Beastmaster of the Ages

Chapter 2737 - Old Man Voidback's Grave

"Just my luck!" The blackout period would complicate Tianming's retrieval of the divine wonder. He grit his teeth, but chose to enter the dark district anyway. A thick purple smog enveloped the entire area. One would imagine a bustling street with lots of life, but this place was nothing if not primitive. It resembled the black market of Commonsky; tall mountains and deep crevices were everywhere the eye could see.

Few people actually lived in residential buildings. Instead, most of them just dug holes and sheltered within. The reason for that was that formation technology in the Xenoabyss wasn't well developed. Most buildings weren't reinforced with formations and were easily destroyed. Instead, the xeno-source-reinforced mountains and caves made safer living spaces.

As the Xenoabyss lacked good ores, their cosmic artifacts were also worse off. The better ones usually came from outworlders from the astralscape. However, the Xenoabyss had the benefit of order fragments and soulstones, which were great for cultivating the soul. As for the art of formations, it wasn't too difficult. Tianming did see some formations in the capital, but they were far and few in between.

"Looks like it’s basically a giant black market!" He realized that right after he entered. He didn't have to go far into the darkness before his entire field of vision dimmed as light seemed to vanish from his surroundings, making the heavenly eye even more terrifying. A dark aura of silence blanketed the entire area, causing killing intent to bubble up.

"The Ninth District will be sealed off," said a voice that rang out across the whole place and sounds of fighting immediately spread all over. Fortunately, outworlders could sneak around like ants in the gigantic district.

"Looks like it isn’t too far." That was good news. If the marker was pointing toward the other end of the Ninth District, it might take Tianming another month to arrive.

He didn't dare to have Meow Meow run at full speed like before. Instead, he had Yin Chen scout the area ahead while he moved in the shadows. Everything about this place looked rural and undeveloped. Most of it was just empty wilderness where, from time to time, he heard the sounds of giants clashing. Their fights even shook the areas around them. Fortunately, Tianming could cover up any trace of his movements. Eventually, he followed his caelum to a valley and through a grass-filled crevice in the ground.

"Almost there!" He descended until he reached an underground stream. The river smelled horribly musty and there were traces of wildbeasts in the surroundings. It somewhat resembled the subterranean world of Ebonia. The only difference was the volatility of nova source in Ebonia, while here, xeno source became sparser the lower he went, the temperature sinking alongside it.

"Over there!" Past the underground stream was a subterranean cavern. Hundreds-of-meters-tall weeds covered the entire place. Eventually, he found a tiny mound in the hole. To giant specters, it would be smaller than a grain of rice! Tianming could immediately tell it was some kind of grave. There was a small wooden plaque on the little mound with the words 'Here Lies Old Man Voidback' messily inscribed on it.

Tianming felt rather speechless when he read it. The old man of his imagination felt incredibly badass, but all he had seen were hand-drawn scribbles—one on the plaque of the straw hut called Vastvoid Hall, and now on the grave. The wooden plaque even had algae growing on it.

"Senior, can you hear me?" Tianming respectfully saluted the grave. "You can't be expecting me to rob your grave, can you? That isn’t something I can do.... Are you serious? Well, since you invited me all the way here, let me resolve myself for a bit."

A few moments later, he continued, "Alright. After much internal struggle, I've managed to convince myself to undertake the vile act of defiling your grave. Senior, I had no other choice!"

Despite his pained expression, Tianming worked fast. "To demonstrate my sincerity, I'll excavate it with my own hands."

Right as he knelt down, Yin Chen said, "Someone is... coming here!"

Who in the world would come to bumfuck nowhere? Tianming sensed the presence of that incoming person right after the report. "Shit! They're fast!"

Had Yin Chen been dispersed enough, it would have been able to detect them far in advance. The other person had discovered Tianming, so he had no choice but to react. He still had no idea whether the divine wonder was in the mound. Even if it was, he couldn't be sure how long it would take him time to claim it. Thus, it would be better to not reveal the divine wonder and deal with the newcomer first, lest the treasure be taken from him.

He locked onto his target. She seemed to be a young woman with long dark purple hair, and a lot of it. It was so long that it reached her feet. She reminds me of Li Fan from Myriadpath Valley somehow, he thought. She had a similar porcupine-like hairstyle, though hers was gentler than Li Fan's wild hair. Even so, she still gave off a fiercer impression than Feiling and the others did.

Her messy hair blocked off part of her face, though from that, one could see her cold expression. She wore a tight-fitting black outfit that perfectly accentuated her firm, athletic figure. This kind of physique....

As expected, he saw stars in her eyes, eight hundred thousand of them! A specter!

Her figure wasn't too different from his own. Like Li Fan, she was a specter. He could tell that she also wasn't compressing her body size. Like him, she was a kind of specter whose normal size was similar to humans'. Their combat capabilities were also at their peak in that form. Is she from the same race as Li Fan after all?