Beastmaster of the Ages

Lan Sha and Yun Tianque led the others in their sects to greet the woman that had just appeared. She stood ahead of the man that also came out from the flaming pillar. This woman was dressed in a moon-white robe and wore her hair in a ponytail. She looked really neat and tidy, almost minimalist like a hermit. One look was enough to peg her as a totemancer. There was a cold aura about her that made others think twice before approaching her. With how the Tumulus Pill God was respectful toward her and how she was a totemancer, it was clear she was a celestial orderian.

"Good. I'm only here to accompany Haochen. Drop the formalities, I don't need any commotion," said Lady Wushuang in a voice so cold that it seemed to have come from the depths of the abyss. Her moon-white eyes were cold and sharp, as if she looked at everything in a detached manner.

"Very well." The Tumulus Pill God and the others nodded. They understood her character well enough to not dare to make any large commotion.

Haochen was the man who stood behind the maiden. The others turned to the youth and were impressed by how much he resembled his birthright. His aura alone had surpassed that of many grade-four seniors. He had light gold hair that looked like fine glass fibers. His eyes burned like the sun and his clothes were covered in many gold divine patterns. There were many depictions of ancient gods and fiends on his robe, making him look even more domineering. He was from an imperial bloodline. If Tianming was there, he would notice that this youth was of a prime bloodline like Princess Shen Yu.

The part of the youth that stood out was the spot between his brows. There was a golden sun there that looked like one of the eyes of the Divine Sun Palace. Power circulated furiously within, burning at shocking temperatures. It looked completely different to the third eyes of those from the Trioptic True Dragon Branch. It wasn't an eye, but rather a chain of eight sun-shaped bane-rings interlinked with one another. Apart from Li Wudi, Tianming hadn't come across anyone with eight bane-rings yet. It seemed that when totemancers had that many bane-rings, they became life forms of a completely different league. The youth looked like a god among men. He didn't have the kind of aura that made others loathe him; instead, the aura that had stemmed from his bloodline caused others to instinctively want to worship him.

"Li Haochen, I already brought you all the way here, so tell them whatever you want to say. When you want to leave, send me a transmission stone," she said.

"Aunt, are you leaving the Azurecloud Continent?" Li Haochen asked. His voice was clear and innocent, but it contained the dignity of a highborn person.

"I'll stay here and travel around." The Lady Wushuang turned to look at the Tumulus Pill God, signaling that she was leaving him in their care. If anything went wrong, they would have hell to pay.

"See you, Aunt," the youth said, waving. Then, the woman was nowhere to be seen. She vanished in an instant, not wanting to be among others the slightest fraction of a second longer than she had to. The youth had been left alone with all those seniors, but he didn't fear them in the slightest. In fact, his demeanor even applied some pressure to everyone there. "Seniors, I might have to trouble you with something later." Though it sounded polite, it was actually an order, just phrased more diplomatically.

"Of course! Haochen, we are your father's loyal servants. If you need anything, we're ready to serve at a moment's notice," the Tumulus Pill God said with a bright smile and a bow.

"That's right! Even though we're part of the Myriad Solar Sects, our allegiances lie with the celestial orderians," Lan Sha said. He pulled Yun Tianque over and said, "This is Yun Tianque, sect master of the Supracloud Sanctuary. If there's any trouble on this continent, simply come find him."

Yun Tianque hurriedly nodded. This was the first time he had ever been so polite to someone this young. He didn't even have to behave like that with Long Longlong or Weisheng Moran before.

"Gentlemen, I want all the fruits produced by the divine tree," he said with a bright smile at a leisurely pace. He had come prepared.

The three of them were shocked wordless. He wanted everything! While that was awkward for Yun Tianque, all he could do was lower his head and wait for the answer of the other two. In fact, even the Tumulus Pill God felt troubled by the demand.

Right as he was about to speak, Li Haochen said, "Don't worry, Sect Master Yun, I'll give you the ten percent we promised. That's an important resource for your sect to ensure a bright future for you. As your ally, I won't make things difficult for you. All I want is the rest of it, all ninety percent of it. And remember, I want it all for myself, not for the celestial orderians."

"I wasn't worried for the slightest moment.... Thank you, Lord, for your kind understanding. If it weren't for the fact that our sect is in a desolate location, I'd gladly offer up my sect's share as well," Yun Tianque said. He had been banking on working as a lapdog for the celestial orderians, so being addressed as an ally was more than courteous to him.

"What about the two of you?" Li Haochen asked.

Lan Sha gave the Tumulus Pill God a look, then the two smiled. "We came here to serve the celestial orderians. Giving the fruits to you or giving it to the celestial orderians is one and the same thing."

