Beastmaster of the Ages

Since Ye Chen was currently occupied, Tianming didn’t feel any rush either. He had only come to make the challenge when he was free on the continent himself, so it was only fair that Ye Chen answered the challenge on his own time, too.

“Wondersky fairy, if I defeat Ye Chen, will I be allowed to go to the Astraldome?”

“Not yet. You need the recommendation of either the Divineglory Dynasty or Violetcloud Imperium before you may represent the Violetglory Star in the Astraldome. Those two factions would never allow any average joe to represent them and lose face for them.”

“I see. But nevertheless, becoming the top ranker is still a requirement, right?”

“That is correct.”

Tianming was rather interested in the Astraldome, as it would allow him to be exposed to countless different peoples in the astralscape. It really seemed like there were many nova source worlds. If the Violetglory Star alone had so many different races, even the divineglorians that had divinesprings, then there must be so many more kinds of people on distant stars. The astralscape of order was indeed a marvel to be looked forward to.

Though, all of that was something for another day. For now, he was still benefiting from training on the pagoda’s eighth level. While he wasn’t progressing as quickly as he had been during his ascendant days, he was already far beyond the likes of a totemancer like Li Haochen just by virtue of being able to maintain his current rate of progress.

After Li Haochen had been defeated, he was planning to return to the celestial orderians. Tianming left a few cockroaches on Long Youyou’s person, but he wasn’t sure if they would be able to make it there with them in one piece. It wouldn’t be surprising if they were shrugged off mid travel. After all, even though they were invisible, they could still be felt if they stuck too close to the body. Tianming wanted to use them to check on Qingyu. Right now, he only knew that she still lived, but had no other information.

“If the Azurecloud Continent can be stabilized and the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect is able to take back their lost dragonsprings, then I’ll slowly become more capable of dealing with the celestial orderians.” He continued working toward his goal of freeing Qingyu.

……

During the night in the wondersky realm, the sound of music was coming from a pavilion near a lake. This was Princess Shen Yu’s favorite spot; she was waiting for Ye Chen there. To enter the Astraldome, Ye Chen couldn’t directly go there using a heavenly locus formation. Instead, he had to enter the formation in the real world and come to Violetglory Star’s wondersky realm first, then go through a passageway within to reach the Astraldome. In a sense, it wasn’t its own separate wondersky realm with its own star, but a node connecting many other wondersky realms that all had their own pathways leading there.

In other words, Ye Chen would have to go through the wondersky realm if he was on his way back from the Astraldome, so the princess waited for him there. She sat in front of her guqin, her fingers gracefully plucking its strings and producing the most moving of melodies, the sound of which sent gentle ripples across the lake.

After some time, a radiant youth in white robes appeared above the lake in a flash. He flew down, smiled as he sat on the stone bench, and laid down comfortably. Looking a little like a drunk, he took a deep breath and said, “Ah, my Wanwan smells the best after all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Did you encounter other women at the Astraldome?” She played her guqin with one hand and put her right hand on the youth’s face, nudging it like an older sister.

“They’re all uglies that can’t compare to how good you look. There’s even specters among the countless kinds of people there…. The astralscape is really huge, for there to be so much variety!”

“Now, watch your language.” She pinched his lips shut.

“I can’t help it. Crude words flow well from the mouth of someone as crude and thick as I am.”

“What do you mean thick?”

“What do you think I mean?”

“Pervert….”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

After messing around for a bit, the princess adjusted her messy clothing and said, “Hey, we can’t just keep fooling around like this. Have you received the challenge?”

“I have.”

“And?”

“What else? I accept, of course. Why else did I come back? The fight will take place three days from now.”

“Just like that?” The princess didn’t quite know how to react.

“Well, it won’t be something to write home about. Let’s not make it a big deal.”

“So you’re looking down on him, then? He’s someone that managed to kill me in an instant, you know.”

“Looking down? Far from it. He’s capable alright, being a nonabane. I definitely won’t take him lightly. I’ll even take all the perks I got from the Astraldome there to face him, even my guardian spirit, which I’ll register with the heavenly locus formation later.”

“Guardian spirit?” The princess seemed rather taken aback. Though she had worried that he would look down on Tianming at first, hearing that he was going to use his guardian spirit meant he was going all out. “Looks like you know what you’re doing after all. Beat him up and get even for me.”

“Of course. He instakilled my beloved, so I’ll return the favor. Nothing short of that would be enough.”

“Ever since you defeated Gong Yin, you’ve never really had any challengers on the Violetglory Star. Are you excited that you finally got one?”

“Yeah, more or less. I hope he’s comparable to those insane folks at the Astraldome. That way, the Violetglory Star will be in for a show.”

“Well aren’t you a wild one? Let’s pray you don’t lose as badly as I did.”

“Hah! Now you’re the one looking down on me! Looks like someone needs a spanking!”

……

Tianming received a response to his challenge before he got to cultivate for any significant time at the pagoda. “Three days from now, eh….”

It would only be a blink of an eye. Even so, Tianming still planned to make his final preparations at the Violetglory Pagoda. Lingfeng and Xiaoxiao were there, too, but they were on the seventh level.

“Soon, all three of us will challenge Ye Chen. I have to set a good example for the other two.”

When there were only two days remaining, he was summoned by Old Master Shengui to his beach house. Tianming wouldn’t even bother going to the obscene place if not for the intel he could potentially get. When he left the pagoda, he noticed the atmosphere of the entire wondersky realm was bustling in anticipation for the match. Even though it hadn’t started yet, they could already see the Violetcloud Battlefield above. It was still empty, but countless people were gathered around it, filling the audience area to the brim.

“Looks like people will be able to see the battle no matter where they are in the wondersky realm. Still, going to the battlefield to watch it is sure to be more exciting.”