Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming wasn’t sure that his beasts would be able to use manna with more than ten thousand apertures, but they could try later on. They did have unique elemental aspects, after all.

He went to the largest tombstone with the most blinding brilliance to it. No doubt, it was the tombstone of the strongest beastmaster in the history of Starmoon Haven, and trillions of divine celestial patterns flowed across its surface. There were nine stars that looked like Starmoon Haven depicted near the top, and near the bottom was a flat plane that resembled the Welkin plane with ten layers. The nine skies above contrasted against the ten earths below.

”This battle technique lacks a totem component and was made specifically for beastmasters of the Upper Star Ruin, but it’s on par with the Desolation Stargate Sword Formation.” Beastmasters of the Upper Star Ruin rarely fought in close combat, so most of their battle techniques focused on providing support for their beasts from afar, making bows and whips relatively popular.

Tianming ’studied’ the tombstone with his black arm. ”Ninesky Tenearth Sundown Lashing....”

Like the Desolation Stargate Sword Formation, the battle technique’s name was also a mouthful. But when it came to battle techniques, the Starfall Pantheon’s were more powerful. The Desolation Stargate Sword Formation’s fusion strikes, for instance, had far higher destructive potential than the simple brute force of the Ninesky Tenearth Sundown Lashing. ”I’m sure they’ll complement each other rather well.”

Tianming smiled as he took out Fentian He’s chain weapon, the Skyscorch Desolation. It was a mid-imperial-class artifact that worked well with the battle technique he was about to learn. ”Sounds like I’ll be rather busy.”

The chain was among the first weapons he had picked up since embarking on the journey of cultivation once more with the hatching of Ying Huo. There were many other chains that he had used since then, some of which Li Muyang had given him, like the Blazing Dragon Chainblade, the Archfiend, and the Three-thousand Starfield.

”A mid-imperial-class artifact’s rather powerful. Even the maniverse-class Grand-Orient Sword pales in comparison!” Tianming’s weapons were powerful because he could augment them with his decapath era godswords. Using them with the chain would allow him to squeeze more power out of the chain than Fentian He could have.

He took full possession of the chain and began his training. ”It isn’t that complicated. There’s only two moves, but both require me to give it my all.”

Given his dual nature as totemancer and beastmaster, he was able to unleash even more power. The first move was called Ninesky Lunar Galaxy, while the second was called Tenearth Solar Universe. He practiced nonstop on the way back to the Sun, knowing that reinforcements from the Midsky Tristars were already on their way.

***

A blood-colored crescent-shaped ship circled around within the darkness of space, plunging into an illusory mist. After passing through, the ship was greeted by a hellish fortuna-class world. It didn’t take long before more than ten cosmic gods came flying out of the world, all of them devas. The leader was none other than the lord of the star, Mo Tu.

”Welcome, members of Moonfiend Hunt!” Mo Tu respectfully saluted them as he looked at the bloody crescent. The deva cosmic gods bowed down to welcome the even more powerful cosmic gods from the Ninefold Hellstar.

The door to the ship opened, causing a black-and-crimson mist to spread out of it. Three towering figures emerged from within, their auras odd and sinister, seemingly enveloping the whole of Wargod Haven and making it even colder than it usually felt.

Among them was a male cosmic god, who, unlike the others who were armored, was dressed in a large black robe that stretched hundreds of meters long. He wore a blood-colored bamboo hat that covered his mist-shrouded head. Traces of crimson fangs glinted through the mist. The shine from his bloody eyes was also visible through the mist that obscured his true face. There even seemed to be an eyeball on each of his palms.

He was an ashura, one of the Three Divine Races. The moment he stepped out of the ship, the eerie sobbing of an infant emanated from within, yet it had an oddly bestial flair to it.

”Chief Yue Mo!” Mo Tu respectfully lowered his head.

Yue Mo was the ashura’s name. He was flanked by two second-level cosmic gods like Mo Tu, both of them female specter devas. They had wavy, pitch-black hair, and though they were specters, their skin seemed fair, lustrous, and filled with life.

Cosmic gods had their own sense of aesthetics too, after all.

”The Virtue Pantheon....” Quite a number of devas bowed to the two specters with odd expressions. Though the devas were one of the two great specter races in the Upper Star Ruin, and felt that they were superior to the Virtue Pantheon, the specters before them were powerful second-level cosmic gods that deserved respect. Only Mo Tu didn’t have to lower his station; they were his friends, after all.

When Yue Mo saw Mo Tu, he said, ”Get that wonderian to bring the Worldgazer Skyeye with us. We’ll set off for Starmoon Haven without delay.”

”Yes!” Mo Tu informed Tong Zhi before bringing a group of devas with him to board the blood-crescent ship. It was even darker within than it was on the outside. The ship swiftly accelerated through space, cutting through it like a swift dart.

”Chief, why’re you in such a rush?” Mo Tu asked.

”The top brass have orders for us to head to the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins to reserve space,” Yue Mo said.

”Why? The Eightpart Pantheons have always fairly split things among us, right?” Normally, there wouldn’t even be a need to be hasty.

”Ostensibly, there’s imperial-class xenoraces that live within the Primordial Sands of the Upper Star Ruin. They’ve also found the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins using another entrance through the Ancestral World,” Yue Mo coldly said.

”Imperial-class xenoraces? Which one?”

Imperial-class xenoraces could trace their lineage back to ancient times, just like the Eightpart Pantheons. They maintained a low profile in the Primordial Sands. Even though they don’t make many appearances, the Eightpart Pantheons knew that they were not to be trifled with. They were the hardest radicals to deal with within the territories that the Eightpart Pantheons ruled. After all, not even the Heavenly Dao’s influence could stretch as far as the Primordial Sands!

”It’s the Perpetual Jiang Clan,” Yue Mo said.

”Oh? Is that the one that had a golden crystal star manifest out of nowhere? Legend says that their ancient progenitor’s been born again.”

”Yes. It’s someone that’s really troublesome to deal with. However, we’ve gathered people from a few maniverse-class worlds, while they’ve only interfaced with one so far. We still have a huge advantage over them, but we should hurry up. That’s why you should hurry and wrap up your affairs here.”

”Alright! With the three of you here, there’s no way things won’t work out!” Mo Tu nodded and looked deeper into the ship.