Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming could only race against time. Qingyu was the same, having never given up on catching up to her brother. With a galaxy-class order, overflow fragments, the innate talents of the Eightparts Holy Daughter, and Tianming’s order-related problems, her progress here even surpassed his.

Both of them employed a glimpse-and-go strategy. They used an order fragment to get a little beastball drunk, then had a quick skim of the surface mysteries of its order before moving on.

It was much like what he had done back when he was in the Midsky Tristars.

During the process, the two cosmic god teams would surely discover Tianming’s hiding spot. Fortunately, Yin Chen alerted him whenever they neared. Then he would immediately take out an overflow fragment and shepherd a swarm of crazed little beastballs to move with him.

“Feels like herding a bunch of fat sheep!” Tianming didn’t know whether to be entertained or annoyed. However, he was fond of the little creatures and couldn’t bear to see them killed, so he kept a close eye on the actions of the two cosmic god teams.

As expected, the two teams ran into each other before encountering a wild Tianming.

***

“Yuan Long?” Yumo Xiaoyou suddenly looked up and saw a blue figure in the darkness ahead.

“It’s you?” Yuan Long frowned.

The two of them instinctively looked behind each other and relaxed a bit upon seeing that both groups were just catching little beastballs. It meant neither side had found any special treasures yet.

“You’ve caught quite a few, eh? You must have over two hundred?” Yuan Long casually said.

“Not that many, just over a hundred. What about you?” Yumo Xiaoyou replied in a low voice.

They sized each other up and found their forces to be roughly equal; neither could overwhelm the other.

“I’ve also got just over a hundred,” Yuan Long smiled. “I don’t even know if these things are useful. What do you think?”

“They’re special lifeforms from the Ancestor World, so they’re bound to have some research value,” Yumo Xiaoyou indifferently said.

“Alright. I won’t disturb your treasure hunt.” With that, Yuan Long led her team past them.

“Wait. Have you seen anyone else in the ruins?” Yumo Xiaoyou suddenly asked.

“Only you,” Yuan Long replied.

“Oh... so there’s only the two of us here?” Yumo Xiaoyou’s gaze chilled.

“Yes. Otherwise, who else could’ve killed Baili Liuyan and Baili Feiyu?” Yuan Long hadn’t wanted to bring that up, as she didn’t want to fight over those two, but she figured applying a bit of pressure wouldn’t hurt.

“Someone in your group died?” Yumo Xiaoyou raised an eyebrow.

“Playing dumb?” Yuan Long sneered.

Yumo Xiaoyou thought for a moment, then seriously said, “We didn’t kill anyone. If people on your side died, that means we aren’t the only two teams in here.”

After speaking, he handed Yuan Long a transmission stone and said, “Regardless, we’re both descendants of minor clans from orbiter worlds. We hold no real power. In the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins, we should stick together. If you run into danger, contact me.”

Yuan Long was briefly stunned. “You sure?” she asked.

“Better to be cautious,” Yumo Xiaoyou paused before adding, “Of course, if we run into something we can’t handle, we’d also ask Miss Yuan Long for help.”

“Alright.” Yuan Long accepted the transmission stone and gave Yumo Xiaoyou a deep look. She took the stone—she could decide whether to use it or not later.

“This heart’s activity is bound to draw more people. We’ll find a few more of these creatures then leave!” Yumo Xiaoyou said and then led his group past Yuan Long into the darkness.

***

Tianming’s expression darkened after hearing about their conversation from Yin Chen. “You didn’t fight each other, and even exchanged transmission stones?” he groaned. A one-on-one fight with a cosmic god could now escalate into a two-on-one.

“Not a single beastball can be allowed to leave with them....” It wasn’t about greed. Tianming just didn’t want the rare caeli inheritances left by the flameyellow ancestors to end up in the hands of the Eightpart Pantheons.

He could only keep watch while immersing himself in his cultivation. “Just focus on overflow fragments for now!” After losing access to his omnisentient power, he desperately needed a way to fight cosmic gods!

Qingyu worked even harder. She was absorbing fresh cosmic god blood from her Original Sin Pool, further developing the talents of the Eightparts Holy Daughter. The cosmic god blood even counteracted the order instability side-effects of the overflow fragments.

Tianming was really envious.

After some time, Tianming’s nine orders finally began growing again, the result of studying hundreds of galaxy-class orders. His mind was overflowing with ancestral memories, and even with his Trisoul Prime, his brain was about to explode from it all.

Thankfully, his hard work began paying off. “Fifth-level overflower!”

Tianming’s height finally reached a hundred meters, on par with a typical first-level cosmic god.

“You all did great!” During his cultivation, Tianming had grown closer to the little beastballs. They now actively stayed close to him, waiting for feeding time.

He was currently the shepherd of roughly eight thousand little beastballs.

The little beastballs had also become more familiar with Ying Huo, They kept clucking all day long, nearly driving Tianming insane.

“With my current strength, I can easily fight six levels higher, and maybe even challenge seven levels higher to fight super-zenith overflower opponents.... If the enemy’s a totemancer, I could challenge even higher levels!”

Tianming was fired up. Once again, he could almost taste that cosmic god-level power. And this time it was through his own strength, not the power of the people.

That proved that his trip was worth it!

“But man, Qingyu’s a freak!” Qingyu’s talents had skyrocketed again. Combined with the overflow fragments, she had undergone a complete transformation. Her totem simulacra and Shuo Yue’s crests had risen to over 30-fold.

All of her other Eightparts Holy Daughter’s powers had also improved. For example, her deva talent had reached the level of threefold hell-rings. Now that each of her eight talents had caught up, when all of them were added together, she was a true monster.

“She really is the glorious creation of the flameyellow ancestors, made from the blood of the Eightpart Pantheons!”

With galaxy-class orders, her rise was inevitable. She had even surpassed Tianming by a level and was now a sixth-level overflower. Her combat power was estimated to be a minor-zenith overflower’s.

“Big Brother, you’re the real freak. I feel like I’ve burned through everything I have, and I still can’t catch up to you. You even have nine orders....” Other people pushed carts up a hill while Tianming was pushing a mountain! And even then, he was somehow still faster!

That was a true freak.

“Stay calm...” Tianming took a deep breath and continued stabilizing his orders.

Outside, Yumo Xiaoyou and Yuan Long were still collecting little beastballs, completely unaware of Tianming’s existence. One day, when Yumo Xiaoyou had gathered four hundred of them, he remarked to his sister, Yumo Xiaoshuang, “This ruin likely has nothing else. Let’s leave for now and bring these things back to the Ninefold Hellstar.”