Beastmaster of the Ages

”It’s beautiful!” Feiling said, her eyes reflecting the multicolored storm. They were two small specks compared to this gigantic flower of the universe.

”You’re right.” It was far more beautiful than the burning sun. This colorful flower was formed from some of the most terrifyingly wild nova source in the universe. The most beautiful things were also the most dangerous.

After ten or so days of descending, the two of them finally reached the seemingly endlessly deep eye of the storm. It looked like a lake from the surface. When they sank through the surface, they were enveloped by darkness and sound suddenly vanished. Endless shadows swallowed them up, making it feel like they were drowning. It was so silent that they seemed to hear droplets fall. It was a terrifying kind of silence, but the warmth and heartbeat of the beauty in his arms came just at the right time. He came to understand that no matter how powerful he grew, his loved one would always be a powerful reassurance. Being able to rely on each other was destiny’s gift.

Two days later, they finally left the darkness and a world of color once more appeared before them. The lights had come far too suddenly and they shut their eyes in response before they could adjust. Then they slowly opened them again, causing their expressions to change from shock to awe.

”Whoa!” they unconsciously uttered. Though the world of the astral hole was supposed to be at the edge of ruin, the fact that it could be so beautiful at its end of days made it seem like this was the final sendoff for all the life that had perished during the apocalyptic event. Tianming felt like he was in a gigantic kaleidoscope, and he was a small ant crawling near its walls. Colorful storms of nova source swept across the skies, yet despite being amidst such destructive forces of nature, he felt incredibly at ease.

It wasn’t just him, either. There were many houses constructed along the walls, between which much astral debris floated and flew around. From those homes, one would no doubt be able to constantly see the rampaging nova source that illuminated the entire place. Given the sheer density of nova source in the area, cultivating would be no problem. Not to mention, only the most stable nova source would find its way into the eye of the storm.

This was a wondrous world indeed. In a sense, it was like licking blood from the surface of a blade. Though the blade was incredibly sharp, if one was hungry enough they would be desperate enough to lick the blood for nutrients to prolong their survival just that little bit more. Even though living here could come to a sudden end due to some accident, it was still better than being stranded in the endless void of the astralscape without any nova source at all. Not to mention, being able to enjoy such a sight throughout one’s life was also a kind of luxury few could claim to have experienced.

”Ling’er, I noticed that even though the astralscape is despairingly large, if I’m powerful enough, I’ll grow to love it, especially now that I have the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb,” he said with a hopeful look. Even though cruising through the astralscape had seemed boring, seeing this world had completely changed his outlook on things. He was now looking forward to the other endless possibilities.

”That’s right. No matter what, I’ll be with you to the end,” she said.

It was a touching moment, but Ying Huo had to ruin it by rolling its eyes. ”Showing off your love, I see. I’ve done the same dance with Yue Yue countless times. Only shallow couples would do something as pointless as this. Yue Yue and I have higher aspirations for our relationship now.”

”Shoo.” Tianming continued descending past the field of astral debris, upon which people had constructed many cities. Thanks to the presence of a nova source, the debris was teeming with nature and life, as well as divine herbs and ores. It was similar to normal worlds in most respects.

”Let’s go down.” He picked a larger piece of debris that seemed to have an area a hundred times that of the Divine Moon Realm. Unsurprisingly, the debris within the flower was larger than that in the outer ring. They descended into a forest there and found that the temperature and humidity were just right. This world didn’t have the dry aridness of the sun and gave off a more calming, tranquil aura instead. It made them feel at peace. They could even see clouds floating above, beyond which was the colorful and rapidly spinning sky.

”This feels great....” The flora and fauna around him made it seem like he had returned to the Flameyellow Continent, though the nova source here was far superior. ”Looks like this world is giving off nova source at many times the rate of the sun. Given the amount that remains in this astral hole, I doubt it has more than a third left. Looks like it won’t be able to last longer than a few years.”

He sent half a million Yin Chens to look for signs of human habitation. It wasn’t that difficult to blend in with the natives. Soon, he found out that the locals called this astral hole Primary, a completely unimpressive name. The dominant people of this astral hole was the primalwingers. What surprised Tianming was that they weren’t beastmasters or totemancers, but rather normal humans, which supposedly made up the majority of denizens across the whole astralscape.

Even though they fell under the category of ’normal humans’, they had something unique that differentiated them from the rest: their primalwings. It was a unique energy construct similar to the lifespring of divineglorians and also served as a storage of energy. At the same time, they served as wings, and different wings had different effects. As for how strong they were, Tianming had yet to see that for himself.

Three days later, Yin Chen had covered a substantial area and Tianming reached a city called Minorbend. He would try learning more about the local customs here. After entering the city, he noticed that people were far and few in between. Not to mention, the primalwingers were smaller in stature, with the tallest of them being only 1.6 meters in height. Both men and women seemed petite, making Feiling fit in rather well. Tianming, on the other hand, immediately drew attention.

An orange-haired girl came to him and curiously asked, ”Nice to meet you. Are you a cultivator from the Violetglory Star? Are you a beastmaster or a totemancer?”

Tianming was immediately taken aback. ”Violetglory Star?”

Seeing his surprised look, the girl seemed a little disappointed at the suggestion that he wasn’t from there. ”Ah, so your ancestors came here long ago, too....”

Tianming immediately had Yin Chen seek out more information. From the conversations of people here, he soon found out that Primary used to have ties with the Violetglory Star. Though their relations seemed to have been cut off, the two places weren’t too far off from one another. Did I just so happen to find the Violetglory Star after randomly roaming about? It felt like a dream.

When the other primalwingers heard that he wasn’t from there, they all scattered. The orange-haired girl, however, remained. ”I’m Xu Xuxu. What’s your name?”

”Bao Mi.” [1]

”Alright, Brother Bao Mi,” she said with an odd look. ”So your surname is Bao. What a weird name you have.”

Tianming was speechless.

”By the way, the Kunlan Realm is about to open soon. Aren’t non-natives like you usually the daring sort? Why didn’t you go see what it’s about?” she asked.

Tianming immediately had Yin Chen focus on information about the Kunlan Realm. Soon, he learned of another shocking truth: the Kunlan Realm was the lowermost part of the eye of the storm. In fact, the eye of the storm resembled an inverted Prime Tower. It was more of a cone than a cylinder, and the Kunlan Realm was located at its tip. In fact, it even resembled the Primodragon Cave!

1. Tianming actually says his name is a secret here. ☜