Beastmaster of the Ages

”Don’t just envy me. I need manna, ones with many apertures,” Xiaoxiao said, putting out her hand. She was looking at Tianming’s 2.5 million points.

”What’re you in a rush for? Things are still chaotic out there. Wait until I’ve become an astral god, then we can go pick together. I promise I’ll give Wu You something as good as I give Ying Huo,” Tianming said.

”Wow, who knows how long we’ll have to wait then?” she said, rolling her eyes. Coming from her, that was quite the insult, though, to be fair, she seldom got a chance to flex on him.

”Shut up and scram!” Tianming almost freaked out, much to the delight of Feiling.

”Ling’er, Ling’er!” He ran over to her and held her hand up to his face. Seeing her fingers, nails, skin, and hair glowing a faint white like a precious art piece, he couldn’t believe it. ”Aren’t you far too beautiful?” The sight of the perfect girl before him made his heart go wild.

”You’d better hurry and catch up... I don’t want to be the one who bullies you,” Feiling said with a wink.

”Damn... even you’re mocking me now. I have to become an astral god today! I don’t have my right hand anymore... so I’m desperate! Wait, when it grows back... aaagh!” If he failed because of his haste, it would be even more embarrassing. I have to bide my time and wait for an opportunity to strike back.

Thinking of that, he cleared his throat and said, ”Stop showing off. I’ll forgive you this time, but if you do this again, not even Perpetia can protect you.”

”Hmph!” Feiling pinched his face and said, ”You’re the one that constantly has naughty things on your mind. You’re just suffering the consequences of your actions.”

”It’s your fault for being too beautiful! There’s no way my sanity stood a chance!”

After messing around a bit more, Tianming sterned up and said, ”Alright, seriously, what’s going on?”

Feiling looked at her glowing body and said, ”I’m not sure you’d believe it even if I told you. My body is a little like yours right now. Perpetia seems to have seeped into the albi in my body. After the albi became astrons, each of them are shaped like Perpetia.”

”Damn, doesn’t that make you even more impregnable?” Tianming gave her a pinch. ”Hmm, the texture feels even better than before. More springy. How could you be made out of countless fortresses?”

Her expression soured. ”Hey, hands off.”

”Relax, I’m doing this for science,” Tianming said with a serious look.

”Can you explain why the way you’re touching me is constantly changing if it’s just for science?”

”We need to explore all the variables. It’s important for my upcoming breakthrough so I know what changes to expect with my body.”

”I don’t think anyone in this universe can rival you in shamelessness.”

”I still have a ways to go before I reach the level of masters. At best, I’m only the third most shameless.”

No more words came out of her mouth. As far as Tianming believed, he really was exploring the intricacies of an astral god’s physique. At least, he had convinced himself of that much.

”So you obtained two orders in the sea of order?” Tianming asked, shocked.

”Yes. I heard that people normally only get one,” Feiling said.

”Which did you get?”

”One for space, another for time. Both are still undeveloped and don’t have any specialization yet, but they have a lot of room for future growth.” The specialization she referred to was actually the fine categorization of an order. For instance, the terraweight order was a really specific kind of order and also easier to train, whereas her generic time and space orders were abstract, wide-spanning concepts. There was no predefined way to develop them, and they may end up amounting to not much, but within them was also the potential for the birth of an unparalleled astral god.

”Which astral organs do they reside in?” Tianming asked. He wasn’t too surprised about the unique nature of her cultivation.

”The time order is in my brain, and the space one is... there.” She blushed at the mention of it.”Where? I don’t get it.”

”Sheesh, why are you like this?” She angrily glared at him.

”Ah... interesting....” He cleared his throat and smiled. ”Looks like the will of the heavens exists even in the nether regions.... The reason for all that space down there must be because it’s destined to hold my astral baby....”

”Shameless pighead—wait, no, beehead. Wait until I birth you a whole hive of bee babies.” That would be terrifying. She pinched his arm so hard that he yelped in pain.

”Ling’er, I’m going to enter seclusion soon. You’re already an astral god, but you don’t have any way to protect yourself, so it’s best you don’t follow me to the Caeli Vault. I came back to bid you a temporary farewell. We might only be communing through Yin Chen for the time being.”

”Looks like we’ll be apart for quite some time, then. We’re talking about you, after all,” Feiling said with a smirk.

”Hey! Why’re you mocking me just like her? My harem is revolting!”

”Harem? I’m the only one in it, though?”

”Oh? I get it. You’re jealous of my conversation with Xiaoxiao.”

”No! You’re wrong! You don’t exist! Lalala I can’t hear you!” She turned and sped off, her short blue skirt fluttering in the air.

”How pretty and cute.” He couldn’t wait to take a nibble. ”Uncle Changkong and the rest will be busy for a bit longer, so I’ll get Ling’er to deploy Perpetia for me to practice my swordsmanship,” Tianming said, unaware of the innuendo.

”You’re already lewd enough. No need to keep pumping any longer,” Ying Huo said.

Why did Tianming feel like the whole world was out to get him?

......

The astralscape was filled with an endless amount of stars. Only by leaving one’s home world in a divine astralship would one be able to appreciate the true magnificence of its vast expanse. Without a ship, however, one would feel the sensation of cosmic horror, the feeling of insignificance from being dwarfed by the sheer scale of the wider world. Even the ridiculous mass of an infinitum-class nova source world like Ebonia was nothing but a single speck in the wide night sky. Only time and space were limitless!

Within the astralscape, even the Firmament, a massive ship, looked like a tiny needle threading through the empty space between stars. The reason astralships were built to that size was to maintain a sense of existence within the wide expanse. The Firmament, shaped like a golden sword, was allowed to show the speed it was forbidden from using on Ebonia. The miniature nova source within burned bright as it propelled the ship forward, leaving a trail of gold in the astralscape. It was flying so fast that the naked eye would scarcely be able to get a good look at it.

Voyages in the astralscape were lonely by nature. As Lin Lingxiao had been sent on a secretive assignment, he’d been forced to travel alone within his large ship. His desire to go home was so strong that he had the ship flying as fast as it could, reaching the peak speed of ether-class ships.