Beastmaster of the Ages

”Master, you’re quite lucky as Bloodmoon Night is about to arrive. Quick, enter Darkfiend City! If you miss this chance, you’ll have to wait another month,” the wondersky fairy urged.

”A month?” After learning how far Voidback City still was from him, his interest had considerably faded and he was about to leave. He had already achieved quite a lot by clearing the Tranquil Battlefield in one go.

”Alright. Then I guess I’ll see what the Skydome Battlefield has to offer for the elites across the universe to come here and stay for so long.” No doubt, glory and reputation were its main offerings, while the opportunity to exchange blows with fellows just as talented as they were was also a key draw. Not to mention, they could experience realistic fights without any risk of death. In here, killing and trampling over others weren’t sins. Not only was there nobody to stop them from doing whatever they wanted, the countless people of the worlds they represented cheered for their exploits. Tianming himself had two trillion subjects on the sun, after all.

”I suppose it must be quite exciting for all those people back home to witness all this excitement. Battles in the wondersky realm are less risky for the fighters, so they tend to fight wilder than they do in real life. It’s perfect as an exhibition.”

During Tianming’s fight with the sun emperor, normal folk could barely make out the details. Yet the Violetglorians were able to clearly see his every move within the Tranquil Battlefield, which made the fight even more persuasive, thus generating more Omnisentient Threads.

”Whatever. Since I’m already here, I might as well go in and have some fun.” Tianming activated his viewport, allowing countless cultivators across the entire Mysterium Cluster to see him. As the heavenly locus formation was on the sun and linked to the wondersky realm of Violetglory, the denizens of the sun could also see him. He felt his blood boiling.

”Back then, I represented Violetglory, but now, I represent the Mysterium Cluster. If I do well, I might gain some believers across the countless worlds there as well.” While the Mysterium Cluster was the territory of the mysterians, most of them lived on the three Skyway stars. The many other worlds within the cluster were filled with non-mysterians. The scale of the number of people in an astral world compared to a cluster was completely different!

”Since the mysterians messed with me, I’ll pull the rug out from under their feet and claim the throne of their cluster!” He stepped toward Darkfiend City, smirking all the way.

”By the way, wondersky fairy, spectators of my viewport won’t be able to see you, right?” Tianming didn’t dare to look up at the scantily clad beauty that hovered above him.

”Nope. Even if you give in to your desires and ravage me, all they’ll see is air, so rest assured!”

”Phew.” The... thing... that hovered above him was a nagging source of trouble for him.

Soon, he reached the main gates of the city of darkness. The gates were tens of thousands of meters tall; one wouldn’t be able to see the end of them by looking up as they reached beyond the layer of dark clouds above. The city was surrounded by a sinister aura. Right as he arrived, the heavy gates opened for him, revealing the savage world beyond.

”Quick, enter and hide! Bloodmoon Night is upon us!” the wondersky fairy urged.

”You’re really sticking to the script, huh?” Tianming casually stepped through the gates and was immediately surrounded by a fog of darkness filled with baleful cries. It felt like countless flies with demonic faces were flying into his ears.

”Brrr!” Even the spectators across the Mysterium Cluster couldn’t help but cold gasp at that atmosphere. Darkfiend City was nothing if not terror-inducing to the point that viewers could feel the chill themselves. Projections in the wondersky realm were truly immersive. Then the main gates shut with a loud rumble that shook the hearts of everyone watching.

Tianming walked down the desolate streets. It felt like he was trudging in a swamp. There was a bloody fog layer on the floor with countless arms that clawed at his feet.

”The Bloodmoon is here!” the wondersky fairy shrieked, as if she was worried that he wouldn’t notice her.

The atmosphere was turning even more sinister. Tianming calmly looked up and saw a blood-colored crescent moon hanging in the backdrop of the sky behind countless towering spires. The scythe-like moon slowly filled out and eventually took up more than half the space in the sky.

Eerie red light descended, dying the pitch-black city a crimson red. Howls began echoing out from the buildings and streets of the city. While Tianming had initially thought that all this fanfare was rather pointless, he was surprised to find that the atmospheric theatrics also influenced his mood. It was like a drop of blood had seeped into his sea of calmness. He grit his teeth and squinted as killing intent arose within him.

”Master, Master, what’s happening?! Don’t fall and become a darkfiend! Don’t abandon me, Master!” The wondersky fairy hugged him from behind, pitifully horrified.

Tianming clenched both his fists to the point his veins showed and his eyes turned more and more bloodshot. Even the long hair of the wondersky fairy turned crimson and flared up like the tentacles of a squid, stretching out from Tianming’s back and wrapping around his torso and limbs.

”Stop messing around....” Tianming stared at the bloody moon up above, which suddenly turned into a blood-colored eye with countless capillaries. It looked incredibly familiar to him.

”An Archaionfiend Eye?!” Did the two things have anything to do with each other?

”Even though all of this is just a setting designed by the divine wonderians, who knows if they were inspired by something that actually exists?” The moment that notion occurred to him, the gigantic eye in the sky shot out a beam that landed on him.

”Noooo! Master, you’ve been chosen by the Bloodmoon to become a new darkfiend! Darkfiends relish in slaughter... I hope you manage to retain enough sanity to protect your humble servant!”

Though she was giving quite a convincing performance, Tianming only saw it as fluff. ”You’re insane.”

Right after he said that, something he didn’t expect happened. He felt a sharp pain as his body expanded. He looked down and saw that his entire body, black arm included, was covered in pitch-black scales! In the middle of each was a short black spike.

”Ouch, it hurts!” Still enveloped by the crimson light, he expanded to a hundred meters and had turned into a giant, bestial creature.

”Darkfiend! A new darkfiend is born!” The wondersky fairy stood on his shoulder and shot him a look of terror.

”Huh?” He saw scales, spikes, and claws on his body. There was also a pair of bloody wings on his back. ”An Archaionfiend?” He was quite familiar with Wu You and would never forget its appearance! The bloody fog beneath him had turned into a pool of blood that reflected his new appearance. It was slightly different from Wu You’s; he looked more humanoid than beast, and remnants of his visage remained. However, he looked nothing like a normal human.

”The darkfiend’s slaughterous journey begins....”