Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming looked at the lake and saw his own reflection.

"That's right…. Perhaps there's many more dragons of origin in the world the original one came from," Long Wanying said.

"I see…. Do you think the sun emperor has his eyes on the plane of origin?" Tianming asked.

"That's right. As he's a celestial orderian, he needs to obtain all of the dragonsprings to be able to come in here."

"He can't be looking for a dragon of origin to form a blood pact with and become a beastmaster, right?" His words completely stunned the Saintdragon Emperor and the rest.

"Tianming, why would that even occur to you?" the Saintdragon Emperor asked.

"Because a totemancer that's also a beastmaster might be really strong, especially if they're the best in both cultivation methods."

The rest exchanged glances with one another. The Saintdragon Emperor said, "Normally, totemancers look down on beastmasters, but the Ninemoon Goddess is famous for being both…. This really is a possibility that has never occurred to us before. Naturally, we still have to defend this place regardless of his goals."

If it weren't for the fact that the Veildragon Palace had more dragonsprings, all they had to do was keep their dragonsprings here. But a fifth of the former Dragon Imperials were ancestors from the Veildragon Palace.

"They heavily wounded and oppressed us, all for the Primodragon Cave…." No matter what the sun emperor's goal was, there was already nothing more that they could lose.

"That's right. Aunt Ying, what'd you all chant just now?" Tianming asked.

"It's a special word left behind by the Ninedragon Emperor. The pronunciation is really weird, but he instructed us to chant it in times of danger. Naturally, there's many versions of history from all the way back. For all we know it could just be a prank of some kind. Either way, we already finished chanting it and there's no reaction like before, aside from the appearance of this figure," the Saintdragon Emperor said,

"I see." Tianming looked at the projection of the figure on top of the plane of origin and took a deep breath. Suddenly, he noticed something coming from his spatial ring. "The Grand-Orient Sword?" What did it have to do with the Ninedragon Emperor? He took it out and noticed the nine-colored scale embedded on its handle brightly shining, the light of which touched the plane of origin and caused the lake to shine with lights of many different colors.

"Tianming!"

The Seven Dragon Imperials were all delighted to see that reaction. The nine-colored scale left behind by the Ninedragon Emperor had caused the plane of origin to change. As they cried out to him, the power from the scale traveled into Tianming's body through the sword, seemingly trying to drag him inside. Once he entered, there was a chance that he would never come back, but Tianming didn't feel afraid for some reason. Deep down, he knew the scale wouldn't harm him.

As expected, when he was less than a meter from the lake's surface, the scale no longer moved. By then, the sword had pierced part of the way into the surface, with half of the scale entering the plane of origin. The lakewater began flooding toward it as it continued shining bright light into its waters. Tianming was floating in mid-air, holding his sword. Then he looked up and stared at the surface of the lake with both his eyes and the third eye on his hand, only to notice that the projection of that person was still in the lake. In fact, it began looking clearer and clearer as more light poured in. He vaguely heard the cries of dragons coming from the five gigantic dragons that flew behind that person, so close yet so far, as if they were in a completely different world. That figure had barged its way into Tianming's vision like a heavy hammer.

"Ninedragon Emperor!" It was actually him! There was a horn on his forehead that looked like the Saintdragon Emperor's and his limbs had turned into dragons, all of them sporting dragon heads. The four dragons on his body and the five dragon lifebound beasts were why he was called the Ninedragon Emperor. The most eye-catching part was his perfect and sculpted physique, clear to see from his unclad form. Even his manhood was shaped like a small dragon, seemingly pointing at Tianming and grinning. It wouldn't be wrong to call him the Tendragon Emperor instead.

"Is he still alive?" Tianming could see the Ninedragon Emperor seemingly swimming around in the lake with his arms wide open. However, he knew that no matter how lifelike he looked, the other corpses in Primodragon Cave were just as lifelike. That didn't change the fact that they were still dead… yet the smile on the Ninedragon Emperor's face gave him the chills.

"Emperor!" Tianming couldn't help but call out. The legendary figure almost seemed to be looking straight at Tianming. The five dragons behind him seemed to be coming toward Tianming. Soon, the lake began rippling. Tianming widened his eyes as the man himself turned into four dragons to join the five. Apparitions of nine dragons came flying out of the lake and entered the nine-colored scale. Tianming wasn't sure if they were ethereal spiritforms or corporeal bodies, but at the very least, he knew that the caelum of the Ninedragon Emperor still remained in the hands of the Veildragon Palace.

After a short while, the dragons completely disappeared into the scale. Now it shone with a different light as it slowly came out of the lake with the sword, returning to normal. Tianming also fell back to the ground. Everything had happened so quickly that none of them could react to it. When they looked up again, the lake surface above them was so still that it looked like a reflective mirror again. Not a single ripple was left and the cave was as quiet as it had been before.

"Tianming?" The others came running toward him as he found his footing, still rather shocked. They saw that the nine-colored scale on the sword had seemingly flipped over. Having absorbed something from the lake and changed, its surface was now slightly rippled and it was far smaller than before. Tianming could vaguely see the Ninedragon Emperor's apparition within it, as if that being had returned to the scale.

"What in the world is this? A caelum? Or could it be the vita or terra, or maybe something else?" One thing was for sure: that was no corporeal body. It looked like a kind of soul, but what kind? Even the other Dragon Imperials had no idea. "Perhaps it's something the Ninedragon Emperor left in the plane of origin… or maybe he himself turned into that thing," Tianming guessed.

"That could be it. Whatever the case may be, the Ninedragon Emperor passed away eons ago. It's impossible for him to come back to life," the Saintdragon Emperor said. They looked up again at the silent lake surface. Nothing else happened; it was all over.

"How do you feel, Tianming? Did the Ninedragon Emperor give you something? Can you sense any changes?" Long Wanying asked.

"Let me try." Tianming looked closely at the Grand-Orient Sword.