Beastmaster of the Ages

Currently, Tianming and the others were still on the outskirts of the Middlekin Star Ruin. The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb observed it from a relatively close distance while remaining hidden. Eventually, they found that this middlekin star mine looked far larger than they had imagined. The astral hole at its center alone already looked infinitely deep, shrouded in black mist. Even the light from the middlekin stars seemed somewhat restrained.

Around the astral hole were hundreds of thousands of asteroids, astral continents, and debris. They didn’t seem to form a complete nova source world at all. But the astral continents didn’t seem to lack any nova source. Not only did the astral hole produce middlekin stars, it also seemed to release enough energy to span the entire Middlekin Star Ruin.

”It seems like my fortuna-class divine astralship is rather rare around these parts.” Tianming couldn’t see any other fortuna-class ships around. Most of them were ether- and infinitum-class ships used for transporting middlekin stars. Some were even tiny deific-class ones, which was just enough to drag a single hundred-meter deific-class middlekin star behind it.

”I just can’t imagine a ship being able to drag an entire nova source world with it. It’s mind-boggling.” Though it was unbelievable, it was happening right before their eyes.

”How can those stars even be towed?” Moran asked.

”The main reason is their smaller size, I bet, which makes it possible to secure them to the ships. Secondly, they aren’t locked in place by fusion formations. Moving a normal deific-class world is essentially the same as moving the fusion formation itself. The other reason should be that space itself doesn’t have any resistance that would stop the stars from being moved,” Tianming said. Based on his estimation, the Suishenean should be able to drag a hundred-thousand-meter infinitum-class middlekin star behind it.

”I think the Ninedragon Imperial Star can move even more than ten infinitum-class middlekin stars at once. All I wonder is how many of them the Sun needs to become a fortuna-class world.” He had a feeling it wouldn’t be a small number. The Sun’s main source of energy had come from the Yin-Yang World, yet that probably wasn’t enough for the Sun to reach a third of the way to fortuna class. As such, even though it was nine times the size of Ebonia, Tianming still had no idea how much longer it would take. He had heard of some infinitum-class worlds being more than twenty times the size of Ebonia, after all.

”What I can be sure of is that, as long as the Sun reaches the fortuna class, the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and Flameyellow Coffin would rise to match the level of the Upper Star Ruin. It must be a transformative upgrade.” That was absolutely crucial. It was likely that the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb would become a maniverse-class astralship, though Tianming didn’t quite dare to imagine what that would be like. All he knew was that going from infinitum to fortuna class was a very huge deal for worlds. ”That’s why this is just the first step to restoring Flameyellow, and a crucial one at that!”

The ship gradually approached the Middlekin Star Ruin like a beast stalking in the shadows, cloaked by its divine astralship formation. The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was by no means small, yet it was merely one of many fish in the water. It was all a matter of scale; even the biggest stars were nothing but dust in the vast Upper Star Ruin. The disparity in scale made the infinitum-class Sun and its ship easy to hide.

After a month of gradual progress, the many silver bugs on the ship’s surface turned into eight-starred ladybugs and spread out across the empty void of space, drifting off in different directions. Yin Chen had been deployed! The pressure of gravity was absent at that point in space, making it so that its bodies could take any form it wished without restrictions. Not to mention, the distances it was spreading to were still within range of Tianming, so there was no need for Bai Ye to summon its infant soul back from the Sun.

”The Upper Star Ruin must have much better ordered manna. The lifebound beast of that Sundown Pantheon beastmaster had more than sixty million stars in its eyes, yet Ying Huo and the rest don’t even have ten million! I still have so much room to improve.” Even though conventional wisdom said that cosmic crest beasts were more powerful, Shuo Yue, a 20-crest beast, couldn’t defeat Ying Huo in single combat despite being an entire level stronger.

”Then again, my sister still relies on herself in combat, rather than her beast. Still, that just means that Ying Huo and the rest are much stronger than cosmic crest beasts below thirty crests, even with their bloodlines still heavily shackled.” In the Lower Star Ruins, the Primordial Chaos Beasts simply hadn’t met their match in talent, especially not against beasts of their level, who would always lose to them. Such was the power of their bloodlines. They only began feeling some pressure after coming to the Upper Star Ruin while their bloodlines weren’t fully unshackled.

”Other lifebound beasts absorb manna to raise their innate quality, but my beasts use it to unshackle their bloodlines, resulting in much bigger transformations. They’re slowly returning to their peak forms as Primordial Chaos Beasts. Most importantly, even my godfather only has a single 30-crest beast, while I have seven whole lifebound beasts!”

Those were the reasons Tianming didn’t panic in the slightest after encountering cosmic crest beasts. Primordial Chaos Beasts, even with shackled bloodlines, were unmatched even in the Upper Star Ruin, a world of cosmic gods! It would be weird if they didn’t feel at least a little pressure before reaching their full potential.

”As long as I get enough manna, we’ll be able to take on any cosmic crest beast, no matter how many crests they have. The only thing in question is how many levels above us we can fight while we’re at it.” Tianming was quite confident in them all the same. ”Bai Ye, are you able to use soul seeds to link astral brains together and control people here in the Upper Star Ruin?”

”It’ll work on foundationeers and below. However, overflowers have eighth overflow souls and much larger astral brains. Unless I use infant souls, all we can do is kill them, not control them,” Bai Ye pouted.

”Damn, how weak,” Tianming said.

”Curse you! Do you think this is your puny imperial capital?!”

”The Middlekin Star Ruin shouldn’t be too different from the Ancient Oldgod Domain. There’ll be many foundationeers and the like. You’ll be able to plant your soul seeds as long as you’ve got enough time, right?”

”No problem! I can deal with them as long as they aren’t overflowers, but I can make their kids belong to me!”

”Now that’s badass.”

”But I have a weakness,” Bai Ye straightforwardly admitted.

”What is it?”

”It isn’t hard for my soul seeds to spread in a contained area like your imperial capital, but over here, it’s nothing but vast, empty space. The area’s far too large and it’ll be easy for my soul seeds to drift off from where I want them. I don’t have enough mass yet, so I also need ordered manna.”

”Are you like a dandelion or something? Do your soul seeds hover in the wind?”

”Shut up!”