Beastmaster of the AgesBeastmaster of the Ages
With that in mind, Suishen Zhao turned his attention to attacking once more. He was the first person who had changed his mind about Tianming's talent. Even until her death, Lan Yun stubbornly held on to the belief that Tianming would be useless later on. But little had she known that his growth was exponential. He was a real monster at breaking through!
Yet another eternal idol was destroyed at Tianming's hands. Suishen Zhao noticed that he was getting more efficient at the task.
It looks like we have a chance at entering the top ten! A fivefold reward! With the multiplier, they would receive more than the third place even if they were just tenth on the ranking. That was the benefit of being the youngest team in history.
"Minor pathkeeper!" Tianming said. "Are the other eternal idols like ours?"
"They’re more powerful, but not by much,” replied Suishen Zhao. He was growing more patient with Tianming.
Was he envious? Not necessarily. House Suishen had always been the weakest of the Three Exalted Houses, so his anger was directed toward House Qitian and House Yumo, not Tianming, who had a good relationship with them now. The other two houses would be humiliated if their team were to crush them.
"In that case..." narrowing his gaze, Tianming continued, "the others won’t be much faster than us, right?"
"Yes, or we won’t stand a chance!" Suishen Zhao said.
"Alright! Let’s keep going!"
Tianming had to destroy the eternal idol over and over again, so speed was of the essence. And he was quick, though it was possible that Suishen Zhao wasn’t as fast as their opponents. We’d lag behind Suishen Yao and the others if all we had to do was destroy one eternal idol! he thought.
He had been keeping track of the time ever since they entered. An hour had passed and about half of the rocks had been destroyed. In other words, it would take them nearly two hours to pass this trial.
What was the difference between two hours and thirty breaths? It was huge!
We managed to pull ahead of the second place by a mere seventy breaths in the first round, but this trial is going to take us two hours. Suishen Yao and Qitian Jian will be way ahead of us if it only takes them an hour! he evaluated.
That was the reason no one in Myriadpath Valley believed that the teams here to gain experience could enter the top ten. To put it bluntly, their position in the first round was only temporary.
Come on! Tianming gave it his all. It's a pity that my lifebound beasts can't act on their own. With their size, they’d be even more efficient!
Aside from its nine hundred billion bodies, Yin Chen’s destructive power was limited despite its numbers. Because beastmasters had an advantage in that area, Tianming surmised that beastmasters would rise as the whole in the second trial.
As Tianming expected, they destroyed every eternal idol, passed the trial, and returned to the Prehistoric Path an hour later. There were about a hundred people—or fifty teams—in front of them.
So we’re ranked outside of the top fifty in the second round alone, he thought.
There were over a hundred and fifty teams left. Given their combat power, ranking just outside the top fifty was excellent.
"Not bad!" Suishen Zhao knew they had performed well as soon as he saw the number of people ahead of them. Although the top ten teams quickly passed the first trial, there were some who spent several hours or even a day.
"It took us less than two hours in total for both idols. We’re ranked...." Suishen Zhao looked behind him. The ranking was updated as soon as they returned to the Prehistoric Path. Starting from the second trial, those who passed would cause them to fall lower and lower on the ranking. Tianming and Suishen Zhao had fallen out of the top fifty before they emerged. The first criterion of the ranking was the number of trials passed, followed by the time. Time was meaningless unless they passed the trial.
"Sixteenth place!"
Tianming and Suishen Zhao found their place on the ranking. Although they’d fallen fifteen places, their performance had still far exceeded everyone’s expectations. Suishen Zhao had thought they would fall out of the top hundred after the second trial, but it seemed they still had a chance of making it into the top ten.
"That’s great!" Suishen Zhao said.
Many turned their attention to them as soon as they emerged from the trial.
"The two children with a combined age of less than two hundred not only passed the second trial, but also ranked fifteenth!"
"Not bad!"
"Suishen Zhao is truly a surprise! He’s just turned a hundred years old and has a limitless future ahead of him."
"Is that what you think?" Eminent Ranxing glanced at them, his eyes filled with delight.
“Unfortunately, House Qitian and other beastmasters have risen on the ranking after this round. Suishen Yao and Suishen Shuang are still in second place, but Qitian Jian jumped from third to first place. He’s already secured the top spot in the second round. It’s just as one would expect from the number one seed."
"It's hard to say. The third idol is a trial that tests talent. I think House Suishen still has a chance."
"Few are optimistic about House Suishen, but it looks like they’re at least stronger than the specters on the Prehistoric Path."
