Beastmaster of the Ages

The spherical formation had a diameter of more than a hundred thousand meters. It was almost as large as a real world. Tianming’s opponent was currently hidden within this forest.

“Lin Feng, your opponent, Liu Wanwan, has entered the battlefield. Let the fight commence!”

Tianming started for a moment when he heard the name. Given how unique it was, chances were that it wasn’t a coincidence.

“Lin Feng?” said a girl’s voice in the direction of the forest. In a flash, a young green-eyed girl with bunned hair appeared in front of Tianming. It was her after all.

Tianming felt a little awkward hearing his fake name. He had just come up with it without much thought, as he was worried that he would do something in the wondersky realm that would cause him trouble in the real world. He got the name from one of Li Wudi’s many ramblings in the Grand-Orient Realm. However, hearing others call him that every single day made him feel a little awkward and out of place, like he was some mighty protagonist.

“I didn’t think fate would make us meet again like that.”

“Did you enter nine days ago as well?” Tianming asked.

“That’s right! I failed after challenging an ancient idol… hmmm, does that mean you’ve been in Violetglory Pagoda for nine days too?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow, not bad. Then let me, a disciple of the Mystgod Pavilion, put an end to your streak. Haha, die!”

As dying wasn’t really possible in the wondersky realm, it was common to have cultivators talk about the most inconsequential things while going at each other like wild beasts trying to kill one another.

Liu Wanwan was a sixth-level ascendant beastmaster as well. The fact that she was on this level meant that the divine moonrace had overestimated their importance. The rootbeast race wasn’t one bit inferior at all, and could even fight opponents above their level. She was a plant-type beastmaster; beast types that were really rare on the Flameyellow Continent were actually more common on Violetglory Star. All four of her beasts were greencloud arcsky vines with a full fifteen hundred stars, far more than Ying Huo and the rest. They had taken root in the forest world. Being vine-like beasts, they had thousands of tentacle-like appendages that extended their control across the entire arena, with the longest of them being kilometers in length. Despite Liu Wanwan’s mischievous cuteness, she fought like a fearsome demon.

“Hey, stupid Lin Feng, I’ll show you what it feels like to be whipped! Wait, huh?! Aren’t you of the rootbeast race? Why do you have totems?”

Against an enemy like this, Tianming had to go all out, or at least as much as his avatar allowed. It was the first time he had encountered an opponent that posed him a challenge, and that actually made him feel bliss. After all, there was no risk of death, so they weren’t afraid to experiment with all sorts of possibilities.

“Damn you, little chicken, how dare you peck me?! I’ll pluck off all your feathers!”

Tianming even managed to use his newly learned Celestial Astral Punch in the fight, but he still lost in the end. Liu Wanwan was much stronger than Huiyue Hai, despite being on the same level. With four vine beasts defending her, she had full control of the battlefield and defeated Tianming thoroughly.

“Are you convinced of your loss?” she said, smiling.

“I sure am. You smashed my head in,” he said. His head had been smashed through and his loss was declared immediately. However, it quickly grew back.

“It’s only natural that you lost.”

Naturally, that had something to do with Tianming’s avatar not reflecting his full capabilities, including some of Ying Huo and the rest’s abilities. With that, Tianming would have to leave Violetglory Pagoda, but it didn’t matter since he could just come again the next day.

“I had fun, Lin Feng. If you’re free, I’ll take you to an interesting place next. Deal?”

“Sure thing.”

“Alright, see you!”

“Likewise.”

Then, both of them vanished from the formation.

“As expected of a Violetglory Disciple. She’s only thirty, but she’s already that powerful. However, I think I can break through to the second level of the Ascension stage after going back this time. I’ll rescan myself after that and add three more godswords, for a total of seven totems. That should be enough for me to defeat her. At this rate, it won’t take too long before I reach the peak of the Ascension stage! After all, I’m cultivating a second will that’ll greatly boost my speed, at least ten times than training Imperial Will alone.”

With that in mind, he left the pagoda. Once he left, he found that Feiling and Lin Xiaoxiao had left far before him. “How long did they stay inside?” he asked the fairy.

“Xiao Ling stayed for two days while Lin Xiao stayed for one,” it said.

