Beastmaster of the Ages

Once Tianming sent the three billion people and all of the resources from Starmoon Haven to the Sun, he returned to Starmoon Haven with Long Xing and Moran as quickly as he could—another battle was already brewing. While they didn’t have Wudi and his coffin helping out at Starmoon Haven, it was even safer as they didn’t need to worry about the Starmoon Guard Formation being breached. There was no longer much on the world itself that needed protection.

Not to mention, Yin Chen had been gathering information about the remaining resources left in Starmoon Haven. There were still a few more harvest runs that could be done to completely suck it dry.

After returning, Tianming continued focusing his attention on honing his sword and whip arts. Long Xing didn’t have Tianming’s sky-plunderer talents, so he had a much harder time accessing those arts for himself. Seeing that, Tianming had a spark of inspiration. I wonder if I’ll be able to unlock all these formations so people can access them at any time.

He would have to learn more about exactly what sky plunderers were capable of to achieve that, and he needed more Archaionfiend Eyes for that. Come to think of it, where are Xiaoxiao and Yi Daiyan?

The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was cruising above Starmoon Haven within its astralguard formation, ready to fight at any time. ”Yin Chen said that a bloody crescent-shaped ship arrived at Wargod Haven. Reinforcements from the Ninefold Hellstar must have arrived.”

Learning about the strength of the reinforcements was as easy as things went. Yin Chen simply needed to gather some information about them at Wargod Haven. Soon, it relayed some information to Tianming.

”So Moonfiend Hunt is an organization from the Ninefold Hellstar, led by an ashura called Yue Mo, someone who’s said to be a third-level cosmic god....” That was all Yin Chen had managed to learn about them. Tianming couldn’t be sure if Yue Mo himself would show up on the scene, nor how many people from Moonfiend Hunt would even come. The cosmic gods, knowing how annoying Yin Chen was, constantly used their cosmic senses to destroy its bodies. It only managed to get information from the discussion of the countless average specters.

”Blood crescent.... Yue Mo is most likely going to be here.” Tianming asked Long Xing about it, but he didn’t seem to know much about the Ninefold Hellstar. ”What do you think about third-level ashura cosmic gods?”

”Ashuras are difficult to predict. They shouldn’t be hard for me to defeat, depending on the level of nova wildbeasts they’ve tamed. There aren’t many of them on the Ninefold Hellstar, but there’s quite a number of powerful nova wildbeasts there. Yue Mo would probably have a lot to choose from if he’s powerful enough,” Long Xing said.

”What about maniverse-class nova wildbeasts? Are they comparable to cosmic gods? Do they have middlekin astrons, too?”

”I heard they get much stronger at the maniverse class, though there’s only fortuna-class nova wildbeasts on Starmoon Haven. I haven’t seen any beast beyond that myself.”

”Got it. I guess we’ll have to find out for ourselves.” Tianming turned to the void of space away from Starmoon Haven once more.

”Have they come?” Killing intent rose in Long Xing’s eyes. After inheriting cosmic god blood, Long Xing’s fighting spirit had grown by a lot. He would even charge the strongest deva, let alone a third-level ashura.

While slaughtering the cosmic gods of Starmoon Haven had been cathartic, it wasn’t interesting as he hadn’t gotten to fully test his newfound powers. Back when he’d still had heavenly shackles, he’d constantly fought on his back foot, being pushed back time and again. But with the shackles undone and having inherited the legacy of the Violet Inferno Marshal, Long Xing had become one of the most elite flameyellow divinities. As long as the sacred lord from Saturatia-49 didn’t come, there wasn’t much for him to fear. Not to mention, they could easily flee Starmoon Haven if they were facing any unresolvable trouble.

”Here they come!” Tianming piloted the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb in the direction Yin Chen pointed out to him. After crossing the first stretch through the Starmoon Guard Formation, they saw the crescent ship menacingly glowing ahead.

”They came straight here after stopping at Wargod Haven. Seems like they’re rushing for some reason,” Tianming said.

”The heavenly oath will last another decade or so. I know things would be better if they dealt with us soon, but I didn’t think they’d be in such a rush,” Long Xing said.

”They must have other matters to attend to. Sounds like they’re still looking down on us,” Tianming sniggered with glee.

”You mean you alone, right? I’m a second-level cosmic god. They’d definitely be wary of me,” Long Xing chuckled.

”Hahaha!” Tianming didn’t think that someone as straight-laced as Long Xing could even tell a joke like that. It was much better than when they had first met.

”You’ve grown once again. That’s our greatest trump card. Make sure to let me do the heavy lifting and keep the fighting moving at our own pace,” Long Xing said.

”Yeah. We also have the home field advantage since we’re on Starmoon Haven.” They had a fortress they could abandon at any time they wanted, unlike the Sun, whose denizens would suffer if it fell.

”Why haven’t they attacked right away?” Tianming asked, looking at the enemy ship.

”They are... waiting for... the wonderians,” Yin Chen said. Back when they’d decided to call for reinforcements, the starlords of both havens had alerted the rest back home about the threat that Tianming posed. Each of them had thus called for helpers of their own.

The wonderians didn’t take long before arriving in their spherical white ship. It didn’t look much smaller than the Crimson Crescent. The wonderians seemed to be rather good at the art of shipbuilding as well.

”They’ve locked on to me with the Worldgazer Skyeye!” Long Xing said, furrowing his brows.

The enemy didn’t bother declaring the start of battle. It wasn’t like Tianming would go out to meet them anyway. The fight would definitely take place within the astralguard formation.

”It’s more convenient for cosmic gods to fight outside their ships within astralguard formations.” Tianming had experienced many astral wars and understood the principle well. While astralships packed a lot of destructive power, they were large and unwieldy, easily succumbing to the defensive measures in astralguard formations. There was no way Tianming would give up any advantage against an enemy that was impatient to wipe him out. ”Let’s see if they dare to come.”

”They’ve come all the way here. Makes no sense for them to chicken out now,” Long Xing said. ”Should we split up? I’m the one they’ve locked on to.”

”How’s that advantageous for us?” Tianming asked.

”As long as I’m in the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, I’ll make a much bigger target. They might take some pushback from the astralguard formation, but they’re able to move fast in short, powerful bursts. This ship’s also rather close to the surface and can’t fly much faster, so we can’t let it soak up all the attacks. If it’s breached, we’ll be forced into a passive position.”