Beastmaster of the Ages

Over the past few days, the denizens of the Sun had resolved themselves to fight to the very last person. The only reason that they hadn’t fought yet was that they were waiting on Wudi. The Starshatter Formation required astral gods to activate, so it would only work if there were enough wonderians around. After five days of observation, Tianming and the rest had come to a conclusion.

”Only around eight hundred thousand of the three million wonderians were able to pass through the Flameyellow Guard Formation. And another four hundred thousand have arrived through xenogates. They’re managing to leave more and more markers, while we aren’t able to leave the Sky Palace Formation to destroy them, so it’s safe to say that their numbers will exponentially grow.”

Thanks to the markers, many wonderians on the Sun had managed to retreat. The ones that remained were waiting for new markers to make their way down to the surface, especially after seeing how the more intense Flameyellow Guard Formation had caused the deaths of more than three hundred thousand wonderians over the span of five days.

”Even if all their astral gods come, they’ll have fewer than three million.”

”But that alone might be enough to destroy the Sky Palace Formation....”

”The number of markers will only continue increasing, so they’ll be able to send more at any given moment. If they have reinforcements, they’ll arrive even faster.” Tianming could say nothing about how underhanded a tactic it was that the wonderians could simply bypass astralguard formations through xenogates. ”Looks like we’re out of options unless we take the risk to go out and kill a bunch of them—and see if we can destroy the Starshatter Formation while we’re at it.”

After breaking off with Yi Daiyan, the denizens of the Sun could only save themselves. All of them seemed nervous and drained.

”It’s been five days....” Tianming took a deep breath, knowing that Xiaodao didn’t include him when he mentioned making a risky move. However, he couldn’t let himself watch while the others did the fighting. He simply couldn’t let himself do that. Even if it was something minor like acting as bait, he would be more than willing to do it. ”Old Lin, Grandpa, wait for me. I’ll go to the Xenoabyss for a bit!”

He had agreed to meet Zi Zhen five days ago, and this was the time. He knew it was only a rough promise with no guarantee of working out, but he held out a bit of hope.

”Okay, go! We’ll shout for you if something happens,” Xiaodao said.

”Okay!” Tianming gave his seniors one last look. They seemed resolved to struggle to their dying breath in accordance with the spirit of defiance inherent in the Swordgod Lin Clan. They trusted nothing but their own two hands to fight for a future for their families and loved ones!

They had been a clan of tough fighters since ancient times. Once the reformists had been excised, the ones that remained had been reforged into a stronger form. Lin Xiao, the Second Patriarch, had become the new spiritual leader of their clan. With the others around, Tianming felt that he could leave things in their hands.

”Old Lin, Grandpa, Grandpa Bear, Uncle Changkong, wait for me to return. I’ll join you in slaughtering them!” Tianming said.

”Go, child!” The seniors smiled and waved him off. It wasn’t like they knew things would go well, but they’d never had a reason to worry about Tianming failing to deliver.

”Wait for me!” Tianming turned around and pulled at Feiling.

The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb landed on the solar core and the two of them left for the deepest part of the fusion formation where the nova source was most volatile. The solar core burned blazing hot, like Tianming’s heart. He bade Feiling goodbye before getting her to hold the interdimensional line for him, then jumped into the xenomemory space and kept going without stopping.

”I see you, pitiful bug!” A voice accompanied by mocking laughter could suddenly be heard around him.

”Who goes there?” Tianming felt a chill down his spine and hurriedly scanned his surroundings. Not a single person could be seen in the sea of clouds.

”Just you wait. Don’t die, I tell you. Your life is mine. You’re destined to be my puppet.”

Tianming recognized those words—they came from his sixth Primordial Chaos Beast! It had said that it was inside the Xenoabyss. However, Tianming didn’t think that it would be so easy to find it... or rather, be found by it!

”Hehehehehe....”

He arrived in the Xenoabyss as the laughter faded away, finding himself inside Antiquitas Capital. The whole place was covered in a purple fog. When he arrived, the Yin Chens that were dormant immediately woke up and began scanning the surroundings.

”Zi Zhen....”

Tianming searched the area and didn’t find anyone, somewhat to his disappointment. It wasn’t that he had held out much hope of her succeeding, but that he was simply far too desperate for anything at all. All he needed was to be on an equal playing field with the enemies that came knocking at his door!

Yet there wasn’t anyone no matter where he looked.

”Wait wait!” Yin Chen said.

”What?” Tianming felt rather hesitant to leave.

”Ninth District... abject chaos!”

Tianming froze, knowing that the district had been sealed because of him. Everyone had been brought into the New Shrine and nobody was allowed out. What could the chaos possibly be?

”Lots of... powerful elites... flooding inside... looking for... Zi Zhen!”

”What do they want her for?”

”Zi Zhen... exposed that... she had... many xeno... fatigue vortices... and claimed... that she... can heal... them herself! The news... got the... whole country... in uproar... they are... all looking... for her!”

Tianming grit his teeth. ”Why’d she expose that for no good reason? Just to cause a commotion?”

Originally, the one in charge of the New Shrine had told the antiquitean royals about it, though their response wasn’t to announce it, but to seal off the district to look for Tianming themselves. However, Zi Zhen’s announcement had made it public knowledge.

What kind of uproar would that cause? Not to mention, she claimed to be the person who could heal xeno fatigue, putting herself at the eye of the storm. One could only imagine the danger she was in. As for Myriadpath Valley, they hadn’t gotten the news yet, as Li Fan was out in the real world.

”That lass!” Tianming truly didn’t understand why she would escalate things to this degree and even use herself as bait. The silver cockroach on his fingertip seemed to be sorting through information to find and answer that query.

”Got it!” Yin Chen said.

”Someone got knocked up?” Tianming asked.

”Shut up!” Yin Chen rolled its eyes. ”Basically she... tricked the... antiquitean royals... for large... numbers of... order fragments... by claiming... to be... the healer! Order fragments... lots of... them them!”

”We got it the first time! Order fragments, yeah!” Ying Huo mocked.

However, Tianming was stunned when he realized how much risk Zi Zhen had taken to fulfill her promise to him. He was completely moved. ”She must be in insane danger!”

It was no wonder she couldn’t show up there; her options for escape must’ve been limited.

”Wait wait!” Yin Chen yelled again.

”What? Why do you keep yelling?!” Tianming got quite a start from the loud insect yell.

”Over here!” The silver insect pointed at the grave of Old Man Voidback.

One look and Tianming could tell that it had been messed with. He dug the grave out and saw a white jade box buried deep within with words engraved on it that read ’worry not’. It was signed with Zi Zhen’s name.

Tianming’s eyes turned red. She had made it and delivered what she promised! ”Those five days while I waited, she’s been straddling the thin line between life and death....”