Beastmaster of the Ages

”Haha!” Right as Tianming laughed, they arrived at the base of the aurumites. It was entirely dark within and they relied only on the glow of their bodies for illumination.

”Old Matriarch....” The sound of people wailing and grieving was heard the moment they returned.

”Move aside!” Di Tang and the rest took the lead and barged deeper into the abyss. Tianming saw a giant of about thirty meters in height laying flat on the ground. She looked incredibly aged and her skin didn’t glow gold like the other aurumites. Instead, her skin was gray like dried wood, having completely lost its luster as if it was covered in spots of rust.

The gray mist characteristic of xeno fatigue coiled around her body like a venomous snake, ethereally hissing. It was xeno fatigue indeed, and the affliction seemed rather deep-seated. The old matriarch’s face had already completely shriveled up from the sickness. Even her teeth had completely fallen out and there wasn’t any more light within her eyes. Her life signs were weak beyond comparison.

Every single one of her astrons had the imprint of xeno fatigue. The vigor and energy within them had been completely sucked dry. The sickness was deep in the bones.

Tianming also noticed that around a hundred others were suffering from xeno fatigue to different extents. Some only had light gray spots on their bodies, but could still move normally. Others had most of their skin turned gray and could barely move or fight. A third of the remaining aurumite population had been afflicted with xeno fatigue, which was a far higher ratio than the populations of the Xenoabyss.

”Does xeno fatigue really have something to do with using order and overflow fragments? Or is it a matter of living close to the Sea of Order?” Tianming had a feeling there was some kind of connection between those elements.

”Stop crying, let me handle this.” Tianming descended onto the forehead of the old matriarch without another word. There was a black vortex there, out of which billions of venomous snakes flowed.

”Blasphemous...! How dare he put his dirty feet on the old matriarch!”

Di Tang immediately stopped the complainant. He looked around and roared, ”Everyone, silence! Don’t move, don’t make a sound!”

Seeing their king so nervous made the rest quiet down. Tianming also got in the zone. All the astrons in his body were part of his Order Relic Universal Body. They were shaped like the Order Relic and covered in countless hexagonal holes.

”Come!” Tianming shut his eyes and his astrons began sucking in the energy of the xeno fatigue! Even though the development of the sickness is about the same as that of the specters in Antiquitas Mortis, the amount is on a completely different level.

The density of the old matriarch was far too high, so the total amount of xeno fatigue energy was around a thousand times as much as Chen Tianyong. Even so, Tianming absorbed it all and didn’t seem any worse for wear. It was as if the Order Relic had been designed to take care of xeno fatigue!

My dad was the one who asked me to get the Order Relic, saying that it’d help me avoid some pursuers. It’s basically a kind of higher-level version of the purple mask. The Oldgod Domain of Ebonia must’ve come from the Ancient Oldgod Domain after all. Huang Qi and the Order Relic must have originated from the depths of the Sea of Order in the first place.

The dots seemed to be connecting. When Tianming had obtained the Order Relic in Ebonia, he never would have expected to become a healer in the Ancient Oldgod Domain. If he could save people and end up benefiting from their protection, what was the harm in that?

I still haven’t really figured out the true secret of the Order Relic. I hope I’ll get some answers from the Ancient Oldgod Domain. Despite Tianming’s diminutive size, as his level rose, his astrons also grew and allowed him to absorb energy at an even faster rate than before—and they had been limitless to begin with.

Everything that he absorbed seemed to just disappear without any negative effects on his body. The question still remained of where all the xeno fatigue energy and the order suppression that passed straight through his Order Relic Universal Body went. I doubt there’s going to be a problem.

Even though it was just beginning, Tianming had a rough idea of where things would go from there. I recall that my relationship with Zi Zhen started from helping her relieve her xeno fatigue. I hope this ability of mine will unlock even more doors for me in the future!

He kicked it into full gear and a sea of gray wildly flooded toward him.

”What?!” All the aurumites didn’t know what to say. They could clearly feel the xeno-fatigue energy in the old matriarch dissipating! However, it wasn’t too large of a drop, so it could still be the usual energy fluctuations, so they waited with bated breath. But then the floodgates seemed to completely open.

”Heavens....” They felt themselves go insane. Di Tang and Jin Xiao’s eyes widened as they forgot to breathe. Unconsciously, they hugged each other, their golden muscles bundling up into a huge mass.

”Ugh!”

”A miracle! A divine miracle!” Jin Lin couldn’t control himself and flailed around with his arms up high, tears flowing. He had been jealous and hateful of Tianming moments ago, but he finally kneeled before the young healer in sincere submission!

Even a naysayer like him had been completely convinced, let alone the other aurumites, who were always living while being anxiously aware of the possibility of a gray fleck of skin showing up and presaging their certain doom one day. The rest of their lives would be nothing but torture before they fizzled out for good.

Only they understood how hard it was for their friends and family. Nobody dared to make fun of someone for being afflicted by xeno fatigue, as it was a fate that could affect anyone no matter who they were. Even cosmic gods were afraid that they would suffer karmic retribution by mocking someone with it; such was the untreatability of the disease.

Zi Zhen’s ass-kicking had terrorized them into submission, yet Tianming’s miracle working struck their loyalty in the heart. Di Tang’s knees buckled as he knelt and pressed his forehead to the ground, tearing up.

”Sacred Healer, the aurumites all hail you!” One aurumite after another prostrated themselves in the most submissive position possible, making it look like a sea of gold had appeared. It was a sea of golden backs and spines.

”Holy shit!” Tianming was shocked to find that omnisentient threads had actually begun forming from Jin Lin.