"The second trial tests the teams’ combat power, but the fourth trial tests their individual strength. The specters will have an advantage there."
The hot topic of the day was the competition for the top spot. This time, Tianming and Suishen Zhao’s performance wasn’t as remarkable, which everyone had expected.
"We might have a chance of entering the top ten! "Suishen Zhao looked at Tianming with a belief that grew stronger and stronger.
"Of course! We’ll have an advantage in the third trial, the omnisentient idol," Tianming said, his gaze fiery.
"We’ll rest for about two weeks after the first two trials. Let’s use the time to prepare for the third and fourth trials," said Suishen Zhao. Although he wanted to tell his father about Tianming, he was still hesitant because of Tianming’s totems. There were few instances of House Suishen accepting cultivators who weren’t totemancers, and Tianming's totems seemed rather useless.
"No problem!" Tianming nodded.
At that moment, Suishen Yao and Suishen Shuang came over.
"It’s you again, Number Two of the Ages," Suishen Zhao teased upon realizing that she had failed to take first place once again.
"You’re one to talk! You’ve fallen fifteen places," Suishen Yao said, rolling her eyes.
"Yaoyao, their combined age isn’t even half of yours. Fifteenth place is already pretty good," Suishen Shuang chuckled.
"Hmph, I’m going to ignore you! My brother’s still young, but you’re already so protective of him. We can't be best friends anymore," Suishen Yao unhappily said.
"I’m not! I’ll always stand on your side. Isn’t that enough?" Suishen Shuang said, holding Suishen Yao’s arm.
"That's more like it!"
Pinching Suishen Zhao's face, Suishen Yao said, "I can’t be bothered to talk to the fifteenth place on the ranking. We’re going now!!"
Although the elders said they could leave, most people chose not to. The third trial would begin half a month later, which was in no time at all. Suishen Zhao wanted to return to Suishen Cave to speak to his elders and obtain more information, so Tianming followed him.
We should be at our best after experiencing the vitality and eternal idols. Tianming looked out at the Prehistoric Path. I wonder if the omnisentient idol will improve my cultivation.
Compared to the vitality idol, the omnisentient idol was tailor-made for him! With that in mind, he returned to Suishen Cave with Suishen Zhao.
***
"Are we still in fifteenth place?"
Tianming and Suishen Zhao had yet to return to the Prehistoric Path when Yumo Yuanni and Huang Daosheng passed the second trial. Their combined combat power was definitely stronger than Tianming's team.
"Is that okay?" Huang Daosheng asked.
"Of course!" Yumo Yuanni was finally satisfied with him.
Like most people there, Huang Daosheng was a twelfth-level cosmic cartographer. After two rounds, they were still ranked fifteenth. As teams there to gain experience, their performance was amazing. Given their young age, Yumo Yuanni, Tianming, and Suishen Zhao were likely to be at a disadvantage in the even-numbered trials. Thus, he relied on Huang Daosheng during such rounds.
"You’re pretty strong. You should be able to move up the Fortuna Ranking," said Yumo Yuanni.
"I’ve recently made progress, so I plan to do just that after the trials," Huang Daosheng replied.
"Alright!"
After fighting side by side, the relationship between the two had improved a little. Yumo Yuanni swelled with pride upon noticing that Suishen Zhao and Tianming had yet to pass the second round.
"Can weaklings like them pass the second round?"
Tianming and Suishen Zhao made it through the second round just as Yumo Yuanni snickered. They suddenly rose to fifteenth place, moving Yumo Yuanni’s team to sixteenth place. They were immediately overtaken.
Suishen Zhao sneered at Yumo Yuanni, obviously aware of what had taken place. The latter was livid!
"Are they going back to Suishen Cave?" Yumo Yuanni asked.
"Most likely." Huang Daosheng's eyes turned red when he saw Tianming.
"I can't take it anymore! I’m ten times stronger than Suishen Zhao after my recent breakthrough!" Yumo Yuanni coldly said.
"Then...."
"Let's give him a beating!"
"Yes!" Huang Daosheng nodded and followed Yumo Yuanni, quietly disappearing from the crowd.
***
Tianming and Suishen Zhao were surrounded by a heavy mist on their way back to Suishen Cave. The path they were taking led to Suishen Cave and was off limits to regular people. They discussed their plans for the remaining trials and their relationship seemed to improve.
At this moment, Yin Chen reported that they were being chased.
"Who?"
"Yumo Yuanni... and Little... Lion King!"