Beastmaster of the Ages

It was a face recognized by every single resident of the Grand-Orient Sect. Li Wudi was back! But he wasn’t the drunken, muddled Li Wudi that people thought him to be for the past decade. The Li Wudi standing in front of them could make the earth tremble in his presence, and blood mist fill the sky.

His eyes glowed a menacing red, like a hellish sea of blood. Similarly, his hair was dyed with the same shade, with blood still dripping off its tips. The only thing he wore was a pair of pants, while the rest of his body was exposed completely. As such, the crowd could clearly see that the wound on his heart caused by the Venomdrake Spike had already begun to heal.

But that wasn’t even the scariest change on his body! At that moment, the four bane rings on his right arm began to distort and morph. They were also dyed red with blood, their appearances like symbols representing death that could never be forgotten once seen. As the changes settled, the four rings had turned into four blood-colored, hideous beast faces! Unlike the black text etched into Tianming’s arm, Li Wudi’s bane rings looked fierce and lively, each face with a different expression from the other.

Still, that wasn’t the end. As the blood mist gathered around him, a fifth bane ring formed on his right arm, its shape representing the head of a roaring, blood-red dragon.

After spending the past fourteen years traversing the line of life and death, Li Wudi had awakened as a pentabane, with all of his bane rings turning into blood-red beast faces. Even the second ancestor only had four bloodbane rings, which hadn’t morphed into beast faces.

Yet, it didn’t not stop there, as a sixth bane-ring appeared on his left arm. It was the face of a qilin, looking somewhat similar to the dragon, but even larger by comparison. And with that, a total of six ancient beasts were tattooed into Li Wudi’s arms, each of them roaring.

“Hexabane!!” Huangfu Fengyun gasped from within the crowd, his jaw almost falling to the ground as he stumbled back. As for the others, they were too stunned to even make a sound.

The implication behind Li Wudi’s change was obvious, especially to the elites of the sect. Never had the Li Saint Clan seen someone with six bane-rings, nor ones that could change in color and turn into the shapes of fearsome beasts. 

That said, none of them knew about Tianming’s Aeonic Grandbane.

“Li Wudi! But how? Wasn’t he crippled fourteen years ago!”

“No, this can’t be happening!”

It would be an understatement to call these changes phenomenal. Every single one of the elders had their jaws drop, gaping at Li Wudi like a group of fools. That was especially true for Shangguan Jingshu, who had collapsed to the floor and was shaking uncontrollably—not out of fear, but out of shock.

Six was a number beyond the Grand-Orient Sect’s imagination. Having six bane rings meant that Li Wudi had surpassed the first ancestor, whose tales were so glorious it was hard to imagine what someone with six bane rings was capable of. Even more dangerous was the fact that Li Wudi wasn’t just any young prodigy, but a man who had broken free from a painful past and emerged stronger than ever! His talent, coupled with his experience, was enough to make him the worst nightmare of his foes!

All those who had just witnessed Li Wudi’s change could feel the world around them crumbling, and that included the likes of Yuwen Fengtian and Su Yunzhi.

“It must be some kind of trick… an illusion, probably! Li Wudi was crippled!” Yuwen Fengtian screamed hysterically, trying to seek the approval of those around him. But even Su Yunzhi could only stare dumbly. No cripple could ever release such an aura.

“He reached the Sky Saint stage! And that weapon belonged to Li Xinghe, the second ancestor. It’s the Crimsonblood Saber, with over forty saintly heavenly patterns!” Tears flowed uncontrollably from Su Yunzhi’s eyes as he spoke. As earth saint beastmasters, they knew very well how strong sky saints were. After all, only one person in the Grand-Orient Realm had reached that stage, and that was the Elysian Emperor himself!

Yuwen Fengtian also fell to the floor, recalling the day he had handed the Venomdrake Spike to Yuwen Taiji over ten years ago. When that young man from the Li Saint Clan had returned from the Abyssal Battlefield weeping and his face written with pain and despair, Yuwen Fengtian merely smirked.

“What can a dying clan and a foolish kid even achieve?” That was what he had said back then.

