Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming sent Fu Xun off. Fu Xun still seemed confused about how he had ended up where he was. There weren’t many people in Starting City lately. Fu Xun walked around for a bit before he saw someone ahead of him waving to him.

”Fu Xun, over here! Where’d you go just now?” Two women and a man were standing at the corner ahead. Two of them were divine wonderians, so they only counted as one fighter. What most wouldn’t understand, however, was how the divine wonderian pair consisted of two women. Most outsiders would think that each of the women were just apart from their male counterparts, but those two had features that were so similar to each other’s that they seemed to be cast from the same mold. They looked even more identical than identical twins! The only way to discern them was their personality. One of them was cute, lively, and made of smiles, while the other was quiet and cold despite looking the same.

”Piaopiao, Miaomiao... and Lu Xuan.” Fu Xun’s eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as his caelum wobbled. Above the two girls were their names, Weisheng Miaomiao and Weisheng Piaopiao. Piaopiao was the lively one of the two. The two of them were beautiful, like most people expected of divine wonderians, and had auras similar to Feiling’s, giving them the air of a celestial maiden of unparalleled beauty. As such, they stood out considerably from other divine wonderians and had pursuers all over the Skydome Mundus. They also had a similar status to Fengqing Yin. Having two beauties with such contrasting personalities allowed many to fantasize about having the best of both worlds.

The man with them also seemed rather odd. He had a slender build and wore a green singlet and short pants. Calling him sloppily dressed was an understatement, but that wasn’t the truly odd part. His skin looked like brown bark and his legs seemed almost like roots. His hands were covered in branches and leaves and his hair was made entirely of long blades of grass. Even his nose looked round and stout like a tiny branch, stretching out ten centimeters in length. He looked more like a plant than a person, maybe even like a wooden mannequin.

His name was Lu Xuan and he was a phytospecter. Specters were mainly descended from spectral progenitors with wildbeast bloodlines. Some of those wildbeasts were plant-type beasts, and the descendants of spectral progenitors with those characteristics were phytospecters. Lu Xuan’s hands weakly held his head as it turned clockwise nonstop without snapping. It was an odd talent, to say the least.

”Ah, it’s them.” Fu Xun let out an eerie smile. He made himself look happy and skipped his way toward the group.

”Fu Xun, why’re you behaving like a fool? We already have Lu Xuan for that. What’re you thinking about now?” the mischievous Weisheng Piaopiao asked.

Fu Xun looked at them, slightly dazed, then withdrew his expression. ”No... nothing...”

”Where’d you go just now? You vanished all of a sudden.”

”I was just taking a walk.”

”By the way, you said you had something important to tell us when you called us out. What is it?”

”Well, it’s important.”

”So? Out with it.”

Fu Xun’s lips curved into a smile. ”I feel like it’s time that we challenge ourselves at the Skyhold Bridge.”

”What?” Weisheng Piaopiao shook her head and said, ”Didn’t we agree to only go there when the both of us break through to the twelfth astral phase? It would be safer that way. Otherwise, we’d waste our six-win streak and a whole year.”

”Fu Xun, there’s no point in rushing this. As long as we don’t get ten wins in a row, we won’t be going to Voidback City,” Weisheng Miaomiao said.

”Me, eight hundred years old, suppressed to five hundred, will be at the eleventh astral phase, no change. You all, not yet five hundred, still have fifty years, still have a chance,” Lu Xuan said.

It seemed like they were in the same group on the Skyhold Bridge. However, Fu Xun didn’t seem to care about their refusal. ”I’m feeling really confident because I got stronger.”

”Aren’t you still at the eleventh astral phase?” Weisheng Piaopiao said, rolling her eyes in a cutesy fashion.

”I’m not talking about my cultivation. I’m talking about technique. Can I ask the three of you to trust me?” Fu Xun earnestly asked. He didn’t look like the conflict-averse Fu Xun that they knew. ”Today’s a good chance. Perhaps we might be able to go all the way to Voidback City and get the treasure there.”

”What is it?”

”Ah, nothing. Hehe.” He blankly scratched his head like a fool.

”Stop talking to yourself! I don’t know what you’re getting at!” Weisheng Piaopiao shot him an annoyed look.

”Piaopiao, just trust me this once, alright? I won’t disappoint you.”

”Alright, fine!” She pouted.

”Then let’s give it a try. Let’s see what kind of new technique you picked up that you feel is worthy of boasting to ladies like us!” Weisheng Piaopiao said.

”I’ll surprise you,” Fu Xun said.

”Then let’s depart.” Weisheng Piaopiao took her sister’s hand and turned to Lu Xuan. ”Come on, tree man!”

”Okay.” Lu Xuan cast a doubtful look at Fu Xun, who seemed to feel it and turned back to smile at him, a smile that sent a chill down his spine.

......

Tianming saw the four of them talking in the distance. He couldn’t quite hear what they were talking about, but he could see Fu Xun’s expressions from that distance. ”That should be it! It’s Sixth!” It still hadn’t left Fu Xun’s body.

”That naughty little one really knows how to have fun,” said an envious Ying Huo, who had no choice but to remain in tattoo form within Starting City. It didn’t help that the tattoo was near Tianming’s crotch.