Beastmaster of the Ages

Chapter 3161 - Fall from Grace

The third person was a girl in a light blue dress. Her blueish white hair was waist length. Compared to the lightly dressed Suishen Yao with her summery vibe, she seemed to be in more of a winter mood.

Suishen Yao was naturally beautiful, so her drab, pajama-looking outfit didn't take away from her appearance at all. As for the other girl, she seemed to be tightly wrapped in layers, as if she would be cold without them. There were traces of white frost on her face as well, giving her quite a cold visage.

There were three minor pathkeepers in House Suishen. Apart from the siblings, the girl here was one of them. She was called Suishen Shuang and ranked fifth in the Fortuna Ranking. She was the little sister of the major pathkeeper, Suishen Yuan, and the siblings' cousin. As was usually the case with elite houses or clans, the familial relationships often intermingled in confusing ways. It was already decent that they could clearly call each other cousins instead of half-siblings.

Didn't Eminent Ranxing get two major pathkeepers to compete over who would get Suishen Yao? I wonder if Suishen Shuang and Suishen Zhao have that kind of relationship, Tianming thought as he headed over. If so, he couldn't afford to offend Suishen Shuang in the slightest, as that would be the same as offending Suishen Zhao. While Suishen Zhao was some three hundred years younger than Suishen Shuang for now, their ages wouldn't be that different once they were thousands of years old.

"Disciple Li Tianming greets you, Master, and the two minor pathkeepers." Tianming made sure to emphasize his inferior status to all of them present.

"Oh, so you still recognize me as your master. Why’d you take so long to show up when I was looking for you?" Suishen Yao said, unhappy.

Weren't you the one who said you were annoyed and demanded me not to bother you?! Tianming knew that reasoning with her would get him nowhere, however. "It was my bad, Master. If I'm summoned next time, I’ll come running on all fours."

"Being on all fours? Do you think that makes you faster or something?!"

Suishen Yao wanted to hit him, but Suishen Shuang tugged on her arm and said, "Yaoyao, he rushed here straight from the Myriadpath Celestial Formation. He's already pretty fast."

Tianming's first impression of the girl was good. Even though it was her elder brother that had dragged Tianming out of Suishen Cave by the collar and threw him out, Tianming wouldn't hold her brother's actions against a beauty like her.

He was nice like that.

Suishen Zhao gave Tianming a good look and said, "Brother Li, you seem to have improved in the five years I haven't seen you."

Even though Tianming hadn’t made a breakthrough since that close brush with death at Fallengrace Peak, his five years of meditating over caeli had still conferred less visible benefits. "Minor Pathkeeper, you seemed to have made improvements yourself too."

"Shall we spar for a bit?" Suishen Zhao asked.

"Sure!" Tianming hadn't had a good fight for some time.

Suishen Yao was quite happy to hear that; she had called Tianming to come to crush the pride of her younger brother, after all. "Alright. Fight over here right now."

The two had no choice but to comply.

"You can't just fight without something to spice it up," Suishen Yao said.

"Sis, just be out with it. What's your opportunistic scheme this time?" Suishen Zhao said, exasperated.

"If you lose, you can't tell on me to the elders for a hundred years, no matter what I do!" From the sound of it, Suishen Yao's antics often got reported on.

"Fine!" Suishen Zhao squeezed his fists tight. "What if I win?"

"I’ll no longer poke my nose into your dates with Shuangshuang," Suishen Yao said.

"Stupid! Who would go on dates with him? He's still so young," Suishen Shuang said, blushing.

"Don't try to pull one over on me, you old cow. My brother's still young and fresh. You really got a good deal," Suishen Yao said, leering at her.

"Ugh...." Suishen Zhao's heart beat faster and faster. Even though their relationship had been fixed, they were still young, far too young to be getting married and leaving a legacy.

By the time they finished negotiating, Tianming was ready. As much as I want to be polite, if I lose to you before your elder sister, I’ll be worthless to her! Sorry in advance! In terms of status, his was far worse than theirs. However, he didn't worry when it came to innate talent! That had always been his strength.

"Come!" Suishen Zhao's eyes were filled with fighting spirit. Their agreement to fight a rematch had come five years earlier than expected.

Tianming's power suddenly surged. He used his abilities, divine wonder, and his recovered totems on an all-out assault!

"Yaoyao!" During the fight, Suishen Shuang witnessed the decapath era godswords from up close. Even though it was only for a split second, she saw them before they were infused into the Grand-Orient Sword. The ten different aspects of the swords were clearly visible to her. "Your disciple has ten totems?!"

"That's right. He has ten bane-rings on his arms," Suishen Yao said.

"Aren't you shocked? Ten bane-rings! Even our house only has nine bane-rings, with our tenth totem formed from our vita...."

