Beastmaster of the Ages

Bai Ye had been watching Qin Feng during Tianming’s absence, so it knew about everything that had happened. It just couldn’t be bothered to inform him about it.

”Your senior brothers and sisters? Are they all wonderians?” Tianming asked.

”Yeah.” Qin Feng said.

”What’re their levels? Are there any cosmic gods?”

”Cosmic gods? Of course not. It’s rather difficult to become a cosmic god before the age of five hundred! There aren’t that many cosmic gods of that age in Saturatia-49,” Qin Feng said.

Tianming suddenly lost interest after hearing that. There didn’t seem to be much for him to gain. Then again, that didn’t necessarily mean that he was their match.

”Can we not pick them up?” Tianming asked with some frustration.

”Of course not! If we don’t pick them up, my future will be ruined! These are members of the lofty divine wonderian race. The only reason that I’m able to become the disciple of the sacred lord is because my dad keeps stuffing his pockets with money.”

”Well, you’re just a cab boy at the end of the day....” Tianming couldn’t be bothered to give him any more trouble and nodded. ”Alright, I’ll let you do it. Consider it a favor.”

Qin Feng was incredibly grateful. He piloted the Maplegod into the wormhole expressway, crossing vast distances of space in a short period of time. Soon, they reached Saturatia-49.

At the same time as their departure, another cold-looking divine astralship seemed to have been circling the Midsky Tristars for quite some time. Nobody bothered to help the people there reclaim the cores of their world due to the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins.

Within this ship sat a pale, burly cosmic god who seemed rather frustrated. Other cosmic gods knelt before him fearfully.

”What trash.... All that time spent looking for them was wasted,” said the pale cosmic god, voice crackling loudly like blazing flames.

”Sacred Lord, please calm your rage! Those two have disappeared with ten billion people, as if they have vanished into thin air! Perhaps they have gone to the Lower Star Ruins and eluded our capture completely...” said a cosmic god nervously.

”Are you saying that my Worldgazer Skyeye is gone for good?” the sacred lord said.

”Sacred Lord, please give us a bit more time!” All the cosmic gods kowtowed furiously, fearful that they would be crushed after having witnessed the sacred lord kill another cosmic god in an instant. It had taken quite a bit of effort for them to become cosmic gods, so they rather cherished being alive.

”Fine! I’ll give you all one more chance. If there’s no news the next time I come down there, all of you will die!” The sacred lord rose, standing so tall that the cosmic gods before him looked like rabbits he could stomp to death easily.

”Scram!” The devas and wonderians who had escaped the Midsky Tristars hurriedly scrambled.

”Sacred Lord,” said a dark figure beside the pale cosmic god. ”Are you going to head to the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins?”

”Yes. It can’t be put off any longer. The Heavenly Dao Arena in the lower two levels of the ruins is about to descend, and every time it does, a group of those Eightpart Pantheons embarrassments will try to sneak in for the experience, even at the cost of accepting seeds of heavenly punishment. If I go too late and let those lowlives take all the spots, I’ll be coughing blood in rage.”

”Those minor races are quite the eyesore for us, the divine wonderain race. They’re really sneaky and keep trying to get some benefits at our expense!”

”That’s why we have to make haste.”

”Understood! I’ll set the course right away.” The figure piloted the ship through a wormhole expressway and disappeared.

***

The Maplegod didn’t land in Maplegod. Instead, it arrived near orbiter number three of Saturatia-49. It was close enough to Saturatia-49 that Tianming could almost peer through the cloaking formation to see it. Even though it was just the tip of the iceberg, a world with only cosmic gods still seemed impressive to behold.

”I wonder how far I am from going to an eighth-class world like that....” Tianming didn’t know it for sure. At the third level of the Overflow stage, he was sixty meters in height. It was hard to imagine how tall he would be when he reached the tenth level.

”Wait here for a bit,” Qin Feng said.

Orbiter number three had a dozen mound cities. Qin Feng had to visit a few of them to pick them up in person.

”Don’t they have ships of their own? Why do they need you for a ride?” Tianming asked.

”Even though they have high status, that doesn’t mean that they have maniverse-class ships. Maplegod only has one, and normally, ships of this class aren’t given to those under five hundred to pilot,” Qin Feng explained before leaving to pick up his passengers.

Soon, two wonderians arrived with Qin Feng. They looked somewhat like Fengqing Youmeng, being pale and pure, seemingly from a pure lineage. One look and people would be able to tell that their bloodline was pure and held in rather high esteem.

”Why are there others here?” asked the wonderian girl when she saw Tianming and the rest.

Qin Feng said, ”These three are my friends. The guy is called Lin Feng and is my half-brother-- I mean, we share the same name, but have different surnames. Fate has brought us together, don’t you think?”

”Oh?” The wonderians simply nodded.

Tianming was shocked that they didn’t mock him in the slightest. Qin Feng, seeing that they didn’t attempt to kick Tianming out, breathed a sigh of relief. ”Brother, these two are Muzhi Youyou and Muzhi Momo. Their parents are peak-tier cosmic gods.”

”Qin Feng, quiet!” said the girl Muzhi Youyou.

”Yes, of course!” Qin Feng smiled and fervently nodded.

”Let’s pick up the rest,” Muzhi Momo said, holding the girl’s hand. The two of them took a seat and locked eyes for a long time, seemingly having gone into a world of their own.

”I love you,” Muzhi Momo said.

”Me too,” Muzhi Youyou said.

”I never get sick of saying this once every day,” Muzhi Momo said.

”But I want to hear it a hundred thousand times a day,” Muzhi Youyou said.

Tianming and Moran watched awkwardly. He whispered in her ear, ”You wonderians always seem to have a few screws loose.”

”Shut up.” Moran glared at him. ”That’s what being in love looks like. What would a womanizer like you know about true love?”

”Hey!” Tianming looked at the wonderians again. ”There’s no way treating love like a brainwashing ritual like that is healthy. Things are bound to go wrong eventually.” The wonderians were truly a puzzling folk.

A few more pairs of wonderians joined them soon after. Though they had different personalities, the one thing that they all shared was the unwavering gaze for their partners. Tianming almost felt bad about his proclivities after seeing how loyal they all were. ”Damn it, they make me look like the only asshole among them!”

It was finally time for the ship to depart. The journey to the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins would take around one month.

”Brother!” Tianming motioned Qin Feng to come over and whispered, ”I have a question for you.”

”What is it?”

”What happens when wonderians cheat?”

”That’s a sin deserving a thousand deaths!” Qin Feng whispered with shocked gasps. ”Their friends, families, and associates will be culled. Tens of thousands of people will die at a minimum.”

Tianming almost did a double take. ”Are you serious?!”

”As serious as I can be.”

Thoughts raced through Tianming’s mind, but the best thing he could come up with was ”The fuck!”