Beastmaster of the Ages

Chapter 3971 - Gambit of Cruelty

"Your younger siblings are the tenth-ranked geniuses and have the potential to be some of the strongest elites among you. They’re far superior to my friends over there. Your siblings' deaths will be a huge loss to your entire kind. In fact, you’re the ones getting the better end of the deal," Tianming said.

"Is that so?" Shiming Yisheng darkly smiled as a white longsword suddenly appeared in his hand. Unlike cosmic artifacts, the sword looked incredibly plain, like jade, and seemed to not be of this world. However, it had a kind of power that simply couldn't be predicted.

A cosmic relic? It was the second cosmic relic he had seen since the Worldgazer Skyeye. In fact, the sword appeared much more powerful. Without another word, Shiming Yisheng thrust it into a nearby cosmic god essence.

"No!" That essence had belonged to Lin Zhao, the one who’d voiced doubts about Tianming. The essence broke apart and turned to ash, marking his final death!

Shiming Yisheng smirked. "What kind of wild dreams are you having? The trade will be one for one. You can only take two with you. Choose!"

"Lin Zhao!" Seeing the death of their comrade only fueled their hate even more. This was war, not a mere training exercise! Jiang Lincheng and the rest could finally feel death's presence. What would Tianming do? Who would he save?

Tianming's eyes turned completely bloodshot after witnessing the killing. "Bai Ling, kill the male one!" he said, glaring at Shiming Yixing's essence.

"Are you sure?!" Bai Ling excitedly asked.

"Kill!" he growled.

Bai Ling was quite the sadist, and didn't care too much. It entered Shiming Yixing's essence and ravaged it with the terrifying power of the terra.

"Aaaaah! Brother! Sister! Save me!" Shiming Yixing had never dreamed that Tianming would actually go through with it! And not only was he going to kill him, he wanted to destroy his essence even faster than Shiming Yishi had Lin Zhao's.

Shiming Yixing cried nonstop until his essence drastically dimmed. The voice stopped, but the echo still lingered. He was a genius of high status and had never expected to actually be killed after being taken hostage. But just like that, he was gone! Once dead, the bloodline he had no longer mattered.

"Shiming Yixing...." Shiming Yiyue felt like her world was collapsing. Filled with loathing toward Shiming Shengshi, she howled, "It's all your fault! You caused him to die with your fake posturing! Was it worth it?! For your stupid pride?! You fucking retards! Mom and Dad are watching your foolish actions from Skyfiend Hall! Waaaah!"

The despair had broken her. She had lost her life partner over the inconsequential life of Lin Zhao!

Tianming stomped on her cosmic god essence and smirked. "Stop your yammering. If your siblings fuck around again, you'll be gone, too. It seems like you aren’t that good as hostages after all."

He turned to the two wonderians again. "How does it feel? Do you think I stand to lose more than you? All I’ll lose is a group of friends that I recently got to know. You, on the other hand, will lose your siblings. Your stupid attempt at intimidating me resulted in your younger brother's death. Want to give it another go? I'm more than happy to take your sister from you forever as well."

Shiming Yisheng hadn't thought that Tianming's reaction would be that swift after he had killed Lin Zhao! He hadn't expected his younger brother to truly die, something which had left him shaken, though he didn't show it. Instead, rage filled his chest, causing his entire face to contort. His act of asserting dominance had resulted in consequences he wasn’t willing to accept.

Tianming didn't have a choice, either. Against someone who was willing to go that far, he couldn't afford to show the slightest sign of weakness. If he had, the most he could save would have been limited to two! Instead, killing one of his hostages might lead to more being saved.

The only solution for cruelty was more cruelty. He could only bet on the fact that Shiming Shengshi wouldn't be able to take the deaths of their siblings, who were also geniuses that might rival themselves in power once they matured.

"This is your final warning! I only have one hostage left. If you kill anyone else, she'll die, too! Think carefully—is the life of your precious royal-lineage wonderians worth as much as my friends? You've already made that mistake once, so try not to repeat it. We either all live, or everyone dies! Your parents are watching you make the decision. What's it gonna be?" Tianming sneered.

The wonderian pair were feeling incredibly vexed. They’d made a prideful entrance and had thought they could get away with anything, but that’d only made it even harder for them to back down after their costly mistake. "We accept the trade!"

Most of the pressure on them came from the tracing rings they were wearing. Every single action was being watched by their seniors, and the fact that they had already doomed their brother was already a huge mark on their reputation as they knew it; they had no choice but to yield.

Tianming smiled. If they really forced his hand to the point that he couldn't save anyone, he would have no choice but to resort to Ji Ji's Vaporize to escape. Fortunately, things had turned out well. "Make sure you never forget that you were the ones that made me kill your brother because of your stupid posturing."