Beastmaster of the Ages

”Don’t ask anything, just listen. You won’t die. In fact, you’ll get something out of this,” Tianming coldly said. He stuck the Grand-Orient Sword into Tang Xiao’s body and used Imperial Sword Prison. It took three whole days for it to entirely permeate Tang Xiao’s body, his cosmic charts included. Tianming would be able to remotely kill him at any time.

”I’m just a minor character, as far as you’re concerned, and you can kill me at any time. So why don’t you? Why go through all this trouble? Is there something I can do for you?” Tang Xiao asked.

”Don’t ask anything. Just go to the Xenoabyss with me. I can promise that if you do what I say, nothing bad will happen to you. I’ll even give you springwater,” Tianming said.

”Good! I trust you, Pathkeeper Li!” Tang Xiao said through gritted teeth.

”That’s the spirit.”

To prevent the same thing from occurring again, Tianming spent an entire month letting Yin Chen infiltrate Intrepedia to seek out every key figure of the godshades. There were around a thousand of them.

He didn’t tell them who he was and used Imperial Sword Prison on all of them. He then told them that if they even attempted to answer any query on Infinitum, all of them would die in an instant. They were quite frightened by the threat, but it was merely a precaution since it was rather unlikely for House Yumo to care about Skydome or Intrepidus after the search operation ended.

When he was done, Tianming returned to the Myriadpath Celestial Formation with Tang Xiao. There were a lot of people around them.

”We’ll head to Antiquitas Mortis in the Xenoabyss,” Tianming ordered. If Tang Xiao decided to cause a commotion, Tianming would have no choice but to kill him. However, he could tell that Tang Xiao wanted to live.

”Alright!” Tang Xiao seemed rather obedient.

Tianming didn’t have him activate his own myriadpath ring. Instead, he used his and took Tang Xiao with him in a single transfer, just like how Taihe had brought people from Intrepidus to Skydome. He had to make sure Tang Xiao’s transport destination was the same as his own, after all.

Tianming hadn’t returned to the Xenoabyss for quite some time. There were quite a few Yin Chens there, allowing him to immediately find Zi Zhen and Chen Tianyong. While they weren’t together, they weren’t far from each other, either, camping near the stareye.

Tianming brought the anxious Tang Xiao deep into the depths with him to find Zi Zhen. When he found her, he felt her aura of solitude and frost from afar.

I should hurry up and find the thing she needs in Yumo Cave. Only then will she be able to come to Myriadpath Valley with me, he thought.

Zi Zhen’s gaze turned gentle when she saw him. Then she spotted Tang Xiao as well. ”Why’d you bring someone here?”

Tianming said, ”Make him a hexapath slave.”

She didn’t hesitate and nodded. ”Alright.”

”Hexapath slave?” Tang Xiao immediately took a few steps back and paled. However, he was unable to resist Tianming at all.

Chen Tianyong arrived and patted Tang Xiao on the shoulder. ”Kid, don’t be scared. It sounds nasty, sure, but it’s just an initiation ceremony into the gang. In fact, I’ll be the first to tell you that you’re in for something good.”

”Alright. I trust that someone minor like me isn’t worth Pathkeeper Li going through all this trouble in the first place,” Tang Xiao said.

”Pathkeeper LI?” Chen Tianyong seemed impressed. ”I recall that you were only a third-level cosmic cartographer the last time you were here. You’re able to subdue foundationeers now?”

It had been quite a while since their last meeting. ”That’s right. Quite a few things happened.”

Zi Zhen was a third-level foundationeer and only slightly over a hundred years old. Her combat prowess far exceeded Suishen Yao’s. Her sacredfiend skyghoul talent and the explosive growth she had experienced when she recovered from grade-ten xeno fatigue had resulted in an explosive growth in power.

When Tang Xiao noticed the caliber of people Tianming knew in the Xenoabyss, his respect for the minor pathkeeper grew. It didn’t take long for Zi Zhen to gain control over Tang Xiao’s mind with her hexapath eyes.

Tang Xiao seemed dazed for a while, but soon recovered. He took a deep breath and said, ”Tell me if there’s anything I can do to serve from now on.”

”Well, I don’t really need you to do anything apart from keeping quiet once you get back,” Tianming said.

”Absolutely.” Tang Xiao didn’t attempt to resist, not that he could.

Tianming told him to wait and briefed Chen Tianyong and Zi Zhen about what had happened, save for the part where he’d exterminated House Yumo’s forces in Infinitum, as he wasn’t sure what Zi Zhen felt toward House Yumo.

”You’re married?” Zi Zhen asked.

”Only in name. It’s the only reason I’m allowed to stay in Myriadpath Valley. The springwater there is really useful to me. Not to mention, I can’t even come here without going through them,” Tianming said.

”I see.” Zi Zhen seemed relieved.

”Speaking of springwater, I recall seeing Yumo Yuanni use a grade-seven order fragment and a keg of springwater to break through without any instability in his order growth. I’m ranked second on the Fortuna Ranking and get seven hundred bowls of springwater every year. In a few years, I’ll have around four to five kegs. Have there been any opportunities to procure order fragments lately?”

The two exchanged glances, then Chen Tianyong said, ”The antiquitean imperials have been really tight on them lately. Order fragments of grade seven and above scarcely show up.”

”Got it. What about xeno fatigue?”

Chen Tianyong said, ”In recent years, more and more fatigue sufferers have come to the capital to try their luck. Sufferers in the capital have reached a historic high number! Everyone’s looking for you. While you’ve grown a lot, you’re still far from being able to defend yourself. You can’t really do much unless you want to reveal that ability of yours to Myriadpath Valley and get someone from there to protect you.”

”In that case, I’ll get Myriadpath Valley to sponsor me and help with my search. I’m still important to them, so they’ll help me get more fragments. However, my position there isn’t too stable yet. The only person I can trust is Eminent Jiguang. When it comes to the bigger picture, I don’t think she can hold the heavy hitters of Myriadpath Valley back alone.”

”That’s fine. You’re growing far too fast, so you can just keep that up until you’re powerful enough. The fatigue sufferers have had it for quite a while now, anyway, so what’s a longer wait?” Chen Tianyong said.