But this red-haired demon was nothing like the weeping young man he knew back then. Fire blazing in his eyes, Li Wudi took only one step and appeared before Yuwen Taiji. Yuwen Taiji had completely forgotten about Li Tianming, and was blankly staring at Li Wudi with the Grand-Orient Sword still held against the floor.

“Fourteen years. I never imagined this day would arrive!” Yuwen Taiji was smiling, yet tears flowed down his cheeks.

“But I’ve been waiting for this very day for those fourteen years!” Li Wudi rasped as he gazed at his foe.

“It’s over, Yuwen Taiji!”

At the same time, a breathtaking change was happening to his lifebound beast, as well. It had long evolved using the what was left by their ancestors, but its changes had been suppressed by the Venomdrake Spike. The day Li Wudi broke free from his bane was the day of its transformation, too.

Its figure quickly expanded, muscles appearing on what had been mere bone and skin. Its old, withered feathers were all replaced by new ones ten times the original size, all blood-red in color. When the crimson kunpeng leaped into the air, its wings extended and blotted out the entire sky.

“That’s the Ancient Infernalblood Kunpeng, a sixth-order saint beast!” someone cried from within the crowd, stirring yet another wave of discussions. Who could have expected his Void Kunpeng to evolve to such an extent? In fact, the Ancient Infernalblood Kunpeng was larger than the Yangfiend Taotie and the Yinfiend Taotie combined, its claws as sharp as saint weapons.

The moment had come, as Li Wudi and his kunpeng looked coldly at their opponent.

"Still as fond of bluffing yourself with bravado as you used to?" Yuwen Taiji was laughing maniacally, but could barely hide his panic. He had thought Li Wudi would at least answer him, only to find out how wrong he was. Li Wudi was like a bloody demon, a grim reaper ready to harvest his soul with the Crimsonblood Saber. When the Kunpeng spread its wings, he could see the world going dim as even the sun was drowned by the sea of blood!

Without hesitation, Li Wudi charged toward Yuwen Taiji, his saber meeting the Grand-Orient Sword. The blood mist almost instantaneously devoured Yuwen Taiji’s Black-White Ki.

“Die!” Yuwen Taiji wielded his sword and used the last stance of Godslayer Sword Art, God Slaying Strike! A sword ki mixed with Black-White Ki shot into the sky, its sparks like fireworks in the sky. His two taoties attacked from opposite directions, their abilities of opposing elements exploding out.

Needless to say, Yuwen Taiji was a fearsome opponent at his full strength. But Li Wudi was indifferent, his saber slashing out amidst the fog of blood.

“This is the second ancestor’s most prized technique, the Infernalblood Strike!” Many recognized the technique that was claimed to be the deadliest battle art within the entire Li Saint Clan. It was said that this technique had long been lost to history. Yet when Li Wudi used the Strike of Ten-Thousand Bloodbanes, it appeared even more threatening than history claimed!

When the saber crashed down, countless blades rained down like a torrent of blood. At the same time, the kunpeng used its ability to shoot out innumerable bloody feathers, almost like Ying Huo’s Skyscorch Featherblast.

Yuwen Taiji had no chance, facing the revenge-seeking pair. The two taoties were instantly defeated, their bodies shredded by the saber and feathers. Their blood formed a small pool on the ground, though they were lucky enough to still be alive.

However, Yuwen Taiji was in an even worse state, as the Grand-Orient Sect flew out of his hand and landed next to Tianming, its hilt still dirtied by Yuwen Taiji’s blood. Another swift slash, and his left hand detached from his body and was sent flying right into Yuwen Fengtian’s face.

“GAH!!” Yuwen Taiji was pale, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. There was no way he could win against the bloodthirsty demon standing in front of him right now!

“Li Wudi!!” he growled through clenched teeth, and his eyes widened with anger. It still felt like a dream, a nightmare about his own karmic retribution. He simply couldn’t understand how someone who had been crippled for the past fourteen years could be this powerful.

“Why is a long-defeated loser like you still haunting me!” Yuwen Taiji screamed as death loomed over him. Li Wudi was directly in front of him, the Crimsonblood Saber hovering right over his head.