“Not bad. At least they experienced it once.”

Initially, he had wanted to go back to the real world, but it had been ten days and he could go to Perplexity Island again. “Take me to challenge ancient idols.”

Even though the battle arts of the ancient idols available to him were only about as strong as the Hexapath Samsara Sword, and not so useful to him, he had to fight through the idols to get to the ones with the better techniques.

“Understood.” The wondersky fairy turned into a sphere of light and took him to Perplexity Island.

Like usual, it was filled with people there. After lining up for about two hours, it was finally his turn. He would be challenging his second ancient idol this time, and he picked a divine-grade battle art called Blitzbolt Arrow. I’m going to teach it to Lin Xiaoxiao. As long as she doesn’t use it in the wondersky realm, it’s fine. I doubt that Violetglory Star will find out.

His opponent was an idol with eight arms, each of them holding a bow that fired a barrage at Tianming. The explosive Blitzbolt Arrows covered the entire battlefield, but it wasn’t that hard for Tianming to defeat. It took him only a little while to get the technique.

“Is there a way to decrease the time needed to take on the idols?” Tianming asked.

“There is—raise your privileges. You currently have first-level privileges. Once you get to the third level, you’ll no longer have any time limit.”

“I see.”

In other words, the stronger he was, the more convenient things would be for him. He returned to Perplexity Island and committed the mantra of the battle art to his memory. While he wouldn’t be using it, he remembered it quickly enough.

“Perplexity Island is interesting. However, I’ve been sleeping for nine days, so it’s about time I woke up.”

He closed his eyes and prepared to wake up, but before his eyelids shut completely, he saw a figure pass ahead of him amidst a crowd. Even though it was just a glance, his heart shook. “How could there be someone who looks so similar?!”

His eyes snapped open. “Feng?!”

Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm down. “I must be freaking out. I’m so worried about him that I’m seeing things now. How could he be in the wondersky realm?”

He shook his head helplessly and prepared to leave, only to find that he just couldn’t forget that at all.

“No, it looked too similar. I have to make sure, even if it could be a hallucination!” He immediately charged toward the direction he saw the figure.

“Hey, what’s up with you? You bumped into me, you know! Want to fight in the real world?!”

“Do you have any class? Are you rushing to reincarnate yourself?”

“Get in line, man!”

Though Tianming had bumped into many people, he was scanning the crowd with his third eye, but to no avail. It appeared that it had just been an illusion. However, he was desperate enough to not give up. It was only now that he realized how panicked, rushed, and frustrated he felt about Ye Lingfeng’s circumstances.

“Ye Lingfeng!” he cried.

“What’s wrong with you? Did you go mad?”

“Shut up!”

He ignored the crowd and looked around to see if anyone responded. “Ye Lingfeng, it’s me, Tianming! Ye Ling—”

Before he could finish saying his name again, a black-clad youth turned around in the crowd and met his gaze. It was as if the whole world had faded away, with the voice of the crowd being drowned out. The only one that remained was the person he was looking at. He looked at Tianming up and down to triple check, unsure if he was seeing things.

“Brother Tianming….” Ye Lingfeng couldn’t believe his eyes at all. All he knew was that he had been stumbling around in the xenomemory space and came to a mysterious world of caeli. However, why would Tianming be here? Wasn’t he at the Nine Divine Realms?

“Brother!” No matter how impossible it seemed, Tianming believed his vision. At the very least, his Plundering Eye saw through all falsehoods. He quickened his steps and hugged Ye Lingfeng deeply, feeling the simulated warmth of their bodies from the caeli. It was Ye Lingfeng, after all.

After a long hug, the two parted and locked gazes.

“Ahem, gentlemen…. Are you going to strip and wrestle next?” Ying Huo asked.

“Come here,” Tianming said, pulling Ye Lingfeng into a corner.

“Why are you here?” the two of them said at the same time.

“Let me go first,” they said at the same time again.

“Alright, you go first.” They seemed to be mirroring each other perfectly.

Tianming was going mad and snapped, “You shut up first. Tell me if you’re alive or dead, and why you’re here!”

A little stumped, Ye Lingfeng nodded. “I’m alive.”

Tianming breathed a huge sigh of relief. That was all he wanted to hear.