Beastmaster of the Ages

”Maniverse-class defensive formations have many functions like subformations that can even cut off transmission stones and isolate entire worlds....” That was one of the cornerstones of Tianming’s plan. ”Let’s put this world on a lockdown!”

To keep things under wraps, he would have to finish the fight quickly. Yin Chen maintained surveillance on the outside, and so far, nobody felt that anything odd was happening in the Ninefold Hellstar. The subsoul of Ming Xingwang did indeed shatter, but nobody noticed it yet. Who would even think to check? It wasn’t like he was one of the people sent into the upper ruins!

”Alright, here we go.” Tianming had both hands holding the Ninefold Hell Cauldron tightly. The countless patterns on it shone bright black, ushering a change in the surrounding nova source. The entire maniverse-class nova-source world was now in his control! Soon, the rumbling reached the skies as countless streams of nova source burst out, startling many cosmic gods up above.

”What’s going on?” People flooded out to the streets of the many mound and universe cities. They had just been discussing the nova source’s recent pink shift, only for something else to be happening right after. The changes that were happening to their world grew more and more drastic!

Then, black storms began to form up in the dense formation of mist above and expand at a terrifying rate. It didn’t take long before dark clouds covered every inch of the sky. The many divine celestial patterns turned into stormy snakes.

”The astralguard formation is activated!”

”What’s going on? Is someone attacking the Ninefold Hellstar?”

The cosmic gods in the cities were all shocked. They were in the prime of the Eightpart Pantheons’ rule! Who would dare attack one of the Ten Desolate Starforges?

”Don’t tell me we have a conflict between our internal factions?”

”Impossible! Who would dare make such a move with the Heavenly Dao presiding over all?”

”What if something happened to the Heavenly Dao?”

Their expressions were one of worry and fright.

”What if Ming Xingwang is just messing around because he’s bored?” Many people did wonder if this was the case.

”Given his personality, this could indeed be it. That fellow....”

”Let’s go to the palace to ask the minor hell king about it!”

Lots of devas immediately did just that, while many others merely stared blankly at the sky, not being able to think of any conceivable reason for this. They decided to chat with their friends over transmission stones to talk about this, only to find that it was no longer possible to reach other worlds! The stones only functioned for calls within the Ninefold Hellstar. They were sealed off!

”Is Ming Xingwang insane?”

Chaos began to break out.

***

”Minor Hell King!” Hundreds of thousand-meter cosmic gods came to the palace in Ninefold Universe City. They were the subelites of the world, making them the backbone of the hierarchy and marginally more talented than the masses, all having at least sixfold hell-rings. These were the kinds of devas that Tianming targeted.

The minor hell king had lots to deal with. Standing by the side of the lake, he looked at its empty surface with a cold expression.

”What’s going on?” A group of seniors and elites had assembled around him, perplexed.

”Ming Xingwang stole the Sacredstar Spirit and activated the astralguard formation to seal us off! He’s trying to conduct a coup! Does he really think he’s the true master of this world?” said an elderly deva.

”Is he insane? Starlords of maniverse-class worlds can only be appointed by imperial-class worlds! Does he think taking this world would be enough?”

”It’s understandable that he wants to use this chance to destroy the flower. However, I can’t explain what would motivate him to activate the astralguard formation.”

Little did they know that their acting starlord had been killed not long ago.

”What do you think, Minor Hell King?” Everyone turned to him, eyes filled with rage.

”No matter the case, we should quell the chaos and look for Ming Xingwang to find out what’s going on,” the minor hell king said.

”That’s all we can do,” the others agreed.

”To Ming Xingwang’s manor!” Even though he wasn’t there, his relatives were there at least. They wouldn’t be able to all run off completely after something so huge like this happened. A group of a few hundred people left Ninefold Universe City for the manor. The giants rose into the sky toward Dreadstar Universe City.

***

A purple beam streaked across the night sky and landed on a mountain peak. Tianming had left the core of the world. Seeing the dense astralguard formation above, he was rather satisfied. What he needed was time and efficiency. First on his order of priorities was the hatching of Eighth, and the second was still to come.

”I will make you full one way or another this time,” Tianming said, touching the deadfish eye on his chest. It seemed to be able to understand him and blinked excitedly.

”Here we go!” Tianming could see a group of cosmic gods approaching from the horizon, flying much faster than astralships could. There were hundreds of them and it took almost no time at all for them to reach Tianming. He rose into the air and instantly covered fifty million meters of distance to stop them in their tracks.

”Who is that?!” The tiny humanoid astral body that had displayed such blinding speed stunned the hundreds of cosmic gods. All of them stared at him.

”It’s that masked figure from the lower ruins....” They instantly recognized him and were even more shocked. How could he show up in their home turf when their troops were still trapped in the ruins?

”Minor Hell King, this kid is really valuable!” The seniors and elites all turned to the minor hell king.

”A low-level cosmic god....” The minor hell king was emotionless. He didn’t even consider that Tianming had anything to do with the activation of the astralguard formation. ”One of us here shall stay here to deal with him. I need the others to continue on to Dreadstar Universe City with me.”

”Only one to take me on?” Tianming said right as they were about to fly off. He smiled as lightning crackled around his body. He was in front of the minor hell king in the next instant and pierced through his chest! The minor hell king had wanted to block, but his two arms had been pierced through!

”What the—” He looked at the tiny figure who was destroying his body with a fearsome power. It took almost no time at all for him to be reduced to essence form!

”Careful!” The other cosmic gods all made their move at the same time, sending Tianming flying off. Yet, it was already too late for the minor hell king.

”That was insane!” Their hearts were still beating rapidly.

In the distance, Tianming wielded his swords in both hands as he made another charge. ”The Ninefold Hellstar? It’s still not hellish enough. Let me fix that by killing even more of you!”