Beastmaster of the Ages

"Let's fight and see who wins, Yin," Tianming said.

"Come on, then. I won't lose to you, hmph! I still want to play!" Shenwu Yin replied.

"You little brat...."

"I'm not little!"

Anyone who crossed paths during the Astralium Seeking would have to fight. If Shenwu Yin could take down Tianming, she would be spared from being rednamed and have more freedom.

Tianming already had his restored Grand-Orient Sword in hand, not daring to be the slightest bit careless. His nine totems were ready as well. As he watched, the sixteen-year-old summoned hers. Tianming estimated her to be around a second-level solarian, so she definitely wasn't as powerful as Yanwu Ming or Ying. All he cared about was what kind of totems she had.

What surprised him was that the 'Shen' character on her face was actually her bane-rings—more specifically, the nine eye-like ocean vortices in it. When she moved, waves flowed out of the character and formed giants. She was indeed a nonabane, one of the most talented folks in the Mysterium Cluster. Shenwu Yin was no longer as cute and frail as she looked with her powerful oceanic totems. Nobody would think of her as just a little girl now; such power could easily reshape landscapes.

The giants were completely blue and manifested above her head. Each of the totems tails were connected to the character on her face. They looked rather burly and seemed covered in blue water snakes. Gigantic wings spread out behind them, making them look like ancient demonic gods of the seas. Even though they were limited by Shenwu Yin's own cultivation level, Tianming could feel that they were pretty high class.

"What're these totems called?"

"Gonggong watergods." Shenwu Yin wielded a water-blue staff with a huge blue gem covered in divine patterns that depicted an eye. It was likely to be a grade-eight divine artifact, something that was quite envy-inducing for a sixteen-year-old to possess.

"Gonggong watergods?" Tianming hadn't heard of a weird-sounding totem like that. The name alone sounded really ancient. At the very least, the celestial orderians didn't have anything like it. "Maybe they're totems unique to mysterians of the Wushen tribe."

The totems seemed to be connected together, each of them a sea in its own right. Shenwu Yin looked like an oceanic fairy with her scepter, being protected by burly bodyguards. She also used her sacrosun, scattering one blue jewel after another and fusing them with the gonggong watergods, making the area around her a sea. She was definitely a second-level solarian.

"Little Big Brother, are you a beastmaster or a totemancer?" she said, her voice amplified to ear-shaking magnitudes thanks to her sacrosun and totems. With there being so much noise and commotion, anyone nearby could be drawn over, so Tianming had to finish the fight quickly.

"You'll find out right away." Tianming sent his nine totems surging out of his bane-rings and struck the gonggong watergods at the same time.

"Huh? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... nine?!" Struck with disbelief, she counted them with her fingers twice. "Big Brother, you're really a nonabane?"

"Yep."

"Oh, then you must be quite famous, right? To think that I've never heard of you before... I must've been shut in for too long."

"Hey, snap out of it. I'm going to start fighting now."

"Alright!" Even Shenwu Yin had had few, if any, chances to meet fellow nonabanes of similar age, so she was quite excited. She raised her scepter to control her totems, causing them to charge toward Tianming like a tidal wave. As a water user, her movements were quite huge and elaborate. The approach of her totems seemed to shake the entire Astralium.

"This is going to catch some unwanted attention...." He had no choice but to act fast. With his totems, he executed Sixdragon Tribulation and Myriadsword Providence. Every single totem sword used the sword art with Tianming at the core.

Shenwu Yin's totems raised their fists and slammed them down, aided by her sacrosun. They used their totemic calamity, Celestial Ocean's Rage, while she used a seventh-realm divine art, Oceanic Burial Rites. Having a peak totemic calamity and one of the best divine arts in her arsenal, Shenwu Yin was no doubt an absolute genius. Tianming even felt like she had more potential than Ying and Yanwu Ming! It was far too ridiculous for a sixteen-year-old to be a second-level solarian. However, the sheer power difference, thanks to Tianming's sword body, totems, and sword formation, immediately tore through the assault and his Grand-Orient Sword pierced through the water toward Shenwu Yin.

"It'll be over in an instant, so please endure it," Tianming said.

"It's fine. Big Brother is truly strong!" She only wanted to give it a try, knowing that she wasn't his match to begin with. So she gave up resisting, letting the Myriadsword Providence tear through her body. The harsher the attack, the faster one would die and that would spare them from pain in the wondersky realm.

"Let's meet again, fate willing!"

"Likewise."

Shenwu Yin and her totems fizzled into the air, her name turning a bright white as it rose into the sky. '88th Place, Skyway Bistar, Shenwu Yin'. For a sixteen-year-old to get such a result was actually quite commendable. This had been a friendly battle, all things considered. When it was over, Tianming immediately left the vicinity as quickly as he could.

"There's still another day and a half before the redname wave finally starts...." Chaotic times were soon to begin.