Beastmaster of the Ages

”What happened to my manna? All of it’s gone?” the tiger growled with an incredibly deep voice.

”Yes. It’s all gone!” Jiang Linxi’s voice shook with anger.

”Our Scorchmoon Cult had been counting on this shipment of manna to become a serious faction! It took us decades of effort to gather the merit for it, only for someone to rob it!” The tiger’s voice was filled with hostility.

”The Cosmic God Palace is soon to descend. That Li Tianming kid is the owner of that divine astralship, yet he dares to participate. If we kill him there, it won’t go against the heavenly oath. Long Qian is far too confident in that person, but I refuse to believe that the talented geniuses from the Sundown and Starfall Pantheons aren’t able to kill a mere foundationeer.” Jiang Linxi knew that the key to their heavenly oath was Tianming and his divine astralship. It was far too big of a temptation for them.

”Once the controller of the ship is killed, we won’t even have to wait for them to hand it over. We’ll be able to take it for ourselves,” said the tiger.

”Long Qian might’ve found some support, but she’ll never see the trump cards we have up our sleeves. Hehehe....”

At that moment, a ferry appeared outside. Then a young voice said, ”Cult Leader Jiang, can I request a private audience with you?”

The black-and-gold tiger smiled in a humanlike manner and said, ”Your secret trump card’s here. That kid really knows how to enjoy life. He understands that, at the overflower stage, it’s more fun to have a woman one or two levels above one’s own.”

”I heard that his lifebound beast is also a tiger. Do you want to join in? He apparently has a 20-crest beast. It’s too good for the likes of you, old thing,” Jiang Linxi teased.

The tiger merely stayed silent.

Jiang Linxi turned to her followers and said, ”Make sure word of that ship doesn’t get out for now. Don’t let the devas hear about it.”

”Does that mean we have to keep the incident at Aoyue Palace under wraps?”

”Yes!” Jiang Linxi nodded and twisted her sexy, sixty-meter-tall figure, then headed toward the black ferry outside.

”Sorry for the wait, young heir.”

***

The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb circled the Middlekin Star Ruin, allowing Tianming to scatter even more Yin Chens around. Bai Ye’s soul seeds could only control foundationeers for now, so it would only work well once Tianming went somewhere more populated.

”I can sneak into the mind of this little brother of yours to speed up his faith in you if you want,” Bai Ye suggested.

”That isn’t good, is it?” Tianming said.

”Nonsense! Isn’t that your final goal anyway? To conquer this Middlekin Star Ruin? Are you going to let those five million go without gaining their faith?”

”Hey, don’t make it sound so bad. It’s a win-win for both sides, got it? What you’re suggesting only benefits me at their expense.”

”Shut up! I don’t care. I’ll go poke around their minds and see how many young maidens dream about waiting on you,” Bai Ye excitedly said.

Tianming didn’t really care enough to stop it. It wasn’t like it would do something really bad. Tianming had already earned the full respect of the dragonoids after getting them a huge supply of ordered manna.

The ship flew out of the Middlekin Star Ruin and deeper into the void.

”Wondersky Haven, Wargod Haven, and Starmoon Haven are all fortuna-class worlds, yet they’re completely undetectable.” There was only darkness wherever the eye could see. Tianming was worried that he would randomly ram into some fortuna-class world’s astralguard formation; there was no way the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb could afford to do that.

”Big Bro, how much farther is it?” Long Chen asked. All the dragonoids, foundationeer and overflower alike, couldn’t stop looking out the window at the front of the ship, worried that they would miss out on an amazing sight. The mere notion of a home was far too important to them. It was something they had yearned for but had never known.

Their hearts nervously pounded even though they knew that there was no way Tianming would be lying to them, Long Qian included. She didn’t say anything and quietly stood in a corner, looking at the dark void of outer space without even blinking.

One day, all the descendants of the flameyellow divinities will finally reclaim their rightful home here in the Upper Star Ruin. Tianming wanted to grow stronger, having stagnated for quite a while. Coming to the Upper Star Ruin had made him want even more power so that he would be capable of fulfilling his promise to them.

”We’re almost there!” When Tianming’s words broke the silence in the ship, everyone flooded to the front of the ship again. ”You’ll be able to see it once we pass through the cloaking formation.”

”Yeah!” Everyone excitedly nodded.

Once they were through, they suddenly saw the flaming clouds on the surface. The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb continued sailing past flames that pulsed with lifeforce. When they finally saw the flames, they could finally be sure that Tianming hadn’t been pulling one over on them.

”There really is a new nova source world near the Middlekin Star Ruin!” Long Qian froze with disbelief, but there was no doubting what she saw before her! Even a heliacal-class world would be enough to serve as their home, yet they had such a huge infinitum-class world to live in! Then again, heliacal-class nova sources would easily be sucked dry by overflowers, so an infinitum-class world was still required.

”Everyone, look ahead!” Long Chen cried.

Tianming saw countless three-headed and six-armed flameyellow fiends neatly lined up. There were tens of millions of them! ”Welcome home, fellow dragonoids!” they announced and saluted in unison.

Tianming hadn’t been expecting that.

”My dad really knows how to put up a spectacle,” Qingyu laughed.

The grand ceremony touched the dragonoids so hard that they even teared up. Nobody would be able to understand the true complexity of their feelings without experiencing what they’d had to go through. They’d yearned for a place to feel safe in and belong for so long, but Tianming had always had something like that, even during the lowest points of his life.

***

They finally passed through the layer of flaming clouds and revealed a vast world of fire underneath. It was a world formed from fire around a fusion formation. The only land to be seen was near the Sky Palace Formation, so it did seem like a rather undeveloped place. Even so, the dragonoids thought it was nothing short of paradise.

”Why does this world feel somewhat familiar....” Long Qian had been happy one moment, then shook the next as tears uncontrollably poured down her face.

”That’s right—why does it feel like we belong here?” Long Chen and everyone else could feel it as well. Their bloodline was connected with this world! The moment they arrived, the heavenly shackles that bound them rumbled as every single astron in their bodies resonated with the world.