Beastmaster of the Ages

Qitian Muchen entered a brilliant light, and his vision suddenly cleared.

He was in a vast, enclosed underground space. The surrounding walls and ceiling were composed of an ore that resembled white jade. The entire underground palace was a pristine white without a single impurity, like a land of immortals.

“So fragrant! What’s that...?” Even though Qitian Muchen had prepared himself mentally, when he entered and saw everything in the white underground palace, he was dumbfounded. His eyes widened as he stood there, his face stiff, blankly staring ahead with his mouth slightly open, only his tongue trembling as it tasted the air. “This! This!”

Even a knowledgeable prince of the astralscape such as him was stunned by the sight before him.

What first caught his eye was a circular lake with water as white as snow and a fragrant aroma drifting from it. Qitian Muchen naturally knew that it was comprised of water from the Myriadpath Sourcespring. However, it was different from ordinary springwater. It had condensed into a milky state many times thicker than ordinary springwater, and its fragrance was several times stronger.

Most importantly, the thick springwater didn’t seem to be evaporating, likely due to the air in the underground palace already being saturated with springwater.

Of course, if that was all, it wouldn’t have shocked Qitian Muchen. What truly stunned him was the female giant, whiter than even the snow-white lake, that was lying in it. She was so enormous that the jade-like lake was more like a bathtub for her to soak in.

Many specters could actually expand their bodies and inflate to such a size, but Qitian Muchen could tell at a glance that the woman was human. Most importantly, her body had the same, or perhaps even greater astron density than Qitian Muchen and the others. It indicated that the number of astrons in her body had reached a terrifying level.

”That’s a true astral giant of legend!” Qitian Muchen immediately realized.

Astral giants were the ultimate legend of Myriadpath Valley. The various myriadpath idols were actually physical materializations of the caeli of astral giants.

Foundationeers could already transform into minor astral giants, but that was just a prototype. They didn’t have the true size or essence of a real astral giant. When an astral giant expanded the gaps between their astrons, they could transform into a vast starry sky with their astrons shining like real stars, and it would be the spitting image of their cosmic charts!

Even though the astral giant seemed to be dormant, Qitian Muchen still saw swirling starlight on her body that was far more magnificent and boundless than anything foundationeers were capable of.

His panic made his siblings laugh at him. Qitian Muyue patted him on the shoulder and said, ”Don’t be nervous. This is Myriadpath Valley’s ancestor who passed away long ago. Her divine body’s been passed down from prehistoric times to the present.”

”Ancestor? Passed away?” Qitian Muchen was even more dumbfounded. He’d never imagined that this existence with such a powerful vitality, as if she were simply asleep, had actually passed away, and at least tens of millions of years in the past. How powerful had she been when she was alive? Why did she die? How many years had she been dead? Could there be anyone as powerful as her?

”We call her the Source Progenitor. But let’s set that aside for now, you should kowtow first. According to the rules of Myriadpath Valley, when you see the Source Progenitor, you must first kowtow 999 times,” Qitian Muyu seriously said.

Seeing that he wasn’t joking, and feeling that it was impolite to stare at the female Source Progenitor who was ‘bathing’, Qitian Muchen quickly knelt down.

”Let Yazi come out and kowtow as well,” Qitian Muyu added.

”Yes, yes!” Qitian Muchen pulled out the weak little beast and they both prostrated themselves, neatly kowtowing without saying a word.

While kowtowing, he thought a lot. After kowtowing the required 999 times, the first thing he did when he got up was ask his siblings, ”Is the springwater...?”

”It sounds a bit strange, but it’s actually the water that the Source Progenitor’s divine body soaked in. Originally, it was just ordinary water... but Little Chen, this is a sacred thing. The springwater bestowed by the Progenitor has benefited countless descendants of Myriadpath Valley. Without her, there would be no glorious history of Myriadpath Valley ruling the Million Mundi. Do you understand?” Qitian Muyu solemnly said.

”I understand!” Qitian Muchen quickly nodded. He understood, but was even more shocked inside. Even dead, a prehistoric astral giant can turn the water she touches into the number one divine object of the astralscape. How powerful was she when she was alive? I, a foundationeer cultivator, am already much stronger than infinitum-class world cultivators, let alone ordinary mortals of heliacal-class worlds. I can blow millions, or even tens of millions of them away with one breath! We may all be living creatures, but the gap is too vast.”

Thinking about that, Qitian Muchen agreed with House Yumo’s theory about the food chain of life. Although they were all people and all of them had tripartite souls and emotions, they could no longer be considered the same lifeform as they evolved to higher levels. The most obvious feature was that astral gods and the most supreme gods could no longer reproduce together. Any attempt at a union would kill the god. Could they still be considered the same lifeforms?

Astral gods and the astral giant in front of him couldn’t even be considered the same lifeform. Qitian Muchen felt like the Source Progenitor had tens of thousands of times his number of astrons.

”Are you shocked by the gap between lifeforms?” Qitian Muyu seemed to have read his mind.

Qitian Muchen nodded.

”Actually, the reason’s very simple. Just stand at the gate of Myriadpath Valley and look at how vast the astralscape is, and you’ll understand. The more infinite the universe is, the more of a pyramid will form. You think Myriadpath Valley’s the end, but that’s just what your eyes can see. Who knows where the true end of the universe is? The range that human eyes can see is ultimately limited,” Qitian Muyu earnestly said.

”So is the Source Progenitor the end?” Qitian Muchen asked in confusion.

”That I don’t know. Maybe when Myriadpath Valley was still a fortuna-class world, the Source Progenitor herself knew!” Qitian Muyu answered.