Beastmaster of the Ages

In a sixth-level nova source world, fifty-year-old people were still considered adolescents, but Tianming came from the Flameyellow continent. That was Wei Tianxiong’s age, and he was older than Mu Yang.

Fortunately, he had gained a lot. First of all, in terms of cultivation, Tianming had finally reached the fourth astral phase after three years of hard work, continuous practice, and repeatedly observing and studying foundation caeli. The fourth astral phase was known as whale lungs. At that level, the transformation mainly occurred in the lungs. Although such a change wasn’t as drastic as the soul-head permeation, it still made a huge difference. His primordial lungs had expanded, so the rate at which he inhaled and exhaled nova source greatly increased. In fact, that particular cultivation level had a larger impact on his lifebound beasts—especially Lan Huang, who had a pair of enormous lungs. Whenever it opened its mouth, it would inhale a huge amount.

Tianming’s breakthrough was a result of tireless cultivation, his systematic and progressive efforts. He also had a breakthrough in the Imperator’s Mural. In the second year, he had roamed the Lightning Carnage Hellscape. The sea of lightning grew smaller and smaller, until one day, the sea became a scoop of water in his hand. That was when he got a feel for the sword art. He then spent the next year ceaselessly cultivating. After thousands of moves and coordinating with his totems, he finally mastered the Carnage Imperatoris and was now strong enough to battle. That was because he possessed genesis order; he wouldn’t have been able to learn anything without it.

Tianming finally met the Imperator Carnage, an imperator from the flameyellow divinities, made of lightning. Majestic and mighty, he stood proud and tall, his expression fierce. His eyes, which were lightning vortices, stared down at Tianming from above, his gaze profound.

”He reminds me of Huang Qi....”

Tianming had been rather shocked when he’d met Huang Qi, the giant in the ring. And Imperator Carnage seemed to be on the same level as her. They shared one thing in common: they were giants! Tall and colossal, they resembled ancient gods that looked down on the common people. With their every move, the mountains would move and the earth would split. Perhaps even the size of a sixth-level nova source was tiny in their eyes. After all, a grain of rice was of different significance to elephants versus ants.

Imperator Carnage was that sea of lightning.

”My father, Di Yi, Huang Qi, the Imperator Carnage, the Primordial God-Emperor, the Primordial Demonlord, the white-robed man in the Prime Tower, and the Lord of Perpetia…. They must be the top experts of the astralscape of order, but who’s stronger and who’s weaker?”

Tianming had no idea.

”They must be above the Foundation stage which makes them much stronger than Yi Daiyan and Shenxi Xingtian!” That was his guess. In any case, his combat power had increased now that he was at the fourth astral phase and had mastered Carnage Imperatoris.

”Master was right. The violent force of Carnage Imperatoris makes up for the shortcomings of the spacetime sword arts. This sword art also includes a totem formation. Simulacra or not, my battle arts are more lethal. Plus, he studied the mural next to this one. It’s filled with flames that form the word ‘inferno’. A sword art that can only be mastered with a fire-type order shouldn’t be a problem for me. After all, I possess infernal order. Maybe Ying Huo and I can give it a go in a bit!”

He continued growing in overall strength in the ninth year. Although he still had a long way to go to rival the top powerhouses in sixth-level nova source worlds that had cultivated for more than a thousand years, the gap between them had narrowed.

”Lin Lingxiao is about a thousand years old and is in the initial levels of the Cosmic Cartography stage. I should be able to fight a tenth-astral orderan. If I keep this rate of improvement up, I’ll be almost as strong as a thousand-year-old infinitum-class genius like him in twenty or thirty years.”

Cosmic Cartography was ten thousand times more complicated than the Order stage.

”Time to head to the Skydome Battlefield to look for someone to practice the sword on!” After more practice, Tianming planned to move on to the Skyhold Bridge.

The third battle!

At present, there was no tenth-astral orderan on the Skyhold Bridge, so there was no rush. Tianming could only nibble away bit by bit. It was a matter of decades, yet it felt like just a few years.

He was confident, and he didn’t have to worry about Feiling or Xiaoxiao, either. Although their progress had slowed, they were still advancing at a frightening pace. Feiling was now a ninth-astral orderan, while Xiaoxiao was at the tenth astral phase. Tianming’s progress appeared to be on par with theirs, but in fact, the actual time the girls spent cultivating was merely a fifth of his. They still had time to rest, play, dress up, and chat. While Tianming desperately cultivated, the girls were worried their swift breakthroughs would be detrimental to them. If it weren’t for their close relationship, Tianming would have hated them out of jealousy.

......

On this day, Tianming was planning to head over to the Skyhold Bridge. Lin Xiaodao had just beaten back the Star Hunters and returned to the Gladean Ruins. According to him, the enemy had increased their attacks and had become more and more shameless. However, their attacks were all resolved by Yin Chen. They were currently in a stalemate, as the enemy feared the Gladean Ruins and was still trying to come up with a better strategy. Of course, they had to constantly replenish their nova source and the journey back and forth also wasted a lot of time.

”My good disciple, how far is the sun now?” Lin Xiaodao asked.

”It’s taking a little longer than I expected, but it’s past the halfway mark.”

It was more convenient for Tianming to communicate with Wudi through the wondersky realm than for Lin Xiaodao to reach the Reaper.

”So about three more years then! I’ll try to tease the Star Hunters and give them a taste of sweetness, let them take a little to keep them happy.”

Knowing how ruthless the Star Hunters were, Lin Xiaodao took a step back. Over the past three years, he had deliberately allowed them to steal about thirty unowned heliacal-class nova sources and sacrificed about a dozen astralships from the ebons that he couldn’t fully control. If he pushed too hard, the Star Hunters might slaughter another star.

”Master Chen is amazing. If it wasn’t for it, at least a tenth of the Myriadstar Zone would’ve been taken in the past three and a half years! Those bastards are so shameless!” Lin Xiaodao cursed.

Over the past three years, he had come up with different ideas, but still failed to capture the leaders of the Star Hunters. The enemy was very careful, because they knew how powerful the Gladean Ruins was. Their main ship was afraid to approach.

”By the way, there’s something I need you to do,” Lin Xiaodao said.

”What?” Tianming rarely ever saw such a serious Lin Xiaodao.

”I’ve hunted down most of the top ebon experts on Gladeus, but the whereabouts of their leader, Xiaque Wang, is currently unknown. We can’t completely dominate Gladeus as long as he remains here. He has several nova wildbeasts in his fauna worldstone that can harm regular folk. I’d like to deal with Xiaque Wang once the Star Hunters leave to replenish their nova source,” Lin Xiaodao said.