Beastmaster of the Ages

”Over here?” Aunt Hua hesitantly stretched out her hand. After Tianming put the dart on her finger, she gave it a close look and her expression shifted. ”The divine patterns on this thing are text that we use in the Xenoabyss.”

”Text? What does it say?” Tianming thought that the patterns were only useful as coordinates. He didn’t think they could contain any other meaning!

”Ancient Oldgod Domain.”

”What?!” Yet again, Tianming was taken aback. There was an Oldgod Domain under the Infinitum Stele where Tianming had fought. The fact that the text had almost the same name was definitely no coincidence! Taking a breath to calm down, he asked, ”Aunt Hua, is this the name of a place?”

Aunt Hua sighed, ”Rather than calling it a place, it’s more of an ancient myth.”

”In what sense?”

”Legends say that the Ancient Oldgod Domain is located in the middle of the Xenoabyss right under the Sea of Order. Within it lives the most powerful beings of the Xenoabyss, astral giants that embody micro universes. All of them live endlessly long! It’s almost like they’re the chosen children of the Sea of Order, being the true gods from antiquity.”

Beibei herself hadn’t heard of that legend before and scooted over to listen with interest. Her wide, curious eyes and twitching ears made her seem rather cute. Tianming thought that if she were the size of a normal human, she would be no different from a peculiar, exotic beauty. However, he turned his attention back to the topic at hand. Astral giants had been mentioned, something he absolutely couldn’t ignore.

Do elite cultivators the likes of Huang Qi actually exist? How much stronger would they be than Yi Daiyan? Aunt Hua makes it sound like there are lots of them too.Could beings like those actually be products of this universe?Does that mean that the Ancient Oldgod Domain is the actual center of the universe? His mind was fraught with confusing thoughts that he had to get in order.

Since the marker gives the name of the place outright, does that mean that Feng, Qingyu, and Sixth are all at the center of the Xenoabyss? That would make his journey to locate them take much, much longer. He had thought he would be able to take them back quickly enough to relieve Wudi of his worries. Fortunately, the presence of the marker at least suggested that Qingyu was alive.

But if Sixth is able to touch that world itself, it’s much stronger than I imagined! It won’t be easy to deal with. Though Tianming had just enjoyed a recent victory against the ebons with the help of the Sun and the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, he still had much further to walk on his actual cultivation path.

The Xenoabyss was an ancient place with no formations or divine astralships. The Infinitum Stele and Oldgod Domain in Ebonia were said to have come from some other place. Could they have originated from the Xenoabyss? The Infinitum Stele itself also seems to be a fragment of the Grand-Orient Sword. The more he thought about it, the more plausible it sounded. Either way, his next destination was certain. Onward to the Ancient Oldgod Domain!

He didn’t know how far away it was. For now, the prospect of bringing his sixth lifebound beast back with him was incredibly distant. That’s right! Huang Qi is also an order apian, which are said to have come from the Sea of Order. But how could lifeforms exist within a place of abstract laws? Maybe the order apians actually come from the Ancient Oldgod Domain, which would explain why the entrance to the hive ancestral world was inside the Oldgod Domain in Ebonia. His mind was still in chaos.

Meanwhile, Beibei refined the grass into a fragrant potion. Aunt Hua’s symptoms seemed to stop after she ingested it, color returning to her face. She was just barely able to get out of bed and tried taking a few steps.

”Beibei, there’s no need to go out looking for this in the future. The clear spirit grass is only effective for a time. Xeno fatigue isn’t something with an actual cure,” she said, hugging her child with tears in her eyes.

”But I want to make you feel better, even for a while,” Beibei said, swallowing the sorrow in her voice. She pitifully twitched and shuddered. It wasn’t easy for someone so ’young’ to see their parents undergo such hardship.

Just as Tianming was about to say a few words of consolation, Aunt Hua said, ”Little friend, it is best that you leave and stay away from Silverfox Village. You’re running out of time, and it’s best that you tug on your rope and leave the Xenoabyss altogether. The others have experience dealing with outworlders. Once they come, the first thing they’ll do is cut the rope you have tied around your leg. It’ll be even harder for you to flee while fighting them off!”

”That’s right! Tiny Big Brother, go! We don’t want to be a burden to you!” Beibei said. As she spoke, she anxiously looked outside her house, struggle filling her face. This world was like a tiny prison. There was nobody that could save her, nobody to answer her call. Not the heavens, and not the earth. It was an isolated village of a few hundred people that ran by its own rules. The village chief was an absolute dictator, and there was nothing a single mother and her child could do but to relent.

Beibei didn’t like Shi Xiao at all, so she agonized about her fate and future. She clenched her fist tight, but loosened it right after, knowing that there was nothing more she could do for her fatigue-afflicted mother. How could someone that young be expected to stand up against the world’s injustices? Was there anything she could do aside from despair?

Tianming already knew about this. Yin Chen had reported that Shi Xiao had run all over the village and gathered around fifty villagers, apart from those who were busy hunting or working, claiming that Beibei had enlisted the help of an outworlder to hurt him. The group was storming toward them, brilliantly flashing silver.

”Tiny Big Brother, leave! Sniffle....” Beibei’s feet shook when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

”Child, please leave. You don’t belong to this world. People often say that outworlders are merely temporary guests. All you’re able to do is to visit our world, but you can never change it. That rope marks the distance between you and us. You’ll never stay here with us, and neither should you. For me and my daughter, this is all we have and there’s nowhere else we can go. Ever since that misfortune happened to me and her dad, this has been our fate. It can’t be helped,” Aunt Hua said, shaking her head with sorrow.

”Tiny Big Brother, don’t let us drag you down! You can still make it using the rope!” The angered cries of the villagers could be clearly heard outside.

”How about this? Can you go out and buy me some time?” Tianming said.

”Okay!” Beibei and Aunt Hua exchanged a glance without hesitation. Though Beibei shuddered, she held her mother tight and stepped out of the house.