Beastmaster of the Ages

"Run away?" Tianming froze. He was certain that he had heard those words. After Granny Yuan Long said them, the husk of her head completely dimmed, drained of all life. "Who's the one that said that? Was it Granny Yuan Long herself or the voidheart worm?" He believed it was the former. Dead people usually had some kind of regret that would keep their soul tethered in this world. Before long, those regrets would cause them to turn into ghosts, though they could easily be scattered into nothing.

"She asked me to run away...." Tianming shook his head with a helpless smile. He knew that this was the lair of a voidheart worm, a dangerous cosmic wildbeast. Yet there was nothing he could do about it, caught up in a struggle between the celestial orderians and Skywolf as he was.

"Thank you," he respectfully said before putting her head down on the ground. He looked at the grand white building once more and flew toward it without any hesitation. "Two of the seven members of the Sky Palace have died, and Granny Yuan Long just joined them, so that should leave only four. Why did the rest not show up?"

It was too quiet, so quiet that his breathing sounded like thunder. When he let Ying Huo and the rest out, the noise they made echoed throughout the whole area. Then Yin Chen brought him some news. "You're saying that the remaining members of the Sky Palace have already left the formation and snuck toward the Greenvoid Abyss? They're trying to take control of it?"

"Yes yes!" Yin Chen said.

The death of Sovereign Greenvoid had stemmed from an accident. What followed was the capture of a divine astralship from Sykwolf. While the formation core of the ship was with Sovereign Greenvoid, the sun emperor couldn't pilot it without the bloodline or techniques of a skywolf. Had he been able to, he would have brought it to stop the other divine astralship.

The Greenvoid Abyss was still near the Myriaddragon Mountains. The celestial orderians seemed intent on stopping the trouble brewing at home first before taking care of this divine astralship. They weren't worried that anyone else would be able to pilot it right now, after all. Eventually, they would be able to crack its code and commandeer it for themselves. Such a thing was possible, much in the same vein as the celestial orderian elders forging a backup core for the Divine Sun Palace. Ingenuity was part of the human spirit, after all.

As for the voidheart worm, it didn't dare to directly take action itself. Instead, it sent the four Sky Palace members to steal the ship. It wasn't a bad plan, as the voidheart worm was part of the Voidsky Organization, after all, so it probably had ways to pilot the divine astralship. It was the perfect time, since the sun emperor would be busy for the foreseeable future.

"But they... forgot about... the other... sun emperor... at the... Greenvoid Abyss," Yin Chen said.

"Are you talking about my godfather?" Tianming didn't think that the red-haired sun emperor would remain within the Greenvoid Abyss. Perhaps he should use this chance to approach him? While it seemed unlikely that Li Wudi was still himself, Tianming still wanted to know what the deal was between him and the sun emperor. "Are they fighting now?"

"A fight... is ongoing."

Since he wasn't planning to return, there was no need to overthink what was happening there. "With those four gone, it's even better." Within the formation, it was just him and the voidheart worm. Where in the world could it be hiding? He recalled the platform he had seen the last time he was there. "Let's go!"

With the Greenspark Tower healing him and his carefree wonder containing the negative energies within his body, he had more or less recovered. His current constitution wasn't that far off from a mysterian that had used their face reveal.

He entered the grand hall together with Ying Huo. Pushing the doors open, he saw that the inside looked like it hadn't been inhabited for a long time. A lot of pale dust flew around the place, and the air he breathed felt dry and musty. Even the ground was covered by the ash-like substance. One would mistake it for snow if they didn't look closely enough. However, unlike snow that clumped together, these particles were fine, but distinct. The air Tianming displaced by walking around was enough to disturb the dust.

He continued walking through the silent, seemingly abandoned hall.

"There!" He spotted a snow-white platform not long after. The last time he was there, the platform had appeared pure white and shone like some kind of crystal. But now it was covered in dust, making it look somewhat fuzzy. The seven seniors of the Sky Palace had tested Tianming and Yu Ziqian from that platform. Back then, the two of them had been forbidden from even stepping upon the platform. While things seemed to remain the same, the people from before were completely gone.

Tianming didn't feel any sentimentality for what had been lost. Holding the Godsin in his hand and having his lifebound beasts prepare, he was ready to strike at any moment. His totems were armed within his bane-rings and his prime wonder could manifest at any moment to protect his beasts. He proceeded with full alertness, looking forward and back while having Ying Huo look around his flanks.

Beneath his feet, silver spiders spread out to the surroundings. The colliding Yin Chens produced a metallic clacking sound. The silver spiders went all over the place, disturbing the ash-like substance as they went. The hall was now almost a little foggy thanks to the powder that kept falling all over them. Some even pooled up on the manifestation of the Prime Tower.

Tianming quickened his pace and ascended the platform. Soon, he charged into a fog of white. He noticed that the fog was formed by dust, yet it seemed far denser. If it weren’t for his prime wonder protecting him, he would be covered in the dust in no time. Oddly, he seemed to be scaling the stairs up the platform even though it should only take him a few steps. Perhaps he was already under the influence of some kind of illusory formation. Not to mention, the dust that covered the ground had piled up to ten centimeters deep. Stepping in it felt like stepping in manure, simply disgusting. He didn't want to do so anymore, so chose to fly up the platform instead. He flew even faster, but the fog in the air seemed like a cotton sponge that kept him from advancing very far.

"What in the world is this?" He pinched a handful of the cotton-like substance and kneaded it in his hands. After that, it turned into a pungent white liquid.

"Don't tell me this is wormshit.... It's all over the place," Ying Huo said.

"Keep the gross thoughts to yourself," Tianming said.

"Hey, that isn’t gross. My Bug Bro is the king of bugs. Ask it."

Tianming turned to Yin Chen.

"Perhaps so... maybe yes... should be."

"Sheesh, shut up if you have nothing to contribute!"

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"No you... shut up!" Despite speaking in what seemed like stutters, Yin Chen didn't hold back when it came to arguing.

Yin Chen didn't seem like a normal insect, either, so the voidheart worm and Yin Chen might not even belong in the same category. Tianming put that thought aside and had Ying Huo use Infernal Armor on him. The crimson and black flames around him helped burn away the substance in the air. Using it and the prime wonder to clear a path, he quickly made his way ahead.

"We already climbed for so long, yet we're not at the end. The height of that platform feels like it might be tens of times the height of the entire hall. Won't we bump into the Sky Palace Formation if we keep going?" So far, Tianming had noticed nothing else apart from the dust on the steps and the cotton around him getting thicker.