Beastmaster of the AgesBeastmaster of the Ages
Everyone saw Suishen Yue as an honest, dignified, and reliable man, but Suishen Yuan was the only one who knew how disgusting he was. To use the word 'enjoy' was extremely vulgar and a great disrespect to the women of House Suishen.
Suishen Yuan liked Suishen Yao. He treated her like a delicate fairy that would melt in his hands and didn’t have that kind of obsessive desire for her Suishen Blood. However, Suishen Yue was different. He was about to become an eminent, truly entering the ranks of the top experts of Myriadpath Valley. For him, marrying Suishen Yao wasn’t only about status, but also Suishen Blood, rather than the girl herself. It was a side of him that he kept hidden from others, a side he only revealed to Suishen Yuan to mess with his head. Perhaps the anger would swallow his reason and cause him to perform poorly.
But there was no way Suishen Yuan could tell anyone the truth, because no matter what he said, they would assume he was smearing his competitor and using despicable means against him. It was true that the older one was, the wiser they grew.
Although Suishen Yue had failed to win the first round, his words got under Suishen Yuan’s skin.
The two major pathkeepers stared at each other. For maniverse disciples, a thousand years wasn’t considered a large age difference. Suishen Yuan was expected to become an eminent by the time he reached Suishen Yue’s age, but he was still a thousand years away and House Suishen couldn’t wait that long.
Suishen Yuan had never yearned to kill someone as much as he did at that exact moment.
"Yaoyao is still so young. I’ll be gentle." The smile on Suishen Yue’s lips didn’t reach his eyes. Those in the distance thought that he was sharing his experience with Suishen Yuan.
"Dream on!" Suishen Yuan sneered.
Neither were prepared to give in. They both wanted to know what Eminent Ranxing thought of the first round. Turning to look at the eminents, they were surprised to find that their attention was elsewhere. What was going on? Wasn’t the competition between them the main focus of interest on the Prehistoric Path? So why was no one paying attention to them?
They were both a little puzzled. Following the gaze of the eminents, they saw the Fortuna Path ranking on the Midsky Myriadpath Stele. The first and second place were from House Suishen.
"Suishen Zhao, Li Tianming... thirty breaths?" Suishen Yuan froze.
"What?" Suishen Yue was stunned as well.
At that moment, realization dawned upon them. They were no longer the center of attention; their competitors, House Qitian, Yumo, and other major forces weren’t far off. They didn’t have an advantage for the subsequent idols either. Both House Qitian and House Yumo had major pathkeepers who were already eminents, while House Suishen was the only exception, and eminents under the age of two thousand were formidable.
***
An hour later, Tianming, who had become a fourth-level cosmic cartographer, returned to the Prehistoric Path. Others had also emerged.
"Where’d you go?" Suishen Yao asked, a little unhappy.
"I went to relieve myself," Tianming said without a sliver of embarrassment.
"Relieve yourself?" Suishen Yao didn’t understand. After all, astral gods didn’t excrete like mortals.
"Don't run around. You’ll be killed," Suishen Yao ordered.
"Yes." Tianming nodded.
In the blink of an eye, the trial of the vitality idol was over and forty-three teams, a third of the total, were eliminated. Meanwhile, five teams had been eliminated on the Maniverse Path. Suishen Zhao and Tianming’s names were at the very top.
"Get ready for the eternal idol.”
The glory of thirty breaths had passed and a new trial was just around the corner. Tianming, whose strength had greatly improved, stood shoulder to shoulder with Suishen Zhao. They were both prepared for a drop in rank.
"It doesn’t matter how many places we fall, we must at least pass the trial," said Suishen Zhao.
"Are you competing with that minor pathkeeper?" Glancing around, Tianming found that Suishen Zhao and Yumo Yuanni were as incompatible as water and fire.
"Yes." Suishen Zhao nodded. "Our final position can’t be lower than his!"
"Got it."
Yumo Yuanni's teammate was the twelfth-level cosmic cartographer, Huang Daosheng, who was also Tianming's mortal enemy.
"A prospective eminent?" When it came to crunch time, Tianming's blood boiled with excitement; he had no fear. Huang Daosheng stared back at Tianming, making a throat-slitting gesture.
"Hehe." Tianming sneered and made a menacing gesture at Huang Daosheng, who turned into a lion and roared. As the two groups went head to head, the eternal idol descended before them.
