Beastmaster of the Ages

"What’s the meaning of this?" Dongshen Yue asked, her eyes widening as she tugged on Lin Xiao's beard.

"I don't know either!" Lin Xiao cried.

"Second Patriarch, Tianming’s saying that the Infinitum Stele is somehow related to his sword," Xiaodao explained.

"The cosmic artifact that Yi Daiyan is trying to subjugate is none other than the Infinitum Stele. It must be a terrifyingly powerful artifact, especially if she can use it freely. Most likely, it'll be able to easily breach the hulls of astralships. In that case, she’ll completely make up for the lack of a powerful astralship," Tianming said.

"Damn!" It was quite a shocking revelation.

"Can that really be possible?"

"The Infinitum Stele was a cosmic artifact all along?"

"So, the other regal clans were so easily convinced to side with her because of the stele!"

Based on the resonance between the Grand-Orient Sword and the Infinitum Stele, they could be almost certain that the news Shenxi Xingtian brought them was true. The only question now was whether she could actually subjugate it. The news came as quite a damper to their burning fighting spirits, especially after their long voyage had finally ended.

Dongshen Yue pondered for a while and said, "Even though it's a little embarrassing, we should retreat while we still have time. With the Infinitum Stele around, we won't be safe in our own fortress. Given how dangerous it is, could we not use the cloaking formation to hide the sun like before? We'll cut off everything else and hide for a few centuries. I doubt that Yi Daiyan can be stronger than my grandson."

"Makes sense! That's the safest route," Lin Chongyao said.

Lin Xiao didn't dare to contradict his wife, but he snapped at Lin Chongyao the first chance he got. "Fool, did you forget about the Ebonian fiendbats? The Sun's an ether-class world now. As long as we remain in the Infinitum Mundus, there's no way we'll be able to hide from them!"

"Don't the fiendbats belong to the ebons?"

"They'll be Yi Daiyan's once she swallows their clan!"

That argument quieted everyone down.

"Tianming, what do you think?" Wudi asked.

Tianming had been looking at the Infinitum Stele the entire time. Reason told him that it was incredibly dangerous, but the Grand-Orient Sword had been his partner for so many years now, and he couldn't afford to disappoint it. "I don't really want to leave."

Facing hardship head-on had always been his way. Avoiding risk and running away from problems could cause one to miss out on opportunities instead. Not to mention, it wouldn't solve their problems this time around. Once Yi Daiyan conquered the ebons, she would easily be able to locate the Sun.

"Let's not panic." Wudi stood behind Tianming and patted his shoulder. "Friends of the Lin Clan, I have a feeling that I'll be able to unlock another secret room in the Gladean Ruins. Last time, we obtained a celestial tome that worked wonders for us. Perhaps we'll have the same luck this time around."

"Wudi, my son, is right," Lin Xiao said.

"I support my son, Wudi," Dongshen Yue said, chuckling. They were echoing how Wudi also kept emphasizing that Tianming was his son. If that was the case, then he would be their son, too, since Tianming was their grandson.

"I'm here, too." Xiaodao also stood behind Tianming. He cleared his throat, combed his messy hair with his hands, and said, "Well, I’ve really been letting my talent gather dust lately. From today onward, I’ll seclude myself in Flameyellow Bloodsoul. I had some insights lately and I feel like there's a chance I can reach the Foundation stage. So I'll be taking the final step! Wish me luck." It was a decision he had been contemplating for a long time.

"Congratulations! If you can break through, it’ll mark a new page in the history of our clan. We haven't had any foundationeers since the past two reges mundi," Lin Xiao said excitedly.

"You’d also be the first foundation person of the Sun," Wudi said.

"Godfather, the word's foundationeer," Tianming said. Unsurprisingly, the Foundation stage was a foreign concept to the older denizens of the Sun.

"So what? I'm uncultured. Bite me," Wudi said, rolling his eyes and baiting some chuckles. With him and Xiaodao around, the rest felt more confident in their chances.

"We'll always have an answer for whatever they throw at us! The Tianming Dynasty can't afford to miss out on the final battle of the Infinitum Mundus!" Lin Xiao spiritedly said.

"That's right!" Even though the dynasty hadn’t formally been formed, everyone knew who the core figure all the events centered around was. Tianming didn't just walk the imperial path, he was also a miracle figure that could defeat ninth-level cosmic cartographers at the Order stage!

"While we fight our battles in the Infinitum Mundus, we also have to stop foreign powers from interfering. Astral pirates like the Star Hunters aren’t all that uncommon."

"Don't forget the wonderians!"

Tianming had a feeling that once the Infinitum Stele was extracted, Yi Daiyan, who had no doubt been enduring for a long time, would spread the flames of war all throughout the mundus.

"I have to use this chance to get stronger too!" At the end of the day, cultivation was still the main thing he had to do. He calmed himself and got into the right mindset. After Xiaodao entered seclusion, most of the denizens of the Sun also began cultivating. Their wave of passion affected Tianming.

Alas, what was to come would eventually arrive. Ten days after the Sun's voyage ended, the eight-starred ladybugs Tianming had spread around the astralscape near the Sun had new reports. "There's a... white-haired witch... floating outside... here here."

"What white-haired witch?" Tianming wondered.

"Basically a... woman with... white hair."

That was as useless as any explanation could be. Tianming furrowed his brow and asked a few more times, only to get a clarification that someone had appeared outside the Flameyellow Guard Formation. "It must be Yi Daiyan! She's here!"

The problem was that Xiaodao had just entered seclusion. Tianming hadn’t expected her to show up at the Sun either. He hurriedly told Lin Xiao and the rest about it.

"That vile crook!" Dongshen Yue hadn't seen her in a long time. Even though she’d heard from Tianming that her son, Lin Mu, had reincarnated, it hadn’t quelled her rage in the slightest. It’d been more than a century since all that had happened.

"Did she come alone? Are there ships nearby?" Lin Xiao asked.

"She's alone," Yin Chen said.

"Even though Ebonia isn't that far from the Sun, she probably had a hard time traveling the distance without a ship." At the very least, the others here wouldn't be capable of such a feat. The first rex mundi must be quite powerful, then. It only reinforced Tianming's belief that physical prowess was the core of great power.

"What is she doing?" Dongshen Yue asked.

"Nothing. She has her eyes closed. She's probably waiting for us to go out," Tianming said.

"Will we go to her?" Dongshen Yue asked.

"Does she control the Infinitum Stele yet?" Wudi asked.

Tianming shook his head. "Based on what I can see, she doesn't."

"You should hide inside the Flameyellow Coffin first, then move the coffin into the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Then fly the ship into the Flameyellow Guard Formation. That's three layers of protection. Only then will we hear what she has to say," Wudi suggested.

"Alright." The others weren't willing to let Tianming go out unprotected, either.

The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb began moving. Wudi made sure that Tianming could see the world outside from within the coffin. Eventually, he reached his destination and saw the woman with her silver-white hair fluttering in space. He was almost stupefied when he saw what she looked like. "Mother?!"

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