Beastmaster of the Ages

They were finally home. After hiding the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb in a dead star that resembled the Ninefold Hell, the three of them took the Soulfiend, which couldn’t enter a lifebound space, and headed home. The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was easy to hide as it didn’t use an actual nova source, but rather the saplings of the Azurecloud Divine Tree. Using their astral physiques, they flew straight toward the sun.

While Tianming was a genius that had overcome even the best of the Mysterium Cluster, he’d only really seen two nova source worlds. Compared to the beautiful and elegant Violetglory, the sun was fierce and explosive. Even from far away, they could feel the burning flames wafting over their skin. The flames seemed to intensify those in Tianming’s own eyes. He recalled the grand battle of the Myriaddragon Mountains where the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect had turned its fate around at the Primodragon Cave, gaining a huge victory over the celestial orderians. However, Li Wudi was still chained down, something that still bothered Tianming to this day.

”This time around, we’ll free him for good!” He knew who they were going up against: the sun emperor that basically controlled the whole of Orderia, Sovereign Wudi. He was unlike the other sovereigns Tianming had encountered.

”Have you awakened?” Tianming asked Yin Chen. They were getting closer and closer to Orderia.

”Will soon.” Yin Chen numbered twenty-five million in the lifebound space, and those were bodies that had evolved beforehand, so they were much stronger than those left behind in Orderia. Having remained dormant for an entire year, the Yin Chens that were left behind had entered deep hibernation, so waking them up would take some time. They also weren’t aware of anything that had happened in Orderia during that time.

”Help me locate Weisheng Moran first,” Tianming instructed. The bodies that were awakening were still calibrating themselves. After an hour, Yin Chen told Tianming that the bodies near Weisheng Moran were gone, so they had lost track of her.

”I see. Keep looking for her and find out what recently happened in Orderia and how everyone is doing. I’ll head back to Flameyellow first.”

”Will do.” Yin Chen was still quite useful as a strategic tool. As the many bodies in Orderia had lost contact for so long, quite a few of them had turned back into normal metal so it would take a few days to fully awaken them.

”The Divine Moon Realm and Flameyellow....” All three of them shared experiences in those places. Beneath Orderia was the lower layer of the astralscape. Soon, they would be able to see the countless mortal realms on the Welkin Plane. They were like flecks of cosmic dust that the Welkin Plane attracted. Eventually, the dust and asteroids would gather over billions of years and form continents, on which life prospered. The lifeforms in the mortal realms were completely insignificant to the other starfaring races of the astralscape, but it was home to Tianming and the rest. Everything about the environment, from the temperature and ambiance to the sights, was gentle yet magnificent.

”The Divine Moon Realm is quite pretty in its own right, too,” Qingyu said as she looked at the moon while passing through. When they were still with the Decimo Dao Palace, her relationship with Lingfeng was nothing special. Their feelings only really sprouted for one another in the Divine Moon Realm. Before awakening her nonabane talent, Qingyu had been quite weak. The two of them had relied on each other there.

”I wonder how they’re doing....” Tianming thought of Huiye Shi and smiled as they continued their descent. He wanted to return to the Flameyellow Continent far more than he did the Divine Moon Realm.

......

Eventually, a man-shaped continent entered their vision. The chaos skyjail was located near the head of the continent. Though it didn’t seem that special, compared to the other mortal realms on the plane, a closer inspection revealed that it was more than met the eye; especially the chaos skyjail. It wasn’t a kind of formation. Instead, it was like the world itself had been cut off there. The more powerful someone was, the harder they would be pushed back by that barrier.

”We’re coming!” When Tianming descended enough, he felt the Omnisentient Threads return to him. His dynasty had returned! The whole continent immediately seemed inflamed. Everyone knew that their emperor had returned. The threads manifested one after another, connecting to his Imperial Will. While the Omnisentient Will from the threads was weak, they had reached tens of billions, making him seem like the true ruler of the world. In Violetglory, he would at most be a minor king. Here, billions of cultivators immediately felt his presence.

”The Human Emperor is back!”

