Beastmaster of the Ages

”Ling’er, listen to me.... You only have a thousand merit points, you see, so spend it carefully. Leave some for me,” Tianming said, clearing his throat.

”Alright, I’ll give you ten points. That should be enough as your allowance,” she said.”Huh?””Isn’t ten merit points enough? They’re mine, you know!”

Tianming turned to Xiaoxiao and Moran.”Wow, the weather sure is nice.”

”That’s right.”

They turned away from him and kept discussing the weather, looking at the sky above.

”Dammit, I still have to earn them myself! Women are such a pain....” Sponging off women wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

They had come to the corporation to pick out myriadstar manna. Lin Dan brought them around the block through the nine zones. Every single zone had a shop that sold manna. Tianming glanced around and noticed that some of the manna were only represented by display replicas. The real ones were probably sealed up in some vault somewhere, and considering that some were worth millions of merit points, one could only imagine how terrifying their effects were.

”I’m so broke....” He felt a stinging jealousy when he looked at his merit points.

”How big!”

”Beautiful!”

”That one’s pretty!”

Tianming watched as Feiling and the rest’s eyes darted from one product to another. Needless to say, much of it was thanks to the Lin Clan’s business acumen. The divine artifacts they wrought had been fashioned into accessories and clothes that excelled in both form and function. There were far too many enticing things to choose from! Not to mention, all kinds of divine herbs had been made into delicacies and fine wines whose fragrance wafted all throughout the place. There were even interior decorative pieces for mini ships being sold there. The girls could definitely afford to make a completely pink area within Tianming’s ship with the decorations in any of the shops they passed.

There were also many utility items sold there, like spatial necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings. It was a shame that they didn’t sell pleasure balls. That aside, anything one could imagine, they could probably find on the shelves of the Lin Clan’s shops with a corresponding price tag to match their effects. The volume of sales was nothing to scoff at, either.

”No matter how high one’s cultivation grows, people are still people, huh...” Tianming said.

”Keep up!” Feiling kept urging him to pick out his manna because she couldn’t resist leaving to shop.

”Alright.” He spent some time picking out six myriadstar manna as they impatiently urged him on. Every one of them was perfect for one of his beasts. That was no difficult task, for there were millions of myriadstar manna in the second branch’s section alone. Right as Tianming finished choosing them, the girls chased him back to the ship and had him wait there.

”Hey, you all don’t have that many merit points! Don’t go wild with the spending!” Tianming reminded them.

”It’s none of your business!”

The three vanished right afterward, leaving only Tianming, Lin Dan, and Dongshen Yue in their wake.

”I’ll go watch over them!” Lin Dan immediately slipped away.

”Ahh... I feel pathetic.... What should I do, Grandma? I only get fifty merit points a month! That isn’t enough to feed my family!” Tianming said.

”Then earn more!”

Before Tianming were bags filled with the best myriadstar manna, all of them well preserved. His lifebound beasts had been clamoring for a taste for quite a while. He opened one bag after another. There was a Phoenix Nirvana Tree for Ying Huo, a Hornet Boltpool for Meow Meow, a Mountsea Bipolar Star for Lan Huang, a Spring of Life for Xian Xian, a Galactic Torrent for Yin Chen, and an Eternal Gravstar Sands for Ji Ji. From their names alone, it was clear that the manna had terrifying effects.

”Universal manna are independent from fundamental cosmic forces and order.... They’re some kind of chaotic objects that naturally manifest in the world with secrets no person can discover....”

”Enough prattling and let me eat it!” Ying Huo and the rest could no longer wait. One after the other, they came out and claimed their manna before disappearing back into the lifebound space like thieves.

”Those little ones are quite delightful,” Dongshen Yue said.

”Huh, you’d better not count on them. I’m the impressive one, having to pull the weight of those six with me while I forge ahead!”

The old woman rolled her eyes and sighed. Tianming kept paying attention to the lifebound space. So far, his lifebound space had grown pretty huge. It looked like a vast wasteland, with ample space for each beast to make its own territory.

”Huh? Why’re there cocoons?” he said, surprised. He saw Ying Huo swallow the manna, spread its wings, and wrap itself within them like a ball. Then flames burned around the sphere, forming a gigantic, flaming cocoon covered in countless ancient red-and-black patterns. Amidst the gaps of the patterns were many fiery red stars, just like the suns the Aeternal Infernal Phoenix consumed in the dreamscape.

Meow Meow had its own lightning cocoon that was half white, half black, and covered in lightning. Lan Huang’s cocoon was the largest, the lower part looking like a mountain and the upper part resembling a great sea. It looked as large as a planet. Xian Xian, Yin Chen, and Ji Ji all had cocoons that corresponded to their own unique aspects as well.

