Beastmaster of the Ages

"Moon Guide, Moon Guide, we're here! This should be it!" said the girl, her eyes filled with wonder as she looked down on the continent beneath her.

"That's right. This is Welkin continent number one, the mortal world with the longest history. It's named Flameyellow," said a middle-aged man.

"Moon Guide, the night demon that was exiled to the xenomemory space came from here, right?" asked the youth on the left.

"Yes," the middle-aged man called the moon guide said. He looked at Taiji Peak Lake and said, "The transmission stone's signal came from here. Let's go down. I believe it has something to do with the incident that happened two hundred thousand years ago."

They began descending toward Taiji Peak Lake.

"Moon Guide, I heard the lifeforms of the mortal world are uncivilized natives that don't bathe, don't cook, and hate cleanliness. Is that true?" the young girl asked with a look full of curiosity. Even though none of them had wanted to come here, she realized that the place was prettier than she’d thought upon first inspection.

"You mean to say they're savages, right Huiye Shi?" said the youth.

"You're showing off again! You think you're so cultured, eh? Stupid Huiyue Yin!"

"Shut up. Don't talk to your elder brother like that."

......

It was noon. Despite the fact that everyone was still reeling from the shock from the Ninefold Hell's descent, word of Tianming and Feiling being an item had still managed to stun everyone. Tianming had to state that he wasn't the reincarnation of Great Emperor Xuanyuan to calm some concerns. After all, it wouldn't do for one distant ancestor to be in a relationship with another distant ancestor. Either way, the two of them could now spend time together without having to go out of their way to hide from the eyes of others.

Just as he had Feiling start helping Xuanyuan Dao recover his saint palace, a voice rang out from above Taiji Peak Lake. "Humans of Flameyellow, come forth. Who was the one that used the transmission stone?"

Tianming's body shook; the people from the Divine Moon Realm were here! "It's fine, I'll go alone."

He could see three people in the clouds, hovering like gods. Since they wouldn't come all the way down, he had to go up and welcome them personally. Great Emperor Xuanyuan had instructed him to not offend them. Plus, he needed to rely on them to deal with the Ninefold Hell. Not to mention, the fact that they were from the Divine Moon Realm meant that they knew far more than he did.

As such, he went to them with the utmost respect. One look and he had an idea. Among the three, he sensed a strange power that he didn't recognize coming from the two men, a kind of power that seemed to be out of the bounds of the world of the Flameyellow Continent. They seemed eternal and free, like they had ascended to the heavens! Their existence was fundamentally different from that of normal samsarans. In other words, these two were probably ascendants, gods in the eyes of those on the Flameyellow Continent.

It's no wonder they’re considered gods. The gap between them and samsarans is far wider than the gap between saints and Heavenly Will cultivators. It's a whole different league, like they’re higher lifeforms. It's like the Samsara stage is an extension of the Saint stages, but ascendants are even far above that!

Only the girl next to them that looked to be around his age was still a samsaran, yet her power was different from his own. If Tianming had to guess, her naturally bountiful power was the result of absorbing stellunar source.

Respectfully, Tianming said, "Honored ones from the Divine Moon Realm, this humble Li Tianming greets you."

As he rose to them, the three seemed a little surprised.

"Hey, look up," said the girl. Tianming did as she was told. "Your hair color.... Are you one of the divine moonrace like us? No, you don't have a divine moon stigma."

There was a crescent moon between the eyes of the three of them. That was probably what she was talking about.

"You look rather young, too. How old are you?" asked the girl.

"I'm twenty-three," Tianming replied. The three of them immediately exchanged odd glances.

"Stop lying. Nobody would believe you're five years younger than me! You’re already a twelfth-level life samsaran, right? Are you saying you're more talented than me?" The girl circled around him and even sniffed him. "Huiyue Yin, he's clean! He looks decent, too! Is he really a lowborn native?"

"Enough. Stop talking and move aside." Huiyue Yin also gave Tianming a couple more looks.

At that moment, the moon guide came to Tianming and looked him up and down. "Can you be the one representing the Flameyellow Continent?"

"Yes. I’m the one who calls the shots here," Tianming said, humbling himself by lowering his head.

