Beastmaster of the Ages

”One of my ninehall eyes opened,” Zi Zhen said.

”Ninehall eyes?” Tianming recalled that they were hexapath eyes before. It seemed like she had undergone an upgrade. ”How’d your body suddenly get stronger after your eyes changed mid battle?”

”It’s a transformation related to my ancestral return. I think it also has something to do with my rage. The angrier I am, the more ninehall eyes I’m able to open and the stronger I’ll be,” she said, looking at her own body.

”How many eyes can you open at once?” Tianming asked. She had only opened one eye and it’d made her so much stronger already.

”All nine of them, of course.”

”Nine? Then how strong would you be at that point?”

”I have no idea, but killing you shouldn’t be a problem.”

Tianming had a feeling that his death would be the least of his worries. She could probably bring ruin to the entire world. As expected of an ancient being similar to Feiling.

”Would you... really be able to bring yourself to kill me?”

”I already didn’t quite recognize you after opening one eye, so what do you think?” she said, giving him the side-eye.

”Haha, I kind of regret it now,” he said.

”Regret what?”

”I regret dealing with your xeno fatigue problem. Now you’ve completely eclipsed me and you’ll be much harder to deal with.”

Her expression turned odd. ”Don’t say nonsense like that.”

”I was just joking to lighten the mood....”

”Fine.”

”So you’re saying that your physical capabilities make up most of your combat capability?”

”They’re the basis of it, yes. But levels are still important.”

”It shouldn’t be a problem with your ancestral return, then.”

”That’s right!” She nodded and looked straight at him. ”Thank you.” Tianming was the one who had brought her the eye from House Yumo.

”Don’t just thank me. Keep following me, alright?”

”Did you finish dealing with Myriadpath Valley?”

”Myriadpath Valley’s no more. That place is now Tianmingopolis. I conquered it, and it’s also your home now. You can go there anytime you want!”

Zi Zhen suddenly fell silent.

”What’s wrong?” Tianming asked.

Tears seemed to flash across her eyes for the slightest moment as her lips quivered. She shook her head and said, ”My home is where you are.”

It was Tianming and Moran’s turn to fall silent.

”Everyone’s great, and I love how merry it is there! Haha!” He gave Zi Zhen’s shoulder a pat and laughed.

”Who’s that?” Zi Zhen asked, looking at Moran.

”Weisheng Moran. You can call her Little Fish,” Tianming said.

”How old is she?”

”Less than a hundred.”

”Then I’m her senior,” Zi Zhen said.

Tianming didn’t quite know how to react.

”You can call me anything you like,” Moran softly said.

Tianming was still confused. He thought it was a happy thing for them to be introduced, but they didn’t seem to get along at all.

”Hahaha!” He tried to resolve the awkwardness by taking something out. ”Look what I have here!”

”Order fragments!” Zi Zhen was shaken by the sight of the grade-ten order fragments in his hand. There were tens of them! ”How’d you get so many of them?”

”Some wonderians from the Upper Star Ruin came to the astralscape of order and I killed them all. I already used a few of them and these are the ones I kept for others.”

The ones Tianming had with him were from Zhoutian Shenhai. He had picked a few good ones out for himself and left the rest for Jiguang before rushing over to save Zi Zhen. Now that she was secure and he had managed to find a way to the Ancient Oldgod Domain, he could finally take out the order fragments.

”In Antiquitas Mortis, grade-ten order fragments are just a myth. Where in the world did the wonderians get these?” Zi Zhen said with some disbelief. She had been looking for order fragments for Tianming nonstop.

”They’re probably able to access the Ancient Oldgod Domain,” Tianming said.

”Isn’t she a wonderian? Doesn’t she know?” Zi Zhen asked, looking at Moran.

”But she’s my wonderian, so she doesn’t know,” Tianming chuckled.

”Yours?” Zi Zhen pouted.

”Zi Zhen, you might have ancestral return, but it might take some time. Do you want to use some order fragments to speed it up? Your order’s stable enough, after all. If it isn’t enough, I also have baleflame.”

”Then let me try it out,” Zi Zhen said, nodding.

”What about you, Little Fish? Can you do it too?” Tianming asked. It hadn’t been long since she had broken through to the sixth level of the Cosmic Cartography stage.

”I’m ready too,” she said.

”Really?”

”Yes....” Moran nodded and looked Zi Zhen in the eye. Even without words, Tianming could feel the competitive spark between them.

”What in the world’s going on?” Ying Huo asked from within the lifebound space.

”Obviously they each wanted to spend some alone time with Tianming, only for another woman to show up. There’s no way they’d be happy about that,” Ji Ji said, laughing.

”That isn’t all. I think there’s something they find displeasing about each other,” Xian Xian said.

”You really love making things up to spice them up, don’t you?” Ji Ji sneered.

”Shut up!”

Ying Huo didn’t know why Xian Xian and Ji Ji got into a fight again. The other four nodded in understanding.

”Alright friends... let’s shower... together with... each other,” Yin Chen said.

Outside, Tianming and the girls all held order fragments in their hands. ”Refine it. Whether or not you improve, we still have to go to the Ancient Oldgod Domain to spank that misbehaving child. After that, we can come back for my little sister and friend.”

”What about xeno fatigue?” Zi Zhen asked.

”Oh, right, that’s still a thing! I’ll see the ruler of Antiquitas Mortis and beat him up before I get him to gather every xeno-fatigue sufferer here. Then I’ll solve the problem all at once when I come back again next time. I’ll leave Uncle Yong in charge of that.”

Antiquitas Mortis was far too large, and there were many more nations besides it. It would take ages for him to gather up every xeno-fatigue sufferer alone.

”Very well.” Zi Zhen appeared to care quite a lot about the matter. With Tianming being the ruler of the astralscape of order, he no longer had to worry about being exposed, so he could fulfill the promise he had made with Chen Tianyong and Zi Zhen long ago.

”Let’s begin, then,” Tianming said, filled with confidence. He left only a small portion of grade-ten order fragments for himself and gave the rest away. Zi Zhen was going to try out some grade-nine order fragments, whereas Moran started with grade-six and seven ones. She also needed more baleflame to get things going. She was someone who hailed from a heliacal-class world, yet Tianming had forcefully raised her talent to make her capable of reaching the Foundation stage.

There was more than enough xeno source within the eye of heaven, so Tianming started using a grade-ten order fragment himself; the other two didn’t seem to have moved yet.

”You’d better not hold us back,” Zi Zhen told Moran.

”You too.”

Tianming speechlessly watched them.

The three of them cultivated for a few days before Tianming used up his order fragments and became a seventh-level foundationeer. ”Now I’m able to fight super-zenith foundationeers on even footing!”

He felt even more confident when he looked at the monochrome vortex before him.