Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming was still quite far off from the top hundred of the Fortuna Ranking. ”Oh well, we have to take things one step at a time.” There was no point in rushing things.

The Grand Myriadpath Ruins did remind him of something else, however. ”Upper level of the Grand Myriadpath Ruins.... Why does that remind me of the Upper Star Ruins? Does that mean that there’s a Middle Star Ruins and Lower Star Ruins, too? Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”

But he didn’t overthink it. Instead, he looked at the large plaza outside the Grand Myriadpath Ruins. It was called Grand Ruin Plaza. Disciples would all go through the plaza to reach the Grand Myriadpath Ruins. Aside from fortuna disciples, maniverse disciples would also train in the ruins. The Maniverse Ranking also had ten thousand spots; however, only the top hundred would be allowed to go to the upper ruins, so the total number of people that could go there was two hundred, including the top hundred from the Fortuna Ranking.

As for myriadpath saints who were over two thousand years old, they were either incredibly strong or just average. By that age, their cultivations were mostly set in stone, so there wasn’t a point in viewing caeli and they didn’t come here to train with the disciples.

For instance, reverends and eminents wouldn’t benefit from viewing the caeli of the valley lords, either. The only way to make progress at their level was to find the way forward themselves. As for more average myriadpath saints like Mister Taihe, they mostly knew their place and took up positions near the bottom of the ladder. It wasn’t a bad deal by any means, since anyone from Myriadpath Valley enjoyed incredible privileges in any outer mundus.

Tianming landed in the plaza and looked around. ”It’s huge!”

Through the misty midsky essence, the Grand Myriadpath Ruins looked like a huge world of its own. Like an immovable mountain, it stood tall, strong, and stable. Fortuna and maniverse disciples looked like little ants crawling all over the place.

The disciples that entered the ruins were like pilgrims. The caeli of ancestors were to be afforded respect. As such, those that entered the ruins had to remain quiet, clean, and disciplined at all times. Even outside the ruins, it was really quiet, quite a contrast from the arenas.

The only ones who were allowed to even be there were top inner disciples of Myriadpath Valley—especially those that didn’t land in the plaza and flew straight to the entrance of the upper ruins. No doubt, they stood at the very top over all other lifeforms in the astralscape of order. All Tianming could do for now was enviously look up at them.

He headed toward the entrance of the lower ruins, but it didn’t take long before he was recognized. It appeared that he was quite famous in Myriadpath Valley.

”He stands out, right? Apart from the black myriadpath ring, there’s signs of beast taint on his arms and even neck.”

”Hmmm, the beastification is really obvious.”

”It’s one thing if he’s a specter, since they’re usually like that. But he’s actually a human beastmaster.”

”Yeah. His beasts are still alive and talking, even as they’re stuck to his body.”

Many gold ring disciples talked about him from a distance with the same look of contempt on their faces. It was almost as if they were afraid that they would get a whiff of bad luck simply by being close to him. However, at least they wouldn’t come forward to confront him like before. What had happened to Huang Daosheng was a warning to the rest.

”Speaking of Huang Daosheng, his fiancee was violated by that taint in public like that, yet he’s able to hold back even now. I wonder what he’s thinking.”

”Well, Huang Daosheng’s in a tight spot. This kid’s really good at running away and has Reverend Lan Yun behind his back. What I wonder is why I haven’t heard about the fiancee killing herself after that taint had his way with her. She must be really accepting indeed. Doesn’t she feel dirty at all?” said a female gold ring disciple.

”If it were me, I’d kill myself before letting him touch me. Merely thinking about being violated by a taint makes my hair stand in disgust,” said another girl.

”It’s truly disgusting. Why would Myriadpath Valley let someone like that in here? It’s starting to look like an animal-fighting arena nowadays. Truly disgusting!” The female gold ring disciple indignantly stomped her feet on the ground.

”If you speak so loud, he might hear you,” said a male disciple.

”So what if he can hear me? I’m a ninth-level cosmic cartographer. If he doesn’t run from me, I’ll easily be able to kill him.”

”Yeah. He’s an annoying fly that’d die with one slap.”

The two female disciples didn’t seem afraid at all. There were quite a lot of others who contemptuously glared at Tianming before moving as far away as they could. As for the black ring disciples, they numbered even less and didn’t dare to approach him.

But by now, it was just business as usual to him.

”The only thing I can do now is grow stronger. Only then will I be able to shut these people up and make them look at me with fear.” Tianming headed toward the entrance of the lower ruins. Just as he was about to go in, he heard some clinking and stopped.

Looking to the side of the entrance, he saw a rickety old man with his back turned to him. He was dressed in rags and shuddered as he advanced at a snail’s pace, bending down to pick up scraps to put inside his spatial ring.

There were many people outside the Grand Myriadpath Ruins, most of them young and in small groups. Occasionally, they would litter all around. If there was nobody to clean up the plaza, it would’ve been filthy long ago.

”Is he a cleaner?” It was the first person that Tianming had encountered in Myriadpath Valley that was so old. He guessed that it was a myriadpath saint who had nowhere to go, but was unwilling to leave Myriadpath Valley, so he probably put himself to some use by cleaning up after the young’uns.

Tianming hadn’t intended to pay him much heed, but he saw two old bronze cuffs around his scrawny legs. That was the clinking sound that had given Tianming pause. Even odder was the chain that extended from the cuffs and connected to the nearby fortuna-class divine astralship. The old man was only able to move about around the Grand Myriadpath Ruins and couldn’t leave!

”He seems even older than Ku from the Swordgod Lin Clan was. Who locked him around this area to clean it?” Tianming couldn’t figure it out.

The man was so old that his astrons had shrunk and lost their luster. By looking at his back alone, Tianming could tell from his wrinkles, white hair, hunched back, and scrawny arms that he didn’t have much time left. Even if he had once been a foundationeer, his order would still have withered as he neared the limits of his lifespan. The cosmoforce in his body would leak into the surroundings as he weakened.

”Aging is an unstoppable process. It’s hard to imagine someone at his advanced age being able to put up any fight.... Even my grandfather, who’s quite the exception, will soon age and pass on into the cycle of reincarnation....” It was simply too odd a sight for a man as old as he was to be stuck there to clean the place.