Beastmaster of the Ages

“Missing? How is that possible? Is communication difficult here as you don’t have transmission stones?” Tianming asked, a bit speechless.

“It really is very difficult,” Mu Qingqing said helplessly.

“So not a single person escaped?” Tianming asked.

“No. All of them disappeared, and even today we still haven’t found any trace of them,” Mu Qingqing said with sorrow.

“From the looks of it, they might have been wiped out without a trace,” Tianming said in a low voice, then asked, “What about that Chaos Star Ruin?”

“When we realized something was wrong and went to look, it had already been mined empty. Anything unmined yet was destroyed as well,” Mu Qingqing said, her voice trembling.

“The Realm of Chaos is only so big, and the Mu clan is a major clan. You don’t know who did it?” Tianming asked through clenched teeth.

Mu Qingqing shook her head and said, “The other party clearly carried this out after long, meticulous planning, so even now we haven’t found the real culprit... but what we discovered afterward was unexpected.”

“What was it?” Tianming asked.

“Someone informed us that those more than ten million cosmic gods weren’t dead, only imprisoned,” Mu Qingqing said, lowering her head.

“And?” Tianming asked.

“That’s it. We’ve still been searching all these years, but it’s too hard to find a prison in the vast Realm of Chaos. The other side covered their tracks so well that we still don’t know who imprisoned them, or even if the imprisonment is real, or whether they’re alive or dead,” Mu Qingqing said.

“I get it.” Tianming let out a cold laugh. “The other side only let you know your clansmen were held captive, but since you don’t know who’s holding them, you’re wary in everything you do. You’re afraid of offending some faction and causing your people to be tortured or killed.”

That was one of the pressures Mu Qingqing had mentioned. It was invisible, but it restrained Nullity in every negotiation.

“Why are you telling me this specifically?” Tianming suddenly asked her.

Mu Qingqing’s eyes reddened a little, and she said softly, “You have that insect lifebound beast which might be able to help. If you can find proof, or even find the imprisoned Mu clansmen, both we and Imperator Skyplunder can take action!”

“I understand. What else?” Tianming asked.

“What else?” Mu Qingqing looked up.

“The reason you’re sad,” Tianming said. “Just tell me. I’ll help.”

“Mm...” Mu Qingqing nodded, then said, “My older brother is the Mu clan’s heir. He was in charge of developing that Chaos Star Ruin, and he’s on the list of the missing persons.”

“Got it,” Tianming said, nodding. He more or less understood now why Li Muyang and the others were so constrained here.

First, the Mu clan really wasn’t that strong; the sky plunderers alone couldn’t take on everyone.

Second, the enemy was insidious. Anyone who dared to plan something this vile would be hard to deal with once they succeeded.

“I’ll have Yin Chen handle this. Since they went missing in the Dongshen Domain, we’ll start there. If we can’t find them, we’ll scour the whole Realm of Chaos. Dead or alive, we’ll at least get an answer,” Tianming said.

“Mm!” Mu Qingqing’s eyes were red. “Thank you. And thank your whole family. You’ve all helped the Mu clan so much.”

“Just thank them. I haven’t done anything yet.”

With that, Tianming didn’t linger. He and Mu Qingqing returned once again to the Inverse Battlefield.

“Are we in the Dongshen Domain?” Tianming asked her.

“We’re at its borders. Where does the marker Mu Ziyan gave you point?” Mu Qingqing asked.

“That way,” Tianming said, pointed.

“That’s deeper into the Dongshen Domain. It means the Chaos Star Ruin Mu Ziyan found could be related to the one we had before...” Mu Qingqing thought for a moment and said, “Like a new flower blooming beside a wilted one?”

“Chaos Star Ruins are the future for the Realm of Chaos, right?” Tianming said.

Mu Qingqing nodded.

Tianming moved decisively after that. He let Meow Meow out to travel faster, and to give it a chance to stretch its bones.

“Come on,” he said to Mu Qingqing.

“A cat as a steed?” Mu Qingqing said with wry amusement.

“Grandpa is a wild beast!” Meow Meow was quite annoyed at being belittled.

“All right.”

She obediently sat sideways behind Tianming. After hesitating a moment, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Both hands on the handle!” Meow Meow let out a roar and unleashed its Thousandway Blitzrun, charging wildly forward.

The Inverse Battlefield was enormous. It took seven full months for Meow Meow to travel from the border of the Easton Domain to its heart. There, the gray clouds were thicker and the darkness was so dense people couldn’t even see their hands in front of them!

Guided by the marker. Tianming arrived at a black vortex deep beneath some mountains and ravines. It was ten times the size of the Middlekin Star Ruin near the Midsky Tristars back then. Yet on the scale of the Inverse Battlefield, it was like a small pond on the Flameyellow Continent.

Finding it really did rely on luck.

While scattering Yin Chen along the way, Tianming took the lead to dive straight into the black vortex.