Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming and Bodhi had used striking from the shadows to their advantage. They didn't have many minions, like Sovereign Xi, so they could only lurk in the darkness.

The moonlight turned brighter as the stellunar source pulse intensified. Tianming and Bodhi returned to the compound where they met with the imperial guide in tow. Feiling and Little You were talking when they arrived.

"Little You," Bodhi said, stretching out his hand.

"Daddy!" She jumped into his embrace and he held her high. "I missed you, Daddy."

"Everything's fine now." He patted her on the shoulder to calm her.

Tianming held on to the imperial guide and stood beside Feiling. "So now that you have your daughter back, are you going to kill me?"

"If I do, nobody will learn of my identity," Bodhi said expressionlessly.

"Then get on with it."

"Haha, I wouldn't want to lure the divine moonrace here."

Tianming was no longer someone he could take out in an instant, after all. He vanished into the darkness with Little You.

"Big Brother, how powerful is he?" Feiling asked.

"Very. It was mainly due to him that we defeated the imperial guide, but I feel like he was holding back."

"I can sense the animosity he had against you. Even though you two worked together, he's a machine that runs on hate. He won't forget that you were the one who killed his son and got his wife and comrades killed."

"I know."

If one danced too close to wolves, they would soon be eaten.

"Looks like I'm stuck between a scheming serpent and a lone wolf." That was Tianming's current predicament. If it weren't for the serpent being too powerful, there was no way the hateful wolf would work with him. He had returned Bodhi's daughter, but the Latticeheart Curse was still in effect.

"Use Latticeheart Curse on her too."

"Alright." Feiling used her shaky finger and layered the curse above the Imperial Sword Prison.

"Using her, I have a firm grip on the divine moonrace!" While meeting with Sovereign Xi would be risky, there was no going back. He had no other choice, given the current state of the continent.

"Ling'er, I'll be meeting her alone later. Stay hidden nearby and trust in your own judgment if anything happens."

"Alright, I'll do just that," she said, forcing a smile. The light in her eyes seemed to flicker out of existence from time to time, but even then, she was the only one who could help him now.

"Let's go." The two of them vanished in the bright moonlight.

......

The sound of the stellunar source rushing was constantly heard as the powerful force surged beneath their feet. Feiling hid somewhere further away while Tianming headed to the palace with the imperial guide, who was just waking up. His presence caused the guards to go on alert.

"It's Li Tianming!"

Tianming held the imperial guide by the neck and raised her up as she struggled. "Have Sovereign Xi come out. I am here to meet her."

"Report to Her Majesty, immediately!"

"He has the imperial guide!"

"So he went to the Moonnight Patio just now...."

"That's weird. How could he capture the imperial guide? She's the second most powerful member of the divine moonrace!"

"That bastard seems to have destroyed her bane-rings and beaten her nearly to death!"

"He has to die for his crimes!"

One after the other, the divine moonrace flocked out to look and were all the more angered. It didn't take long before the atmosphere turned cold. A beautiful woman in a long blue dress and a white cat mask appeared on the palace walls and descended five meters away from Tianming. She coldly watched him through her mask and immediately ascertained the imperial guide's state.

"You worked with that animal to capture her, and even crippled her bane-rings." Every word she spoke had the cold prick of frost. The apparent contradiction of her cold, yet furious demeanor made her even more imposing.

"Yeah, you got it right." Tianming had his fingers around the imperial guide's head, ready to pull it off at any time.

"Not bad, Li Tianming. Time and again, you've foiled Our plans. You also killed Fengyue and twenty thousand others," she said with a squint.

"I had no choice. Nobody asked you to go so overboard. I was ready to surrender and come back to help you with your breakthrough, but they insisted on continuing the butchering. You forced me to do something completely unnecessary. What else did you expect me to do?"

"So you paid us back. We're even, right?" she said with a shrug.

"Drop your nonchalant act." He pinched the imperial guide's face and made her look at the sovereign. He felt the sovereign's rage when their eyes met. The force he applied with his fingers broke parts of the imperial guide's skull, causing her face to cave in. She growled in pain as tears flowed, but she tightly clenched her fists and didn't say a word. The sovereign even looked a little heartbroken.

