we really need to get revenge on are the divine moonrace!"

"You’re all right." Bodhi's gaze softened as he turned to look at the outside world. "Power is the only truth. We’ve already been waiting two hundred thousand years. There's no need to force ourselves to act tough when we know we're weak. There’s only one chance, and we’re too weak to take advantage of it. We must ensure that we can crush the Divine Moon Realm in one single strike and not give them any chance to retaliate."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Overlord, should we just sit and wait until the day comes?" Yi Jun asked.

"No. I’ll take Little You to infiltrate the Divine Moon Realm and absorb the power of their stellunar source to strengthen myself. The Flameyellow Continent is far too barren, so it'll be useless even if we take it. Only the stellunar source can truly unearth the potential of our fiendgod bloodline to the maximum. Only then will our race rise back to prominence! Currently, the Divine Moon Realm is thousands of times stronger than we are. Only by relying on our fiendgod bloodline can we grow strong enough to crush them! Even though I'm at the fourth level, I'm still far too weak.

"Every single one of our royal forebears paid the price of two hundred years of their lifespan to distill a single drop of royal trueblood. After two hundred millennia, we managed to distill enough for me and Little You to replace our blood with royal trueblood and awaken the sacred bloodline of our forebears of the empyrean fiendgod race! The sacrifice of our ancestors and their unwillingness to give up flows in our veins, and for what? All for the sake of breaking out of imprisonment and survival!"

Tears began to stream down Bodhi's face. "The empyrean fiendgod race is what we descended from, yet they exiled us and cast us down to Welkin. They’ll never expect that we’d be able to recreate the bloodline after two hundred millennia, one that only a few among them have!"

He clenched his fists tight and looked down at his body. "All I need is one defining moment. I’ll destroy the Divine Moon Realm, take their stellunar source, and revive the Ninefold Hell! By then, even if we can't return to the empyrean fiendgod race, we’ll still be able to roam the stars with dignity!"

As far as they were concerned, the Flameyellow Continent was far too small to house their ambitions.

"All hail the overlord!" They cheered with fervor and worship. Bodhi had swapped out his blood in its entirety for pure distilled royal blood, attaining the sacred bloodline of a fiendgod!

"As long as our overlord sweeps through the Divine Moon Realm and takes their stellunar source for us, our entire race will grow strong!"

"Overlord, when will you go to the Divine Moon Realm?"

Bodhi said, "Tomorrow. I’ll take Little You with me."

"You have to be careful with your current power. Even though your level is high, you lack too much energy," someone said worriedly.

"Don't worry about it," Bodhi said with confidence. "As for the Flameyellow Continent, once those children from the Divine Moon Realm leave, you can launch your attack. There’s one human that poses a particular threat to us that we must kill."

"Overlord, is it Li Tianming?" Yi Jun asked.

"Yes."

"He was the one that killed the crown prince, so he’s deserving of death to begin with. If it weren’t for the fact that the girl from the Divine Moon Realm has stayed by his side this entire time, I would've killed him long ago," Yi Jun said.

"I expect those two won’t stay for long. Once they’re gone, our kin will have more or less recovered. Let's focus on taking all the good spots for cultivation on the Flameyellow Continent first. Remember to kill Li Tianming at all costs," said the overlord. He was in too much of a rush to head to the Divine Moon Realm. That was because, despite his high cultivation level, he was limited by a subpar energy source to back his power up. He didn't feel remotely safe in his current state.

"Rest assured, Overlord, the dozen of us ascendants have mostly recovered. As long as the divine moonrace doesn't interfere, we’ll kill all the humans that dare to come to us," Yi Jun proclaimed.

"That's right. Even Brother Yi Jun was able to attain the third level without a royal bloodline. He’s far too impressive."

"Yet he's so humble! Consume more and grow stronger!"

"The power of the flesh is easy to recover, but the power in terms of energy needs time to properly regulate. That's why, no matter how bad the Flameyellow Continent is, we still have to take the territory of the sects of the Nine Divine Realms, Specter Mountains especially. The spiritual energy there is the best!"

"Isn't that the divine realm our kin formed?"

They continued merrily chatting away. The Specter Mountains would be their first target, but the protective formation there had long been activated. It wouldn't be an easy task.

"Let’s first focus on recovery. Ascendants aside, most of us are still weaker than a twelfth-level death phase samsaran," Bodhi said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, Overlord, I’ve eaten millions of wildbeasts and my body has been strengthened enough. I’ll only need around a month to recover my energy on the Flameyellow Continent."

"No, that isn’t enough! I already ate eight million!"

Bodhi, seeing the smiles on their faces, began filling with hope as the flames of passion ignited in his heart.

"Brothers, once I reach the Divine Moon Realm, I’ll send you even better manna and cultivation resources!" He was confident that he could surpass all of his forebears. They were already prosperous two hundred millennia ago, but as he was now, he had the potential to exceed even the specters in their prime! "Only by consuming the Divine Moon Realm can we rise to prominence...."

......

Back on the Old Deepstar Path, the caelum of Great Emperor Xuanyuan was orbited by the specters' blood moon caeli. Tianming spent the day traveling with Huiye Shi and the night cultivating, so he was still making progress. However, the lass was hard to please and often dragged him out at midnight. Even so, he still managed to properly enter the ninth-level death phase after some ten days.

"Now, even without Ling'er's Spiritual Attachment, I should be stronger than anyone beneath the Ascension stage." The caeli had managed to open up a new path of advancement for him. "Only three more life and death phases left. The Aeonic Grandbane's power seems to be growing more and more unstable...."

He was now in a death phase, and this particular one felt far more savage than the ones that came before it. A formless power seemed to be simmering in his saint springs.

"I wonder what other changes will come after I reach the tenth-level life phase. The caeli should help me advance through a few more phases, but I’ll still have to find my own path to godhood...."

The caeli were indeed key to his advancement. Even now, Great Emperor Xuanyuan was still guiding his path ahead. "Ascending to godhood is difficult, but both Ling'er and Xiaoxiao stand a good chance of becoming ascendants before me! Perhaps I'll have to count on them to take me to the Divine Moon Realm."