"Why would I be?" Suishen Yao rolled her eyes and lightly squeezed Suishen Shuang's pretty neck. "Shuangshuang, take a close look. His totem simulacrum seems like a low-level one. It's onefold at best, and they don't even seem like they'll be able to hold a stable state. They can only unleash their powers through a cosmic artifact. They're just fragmented totems.

"Not to mention, he's a tainted beastmaster whose lifebound beasts aren't able to independently fight on their own. He may look like a jack of all trades, but he's just a master of none. He might seem impressive now, but he'll fall from grace in just a few short years."

"Is that your own opinion or did you hear others say this?" Suishen Shuang blankly asked.

"Everyone in Myriadpath Valley says so."

"Even the eminents?"

"Of course. Your dad talked about the time when Little Zhao got defeated. I boasted to him that Li Tianming was my disciple and had boundless potential, being the strongest black ring disciple in history. Your dad just smiled and said that I would be embarrassed in fifty years time for saying something so baseless," Suishen Yao unhappily said.

"My dad? Okay!" Suishen Shuang turned back to the battle and saw that Suishen Zhao had used Eternal Tribulation Lotus. "Little Zhao!" The moment she said those words, the battle ended and Suishen Zhao collapsed before their eyes.

"Huh?" Suishen Yao almost bit her tongue from the shock. Dressed in her pajamas with her unkempt hair flowing in the wind, she looked up to the sky.

Tianming slowly descended farther away and saluted. "Minor Pathkeeper, you have gone easy on me!"

He had won.

"What?" Suishen Shuang seemed to be in a daze. Her attention had been on the conversation, as she thought that the fight was just starting to warm up. But it ended before she saw anything. "Fuuuuckwhat...?" Suishen Yao unconsciously cursed, wide eyed and stupefied. It was quite a cute look for her.

"Sis, can a lady like you not curse like that?" Suishen Zhao said when he got up. He seemed rather dejected.

Suishen Yao audibly spat and laughed. "You'll always be number two, inferior to my disciple! How dare you boss the master of someone who defeated you around? How shameless are you?!"

"Yaoyao, don't keep hitting Little Zhao while he's down!" Suishen Shuang helped Suishen Zhao up and dusted him off. She truly was a kind, elder sisterly girlfriend that most would dream to have.

Suishen Zhao himself was quite crestfallen. He had been quite confident and thought that he would be able to win this rematch, only to lose even faster than before. He was beginning to feel rather helpless. Thankfully, Suishen Shuang was there to console him. Though she seemed cold, she was gentler than anyone's real elder sister could be. The feeling of inadequacy quickly vanished from his heart.

"Sis Shuang, I'm sorry for embarrassing House Suishen." He hadn't wanted to embarrass himself before the elder girl he liked, so he was feeling rather vexed.

Suishen Shuang shook her head and said, "Enough of that. There's no such thing as someone who never loses. Even valley lords experience losses from time to time before becoming invincible in the astralscape. What's important isn't victory itself, but the ability to get up again and keep fighting after a defeat!"

"I understand. I'll do that!" He was already feeling much better. He glared at Suishen Yao, hinting that that was what a good elder sister was like, unlike her.

Suishen Yao rolled her eyes. "Foolish brother, what do you know? Shuangshuang is being kind to you to whip you into shape. Seeing how much she spoils you, you should have turned into a pathetic, useless sack of shit long ago. I’m only mean to you to offset all the undeserved kindness, or you'll be spoiled into uselessness!"

Tianming didn't know how to react to that forced justification.

"Yaoyao, zip your mouth!" Suishen Shuang snapped, embarrassed and flustered.

Tianming noticed that the short conversation had helped defuse the awkwardness of Suishen Zhao's loss. Suishen Zhao turned to Tianming with a doubtful look. "Brother Li, why do I feel like you were able to fight more freely than last time?"

Tianming said, "I have a movement ability called Fiveway Blitzrun. This time around, we aren't fighting in a confined arena, so I wasn’t limited to a small area. That gives me the advantage when it comes to mobility."

"I see!" Suishen Zhao nodded in understanding. "Brother Li, you don't look like it, but you're actually quite a hard fighter to deal with!"

Tianming merely smiled. He didn't quite know how to describe Suishen Zhao. No doubt, he was someone with a sense of pride that simply did not permit him to have any thoughts about how inadequate he was. As such, he no doubt envied Tianming.

That didn't mean he didn't feel some sense of competitiveness toward Tianming. In fact, it would only keep growing after today. If his mindset could be set straight, it would no doubt be a good thing for him in the future.

Suishen Yao's mood was even better than it had been moments before. From her expression, Tianming knew that she had wanted him to win.