"I didn't think that you people would have the ability to even hide your age. However, this won't work in the Divine Moon Realm. No matter what secret art you're using, you won't be able to fool the age test," the man said calmly. Interestingly, they were talking about Tianming's shocking age rather than the Ninefold Hell.

"Understood!" Tianming didn't even bother to retort.

"Oh, you prideful little prick, how dare you lie to me?" Huiye Shi snapped. She had almost believed he was really twenty-three.

"Senior, I wonder how I should address you?" Tianming said, wanting to cut to the chase.

"Exalted One should suffice," said the man.

"Understood, Exalted One." Unsurprisingly, they were quite particular about their status.

"Now, tell me about what happened."

Tianming quickly briefed them about the Ninefold Hell.

"So they ran to the realm of chaos, eh? Alright, I’ll head there and talk with them." The middle-aged man immediately made a decision. It seemed that he was going to help the Flameyellow Continent, but what was this about a talk? Weren't they going to fight?

"Exalted One, the specters are a savage race. They might not accept negotiation," Tianming said.

"Just lead the way and shut up," said the man.

Hearing that, Huiye Shi couldn't hold it in. "Are you an idiot? If those criminals dare to go against the Divine Moon Realm, they're asking for death! The files state that they were rather powerful two hundred thousand years ago, and even dared to provoke us. But now that they've been sealed by the Cauldron of Order for all this time, they’re weak. The fact that they went into hiding in the realm of chaos means that they're waiting for us to deal with them there."

Was it that simple? It sounded a little too fantastical to Tianming, but he had a feeling that wouldn’t be all there was to it. He didn't say too much and continued leading them through an entryway into the Abyssal Battlefield. Blood and chaos could be seen all over the place as the specters ravenously consumed the wildbeasts.

"Wow, now this is savage. You look just like a normal person over here. Come to think of it, how old are you?" Huiye Shi asked, wide eyed with curiosity.

"I'm... uh... three hundred," Tianming said.

"So you’re an old fart! I wanna puke! And to think I thought you were rather handsome... Why didn't you say that to start with? Let me see if your face has wrinkles!" She reached out to grab his face, but he avoided it. "How dare you avoid me?"

Tianming was feeling the onset of a headache. Couldn't the people from the Divine Moon Realm be more serious?

"Whatever. I wouldn't wanna touch you anyway." She ignored Tianming and began looking around. "Come to think of it, even though this place really is starved of the power of stellunar source, it’s still huge. But it isn’t as dense as the Divine Moon Realm."

They immediately headed toward the Ninefold Hell without needing Tianming to lead the way. Inside, it was completely silent. After some time, a bald man dressed in white silently descended. It took only one look for Tianming to recognize him as the 'overlord'.

Even with a veil, he still resembled Ye Bodhi. It was hard to imagine how a pale and tragic-looking man like him was the ruler of the specters. His expression was fraught with worry and confusion, and it was really hard to tell what he was thinking. Even though he appeared completely harmless, Tianming was automatically wary of him.

He would never forget how much the specters hated him when he accidentally entered the Ninefold Hell the last time. However, this overlord seemed to completely ignore Tianming, as if he hadn't noticed him. Unsurprisingly, the power of an ascendant was wafting off him. While his cultivation level was obvious, it was still clear that he was in a weakened state. It appeared that the specters were rather malnourished after all. Both his physical abilities and cultivation seemed to not be at their peak, though he still wasn't someone that Tianming could take on. The reason they hadn’t immediately wiped out the human race was because they knew that envoys from the Divine Moon Realm would come. Not to mention, now that they were free, they had more than enough time for vengeance.

"What’s your name?" the moon guide asked, looking down from high up.

"Bodhi," said the bald man. It appeared that it was a name that indicated some kind of elite status among the specters.

"Alright, listen up." The man unleashed his power, applying pressure on Overlord Bodhi, visibly caving in some parts of his body. "Kneel."

"Understood."

What was most shocking to Tianming was that Bodhi actually knelt. Was the Divine Moon Realm really such a terrifying faction? Or was it just because the specters were still weak after their long hibernation? If that was the case, Great Emperor Xuanyuan would never have had to be so worried about their return. It seemed he really had no idea how it would turn out two hundred millennia later. Either way, the specters were definitely incredibly powerful back in those days. That could only mean that there were more people from the Divine Moon Realm in the fight against the specters all that time ago than the murals had suggested.