Beastmaster of the Ages

Speaking in an environment like this would drive Tianming mad. Yin Chen kept itself stuck close to his body, unwilling to come out even if it would die. At the very least, Ying Huo and Meow Meow were nice enough to emerge and use their elements to blast away at the tidal wave of human excreta to clear out some space. Even then, the charred shit smell only made it worse. It was a nightmare that would last the rest of Tianming’s life. He was so horrified that he couldn’t help but tug on Yanwu Tian’s sleeve, his teeth chattering.

”What in the world are you seeing for you to be so terrified? I’ve been here for years and I’m already used to it,” Yanwu Tian somewhat derisively said.

”Shut up. If you got a load of what I’m seeing, you’d be utterly horrified too,” Tianming snapped. He switched from grabbing the sleeve to his collar. This was the ruler of countless mysterians. Fortunately, nobody else could see what was currently transpiring. ”Don’t be nervous. I just have a simple question for you.”

”Even if you kill me here, I won’t die. There’s no need for me to be nervous,” Yanwu Tian calmly said. The old man shot the youth a cold look, but despite his serene appearance, he actually couldn’t quite contain the awe he felt. Was that what a true infinitum-class genius was like? Having not gone to a sixth-class nova source world before, Yanwu Tian shuddered at what he had experienced.

”That’s right. While your caelum being extinguished won’t kill you, it won’t stop me from making my way to Skyway Monostar to snuff you out in the coming years. Trust me, it’d be all too easy for me to do if I bothered.”

”Fine, ask away.” Yanwu Tian’s expression turned meek. He no longer dared to risk antagonizing a youth that bore infinite potential.

”Listen up. Have you seen Etherean Zhaohua in the past three months, or heard anything to do with him?”

Yanwu Tian blankly stared. ”Etherean Zhaohua? I’ve seen him in the past three months. What happened to him?”

Tianming closely observed his reaction. The rulers of nova source worlds were no pushovers, so he had to scrutinize every microexpression on their faces. ”So you’ve seen him?”

”Yes.”

”Where and when?”

”Half a month ago in the wondersky realm of Skyway Monostar. As the etherean of the divine wondersky race, he has access to our wondersky realm.”

”Half a month ago....” Tianming stared at him with some suspicion. He’d already left the Oldgod Domain around that time, and both of Ethrean Zhaohua’s ether-class divine wonders had already been assimilated by Moran.

”That’s right. To be specific, it was seventeen days ago,” Yanwu Tian said with certainty.

”What’d he tell you?” Gritting his teeth, the old man relented. ”He asked me about details of your growth and rise in Violetglory, as well as your sun.”

”Is that so? He seems pretty concerned about me. I have some more questions,” Tianming said with a smirk.

”Ask away,” Yanwu Tian said, shrugging. What was the real reason he hadn’t left the wondersky realm right away? Was he really afraid of Tianming’s threat, or was he trying to get some useful information for the divine wonderians? Tianming had some rough guesses.

”Did Etherean Zhaohua ask you to tell him things that he presumably already knows?” Tianming made sure to ask really slowly, but didn’t forget to apply some pressure. ”Quick, answer me!”

Alas, those tactics wouldn’t work on Yanwu Tian, especially when he couldn’t be killed in the Skydome Battlefield. He was a little stunned at first, but then he laughed. ”What a weird question. Why would he ask about things he already knew about? He was merely trying to learn everything about you that he could to patch up any holes so that he could cover all his bases before luring you out in the Infinitum Mundus. Then again, you’re already quite powerful now, so you must have quite a reputation there as well, right?”

Yanwu Tian had answered a question with a question. Tianming was quite sure that he had no doubt that the one he’d met was the actual Etherean Zhaohua. Otherwise, there would be no point in trying to trick Tianming into revealing any helpful information at all for some merit. If the divine wonderians managed to deal with Tianming, he wouldn’t have to worry about the assassination threat, either. His mood had turned for the better, but Tianming’s gaze was filled with sword ki as he glared straight at him.

