Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming saw the entrance clearly. He flew above some distance and looked down, seeing a black-mirrorlike surface beneath him that emanated a black-gold mist.

”A divine channel?” It did look incredibly similar to the divine channel that appeared in the Middlekin Star Ruin. This was the entrance to the Ancestral World. Unlike the Middlekin Star Ruin’s divine channel, no middlekin stars came out of this one. It also looked to be a thousand times the size of the former, looking almost comparable in size and brilliance to maniverse-class worlds.

”I don’t think this counts as a divine channel. Instead, it’s just an odd entrance of some kind! It’s said that there’s some dense flameyellow void essence down there. It’s a source of energy that’s comparable to nova source from maniverse-class worlds. Cultivating will yield better results down there. However, I heard that flameyellow void essence is rather volatile, so tears in space might occur near the bottom. If you’re not powerful enough, you’ll die!” Qin Feng looked at Qingyu and Moran. ”Those two are clearly underleveled for this place. If you don’t heed my warning and go down there regardless, you won’t like the consequences.”

”Your worry is unnecessary,” Qingyu said, looking at the black mirror. She wanted to be there to pick Lingfeng up herself, and she was confident that this wasn’t beyond her.

”Fine! Then, wait for the heavenly punishment protection seed. When the energy from the Heavenly Dao Arena forcefully enters the Ancestral World and stabilizes it, it’ll be much safer for us to enter!” Qin Feng said.

”So are the people at the ruins’ entrance also waiting for the heavenly punishment protection seed?” Tianming asked. There were tens of thousands of people silently waiting up ahead. It seemed like these top geniuses had been analyzing the ruins for quite some time now.

”That’s right. These are maniverse-class geniuses under five hundred years of age. There’s no way that they would be willing to miss out on something this good.”

Tianming got a rough idea of the situation. It had been some time since the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins were discovered. The reason they decided to deploy the Heavenly Dao Arena there was that the Ancestral World’s territory wasn’t there for the many factions to freely fight over. Instead, the elites of the Eightpart Pantheons used the Heavenly Dao’s power to forge a safe environment for their young geniuses to train in.

The preparations were well underway, and soon, they would be able to flood into the region of the Ancestral World. A huge Heavenly Dao arena would cover a large region near the entrance and plant a heavenly punishment protection seed in the young geniuses, which would serve as a kind of binding contract. As long as they were within the region of the Heavenly Dao Arena, none of them would be allowed to lay hands on others, lest they be punished by the Heavenly Dao.

”Back then, the heavenly punishment protection seed was only applied to members of the Eightpart Pantheons. But in the past million years, smaller factions and clans in the Upper Star Ruin have gained some rights and were lucky enough to obtain the privilege as well. But unlike the Eightpart Pantheons, whose members all have those seeds, it’s a matter of luck for us. So, we won’t know if you have a seed until later. If you don’t get it, I would advise against going in. No matter who you end up offending, it’d be all too easy for their seniors to go in and kill you,” Qin Feng warned.

Tianming nodded, though there was still something he was unclear on. ”When does the heavenly punishment protection seed stop working?”

”There are two kinds of possible scenarios. First, it’ll lose effect when the event ends, in other words, when the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins is no longer a popular destination after everything has been uncovered about it. The second scenario would be when we leave the delineated area of the Heavenly Dao Arena.”

”So, once the event ends or if anyone strays outside the designated area, seniors will be free to kill juniors and take their spoils from the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins?”

”Not really. There’s another time limit. No matter if the event ends or if you leave the area, the heavenly punishment protection seed would only vanish after three years. That is a protection for people whose factions are weaker,” Qin Feng said. He was from one such faction that always worried that they would miss out on all the good stuff.

”Not bad. Three years is enough to use up everything we get.” To others, this was a way to protect them from far more powerful seniors. To Tianming, it was a pass for him to roam free and unabated within the Heavenly Dao Arena.

”Even with that being the case, if we do get something that others covet deeply, large factions will approach us for negotiations once we leave. Most of the time, this ends in a transaction. At the end of the day, while the Heavenly Dao is fair, whether you get to keep what you got still depends on your backing faction,” Qin Feng said, his words felt like an ice bath to dampen Tianming’s ambitions.

Tianming turned to look inside the black mirror. ”If there’s really flameyellow divinities inside there, would any of them know about the heavenly punishment protection seeds? For instance, any of their seniors who are older than five centuries.”

Qin Feng lit up with pride. ”Nonsense. This is why the Eightpart Pantheons bothered to force a Heavenly Dao Arena inside in the first place! Otherwise, the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins would’ve been milked dry long ago. This is a huge undertaking that has crushed the ill intentions of many, even where we can’t see them!”

Tianming came to understand it. ”It sure is a reckless but effective method.... At least I’m on the side that benefits from it this time around.” They only had to be lucky enough to obtain a seed.

Soon, the sound of the Heavenly Dao could be heard ringing loudly above the mirror.

”The Heavenly Dao Arena will descend in fifteen minutes! Everyone, wait at the right flank of the entrance,” said a cold, deep, and unfeeling voice. The countless maniverse-class geniuses exited their ships and headed toward Tianming’s location..

”Whoa!” Tianming could see hundred-meter giants everywhere. They numbered around a hundred thousand! A large number of them were even cosmic gods, showing off the terrifying might of maniverse-class worlds. The sight of them running was one filled with intense pressure.

”Of the ten maniverse-class worlds, seven belong to the Eightpart Pantheons. Apart from the chaos umbral race, every conceivable faction is here. Those of us who aren’t from the Eightpart Pantheons have about the same number of people that they do here. However, the level of our geniuses is far from comparison,” Qin Feng said with a respectful cadence.

Tianming watched the flood of maniverse-class geniuses and felt a bit lightheaded. There were too many of them, and they were too strong, not to mention young! They gathered at the right side of the black mirror, where the entrance to the lower layers was. The left side was the entrance for the ruins’ upper layers, and since only powerful elites were going there, heavenly punishment protection seeds weren’t necessary. Using the Heavenly Dao required large amounts of nova source, after all, so it wasn’t like the Eightpart Pantheons could use it with abandon.

Tianming was ready, and he looked up above him. Then, a blinding formation appeared on the black mirror’s surface, which was followed by the descent of rainbow-colored seeds.

”May the heavens and earth bless the three of us with seeds,” Qingyu chanted.