Beastmaster of the Ages

”I can’t remove these caeli, but if I could, I wonder what’d happen after I fed them to Xiaoxiao?” Tianming chatted with his lifebound beasts, who were in his lifebound space.

”She might turn green,” Ying Huo laughed.

Meow Meow continued sleeping, but had contributed greatly this time so Tianming allowed it to sleep.

”Time for a retreat!”

It was yet another long, boring, sleep-inducing cultivation journey. On a certain day, Tianming saw a new image in one of the green stars. ”That’s….” A tall pillar appeared in the image. ”Oh, it’s a ring finger!” It was thicker and longer than the pinky finger.

More than a thousand bee-headed people knelt in front of the ring finger and kowtowed. Although the image was chaotic, Tianming could still see the smoothness and radiance of the skin on the finger.

”It’s as pretty as Ling’er’s fingers.”

A lone finger was frightening. The reason Tianming had thought it was the ring finger was due to the black ring at the base of the finger, and most people were used to wearing rings on their ring fingers. The black ring was slightly similar in shape to the Oldgod Ring, its surface shrouded by a horrifying black mist.

......

The image appeared and disappeared in a flash. Over the three months that followed, the image never appeared again. Meow Meow slept for more than three months. After waking up refreshed, it asked Tianming if he had any similar tasks.

”Have you slept enough?” Tianming asked, at a loss for words.

”What do you know? I’m a cat that shoots electricity. For me, sleep is recharging! Only when I’m fully charged can I fight,” Meow Meow argued.

”Right, you charge for three months and emit electricity for half an hour.” Tianming was dumbfounded. After three months of enhancement, his two divine wills had grown. Tianming felt that he had reached the right conditions for becoming a fifth-level stellaminor.

”Keep going!”

Symbiotic cultivation commenced. Out of his six lifebound beasts, five channels for symbiotic cultivation had been established. Ji Ji attached itself to their channels like a parasite. As long as Tianming was strong enough, it could absorb nova sources to supplement itself.

Endless nova source flooded his body. ”Fifth-level stellaminor!” His speed of cultivation was extraordinary. ”Without the skeletons and the giant’s finger, I’d still be a third-level stellaminor.” Such objects were incredibly attractive to Tianming. His disciple card now marked him as an eleventh-level stellaminor. ”There won’t be any change in cultivation level on my disciple card if I still don’t have an order and a heptastar cosmic physique by the time I get to the twelfth level.”

Tianming tested his strength and felt powerful. “With such strength, I should be able to defeat most twelfth-level stellaminors, which means I’ll dominate the Mysterium Cluster if I go back now!” Not even the Three Sovereigns Mysterium would be his match.

”I knew it. With my talent, entering a world with such abundant resources is the only way to bring out all of my advantages.” King of the cluster! Although it sounded domineering, it didn’t really mean anything. ”I can feel that there’s still an insurmountable gap between me and astral gods! Would I be able to fight Sister Lele once I’m a sixth-level stellaminor?” Given how much time he had spent with her, he was well aware of her combat power, and judging by his current strength, he still fell short. In fact, he would be worse off if it weren’t for his lifebound beasts’ self-generated orders.

”I should calm down. After all, that’s an entirely different state of being. There’s definitely a gulf between gods and astral gods.” After regaining his composure, Tianming had Yin Chen continue searching for the skeletons and fingers. Meanwhile, he immersed himself in cultivation.

......

Another month passed and Tianming was steadily progressing.

Yin Chen reported that the battle within the Oldgod Domain had begun intensifying. Most people became impatient once they made it on the minor reges mundi ranking. Ten thousand fought until eight thousand remained. The top hundred of the minor ranking gradually became apparent. They were all well-known geniuses of Ebonia. However, there would still be major upheavals to this much-anticipated ranking as it slowly took its final shape, so Tianming wasn’t at all anxious. He couldn’t rush even if he wanted to.

”The road of cultivation is endless,” he sighed.

”Oh, shut up. Out of the ten thousand people, few of them will break through to the next level in the Oldgod Domain. You’re the only one that’s making any progress.” Ying Huo snarked.

”That’s right. I’m clearly the number one genius in all of the Infinitum Mundus.”

”Yeah, keep bragging....”

Although Tianming hoped to become a sixth-level stellaminor, he realized that the growth of his two divine wills had grown slower and slower. He was at a bottleneck, and progress had been slow over the past two months.

”If this continues, it’ll take me more than a year to reach the next level. I don’t have that much time.… But that’s the usual speed.” Lin Linglin, who was nearing the end of the Stellaminoris stage, had still taken several years to advance a level.

”That finger was so awesome that I’ve been under the illusion that cultivation is very easy.” Once he got over it, Tianming felt more relaxed, and with that came good news. Yin Chen reported that a large number of nova wildbeasts had appeared in a certain location several months ago, which was why many ebon disciples had gathered there. Other disciples didn’t dare approach. The ebons had gained control of new warbeasts that could remain outside fauna worldstones. Because they could be used as cannon fodder, local beasts like those were loved by the ebon disciples.

However, something strange happened. A large number of nova wildbeasts began circling around a central point, forming a huge vortex-like beast horde. They didn’t stop moving at all, as if they had lost their minds. There were even warbeasts within fauna worldstones that were affected. With the massive influx of nova wildbeasts, the vortex grew bigger and bigger, until it eventually drew attention from the entire world. The phenomenon was very mysterious, and Yin Chen had arrived at that location.

”There is… manna and… a ring… and finger!”

A finger with a ring and manna! In other words, the image within the third skeleton had appeared in the real world.

”Are we going?” Ying Huo asked.

”Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Of course we’re going! The fingers have a better effect than the skeletons,” Tianming said, his gaze fiery.

”But this time we don’t have Sister Lele to protect us. There’s too many experts there and everyone is focused on that area right now! You won’t get a turn, even if it’s just a stupid rock.” Ying Huo said.

”That may be true, but it’ll still be good to take a look anyway!” Of course Tianming wanted it. However, it would undoubtedly be a hundred, or even a thousand times more difficult than before.