Beastmaster of the Ages

Huiyue Yin felt utter shock, but that wasn't all. He witnessed the wound on Tianming's shoulder healing at a rate visible to the naked eye, while his own shoulder was still bleeding out. That was when he truly realized how scary Tianming's cold gaze was, but he didn't even have time to mull over that realization.

Right after he escaped Tianming, Feiling appeared behind him. He immediately turned around and saw her cold, godly eyes and the white flames around her body. She seemed to be just as fast as they were! She used a weird technique that wasn't a battle art. It resembled an ability instead, but she wasn't a specter!

As Huiyue Yin watched with shock, countless light beams came shooting out from Feiling's body toward him, forming a mirror beneath his feet. There seemed to be three layers to that mirror. The layers began to spread, one facing the sky, one facing the earth, and the other facing Huiyue Yin himself.

"What... what is this?" He was completely reflected by the mirrors. Within the reflection, he could see his birth, his aging, and the day of his death. The Trilife Mirror contained a terrifying power that even Tianming couldn't understand. It didn't seem to belong to Xuanyuan Xi, but rather the lord of Perpetia.

The mirror kept Huiyue Yin completely confined, and he didn't seem to feel the passage of time. No matter how hard he struggled, the Trilife Mirror merely shuddered without breaking. "Impossible! What kind of method is this?!"

It wasn't just him; the five canine voidgods were also wildly struggling.

He felt like he was going mad. When he looked up, he saw Tianming with the Grand-Orient Swords raised. Behind him was the glowing figure that controlled the Trilife Mirror, keeping him confined within.

"Break!" Huiyue Yin cried. The mirror began cracking and the canine voidgods also seemed to be starting to free themselves.

That was when Tianming came charging in. Without wasting any words, he merely shot Huiyue Yin a chilling gaze, fused the two swords into one, and slashed it down at his arm.

"No, animal! Stop!" His face paled from feeling genuine terror as he struggled. The moment the mirror shattered, Tianming's slash came down on his right arm, sending it flopping to the ground and creating a spray of blood.

"No, no!" Tears and blood mixed together as they flowed down. That was his most precious arm, a really important part of his body. Feeling faint from the pain, he turned to look at Tianming, who stabbed his sword five times at the five bane-rings. Each thrust destroyed a bane-ring. Soon, all five canine voidgods shook and exploded. With the bane-rings gone, the canine voidgods had returned to their terra form.

While his terra was fine, Huiyue Yin would never be able to manifest the canine voidgods for the rest of his life with his bane-rings gone. That kind of pain and realization tore at his heart and caused his mind to blank out. How could this happen in a place he had looked down upon so much? All of a sudden, the ruthless efficiency with which Tianming had dispatched him seemed to horrify him to the core.

"You're dead, you hear?! Dead!" he cried, breaking his voice. He began running, but before he could get anywhere, Tianming caught up to him. Feiling used Spaceshock Punch, completely crushing his body. As his blood was about to burst out, Tianming whooshed past with both swords, separating Huiyue Yin's legs from his body.

"Aaaaaagh!" He collapsed with only one arm remaining, suffering in utter pain and anguish. This couldn't be anything but a dream. This couldn't be happening. As he turned around and laid on the ground, he saw the couple standing by his side, looking down on him, making his hairs stand. He was about to vomit out bile at the thought that he was from the Divine Moon Realm.

"How dare you cripple me?! You're dead! All the humans of the Flameyellow Continent will be buried alongside you! My parents will kill you tens of thousands of times over!" Even as he ruined his throat screaming, he still crawled pathetically on the ground with his remaining arm.

"Oh, I think you might be mistaken, Huiyue Yin." Tianming stood under the moonlight, pushing his sword against Huiyue Yin's throat as he spoke to him in a similar tone as was used to using. His plain smile looked like the smile of death.

"What was I mistaken about?! Don't you know who I am? You're dead for sure!"

