Beastmaster of the Ages

With the wondersky fairy around, Tianming could easily issue challenges. Lingfeng, however, had to start by getting into the top-ten-thousand bracket first, though he was in no rush. Since they had time to spare, he chose to watch the battles while Tianming fought first.

"Let's go! It's been some time since the commotion you caused with the ancient idols, but I'm sure there's still some people that remember you," Liu Wanwan said.

The three of them went to the outer fringes of the spherical battlefield where other disciples were spectating the fights. The closer they came, the larger the battlefield seemed. Disciples under thirty were all over the place, fervently looking at the fighters and hoping that they, too, would stand among the ones they adored, making their sects and families proud.

"Look up," Liu Wanwan said.

Hearing that, Tianming turned his head up. There was a lot of blinding violet text all over the place, all of it names. They weren't neatly arranged from top to bottom like the imperial star ranking. Instead, they resembled a vortex. The higher ranked someone was, the closer their name was to the center! The first name shone brightly, with the second and third orbiting it just as brightly. The top ten names were all conspicuous. But the further out the names were, the smaller they became. Tianming's alias, 'Lin Feng', for instance, was near the edge of the vortex.

"The Violetglory Star has tens of thousands of constelliers, far more than the Myriad Solar Sects." Tianming marveled at the sight. Then he asked the wondersky fairy about the basics of challenging. Within a certain timeframe, he could challenge ten people of the top thousand. The precise rules were rather complicated, so he glossed over it. He didn't care, as long as someone accepted his challenge.

"Are you sure you want to fight now? You might have a better chance if you come back after some preparation. Don't waste the precious few chances to make a challenge," Liu Wanwan advised.

"It's fine. I'm already prepared."

"Mysterious as always. By the way, what about Xiao Ling who came with you the last time? Why isn't she here?"

"She's a little busy. I'll bring her here next time." It seemed that Feiling's looks had made quite an impression on Liu Wanwan.

"Alright. Then I'll await your shocking performance!" she said with a wink.

Right then, someone called out to her from behind. The two of them turned back and saw a group of young people dressed like Liu Wanwan. Perhaps they were from the same sect. There were a dozen or so people, all young men and women that dressed in a rather refined manner. The one who had called out was dressed in a light-orange dress that was adorned with quite a few jewels. Her fair skin and refined features caused her to stand out among the rest, marking her to be of rather high station. The other young folks near her huddled around her like she was their leader.

"What is it?" Liu Wanwan asked timidly, looking slightly afraid of the young woman.

"Nothing much. I haven't seen you for quite a while, so I wanted to ask you what level you're at now."

"I'm at Octasaint Sky," Liu Wanwan whispered shyly, her face flushing.

"Come on! That's too slow! Stop messing around with those lowborn scoundrels and focus on cultivating. Don't embarrass your mom, alright? Last time, Auntie came to me and kept asking me to look after you."

When Liu Wanwan mentioned her cultivation level, the youths around the orange-clad girl couldn't help but chuckle, though they struggled to stifle it. Liu Wanwan was from a rather prestigious bloodline in their sect, though she was the weakest of her line and couldn't compare to them.

"Fine!" Liu Wanwan didn't want to talk too much about it.

However, the young woman seemed to take offense. Rolling her eyes, she said, "You can't build a wall with mud, you know." She looked closely at Tianming and Lingfeng as she did so. However, their aura seemed to startle her slightly. Instinctively, she said, "It's one thing for you to laze around, but you keep seeking out strange men to play around with. You'd better watch your behavior. Even I'm getting worried on behalf of your mom."

"Hey, Liu Xuanxuan, stop sticking your nose in my business, alright? You're going more and more overboard. I know you want to relish in your superiority complex, but please stop coming to bother me. I'm not the least bit obligated to entertain you," Liu Wanwan said.

"That's all it took for you to freak out?" Liu Xuanxuan sighed and shook her head with disappointment, as if she was a senior.

"She can no longer be helped. Let's leave her be," said another girl beside them.

"Come on, let's go. Quite a few people are challenging me. If I don't face one of them today, I'll get kicked out of the ranking," Liu Xuanxuan said, intentionally making herself heard. She wanted Liu Wanwan to know that, unlike her, who could only spectate, she could join the fights.

Liu Wanwan lowered her head as they left, unwilling to engage any longer.

Tianming, seeing her crestfallen look, asked, "What's her ranking?"

"Huh?"

"The Violetglory ranking. How high does she rank?"

"Six hundred and eighteen."

"Perfect." Tianming had heard her name and said, "Liu Xuanxuan, someone called Lin Feng will challenge you later. Make sure to accept."

"Oh?" She turned around and smiled. "Would that be you?"

"Yes, one of the 'lowborn scoundrels'."

"Then you'll do." Liu Xuanxuan shrugged as she glared at Liu Wanwan once more before turning to leave.

"Who was that?" Tianming asked when they were gone.

"My cousin sister. She's a few years younger than me, but far stronger. Her dad's the vice leader of the Mystgod Pavilion and the second strongest person. Actually, I respect her quite a bit. She is truly talented and among the best in the sect. However, she's simply too petty. A long time ago when we were young and I was playing around with her, I beat her up. Now she keeps messing with me every time she meets me. How troubling...." She shook her head and smiled. "But it's fine, she never actually hurts me physically! So, are you challenging her because you want to stand up for me?"

"You're overthinking things. I just worry that nobody will bother to accept my challenge, so I simply did what was more convenient."

"Haha, and I thought you were doing it for me. I felt moved, you know." She couldn't help it and burst out laughing.

'Lin Feng' was a far too common name. There were more than twenty people on the Violetglory ranking alone with that name, and most would definitely refuse a challenge from someone with such an inconspicuous name. Not to mention, many people who used names like that were smurfs, people who intentionally used a nondescript name to lower the guard of others.

Tianming submitted a challenge to Liu Xuanxuan and waited. It didn't take long before the wondersky fairy informed him that she had accepted.

"I finally caught a stepping stone that'll let me reach the top one thousand." He was rather lucky to have run into her. "If I defeat her, will she go down a rank or swap ranks with me?"

"Swap, of course. She'd instantly lose access to the fifth level of the Violetglory Pagoda and take your place in the nine thousand and eight hundred plus rank," Liu Wanwan said.

"That's exciting." It was no surprise that the ranking was so volatile, considering that.