Beastmaster of the Ages

As Tianming came to Mu Qingqing, she turned to him and smiled. ”Tianming, we never thought that you’d succeed so quickly in the Realm of Order. Your parents were willing to fight to their deaths to get rid of a huge problem in the Realm of Chaos for you...”

Those words felt rather heavy on Tianming’s heart. He thought about how Li Tianzi had scattered into ash before him and asked, ”Why didn’t they wait a bit more?”

Had they waited, Li Tianzi might not have died. That was something that greatly vexed Tianming.

Mu Qingqing knew what he was thinking and sighed. With a solemn expression, she said, ”Actually, Imperator Skyplunder’s Sky Plundering Eye awakened Fatesteal on the very same day that Shen Wu and the others took action. He managed to steal one of fate’s secrets and finally learned the optimal action to help you. That’s why we came. Your father’s first reincarnation spent many years of painstaking effort to steal that secret of fate.”

The moment Tianming heard about Fatesteal, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He knew that both Li Muyang and Li Tianzi hadn’t awakened Fatesteal like he did and assumed that it was unique to him. Little did he know that Li Muyang had been able to awaken it during such a crucial time and even use it to see through the weave of destiny, life and death!

”So, he planned it according to Fatesteal...” Tianming fell silent. He knew that had Li Muyang and Li Tianzi not struck at the same time to hold back Dao San and Jie Ba, he wouldn’t have had that easy of a time dealing with Shen Wu. They would definitely have gone to help her. In other words, Li Muyang and Li Tianzi had sacrificed their lives to buy him time.

”Fatesteal, huh...” He muttered as he recalled how he had only used this power once when he awakened it all that time ago. For that, he had paid a huge price. ”You have violated all that is sacred! I sentence you to the eradication of the body and soul! That’s what that voice said back then. Who in the world was that person who rendered that judgment?”

Back then, Tianming really thought that he was about to die. Fortunately, the Archfiend chain weapon that Li Muyang had given him absorbed the power of that divine punishment and turned into ash. Since then, he had never used that power again. He recalled the sense of being bound by destiny itself. The information he had gleaned from Fatesteal was something that could completely upend the situation at the time.

”So, the information that Father got from Fatesteal was related to Dao San and Jieba...” Tianming pondered for a bit longer before he turned to the black-dressed girl’s familiar, beautiful face. ”But you and Mother didn’t need to come here. You didn’t need to die.”

Mu Qingqing shook her head and smiled. ”Now that we’re already in the projection, we’ll continue to give our enemy information as long as we live. Bringing them down with us was the best solution.”

Tianming furrowed his brow and asked, ”Projection... It’s that term again. What in the world does it mean?”

Mu Qingqing locked eyes with him and explained, ”These nine Aeternal Beings are in essence the pursuers from the Realm of Worldgazing. They are weapons which are being used to track down the Primordial Chaos Beasts. They haven’t truly entered this universe. Instead, the ones we have come across are merely their projections, akin to their shadow in this universe. Due to the unique properties of this universe, the connection between these projections and their originals is severed. There’s no way for them to contact each other.”

Tianming nodded with a solemn look. He had heard from Shen Wu that she hadn’t been able to use her full power in this universe. It seemed that refining her and Jie Ba wouldn’t affect their original forms at all. Then again, their originals aren’t able to enter this universe. So, refining their projections is the same as getting rid of them from this universe. They won’t be able to affect me anymore, right?

Mu Qingqing’s explanation continued, ”After the first reincarnation of Imperator Skyplunder got revived by Dao San, he managed to break free of Dao San’s control, managing to keep a portion of that power. As long as he didn’t leave Nullity, he would constantly weaken the connection between Dao San and his projection. But last time, Imperator Skyplunder actually left Nullity, allowing the projection to contact the original. Since then, we no longer know for sure whether the other projections managed to contact their original counterparts. If they have, things would get much more troublesome for us.”

This was the real reason Li Muyang hadn’t been able to leave Nullity. Tianming got his thoughts in order. It was clear that Li Muyang breaking free of Dao San’s control wasn’t something that was expected.

In other words, the Li Muyang in the Realm of Chaos is actually his first reincarnation. He was killed a hundred thousand years ago by the pursuers, only to be revived by Dao San. Since then, he stayed in Nullity the whole time.

Tianming knew that the real Li Muyang had reincarnated long ago. The fact that all that remained were reanimated corpses caused everything else to make sense. After they were revived by Dao Sen and broke free, Li Muyang and Li Tianzi worked nonstop to pave the way for Tianming just like his grandparents who had turned into skypole stars.

He was more than just moved by their actions. He could feel immense familial closeness with them. His father, mother and big brother had sacrificed too much for him.

Father even used Fatesteal for me... Tianming knew better than anyone the consequences of doing so. Li Muyang and the others were willing to give their lives to leak the workings of fate. This had to be destined! Such were the bonds between family members that survived through endless space and time, persisting even within the reanimated corpses. They gave Tianming everything without regret or hesitation.

Mu Qingqing smiled gently at him. ”Tianming, all of us were revived by Dao San. Our lives only exist within the projection. If Dao San’s projection vanishes, we will too. There’s no way for us to come back to life.”

Tianming’s heart tightened at hearing that. He looked at the girl with a familiar face with feelings he didn’t know how to express. ”Is there really no way to keep you all alive?”