Beastmaster of the Ages

The people that were allowed to fight in the Astraldome were all heroes or heroines in their respective worlds. Yet Tianming had easily qualified in his first attempt, as many others had predicted. However, the fact that he had bulldozed nine opponents all at once to forge a path to the Tranquil Battlefield was something that stoked the hearts of those of the Violetglory Star. Many young cultivators were now looking at Tianming as their idol. Billions of them cheered for him, whether they were watching the match from within or outside the wondersky realm.

Glory was a simple, yet grandiose word. The denizens of the star hoped that the one who represented them would forge a famous reputation across the rest of the stars and spread their name. Unlike Ye Chen, who'd fought without choosing to publicize his fights in the beginning, Tianming's first performance had shown everyone what he was made of, earning him quite a lot of support in the imperium.

This would be the first step he had to take if he were to take over this astral world and forge a brand new dynasty, becoming the next Primordial God-Emperor. Even in his caelum form, Tianming could feel the support and faith of all those people nourishing his Imperial Will, allowing it to grow and change. His reputation would only improve now that he had access to the Astraldome; he looked forward to his future fights in this domain.

......

Near a lake in the wondersky realm, Princess Shen Yu watched the entire one-on-nine fight without looking away. Even after the fight ended, her gaze didn't move in the slightest. It was only after a while that she realized that a man in black stood beside her.

"Uncle, why have you come?" she awkwardly asked.

"I've been watching for quite a while with you. You only just noticed me?" said the Minister Supreme.

"She was so immersed in the shining youth that she didn't notice old bones like you," said Da Huang, who was in the minister's palm.

"Uncle Da Huang, surely you jest," Princess Shen Yu said, shaking her head.

"Jokes aside, now you understand, right? You hedged your bets a little too early. That was the risk you took. It's a shame that you no longer stand a chance. If I were Li Tianming, I wouldn't be interested in Ye Chen's Wanwan," said the Minister Supreme without holding back.

"Uncle, you underestimate me. Since I chose Ye Chen, I'll commit to that decision for the rest of my life."

"Since that's the case, you'd better be ready to treat Li Tianming as your biggest enemy for the rest of your life. Don't hold out any hope for him."

"Understood." Though she said that, it was actually quite hard to do. Tianming's nonstop impressive performances had shaken her time and again. It was as if Tianming was warning everyone who watched him that going against him was a bad idea. Yet their Divineglory Dynasty was the Violetcloud Imperium's nemesis. Nobody on either side could back off from the conflict.

A light flashed as a white-clothed youth entered the pavilion. Seeing the two of them, he smiled and said, "What're you two talking about?"

"We just watched Li Tianming's fight. He's about to enter the Tranquil Battlefield. Do you want to ponder it together with us?" asked the Minister Supreme.

"Him, eh?" The youth's face visibly changed. "Let's do it."

......

Countless worlds shook from the defeat of the nine talented women. Light emerged from beneath Tianming's feet and enveloped him, sending him into a sea of stars. His caelum was dragged further and further away.

"I'm finally going to the Tranquil Battlefield!" He mentally prepared himself for the new challenge. The starlight around him continued flowing as it pushed him along. He felt like he was riding down a giant slide, accelerating faster and faster until his surroundings blurred. "How exciting!"

Piercing green light surrounded him as he neared his destination. "It feels like I crossed countless distances with just a single slide."

No doubt, the Astraldome was located incredibly far away. The green light intensified more and more and swallowed him up as he continued sliding along. Then, all of a sudden, his body felt lighter. The colors around him abruptly vanished, leaving him in a world of dead silence. It felt like he had stopped abruptly in a void. This was the xenomemory space!

Looking around the place that absorbed the memories of caeli, the world around him twisted and shifted. He saw Ying Huo with more than one head, appearing and vanishing like the wind. He also saw quite a few weird symbols and diagrams that were shaped like some kind of lifeform with eerie smiles. Fortunately, he was only here in his caelum form and could leave at any time, because staying in this place for long would make anyone go mad.

"Where in the world is the Astraldome?" Far beneath him, he spotted the cold, green light. "Whoa...." He couldn't help but gasp in awe as he saw a dreamlike body of green beneath him. It looked like a round pebble that kept enlarging as he approached, falling into it. When he was close enough, he noticed that it was no pebble, but rather a shell. Based on its size, it seemed hundreds of times larger than the Violetglory Star's wondersky realm.

The shell was open, like two halves of a wide sky. Green light came from within and sucked Tianming into it.

"Violetglory Disciple Li Tianming, welcome to the Tranquil Battlefield of the divine wondersky race," said a voice near his head. He felt like the clamshell was a gigantic beast that had swallowed him. The asphyxiating sensation of death felt unbearably real to him. He recalled seeing the butterfly world of his hometown's wondersky realm getting hurt in the xenomemory space. Back then, the butterfly had looked like a lifeform as well.

The Tranquil Battlefield was about a hundred times the size of that butterfly, and its open shell looked like the gigantic mouth of a whale that could swallow up countless plankton. Each part of the open shell looked like a sky in itself. It almost looked like it could swallow up the entire Violetglory Star. Fortunately, the sensation didn't last long. The next instant, he finally arrived in this different wondersky realm.