Beastmaster of the Ages

"I know! The bloodline wisteria might be hard to deal with, but I trust that the Infinitum Bodhimanda will definitely be able to wipe it out, so those who were lost today may rest in peace," Yusan Taifeng said, his head lowered.

"Yusan Taifeng," Yi Daiyan said, "I promise that I’ll avenge the fallen by sacrificing the entire ebon race to them."

"You have my utmost gratitude, Rex Mundi!" Yushan Taifeng bowed. Nobody doubted the sincerity of Yi Daiyan's words at all. They proceeded to discuss what to do next.

"Rex Mundi, the ebons suffered quite a huge loss today as well. No doubt, their spirits have been crushed. However, the return of the Ebonfiend and Shenxi Xingtian might be what they need to get themselves together. I worry that the remaining ebons that’re hidden in the subterranean caverns might be really hard to deal with," Shuntian Bohan said, speaking so naturally that it was like he had never been on the ebons' side to begin with.

"Given the current situation, it's a good thing that he returned," Yi Daiyan said.

"How so?" The others were curious as well.

"The reason I left him out there was so that it’d be easier for me to take you guys out. Now that everyone’s back on the right path and he returned, he's the one trapped in here with us and unable to leave," Yi Daiyan said.

Everyone was shocked at the audacity of her words. In other words, she was saying that she would be unable to kill Shenxi Xingtian while the Ebonfiend was out in space. Only when he returned and was locked in by the astralguard formation would he be vulnerable to being killed.

There was still a chance that he would cross all lines that shouldn't be crossed if he was driven to desperation, however, so his infinitum-class astralship was quite worrisome to have around. They began to wonder if Yi Daiyan had intentionally let Shenxi Xingtian in.

At that point, Yi Daiyan's gaze turned cold. "You were right. After this battle, the ebons will no doubt withdraw even further. They’ll no longer mount proactive attacks and will at most harass us with beast waves. As long as the infinitum-class warbeasts they control aren't killed, the Infinitum Bodhimanda will never know true peace and many more innocent lives will be lost."

"I believe that those infinitum-class beasts will be harder to deal with than the Ebonfiend," Yushan Taifeng said.

"That's correct," Yi Daiyan agreed. They had witnessed the might of the bloodline wisteria only moments ago. "Infinitum-class warbeasts and beast waves are the ebons' trump cards, so things are not looking that optimistic for us yet."

"Rex Mundi, are there any specific things we can do?" the others asked.

Yi Daiyan swept her gaze across all of them. "Return to your respective territories and withdraw like the ebons. Don't come out. After that, the beast waves will spread all over the place. That’ll be our new normal. What you all should focus on is protecting your homes, legacies, and people."

"Is letting them attack us the only thing we can do?"

The ebons might be in hiding, but they were still capable of effectively causing pain for others.

"All you have to do is to endure. Leave the rest to me," Yi Daiyan said. While she always spoke with a calm tone, her words were somehow reassuring. "I can also freely roam the subterranean world and even break through their ether-class defensive formations. For every time they launch a beast wave, I’ll go in and slaughter them in turn, getting rid of them for good."

In other words, Yi Daiyan wanted to lean into her advantages, rendering the ebons' low profile useless. All she needed from the Infinitum Regal Clans was to stay put. Once the ebons ran out of places to hide, that was when the clans would be needed for the final push. "That’ll be the day the Infinitum Bodhimanda rids Ebonia of its cancerous tumor."

It was quite a reassuring notion. Would the ebons' beast waves be more effective than Yi Daiyan's solo slaughter? Soon, they would find out. Either way, everyone was filled with confidence in her.

Shuntian Bohan pointed at the sky and carefully asked, "Rex Mundi, we have enemies underground, but there’s also enemies up above. Two of the thirteen Infinitum Regal Clans aren't on our side yet." Everyone knew that he was referring to the ebons and the Swordgod Lin Clan on the Sun.

"How do you see it?" she asked.

Respectfully, Shuntian Bohan said, "They might not be rebelling on the surface, but their real goal is to achieve a balance of power with the rex mundi. No doubt, they plan to reap the spoils of our battle with the ebons. I believe it’ll be wise to reconsider who they are to us. Lin Xiaodao and Lin Feng, especially, are worth paying attention to. I have a plan to make them show their true colors."

"Let's hear it, then."

"We just defeated the ebons and are about to celebrate, so we should invite leaders from all of the Infinitum Regal Clans except the ebons. Not just for the feast, but also to discuss the grand plan of wiping the ebons out forever. We can use the name of the Infinitum Bodhimanda to order the council members of the Lin Clan to come. Once Lin Xiao and the rest are here, we can put them under house arrest. If they don't come, we’ll have reason to suspect that they're in cahoots with the ebons! It’d be an unspoken acknowledgment!"

Yi Daiyan pursed her lips for a moment. "Your plan assumes that they’re already traitors to begin with, so it's only natural that they won't come. Instead, you’d be proactively pitting us against them, pushing them to join with the ebons by giving them good cause to fight us, the stronger force, by banding together."

"That...."

"I know you have ill intentions toward the Swordgod Lin Clan. You wish to wipe them out, do you not?"

Shuntian Bohan immediately retreated in regret. Lowering his head, he nervously said, "I wouldn’t dare. All I want is for the Infinitum Bodhimanda to prosper."

"So long as you understand. Fighting two enemies at once isn’t wise. We don't have an overwhelming advantage over the ebons, so let's focus on wiping them out for now before we consider other things."

"Yes!" Everyone nodded and no longer dared to bring the Sun up. However, they exchanged weird looks with one another. Compared to the languishing ebons, the people on the Sun should actually make them more wary, yet Yi Daiyan didn't seem the least bit bothered by them.

"I heard that Lin Feng is also a decabane, and the two of them have white hair. They also look quite similar. Don't tell me that those two monsters are mother and son...."

"If that's really the case, it’d be terrifying. What would the ebons be able to do against both of them combined?"

"One controls Ebonia while the other controls the Sun.... Insane!"

"The question is... isn't Yi Daiyan the one who stole the Ancestral Swordheart and caused Lin Mu to die? Could Lin Feng want to cast aside his useless father in favor of his mother?"

Rumors like that were only spread in the most discrete of circumstances.

......

The Ebonfiend had gone underground to hide. Shenxi Xingtian's eyes were crying tears of blood. At that moment, a vortex opened up in the darkness behind him and a wrinkled 'youth' walked out of it.

"Meng Ying, how did you end up like that?" Shenxi Xingtian asked.

"Enough small talk. I heard you lost again," Meng Ying mocked.

"If you’re here to laugh at me, leave," the ebon coldly snapped.

"I’m not." Meng Ying sat down, knocked on the stone table, and stared at the ebon ruler. "I’m here to introduce you to some extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely important friends of mine."

Shenxi Xingtian was curious who in the world would deserve such an important emphasis four times over.

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