Beastmaster of the Ages

"Badass! Not ass," Tianming struggled to explain.

"What does it mean?"

"It means someone who's really straightforward, tough, and impressive!"

Long Wanying looked closely at him and said, "Enough. I don't get your young people slang. Just do it!"

"Alright. Again, it'll hurt."

"I'll be fine."

Ten thousand ants burrowed into her palm without resistance. Her bones were rather hard, and the ants only managed to burrow into them after considerably wearing down their mandibles. Though, it was only the outer layer. The marrow would be much softer. That was proof that with enough time, the ants could even burrow into the bones of an elite like her. Her expression slightly soured from the pain, but the ants hadn't really begun their assault yet. The initial process of burrowing didn't really hurt that much compared to the real thing.

"Let me see if I can vaporize them now." Long Wanying channeled astralforce through her body, basically setting herself aflame and raising her internal temperature, including that of her bones. Astralforce bounced about wildly between her albi. The bonegnaw ants remained near her arm.

Around fifteen minutes later, she asked, "How many are left? I think I still feel some."

"Around six thousand." She had managed to eradicate four thousand in a quarter of an hour.

"Then isn't that pointless? With enough time, they can be completely wiped out.

"No, that isn't the case, Aunt Ying."

"What do you mean?"

"This time, they didn't resist at all. If I'm fighting a real enemy, I would use at least a million ants and invade from all parts of the body. The moment the enemy tries to resist, the ants will start gnawing away. That kind of pain will be enough to make them completely helpless." He kept the part about the ants being able to multiply by consuming bone matter hidden from her.

"Let's give it a try." She continued vaporizing them and the six thousand ants began gnawing away with abandon. "Aaaagh!" Her face instantly paled as her arm shook.

"Stop!" Tianming ordered.

"Out! Get them out!" she said, panting. Her expression was completely different.

Tianming apologetically did as he was told. "I'm sorry, Aunt Ying."

"I'm... I'm fine...." She took a deep breath, but her gaze was much darker than before.

After a while, Tianming asked, "Aunt Ying, are you feeling better now?"

"So ten thousand is enough to control someone... I wonder what kind of pain a million of them can inflict?" she asked with a hoarse voice.

"It might be a hundred or a thousand times what you felt just now, or maybe even more. It can work anywhere where bone is present. The metal devourer just now only suffered it once, but it didn't want to continue living even after it stopped."

"Alright...." She closed her eyes and regulated her feelings. When she opened them again, she looked at her palm and bit her lip. "It was enough to terrify me. If you use this ability well, this can be your trump card. If there's really some key figure we have to control, maybe we can work out a plan. Perhaps I or someone else can defeat them and keep them subdued. However, it'll be really risky and we need perfect timing. I'll cooperate with you, but this can only be used sparingly."

He had a rough idea of what to do based on what she said. "How about the sect master of the Supracloud Sanctuary? How powerful is he compared to you?"

"I should be stronger, but I'll need help if we're to subdue him for an extended time. We'll also need ideal circumstances. Aren't you an ambitious one, targeting someone that high up as your first target?" Long Wanying wondered what kind of plan this junior could be cooking up.

"I want to try making their sect master our pawn. That way the Azuresoul Palace can properly unite the continent," Tianming said.

"Are you... really going to do that?"

"Well, it's just a hypothetical for now, anyway."

"A really daring one, I must say."

"Oh, please, Aunt Ying, it's just a wild plan."

"No. The possibility of succeeding exists. Once it goes through, there's much to be gained." She was regarding him in a new light. "Tianming, I'm a risk-taker like you, so you have my full support on this. Let's work together."

"Then... to pleasant partnerships?" Tianming stretched out his hand to her.

"Ouch! It hurts!" Her hand still slightly stung from the aftereffects. She looked closely at the youth with eyes full of wonder. "Child, what's your wish?"

"Probably becoming the hegemon of the sun. Is that too much to ask?"

"Not really. You truly are a charming and ambitious young man."

