Beastmaster of the Ages

r in the courtyard with cold sweat on her forehead.

Li Yunxi looked worried when she left; it seemed she was on her way to pay Li Wushuang another visit.
With Li Wushuang's current state, no one could comfort her because getting close was truly frightening.

“You can leave, too.
I want to be alone for a while.
You’ll be living here from now.
You can do whatever you want, don't worry about me,” Qingyu said to the maidservants.

“Yes, Goddess.” They retired.

Qingyu was the only one left in the huge courtyard.
Resting her arm on the stone table, she pulled up her sleeves and looked at the malevolent ghostly faces that were faintly visible on the dark side of the moon on her silver-white bane-rings.
Bloody streaks appeared near her bane-rings.
At this moment, Li Wushuang's face seemed to overlap the bane-rings.
Quickly covering her arms, Qingyu let out a long sigh.
However, she couldn't control the trembling of her fingers; they didn’t feel like they belonged to her.

“Father, what should I do….” She lay softly on the stone table, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I am… not your… father father…” a deep, emotionless mechanical voice suddenly sounded from the surface of the stone table.

Startled, Qingyu sat up and wiped away the tears.
She glanced around, but strangely there was no one there

“Who is it?” she asked quietly.

“I am… your big… brother brother….” At that moment, a little silver cockroach on the stone table caught Qingyu's attention.
It looked up at her.

“Then I'm your mother!” Qingyu smacked it.
When she raised her hand again, she found that the little cockroach had split in two.

“What?” 

She was about to smack it once more when Yin Chen quickly raised its antennae and said, “Stop! I… am Tianming’s… lifebound beast!” 

Qingyu's hand froze in mid-air.
“Big Brother?” It was like a drowning person grasping at straws.
She was overjoyed, like she had just crawled out of deadly quicksand.
Carefully holding up the little cockroach, Qingyu burst into tears.
“Big Brother, why’s it a cockroach? You….”

Yin Chen shouted, “Shut up… woman woman!” It was in a hurry.
It spoke as if it was constipated, two words at a time.

“So I can talk to my brother through you? You handsome bug?” Qingyu’s sorrow turned into joy as she stopped pretending.
As soon as Tianming appeared, she would rather follow him like a little girl.

Her words made Yin Chen elated.
The little cockroach was full of vigor and in high spirits.
Although it was slow, Tianming and Qingyu could still communicate if time wasn’t of the essence.
Thus, Tianming and Lingfeng, who were far away on Whitesource Peak, had a long-distance conversation with Qingyu through Yin Chen.

“Big Brother, is it really you? Where are you? Is Feng next to you?” Qingyu eagerly asked.

On Whitesource Peak, a silver ball gradually transformed into a face similar to Qingyu’s, with eyes, ears, a mouth, and a nose that resembled hers.
Following Qingyu's expression and tone, it relayed her words to Tianming.
It would be like she was in front of them if it didn’t stutter.

“We’re on Whitesource Peak, which isn’t far from the Great Saintdragon Peak.
The people of the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect are all here, and Feng is next to me,” Tianming said.

“Big Brother, first let me say I’m sorry.
I wanted to find an opportunity to come over and meet you, but I didn't expect that he would use me as an excuse to send so many people here.
I was forcefully taken here and now I can’t leave,” said Qingyu.

“We know.
It isn’t your fault,” Tianming replied.

“Big Brother…
I’ve asked about you two.
How are you?” she asked.

“We’re fine, of course.
It's you we’re worried about.
Qingyu, take this opportunity to tell us about your situation, including how they’re really treating you, the sun emperor’s attitude towards you, and your betrothal to Long Renshe.
We have to know exactly what’s going on,” Tianming solemnly said.

“Okay, I’ll explain everything.”

Through Yin Chen, Qingyu briefly told them about her situation in the celestial orderians, but concealed the issue of her bane-rings.
“The sun emperor isn’t my father.
He brought me back because I’m a nonabane.
I’m not sure if he plans to nurture me or use me, but he’s definitely not a good man.” 

Upon hearing that she had nothing to do with the sun emperor, Tianming breathed a sigh of relief.
Sure enough, this Li Wudi wasn’t the one that he knew.

“Did he hurt you?” Tianming asked.

“Not yet.”

“Then tell me, what’d Li Wushuang say in the Saintdragon Shrine?”

Qingyu was dumbfounded.