Chapter 3401 - I'll Take You to My Hometown When There's a Chance

Tianming's head felt numb after hearing all that. Even though Jian Qinghe had made it sound simple, it was actually far from it.

The current valley lord was Qitian Muyu and Qitian Muchen's father. Perhaps it was part of his plan to overturn the previous valley lord all along, but the way he did it was different from how others had tried to do it in the past. He had treated the previous valley lord like his idol and waited for a chance to ambush him. Eventually, he got into a relationship with the daughter of the valley lord and used that to win trust for himself. Then he became the leader of the rebels and took the life of his own wife to mentally crush the previous valley lord.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

It was a huge plan. The previous valley lord was defeated and locked up at the Grand Myriadpath Ruins and House Qingchuan had ended up destroyed. They were either killed or herded like animals, just like Jian Qinghe, becoming fodder for House Qitian's lifebound beasts.

"So when someone from House Qitian marries someone from House Qingchuan, they'd get the 'Qitian' surname if they have myriadpath source beasts, but join House Qingchuan if they have myriadpath source spirits, right?" Tianming asked.

"Yes." That was why Jian Qinghe's surname was different from her twin brother's. They had two completely different destinies. That was why Qitian Muchen had called her a vegetable!

Though Jian Qinghe spoke with plain words, Tianming could only imagine how much tragedy and pain she was masking behind them. House Qingchuan was nothing more than livestock to the Three Exalted Houses, who were no better than bandits, apex predators! There was no way apex predators would live according to the rules set by sheep. They would only follow another apex predator above them in the chain!

Tianming used to think pretty well of House Qitian, but they seemed far more sinister than House Yumo, who didn't bother hiding their true nature. Qitian Muchen was truly the son of the valley lord, having inherited his two-faced nature.

"I'm sorry for telling you something so depressing. But it isn’t something we have the power to do anything about," Jian Qinghe said.

Tianming shook his head. "Consider it a reminder for me. In this world, one needs power to change the status quo. Also, we have to kill off everyone that means to do us harm and end their line to thoroughly take care of the problem."

Jian Qinghe fell completely silent. "You aren’t the same kind of person as my grandfather at all."

"I'll take you to my hometown when there's a chance and show you what true prosperity looks like," Tianming said.

"Alright. I'll do my best to survive."

"Don't worry. I know the truth now, but I won't be rash. This is no game and the slightest mistake can cost us everything."

"Good." Jian Qinghe finally felt relieved. She was starting to get the feeling that Tianming seemed far older than his age suggested. Most importantly, he was completely different from the people of House Qingchuan. She knew that from the moment she had witnessed him killing people from ancient houses on the Skyward Grandpath.

Tianming pondered a while in silence, then said, "Your grandfather said that House Qitian has committed a great evil. What does that refer to?"

Jian Qinghe's eyes shuddered. "To accelerate the growth of source beasts and increase the number of beast faces they had, everyone from House Qitian would travel to the Million Mundi to let their source beasts feed on lifebound beasts. Unlike starblood, that’s actually public knowledge in Myriadpath Valley and isn’t considered forbidden at all. As their myriadpath source beasts require a lot of food, House Qitian sees the Million Mundi as beastmaster farms. Any world with beastmasters on it has traces of House Qitian. Even a single myriadpath source beast can consume up to a hundred million lifebound beasts each year."

To think that that was public knowledge! Despite Yazi's tiny size, it could decompress its astrons and turn into a gigantic beast the size of a star! A hundred million lifebound beasts wouldn't even fill its mouth a single time.

"Couldn't they just feed on wildbeasts? Lifebound beasts have tripartite souls and someone they're meant to spend their whole lives with!" Tianming said. He had always thought of lifebound beasts as full partners and believed all beastmasters had deep, emotional connections to their lifebound beasts.

Jian Qinghe faintly shook her head. "There simply aren't enough wildbeasts. Not to mention, they don't provide any benefit."

"Fine! Then all of the Three Exalted Houses are bandits.... Well, aside from Auntie and some others." He finally accepted it for what it was. Only House Suishen among the Three Exalted Houses didn't have some kind of esoteric, evil practice.

Infinitum hadn’t suffered too much from the Three Exalted Houses' ruthless exploitation only because it was in a fringe backwater far out of their sphere of influence. Tianming, however, hadn't seen what it was like in the mundi that were exploited by them. Even so, he still saw the countless geniuses who came to Myriadpath Valley to chase their dreams, only to be hunted down like prey by gold ring disciples on the Skyward Grandpath.

"Miss Jian, how long until he tortures you again?" Tianming asked.

"In a year, I suppose. Lately, he's been going to the Yin-Yang World and only returns once every few years," she said.

"Alright." Tianming nodded; he’d just received confirmation from Yin Chen that Qitian Muchen had gone to the Yin-Yang World from the Myriadpath Celestial Formation. Tianming didn't dally, either, and snuck away, noting that Suishen Yao was deeply involved in looking through caeli.

"I hope she doesn't flip out when she realizes that I've snuck away...." Even if she did, it was a price he had to pay. He immediately went to the Myriadpath Celestial Formation and let it transfer him to that butterfly-like monochrome world.

"That's right!" Tianming looked toward the Outer Yang opposite him where the white part was. "Is this the Outer Yang? Why can we only enter the Outer and Inner Yin, but not the Outer and Inner Yang?"

The moment he arrived, billions of Yin Chens woke up. "Is there someone near the Lumistar Formation?"

"There is," Yin Chen answered.

That being the case, Tianming had to wait a while before leaving. "Who is it?"

"Qitian Muchen," Yin Chen said.

"What's he doing there?" Tianming asked, pissed. He already had enough reason to hate Qitian Muchen, and now he was slowing down his vendetta against House Yumo and quest to search for more baleflame!

"He is... getting girls."

"Damn!" The son of the valley lord truly lived his days to the fullest.

***

Within the Outer Yin where the Lumistar Formation was, Qitian Muchen was chatting with a group of girls. They were young, beautiful, and had their own unique charms. All of them were reverends and maniverse disciples at the same time.

The fact that they were able to reach the fifth level of the Foundation stage before the age of two thousand showed that they were among the top figures in Myriadpath Valley. Even if they weren't from the Three Exalted Houses, they were at least members of august or sacred houses who had received gold myriadpath rings at birth.

Having grown up in Myriadpath Valley, their potential and talent far surpassed geniuses from outer mundi. Not to mention, they knew far more about their place in the universe as well. Many outer mundi geniuses grew up thinking that their mundus was all there was in the universe, whereas scions of impressive houses in Myriadpath Valley had traveled to many mundi and were personally attended by their respective reges mundi.