"Very well." Li Haochen nodded and turned to look at the endless tree branches behind him. He flew up high and asked, "How many days has the harvest been taking place? Do you already have something?"

"Yes. So far, we have ten million fruits, but they're all grade three or below," the Tumulus Pill God said.

"It's fine. Better if it's lower grade, since it'll be easier to digest. Bring them here."

"Understood!"

The three of them immediately gathered the tens of spatial rings that stored all the fruits harvested so far.

"Get them all out and scatter them on the ground," Li Haochen said.

"Huh?" Yun Tianque didn't know how to react, but Lan Sha gave him a nudge to do what he said. Then Yun Tianque waved, causing tens of millions of divine herbs to fall to the ground like rain. A medicinal fragrance immediately filled the air.

"What's he going to do?" Right as the others were doubtfully looking at the sight, they heard a loud, bestial roar. The eight suns on Li Haochen's forehead shook and brightly glowed. The next instant, eight sun beasts came rushing down. They were huge, flaming beasts that could take many forms, shifting from lions, to tigers, and even dragons and phoenixes. Every one of them was made of golden flames. The eight of them devoured the fruits.

"Eat up! Eat all you can. At home, Father wants me to fight for any resource I want. But here I can get everything for free with my authority! If I could've used this authority from the get-go, I wouldn't just be at the eighth level by now, would I?"

The beasts continued consuming the fruits.

Yun Tianque shuffled closer to Lan Sha, not knowing what to make of this. "What is this, Brother Lan?"

"They're ultimate totems, all eight of them, called vastsun godbeasts. They're special spiritforms that are able to burn and infuse the divine patterns inside divine herbs and feed the power to their owner. They're also much stronger than normal totems of the same level thanks to the power of divine herbs!" Lan Sha said enviously. He was a totemancer himself, so he knew full well how powerful these beasts were. Li Haochen looked just like an octuple beastmaster.

"It's no wonder that he's the strongest disciple among the celestial orderians, perhaps even among the disciples across the whole sun. There's no way those on the imperial star ranking can compete," Yun Tianque said with awe.

"Are you joking? All ten of the sun emperor's sons, including the youngest, are the strongest of their generation! There's no exception!" Lan Sha said, rolling his eyes. "Even if beastmasters don't want to admit it, it's the truth. Totemancers reign supreme across the entire sun!"

"Of course," Yun Tianque said with a bitter smile.

The roaring of the beasts shook their hearts. However, none of them noticed the invisible cockroach hiding between the twigs, its feelers moving nonstop.

After some time, Li Haochen came back to the group. "Are there any higher-grade fruits?"

"There's a grade-seven divine herb, but it isn't ripe yet. It will be in some time," the Tumulus Pill God said.

"How long will it take?"

"Around two or three months."

"Alright, I'll wait." Now, he was their undisputed leader.

"Understood! But there's a little problem."

"What is it?"

"This divine herb is located within the Azuresoul Palace's territory, rather deep inside too."

"Oh, so that's troubling for you, huh?"

"No, it isn't!" The Tumulus Pill God hurriedly changed his tune.

......

"Gan Gangan, get the fuck over here!" Tianming called out from the entrance.

"Just a moment!" Yu Ziqian cried out. Soon, he rushed over, his clothes a mess and his face flushed. "Quick, Sister Wanle's about to get dressed again!"

Even Tianming was impressed at how much dedication and focus Yu Ziqian spent on fooling around with women. He squatted and said, "I want to ask about two people. Do you know who Lady Wushuang is? I'm guessing she's called Li Wushuang."

"She's the sun emperor's younger sister!"

"Which emperor?"

"The current one! Li Wudi, of course! What other sun emperor is there?"

Tianming smacked his head. He had spent far too much time in the wondersky realm. Princess Shen Yu's aggressive invitation had made him feel like there were a lot of emperors all over the place.

"The sun emperor's little sister... alright. What about Li Haochen?"

"He's the youngest son of the sun emperor, an eighth-level constellier at the age of twenty-five. He's an octuple totemancer with totems called vastsun godbeasts. I heard they're really powerful, but I haven't seen them before. Sounds like he's defeated everyone his age."

"So he's the elder brother of the Ninemoon Goddess?"

"That's right. The Ninemoon Goddess is the eleventh daughter of the sun emperor. I heard she's an illegitimate child that wasn't borne of the sun empress and she has the most bane-rings ever, nine of them!"

"Alright, got it. You're dismissed!" Tianming slapped his head and he immediately rushed back. "Wait, one more thing!"

"What is it? I'm just about to blast off!"

"Don't you think the name Li Haochen is a little old-fashioned? How does it compare to Lin Feng?"

"It's different! Lin Feng is trite, but Haochen is vintage and classy! It's old, but in a different way!"

"Alright, now buzz off."

"Already on it!"