Beastmaster of the Ages

At that moment, the power that had controlled Tianming was completely gone. The cocoon wrapped around Ye Lingfeng had vanished as well. This was his chance! Though he still missed his parents, Tianming made his way to Ye Lingfeng’s side as fast as he could while tugging on the dimensional rope.

Though they had agreed on tugging it at a slower, measured pace, there was no time. Even though they were a world apart, Ying Huo and the rest were somehow still telepathically connected to him and could probably understand his intentions. As expected, when he caught Lingfeng, he felt a strong tugging from the rope. Lan Huang was probably the one pulling him out.

The pulling caused the world around him to change. When he was finally out of range of the wondersky realm, the sensation of distance and other senses vanished once more. Now, he was infinitely near the entrance of the xenomemory space. Though he couldn’t help but look ahead, it was nothing but pure chaos.

”The Cyclic Map is gone now, so I can’t look for them on my own accord any longer.” Tianming heaved a sigh. Perhaps his parents had other plans and had no choice but to do that given the urgency of their situation. He really missed them and wanted to know the truth of the situation, but he knew that the more he knew, the more danger he would be in.

”If only we had a little more time to talk about casual stuff…” he said as he was close to returning to the real world. His visit to the xenomemory space had been fickle and short.

Explosions still seemed to be occurring within. The light he saw seemed to turn into the image of a couple smiling at him with their hands held. The love he saw in their eyes seemed to be telling him to not burden himself too much with worry. The fact that they had survived until now meant they had their own ways to keep on surviving, so Tianming only needed to worry about how he would proceed himself.

The image abruptly disappeared, leaving the last thing he saw of them being their smile. Then he was pulled out of the entrance with Lingfeng in hand. Through the process of leaving the xenomemory space, the spider markings on his body had fallen off one after the other. Then another explosion saw the vortex blast apart. Some bluish energy had sealed off the entire area by twisting space.

”My parents must’ve sealed this way into the xenomemory space to prevent me from being tracked, right?” He was almost sure that was what happened. Since they had asked him to tread his own path without worry, he wouldn’t overthink it. They didn’t explicitly ask him to not enter the Violetglory Star wondersky realm, so he probably wouldn’t be exposed by cultivating there. Even so, it still baffled him that the realm itself was a gigantic beast that could bleed and talk.

”Dad, Mom, I wonder how long it will take before our family can reunite…”

After experiencing all that he had there, that felt like a dream that would never come to pass. But no matter how much he missed them, he had to put his thoughts aside. There were still two crucial things he had to make sure of: whether Ye Lingfeng was still alive, and what had happened to Feiling.

Tianming had given Ye Lingfeng a good look as he was being pulled back. He was out cold, but still alive. He might need some time to recover from any potential damage to his soul, however. Though, Tianming did note the vortex around his chest; it looked like his heart and lungs were gone. Could he still be considered to be living without those vital organs?

As for the Soulfiend, it seemed to be fine and had returned to its three-headed, six-armed form. It tightly clasped Ye Lingfeng’s hand. Though years had passed, it hadn’t changed at all. It still looked like a half-ethereal, half-corporeal creature, making it more corporeal than totems were, but less than a physical body was. In some ways, it could even be seen as a totem with its own mind.

Having escaped the xenomemory space with Ye Lingfeng, Tianming’s worries about him were now over for a time. The only thing left on his mind was Feiling’s Perpetual Nirvana. When he emerged, he saw Ying Huo and the rest, but not Feiling, and his heart immediately tensed up. ”Where’s Ling’er?!”

If it weren’t for the lingering sensation that signaled her continuing existence in the world, he would break down right then and there.

”Don’t panic! It’s good news!” Ying Huo knew how he would react, so he quickly reassured him.

”Where is she?”

”Haha, be mentally prepared though. She might feel a little different to the touch!”

”Stop messing around, you bird!” Right as Tianming raised Ying Huo up, Xian Xian brought the blue and white flower before Tianming.

Xian Xian leaped into his embrace and cried. ”Waaah! Little Li! You didn’t know how brave she was! It was so moving!”

”Move aside.” He tossed her little spiritform aside and came to Feiling. He knew that this was her. He placed his hand on the petal and could feel the warmth and heartbeat as Ying Huo explained what had happened to them. Through the dimensional rope, Tianming could tell that she had completed this round of her Perpetual Nirvana. This was the final step, and as long as she was allowed to grow in the flower, she would overcome the trials and return to his side. It appeared that Sovereign Xi’s intervention had been a huge help to her.

Even though they had lost the Cyclic Map, it would be great if she could come back soon in her new form. Tianming would have successfully saved the continent, and Ye Lingfeng and her would have finished their trials. It was an almost complete victory. Though, he felt just as pained for her as he was happy for how she had toughened herself so much just to survive.

”Just rest well. You’ll come back better and stronger than ever.” He felt her heartbeat from the petal again. It was like she was interlinking her fingers with his, listening to his voice and smiling. She was now growing on Xian Xian’s body.

”Ling’er, I’ll be taking you home.” He patted the petal a few times, and it shook in kind; she was able to hear him. Though, he did wonder if Xian Xian could return to his lifebound space with Feiling now growing upon her. He gave it a try and it turned out that it was possible. The relationship between Feiling and Xian Xian must have been deeper than it seemed.