Beastmaster of the Ages

”Yes. If I wasn’t greedy, I wouldn’t be practicing three cultivation methods,” Tianming said.

”You’ll be worse off in the end. If you don’t listen to me, you’ll regret it,” Lan Yun coldly said.

”It’s fine, at least I gave it my all. I’m still young so I have time to make a few mistakes!” Tianming said, his eyes fiery.

”That isn’t necessarily true. It might be too late when you finally hit a wall. You could stay that way for the rest of your life,” Lan Yun said.

”If that happens, then so be it. I won’t shed a tear if you kill me because of my mediocrity, Master!”

Lan Yun was shocked by the persistence reflected in his words. ”Sure, but I still think there’s a 99% chance you’ll end up a loser if you continue like this.” Despite what she said, she tossed a xenotoken over to Tianming.

”Thank you, Master!” Bowing deeply, Tianming thanked her.

”I hope it won’t be too late when you turn around.”

With that, she left the courtyard. Although the argument had angered her, she knew that Tianming would have some regrets if she made him focus on one cultivation method. It would eventually do more harm than good, so it was better to let the chips fall where they may rather than force his hand. She wouldn’t get involved in the dispute between her disciples, either. So from now on, they were free to kill one another.

......

After receiving the xenotoken, Tianming met up with Li Fan again. His senior brothers were all under Yin Chen’s surveillance. It didn’t matter if his first and second brothers, the two maniverse disciples, were foundationeers, they were unlikely to catch up to him. With Yin Chen’s help, he could maintain a certain distance from them. Under normal circumstances, his senior brothers wouldn’t be able to find him as long as he chose to keep it that way.

They were there before him, but the first thing Tianming had done upon entering the Grandblue Palace was kill his senior brother and disobey the rules. They must have their objections. In Lan Yun’s absence, the eldest brother had the highest authority in the Grandblue Palace, and Tianming’s actions had challenged his authority.

Li Fan stared in shock when Tianming returned to the Skymartial Blacksea. ”You aren’t dead?” Li Fan exclaimed.

”You wouldn’t be asking that if I was,” Tianming said.

”Yes, I’d have to join you,” Li Fan awkwardly chuckled.

”Let’s head to the Myriadpath Celestial Formation,” Tianming said.

”Sure!”

Tianming wasn’t a notable figure in Myriadpath Valley. Neither he nor Li Fan were noticed because they were nobodies at the bottom of the food chain

”The myriadpath stele!”

Myriadpath steles were visible all over Myriadpath Valley.

”When will I encounter fortuna-class battle arts?” Tianming asked.

”You’ll have a chance when you become a foundationeer, but it won’t be easy to obtain,” Li Fan replied.

”Must I be a foundationeer? What if I’m able to defeat foundationeers?” Tianming asked.

”Defeat foundationeers? There aren’t many who can defeat Myriadpath Valley foundationeers before reaching the Foundation stage, but they do exist.... I heard from someone that the top ten on the Fortuna Ranking might have an opportunity to gain enlightenment from the myriadpath steles,” said Li Fan.

”But aren’t there dozens of foundationeers on the ranking?” Tianming asked in astonishment.

”Yes, so you still have to be a foundationeer to comprehend the myriadpath steles. Fortuna-class battle arts have been sealed by the ancestors of Myriadpath Valley. It’s impossible to acquire them before becoming a foundationeer,” Li Fan said.

”Nothing is impossible for me,” Tianming said, looking at his black arm.

Li Fan laughed and couldn’t be bothered to say anything else. Returning to the Skyward Platform, they boarded the astralship heading for the Myriadpath Celestial Formation and soon arrived at their destination.

......

”Huang Daoxiong! Li Tianming left Myriadpath Valley!”

Upon hearing the news, Huang Daoxiong’s eyes darkened.

”Our opportunity is here! Get Zhao Ge!”

”Yes!”

Huang Daoxiong snickered, ”With your master, Lan Yun, here in Myriadpath Valley, I can kill you but I can’t lock you up and take my time with you! But now that you’ve left Myriadpath Valley and fallen into my hands, you’ll live the next few centuries wishing you were dead!”

......

Tianming and Li Fan stood on the Myriadpath Celestial Formation with their black myradpath rings on their wrists. Ten thousand skypiercer-class worlds surged with light. At any given moment, there were numerous people traveling to the Million Mundi, so the sustained use of nova source meant a large consumption. Because of that, unowned nova sources were continuously required to maintain the Myriadpath Celestial Formation.

Myriadpath Valley didn’t make any losses. The unowned nova sources were tributes offered by the Million Mundi. They were gradually transferred over, bit by bit. Some nova sources were so far out that they took tens, or even hundreds of thousands of years to move. But it didn’t matter because the next generation would take over from the previous one. As long as they set out, those nova sources would eventually be delivered. Any unowned nova source received by Myriadpath Valley today might have been sent out a hundred thousand years ago.

The lives of people in ordinary mundi were worthless. Relying on the Myriadpath Celestial Formation, Myriadpath Valley controlled the Million Mundi, leeching off them to flourish. Through the temptation of cultivation, it suppressed the geniuses of the Million Mundi to maintain its rule.

Myriadpath Valley had perpetuated such a system for a hundred million years. In fact, it was even more stable than the system of the Infinitum Bodhimanda.

”In comparison, the Infinitum Bodhimanda is indeed fair. The Tianming Dynasty will have peace and grow stronger. Myriadpath Valley exercises imperialism, but it’s far more brutal, self-serving, and tyrannical than ordinary imperial regimes because it has no opponents. All Myriadpath Valley has to do is suppress its subordinates to reign supreme forever.”

Tianming fully understood what it meant to rule because of his imperial order. The Infinitum Bodhimanda was fair, but riddled with infighting, while Myriadpath Valley suppressed other mundi. In a system like the Infinitum Bodhimanda, infighting would cause losses, resulting in lower competence against foreign forces.

It was the same for Myriadpath Valley, which would remain in power as long as no foreign enemies appeared. However, such a system also had limitations against a foreign enemy of equal power because it wasn’t true self-transcendence, but oppression. With that in mind, Tianming followed Li Fan in activating his myriadpath ring to operate the Myriadpath Celestial Formation.

”Let’s go!”

”Our destination is the stareye relay in Antiquitas Mortis, the Xenoabyss!”

The Myriadpath Celestial Formation has millions of stareye relays which were scattered across the major mundi. Each relay was marked on the map, so all Tianming had to do was call out the right name for the relay. Otherwise, it would be difficult to go through a million relays one by one.

”Confirm! The stareye relay in Antiquitas Mortis, the Xenoabyss!” a familiar voice sounded from the Myriadpath Celestial Formation.

”Whose voice was that?” Tianming asked Li Fan as starlight enveloped them.

”The sound of the Myriadpath Celestial Formation?” Li Fan said.

”Whose voice did they use?” Tianming asked.

”I have no idea.”