Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming’s caelum was looking deep into the Xenoworld. There seemed to be a white realm within that was shaped like a gigantic hexagon formed from tinier ones, getting smaller and smaller in a fractal manner. Perhaps each of those tiniest discrete hexagons was a type of order. It felt like all the laws of the universe were hidden within that amalgamation of a shape.

”Is this the sea of order?” He cast an expectant gaze over the entire thing. ”The fact that my caelum is able to see it means that my divine wills have matured enough. I have the basic building blocks of becoming an astral god now!” Since coming to Ebonia, he had been pining for this day. His dream was right about to come true, and he felt more emotional than anyone about it.

”Dammit, putting that aside, I haven’t even gotten the chance to spend 2.5 million merit points!” The thought of that made him even more determined.

”Now, my precious siblings!” Tianming had brought the caeli of Ying Huo and the rest with him. Lifebound beasts also had caeli, or they wouldn’t be able to enter wondersky realms with their beastmasters. Normally, when a beastmaster became an astral god, they would enter the sea of order with their lifebound beasts’ caeli to obtain their orders together. Currently, they were in their tattoo forms.

”Charge!” Ying Huo yelled, echoed by the others. They were all abnormally excited. They already had their own innate orders, which shouldn’t exist in the astralscape of order; this time around, their role was to escort Tianming into the sea of order, much to his relief and confidence.

”Let’s go!” With the caeli of his beasts surrounding him, he charged into the Xenoworld, literally experiencing a waking dream. Two things appeared within his caelum: a tiny, black-and-gold Grand-Orient Sword and a small white tower. Those were his divine wills. Interestingly, they were situated on particular parts of his body, kind of like the placement of Feiling’s spacetime order. The tower representing his Lifesbane Will was located at his head, while the sword representing his Imperial Will took the place of his third leg.

”Not bad.... You are the bone of your sword, body of steel, blood of fire,” Ying Huo chanted.

”Chicken Bro, in the wondersky realm, your tattoo form covers his little pecker!” Meow Meow reminded.

”Ack!” Ying Huo, recalling that grave humiliation, blasted all of its feathers away and almost tied its claws into a knot.

”Shut up, all of you.” Tianming focused his mind and advanced towards the eerie-seeming sea of order. Hexagons that formed other hexagons spread out to no end. The closer one looked, the more dizzying it seemed.

”No time to worry about it now. I’ll just go in and search for two orders that match my divine wills!” Feiling had managed to find two orders, one for time, one for space. The fact that she had found undifferentiated orders meant that she had obtained those larger hexagons, not the tiny, discrete ones. The smaller the piece of order one obtained, the less content there was within, thereby limiting its growth potential. However, focusing on a smaller piece made cultivation faster.

”I should look for big pieces!” he decided. The moment he sank deep into the temptation of the sea of order, he had entirely forgotten Huang Qi.

”Almost there! The sea of order!” The eyes of his caelum burned bright. But just as he was about to enter it, his caelum began twisting like a thin noodle!

”Someone’s trying to take him up!” His lifebound beasts were all stupefied. Tianming’s caelum suddenly vanished and they were forced to follow him back.

”Agh!” Tianming’s eyes snapped open—nay, his compound eyes hadn’t closed at all. He stared at Feiling and knew that he had been awoken. Needless to say, Huang Qi was the one that had awoken him. Her walnuts had attacked the Soul Tower and shaken his vita, forcing it to regain awareness and taking it back from his caelum. No matter how far it was, it would be forced back. The moment he snapped back awake, his vita began aching.

”Your soul is only a third regal soul. Do you think you can stop me and go to the sea of order just by relying on a single artifact? Hahahaha...” Huang Qi’s vile cackling rang out from the ring around Tianming’s neck. ”Child, I said that as long as I’m around, you’ll never become an astral god, not for the rest of your life. The sea of order won’t remain open to you forever. Trust me. Once you get pulled back a few more times, its doors will be closed to you forever. I won’t even need to interfere after that to ensure you’ll be an insignificant speck of dust for the rest of your life! If you don’t trust me, keep trying.”

The seniors in Ebonia had indeed said that chances to go to the sea of order were rare. Missing them would make subsequent visits even harder. However, Tianming refused to submit and willed his caelum to enter the Xenoworld again. Once more, he saw the sea of order, but right as he was about to enter, Huang Qi pulled him back.

”Hey, you! What benefit can a speck of dust like you gain from antagonizing me? If you hadn’t tried touching the Order Relic, you could’ve survived, but now your death is just a matter of time! Anything you can’t digest will eventually belong to me,” Huang Qi interrupted. The only reason she feared other people would kill Tianming was that she was worried that his body—and thereby the Order Relic—would be too badly damaged.

If the Soul Tower can stop my vita from being disturbed, I’ll still have a chance! All he could do now was pray that the tower held. His chances were running out, and every time, Huang Qi matched his timing and shook the tower just as he was about to reach the sea of order.

”Dammit, that old fiend is really shameless!” Rather than rage, all he felt was despair. He had a feeling that the sea of order was moving farther and farther away.

”I can’t afford to fail now!” It was a matter of life and death. He had to keep trying, for every second he wasted, the hexagonal sea would grow dimmer and more distant, making his future attempts even harder.