Beastmaster of the Ages

Just as Tianming returned, his transmission stone lit up with a call from Eminent Jiguang. ”Where’d you go? Why didn’t you pick up?”

”I made a quick trip back home, hehe,” Tianming lied without batting an eye.

”Are you near the Myriadpath Celestial Formation right now?” she asked.

”Yes. I just got back.”

”I’ll turn back. I was just there moments ago.” She hung up and appeared before him not long after. She had switched to wearing a tighter white and pink cosmic artifact armor. Her hair was bound in a ponytail, giving her an air of heroism on top of her usual elegance. She looked just like a goddess of war and the form-fitting armor only made her immaculate figure even more apparent. Her aura and beauty weren’t things the seductiveness of House Yumo could easily mirror.

”Seriously, I asked you not to carelessly go anywhere, but you still didn’t listen to me,” she rebuked, her face full of worry.

”Auntie, did you forget? When I use a certain ability, not even Fen Nu can keep up with me. Coupled with how stealthy I am, I’m relatively safe.” The Yin Chens in Myriadpath Valley had awakened when he’d returned. Everyone that was a threat to Tianming had gone to the Yin-Yang World and no longer paid him any heed, so he was safer than he had been since joining Myriadpath Valley.

”That doesn’t mean you can afford to be careless, got it?” she sternly said.

Tianming smiled like an obedient junior. Apart from the usual motherly concern Eminent Jiguang had for him, there was a trace of guilt in her worried expression. She’d had no choice but to head to the Yin-Yang World even if it meant leaving Tianming alone.

He had no choice but to agree. ”Auntie, I’ll remember what you say well.”

But say that as he may, he was already planning to have Yin Chen keep an eye out for her next time so that he would be able to get back right before she did.

After teaching him a lesson, Eminent Jiguang smiled in resignation. ”Come here. I want to show you something I brought back.”

”You brought me a gift?” Tianming was touched. He hurried over to her and delighted in her fragrance. It was really refreshing, unlike the rancid stench of Yin-Yang Baleflame.

She laughed and pointed at her spatial ring. ”I have two kegs of Yin-Yang Baleflame for you.”

She was going to give it to him, not lend it! In Myriadpath Valley, only people with statuses like Eminent Jiguang could gift their children springwater. For instance, Yumo Yuanni had been given a keg by his father. However, the fact that Eminent Jiguang was so generous to Tianming, despite only being her niece’s husband, was absolutely unheard of. She had loaned him two kegs of springwater last time, and now she was going to give him two kegs of baleflame. ”You don’t have to hold back. Just consider it a small token of gratitude for helping me break through to minor zenith.”

”Nonono...!” Tianming fervently shook his head. ”Auntie, you’ve already done more than enough for me. I’ll accept the gift, not as repayment for what I’ve done but as a token of your care and concern for me.”

”Alright, as long as you take it.”

”I’d be a fool not to take this treasure for myself!”

”You little....”

After Tianming took it, he asked, ”Auntie, you didn’t come back just to bring this to me, right?”

”Why not? I’m about to head back to the Yin-Yang World now that I’ve handed it over.”

”Are you in such a rush? Can I ask you for a favor?”

”What is it?”

”I got another nine million merit points and I want to exchange it for a 900-aperture ordered manna. Can you trade it to Princess Ying for a grade-eight order fragment?”

”You already broke through twice in a row just a few years ago, yet you’re going to rush it again?” Most other monstrous geniuses of Myriadpath Valley took centuries to break through once at their level! But Tianming had managed to shrink that time down to the single digits.

”It isn’t like I’m rushing. I’ve finished stabilizing my cultivation after a few years. I don’t feel hollow at all and I think it’s about time I took the next step,” Tianming said.

”Did the springwater really work that well for you? Manifest your eleventh cosmic chart and show me your orders,” Eminent Jiguang said with worry. She couldn’t afford to let him wing it.

Tianming did as he was told and showed her the last cosmic chart he had manifested. She inspected it with a touch and turned to him with a look of surprise. ”You really are a weird one. It’s stable with no flaws to pick at.”

”I told you so. My biggest strength is that I’m stable.”

She stared at his beehive-like order curiously and asked, ”What’s the order in the center called? It seems rather domineering.”

”Imperial order,” Tianming said.

”Imperial? Well, you do have the air of an emperor about you. I believe an order like that is situated in your head, right?” she casually mentioned.

”Umm....” Tianming didn’t dare to nod and only gingerly smiled.

”It isn’t? Then is it in the heart?” She grew even more curious.

Tianming shook his head and looked down as a signal. It was clear what he was referring to.

”Umm....” Eminent Jiguang didn’t quite know how to react. ”Fine. It’s no wonder you managed to steal Yaoyao’s precious thing away. You were simply too powerful to be held back.”

”I feel truly regretful about that,” Tianming said, blushing.

”Imperial legacy....” At the thought of that, she seemed reminded of something. ”I really couldn’t tell with a normal look, but you seem to be the kind with a penchant for starting a harem.”

”Wait, how’re you so sure?” Tianming asked, surprised.

”The seventh astral organ’s function is to pass down a legacy. You have an imperial order in there, so that thing carries your imperial legacy. Aren’t empires about branching out and growing influence? How can you do that with a single partner?”

At that point, she stopped herself. ”Sorry, I strayed too far from the topic.” She paused for a moment, then continued, ”Very well, since I’ve made the trip back here, I’ll help you out in the Xenoabyss. Grade-eight order fragments are incredibly precious, so they’re going to jealously guard it. However, 900-aperture manna is usually something only tenth-level foundationeer beastmasters and specters have access to, which makes it even rarer. Trading a grade-eight order fragment for one might actually be a steal for them.”