"Haha, I was just joking. I just want the people around me to be safe."

"No, your gaze is telling me that you want to conquer."

"Fine...." He stopped denying it. After all, eyes didn't lie.

......

After returning to the Azuresoul Sword Mountain, Tianming continued cultivating. Some of Yin Chen's bodies were still consuming divine ores in the mines of Soulbreak Mountain and periodically sending new bodies back to him. As its bodies were those of a Primordial Chaos Beast, increasing their number wouldn't be easy. Yin Chen's estimation was that consuming all the ores there would let it increase in number up to two hundred thousand. In other words, it could become two million cockroaches or two billion bonegnaw ants.

"It should be done within half a month. I wonder how troubled Gujian Qingshuang will be by then. I doubt he'll ever figure out how I managed to clean out his mines in such a short time... hahaha...."

Tianming still needed more universal manna, but the Azuresoul Palace wouldn't be able to afford it. Though, Long Wanying did say that she would try to get more six-star manna from the Saintdragon Emperor, though they had to wait a while for confirmation.

So far, there were no new developments from the Empyrean Sword Sect or Gujian Qingshuang's group. Chu Jingchuan, however, did start meeting with Yu Ziqian, though the disciple didn't hold back at all. As his power as a sixth-level constellier was still there, he sent this top disciple of the Empyrean Sword Sect flying before everyone, further increasing his fame.

One day, the bodies Yin Chen had left near the mountain gates detected a lot of movement. It appeared that the cultivators from the Group of Celestial Maiden Halls had arrived.

"Tianming, come with me to receive our guests!" Long Wanying called to him early in the morning.

He felt like a poster girl being paraded around. "I'm coming!"

There was quite a commotion at the Celestial Welcome Hall. An elegant warship with floral decorations and a festive mood was there, drawing much attention.

"So many goddesses! Looks like my lucky days are here," Yu Ziqian said.

"If you dare mess with them, Yan Nuxia might just turn you into a eunuch," Jiang Qingliu said.

"Is she that terrifying?" Yu Ziqian asked, doubtful.

"You're free to test her."

Soon, Tianming and Long Wanying found themselves outside the Celestial Welcome Hall. A haughty female voice said, "Strawberry, Strawberry, where are you?"

Long Wanying enthusiastically waved her hand. "Tangerine, I'm here! Tangerine!"

Tianming didn't know what to make of those nicknames.

"Is there somebody called Banana?" Xiaoxiao asked weakly.

"What? Do you like to eat bananas?" Tianming asked.

The atmosphere was weird.

......

There was a floating white stone staircase surrounded by golden flames left and right. The flames took the forms of gigantic flaming fiendgods; they were probably totems. Some said that totems were manifestations of eternal deities that actually existed, heavenly being totems in particular. Those deities existed somewhere in the boundless cosmic aether, granting their powers to totemancers who had strong faith in them through their bane-rings. There was always a main deity of a totem somewhere. Though these titans were composed of flames, it felt like they were really there.

Footsteps sounded out from the stairs. Though they were soft, they seemed to completely cover the sound of crackling flames. A blonde-haired man was ascending the flight of stairs, covered entirely in flames himself. However, his body wasn't as gigantic as before; instead, it looked to be human sized. Even so, his aura was as boundless as ever. Each of his eyes looked like nova sources that could burn through everything, even the mind.

Eventually, he reached the end of the floating island where there was a glass-like platform. There was a reddish gold coffin ahead of him. It was only around two meters long and a meter and a half wide, being a coffin made for two. Many divine ordered patterns could be seen across it. They turned into patterns of flames, making the coffin red hot.

"I'm back," the sun emperor said with a smile. He removed his clothes, revealing his fine musculature that shone almost like gold. Then, he opened the coffin slowly. Out of it came flames and smoke that took the form of many beast heads. The sun emperor stepped into the coffin and shifted to its left before closing the lid back up. The instant the lid closed shut, the flames began dissipating somewhat. Someone could be seen lying next to him. The person had a similar physique to him and had a head of red hair.