Beastmaster of the Ages

”It’s far too radiant!” Qingyu and Tianming looked at the blinding sight ahead, seeing the sole beam of light visible in the world of darkness. It looked like an astral flower that slowly spun within the void, complete with petals and a core. Tianming was still some distance away from the colorful flower, so it wasn’t easy to estimate its size. However, he was almost certain that it was at least a hundred times the size of the Ancient Oldgod Domain, definitely much more voluminous than his imperial capital! Naturally, it was also bigger than the Sun.

”Is that an astral hole?” Qingyu asked in a daze.

”No! Myriadpath Valley and the Yin-Yang World were astral holes. This flower, on the other hand, doesn’t even look like a nova source world!” Tianming said.

”What is it then?”

”I don’t know. We need to get closer to find out.” Tianming didn’t move the Sun ahead right away, as they were already distancing themselves from the flower. When the Sun came to a halt, they looked closer and saw that the petals around the flower seemed like glowing continents from a distance. There was also a lot of space debris floating around it. Tianming also noticed a circular astral hole at the center of the flower that looked incredibly flat, like the surface of a black mirror.

”Either way, we should’ve arrived at the Middlekin Star Ruin. As expected, it doesn’t look like a nova source world. Perhaps the secret to this place lies in the black mirror at the center!” Tianming said.

”It looks rather nice,” Wudi said. ”However, how could non-nova-source worlds support life? This place is completely undefended and glowing so bright. Wouldn’t they be hunted down right away?”

”I’ll go there and take a look in a bit,” Tianming said. The Sun had just arrived, and the Flameyellow Divine Path’s opening might have alerted others to their presence. As such, it was best for them to lay low for a while.

Tianming and the rest waited for a few days to observe the situation.

”No other places are appearing on the Flameyellow Atlas. In other words, there’s still a lot of places that the Sun can’t reach!” Saturatia-49 was one such place. ”First, we should test the mobile stareyes!”

That was the most crucial thing. Whether he would be able to obtain overflow fragments and strengthen his dynasty at the same time depended on whether the mobile stareyes were able to facilitate communication between his dynasty, the Sun, and the Ancient Oldgod Domain. Even though the Sun could travel to and fro, it would be a huge waste of nova source.

Tianming had the Qitianean parked within the Sky Palace Formation and the Suishenean parked within the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. He activated the stareyes. ”Set the Myriadpath Celestial Formation as the destination!”

His lifebound beasts all returned to his lifebound space. The next instant, there was a flash and Tianming saw a familiar sight around him. ”I really came back!”

He found himself in the Myriadpath Celestial Formation, with Tianmingopolis right ahead of him! ”How much time did that take?” Tianming asked the lifebound beasts in his lifebound space.

”Fifty days!” Ying Huo said.

”Only fifty?” He breathed a sigh of relief. It took longer than traveling from the imperial capital to the Yin-Yang World, but not as long as it took for the Sun to travel to the Middlekin Star Ruin. ”It seems like the principle the Myriadpath Celestial Formation operates on is different from the one the Flameyellow Divine Path uses. Their travel times aren’t exactly something that can be easily compared.”

How the Middlekin Star Ruin and the Lower Star Ruin that Tianming was from were spatially related was something that he still had no idea about, not that he needed to understand it. ”All I need to know is that my Zi-Zhen-Jiguang-Tianming expressway works! I can come back and see them any time I want!”

It only took fifty days, basically an instant for cultivators! Before Tianming returned, he had left one of Bai Ye’s infant souls behind, so the news of his success had already reached them. ”Basically, no matter where the Sun is in the Upper Star Ruin, it only takes a little bit for someone to travel there from here! It’s only a bit longer than traveling from here to the Sun when it was in Infinitum!”

Tianming felt that it might have something to do with the unique spatial relations between the Upper Star Ruin and the Lower Star Ruins. There might be a chance that the mobile stareyes wouldn’t work from another one of the Lower Star Ruins, as they were parallel to the one Tianming was from. He looked up from the Myriadpath Celestial Formation once more and saw the Blissful Union hovering above the capital. Jiguang was waiting for him there. They had both been worried about not seeing each other again for a long period of time.

He went to the entrance and knocked on the door. ”Hey, open up!”

”Who’s there?” a woman’s voice answered with a hint of worry.

”The plumber!” The moment Tianming said that, the entrance opened and revealed a pink silhouette, intensely staring at him with her eyes.

”You’re back—” Jiguang whispered.

”Shhh!”

”What?!”

***

Three days later, Tianming was about to depart once more. However, his trip would take about as long as going to Infinitum, but without the long and tearful farewells. Xiyue, Jiguang, and Yaoyao were with him before his departure.

”I’ll be leaving the dynasty to you, then,” Tianming said.

”Go ahead! We’ll run your business while you go conquering,” Xiyue said. She had recently undergone a glow-up of sorts. Even though she was much busier than before, her life was definitely much more fulfilling. There were still many things in the world that needed to be changed, but she could finally take part in making those changes by first firmly establishing the foundations of the Tianming Dynasty, which was a rather meaningful endeavor indeed.

”There’s no need to be too worried, alright? Come to the Sun to visit me from time to time. I’ll also visit,” Tianming said.

”Really? Then I’ll go there and travel as much as I want!” Yaoyao gleefully said.

”Hey, aren’t you busy being my ambassador? If I don’t have more believers the next time I come back, you’re gonna get it!”

”Come on! Don’t do this to me!” Yaoyao immediately cried.

”Good! Give her some work to do so she doesn’t slack off!” Xiyue approvingly said, making her daughter bawl even harder.

”Where’s the valley lord?” Tianming asked.

”He’s enjoying his retirement. The Grand Myriadpath Ruins have been transferred to Lady Jian,” Xiyue said.

Tianming was quite surprised to learn that. The foundations of his dynasty would be left in their hands. ”I was just joking, Yaoyao. You can come to the Sun whenever you want,” he said before leaving, turning her frown upside down. Then he flew back to the Myriadpath Celestial Formation and disappeared in a flash.

***

After another fifty days, Tianming appeared in the Suishenean on the Sun once more. ”Looks like this is proof that it works both ways.”

Tianming looked down at his ’Grand-Orient Sword’ and said, ”Brother, you don’t have to suffer anymore!”

”Are you talking to me?” Ying Huo asked, poking its head out of the lifebound space.

”Who else?” Tianming lied.