Beastmaster of the Ages

”No matter whether we stay back or fight, getting in contact with Xiaoli is still crucial,” Tianming said. The Grandnorth Dongshen Clan wasn’t one of the thirteen Infinitum Regal Clans, so Dongshen Xiaoli had the weakest backing among everyone in the room. Though it wasn’t like her status was that low, being a core disciple of her clan and the granddaughter of Dongshen Yang.

The five ebons used their xuns to quickly coordinate with each other. ”Once they join together, there’s a good chance they’ll sweep the field! I need to unite with Xiaoli and Yi Zhuojun immediately!”

Tianming brought out Meow Meow to save time. It lazily stretched before zipping off, leaving a trail of lightning behind it. Even Tianming himself became a lightning bolt as he shot toward Dongshen Xiaoli.

The ebons were still finding their way to each other with their xuns. Before they joined up, they wouldn’t know who each other were. They couldn’t know that Yi Zhuojun and Lin Jianxing were also in the same room, either. Tianming was the only one that knew everyone in the room, thanks to Yin Chen, which was the edge he used to take the initiative.

As he charged toward Dongshen Xiaoli, Yin Chen told him that Yi Zhuojun had locked on to her as well using the green light and charged toward her. He just so happened to be the one closest to her.

”Go quicker, Meow Meow!” While he was moving fast, he was too far away from Dongshen Xiaoli.

”The five ebons’ intentions should be obvious, so Yi Zhuojun’s probably trying to join up as well.” At the thought of that, Tianming was no longer so worried for her safety. Before they knew how powerful the five ebons were, even if Yi Zhuojun was confident in his abilities, he wouldn’t take the chance to wipe out a potential ally first.

Meow Meow maneuvered around the five ebons and continued charging toward Dongshen Xiaoli. Tianming’s body also gave off a green light, so it was clear to the others in the room how quickly he was moving. Had the ebons not been trying to join up, they would have tried to chase him down.

”The two... of them... have met... but there’s... no fighting,” Yin Chen said, much to Tianming’s relief. Yi Zhuojun was the highest ranked of all of them, so as long as he was levelheaded enough to work with others to defeat the ebons, Tianming would feel much less pressure.

”Almost there.” The two green lights ahead of him were clear enough that he didn’t need Yin Chen’s guidance. He had Meow Meow return to the lifebound space and passed through the thick primeval source fog, stepping into their field of vision.

”Who goes there?” said a man and woman in unison.

”Lin Feng of the Swordgod Lin Clan! Sister Xiaoli, I’m your cousin brother!” Tianming said right away. In actuality, he was younger than Dongshen Xiaoli, but he presented himself as above a hundred years old in Ebonia. If it were known that he was only around thirty, he would be the most attention-grabbing disciple in the entire Oldgod Domain.

”Brother Lin Feng?”

Tianming quickly approached her and saw a figure clad in a plain yellow dress with a head of loose hair. She looked incredibly cute and vigorous, with two large, bright eyes. Her hair was frazzled, as if she had just woken up. Her skin was far more refined than most and she had two large dimples on her face. Anyone would be delighted to see someone so cute and lively. If it weren’t for the skeleton necklace she wore, which came across as rather eerie, the aura she gave off would be absolutely charming.

”Whoa! Brother, it’s really you! My grandfather showed me a painting of you! How handsome!” Her eyes shone as she ran over. Before Tianming could react, she jumped and hugged him tight by the shoulders.

”Ack!” He spun her a few times to dissipate the momentum, causing her hair and dress to flutter, before putting her down. ”You really are cute, Xiaoli. No wonder granny keeps bringing you up. She says that you’re her and your grandmother’s darling all the time,” he said as he stroked her hair.

”Of course! I’ll have you know that I’m a professional at being spoiled!” She shot herself a thumbs-up and studied Tianming up and down. ”Cousin, my grandfather asked me to look after you, but I didn’t run into you until now. It’s truly quite fortunate that we met here.” She seemed rather happy, given how jumpy she was.

”Haha....” Yin Chen could have found her location at any time in the Oldgod Domain, but Tianming didn’t bring her up, so it hadn’t paid any attention to her, either. He had been busy hunting down skeletons and fingers, after all.

