Beastmaster of the Ages

r ”>”As expected of a Sky Palace disciple.
It seems like they made the right choice.”

“I’ve humiliated myself with my past failures.
Sorry for troubling you, Chief Instructor.”

“It is no big deal.
Being able to help you grow is the Azuresoul Palace's honor.”

“Thanks.
That aside, I've picked the third one to assimilate.
May I come again in ten days?”

“You may.
Still, let me emphasize that this will progressively get more difficult.
Take care to ensure that you don't push yourself to the point of hurting yourself.”

“I appreciate the advice.” Tianming left with Ying Huo.

“Why don't you tell him directly that you won't be going to the Empyrean Sword Sect? That way, Jiang Qingliu will be fine,” Ying Huo said.

“We’d be revealing that we can eavesdrop on them if that's the case.”

“Can't you just hint at it?”

“He's no fool.
We have no plausible deniability.
Hinting is as good as admitting it.
Yin Chen's ability is our trump card.
We can't let anyone find out.
If they communicate with transmission stones, it'll be much harder for us.”

“Fine.
Caution is still the best.”

“There's one more thing.”

“Out with it then.”

“Actually, we finally have some leverage in the negotiations with Aunt Ying's friends.
I want to build an empire here on this continent and use Omnisentient Will for cultivation and fights.
That means I'll have to dominate both the Azuresoul Palace and Supracloud Sanctuary.
With Yin Chen's bonegnaw ants able to give me complete control over someone and how much Aunt Ying trusts me, we'll be taking some risks in the future.
For now, my final goal will be controlling Yun Tianque and Shi Yan.
As for Gujian Qingshuang, I want to see what choice he ultimately makes.
If he chooses to oppose us, I'll make him a target for control as well.
I'd be happier if he didn't, though.
With his wholehearted support, things would go much better for us.”

Tianming knew that his ambitions were too far off for now.
He was only in his twenties, so it was still out of the question.
But the fact that he could plan for things so far in the future made him much different from most people his age.
While Yu Ziqian was busy fooling around with girls, he was planning how to take over the continent.

“Gujian Qingshuang has been really nice to you, and even gave you quite a lot of treasures.
Wouldn't doing that be really shitty?” Ying Huo said.

“That's not a fair characterization.
He's only willing to do all this because I've joined the Sky Palace.
Otherwise he wouldn't even bat an eye.
Not to mention, I'm not set on dooming him.
There's still hope for cooperation with him.
Though, if it turns out that he wants to oppose me no matter what, I'll use the bonegnaw ants as a failsafe.
As long as he does what I say, I won't treat him badly.
It's like how we employed the Latticeheart Curse back on the moon.”

It was still hard to say if it would work out, since the ants could only be deployed during actual combat.
Now, Jiang Qingliu and Long Wanying were the most important seniors for Tianming.
He was really thankful and respectful of them, Jiang Qingliu especially.
He was the one who had given Tianming and the rest a chance to join the Voidsky Skirmish, not to mention he was an important benefactor of Yu Ziqian’s as well.
If Tianming were to pick between Jiang Qingliu and Gujian Qingshuang, he would no doubt pick the former.

“I know you don't really have a good impression of Gujian Qingshuang, because he didn't say anything when the Empyrean Sword Sect brought up killing Jiang Qingliu,” Ying Huo said.

“That's right.
No matter what the circumstances are, sitting idle while other people are asking you to give up the lives of your own people is just trashy.
I wouldn't entrust such a secret to someone like him, lest he let others harm me through his 'inaction'.” Tianming felt that opening up to the chief instructor was too much of a risk.
He didn't want to give up the edge he had from being able to listen in to all of their conversations.

“Come to think of it, the top figures would never expect a brat like you to have ambitions of conquering the entire continent,” Ying Huo said.

“It's still far off from now.
Damn, I really want to know how much more powerful I'll be in five hundred years.”

“I'll be thankful if you survive that long.”

“Nonsense!”

……

The sky was still burning bright by the time they returned to the sixth branch.

“Do you know why I keep thinking about my empire?” Tianming asked.

“Nope.”

“The sun emperor, Qingyu, and my godfather's letter….
All of that indicates that, one day, the celestial orderians will want me dead.
The sun emperor could be the greatest foe I've ever faced.
I have to be prepared.
He has far too much of a head start over me in terms of age and power.
I’ll only stand a chance against him if I can leverage the power of the whole Myriad Solar Sects!” Tianming was already worrying about an eventuality that would only come to pass in a few centuries.

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