Beastmaster of the Ages

For Tianming, their lustrous skin and golden myriadpath rings were incredibly eye-catching.

”If you successfully become a member of Myriadpath Valley, your myriadpath ring will be a symbol of your identity and might accompany you for a long time. Enter any mundus and you’ll be received by the reges mundi as long as you wear this ring, even if it’s black.” Li Fan showed his myriadpath ring to Tianming.

The bracelet had been on Li Fan’s body when Tianming defeated him.

”So even if I enter Myriadpath Valley, mine will always be black and theirs will always be gold?” Tianming asked.

”Of course, unless you suddenly discover that your parents are in fact powerful elites of Myriadpath Valley. Otherwise, some things won’t change over an entire lifetime. My only dream now is to marry a native woman so my descendants will also wear the gold myriadpath ring. But that’s really hard! There’s more men than women, so any woman is a precious pearl,” Li Fan said.

”What a hierarchical society!” Tianming really didn’t know what to say.

At that moment, the entrance to the Skyward Grandpath finally opened. The vortex at the mouth of the black worm began violently spinning, starlight flickering like the beginning of chaos. In an instant, a sinister, ferocious, beastlike aura burst out from within and the smell of blood hit him in the face.

”Go! I’ll be waiting for you to be the first to come out of there!” Li Fan said.

”Okay!” Taking a deep breath, Tianming left Li Fan’s side and headed toward the entrance of the Skyward Grandpath.

The first to enter the vortex were the men and women wearing golden myriadpath rings. They expressionlessly ran into the darkness, long accustomed to such a scene since birth. Some of them had actually challenged the Skyward Grandpath more than once.

Although there wasn’t a rule to dictate who went first, there was a natural hierarchy. The outworlders with black myriadpath rings were afraid to approach the entrance until the young men and women of Myriadpath Valley had all entered. Like Li Fan, most referrers weren’t of a high status and couldn’t afford to offend anyone. They were also betting on recommending a super prodigy who could help them when they rose to greater heights in the future. It was through referrers like them that the holy land of cultivation continued feeding off the Million Mundi, which took the initiative to send geniuses over to Myriadpath Valley and turn them into disciples.

That was how Myriadpath Valley remained strong.

All mundi had weaknesses. Even if there were heaven-defying geniuses, they would all come to Myriadpath Valley to pursue the best of cultivation. As such, Myriadpath Valley’s ”invisible rule” over the Million Mundi was more stable than any dynasty or emperor. A formal authority might face resistance or rebellion, but geniuses from all over the cosmos were drawn to Myriadpath Valley like moths to a flame. Tianming had to admit that it was a brilliant strategy. Without proclaiming themselves rulers, Myriadpath Valley had become the true overlord of the astralscape of order.

He queued up outside the entrance, listening to the referrers next to him who gathered in small groups to discuss the outstanding participants.

”Do you see him? The one in front, Huang Daoxiong!”

”It’s really him. He’s just over two hundred years old and here to challenge the Skyward Grandpath?”

”The sooner he becomes an official member of Myriadpath Valley, the sooner he can enjoy the resources. But that isn’t all. I hear that the one supervising the competition this time is Huang Daoxiong’s father, Reverend Daolie.”

”If that’s the case, Huang Daoxong is bound to take first place. After all, he’s the son of the head of one of the ancient houses. There aren’t any descendants of other ancient houses participating in this round, right?”

”No. Huang Daoxiong of House Huang is the only one.”

”Then first place on the Skyward Ranking, as well as the reward they announced, will belong to him!”

But as soon as they said that, someone else interjected, ”That might not be the case.”

”Are there other good seedlings?”

”Yes, he’s Chu Tianyu, a powerful genius from the Anima Mundus who was discovered by Reverend Qingyuan. I hear that he’s already at the seventh foundation soul level and is very accomplished in soul cultivation. His lifebound beasts have over two million stars. Chu Tianyu is an outworlder, but he became Reverend Qingyuan’s disciple at the age of a hundred or so and was nurtured with Myriadpath Valley’s resources from then on. Reverend Qingyuan even gave him a golden myriadpath ring. Do you see it?”

”Wow, it looks like we’re in for a good show!”

”You missed a participant. Do you see that girl? Pretty, isn’t she? Her name is Qiu Ciling and she’s about three hundred years old, but her totems have reached sixfold simulacrum.”

”Yes, isn’t she also a descendant of a reverend? But she isn’t from any ancient house....”

”So there are other competitors. It looks like the top ten participants are all going to be pretty strong. It’ll definitely be more interesting than previous rounds....”

”It just so happens they’re all participating in this round!”

Tianming fought off his boredom by listening to the referrers discuss the super geniuses of Myriadpath Valley. Descendants of the ancient houses, direct disciples of certain reverends, seventh foundation soul level, sixfold simulacrum, etc.

Huang Daoxiong, Chu Tianyu, and Qiu Ciling. Tianming had glanced several times at them. They were indeed outstanding and their bearing was far superior to Li Fan, Fengqing You, and Lin Ke. It was no surprise that Lin Ke had failed to join Myriadpath Valley and could only befriend Li Fan.

At five hundred years old, Lin Ke had merely been a first-level cosmic cartographer. In any mundus, he would be considered a top expert, but in Myriadpath Valley, even those at the bottom were better than him. In fact, that sense of hierarchy was created by Myriadpath Valley. Those with more talent than Lin Ke would have already been drawn to Myriadpath Valley. Seeking out greener pastures made sense.

Thus, Tianming had a rough idea of the level of the top geniuses under five hundred.

”For beastmasters, the reward for top place on the Skyward Ranking is three-hundred-aperture manna. It looks like I’ll have to put up a good fight and see if it gets me anything. But most importantly, I must find a good shelter!” There was nothing more important for him. Otherwise, he would be a rootless duckweed, with no one to rely on. Li Fan could only be a guide because of his humble identity.

Just as flames ignited within him, it was his turn to enter the Skyward Grandpath.

”Let’s go!”

Tianming took off, charging into the vortex.

......

Starlight melded with darkness and the great path meandered ahead of him. It was just like life, which was never a straight path. Above the dazzling starlight was a building with a plaque that read “Skyward Hall”, brightly shining like an amalgamation of endless stars.