Beastmaster of the Ages

"Despite him being only at the fifth level, he was ranked higher than you and let others mistake him for a ninth-level constellier. He's indeed deserving of the status currently bestowed on him. How fitting for a princess like you," the man said.

"Uncle, our relationship hasn't progressed to that point yet," the princess said softly.

"Not bad. Keep him hanging on a thread. If he gets the prize, he'll start losing interest in you and your temptation will no longer be as powerful."

"Uncle, you're looking down on me. He shall never escape from the palm of my hand for the rest of his life, unless... he becomes important."

"With those lifebound beasts around, this protagonistic fellow can never become impotent. Make sure to keep your wits about you. He's no fool. If you rush things, he'll definitely feel it."

"Yes, I understand."

"No matter what, you must ensure that this first ranker serves our dynasty with all he has, even his life."

"But if we treat him like the protagonist, won't he eventually replace the divineglorians and rule over our empire for real?"

"That's where you're mistaken. He doesn't have anyone backing him up. He doesn't even have parents. Even if he becomes the emperor, he'll eventually die, while the children you bear for him will be divineglorians all the same, as long as they have divinesprings. Our lineage won't end. In fact, it'll only grow stronger."

"Understood."

"Seriously though, do you love him?"

"I do, but I love our dynasty and kin even more. There's no conflict in either of those feelings."

"As long as you don't forget that. You're right, there's no conflict in loving him and loving us. There can't be." The middle-aged man pointed at the white-haired youth and continued, "After the first miracle Ye Chen comes another miracle called Lin Feng. He also seemingly has no backing. I doubt you'll be able to use the honey trap on him this time around, huh?"

"It won't work. I met Ye Chen in the real world and helped him when he was at a low point, whereas Lin Feng is already standing at the peak. He's even more mysterious and far harder to control."

"This will be troubling."

"Yes. Last time when I extended an invitation to him, I got flatly rejected. Without the perfect circumstances, it'll be really difficult to force someone like this to join our dynasty for good. Not to mention, we already have Ye Chen. A mountain can't house more than one tiger...."

"What, then?"

"To stop him from becoming the Ye Chen of the Violetcloud Imperium, we can just eliminate his body in the real world if we find him. That'll save us the trouble, won't it?"

The middle-aged man froze for a moment, then broke out laughing. Another voice in the booth joined in the laughter, coarse and ancient. When the middle-aged man raised his hand there were two eyes and a mouth on it. Apart from the lack of nose and ears, they made up an entire face. The ancient laughter had come from the mouth on his palm.

"Da Huang, what're you laughing at?" the man asked.

"I'm laughing because even though the girl makes it sound so good, she's actually smitten with the boy."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. The first reaction she had after meeting another youth like Ye Chen wasn't to accept him, but to eliminate him so that her precious Ye Chen wouldn't have any competition. She's subconsciously thinking of what's best for him already."

"Lord Da Huang, please refrain from such slander," Princess Shen Yu said, simmering with anger.

"If I'm not mistaken, you've already given your body to him, right?" Da Huang teased.

The princess froze.

"But you're right. A mountain can only house one tiger, not more. You had no fateful encounter with Lin Feng and already got Ye Chen for yourself. Anything that Ye Chen gains, you gain, not to mention the dynasty gains. As such, preventing the Violetcloud Imperium from getting an ultimate genius of their own is the optimal choice."

"Da Huang is right. We divineglorians won't treat Ye Chen like an outsider, either. Since the two of you have already reached this point in your relationship, it no longer makes sense to pick between Ye Chen and Lin Feng. Not to mention, Lin Feng is a totemancer that diverts his attention to lifebound beasts, too, so he's inferior to Ye Chen. We only need one favored child of the heavens, not two. Compared to Lin Feng, Ye Chen's also far more ambitious. It's in his bones, and he's ruthless enough to kill decisively. He's a prime talent to be cultivated. Yet this Lin Feng didn't desire you in the slightest when he saw you. How could someone who doesn't yearn for a prime woman like you have any real ambitions to speak of?" the middle-aged man said.

"I see...." Princess Shen Yu breathed a long sigh. "The question now is how we can find where he really is."

"As long as he's on the Violetglory Star, he won't be able to escape my detection," said the face on the palm with a confident smile.

