Beastmaster of the Ages

The Ninefold Hellstar was ever so dark and sinister. Its many cities, however, glowed colorfully in stark contrast, giving it a phantasmic beauty. It went without saying that Ninefold Universe City was the brightest pearl among all the cities there, being the largest as well as the mecca of the devas. Like a goddess of peerless beauty, its many grand buildings housed countless cosmic gods. Even a normal street would be a hundred thousand meters wide and normal buildings were also about that high.

Cosmic gods ranging from hundreds to thousands of meters tall flew about through the busy city, no matter what time it was. Surely, it was even more busy before the departure of the Ninefold Wargod and her army.

Yin Chens crawled about all over the city, taking on multiple different forms and hiding in the corners, watching everything. Thanks to that, Tianming could waltz into the city without even bothering to disguise himself. Every street he traveled on was basically deserted. Not a single deva knew that the fiend in a purple mask that they had seen through the Heavenly Dao Arena was among them.

Tianming headed toward the palace in Ninefold Universe City. The closer he got to it, the fewer people were around. Despite the accident at the upper ruins, the devas in the city didn’t seem too concerned. Even those whose families were there didn’t worry and continued to go about their lives as usual. The mood in the city was relaxed indeed.

”Clearly, they’re still confident in the Eightpart Pantheons’ abilities. They must think that there’s no obstacle they can’t overcome.” Tianming looked at the denizens of the city from the walls of the palace before sneaking into it. There were even fewer people within. Yin Chen had located the flower and Tianming only had to follow its instructions.

”Two people... up front...” Yin Chen said.

”Alright. I’ll be fine.” Tianming continued to stealthily make his way deeper. Soon, he found himself at the white star-like lake. Within it was a thousand-meter plant that looked like a white lotus covered in stars. Every single petal was covered in complicated floral patterns. The light from the petals glistened across the surface of the water. Tianming could smell a refreshing fragrance from a distance. The fact that it pleased his cosmic god body meant that the plant had an incredible effect.

”It must be something good.” Even if he didn’t use it against Ming Xingwang, the Sacredstar Spirit could surely be used for some other purpose. Anything above the godshaker class had to be impressive in its own right.

As Tianming took another whiff, he spotted two cosmic gods leaning against each other, engaged in a joyous conversation.

”The minor hell king and his lover....” Yin Chen had already told him about them. The minor hell king was Princess You You’s eldest brother with imperial-lineage talent and a sevenfold hell-ring. Being the eldest son of the Ninefold Wargod, he was more than eight thousand years old and the future successor of the Ninefold Hellstar.

Tianming noted that the minor hell king was about three thousand meters in height, tall as a mountain. He glowed like a dark star, emanating lots of powerful cosmoforce. Had Tianming not had so much omnisentient power, he wouldn’t have dared to approach someone like that from behind.

The minor hell king was no longer just a young genius, but a true powerhouse in his prime. He was also one of the people left behind to run the Ninefold Hellstar and was easily among the top ten fighters there. Tianming could also tell that the woman in his embrace was a powerful cosmic god that was also around three thousand meters in height. Clearly, she was also from a powerful faction.

”These two are rather powerful.” Tianming decided that he would wait it out to minimize the risk. The palace was an important place. Even though he could no doubt escape from it alive, it would alert the others and deprive him of his chance to ambush Ming Xingwang.

The minor hell king looked at the Sacredstar Spirit as he hugged his wife. ”Ming Xingwang must have snuck into the Ghoulsource by now.”

”No way.... Will he really dare?” The woman in a rainbow dress seemed rather displeased at that notion.

”He’s always been like this. Their family has never been happy to remain in their place. If not for the Sacredstar Spirit, we wouldn’t be able to dominate them in this fashion.”

”Even so, the Ghoulsource isn’t somewhere he can just come and go as he pleases, right? Even I’ve never gone in there before,” she said, pouting.

”It can’t be helped. He took advantage of the loophole because he was the one to whom the astralcore had to be entrusted. But once my mother returns, he’ll be out. He’s already far beyond the age where he can still improve, so the Ghoulsource is just another thing he can experience, nothing more. It won’t amount to anything,” the minor hell king said as he pinched her cheek. The couple seemed truly in love, which was pure in contrast to Ming Yufu.

The girl hesitated and said, ”The problem here is... I’m worried that Mother and the rest won’t be able to come back.”

”Why would you say that?” he asked, brows furrowed.

”There’s been a rumor lately about the gate of the ruins. Some say that the natives opened it to lure us in, that it didn’t just open naturally. It might not open ever again....” She looked up at him with concern. ”But what you told the masses was that it’d open soon and won’t affect our conquest of the Primordial Sands, right?”

He shook his head awkwardly. ”There’s no point in fussing over this. Let’s wait and see. Perhaps they’ll be able to kill the natives who closed the gate and wipe out the Primordial Sands. Then, we’ll have achieved true peace.”

”Let’s hope that’s the case! It’d be real trouble if Mother doesn’t return. Someone as dastardly as Ming Xingwang will no doubt take over the Ninefold Hellstar. He’ll no doubt come after us since we have the Sacredstar Spirit. The imperials don’t care about our little struggles and will let whoever’s stronger rule, and you’re still too young....”

”It won’t come to that.” All he could do was console her. It wasn’t just them who worried about this. Others in the Upper Star Ruin also had similar worries, though they didn’t have a Ming Xingwang to worry about.