Beastmaster of the Ages

”It’s fine. If they dare to hurt you, I’ll flick their balls,” Tianming reassured the newly born member of their merry band.

”Do you swear?” Ji Ji said, fully serious.

”Yes. I swear.”

”If you don’t do it, you must crush your own balls.”

Tianming and Feiling broke out laughing. Did Ji Ji even know what balls were? Though, with Tianming’s promise, Ji Ji turned to look warily at Ying Huo and the rest. Its true form was the pink star hanging above them. It suddenly fell toward Ying Huo and the rest, then split into five. The five parts split into tens of millions of small pink balls of energy. Ying Huo and the rest fearlessly let them assimilate into their bodies.

”Dammit!” The next moment, all of them seemed to go insane. The Aeternal Infernal Phoenix, Genesis Chaos Thunderfiend, Primordial Terraqua Dragon, Radix World Tree, and the countless copies of the Myriadworld Immortabeast were enveloped in a pink glow, causing them to brightly shine. The glow seemed to soften their appearance, but Tianming knew that it was just a disguise. It was likely that the glow was thanks to the cyclic crystals Ji Ji had consumed to hatch. The energy in his lifebound beasts seemed to be at the bursting point. Lifebound beasts had a single astral disc that corresponded to their own element, but those were much larger than the ones within Tianming’s body, with the largest being close to three times in size. For instance, there was a single infernaldisc in every one of Ying Huo’s albi.

”Its genesis ancestral nova source turned my infernaldisc pink and fused with the energy within, creating an explosive, destructive power! It’s more than two times as potent as before!” Ying Huo said. Spiritual Attachment could greatly raise their combat capabilities, closing the gap they had with Tianming and his totems.

”Ji Ji can even absorb power from the pandemonium sacrosun.... Once that happens, it’ll be unbelievable,” Meow Meow said.

The most mysterious reaction came from Yin Chen. Even the smallest of its forms, the bonegnaw ants, could benefit from Spiritual Attachment. While the move took Ji Ji off the battle roster, it raised their group combat capability far more than simply adding a single lifebound beast could.

In other words, there’s a good chance that the Spiritual Attachment ability in Ling’er’s nail came from Ji Ji, Tianming guessed.

”Enough.” Ji Ji didn’t want to linger in their bodies for too long and reformed into a single pink star. As a nova source lifeform, it was quite similar to a storage vessel for energy. It was strong in a really unconventional way.

”What about your other ability?” Tianming asked. While the likes of Meow Meow easily had tens of abilities, he was quite satisfied that one of the two abilities of Ji Ji was already that useful. However, he still had a feeling that this astral lifeform was even more unique than he could imagine.

”The second one is called Vaporize,” Ji Ji said, her spiritform hugging Tianming’s leg.

”Vaporize?” That was another one of Feiling’s unique skills! It was the one she had used to destroy the Well of Reincarnation. In essence, it was a skill that destructively sacrificed one’s own power for a chance to counterattack.

”How does it work?” Tianming asked.

”Simple. It’s just self-destruction,” Ji Ji said, calmly looking at the pink star.

”What’s the cost?”

”Nothing much. As long as my spiritform exists and there’s enough nova source for me to absorb, I’ll be able to grow back to a level of power corresponding to your cultivation level.”

Tianming was once more impressed at how clear and concise she was, especially when contrasted against Yin Chen. She didn’t sound like a child at all, much less a newborn.

”Spiritual Attachment and Vaporize, huh? Interesting.” He exchanged glances with Feiling. No doubt, her skills definitely had something to do with this First Aeonic Ancestral Star.

”Abilities are just tricks. I have other unique aspects that properly define me,” Ji Ji said, as if it was a point of pride.

Tianming recalled that she had mentioned something about unique aspects. Yin Chen, for instance, could divide itself countless times and was basically unkillable, yet that wasn’t actually an ability. ”Let’s hear it, then.”

”Okay.” Ji Ji nodded, after which the pink star in the sky suddenly shattered, turning into a sea of pink stars. The concentration of light was dense at some parts and sparse at others.

”What’s this?” Tianming asked, shocked.

”A starmap of our nearby vicinity. I can sense the locations of all nearby nova source worlds. The brighter ones can either be larger worlds or ones without fusion formations binding and regulating their nova source, in other words, they’re newborn and undiscovered nova source worlds.”

