Beastmaster of the Ages

In the astralscape of order, a large fleet of astralships were gathered in a region filled with meteoroids. They were barely moving, like poisonous scorpions hibernating in the jungle. At the center of the fleet was an invisible ether-class astralship that rotated at a high speed. The obvious hole on its body marred its beauty and majesty. Nova source seeped from the fractured parts, so the astralship was no longer completely invisible.

Upon closer inspection, one would see two people standing somewhere in the hole, but in fact, there were three. A white-haired man with multicolored eyes, a man wrapped in a blood cocoon, and another man, whose transparent figure appeared almost liquidlike, standing in between them.

Deathly silence filled the air. The three men stared out into space through the hole in the Traceless, their gaze fixed on a small pink star in the distance. There were countless stars close to it. The pink star was Gladeus and the other stars made up the Myriadstar Zone. The three of them looked in the direction of Gladeus, their eyes cold.

”Big Brother, let’s meet with Shenxi Xingtian and cooperate with him. The ebons can capture Gladeus after we attack the Myriadstar Zone and draw Lin Xiaodao away from the star. Both sides stand to gain from it. Shenxi Xingtian suffered a heavy loss and we’re the only ones who can help him!” The white-haired man stared at the hole in the Traceless, his colorful eyes surging with emotion and his expression ugly. The loss of close to a thousand astralships made him clench his fists.

”Shenxi Xingtian won’t cooperate.”

To the white-haired man’s surprise, the invisible man sounded calm and collected. ”Why?” he asked.

”Once the Ebonfiend sets out, Lin Xiaodao would rather lose the Myriadstar Zone than leave Gladeus. Shenxi Xingtian would essentially be giving us the Myriadstar Zone for nothing. He won’t do that. Their defeat has given them an excuse to stand on the moral high ground. They’re still gathering their forces on Ebonia and we’re considered vicious monsters by the neutral forces. The ebons will lose their prestige and respect if Shenxi Xingtian openly cooperates with us at this time.”

The Lin Clan had no evidence of Shenxi Xingtian’s collusion with the Star Hunters, and the ebons had also denied it. But if the Ebonfiend attacked Gladeus just as the Star Hunters took the Myriadstar Zone, everyone would believe they were working together.

”So that’s it?” the white-haired man unwillingly said.

”Of course not. The show has just begun.” The invisible man looked at the vast sea of stars. ”In the vast cosmos, people who cling to their corner are providers while we are conquerors. We can be defeated, but we must profit! They are sheep while we are wolves! How can we let them go after they break our limbs? We didn’t even get a bite of meat!” The invisible man sinisterly smiled.

The man in the blood cocoon interjected, ”We can do whatever we want as long as the ebons and Yi Daiyan are stuck on Ebonia. Carelessness was our mistake, but there’s no need to dispatch our entire fleet next time. Lin Xiaodao hides like a coward. We’ll steal these unowned nova sources during the period of time when Ebonia’s wracked with internal turmoil!”

”Yes! The only thing that can stop us is that infinitum-class astralship. Gladeus’ astralships are inferior to ours. Can Lin Xiaodao still show up with his infinitum-class astralship if we frequently harass him, stay low, and steal a little at a time?”

A large-scale battle wouldn’t work, so they would split up. Could one lion safeguard all the apples in the garden? Each little rabbit and monkey would steal some and piss off the lion!

”You sound childish, but it’ll work.” The invisible man smiled. After a brief pause, he continued with malice in his voice. ”However, stealing all of these unowned nova sources won’t ease the hatred in our hearts. We must avenge our dead brothers. I’ll toy with Lin Xiaodao and make him regret ever opposing me. I’ll make him tremble at my name!” He grew even more vicious with each word. A pair of cold eyes gradually appeared on his transparent face, and within those eyes were tiny, densely packed eyes, like compound eyes.

”Big Brother, do you mean…” the white-haired man eagerly said.

At that moment, someone came from behind, knelt on the ground, and said, ”Boss, the nearest heliacal-class star to Gladeus is Greenglow, which falls under the jurisdiction of Gladeus and the Infinitum Bodhimanda. There’s offshoots of the Swordgod Lin Clan’s tenth branch there.”

Upon hearing that, the white-haired man froze for a moment, then began clapping his hands. ”You really are the king of hell in the astralscape of order!” He clapped even harder.

”The king of hell? That sounds awful. Please call me the bandit king!”

……

A few days later, Lin Zhongtian and Lin Zhonghai set out on the Reaper with Ji Ji. In order to sweep up those watching him, Lin Xiaodao chased after Lin Jie with the Gladean Ruins. Thus, the Reaper had left to escort the sun without alerting anyone.

After sending Ji Ji away, Gladeus returned to its former appearance, which fully justified the appellation “Hellstar.” The storms that swept across the world turned gray once more and the transformation would soon be reported to Ebonia.

Generally speaking, the range of transmission stones was limited, so relay transmissions were used for stars that were too far away. There were countless helical-class nova source worlds between Gladeus and Ebonia. There were certain personnel on those nova source worlds that were responsible for passing on important information via transmission stones. Therefore, those in the Infinitum Swordsea would soon be aware of everything that happened on Gladeus. The major forces on Ebonia paid constant attention to changes on Gladeus. News about the Star Hunters would be sent back to them in no time.

At the same time, Lin Xiaodao and Tianming reduced the number of Yin Chens on Gladeus to guard against a sneak attack from the Star Hunters. Tianming sent ten billion of them out for reconnaissance. They had successfully caught the key figures of the ebons, so there was no need for that many Yin Chens to remain on the planet. Therefore, more than six billion Yin Chens were sent to the Myriadstar Zone, two billion remained in the world down under, and the remaining two billion roamed outside Gladeus. The star’s gravity affected Yin Chen to a certain extent, but not the Myriadstar Zone. Yin Chen was less affected by gravity once it was out in the cosmos and able to transform into invisible cockroaches the size of a thumb in these two areas. They spread out, acting as eyes for Gladeus and the Myriadstar Zone.