Beastmaster of the Ages

After they left, Tianming, Zi Zhen, and Moran found themselves in another settlement filled with people.

Looking in the distance, Tianming said, ”God Domain One feels quite similar to my imperial capital.” All this time in the Xenoabyss, he had seen worlds that were quite different from nova source worlds he had been familiar with.

”It looks like some kind of collapsed world with the Sea of Order at its center,” Moran said.

”That’s right! Why didn’t I think of that?” Tianming appreciated the similarity of the comparison.

”How big would a nova source need to be for it to collapse into a plane so wide?” Moran asked. She had only been to Tianmingopolis once, but at least she knew more than Zi Zhen, who had never seen a round nova source world before.

”God Domain One alone looks like it’s a hundred times larger than the imperial capital, but the lands under it that are occupied by different nations like Antiquitas Mortis are much larger. The specters there go about their daily lives in their thousand-meter-tall state, so they definitely don’t lack space at all.” It was rather puzzling to imagine.

Even though the Xenoabyss was huge, it hadn’t really bothered him back then. After all, the astralscape of order was much larger and seemed to stretch on infinitely. Most of it was just an empty void, however.

”The Xenoabyss is still too small to compare it to the entire astralscape. But if we use the imperial capital as a comparison against the Xenoabyss, they have much more area where life can survive, unlike the astralscape which is mostly an uninhabitable void.”

Xeno source permeated the entire Xenoabyss, whereas nova source was available in nova source worlds or collapsed ones like Tianmingopolis. If one were to imagine the Xenoabyss as a planet-like nova source world, it would no doubt be absolutely humongous.

”Could it be as big as an imperial-class world like the Flameyellow Imperial Star was? Tianmingopolis used to be a fortuna-class world, but this place is much larger.” That was all out of Tianming’s frame of reference. He hadn’t seen an actual imperial-class world yet, after all. In fact, he hadn’t even seen a proper fortuna-class world. ”Those worlds are probably in the Upper Star Ruin.”

They continued observing God Domain One. ”God Domain One is almost like Qitian Cave, a home for an elite faction.”

In the world below, there was Antiquitas Mortis and only a single eye of heaven. Above, there were ten thousand eyes of heaven just to serve a single god domain!

”The orderly race and Sixth....” Tianming furrowed his brows.

They waited atop a tall mountain as Yin Chen continued spreading out. As God Domain One was much larger than Antiquitas Mortis, it took more time for the insects to spread. Tianming didn’t want to risk investigating the place himself, since he could just count on Yin Chen.

”Sixth can show up almost anywhere. What a pain.... Yin Chen, focus on gathering news of Qingyu and Feng.” As Yin Chen was more mobile and discreet than Tianming, it was far more efficient than him at gathering information.

”Oh no... there is... some trouble,” Yin Chen said with some dissatisfaction.

”What is it?” Tianming asked.

”Specters everywhere... all slaves... don’t speak,” Yin Chen said.

”They don’t speak?” Tianming recalled that the specters holding up Lord Muhu’s palace had dull looks in their eyes. They didn’t communicate with one another, either.

”All have... eyes on... their backs.”

”Are those for supervision?” Tianming wondered. Why else would living beings not speak?

”Perhaps so. Those eye... patterns are... really odd.”

”What about orderlies? Are there many of them?”

”Not really!” Most of the orderlies were probably within formations. Something big would have to go down before they would leave them.

”The orderly race seems incredibly mysterious.” There were quite a few formations in God Domain One, which made it hard for Yin Chen to encounter any orderlies.

”What about wonderians?” Moran asked.

”There are... quite a... lot, but... I have... to keep... going deeper.” Yin Chen could only provide a sensible report after gathering enough information and processing it.

After a month, its many bodies had spread out enough, though the information it had managed to gather was limited.

In summary, there were three kinds of people in God Domain One. The orderly race ruled the place, while all the specters there were slaves. They also considered wonderians their honored guests. The wonderians doubtless traded their formation technology for the orderlies’ order fragments.

It was similar to the trade in Antiquitas Mortis, but unlike the shadowy trades back there, the transactions here seemed to greatly favor the wonderians due to the deep respect the orderlies showed them. That was how Zhoutian Shenhai and the rest had obtained so many order fragments.

”So grade-ten order fragments are indeed used as currency here.” Tianming was awed. He looked at the Sea of Order and thought he saw some rain, but it was actually order fragments, shards of the physical manifestation of universal laws.

”So, the orderlies, Huang Qi’s people, monopolize the order fragments here. The ones that end up falling down to Antiquitas Mortis are leftovers that slipped through the cracks.”

Yin Chen had said that there were around ten thousand other nations like Antiquitas Mortis in the Xenoabyss, corresponding to the ten thousand eyes of heaven in God Domain One. Perhaps each eye of heaven above God Domain One led to a different nation in the Xenoabyss. It was quite unlikely that other god domains couldn’t be accessed by traveling through the eyes of heaven.

Tianming made sure to memorize the eye of heaven that led to Antiquitas Mortis, for that was the only place he could access the Myriadpath Celestial Formation. If that route was cut off, he wouldn’t be able to return home.

”The orderly race must’ve used some kind of trick to be able to rule the Xenoabyss and monopolize the Sea of Order....” He decided to keep his guard up and simply waited while Yin Chen gathered more information. ”I have to find out why they call Feng and Qingyu the Nightfiend and Original Sin. Let’s see if they also talk about something that matches Sixth’s description.”

”Will do!” Yin Chen seemed rather motivated to prove itself. ”I will... overthrow Sixth! Show him... that I’m... Fifth Bro!”

Another month passed with Tianming, Zi Zhen, and Moran chatting to ward off boredom.

”There is... some news!” Yin Chen suddenly said.

”What is it?” Tianming immediately pulled back his hand; he had been arm wrestling with Zi Zhen.

”Original Sin!” the silver scorpion said with its pincers raised high.