Beastmaster of the Ages

In a mere ten-plus days, Tianming used the insight he had gotten from the rampage idol to manifest his seventh cosmic chart! His cosmoforce grew by leaps and bounds once more.

Coupled with the cosmoforce of his seven lifebound beasts—including Ji Ji’s massive rise—it placed him squarely at the very top among cosmic cartographers where energy was concerned. The seven cosmic charts that hovered around him greatly increased his vitality. As long as they still existed, his body could easily regenerate from all kinds of damage.

”I thought that my growth would reach a bottleneck without using order fragments, yet the Prehistoric Path actually benefited me to this extent....” Tianming had more or less broken through four times in a row, rising from his third to his seventh cosmic chart in a matter of days. Ying Huo and the others were much stronger now, compared to when they had failed to absorb the 999-aperture ordered manna.

”After tapping into the latent powers of the manna, their star counts increased.” They each had around six million stars in their eyes and Tianming felt that they would be able to fully absorb the manna in due time.

”I should be able to make it to the top twenty on the Fortuna Ranking by now. However, the seventh idol’s just about to start. If I get manna as a reward, I can grow stronger and challenge the top ten!”

Tianming wanted the rewards from the Fortuna Ranking and the Prehistoric Path. He couldn’t afford to waste his ten-times multiplier. He was already getting quite a bit of merit and springwater every day in the forty-fifth rank.

”I have to claim the springwater, too. Once I get the rewards from the Prehistoric Path, I’ll claim them all at once. I’m ranked fourth on the Fortuna Path and my rewards are already far greater than Qitian Jian’s. However, I have a chance of tripling that today....”

The ancestral idol was finally coming. Tianming and the three minor pathkeepers headed to the Prehistoric Path.

The ten or so days had passed in a flash and the two million cultivators who were watching hadn’t even noticed the time pass as they chatted.

Of the original four hundred participants of the Fortuna Path, only eight remained. Twenty-six were still on the Maniverse Path; in total, thirty-four people would be challenging the ancestral idol.

”I wonder if anyone will be able to cause the eighth divine idol to descend....”

”The eighth idol hasn’t descended for a long while. Nobody in the last few openings of the Prehistoric Path has managed to clear the seventh idol.”

Even though maniverse disciples had historically cleared the ancestral idol, it hadn’t happened for a few cycles now. All the members of the audience observed the seventeen teams of two. Tianming was the most eye-catching of them all.

”Does he have a chance?”

”Who knows? I wouldn’t dare to imagine it.”

”Someone who isn’t from one of the Three Exalted Houses....”

”We’ll see!”

As the tension rose, Tianming held his breath. Suishen Zhao was the one in the best state of mind out of all the competitors. He had mentally prepared himself to receive the awards.

”The idol’s descending!” Tianming and Suishen Zhao immediately charged ahead. But as they were the youngest on the Fortuna Path, they were the last to reach the idol. Qitian Jian, Yumo Xue, and their teammates were foundationeer minor pathkeepers. All six of them were the absolute highest rankers on the Fortuna Ranking! Tianming was the only one who wasn’t a minor pathkeeper among them.

The six minor pathkeepers charged into the fog and vanished, but Tianming and Suishen Zhao weren’t in that much of a rush. They knew that time didn’t factor in much to the seventh divine idol. It only mattered whether one could clear it.

”Follow me!” Tianming and Suishen Zhao entered the fog. All of a sudden, everyone in the audience and their surroundings vanished from sight. There was only the fog and the mesmerizing starlight coming from deep within. Soon, the sea of clouds turned into a sea of stars that congregated together and formed a gigantic rainbow star! It hovered above them and a gigantic face was on its surface.

”So that’s the ancestral idol?” They didn’t expect the idol to not be humanoid this time around. The idols just grew weirder and weirder the further on the path they were along.

Ji Ji is also called the Genesis Ancestral Star and it has ancestral order, while the ancestral idol’s also a star. I wonder if the two are related. At the thought, the gigantic star expanded and entirely swallowed him and Suishen Zhao up. Blinding starlight filled Tianming’s vision and his awareness blurred.

***

As Tianming was sinking deep into chaos, there seemed to be an uproar in Myriadpath Valley. Disciples, saints, reverends, and eminents all closely watched the two paths. Not long after the descent of the genesis idol, one participant after another was ejected from it, a sign that they had failed.

On the Fortuna Path, the fastest team to be ejected was Yumo Xue’s, which wasn’t surprising. Nobody was expected to clear it from the Fortuna Path; it was simply unprecedented. Many disciples of House Yumo were also ejected on the Maniverse Path.

More and more people failed as time went on, even Qitian Jian’s group. Suishen Yao and Suishen Shuang lasted for quite a while, but were eliminated all the same. Suishen Yao angrily bit her lip and said, ”How annoying! I feel like I’d just happened to touch upon some insight, only for it all to go to waste!”

Being eliminated in any round meant being eliminated from the Prehistoric Path as a whole.

”It can’t be helped,” Suishen Shuang said. Fortunately, they had lasted longer than Yumo Xue, which was good enough. Suishen Shuang turned to look at the Maniverse Path with worry. ”Yaoyao! Brother Yue’s been eliminated, too!”

As Suishen Yuan’s sister, she hoped that her good friend would marry her elder brother instead of Suishen Yue. Seeing the latter get eliminated made her quite pumped. ”What about your brother?” Suishen Yao couldn’t even be bothered looking; she didn’t like either choice.

”He’s still holding on.... Ah!” Suishen Yuan couldn’t last any longer and was ejected right as Suishen Shuang spoke. Since he had failed to clear the round, he’d effectively lost in the fight for Suishen Yao’s hand in marriage.