”Holy crap!” Tianming hadn’t imagined something like that would even be possible. ”Is... is this for real?”

”We’re here.” Ji Ji pointed at the easternmost part of the pink sea, where there were few nova source worlds.

This was on a whole other level. Yin Chen was useful in a war within a single world, whereas the First Aeonic Ancestral Star was perfect for conflicts spanning wider regions in the astralscape! Ji Ji came with its own super star map, which could also be used to discover newly formed nova source worlds, treasures that countless races in the astralscape intensely desired. Ji Ji’s hatching had pointed the way for Tianming’s future goals!

”You’re amazing, my dear Ji Ji!” Ying Huo said, laughing.

Ji Ji merely rolled its eyes at Ying Huo, causing it to awkwardly laugh.

”I didn’t think that even the mighty Chicken Bro would fall. The world is changing,” Meow Meow said. While their youngest sibling was rather weird, they weren’t too worried. Yin Chen was eccentric in its own way as well, yet they were able to integrate it well.

”What about your second unique aspect?” Tianming asked, still reeling from the shock.

”The second....” Ji Ji turned to the platinum-gold-violet-colored sun nearby and said, ”I can fuse with nova source worlds. As long as I’m inside, I can convert that energy into genesis ancestral nova source. In other words, whenever I use Spiritual Attachment on that star, its nova source output would be doubled.”

”Doubled? Wouldn’t that push the sun up to par with a skypiercer-class world? Can it also affect the astralguard formation?”

”Yes.”

”What about miniaturized nova sources for divine astralships?”

”That works, too, as long as they’re converted to genesis ancestral nova source.”

Tianming almost forgot to breathe. Ji Ji’s growth was limited by his cultivation level, so it couldn’t just absorb nova source nonstop to power itself up. However, it could change existing nova source worlds! It could speed up the transformation of the sun, possibly bringing it back up to the level of the Flameyellow Imperial Star one day. It might even entirely replace the sun in the future, becoming a base for him and his dynasty in the truest sense! The First Aeonic Ancestral Star was a nova source world that didn’t need a fusion formation, but could still exist in stable form and make changes according to his wishes!

”I’m going in,” Ji Ji’s spiritform said, then the pink star fell toward the sun.

”Godfather, let it in!” Tianming relayed through Yin Chen.

”Alright my... son I... got it....” came the reply.

”Hey, don’t sneak a bite out of me!” Tianming said, glaring at Xian Xian.

”Stupid Tianming.... You’re so nice to Ji Ji but so mean to me. You have a new favorite and forgot me altogether!” Xian Xian said, pouting.

”Sheesh, here’s some snacks.” No matter how much Xian Xian grumbled, it would always calm down after having a sumptuous, meaty meal.

By then, the First Aeonic Ancestral Star had fallen through the flaming cloud layer and straight into the fusion formation through a path Tianming had opened up for it. It reached the nova source of the sun, which had four separate sections. The first was the flame-type source that the original sun had, which made it the main source. The second was the frost-type source from Skywolf Frost. The third was the platinum flame of Skywolf Blaze, and the fourth was Violetglory’s unique nova source. The four types existed separately and didn’t mix. However, when the pink star sunk into the mix of the four sources, pink spread throughout all of them like ink in water, coloring the entire sun pink.

”What in the world?!” There truly was no sight like this. From space, Tianming and the rest had an even clearer view. Ji Ji was but a speck of dust in comparison to the sun’s size, but it was able to completely change the entire sun’s color. Then the different types of nova source turned into genesis ancestral nova source before permeating the entire world! The flaming clouds above turned pink like the world around it, much to the shock of the sun’s inhabitants.

”This energy seems easier to absorb and convert! And it’s even stronger!” Many began noticing the difference.

”In other words, while the sun isn’t as large as skypiercer-class worlds, yet, its cultivation resources and astralguard formations are definitely on par! With Ji Ji here, it could also turn back into an imperial-class world one day!” All of them were full of praise for Ji Ji.

”That’s badass....”

”Hmph!” Ji Ji’s spiritform shook its head, causing its hair to swish as it continued nestling in Tianming’s embrace. Tianming could feel it. The time was nigh. He stretched out his hand and held Feiling by the waist. He still didn’t know what state she was in after undergoing Perpetual Nirvana a second time.

”Come. Let me continue studying your secrets!” he said with a smirk.