Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming’s attack was far too ferocious. Ying Huo and Meow Meow’s abilities alone had been enough to put him on an even footing, but Bai Ling and Bai Ye’s soul attacks delivered the killing blow in an instant. The others were just as shocked as Tianming about how quickly it all happened.

”Big Brother! He killed that Sin Pantheon member just like that! How sick is that?!” Jiang Xiaobai watched it with some disbelief, completely shaken. Could a quasi cosmic god really kill a second-level cosmic god?

Jiang Datou made a snap judgment and said, ”Retreat now!” Gu Susu was already out of danger.

”Alright!” Tianming immediately backed away into the Ninelives Cave with the two primalwingers.

”Halt!” A few more members of the Sin Pantheon came charging.

”Can Nian!” Yushen Hua, the really young tag-along with Can Nian, froze completely before his corpse. Even though the corpse still maintained human form, it didn’t move in the slightest. He had died in a far more thorough way before having a chance to turn into a cosmic god essence, something that barely happened, usually.

”Kill them! Hunt them down!” She snapped out of it and howled even though her mental state was already incredibly frail. Her husband had died not long after their marriage, just like that! It was truly rare for there to be widows around two hundred years of age in the Upper Star Ruin, and she was now one of them. The rest left Can Nian’s body aside and furiously gave chase as if they were doing this for their dignity rather than actual grief for Can Nian’s death.

Tianming zipped rapidly through the Ninelives Cave, but the two siblings were much slower. Fortunately, the cave had a complex network of caverns. As long as they hid the starlight that emanated from their bodies, they would easily be able to shake the pursuers off. Tianming scattered Yin Chens as he moved; they would spread out on their own and explore the caves while also looking for divine ores to duplicate themselves with.

”They finally lost us!” The members of the Sin Pantheon were nowhere to be seen after an hour, having split up countless times through the caverns and still not finding their targets. The three could finally relax.

”That was exciting!” Jiang Xiaobai said, breathing heavily with her face flushed. She turned to Tianming and said, ”You really are insane. How can quasi cosmic gods even kill second-level cosmic gods? There must be something up with that body of yours. Let Big Sister here take a good look.”

”Hey, can you not be so shameless? Don’t embarrass the Perpetual Jiang Clan! And don’t pretend like you’ve never seen men before. There’s no shortage of men in the Primordial Sands,” Jiang Datou said.

”Shut up and leave us!” Jiang Xiaobai said with a pout.

Tianming was used to their nonstop sibling banter. By now, they were deep within the Ninelives Cave, with nothing to illuminate their way. They were within a complicated network of pathways within Miracle Mountain. Much of the rock around them was actually formed from solidified flameyellow void essence. It was so hard that normal cosmic artifacts couldn’t so much as dent it. To Tianming, it was all part of the mountain, which was a part of the Grand-Orient Sword, or at least it would be. Due to the tough material, all cosmic gods had a hard time digging through the mountain to find the Ninelives Ancestral Tree.

”Come to think of it, the fact that the tree can even grow roots through such hard material truly is stunning.” Tianming leaned against the wall, which was covered in black roots of varying thickness. He noticed that all the cavern walls were just like that. Some roots even grew out of the walls and blocked off certain pathways.

”Xian Xian, see if you can communicate with it. Is it sentient?” Tianming was reminded of the Azurecloud Divine Tree from the Sun. If something like that already existed, why wouldn’t it be the same in a unique place like the Ancestral World? Those little beastballs were already among the weirdest forms of life he had seen.

”I’ll give it a try.” Xian Xian’s black roots extended from Tianming’s thigh and wrapped around the roots on the walls. Interlocking, they sent some mist into those roots while Xian Xian’s spiritform maintained intense focus within Tianming’s lifebound space. After a while, it opened its eyes and pouted. ”This thingy is conscious and not young. It’s really ancient and has existed here for many years.”

”Are you able to communicate with it?” Tianming asked.

”No.”

”Why?”

”Because it’s been asleep for far too long.”

”Try waking it up?”

”It won’t work. We’re too far from its main body. Maybe it’ll work if we get a bit closer,” Xian Xian said proudly, arms crossed.

”You’re not able to control it with your ’ancestor-of-all-trees’ authority, right?” Tianming said.

”Tch....” Xian Xian looked at Ying Huo and said, ”Chicken Bro is the ancestor of all birds. Is it able to control all other birds?”

”Well, Ying Huo’s a useless chicken. Are you a useless weed?”

”How dare you.... Just you wait. I’ll make this little sproutling submit to me. That’ll show you.”

Ji Ji smirked and looked down on Xian Xian. ”Not only are you useless, you’re also stupid enough to fall for provocation like that.”

”Shut up, silly ball!” Xian Xian snapped.

”Useless weed.”

”Silly ball!”

It wasn’t enough that the two soul beasts were arguing within his astral brain; now, those two little spiritform girls were arguing in his lifebound space. Paradoxically, their relationship seemed to get deeper as they did so. Tianming had long gotten used to their noisy antics. He let Yin Chen continue the search for the location of the Ninelives Ancestral Tree while he chatted with the two siblings, strolling at a relaxed pace through the caves.

”Come to think of it, what does the fruit of the Ninelives Ancestral Tree do?” Tianming hadn’t even seen a single ancestral fruit that was all the rage in the Ancient Flameyellow Ruins lately. There were many different kinds with different effects. These were rare precisely because they couldn’t be found in the Upper Star Ruin. Even overflow fragments from the Ancient Oldgod Domain were considered rare. Naturally, cosmic gods valued the fruits more since the fragments were no longer of use to them.

Jiang Datou said, ”I’ve never seen them either, but Liu Cheng and the rest say that the fruit can increase the number of astrons in our body. That way, we’d get a boost of cosmoforce capacity without breaking through.”

Tianming chuckled. ”So, even a lanky fellow can get as buff as you after eating enough of those fruits, right?” Jiang Datou was powerful compared to those on his level thanks to his burly build. He had close to double the number of middlekin astrons of those on his level.

”That’s right!” Jiang Datou seemed rather happy about it. ”I’m powerful enough, but I want to see if I can push my limits.”

Jiang Xiaobai blushed all of a sudden and said, ”Well, those fruits have another huge use....”