Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming, Lingfeng, Xiaoxiao, the Seven Dragon Imperials, Yang Ce, and the rest returned to Little Saintdragon Peak. After the battle, the young disciples of the sect returned to the defensive formation in a joyous mood. Though their victory had greatly boosted their morale, the threat of the sun emperor and celestial orderians still loomed above them. Without the support of the Myriad Solar Sects, the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect would find it difficult to endure this kind of pressure. Fortunately, they had managed to ensure the safety of the three Dragon Imperials who were taken hostage by exchanging them with Li Wushuang.

Regardless, the fifteen million troops that had allegedly come as an escort of the goddess inevitably meant things would be going down soon. Tianming and the others, however, couldn't predict what they would do until Tianming was notified of Li Shenjian's death and how Li Wushuang planned to pin it on him. He hurriedly told the seniors about it.

"What?" All of them seemed shocked to hear it.

"The sun emperor's sister killed his son… and they're going to frame you for it?" The Saintdragon Emperor's brows were tightly furrowed.

"That Li Wushuang is such a…." Long Wanying found that she was becoming more and more terrifying.

"The question is, doesn't the sun emperor know the truth? The Torchdragon Emperor and the rest were there, too. Would they help Li Wushuang cover it up?" the Azuredragon Emperor asked.

"If the sun emperor's been aware of it the whole time, things will be troublesome," the Violetdragon Empress said. If the death of the sun emperor's son were to be blamed on Tianming, it would be enough to cause all celestial orderians to hate him. Tianming had avoided killing Li Shenjian during the duel precisely because he didn't want to give them a pretext to increase the number of troops they sent.

"Everyone, I think your thoughts are going in the wrong direction," Tianming said with a bitter look.

"What do you mean?" the Saintdragon Emperor asked.

"Li Wushuang never had the intention to hide from the sun emperor to begin with." He repeated what Yin Chen had heard after she'd killed Li Shenjian, much to their shock."Did I hear that wrong? Is the status of a son of the sun emperor so low? It's one thing if they're beneath the Ninemoon Goddess, but how could Li Wushuang just casually kill them like that?" the Azuredragon Emperor said with disbelief.

Everyone knew that Li Wushuang's authority was greater than even the empress'. It wouldn't be weird for Li Shenjian and Li Haochen to respect and obey her, but that didn't mean she could just kill them. It was like they were nothing but her slaves.

"Does the sun emperor really not care? They're his flesh and blood! There's something odd about these siblings!" Long Wanying hatefully said. She was a parent once, too, and she knew the pain of losing a child. There was no way the sun emperor and Li Wushuang were normal siblings.

As they spoke, the transmission stone of the sun emperor arrived at the Saintdragon Shrine. After Yin Chen relayed their conversation to Tianming, he shook his head. "Huh. The sun emperor really didn't care about it at all. He knows that Li Shenjian is dead, but gave him nothing more than a glance and didn't even blame Li Wushuang for it. He went straight to talking to the Torchdragon Emperor."

"What in the…." Long Wanying was speechless. How could family members do that to one another?

"Perhaps it takes someone as cruel as that to rise to the top."

"He doesn't seem to be a cold-blooded person though… look at how well he treats Li Wushuang."

The sun emperor was becoming more and more mysterious in their eyes.

"Actually, unfathomable people like him are the most terrifying," the Saintdragon Emperor said.

"Then what can Tianming do? Will they send more troops using that as an excuse?" Long Wanying asked.

"The celestial orderians will no doubt be angered by this, but I doubt it'll make any difference since they were planning to wipe us out to begin with. Let's hear what the sun emperor has to say, first. What was he discussing with the Torchdragon Emperor?" the Saintdragon Emperor asked. As long as they had Tianming on their side, they always had the initiative as they could discuss the enemy's next move together and prepare for it. Tianming had left the highest number of Yin Chens at Great Saintdragon Peak.

"They're talking about Qingyu and Long Renshe's marriage," Tianming said.

"Has the date been decided?" Long Wanying asked.

"Wait a bit." Tianming was still communing with Yin Chen. After fifteen minutes, he had the information in full and told them about the date, the venue, and the powerful figures that were going to be invited. Then he turned to Lingfeng. This wasn't as shocking as it seemed as they had been more or less ready for such a possibility.

Still, the date of Qingyu's marriage was set and the clock was ticking for Lingfeng and Tianming. It felt like someone had begun choking them, and soon, they would run out of air. Lingfeng's face was pale; he had just seen her back at the Infernal Dragon Purgatory, only for things to turn out this way. For youths like them, a figure like the sun emperor was as beyond their reach as the stars. Forty-four days would pass in a flash, and the future of these youths from the Flameyellow Continent would depend on what they did during that time.

Tianming, however, didn't expect the Seven Dragon Imperials to be so riled up about the marriage and even be vehemently opposed to it. It should have been a personal matter of Tianming and the rest, and it didn't have anything to do with the survival of the sect, but the Saintdragon Emperor almost went berserk after hearing it.

"Primodragon Cave!" They all grit their teeth, their expressions contorting.

"That shameless sun emperor! He's despicable!"

"Looks like he doesn't intend on just leaving twenty million celestial orderians here!"

"Saintdragon Emperor, we can't let them cause trouble at Primodragon Cave no matter what, right?" Long Wanying said.

"Of course!" the older Dragon Imperials firmly said in unison. They even seemed willing to die for the cause.

Tianming asked, "Aunt Ying, what kind of place is the Primodragon Cave?"

Long Wanying was already used to how clueless he could be about common knowledge like this.