Beastmaster of the Ages

Due to lack of strength, the sun emperor’s fingers were barely raised and the back of his hand was still stuck to the ground. However, his trembling middle finger wiped the smile off Tianming's face. Tianming felt like his heart had been stabbed by the Grand-Orient Sword and he couldn't breathe. At that moment, it was as if he had sunk into the depths of Skywolf Frost’s nova source. The icy silence was suffocating. A chill enveloped his entire body as his scalp tingled and his body froze.

"Stop!" It only took a moment for the Imperial Sword Prison to activate. In that instant, countless sword-shaped symbols exploded, damaging the sun emperor’s flesh. But that all came to an urgent stop and the symbols returned to Tianming's sword. What a bolt from the blue! In just a split second, the “sun emperor” before him would perish. Even now, Tianming's hand, which was wrapped around the sword, was still trembling. His entire body was shaking. He repeatedly made sure that the “sun emperor” was still alive. Unfortunately, his injuries were severe so he had collapsed to the ground, unable to hold on. His middle finger now stood up straight, pointing directly at the “Li Wudi” behind Tianming.

Eyes smoldering, Tianming gritted his teeth and turned around. Behind him, the red-haired “Li Wudi” had a smile of relief on his face. Fists clenched, he stared without blinking, waiting for the scene he had imagined to happen, only to see Tianming turning around. He froze.

"Tianming, kill him. This wily old fox has all kinds of tricks. We can't give him a chance." The red-haired Li Wudi frowned.

"Yes, you’re right. You’re a wily old fox indeed, and your acting skills have also amazed me! It was you from beginning to end, wasn’t it? It seemed so real. Every expression and emotion was close to perfect, wasn’t it? One moment you’ve exploded after years of forbearance, and the next you’re angry and resentful. You played both characters so well. If you were an actor, you’d take the world by storm with your amazing skills!" Toward the end of his speech, Tianming was almost shouting. He had almost fallen for such a low trick. When he saw the red-haired Li Wudi’s look of astonishment, he knew that the truth had been revealed.

Li Wudi had never broken free. The truth was that the sun emperor was the one who split the sun’s soul and placed Li Wudi’s weak and confused soul into his own body, while he occupied Li Wudi's. All this time, the Flameyellow Coffin had refined their bodies into one, forming the main body and the clone, so that was possible. However, Tianming had no knowledge in the area of souls, so he couldn’t have expected it. The sun emperor was quickly able to adapt when his soul entered Li Wudi's body, but Li Wudi couldn’t even speak because of the fragility of his soul, the chaos of the situation, and his inability to adapt to the sun emperor’s body.

Influenced by the sun emperor’s performance of “two souls in one body”, Tianming would use the Imperial Sword Prison to kill the “sun emperor” as soon as possible. Yes, he had almost killed the gold-haired man in front of him. Li Wudi's soul had no opportunity to defend himself. Because of the sun emperor’s terrifying power and methods, Tianming would definitely kill him as quickly as possible. Therefore, he had even predicted Tianming's thought process. Once Li Wudi's soul and the sun emperor's body were destroyed, the real sun emperor would use Li Wudi's body to play the role of Tianming's Godfather and live through another identity. With his intelligence, he was completely qualified for this role. He could accept Tianming and fight beside him from then on.

"If it weren’t for Godfather’s middle finger, I would’ve fallen for the sun emperor’s trap!" In the fateful duel, the defeated sun emperor transforms into his godfather, and he personally kills Li Wudi. With such an ending, would he still be considered the winner? That was the worst kind of failure. He would be the most pitiful loser! Tianming had never expected the bastard to almost succeed at dealing him a final blow that would hurt for life. He knew exactly how dangerous the situation was and his heart was still pounding. The sun emperor's words as "Li Wudi" still echoed in his ears. But now, the words that had stirred him sounded so dangerous.

With the Grand-Orient Sword firmly held in hand, he pointed at the red-haired man. "One last question. Do you still have any cards up your sleeve?"

"Haha!" The red-haired man laughed, trembling and knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face. "Fuck your whole family. Your luck is so good that you can turn everything around even at the edge of danger. I truly believe that the universe was created by your family. Come on then, do it. You’ve convinced me. You’re amazing. I wish you good luck and all the best, good health and a prosperous life!" he laughed.

The Grand-Orient Sword rested on his forehead. He was completely crazy. "Wait! As the saying goes, the winner is right and the loser is wrong. The people will definitely leave numerous biographies and legends about you. And in those legends, I must be a great villain, spurned by all. So I want to do one last thing to make me look better. What do you think?" the red-haired man laughed.

Could he have any more tricks? Tianming said, "Tell me, how do you plan on doing that?"

"Let’s switch again. After all, this body engages in symbiotic cultivation. There’s still a bird inside. If you kill this body, that bird would be useless. Do you think that’ll make me look better?" Fiery clouds seethed in the sky. His eyes became much clearer. "To put it bluntly, my soul is unique. I don't want to die in someone else’s body." 

"So you finally admit that my godfather is an individual and not another you," Tianming said.

"There’s still a lot of secrets. Your godfather can tell you all about them later. That’s all I am suggesting. What do you think?" The red-haired man looked at him calmly.

Tianming didn't dare make a decision; he was frightened by the man’s many transformations. Who knew what murderous intentions were hidden in his proposal? However, the matter of Li Wudi's lifebound beast did indeed give him a headache.

"Tianming...." Struggling to look up, the gold-haired man finally spoke. "Let him do it. He’s accepted his fate," he said.

“As expected of the other me." The red-haired man didn't need to move. The two souls separated from their bodies and returned to their original bodies. Now, the sun emperor was the sun emperor, and Li Wudi was Li Wudi. Crawling to his feet, the sun emperor looked up at the raging fire in the sky through narrowed eyes, overwhelmed with emotion. Then he fell to his knees and kowtowed three times to the world.

"Send me on my way." He turned around and smiled at Tianming.

Li Wudi, who had just returned to his own body, was still weak. He nodded to Tianming.

"There’ll be no more switching, right?" Tianming wasn’t as knowledgeable when it came to the soul. He stared at the golden-haired man who was kneeling on the ground, looking out at the world that had once belonged to him. A smile graced his lips. That kind of fiery love was unmistakable. Hatred could be faked, but not love.

Tianming understood that there was no mistake. He activated the Imperial Sword Prison. Goodbye, Sun Emperor.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.