Beastmaster of the Ages

Ying Huo, Meow Meow, Xian Xian and Lan Huang, were silent.

”You’re losing it more and more,” Ying Huo said.

”It isn’t too bad. The core of my being is still here. The evil impulses only change how I engage my enemies. The loss of control is a bit of an existential risk, but I have to say that it’s also really exciting. I feel like my entire being’s been elevated. It’s like I discovered the other side of order,” Tianming said.

”Are you really sure you’re clearheaded?” Ying Huo asked.

”What do you think?” Tianming said, cracking a smile.

”Even as we speak, you’re stealing glances at those girls with your Sky Plundering Eye.”

”Ack.” Tianming didn’t think he would be discovered.

”Hmph! Once a dog, always a dog!” Xian Xian said, making records directly on Tianming’s leg.

”How dare you, Xian Xian? If I’m a dog, what does that make Ling’er? We do nasty things together, you know! I’m going to tell on you when she comes back!” Tianming said.

”Huh?” Xian Xian was completely flabbergasted.

”Forget it, Little Li. Like Li Fan said, a tainted beastmaster like you is on the bottom rung of the ladder here. Those girls will stay far away from you. You should thank them for not going out of their way to spit on you,” Ying Huo said with a laugh.

”You make it sound like the mockery has nothing to do with you guys at all,” Tianming said, shrugging. Changes were part of life and he had no idea if his current situation was a curse or a blessing.

He didn’t have a proper protector in Myriadpath Valley, but wasn’t that what the true path of cultivation was like? Adversity was an integral part of that bloody path. Back on Ebonia and Gladeus, he’d had Lin Xiao, Xiaodao, and the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Every step he had taken was a calculated one without too much risk. But right as he had arrived at Myriadpath Valley, he kept encountering life-threatening risks.

However, surviving it made him feel like he had emerged stronger from the trials. It seemed that the journey to the top should be filled with such struggles! Otherwise his progress would slow and stall if he went unchallenged.

”I don’t really dare to spread Yin Chen out too far yet, but a small area can’t hurt.” At the very least, he would make sure to keep a close eye on his senior brothers in Grandblue Palace so he could keep his distance from them. He’d started off by killing one of them, after all, so he had to defend against any possible blowback. ”Guess I’ll have to start sneaking around from now on.”

......

Li Fan arrived some time later. With a smile on his face, he asked, ”How’re you settling in, my friend?”

”Things are fine. Grandblue Palace is beautiful,” Tianming said.

”I’m envious. I’ve never lived in a palace in the thousand years I’ve been here,” Li Fan said.

”Where do you live? I’ll come hang out.”

”I live in the low-class slums of Myriadpath Valley. Are you sure you want to come?”

”Is that really its name?”

”Of course not!” Li Fan snapped. Myriadpath Valley was a place for the elite! There was no way people would actually name a place ’low-class slums’, even if all the residents were black ring holders. ”I live in the Skymartial Blacksea. Only black ring holders live there. There’s all kinds of people there, most of whom don’t have a master. People often die. The crowd density there is too much. You definitely won’t be used to where the lower-class people in Myriadpath Valley live, having stayed in Grandblue Palace.”

”You? Low class? Lan Yun said that I was on the lowest rung of the ladder in all of Myriadpath Valley. If you’re low class, I’m even lower class,” Tianming self-deprecatingly sneered.

”Why would you say that?”

”Tainted beastmaster, remember?”

Li Fan jumped with surprise, then gave Tianming a close look and nodded. ”That’s true.”

Tianming didn’t think he’d agree just like that.

”Hey, you weren’t serious about coming to the Skymartial Blacksea, right? Did you get sick of being bullied in Grandblue Palace or something?” Li Fan asked.

”How smart. You guessed right,” Tianming said, smiling.

Li Fan sympathetically patted him on the shoulder. ”Try to let it go. Reverends typically have many disciples. Bullying each other or getting with junior sister disciples are normal things that happen all the time here. On the other hand, lower-class masters are better in that regard. They usually only have one or two disciples who aren’t that much better than each other, so there’s not much to fight over. You just have to endure being bullied for a few years. When your master takes a new disciple, it’ll be their turn.”

”You truly have experience and wisdom. I was fortunate to be able to learn that from you,” Tianming said.

”Sigh, you really don’t have it hard! I’ve seen some of your senior brothers before. I used to want to join them, but my talent is too low. They would kill me in a second! They’re so much younger than me, but they’re way stronger. Not to mention, Lan Yun doesn’t care about the temperament of the disciples she picks. I’ve had to bow down to them a few times and even got bullied for it! Since you’re stuck with them, just weather the storm and take a step back. Get them gifts from time to time. Once you placate them, it’ll be over.”

Tianming nodded. ”You know how to deal with people well. I’m impressed.”

”I get by. I had to learn that the hard way after years and years. Even though I was just about to show off in the Infinitum Mundus, I got beaten back into shape by you,” Li Fan said with a laugh.

”Hahaha!” Tianming began to find Li Fan rather interesting; he was just like any common man and liked to show off. ”Now, take me to the Heavensource Starriver.”

”Are you sure you’re still ranked first on the Skyward Ranking?” Li Fan asked.

”Of course! My master said that I can claim my reward by scanning my myriadpath ring there.”

Li Fan sighed, ”Even though Reverend Lan Yun saved you, you only have three hundred years of life left. Have you considered what you’ll do when the time comes?”

Tianming rolled his eyes. ”I’ll take the initiative and suck her dry instead of the other way around.”

”I’ve never seen anyone brag like you,” Li Fan said.

”Haha, Brother, forget about something that’ll happen in three hundred years. I live and fight in the present.”

”How can I? Do you only want to live that long? Doesn’t that mean I also only have three hundred years to live?”

”If I can’t get out of this predicament when the time comes, I’ll let you go.”

”Huh?” Li Fan seemed completely shaken.

”Now take me there.” Tianming patted him on the shoulder.

”Alright, let’s go! I have to show a lower-class person like you what this place is truly like!” Li Fan heartily laughed. The weight on his heart had been completely lifted.

......

Heavensource River was where Myriadpath Valley’s manna stores were located. It was also the place where manna manifested the most easily in the astralscape of order. The treasures birthed within it were accompanied by even more that the elites of Myriadpath Valley brought there.