”Did he bring up Weisheng Moran?” Tianming said it really quickly, completely unconcerned with the response he would get. All he cared about was the instinctual reaction, and as expected, the look in Yanwu Tian’s eyes shifted for an instant. It was clear that the Etherean Zhaohua that he’d met had asked about Moran. Otherwise, Yanwu Tian would have immediately wondered who she was. She basically never entered the wondersky realm at all, so there was no way Yanwu Tian would know about her.

I don’t need any more answers from him. I already got what I needed to know. Tianming had confirmed a few important facts. First, the death of Etherean Zhaohua hadn’t been spread in the Skydome Mundus at all, which meant that someone was intentionally suppressing it. Second, an imposter posing as Etherean Zhaohua had appeared, creating an illusion that he was alive. The imposter could be the same person that covered up the original’s death. And third, the imposter had asked about Moran.

Those threads could be weaved into an elementary hypothesis.

There must be a divine wonderian with even more power and status than Etherean Zhaohua behind the coverup. They must be trying to track down Little Fish for themselves without spreading word about her actual abilities. If word of the etherean’s death spreads, the divine wonderians would be enraged and start looking into Ebonia, which would cause them to learn about her abilities. That mysterious figure would then end up with more competition. However, there’s no hiding the death of the etherean from the divine wonderians stationed in the Infinitum Mundus, yet there hasn’t been so much as a peep about it in the Skydome Mundus. The figure must be powerful enough to control everything that goes on in the mundus.... They must be from Skydome Wondrium, a sixth-level nova source world.

Given the difficulty of suppressing news in the astralscape of order, where information traveled fast, it must have been a herculean effort. That person must be a bigwig! If that figure really had that much authority, they would be able to exert information control to some extent. At the very least, if people had heard rumors about Etherean Zhaohua’s death, they wouldn’t give it much stock when the authorities asserted otherwise and a simple public appearance by an imposter would be enough to silence any rumors. At the very least, Yanwu Tian wouldn’t believe that the etherean had actually been killed.

The bigwig must have plans for Moran! Her ability to assimilate divine wonders must be incredibly powerful, not to mention terrifying, to divine wonderians. Those conclusions didn’t sound like good news at all. At the very least, this trip to the Skydome Battlefield wasn’t a waste. I was able to clear some doubts. It was a rather precarious situation Tianming found himself in. If he hadn’t looked into it and waited until the bigwig took action, it would be far too late.

Dammit... the ebon Tianxi is trying to kill me in the Infinitum Mundus, and that alien monster from the ancestral world is constantly waiting for a chance to get out. Here in the Skydome Mundus, there’s another divine wonderian bigwig targeting Little Fish, and perhaps others as well. They’re probably on their way to Ebonia—where can I possibly hide?

The threat he would face in the Infinitum Swordsea was thanks to the Order Relic, while the threat from the divine wonderians was thanks to Moran’s so-far unpublicized ability. Those were predicaments without solutions. Even if I don’t die, if Moran falls into their hands, it most likely wouldn’t end well for her. Even if they don’t make use of her, they’ll have to kill her to rid themselves of a major worry.

Not much time had passed during his pondering. The weight of such serious matters bore down on him. If the divine wonderian elites infiltrate Ebonia and the Infinitum Swordsea and launch a sudden attack like Etherean Zhaohua did, would the Swordgod Lin Clan and my grandparents be able to stand against them?

The enemies lurked in the darkness, and that was the most terrifying thing. Where could he hide? There seemed to be no good way out of the situation! As Tianming’s gaze darkened more and more, Yanwu Tian tried his best to deny that the etherean had asked about Moran, not that it mattered anymore. Yanwu Tian was the ruler of Skyway Monostar and had quite a bit of sway in the Mysterium Cluster, though he was just a nameless lord of a little domain in the Skydome Mundus. He no longer had any value to Tianming, given that he believed the person he’d met two weeks before was actually Etherean Zhaohua.

”Do you have any more questions?” Yanwu Tian asked. He was still trying to get Tianming to spill information, his interest clearly piqued by Moran, someone even the etherean showed interest in. Despite his plotting, however, Tianming allowed the spectators to view him again as he cut Yanwu Tian in half. The poor mysterian ruler’s only utility was to help plant seeds of Omnisentient Threads in the hearts of those of the Mysterian Cluster. As far as they knew, they had just witnessed the strongest person they had ever known being slain by Tianming in one strike.