Beastmaster of the Ages

It had to be noted that Gongyang Yan’s scream actually had a touch of a high, feminine pitch that made Tianming’s ears hurt.

”What is that thing? It’s so ugly! Its ears look like two bladders.” Lin Xiaodao turned his head in confusion.

”Brother Lin, it looks like you... ahaha....” Wudi burst into laughter.

”Oh my God!”

To be honest, if Lin Xiaodao maintained his untidy appearance, he would resemble the creature. His ears were big, too.

Up to that point, these two hadn’t even paid attention to the shocked Gongyang Yan.

”It’s an ebonian fiendbat!” Gongyang Yan exclaimed.

”I’ve never heard of it,” Wudi said.

”Me neither... wait, ebonian fiendbat?” Lin Xiaodao scratched his head. ”I think I’ve heard of it before. Isn’t it a specialty of Ebonia? Something that helps the Farstar Patrol Team locate ownerless nova sources?”

”That’s right!” Gongyang Yan confirmed.

”Doesn’t it have a skill called Supersonic Starwaves that can accurately identify nova sources? The larger the nova source, the easier it is for them to detect it?” Lin Xiaodao asked with wide eyes.

”Yes!” Gongyang Yan nodded.

”I remember someone saying that those creatures could be taken to the astral wilderness outside the mundi to search for large, ownerless nova sources. Why didn’t they do it?” Lin Xiaodao asked.

”Because, just like you, they can’t have children, so there aren’t many left,” Gongyang Yan explained.

”Not many left?” Lin Xiaodao was dumbfounded. After a moment, he finally reacted and stared at Gongyang Yan. ”I’m still in the prime of my youth! Who said I can’t have children? When Xiao Nu’s baby comes, I’ll immediately give birth to an army of ten trillion!”

”Oh, is your Xiao Nu a broodmother? A Worm Empress?” Gongyang Yan sneered.

”Hey, hey, hey, get to the point, you two. Can this thing locate the cloaked Sun?” Wudi asked seriously.

”We aren’t sure about that. But it’s undeniable that its Supersonic Starwaves are rather unique and non-traditional. The Sun’s energy leakage is already quite small, so theoretically, it shouldn’t be easy to detect,” Lin Xiaodao said.

”I think that’s a bit optimistic. If there’s already three of them nearby, it means we’ve been exposed.” Tianming frowned. He had been listening to their conversation while communicating with Yin Chen. He learned that the Supersonic Starwaves of those bats were all pointed toward the sun.

”That’s true!” They all nodded.

”The problem is, with just a dozen or so ebonian fiendbats, how’d they locate us?” Space was really vast and endless!

Even though the sun wasn’t far from Gladeus, the search area was still quite large. Finding them with just a dozen or so bats would be ridiculous.

”Are you sure there’s only a dozen or so?” Tianming asked again.

”The records from thousands of years ago stated that. But the ebons have big ambitions. They’ve had their eyes on the astral wilderness for a long time. If they discovered any rapid breeding methods, it might not be that limited. They’re always fanatically researching wildbeasts, looking for anything and everything to make them stronger. If they really increased the number of ebonian fiendbats, it would indeed be difficult to defend against them.” Lin Xiaodao was already quite knowledgeable, and not even he had thought of ebonian fiendbats right away, indicating how secretive the card was.

The four of them exchanged glances.

”There must be someone on the astralship. Let’s sneak in and force them to tell us. We’ll naturally know the truth after that,” Wudi said.

”Right!”

”With Brother Gongyang here, playing with a little ebon’s soul won’t be a problem,” Wudi said.

”You praise me too much. Try to leave more alive,” said Gongyang Yan.

”Let’s not use astralships to avoid arousing suspicion. We’ll fly there in person and fight our way in.”

With the strength of Lin Xiaodao and Gongyang Yan, a short-distance flight like that wouldn’t be a problem. After discussing it, they immediately set off!

With Yin Chen guiding them, Tianming didn’t join in for the excitement. He and Wudi stayed behind and waited for news.

......

Lin Xiaodao and Gongyang Yan quietly approached the skypiercer-class ship. According to Yin Chen, the process was a bit risky. As they arrived, the ship was recalling the three bats and preparing to pull back from the Sun. If they had been any later, it might have escaped.

They had used a skypiercer-class ship just to avoid attention. However, to control three ether-class bats, there had to be a cosmic cartographer inside!