"You said we would suffer for crippling you, but that's not all we're going to do. Instead, we'll send you straight to hell, understood? This is real and it's going to happen. Do you comprehend now?" As he smiled, he squatted down and grabbed Huiyue Yin's neck with his black arm and lifted him up. Blood was trickling down from his body nonstop as his skin turned purple. He had even lost control of his bowels from hearing Tianming's words.

"Huh, I didn't think you'd be this soft. You sounded so tough back then. Huiyue Yin, open your eyes and look. What are you now, compared to me? Even a mighty dragon in the sky won't be able to dominate a serpent on the ground. This is my turf, so I call the shots. I'm going to kill you, got it?"

He tightened his grip, casting the shadow of death over Huiyue Yin. Even then, he still didn't seem to understand his predicament. "You wouldn't dare! Killing me will be a disaster for you! The moment I die, my parents will know!"

He had never imagined that everything in his life would be ruined over a simple game of his... over a rudimentary trap.

"Then I wonder what I should do? Sigh, I guess you won't understand even if you die." Tianming punched him in the stomach.

"Ugghhh!" Huiyue Yin spat out mouthfuls of blood as his body twitched from the subsequent punches. "Stop, please! Don't kill me! Let's talk! Let's talk, okay?" The pair's unfettered ferocity had finally convinced him to beg for mercy.

"That won't do. I have to make your corpse look completely battered. Only then will your parents go mad and lose their reason, understand?" Tianming crushed his mouth, completely contorting his teeth. "You'll die a horrible death, and nobody will know I was the one who did it. This is what will happen. Do you understand now, Huiyue Yin?"

"Uuuuggh! Mmmpppph!" He couldn't even speak now. His gaze was one of complete despair as the terror filled his mind.

"Sssshhhh. Be good now. Keep quiet and enjoy the sensation of death. You'll only get to experience it once," Tianming whispered near his ear. When Huiyue Yin widened his eyes and continued struggling, Tianming slammed his fist into his body, utterly crushing his innards.

"Ughhh...." He was still breathing as he looked at Tianming in despair.

"I already have a scapegoat for this. Let's just see how well your sister acts later. Huiyue Yin, take my advice and don't force people into a corner in your next life. If you don't give a desperate person an option to escape with their life, they'll have nothing left to lose. You only get mercy if you give mercy, got it?"

Huiyue Yin finally breathed his last breath when he heard that. His arm, that had been gripping Tianming's own, finally flopped lifelessly down.

"It's done." Tianming packed up the corpse and put it in his spatial ring before completely erasing all traces of battle. Then he turned to look at Feiling, who stood with her arms crossed, tears glistening under the moonlight. "Ling'er, do you think I was too cruel?"

She shook her head and smiled. "He forced this outcome. We only want to live peacefully with the ones we care about. There's nothing wrong in wanting peace."

"Good!" He wiped the blood on his hands on his body and put his arm around her shoulder. "From now on, anyone that dares insult you will end up even worse than this."

They met each other's gazes and hugged. "Next, we'll look for Huiye Shi. It's her turn now."

"This is a risky move, Big Brother."

"A move that's already halfway in the making. They forced us into a corner, so it's the only thing we can do to survive."

......

Near Taiji Peak Lake, Huiye Shi was standing on a hill in anticipation. "Why hasn't anything gone down yet?"

She had been waiting for a long while. "That fellow must be crying and sobbing. Hehe, it didn't have to be this way. That wench really thinks she's hot stuff. How shameless of her to scold me!"

If it weren't for the fact that she wanted to disassociate herself from the act, she would have gone and relished in Feiling's suffering. "I wonder if she'll cry out nicely...."

As she snickered, she felt the atmosphere around her chill. Looking up, she saw a couple descending before her, hand in hand.

"Y-you!" She was completely stunned.

"Lady Huiye, we have a gift for you. It's called a reality check, want to see it?" Tianming's lips curved into a gentle smile.