Beastmaster of the Ages

Unlike Tianming and his eight streams of order, Zi Zhen and Moran’s progress was incredible. Moran had been far too underleveled to begin with, so the order fragments worked wonders to boost her cultivation speed to unbelievable levels. Not to mention, her order wasn’t as complicated as Tianming’s.

Back when I first joined Myriadpath Valley, the hardest period I experienced was during the sixth to eleventh levels of the Cosmic Cartography stage. Finding grade-three or -four order fragments was super difficult, not to mention getting springwater....

Things had only started taking a turn after the Prehistoric Path. Moran, on the other hand, had unlimited access to order fragments and baleflame. Things were super easy for her, as her man could offer so much support.

Thanks to having baleflame to stabilize her cultivation, she grew all the way to the eleventh level. But that didn’t really do much, since it didn’t affect her combat capability. All she got was just the slightest bit more vigorous.

Things are different with Zi Zhen, though.

Zi Zhen sat there silently for a long time. It was the first time she’d used baleflame and order fragments to cultivate since her ancestral return had awakened.

Before, she hadn’t even been willing to use any order fragments at all due to how rare they were. With her ancestral return boosting her bloodline and helping her order grow, she progressed by leaps and bounds. She used a few grade-ten order fragments in one go, allowing her to surpass Tianming and reach the tenth level of the Foundation stage.

Little Fish’s level increased but her fighting capabilities remained the same. Zi Zhen, however, grew much stronger. Her physical potential didn’t need too much cosmoforce to unleash. But once she had more cosmoforce available and strengthened her order, using them in tandem with her physical capabilities would make her far mightier than before.

If we don’t count Little Fish, a receptacle for divine wonders, Zi Zhen’s ability to fight beyond her level is probably second to mine alone. Tianming had fought her before and had a rough idea about where she stood. The angrier she got, the more ninehall eyes she would be able to open. Her berserk state was truly terrifying.

He had managed to get some free time, so he decided to go to deal with the emperor of Antiquitas Mortis. That way, he would be able to gather the xeno-fatigue sufferers. After that, he went back to the two girls.

”Are you ready?” Tianming asked them. They nodded without even looking at one another.

”Alright, stay close and let’s not get separated.” Tianming smiled and stretched out his hands. There was no telling where the monochrome vortex would transport them.

He held the two hands in his. They seemed rather similar, but Zi Zhen’s hand was smaller and Moran’s fingers were longer, considering her taller proportions. Upon closer inspection, however, Zi Zhen’s hand was far harder than Moran’s and could easily shatter a mountain with a single slap. Moran’s was soft and seemingly powerless, as if Tianming could pull it off with the slightest tug.

”Hah! One’s soft as a marshmallow while the other’s like hard-rock candy—aaah!” Zi Zhen pinched his black hand so hard that it seemed to audibly snap.

It was over. Tianming had a feeling that her personality had changed. She used to act reserved around him due to her loneliness, but she seemed to have changed and developed a mean streak.

”Let’s depart.” Tianming cleared his throat and held their hands side-by-side as they entered the vortex.

”It feels like we’re using the Myriadpath Celestial Formation. Do we need anything like the myriadpath ring?” Tianming found that the vortex kept absorbing energy from the eye of heaven, using it instead of power sources like the skypiercer-class worlds that powered the Myriadpath Celestial Formation.

The vortex swallowed them whole.

All of a sudden, they heard a hollow voice from a distance. ”Order Formation activated. Destination: God Domain One.”

What did those words mean? Tianming was almost certain that he was going to the Ancient Oldgod Domain. Maybe God Domain One is somewhere inside it! Ebonia also has a place called the Oldgod Domain. It’s where the Infinitum Stele rested, along with Huang Qi and the Order Relic. I wonder if it’s related to the Ancient Oldgod Domain as well, considering their similar names....

As he thought that, his body suddenly rose and zipped through the vortex. ”This feels like the Myriadpath Celestial Formation and the wormhole expressway both.”

In fact, it was more like the latter. Tianming was conscious during the transfer process instead of instantly waking up on the other side. He could still feel the presence of Zi Zhen and Moran beside him.

The storms within were a little strong and the eleventh-level cosmic cartographer Moran was having a hard time holding up against it. Tianming had Ji Ji supply her with some genesis ancestral nova source so that she could activate her divine wonders to protect the three of them. A starlike divine wonder sprang up, surrounding them.

Zi Zhen had never seen Moran do anything like that before. She bit her lip and said, ”So she’s not just a decoration, then.” She’d thought that Tianming had only brought her along because she was pretty.

Around ten days passed like that in the vortex. Eventually, Tianming saw more and more light coming from ahead. ”That’s great! Seems like it’ll only take a month for us to go back to the imperial capital from God Domain One.”

They could come and go as they pleased, though the imperial capital was a little lonely with Jiguang absent and busy with other tasks. That aside, Tianming had been worried that his journey would largely be one way, and returning to the astralscape of order would be rather difficult. But now it seemed like he didn’t need to worry about that at all.

”It’ll be just like how I kept bringing good stuff back to Infinitum when I was at Myriadpath Valley.” Currently, Tianming had two homes: the Sun and the imperial capital.

Their arrival was finally marked by a great flash outside as the three of them exited the vortex. What kind of the place was the Ancient Oldgod Domain? Was it still within the Xenoabyss, or somewhere outside the Xenoworld? Did it have anything to do with the Sea of Order?

Tianming immediately felt a storm of energy when they exited the vortex. But with Ji Ji around, the storm around them soon calmed down.

”Is that the eye of heaven?” Apparently, they had also exited from something that looked almost identical to the eye of heaven, but it was dark purple. ”It should be much bigger than it appears. The xeno source it’s emanating is much stronger and denser compared to the one at Antiquitas Capital!” This xeno source felt like a tier above yin-yang and midsky essences.

”There’s an Order Formation here, too!” They had all left from the Order Formation on their side.

”The Myriadpath Celestial Formation works on a central formation with millions of subordinate stareyes, but the Order Formation seems different. Every single end point seems identical to the rest. So they can transport people between them, huh.... Let’s leave this place and look around,” he said to the other two.