Beastmaster of the Ages

”I’ll try my best.” Tianming nodded. Of course, he had to check if the rewards suited him.

”If you have the ability, try to rank as high as possible. You’ll avoid a lot of trouble if you have a reliable master. Anyone who tries messing with you will have to think twice. I’ll give you an example. My master, Mister Taihe, had little authority in Myriadpath Valley,” Li Fan said.

The master-disciple relationship was the most important relationship in Myriadpath Valley. It was also extremely important for disciples sharing a master to support each other for protection.

”Got it.” Tianming nodded.

He cultivated while waiting, listening to Li Fan talk a lot about Myriadpath Valley’s power structure and gaining a rough understanding of the ‘capital’ of the astralscape of order in the process. Because Li Fan feared for his life, he went into detail about the rules and taboos. Four months quickly passed and the platform was finally filled with ten thousand participants.

”The Skyward Grandpath is about to open!” Li Fan said.

He had already helped Tianming register, using his status as a disciple of Myriadpath Valley to recommend and vouch for him, which made it possible for him to participate in the competition without any prior tests. He had also returned with an important item–the myriadpath ring, a black cosmic artifact that was worn as a bracelet. Although it wasn’t a high-grade artifact, it was very hard and more resilient than their flesh, so it would still remain intact even if an astral god was killed. It had no offensive or defensive capabilities; its only function was to record information.

As soon as Tianming put on the bracelet, a few words appeared on it.

Greenhaze Mundus, Li Tianming.

That was the new identity Li Fan had created for him. He had also given Tianming information about the Greenhaze Mundus. Like the Infinitum Mundus, it didn’t have a stareye relay and rarely received visitors from Myriadpath Valley.

”Don’t make a big splash. If others investigate your origin, they’ll trace it back to me,” Li Fan said.

”Then you’ll have to die first,” Tianming said.

”I’m begging you.”

”There’s no guarantees in the world. Even if I choose not to offend anyone, they might still try to kill me.” Tianming shrugged.

”Then all I can do is pray that you’ll have better luck,” Li Fan bitterly said.

Putting on the myriadpath ring meant that the Skyward Grandpath was about to open. Just then, an infinitum-class astralship stopped above Myriadpath Valley and the geniuses from various mundi with black bracelets on their wrists turned around. Like Tianming, they were super geniuses in their respective mundi who stood out among billions.

Most of them were above the second level of the Cosmic Cartography stage. Naturally, they weren’t ordinary people. People like them were usually indifferent to everything else except for cultivation. But it didn’t matter how proud they were; they still had to bow their heads upon entering Myriadpath Valley because it was the holy land of the astralscape of order.

About a hundred young men and women alighted from the ship and stepped on the Skyward Platform amidst the curious gazes of the ten thousand recruits. Tianming narrowed his eyes. This group of men and women had an outstanding temperament—honorable, sophisticated, and majestic. Their skin was luminous from the glow of their astrons. They were attractive and exuded an air of nobility that couldn’t be denied, all stemming from their noble bloodlines.

”Is their temperament a result of being nourished by the Myriadpath Sourcespring and midsky essence?” Tianming quietly asked Li Fan.

”Shut up!” Li Fan nervously said.

From his expression alone, Tianming knew that, although he had hit the mark, he wasn’t allowed to say it outright. According to Myriadpath Valley’s rules, those who weren’t official disciples couldn’t use the Myriadpath Sourcespring. While the parents and elders of these young men and women were members of Myriadpath Valley, they weren’t, technically speaking, allowed to use it. But why were they so heroic and majestic? It was clear that their clans had used their own resources to nurture their descendants in private. Of course, that was the unspoken reality of Myriadpath Valley. Everyone was aware, but they couldn’t openly speak about it. The higher their status was, the more dangerous it was to talk about them.

In fact, Tianming envied them for their impeccable temperament. Their parents and elders had paved a way for their bright and easy futures. There were just over a hundred of them, but they would eventually occupy over ninety places. Meanwhile, more than nine thousand eight hundred others would have to fight for the remaining spots, which showed how fierce the competition was.

”Putting aside the advantage their resources have given them, the rules of the competition are fair, right?” Tianming asked Li Fan in a low voice.

”You can say that!” Li Fan replied with his head lowered.

”What do you mean by that’?” Tianming asked.

”Just look at their myriadpath rings,” Li Fan said.

Tianming froze for an instant, but soon realized that the bracelets worn by the Myriadpath Valley natives were actually gold, while the outworlders wore black ones.

”Are their myriadpath rings special? Do they have life-saving and offensive functions?” Tianming asked in surprise.

”No, it’s just a difference in color. They’re essentially the same.”

”Then why do we need to distinguish them?” Tianming asked.

”For their identity, of course,” Li Fan said.

”What’s the point of that? Isn’t it all the same once the competition begins?”

Raising his head to look at Tianming, Li Fan said, ”Think about it. You’ve come all the way from afar and your referrer repeatedly reminds you not to fight anyone with a gold myriadpath ring, to avoid them, and most importantly, not to kill them or your referrer and mundus may suffer retaliation. What’ll you do?”

Tianming was silent.

”Some things are meaningless on the surface, but if you look deeper, you’ll realize how frightening they are,” Li Fan sighed.

Tianming snickered, ”So they do whatever they want, but they also want a good reputation? They’re only pretending to be fair.”

”Bro, please keep your voice down. You may not want to live, but I do!” Li Fan said, his voice shaking.

Tianming had to say that Myriadpath Valley had a sanctimonious vibe. Although the gold myriadpath rings looked similar to the black ones, they signified the superiority of their identity, status, and background. The way the upper class suppressed the lower class was just like a sharp sword held against the throats of every genius outworlder. Who would dare make a move? Only by behaving would they see a glimmer of hope!