”Huh? Did they all turn back into eggs?” Tianming tried to communicate with them, only to find that there wasn’t any connection at all—they had entered some kind of hibernation stage. However, he could feel their bloodline thickening more and more. They were becoming closer and closer to their dreamscape forms.

”That’s normal. Myriadstar manna are used to forge myriadstar beasts! Lifebound beasts live symbiotically with us and they have souls of different phases, even caeli. As they cultivate, their own bodies are also transforming into universes! After achieving ten thousand stars, their physical bodies morph into a high-level spiritform when there’s no order, preparing them for the Order stage. Lifebound beasts undergoing that process transform quite a bit to adapt to the astralscape even better,” Dongshen Yue said.

”I see....” In other words, even normal lifebound beasts would transform on a fundamental level, let alone Primordial Chaos Beasts. No doubt unlocking those bloodline chains would bring even more surprises.

”However, these transformations seem like they’ll take quite some time....” Back then, his lifebound beasts hadn’t needed too long to absorb their manna.

”They’re undergoing a larger transformation, after all. The longest one I saw lasted three whole years,” Dongshen Yue said.

”Holy shit!” He hadn’t even said goodbye to them yet, but they could be sleeping for three years? How lonely would he be? Not to mention, he would be quite a bit weaker without them.

Dongshen Yue gave his head a whack at the sight of his thoughts spiraling out of control. ”Taking a long time isn’t good news, but rather likely means you didn’t pick the right manna. Usually, half a year is enough, and it can even be as fast as two or three months. It won’t delay your breakthrough to the Stellaminoris stage. Your divine will can still grow while they slumber, and perhaps you might be able to engage in symbiotic cultivation with them in the later stages of their transformations to wake them up.”

”Alright!” He had time now, after all. ”I want to go to the Swordsoul Purgatory once they evolve... Without them, my abilities are much more limited.”

”Didn’t you say you were the one who pulled all their weight?” Dongshen Yue said, rolling her eyes.

”Hahaha....”

”It’s no laughing matter.” She gave his head another knock with her staff. ”Didn’t I give you a guidebook about that place? Haven’t you read it?”

”I was fully focused on cultivation and haven’t studied it yet.”

”Give it a proper read when you get back. You’re unable to use lifebound beasts there in the first place anyway.”

”Huh? Really?”

”That’s right. The Swordsoul Purgatory is the territory of the Swordgod Lin Clan, and the ancestral guidance steles are treasures passed down over generations. To ensure that the ones that receive their legacy are mainly disciples of the clan, the ancestors devised a method. Use of external techniques aside from swordbeasts in there is forbidden.”

”So swordbeasts are allowed, but not lifebound beasts?”

”That’s right, unless yours can transform into swordbeasts and enter your sword.”

”Grandma, are you saying that even swordbeasts aren’t allowed to fight in their beast forms there either?”

”That’s right, swordbeasts aren’t allowed to manifest outside swords there.”

In other words, the better swordbeast talent a Lin Clan disciple had, the better they would perform inside the Swordsoul Purgatory. While some had six lifebound beasts, if only three of them had swordbeast talents, they would only be able to use the three swordbeasts inside the sword. That rule was meant to keep outsiders like Feiling and Tianming at a disadvantage!

”So even divine wonders and totems aren’t allowed? What about primalwings?” Tianming asked.

”All forbidden. Only your body, your sword, and swordbeasts are allowed. If you don’t have swordbeasts, you’re at a disadvantage. Not to mention, it’s a place of understanding and gaining insight. Swordbeasts can help with practicing swordsmanship, too! As a result, most outsiders have a hard time comprehending ancestral guidance steles. Thankfully, Ling’er and the others don’t use the sword or they would suffer from those restrictions!”

”I see....” Back then, he had defeated Lin Jianchen without relying on his lifebound beasts. He counted only on his prime wonder, the Grand-Orient Sword with its Flint Infernal Impulse, a fullstella battle art, and his ferocious arm. The nova source boost from the Genesis Ancestral Star had also granted him a huge boost in power. No doubt he would perform much worse without all of that and his lifebound beasts’ support, being able to fight fewer levels above than before. Thankfully, he had just broken through twice.

”It’s fine, I break through rather quickly,” he confidently said. He would focus on his swordsmanship until his beasts returned. After that, it would be just perfect.

”Fast? You’re delusional.” Down came another staff smack.

......

Half a day later, the three girls returned, elated. Seeing them so happy, Tianming lamented the fact that happiness could be bought with money after all.

”Umm... is there much left for me?”

”We used it all up, and we’re so relaxed now! Money really rots the soul, so it’s best to quickly get rid of it,” Feiling said.

Tianming felt the blow deep inside. ”Fine, I’ll go vent in the Swordsoul Purgatory!”