Lin Xiaodao used his ether-class artifact to attack the ship, carving it up like a vegetable. One strike was enough. According to Yin Chen, there was only one ebon inside! The limited number of people meant the fiendbats were of utmost secrecy for the ebons.

So many astralships left Ebonia every day. If a cosmic cartographer left on a skypiercer-class ship and pretended to be a trader, the Infinitum Swordsea would never notice it, as there were just too many such people. Their main focus was on monitoring the Ebonfiend!

In the battle between the two powerful experts, the ship burst open from the inside. Without any surprise, Lin Xiaodao took down his opponent.

”How is it?” Tianming hurriedly asked.

”Cosmic cartographer... with sixth... cosmic soul. Very strong... soul resistance.”

Tianming had thought that there would be many people inside the ship. Having only one expert, Gongyang Yan was indeed at a disadvantage when it came to searching for information.

”But Xiaodao... put him... in the... gourd to... refine him. He was... scared into... fessing up,” Yin Chen said.

”So spineless?” Tianming rolled his eyes. He had thought that the ebons would be tough, resolute, and willing to die for their cause. It seemed that Lin Xiaodao’s gourd was still useful.

”What’re the specific details?”

”It’s a... bit bad! The ebons... secretly bred... tens of... thousands of... ebonian fiendbats... After the... Sun appeared... they quickly... dispatched these... creatures to... search for... our location!”

”Tens of thousands?” To Lin Xiaodao and Gongyang Yan’s knowledge, this species should have had at most a dozen specimens. Now there were tens of thousands of them? ”That’s completely beyond our imagination! Moreover, tens of thousands might be an understatement,” Tianming frowned. After a pause, he asked, ”So, our location has been exposed?”

”He has... already notified... Ebonia Ebonia!”

After the battle was over, there was no need to worry about startling the enemy. Tianming directly controlled the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and flew out to meet Lin Xiaodao and Gongyang Yan. Before long, they met inside the tomb.

The ebon was still trapped in Lin Xiaodao’s gourd; as for the three bats, they had already been killed.

”The position of the Sun has been exposed, right? I’ll move it first and change locations,” Tianming said.

”Let’s move it first!”

Lin Xiaodao and Gongyang Yan had already put away their smiles, and both of them were very serious.

The atmosphere was tense.

”Tens of thousands? Is the figure reliable?” Tianming asked.

”From the perspective of breeding, even if the ebons intervened, that should be roughly it after ten thousand years. The actual number would at most be a hundred thousand,” Gongyang Yan said.

”You know a lot about breeding?” Lin Xiaodao asked.

”Even now, you’re still making fun of me?” Gongyang Yan rolled her eyes.

”I’m getting a headache!” Lin Xiaodao gritted his teeth.

”Brother Lin, may I ask what effect tens of thousands of bats will have? We’ve been discovered now, so moving won’t work?” Wudi asked.

”That addresses the symptoms, but not the root cause! To tell you the truth, with tens of thousands of them, they could probably cover the entire Infinitum Mundus. Sooner or later, they’ll still find us. From what we’ve seen just now, the Sun may be relatively hidden compared to other sanctuary-class worlds, but it’s still quite conspicuous for the bats!” Lin Xiaodao said.

”If the sun was still skypiercer-class, would the bats have no way to deal with it?” Wudi asked.

”That’s correct.” So, after the Sun had been upgraded, this card of the ebons unexpectedly came in handy.

”In the battle with the Star Hunters, the ebons didn’t move, so it seems that these bats are their hidden trump card? It’s quite dangerous...” Tianming contemplated. They had hidden cards the ebons didn’t know about, but it seemed that the ebons had them too.

”It’s quite dangerous indeed! Now that they’ve determined the approximate location of the Sun, nova source worlds can’t outrun astralships.”

Yin Chen played a significant role in wars by providing a vast field of vision. The ebonian fiendbats served a similar function for locating nova sources! The problem was that the ebons were strong, while Tianming and his group weren’t.

It was fatal if the stronger party had a field of vision and could find Tianming’s lair.

Escaping to the Skydome Mundus? That was definitely impossible!

Escaping to the astral wilderness? That would take hundreds of years!

Moving a star was an extremely difficult and resource-consuming task. To conserve nova source, most worlds within the Infinitum Mundus were generally forbidden from moving.