"You deserve death!"

"Let go of our imperial guide!"

"Vile fiend, may you be torn into a thousand pieces!"

The rest of the onlookers continued howling.

"Why don't you two have a little chat?" Tianming said to the imperial guide, who just closed her mouth and looked away.

Tianming was constantly monitoring the sovereign's reaction. She seemed to alternate between relaxing and tensing up, and intentionally avoided looking at the imperial guide when she could.

"Child, you are playing with fire. Be careful you don't burn yourself," she said.

"Drop the bluffs. I know what she means to you. If you want her to live, heed my conditions. I only ask for two little things. I'm someone who shows restraint, you see."

The whole area turned silent. Nothing but the sound of the imperial guide's cracking bones could be heard. The fact that the sovereign had yet to act meant that she indeed regarded the imperial guide with importance. No doubt, she wouldn't hesitate to fight if Tianming were holding Prince Fengyue hostage instead.

Sovereign Xi was as stiff as a statue when Tianming stated his terms, a sign that she was in a deep dilemma. It was as if he could smell the venomous rage brewing within her. Though fragrant, it was toxic and fatal. No matter how much the sovereign and the imperial guide avoided each other's gazes, they couldn't help meeting them from time to time. Every time, Tianming saw the sovereign's eyes uncontrollably shaking.

"If you're going to stay silent, then just listen. I only have two conditions! First, have your troops retreat from the Flameyellow Continent. Second, head to the mooncore with me to bring Ye Lingfeng back. I'll hold the tether outside while you enter the xenomemory space with the rope."

The sovereign liked to manipulate others with their weaknesses, but Tianming was giving her a taste of her own medicine. Even then, his demands were only to save others and weren't the least bit overboard.

"Dream on!"

"Everyone on the Flameyellow Continent must die!"

"How could someone from the world below challenge the divine moonrace?!"

The onlookers couldn't resist the provocation.

"Sovereign Xi, your reply?" Tianming ignored them and kept his eyes trained on the woman that was on the edge of going berserk.

"Will you return her to me if I agree?" she finally asked in a shaky voice.

"I will do so a month after our deal."

"You'll be stronger than me by then."

"Perhaps, but you hardly have a choice. I'm dictating the terms now."

"In other words, I'll lose completely now that you've captured her, is that it?" Her gaze was growing ever more furious.

"It wouldn't have come to this if you were the slightest bit benevolent. You were the one pushing my limits the entire way."

Sovereign Xi laughed heartily all of a sudden. "You really are an interesting one. You even came after my only loved one in the whole world. Li Tianming, I'll make sure you suffer the worst fate possible!"

She slowly removed her mask, revealing her stunningly beautiful face. Her features resembled those of a goddess. Even so, her beauty couldn't hide the bestial instincts within.

"I hate you! I hate you utterly!" The mask in her hands crumbled as her tears flowed.

"Xi'er, I'm sorry. Let's meet again in the next life," the imperial guide said as she sobbed with her head lowered.

"I'm sorry too, Lianlian." No doubt, the imperial guide was the sovereign's most cherished person. However, what did they mean by that? "If there's a next life, I swear I'll never let you down."

"Let's hope we can live together as normal people in the next life with no more burdens. It's too tiring."

"Yes, let's hope...."

Tianming finally understood. While the sovereign did care about the imperial guide, she was far more concerned with getting her eighth bane-ring. She simply didn't want to lose. There was only one option; she unleashed her full power the moment her mask crumbled.

Tianming couldn't stop it at all. One of the mask fragments pierced the imperial guide in the head. She smiled with satisfaction at the sovereign and slumped down lifelessly. Everyone had witnessed the sovereign kill her own imperial guide, and they felt chills run down their spine.

Sovereign Xi glared at Tianming like a raging serpent under the moonlight. "One must be cruel enough to kill one's own kin, otherwise one can't claim to be a ruler and achieve great things. Li Tianming, have you learned this lesson?"