”It’s Li Tianming!”

Almost everyone turned their heads and looked at the sky. Apart from the sun and the moon, their emperor seemed to be the next brightest thing in the sky. Waves of feelings of agitation washed over Tianming, making him tear up as well. Home was wherever his family was. It wasn’t the continent itself, but rather, the people on the continent that walked the same path as him that all seemed to be welcoming him back.

He noticed something else when he was still descending from the skies. It was a kind of feedback! Back then, their Omnisentient Will had nourished him, allowing him to crush Sovereign Xi and fight a hundred thousand gods and even stop the fall of the moon. Yet now, Tianming was a god himself, a solarian. His divine will was far greater than before, and when it reconnected with the wills of the people, his cultivation insights seemed to be directly channeled to the saints, samsarans, and even those at Heavenly Will through the threads! It was far more effective than insights gained from caeli. It was a free gift from Tianming and everyone felt their own heavenly wills growing at a staggering rate.

Tianming himself was quite shocked at the revelation. ”Just like they helped me, I’m helping them in return!” That was the true essence of Imperial Will. The cultivators that benefited from this exchange suddenly experienced explosive progress. Tianming alone had brought up the average level of Flameyellow’s cultivation singlehandedly. Even if that didn’t make them gods all of a sudden, it was still significant. Their cultivation would nourish each other as long as the threads were there!

”It seems like our relationship is symbiotic.” Unlike the honorary followers of Violetglory, those in the Tianming Dynasty were family. He had far closer ties to them and felt really moved that he was able to give back to them. That was the core of his path of cultivation.

”What Flameyellow lacks is resources. Even though I brought up the upper limit of their cultivation, possibly enabling them to become solarians or constelliers and giving their heavenly wills a chance to grow, I still can’t solve the problem of the lacking spiritual energy.” He wanted to strengthen his dynasty if he could. The benefits of tens of billions of believers, however, didn’t amount to even half a million Violetglorians right now, but if their cultivation grew, who knew how much more benefit it would bring? They were the most precious of his treasures. Each Omnisentient Thread was firmly communing with him. Even though he had left for so long, the threads hadn’t decreased in number, but had actually increased instead. The name of the Human Emperor was engraved deep in the hearts of the people.

”Perhaps we can help them migrate to Orderia if possible. That place has more than enough land relative to the population,” Ying Huo said.

”It’s a good idea, but it’ll require the use of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Even then, it’d take months, at the very least. There is no way the celestial orderians would sit by and watch it happen.”

Tianming wasn’t worried that the Myriad Solar Sects wouldn’t accept them, however. The Azurecloud Continent alone had a lot of space. The problem was that the denizens of Flameyellow were still too weak. It wouldn’t require more than a casual effort for any Orderian to wipe out his dynasty if they were brought there. Perhaps any migratory effort could only take place after Tianming had as much influence in Orderia as he did in Violetglory.

”We’ll take it slow. I’m still young, and as long as I’m alive we’ll have more than enough time.” His Omnisentient Threads could still increase in number. Perhaps, one day, all life on the continent would be connected to him. While it was a beautiful place, Flameyellow was weak and lacking in spiritual energy. But if they could go to the sun for nova source and enjoy being guided by Tianming’s Imperial Will, even the weakest members of his dynasty could grow to be on par with ’higher lifeforms’. That was what giving back really looked like.

With how powerful Imperial Will was at the Solar stage, even the short time since Tianming had returned had immediately caused many people who were stuck at the peak of the Samsara stage to break through to the Ascendant stage, forming their astral physiques. With him around, there would be no lack of ascendants. Even though the continent used to have ascendants far back in its history, they had long perished, with one only showing up in the past ten thousand years. But now, even the specters from the Ninefold Hell would no longer be the match of Flameyellow humans.

The prodigal son of Flameyellow had returned to repay his favors. If it weren’t for the fact that he had to return to Orderia for a rescue mission, he would be willing to stay and grow with them for the rest of his life.

”Let’s keep going!” He felt like the continent had changed a lot in his few short years of absence.