Tianming looked up and saw a gray astral giant radiating starlight. His tripartite soul shook! When the eternal idol collided with them, Tianming and Suishen Zhao were pulled into a separate world that almost resembled a dream. Everything felt so real, even the Grand-Orient Sword. Although his body was most likely motionless on the Prehistoric Path, Tianming knew that he had to move right now.
He was in a world of giant rocks that were as hard as metal as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately, they weren’t really metal, so Yin Chen couldn’t use its full power.
Rocks collided and piled up into a square-shaped stone giant in front of Tianming and Suishen Zhao. It was the eternal idol. Without a word, the two began their attack. Suishen Zhao raised his totems to eightfold simulacrum. Aside from the many cosmic artifacts he possessed, Suishen Zhao used the Eternal Tribulation Lotus, which was equivalent to enveloping the square world in a fiery furnace.
"Now!"
Tianming sped up in order to save time, bursting forth toward the eternal idol. In an instant, the cosmic artifacts and Eternal Tribulation Lotus shattered the eternal idol into dust, but more rocks came together to form a new one.
"It can’t be destroyed?" Tianming asked, stunned.
"That isn’t it. We have to destroy every last rock in this place," said Suishen Zhao.
"What?!” Tianming glanced around and realized that he was surrounded by square rocks that were equivalent to the eternal idol having an everlasting body!
"Stop talking and get to killing!"
"Okay!"
The rocks were raw materials for the eternal idol’s body so attacking both rock and idol was effective. Suishen Zhao and Tianming divided their work; the former used Eternal Tribulation Lotus on the rocks while Tianming attacked the idol.
BOOM!
Numerous rocks gathered to form a new eternal idol once again. Tianming raised the leg that was Lan Huang and heavily smashed down, crushing the idol.
"How are you stronger than you were five days ago?" Suishen Zhao asked in shock.
"Am I?” Tianming feigned ignorance. However, his progress in cultivation couldn’t be concealed. One glance was all it took for Suishen Zhao to notice the changes.
Time was of the essence, and neither could put up a pretense. Even talking would affect their progress. Every second spent was tantamount to their position on the ranking! With the goal of entering the top ten, they couldn’t waste a moment.
Tianming smashed the eternal idol again and again while Suishen Zhao attacked the rocks, observing him.
He must’ve made a breakthrough! And it’s very likely he did it after the last idol... he concluded. He was shaken to the core for the second time that day. He felt that way for the first time when Tianming had taken down the vitality idol within thirty breaths. Under ordinary circumstances, a genius totemancer like Suishen Zhao would never be shocked by someone else’s talent.
Breaking through on the Prehistoric Path is a sign of extremely high comprehension and a special affinity with the idols. Why’s he afraid to expose that? Is he afraid to stand out because of his low status? That’s understandable. This is the stage for the three exalted houses. If he steals the limelight, he’s bound to attract envy, which isn’t something a man of his background and status can bear! Suishen Zhao thought.
"Hurry up!" Tianming was very efficient. He not only attacked the eternal idol, but also destroyed the rocks around him.
"Alright!” Although he knew that distraction would affect his efficiency, Suishen Zhao was too shocked to stop himself from pondering.
His master, Lan Yun, is dead. We’re the only two people he can rely on now. Poor thing... He’s talented but afraid to show it. Can House Suishen keep such a man? Suishen Zhao wasn’t quite sure.
Generally speaking, House Suishen would absorb some of the top talents. They would either marry their daughters to the very best ones, or have the talented geniuses marry into House Suishen. The second-best geniuses could also receive House Suishen’s formal protection, which was very different from what Suishen Zhao and Suishen Yao offered. The elders would formally include foreign geniuses in their own camps. Eminent Tiankui was one such example.
However, any genius or expert recruited by House Suishen must fulfill a basic requirement—they had to be totemancers. As the benchmark for totemancers, House Suishen possessed the deepest, most extensive knowledge about totems. Those who joined their house were cultivators who wanted to further develop their totems.
Everyone says that he’s a cultivator with no future, but I don't think so. He seems steady! Suishen Zhao was the only one who had witnessed the trial for the vitality idol and his quiet breakthrough.
The kid’s probably a super genius! It’s a pity totems aren’t his main ability. His lifebound beasts should be the most powerful. It looks like he might be absorbed by House Qitian in the future.... The thought of that made Suishen Zhao uncomfortable. What he wanted was for House Suishen to formally take Tianming in, which was incomparable with the vague kind of ‘protection’ he and his sister provided.
I don’t care! I have to tell Father the truth about his breakthrough and the vitality idol and let him decide!