Beastmaster of the Ages

After Yin Chen had evolved and improved its abilities, Tianming was even more capable of conducting his business from the shadows. Elder Bloodtower and the rest of the Bloodtower Cult would never have expected that someone who had no ties to the cult at all was waiting and watching every single one of them from miles away, knowing everything down to their individual strengths, weaknesses, and personalities.

In a world without formations, there were no secrets that could be hidden from Tianming.

"As expected, he's going toward his mistress." Tianming and Zi Zhen were hiding in ambush on the path the elder had to travel. The mistress was a specter of nearly a thousand meters in height—a silverfox, in fact, which only added to her attractive features. When she really tried, few could hope to endure her advances.

Even though the elder had a proper wife and official descendants in the cult, he didn't care about them at all. His family had fallen under the influence of his subordinates long ago, while the silverfox vixen was the only one that occupied his thoughts. He felt utterly horrible from being afflicted after living a magnificent and free life.

"I guess he's rather pitiful after all. Then again, he must've committed quite a few atrocities as the leader of the cult." Xeno fatigue was a key part of the dog-eat-dog society the natives lived in. The only rule was for the strong to eat the weak, and Tianming had integrated into that culture long ago.

"How are his current combat capabilities?" Zi Zhen asked.

"Even though his xeno fatigue is only in the first stage, he's already quite old and pales in comparison to you when it comes to physical capabilities. The curse has affected him quite a bit, and he's finding it tough to even move," Tianming said.

"Then how did he manage to escape?"

"He managed to bait his wife and child away, leading the fighting subordinates to think that he would never abandon them Then, he escaped through a hidden passageway that he had dug long before."

"Looks like he expected today to come."

"It's no surprise. Sects that frequently have their leaders replaced through violent conflict are like bandits. Once the leader grows old, a new one will be picked from the chaos to replace them. If the older leaders aren't prepared, they never end up having a good ending."

As a cultivator with imperial order, Tianming frequently analyzed the structures of other organizations like dynasties, clans, sects, gangs, and so on. He made sure to clearly note the differences between how they were run. It seemed that clans were the best at congregating power, but there were also weaknesses as well. Namely, their structure was too simplistic, leading them to have a strong bias against outsiders that didn't share their surname. As such, that affected their ability to absorb new blood and talent. Refusing to mix their blood might ensure a stable legacy, but it was also a path toward stagnation.

Dynasties, on the other hand, were similar to sects. The Infinitum Bodhimanda was a supersect that encompassed many smaller groups, while the Skydome Mundus was mostly under the control of the divine wonderian race. Tianming clearly noted the Infinitum Bodhimanda's pros and cons. Even though dueling for a higher spot on the reges mundi ranking was interesting, it ended up making the sect more like a large band of bandits that could supplant their leader whenever a stronger person appeared.

For Tianming, the best structure was no doubt the dynasty, especially considering the synergy it had with his imperial order. That was the most stable structure he knew of that also greatly weakened the influence of clans. A stable society meant that his subjects could enjoy peace and prosperity.

"I'm almost there." Elder Bloodtower thought he had managed to escape, but little did he know that every single move he made was clearly seen by Tianming.

It didn't take long before Tianming and Zi Zhen spotted him. The elder had shrunk his body to the size of ten meters for the purpose of stealth, a feat that was no doubt rather nauseating to him. His skin was entirely blood colored, he had a head of unkempt hair, and he seemed hunched over, with two obvious camel humps on his back.

It looked as if two heads were hanging off it, a unique trait of the specter subrace known as bloodcamels. They were incredibly powerful and boasted gigantic combat forms and impressive abilities. Perhaps due to xeno fatigue, his humps seemed larger than they should have appeared, to the point that they looked like two heads beside his actual head when he hunched over as he moved.

"Let me give it a try," Tianming said.

"Be careful of the abilities from the two humps. Like the snake tail of antiquiteans, the humps are also his heads," Zi Zhen warned.

"Got it." Yin Chen had already told Tianming about those details.

He drew his sword without a word and landed on the path the old man was on, revealing the newly evolved Ying Huo, Meow Meow, Lan Huang, and Xian Xian. Ji Ji wasn't with him, as it was busy moving the sun, while Yin Chen wasn't necessary there beyond the intelligence it had already gathered.

When it came to combat, beasts that were born after Yin Chen weren't that capable. Ying Huo and the other, older siblings were more dependable when it came to actual fights.

Tianming immediately activated his onefold simulacrum, fusing his totems into his sword and activating its cosmic impulses. His divine wonders were also ready to launch at any moment to control the enemy's movements.

Even though Ying Huo and the rest have evolved and symbiotically cultivated with me, it’s still far too hard for me to grow all eight orders at once. It was incredibly difficult to break through at Tianming’s level of the Order stage. The only reliable way for him was to use order fragments, otherwise he would have to slowly trudge along using legacy caeli.

Even though he still wasn't a match for Zi Zhen at the ninth astral phase, he felt that he had never been more powerful. Even without his Omnisentient Will, he was still fully confident in himself. "Halt!"

When the old man saw a stranger on the path, he subconsciously tried to hide. Right at that moment, more than three hundred words manifested in the air to block his way. The words rapidly shifted and changed, forming city walls, fires, lightning bolts, and many other manifestations of universal laws, creating a world covered in all kinds of orders that kept the elder trapped within.

However, he was someone who had witnessed many things in his long life. He stopped and calmly assessed Tianming. "Outworlder brat, do your parents know about the mischief you've been up to? How dare you blindly attack me with your low level? Don’t you know who I am?"

Elder Bloodtower suppressed the xeno fatigue symptoms as best he could and intentionally let his cosmic charts shine. There were eight of them in total; at his strongest, he was an eighth-level cosmic cartographer, far stronger than Tianming and Zi Zhen both.

However, the cosmic charts looked dim, thanks to the fatigue, and were almost transparent. The energy from the fatigue flowed through the charts, but the elder was betting that Tianming wouldn't be able to spot it. Instead, he wanted Tianming to think that he had only partially manifested his cosmic charts to not draw attention to himself, when in fact, it was the best he could do.

"Of course I know who you are. You're Elder Bloodtower!"

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