Beastmaster of the Ages

"Xingzhou and I will also be rewarded by our seniors if we pass the first event. My father promised to reward me, at least!" Zhong Yirou happily said. No longer against Tianming, she put on a much more innocent and cutesy act, constantly calling him 'Brother Tianming' without batting an eyelid. But despite her personality, she was still the daughter of a sovereign. The other participants no doubt also had really high statuses, with many being princes or princesses.

"If we can count on Sister Feng and Brother Tianming to enter the Astralium Seeking, just think about the rewards we'll receive!" Zhong Yirou began daydreaming.

"Forget it. Be prepared to be eliminated in the next round," Tianming scoffed.

"You meanie! Brother Tianming, don't hold that against me for so long!" she said, tugging at his sleeve. Her personality wouldn't be so easily changed.

Eventually, they were transported to the battlefield of their third match. This would almost certainly be the final fight in the first part of the event. As they looked around the fog they were in, the atmosphere began to grow tense.

"Get yourselves together and nobody slack off. This is the final fight," Bai Feng reminded sternly.

"Got it."

"Split up and protect the astralis according to plan."

"Yeah!"

The five of them roughly positioned themselves around the astralis, alertly watching the green fog around them. Ghostly wails rang in their ears as the winds blew. The environment around them was unnerving and dark. Nobody knew who, or where, their enemies were.

"Let's hope we didn't get matched with a powerful party," Zhong Yirou said, patting her chest nervously.

"Let's not count on having as much luck as we did in the second match. The ones who're able to make it to the third match will no doubt be powerful. They must be from the core of the Mysterium Cluster. Even the weakest of them would be on the level of Kou Mingyou," Qiao Xingzhou emphasized with a clear mind.

"Alright! But it's fine. We've already done really well to make it to this point."

"We can't let our guard down. At least, Sister Feng and Brother Tianming badly want to win and go to the second event. Since they brought us all the way here, we still have to do our best to win," Qiao Xingzhou said.

"Yeah...."

The two of them noticed that they were growing more nervous. All the while, Tianming was sending Yin Chens off to scout the area. Bai Feng and the rest drew their weapons and laid in wait. Tianming closing his eyes, Tianming held his Grand-Orient Sword and mimed the seventh move of the Ninedragon Tribulation. It was a crucial move that he still only had little insight into so far. But based on how powerful Blood Transience was, it would be even more powerful.

Two hours later, Yin Chen had spread out quite far. "There's someone."

"More details. What's their party name?"

"Three people. Team Yingming."

"Yingming?" It was quite the odd-sounding name. Could it be an amalgamation of the names of two people?

Yin Chen could only see the silhouettes of the three but not their cultivation level. The three of them were still looking for their astralis and were some distance away from Tianming, so an encounter wasn't likely anytime soon.

"Are there only three of them?"

"I can't... be certain...." In other words, there was a chance that they split up.

"Sister Feng!" Tianming went to her side for the moment.

"Why're you here? What if someone comes to us from the south? You won't be there to stop them," she said, troubled.

"I have something to ask you. There's a kind of specter with a rhinoceros horn on their foreheads, but it looks to be coated in triangular, purple dragon scales. Do you know of such a group of people?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"I know all too well. They're violethorn draconians. On some level, they're related to us chalk draconians by blood. It's said that they used to be a branch clan of ours, but now they've grown powerful. Their home world, the Violethorn Star, was moved to be near Skyway Tristar. Now, they're the subjects of the faceless specters. Core members of their group are even allowed to cultivate on Skyway Tristar," Bai Feng said.

"Looks like they're rather troubling to deal with."

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you saw a violethorn draconian nearby?"

"No, I just thought about the triplets we saw at the absolute lobby," he said, feigning ignorance.

"Triplets?" I know them. Those three are indeed the most talented of the young violethorn draconians. All of them are probably slightly better than me, but we haven't actually fought before, so I can't be sure," she said with a shrug.

"I see...."

"Those three.... By the way!" She slapped her thighs and continued, "They're quite impressive. They managed to team up with Yanwu Ming from Skyway Monostar and a faceless specter of the Whitejade line from Skyway Tristar, Ying. Their party is Team Yingming, I believe. The five of them could probably rank in the top ten."

"Impressive...." Though Tianming praised them, he knew that this was a big deal. It would be incredibly hard for them to win this match.

"By the way, didn't you defeat Xiao? Ying is Xiao's elder sister," Bai Feng said.

"What a coincidence," he helplessly laughed.

"What's so coincidental?"

"Forget it." He cleared his throat and turned back to her. "Well... just be mentally prepared. I have the kind of luck that'll make me run into the people I fear running into the most. It's almost magical. Just make sure to remain calm no matter who we encounter later."

The three of them were said to be slightly stronger than Bai Feng, but that was still acceptable. The worst part of all this was that the triplets were only minions of two stronger mysterians! Xiao's sister, Ying, and Yanwu Ming from Skyway Monostar were no doubt far stronger than Bai Feng.

They're still split up for now, and I know their locations more or less, the three violethorn draconians in particular. Looks like sitting here and waiting is a losing formula. I'd better make use of Yin Chen's unique trait to launch a preemptive attack! He took a deep breath and said to Bai Feng, "Sister Feng, I want to leave for a bit."

"What for?"

"Umm... to take a piss?"

Bai Feng scowled at him. "Nonsense! There's no need to piss in the wondersky realm!"

"Fine, just think of it as me going in stealth to find their astralis!"