Beastmaster of the Ages

”What? How useless were you?” Tianming asked.

”When you get to the Infinitum Bodhimanda, ask about Lin Mu from the Lin Clan and you’ll know,” Li Muyang replied.

”What happened? Did you kill another princess?” Tianming laughed. In his ninth life, he was framed by Autarch Qian and accused of murdering Princess Skyfate.

Shaking his head, Li Muyang smiled bitterly and said, ”Li Muyang from the Divine Capital had his share of glory, but Lin Mu, son of the Lin Clan, never stood on his own two feet and disappointed those who cared about him. He even brought disaster to his parents.… So I want you to see if the two elders are still alive. In that life, they were the ones I owed the most.”

”What? The parents of your eighth reincarnation?” Tianming asked.

”Yes, they’re equivalent to your grandfather and grandmother,” Li Muyang said.

Tianming was stunned. ”You have parents every time you reincarnate. Doesn’t that mean that I have more than seven or eight pairs of grandparents?” he asked.

”In a sense, that’s true, but they’ve basically all passed away, except for these two who might still be alive,” Li Muyang said.

”You want me to visit the two elders to make up for your regrets....” After a moment’s contemplation, Tianming nodded and said, ”No problem. No matter how cowardly you were, how much you owe others, or how many regrets you have, I’ll make up for all of them. If my grandparents are still alive, I’ll take care of them.” When he thought about it, he realized that his father’s ninth reincarnation, Li Muyang, was alive only a few decades ago. Solarians could live hundreds of years, or even a thousand, and his eighth life wasn’t that long ago.

”The Lin Clan’s Lin Mu? A son is about to appear out of nowhere. What should I call myself? Lin Feng? Pfft!” What a coincidence! It appeared the name would linger. At the thought of that, Tianming recalled the strange things that comma girl had mentioned, including his paternal grandfather, grandmother, and even older brother. He was about to ask Li Muyang about them, but because there was little time, Li Muyang went on to speak about other things.

“Tianming, there’s only one way to get the Infinitum Stele.”

That was also business, so Tianming put aside his questions regarding the realm of chaos and asked, ”What is it?”

“You have to fight in the Infinitum Bodhimanda, climb to first place on the Infinitum Stele, and become rex mundi of the Infinitum Mundus to control all of it,” Li Muyang said.

”Become first in the Infinitum Bodhimanda, then rex mundi of the Infinitum Mundus? That’s two conditions,” he said, feeling an oncoming headache.

”No, as long as you climb to first place on the Infinitum Stele, you’ll become rex mundi.” Li Muyang said.

”What do you mean?” Tianming asked.

”The Infinitum Mundus is a place that values strength and combat above all. They’ve advocated a rule since ancient times where strength determines status and resources. In the Infinitum Mundus, everyone is ranked on the Infinitum Stele. The higher the ranking, the higher the status. Whoever’s is first will be rex mundi and immediately have control over the entire mundus! The core mundi and divine artifacts are decided according to the ranking on the Infinitum Stele. The rex mundi changes very quickly. Various forces compete and fight fairly. All conflicts are decided in the Infinitum Bodhimanda and the winner takes all. Even if a notorious villain climbs to the top of the ranking, he’ll immediately become the rex mundi, rule over the Infinitum Mundus, and no one will refuse to obey him.... That’s the Infinitum Bodhimanda’s rule! It’s very simple and crude. Once in a while, there’ll be chaos and death, but the rule has never been changed because fighting fair is the belief they’ve inherited for generations.”

Good or evil didn’t matter; there was only win or lose. All positions in the entire mundus were allocated according to the ranking on the Infinitum Stele. First on the ranking was rex mundi, and so on. If the second place were to defeat the first, he would immediately be promoted to rex mundi and be given authority and resources befitting his position.

Tianming could tell that it was definitely a crazy and intense world. He had never seen that kind of ”special” rule. In the Grand-Orient Sect, Yuwen Taiji was the strongest, but he was still restricted by the council of elders. Despite his strength, he wasn’t immediately made sect master and worshiped by everyone. Li Muyang’s words reminded Tianming of Fang Dading and his fleet. At the time, Fang Dading had proposed a duel to determine the ownership of the nova source and they’d immediately left after being defeated. That was their fighting spirit. Sometimes it was ridiculous, but other times it was frightening. In a world that respected strength, the weak were often sorrowful. Without the protection of the rules, they would have nothing once they lost.

”So all grievances are resolved in the Infinitum Bodhimanda. The Infinitum Mundus is very interesting.” Tianming could already imagine how chaotic the Infinitum Bodhimanda would be. In spite of that, it was definitely the ultimate battlefield of the strong. In a world where everything was distributed according to strength, ranking was their sole identity. One could certainly imagine how enthusiastic the people were about fighting. Every top duel was likely to stimulate hundreds of millions. Theirs was a world of battle.

”Father, would it be difficult for me to reach the top of the ranking with my current strength?” Tianming asked.

”Right now? You won’t be able to enter the main ranking. You must first reach the top hundred million to be on the main ranking,” Li Muyang explained.

Reach the top hundred million to be on the main ranking? That didn’t seem right. Given his current strength, ranking in the top thousand in the Mysterium Cluster wouldn’t be a problem even if he didn’t use the power of his believers.

”Don’t you know the difference between a cluster and a mundus?” Shaking his head, Li Muyang smiled. He could see why Tianming was so naive.

”I don’t.” Tianming said in a daze.

”As the saying goes, a thousand stars form a mundus,” Li Muyang said.

”Oh, I understand. There’s ten thousand nova source worlds in the Mysterium Cluster and only a thousand stars in a mundus, which means that one cluster is equivalent to ten mundi?” Tianming said. It seemed that becoming rex mundi was very simple! You think that I can’t reach the top one hundred million? Tianming muttered inside.

”Are you stupid? I’m not talking about a heliacal-class nova source, but a standard cluster. Do you know what that is? That’s a deific-class star as the main star, surrounded by up to ten thousand stars. There’re three deific-class worlds in the Mysterium Cluster, which makes it a rather large cluster, but it’s still incomparable to a mundus. A thousand standard clusters combined form a mundus. If you look at the stars in the sky, all of the densely packed stars fall within the Infinitum Mundus!”