Beastmaster of the Ages

Lin Xiaodao’s voice was calm, but it held undefiable authority.

Xiaque Wang loosed his most mocking laugh and cursed Lin Xiaodao as loudly as possible, only for the noise to be cut off by Lin Xiaodao’s sword stabbing into his mouth. The head turned to dust as Xiaque Wang died for good.

Gladeus reached a fever pitch in intensity as people began chanting Lin Xiaodao and Lin Feng’s names. One represented the present, while the other represented the future!

However, the Primordial God-Emperor made it innately different. Tianming had fewer supporters, but he was able to gain omnisentient threads. There weren’t many yet, but it was a good start! “The sun had trillions of inhabitants, but everyone was too weak there. Even if they come over, the boost wouldn’t be too large. My future still needs people, in the end, and not an empty super sun! So it’s more important for me to win people over.”

He knew his cultivation growth was important, but omnisentient threads were important as well. “Still, I’m much stronger now than when I left the sun. Perhaps I can empower the masses instead? When they come, I’ll also provide them with caeli and resources, so they should quickly become much stronger and provide me even more help.”

The sun’s citizens would always be the most important people in Tianming’s eyes. It was just unfortunate that his imperial will still remained a will. If it could become imperial order one day, he believed he would see a major change in the Primordial God-Emperor’s legacy. The ninth astral phase would be his chance.

“Good, good, we’re both awesome!” Lin Xiaodao landed beside Tianming and put his arm around his shoulders with a grin. “Come! Let’s go for a master and disciple drinking session!”

“Please don’t tell me it’s your Dragon Piss.” Tianming wanted to flee, but alas, Gongyang Yan arrived and captured his other side.

“Save me!” Tianming cried as they began dragging him back to the Gladean Ruins, much to the delight of the crowd.

……

Xiaque Wang’s death left the ebons leaderless. The intense battles and wars had mostly come to an end and it wouldn’t take long for Lin Xiaodao to clear out all the resisting ebons and wildbeasts.

Many ebons who had lost hope chose to surrender. However, surrendering didn’t mean they would submit to Lin Xiaodao; it only meant that they still held hopes for the Ebonian ebons. They were awaiting the encore of the expeditionary force led by Shenxi Xingtian!

However, Lin Xiaodao didn’t care at all. His primary objective had been to exterminate the warbeasts owned by the Gladean ebons.

The loss of their wildbeasts was like castrating them; their strength was now similar to that of ordinary humans and placed them in the lower to middle tier of Gladeus. They really couldn’t cause any significant trouble!

That meant that the campaign was over, which left two problems: the Star Hunters and Shenxi Xingtian’s next step! Intel from the ebons stated that Shenxi Xingtian had been quiet for nine years. It seemed he had suffered a heavy blow and had freed up Lin Xiaodao to focus his full attention on the Star Hunters.

Tianming’s focus remained on cultivation. The explosive performance of Carnage Imperatoris had made him eager for the other eight murals. Thus, he didn’t return to the Skydome Battlefield, but instead consolidated his gains in Carnage Imperatoris before moving on to the Mural of Inferno.

The Mural of Inferno depicted a world of flames. Tianming carefully examined it. After experiencing the torment of the Mural of Carnage, his caelum had much more resistance to the nine murals. The Mural of Inferno had the inferno (燚) character drawn on it using four fire (火) characters. And each stroke carried a fire of different flow, form, mystery, and sword intent.

In comparison, the Mural of Carnage was more ferocious, but the Mural of Inferno was evidently more extensive and versatile. It would also have better sustained killing power and the ability to overwhelm a large area. That was Tianming’s initial judgment!

A fire (火) character consisted of four strokes, and four fire characters totaled sixteen strokes. Therefore, each strike of the Inferno Imperatoris held sixteen layers of destructive power. When paired with Tianming’s Flint Infernal Impulse, the enemy would have nowhere to escape to.

Of course, that was his impression. Actually learning it would take at least three years. He summoned Ying Huo. “Ying Huo, time to stop slacking. Work hard with me.”

“Bullshit. I’ll call you Granddaddy if you’re even half as fast as me.” Ying Huo couldn’t take that kind of prodding, as it hadn’t been able to keep up with Tianming in battle arts for very long. Thus, it was very hyped to try this time, as their infernal order would be the foundation of learning this sword art.

“Then let’s see who’s faster.” Tianming grinned.

“Whoever loses should end their line and themselves.”

“End your line? My brother, you don’t even have reproductive organs to remove.”

“Shush.”

The two argued as their caeli entered the mural and experienced the burning of flames. Upon entering, they found the world was made of sixteen rivers formed by fiery stars in the sky.

Tianming found the scene eerily familiar.