”What a pickle.... Why’re we in this stupid place? I was forced to kiss another girl in the other room for so long! My precious first kiss has gone to waste.... Then, I was chased down after my head got turned into a bee’s! Thankfully, I survived and ran into you,” she said as she tugged Tianming’s sleeve. She spoke incredibly fast with barely any pauses, and wasn’t the least bit reserved at all. She seemed to trust Tianming quite a lot, thanks to their blood relation.

”So, cousin, how’re you doing? Are you hurt?” She circled him and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was fine. ”Thank goodness nothing happened to Grandaunt’s precious grandson! I was agonizing over what to do about you if you got dragged into this place as well. But now I can protect you! This is perfect!” Her eyes shone as she looked at him with a smile. ”I saw your grandfather’s painting as well, and you give off the same aura as he does! Your white hair makes you look even more handsome! Though, I hear that you have three wives. What a playboy you are! I hate disloyal playboys the most. Grandaunt and Granduncle’s relationship is something I look up to. But since you’re my cousin, I’ll try my best to forgive you!”

The wall of words didn’t leave a single crack for Tianming to interject at all. He studied his energetic distant cousin again. While he wasn’t Lin Mu’s biological son and didn’t have an actual blood relation to her, he still felt the familial ties that pulled them together. It was the same with his grandparents at Brokensword Peak. Just looking at them made him want to protect them, though it was more like they were protecting him for now.

Dongshen Xiaoli had decided she would defend him, as he was the hope of the old couple she deeply respected. The two of them seemed to get along like old friends on their first meeting. Tianming had even forgotten that a third person was with them. He said with a magnetic voice that conveyed his dissatisfaction. ”If you want to catch up, do it after we die and reach the afterlife. We’ll have more than enough time then.”

Dongshen Xiaoli playfully poked a tongue out at Tianming. ”Cousin, Yi Zhuojun looks rather nice and has a good heart. The only unforgiving part is his mouth.”

”I see.” Tianming turned and looked at the youth in black. He was slender and a head taller than Tianming. He had a head of sparkling white hair, long ears, five-colored irises, and thin lips, the staple of handsome luxdaemon men. Given that Yi Taoyao was also taller than Tianming, Yi Zhuojun’s height didn’t come as a surprise. Like Yi Taoyao, his proportions were perfect as well.

”Lin Mu’s son, eh?” He swept his gaze over Tianming, who had quite a unique status as far as the luxdaemons were concerned. They had been paying attention to him since his return was made public, so he wasn’t a stranger to Tianming, having mocked him before.

He looked at Tianming’s disciple card. ”Twelfth-level stellaminor, but you’re able to rank around seven hundred.... Am I seeing things? There’s more than nine hundred orderans in the ranking as a whole.” How did a stellaminor find his way into the orderan ranks?

”Oh, really? Cousin, why is your ranking more or less the same as mine? Is there an error with the rankings?” Dongshen Xiaoli had only just noticed this detail.

”There’s no way the Infinitum Stele will err, let alone the minor reges mundi ranking. It’s proof that he’s defeated an astral god and the results have been acknowledged by the Stele,” Yi Zhuojun said expressionlessly.

”Really? Did you defeat an astral god?”

”It was a fluke, really,” Tianming said with a cheeky smile.

”Amazing! As expected of my cousin brother!” She gave him a light punch on the chest. ”Very impressive! Your muscles are rather hard. This is perfect. If Grandaunt sees how capable you are, she’ll be rolling in joy! Now, anyone who calls you a trash disciple will just be blind!” She seemed rather mad about all the bad things she had heard about him.

”Dongshen Xiaoli, enough talking him up.” Yi Zhuojun shook his head and turned to Tianming. ”I trust that you’ve defeated an astral god. I also believe your combat prowess is real. However, I don’t believe it’s something you can wield long term. At the very least, astral gods who enter the Oldgod Domain definitely aren’t people who can be defeated by normal gods.” He was hinting that Tianming must have some kind of technique that gave him a temporary boost at a heavy cost.

”Brother Yi, let’s talk about me after this. I trust that you came looking for my cousin for the same reason I did.” Tianming pointed at the five ebons, who had already joined up. ”I’m sure you know how they operate better than I do. It’s clear that they’re unhappy about the luxdaemons, so the only way for us to survive is if we work together.”