Beastmaster of the Ages

The celestial orderians' Sun Palace used two stellunar sources that had been compressed into a miniature nova source to power the astralship, allowing it to cruise through the astralscape and providing nova source for its passengers to cultivate. Who would have known that the sprouted saplings would be able to perform the same function.

"How much nova source can they absorb?" At the very least, it would be far more than a normal cultivator's body could. Normally, nova source, when absorbed by cultivators, lifebound beasts, or even totems, would be converted into energy they could use and control. However, such a conversion process wasn't present in the saplings. Instead, they were simply vessels to store all of that energy in its original form, charging up at a gradual rate before releasing it at a similarly controlled rate. That said, it couldn't be used for combat purposes, which was a sign that the divine tree was essentially weak despite its huge size.

If the saplings were taken before they sprouted, they would be useless. The most the thief would be able to do was to use them to steal some nova source, but that wouldn't be enough for billions of people to cultivate. Fortunately, Tianming had the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb.

"Thank you, Azurecloud Divine Tree, for this favor. I'll see to it that they're planted!" Tianming said. His conversation with Xian Xian was free for Long Wanying and Yang Ce to hear.

When Long Wanying heard it all, she seemed a little puzzled. "Tianming, what were you talking about? Is the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb actually a divine astralship? And you have it?"

"Yes, Aunt Ying. That's the biggest of my spoils from the Voidsky Skirmish. The Ninedragon Emperor gave me the tomb, which happens to be a divine astralship that only lacks a miniature nova source power source. Even now, I can only control a fraction of the entire thing."

"Heavens! Surely you can't be an actual descendant of the Ninedragon Emperor, can you?" Long Wanying didn't know what to make of it.

"Come on, surely I'm charming enough to earn the Ninedragon Emperor's recognition without having to be his descendant, right?"

"Nonsense!" She rolled her eyes at him and glanced at Yang Ce, still not relieved. "Tianming, are you the only one who can control it? Nobody else can enter it, right?"

"Yes." He still had the war drum and dragon sticks.

"Then move the saplings directly into the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. The tomb's at the Voidsky Realm where the nova source is densest, so their absorption will be faster. It'll also save us trouble from protecting the saplings since nobody else can enter the tomb."

"That's what the big dummy here was suggesting, too," Xian Xian said.

"Alright." Tianming nodded. The saplings were far too precious and useful, and also represented the wish of the divine tree. Nothing could go wrong, and keeping them with him was only asking for trouble. For now, he chose to temporarily store them in his spatial ring. Even though the saplings were lifeforms in some sense, they also had some inanimate qualities. When they weren't absorbing nova source and were instead stored in spatial rings, they were nothing more than normal seeds.

"Hmm, I don't think they can go into hibernation. Must I go to the Voidsky Realm as soon as possible?" he asked.

"That's right. We already took Li Wushuang captive, so we have to go back to the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect soon. The sect is near the sun's south pole, so we can take you to the Voidsky Realm first to store the saplings before bringing you back to the Azuresoul Palace," Long Wanying said.

"Alright." However, he began contemplating the arrangement a little more.

"What is it, Tianming? Do you have thoughts about it?" she asked.

"Aunt Ying, all the divine herbs harvested are safe within the bounds of the two sects' formations, right? So they won't be taken easily. With the wargodeans and Blueblood Starocean suffering such heavy losses, they should go to the Empyrean Sword Sect to retaliate if they're ever going to. And the Empyrean Sword Sect no longer has a justification to attack the Supracloud Sanctuary, so they'll be fine for now. As for the Azuresoul Palace, they're much tougher than before thanks to our support. Now they can protect the divine herbs with their formation, just like the Supracloud Sanctuary can. Not only that, we know what to do with the saplings now, so everything on this continent is coming to an end. My goal is close to being achieved."

The unification of the continent and the possession of the divine herbs and saplings were all in place. Tianming had everything under control, and even the two factions of outsiders were gone.

"You're right, Tianming. If we settle things at the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect, the continent will be even safer. Both sects here can properly develop with their divine herbs, just like you planned," she said.

"That's right. Now you're the ruler of the continent," Yang Ce said.

"I wouldn't dare… all I want is for everyone to live better lives," Tianming said. At the very least, that had come to fruition. Now the continent's masters were the two main sects themselves. While Tianming was in control of everything, he wouldn't be taking anything other than the saplings, which the divine tree had specifically given to him. As for the near ten billion divine herbs, he would leave all of them for the continent. He couldn't really expose his true identity yet, but he would one day come here to set up his dynasty.

"Tianming, by the sound of it, are you going to leave the Azurecloud Continent soon?" Long Wanying asked.

"Aunt Ying understands me the best," he said. Since things here were settled, it was time to head to his next battlefield.

Long Wanying and Yang Ce were going to take Li Wushuang with them to deal with the mess at their sect, but that wasn't Tianming's battle. "You can't go to the sect with us. It's too dangerous."

"Aunt Ying, Yin Chen picked up what you said about the Ninemoon Goddess. She'll be at the sect, right?"

"Yes." Both Long Wanying and Yang Ce nodded.

"So you should know that the goddess has only recently shown up among the celestial orderians, right? They're saying that she's the sun emperor's illegitimate daughter, right?"

"Yes."

"There's some things that I can't completely come clean about, but… the Ninemoon Goddess Li Qingyu is actually my little sister. Neither of us have anything to do with the sun emperor."

"What?!" The two seniors were shocked at the revelation.

"That can't be… you're a beastmaster and she's a totemancer," Long Wanying said, shaking her head.

"No. The Ninemoon Goddess isn't just a totemancer, she's also a beastmaster. The sun emperor claimed that she's the only child to be birthed between a totemancer and beastmaster in history." Normally, totemancers and beastmasters couldn't have children. Even if they somehow did, the children never inherited both types of cultivation.

"Don't tell me?!" Long Wanying and Yang Ce looked at Tianming with disbelief. So far, he hadn't shown them any of his totems.

"This is a secret, so I can't reveal any more. I only need the two of you to believe me when I say that the Ninemoon Goddess is my sister. The reason she went to the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect is to look for me, so I have to go see her," Tianming earnestly said.

"Don't worry, Tianming. We know you have a complicated background. There's no way you're someone Jiang Qingliu found and raised. The fact that you've told us so much shows how much you trust us. As for the rest, you don't have to tell us anything. No matter what, Aunt Ying supports you!" Long Wanying said.

"Alright!" He definitely fully trusted them; they had gone through so much together already. He would never forget his main goal in coming to Orderia: saving Qingyu and protecting her per his godfather's request. Now that the continent's situation had stabilized, it was time to go to the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect.