Beastmaster of the Ages

"Is that the reason you stopped here?" Feiling asked, her nails and face basking in the light, making her even more enchanting.

"Of course. Naturally, we started off without a destination in mind. Sigh...." This was easily the most lost he had felt. Even though he was roaming the endless universe, he didn't have a fixed goal apart from wanting to leave Orderia. But even now, he couldn't be sure how far away he was from it. When would he be able to go back and save Li Wudi, who had risked his life for their escape?

"Don't worry. We'll find our way sooner or later. Let's make your first goal finding more about the Prime Tower's secrets for now." She hugged his waist and plastered her head against his chest. Her cute, googly eyes made Tianming's blood boil.

"You're mistaken. That's not my first goal," he said seriously, putting away the Prime Tower.

"What is it, then?"

He pinched her on the cheek and said, "It's been a month since you were reborn. You're larger and taller now... and curvier.... In five more months, you'll be adult sized. That's my first goal."

"You rascal!" someone shrieked. It wasn't Feiling, but rather Ying Huo, who was pointing a wing at Tianming and had its other wing on its waist.

"It's none of your business," Tianming said, glaring at it.

Feiling's face was flushed red. "Why are you in so much of a rush...." Her embarrassment just added more extra spice. Everything smelled good with her simply being by his side.

"Haha, I'm just joking. I really did come to check on the Prime Tower. Even though this world collapsed, it's still a nova source world, the second one we've seen since the sun. Let's see what kind of wonders are on it."

Gradually, they approached the flower of the universe, growing more and more fascinated as they approached.

......

The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was so large that Qingyu, Lingfeng, and Xiaoxiao didn't spend time in the same area. Lingfeng was still recovering and Qingyu was caring for him. Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, was cultivating somewhere else. Since Tianming had left, the Archaionfiend had returned to its lifebound space. In the darkness, Xiaoxiao was sweating with bloody veins appearing on her body, a sign that she had consumed too many caeli.

"How are you feeling? Those two lovebirds are there and you're alone," the Archaionfiend said.

"I'm fine," Xiaoxiao said.

"Even if you're fine with it, they might think you're in the way. Hehe...."

"They won't. Not to mention, why are you even bringing this up? Are they in the way of your schemes?"

"I'm just thinking that they'll limit your growth potential."

"Wu You, stop this already. Don't think that just because we're away from Orderia that you'll be able to escape their control. I know they haven't used the Bloodrose Curse for a long time now, but it's still there."

"Fine!" it nonchalantly said. "I'm just saying. One day, you'll want to leave. You're an extra here. Nobody but me truly cares for you."

"Shut up." She continued focusing on her cultivation.

......

Starlight continued brightly shining against their faces. Tianming and Feiling had finally reached the stamen of the flower. "The Archaionfiend said that after the nova source world collapsed into a saint spring structure, the nova source storms here can potentially damage us like the forces of a normal nova source world's core would damage a mortal's body. That's why the flowery parts that we're able to see are basically uninhabited."

It was like an inversion of a normal world. Normal worlds had their uninhabitable parts surrounded by their surfaces, while the habitable parts of astral holes were surrounded by hazards instead.

"Then where can people live around here?" Feiling asked.

"There!" Tianming pointed at the center of the flower. There was a small black-colored hole that seemed to be the quietest part of the world. "A saint spring structure is like a storm, and every storm has an eye where things are shockingly tranquil. That would be its center."

In a sense, this world was like a storm but on a much larger scale. It continued endlessly spinning and moving in the astralscape, occasionally tearing into other stars it came in contact with, and even then, the center was still quiet and tranquil. As such, any survivors of the apocalypse would be located there.

"We're at the top of the storm now. From here, the eye looks like a circle, but it's actually a cylinder."

"That sounds complicated," Feiling said.

"Let's see for ourselves!" Tianming was already awestruck by all the amazing things he had seen in the astralscape. That was the charm of roaming the stars. As he spoke, he brought her toward the eye of the storm. It was the safest place, despite looking the most dangerous. The closer they came, the larger the eye seemed. Tianming believed that the volume was probably less than a twentieth that of Orderia's, but that was already large enough. It got louder and louder, thanks to forces of increasing intensity that pulled them in all directions. Losing control and being flung into dangerous areas would see them torn to shreds in an instant.

"Looks like it'll be hard to fight the world with our bodies alone." He was reminded of how Ying Huo and the rest could even devour stars in his dreams; it made them seem far more impressive than before. "Hold tight!"

Ying Huo returned to his lifebound space in fear of its hairstyle being messed up as Feiling tightly hugged Tianming.