Beastmaster of the Ages

”I didn’t expect anything from you, to be honest,” Tianming said, looking at the bugs that lined up neatly to take baths using Lan Huang’s kui seas. With Yin Chen guiding the way, they mounted Lan Huang and traveled through the flameyellow void essence muck.

”What kind of ruins are they?” Tianming asked.

”Some heart... shaped ones,” Yin Chen said.

”A heart? Like a ship of some kind?”

”Not a... divine astralship! But there... is a... divine formation,” Yin Chen said. In other words, they were buildings reinforced with a formation. No doubt, they were made from divine ores. The reinforcements were fixed in place.

”Taking you... straight to... the entrance,” Yin Chen said, still bathing nonstop. It took pride in its multitasking skills.

They arrived at their destination in half an hour, as they hadn’t had far to travel. With all the muck around them, Tianming could see nothing even though he had been brought to the entrance. All he could do was push apart the muck before him. Then, he saw an ancient bronze door.

”Is this the entrance to the heart’s aorta?” Tianming kept digging and saw a door shaped like a gigantic blood vessel that led toward the heart’s chambers. The Ancient Flameyellow Ruins was like a big swamp, and this heart was only about the size of a bean in the swamp. It would be extremely difficult to find, even with hundreds of thousands of people digging through the swamp, so luck was definitely a factor. Even so, the size of the heart was as big as an astralship to him.

”The question now is how we can open this door....” Tianming turned to Qingyu and said, ”If it has something to do with the flameyellow divinities, why don’t we give it a try?”

They continued to exchange glances before they concluded that they should’ve brought Wudi along with them. He was the one that had the purest flameyellow divinity bloodline out of all of them! As for Qingyu, she had the Original Sin Pool with her, which had already transformed her to have the bloodlines of the Eightpart Pantheons.

”Let’s try our luck anyway!” Tianming looked at the ancient formation locks. Since they couldn’t quite figure out how it worked, he eventually resorted to his sky plunderer abilities.

Yin Chen spread out to make sure nobody could approach them unnoticed. Even so, cosmic sense was still really usable in the deep muck, far more than eyes.

The Sky Plundering Eye in Tianming’s left hand turned red once more, illuminating the locking mechanism of the door. It was far more convenient than using his actual eyes.

”Does it work?” Moran asked.

”It’s hard!” Tianming turned to her and said, ”Though it might be too tough for men under heaven, it won’t be too hard for me.”

”Is it because you’re not a man?” Ying Huo asked snidely.

”Big Brother, stop pretending and embrace your true gender!” Qingyu said.

”Ahem.” Tianming cleared his throat and placed his black hand lightly against the bronze door, which shook nonstop like a candle flame that was about to run out.

”My Big Brother’s hand is rather amazing,” Qingyu said with awe.

”That’s right,” Moran said with an excited nod, her heart beating fast.

”No,” Qingyu said. ”I didn’t mean anything that specific, Big Sis Little Fish.”

”I didn’t either,” Moran said, her head tilting.

”If the two of you keep on going, then that will be the new truth,” Ying Huo said.

After another hour, Tianming appeared rather pale and drained. His hand had touched the door tens of thousands of times before he removed the final strand of the divine celestial formation! As it vanished, the whole bronze door turned into ash that scattered away. The aorta was finally open, releasing a musty air that had been trapped inside for countless years which almost knocked him out.

”How dense!” He was in no rush and started ordering Yin Chens around. ”It’s not dirty in there, so you’ll be fine with going in, right?”

”Very well,” it said.

As the Yin Chens entered, Tianming saw a black-and-gold light that seemed to shine onto the muddy flameyellow void essence. ”What’s going on?”

”The heart... is flashing!” Yin Chen said.

”The whole thing? Won’t that expose us and give away our location?”

”That’s right!”

”That must have to do with the unconventional way I opened it!” Normally, one would need the bloodline of a flameyellow divinity to open such ruins. Tianming felt a little unhappy about others coming to the ruins he had so painstakingly unlocked.

The heart’s glow got stronger and stronger. Eventually, it even began to beat like a real heart, sending a low, thumping sound reverberating into the distance, each one sounding louder than the last.

”Fuck!” Though Tianming was quite speechless, he had to use whatever time he had left to enter it with Moran and Qingyu. Yin Chen had already charted out a path for them, and if someone came in behind them, Yin Chen would be there to detect them first. They had to strike fast!

”Come quick!” Yin Chen said.

”Did you find a precious treasure?” Tianming hurriedly asked.

”No treasure... but a... precious baby.”

”Baby?!” What in the world?! He followed the blood vessel and reached the spot Yin Chen was talking about.

”It’s alive....” Tianming could see a bundle of vigor bouncing about. It was a tiny beast without arms or legs, only a gold furry head. Its eyes were large and black, and it had a tiny mouth that chirped nonstop as it looked blankly at Tianming and the rest.

”Chicken Bro, is that your kid?” Meow Meow said, waking up from the noise.

”Bullshit! Does this look like a chicken to you? It’s more like a furball that bounces around on its own!” Ying Huo said.

”How cute....” Qingyu wanted to touch it, but hesitated.

Tianming then bravely picked up the little ball of a beast, which continued to chirp as it stared at Tianming. Then, it sucked Tianming’s caelum into its eyes! Tianming looked around the little critter’s body with his caelum and made a shocking discovery. ”A galaxy-class order?!”