Beastmaster of the Ages

After sending Aunt Hua and Beibei to the Qi Family manor, Tianming was thanked by the five of them.

”Family Leader, you’ll have to cancel the auction tomorrow, so you’ll be busy. I’ll take my leave now.”

Beibei and Qi Xuan seemed really unwilling to part with him, however. He reassured them by saying, ”Don’t worry, I’ll visit often. We’ll see each other again.”

”Goodbye, Tiny Big Brother!” Beibei said, waving goodbye.

”Aunt Hua, I look forward to hiding in your clothes again,” Tianming joked before he left.

”Away with you, brat!” Aunt Hua snapped, her face turning red.

......

Tianming left Creektown and entered the wilderness. He looked at the intertwining interdimensional line that was tied to his leg. It was pretty mystical. While he could move as he pleased on the ground, when he flew, the rope would tug. As such, he was only able to travel far as long as he didn’t fly.

He took out the Moonfang Marker again. ”The family leader said that this marker updates every time I come in, so I won’t have to start all the way from Silverfox Village next time.”

That made things much simpler. The surroundings were still part of the Xenoworld, which was similar to the wondersky realms in a sense. The biggest difference was that he was here in his actual body rather than his caelum, which meant there was a real risk of death.

”Godfather and Master have been waiting far too long for me.” Tianming tugged hard on the interdimensional line three times in a row. The vibrations would take a while before reaching the entrance he had used, which made it less ideal for him to use to escape intense combat situations. After a few moments, he started feeling a pull from the line before he sank into the ground, dragged all the way past the white sea of clouds before entirely leaving the Xenoworld. He was finally back at the Sun, back in the astralscape of order.

”Heave ho!” Xiaodao and Wudi caught him as he flew out. Seeing him safe and sound, they were incredibly relieved. Xiaodao had only gone in for a short while, but Tianming was in there for days! The entire time, the two of them were waiting tensely outside.

”Are you alright, my disciple?” Xiaodao asked.

”I’m fine!” Tianming said.

”Where’s my daughter?” Wudi seemed a little disappointed. Even though he knew it wouldn’t be that easy to find Qingyu, he still held a bit of hope.

”Godfather, there’s been some trouble.” Tianming quickly told them about his experiences in the Xenoabyss.

Xiaodao hadn’t been able to go to the Xenoabyss, as his cultivation was too high. ”The Xenoabyss is too far away. After you entered it, all the Yin Chens on the Sun turned off.”

”It’s that far?” To think that he could use a single marker to skip such large swathes of the place. It was rather mystical indeed.

”Godfather....” Tianming turned back and still saw a face full of worry. ”Don’t worry. The Sun is fine for now. In the Xenoabyss, there’s also amazing things like order fragments. Plus, I can also heal people there, so I’ll be rich in no time! No matter how far away the Ancient Oldgod Domain is, as long as I slowly get stronger, there’ll come a chance. Think about it. Since Qingyu was able to send this marker to us, it also means that she has had her fair share of fortuitous encounters. She wouldn’t get in trouble that easily!”

”Alright! Dammit... the two of you really make people worry to no end. All I want is to drink with Brother Lin here without anything weighing on my mind, but that’s proving to be a huge challenge!” Wudi complained.

”Worry about us? You’re the weakest among the three of us, Qingyu included. Just lie flat and don’t worry,” Tianming said.

”You little shit! Talking back to your seniors, I see!” Wudi’s reddish hair stood from his growing anger.

Tianming took out the order fragment and smiled. ”Look at this baby. If I use it, even if you’re the top genius of the Infinitum Mundus, you won’t be able to catch up in the slightest.”

Wudi was almost speechless. ”Fine! A good father won’t fight his son. I’m better than that and will even give you credit where it’s due. Just make sure to share some of that when you get more!”

”Godfather, what happened to all that righteous anger from before?”

”Scram from my sight!”

......

While Tianming wanted to go to the capital of Antiquitas Mortis as soon as possible, he also wanted to grow stronger as fast as he could. The order fragment could be his ticket to that. Right after he returned, he asked about the situation of the Sun. Xiaodao told him that the Lin Clan had finished settling down and started absorbing the Flameyellow Bloodsoul. As there was still a risk of being assassinated by Lin Jianxing or ebon operatives, most key figures maintained high caution. The Sky Palace Formation was still active. While it was getting really tight within, they endured it for the sake of the Flameyellow Bloodsoul. ”Basically, there’s nothing pressing. Just focus on getting stronger.”

As for Ebonia, their astralguard formation was still active, keeping Shenxi Xingtian’s Ebonfiend outside. Yi Daiyan hadn’t started her attack yet, but it was said that the regal clans within Ebonia, whether they be neutral or ebon affiliated, had begun making moves. Their machinations slowly stacked the odds in Yi Daiyan’s favor, as she represented the only source of justice in Ebonia. As long as the Sun didn’t explicitly declare independence, there would be no justification she could use to attack.

Eventually, things had settled into their current state, with the temperature of the water slowly rising to boil the frogs. The ebons were the ones who suffered the worst of it. The stalemate gave Tianming a lot of time to explore the Xenoabyss.

He quickly entered seclusion within the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, then took out the order fragment and stared at it. ”It’s truly rather interesting....” He had six streams of order in him, so growing them would be rather challenging and he doubted that a single order fragment would be able to do much. ”Let’s try it either way!”

All he needed to do was to swallow it, and that was hardly a challenge. The moment it entered his mouth, the order fragment disintegrated into smaller pieces that were absorbed into his body. Tianming’s orders were spread out across his first six astral organs and his astrons. The order fragment seemed like a drug that could accurately target the streams of order and blended with the nearby astrons.

”Huh? So it really is like a magic potion.” One created by the universe specifically for this purpose, no less! The fragment easily assimilated into his six streams of order, causing the hexagonal structures to grow after a long period of stagnation.

”Looks like I’ll really be able to aim for the sixth astral phase, dazzling starlight.” At that level, no orderan would be able to beat him. ”Not to mention, my Omnisentient Threads on the Sun have been increasing in number. Far too many people have been growing more powerful over a short time. After my breakthrough, I might even be able to take on third-level cosmic cartographers like Lin Lingxiao! Maybe I should spar with him!”