......

"Lin Feng, you have a message," said the wondersky fairy.

Tianming finally left the battlefield. Right as he was about to return to the real world, the wondersky fairy started saying something, but he didn't respond.

"Lin Feng!" it cried.

"Are you talking to me?" Tianming still wasn't used to his fake name.

"Who else but you?" it said in annoyance.

"Can I change my name now?" Tianming asked. He wanted his own name back. His alias was far too old-fashioned. There were tens of other Lin Fengs on the ranking alone.

"No."

Tianming finally accepted the reality of the situation. Fine, Lin Feng it is. It's still better than the first ranker, Ye Chen. There's more than fifty Ye Chens on the ranking alone... I wonder if being named something old fashioned makes one powerful....

"Alright, fairy, what's the message?"

"Princess Shen Yu has invited you to her secret room for a meeting."

"Secret room? What's that?"

"It's somewhere people with important statuses can entertain guests in the wondersky realm."

"Alright, take me there." Tianming was about to challenge her, so it would be much better to directly meet her.

"Very well." The wondersky fairy sucked Tianming into itself. An instant later, Tianming appeared in a bright garden. There was a lake in front of him with a pavilion in the middle. The multi-colored stars above the lake were reflected on the surface of the water.

A beautifully dressed girl stood in the middle of the grand pavilion. Everything about her looked regal and refined, giving her a rather impressive aura. Her beauty was something that could topple nations, and her status and cold, aloof attitude made her even more tempting. Only those high up in the hierarchy would dare to dream of conquering someone like her.

Princess Shen Yu was a beauty on the level of Weisheng Moran. There were some aspects of her looks that differed from Feiling and the rest; she looked far too elegant and seemed to be an imperial, perhaps even an empress.

Even so, Tianming wasn't the least bit interested. The kind of girls he liked were the free-spirited, pixie-like ones—pure, simple, innocent girls that liked to play silly tricks. People like Feiling. Being with her was pure bliss for him, whereas being with a woman like Shen Yu would make him wonder what she was plotting every morning he woke up beside her.

"This humble Li—Lin Feng greets the princess." Tianming almost let his real name slip.

"So, your surname is Li, eh?" the princess asked, smiling.

"A name is but a label people use to address others by. It matters not," Tianming said.

"Come here." Her voice had an authoritative pull to it that made her requests hard to refuse.

"Out of respect for appropriate conventions between men and women, I'll stay where I am. I wouldn't want to transgress against Your Highness." He figured getting close to her would make it harder for him to beat her up after challenging her, so it would be best to keep his distance.

"Do as you please." Though she appeared to smile, a hint of annoyance flashed across her eyes. The distance Tianming maintained between them had proven her conjectures.

She sat straight within the pavilion. Tianming noticed that something in front of her chest was glowing. It looked like some sort of large jewel. Wearing it made her stand out even more. Tianming knew that this was a divinespring of the imperial family of the Divineglory Dynasty. It was a trait unique to their race and seemed to be shaped similarly to Lingfeng's miniaturized Primordial Gate. However, it wasn't a vortex, but rather a radiant wellspring of energy. The divineglorians had an extra source of energy that didn't come from the albi in their bodies. This divinespring could store large amounts of astralforce and would also grow as one's divine will progressed.

The astralforce inside the divinespring could be used by the albi of their body. In essence, they had far more energy compared to others of the same level. Many divineglorians were able to fight others of higher levels than them as a result. As the race with the longest history on the Violetglory Star, they had always been blessed with this talent. People often called them super beastmasters.

Despite the distance, Tianming could feel the power coming from her divinespring. It was almost like a miniature nova source that had been embedded straight into her human body that also served to bring her aura to new heights. It was the foundation of her race's power and rule over much of the star. Those born with divinesprings were fated to be better than the average person. Throughout history, many other races had wanted to marry divineglorian women in the hopes that their descendants would have divinesprings as well, but divineglorian women never married those who weren't their own.

In the event of rare exceptions, the divineglorians would always bring those people into their fold, allowing them to preserve a really pure bloodline. Like the divine moonrace, any male that fell for a divineglorian female would be brought into their empire to strengthen them even further. The most obvious example was the first ranker. As for the others, they could only dream about conquering a girl such as the princess.