Beastmaster of the Ages

”It’s too dangerous for you to go alone,” Yi Zhuojun said.

”I’m fine. Even if I don’t go in, I can kill a few more of their warbeasts before they leave. For each low-sanctuary-class warbeast that dies, they’ll lose a huge chunk of their total power. Currently, only three of them have managed to preserve their fighting potential.”

Those six were kept busy trying to claim the walnuts with all their power. Tianming saw that they were moving them closer to their heads. Qi Xuanzi and Lin Jianxing had already managed to put one against their heads, pushing a part of them into their skin.

”Must we really fuse the walnuts with our heads like that?” Tianming had run too far just now, so he’d only just reached the center of the battlefield again. He jumped off Meow Meow and summoned all his lifebound beasts, charging toward the green pillar of light. The six of them definitely wouldn’t be able to assimilate the walnuts in a short period of time, so all there was to stop him were the five low-sanctuary-class warbeasts—ninevoid fiendcat included—who were without their beastmasters’ guidance. Even though one of them was incredibly powerful, Tianming still wouldn’t give up on any chance to weaken his enemies.

”So you guys couldn’t catch up with me and went for the walnuts instead? Do you think your warbeasts can protect you? Very well. Even if I can’t go inside, I can still kill your beasts. When you come out again, you’ll be helpless!” Ebons that didn’t have any warbeasts weren’t much of a threat to Tianming, who had the Soul Tower.

”Die!”

Every second counted. His lifebound beasts, divine wonders, and swords were fully unleashed, save for Meow Meow, who stayed back to protect Yi Zhuojun. As for Lin Linglin, she was still in despair and stood to the side in a daze.

”Let me help.” Dongshen Xiaoli was an orderan, and coupled with her lifebound beasts she should be able to handle the ninevoid fiendcat, which was comparable to the amethyst lizard she had faced before.

”Do they look down on me so much that they think their warbeasts alone will be able to hold me back?” Tianming smirked, but he actually misunderstood the six.

Qi Xuanzi and the other ebons were actually panicking. They were glad that they had been able to enter the pillar of light, but they didn’t know that assimilating the walnuts would take so much time—time during which they could easily be interrupted! Effectively, only those that survived the battle in the room would have the luxury of assimilating a walnut. As such, they had to stop Tianming from entering, but ebons like Cao Tama were unable to do anything to him.

Fortunately, Qi Xuanzi was confident enough in his warbeasts, especially his superfiend. It was the king of nova wildbeasts, at least those within this room, being tens of times more infamous than ninevoid fiendcats. As the young scion of the Qi Clan, that was the only warbeast that was befitting of his status. The parents of that monster were at least ether class. As it still wasn’t fully mature yet, it could continue growing and eventually reach ether class itself, with enough nova source.

Compared to other warbeasts, the superfiend was rather unique. It was a little like an albusbeast, with a comparatively small body, being even smaller than Tianming himself at a meter and a half tall. Compared to the gigantic beasts beside it, it didn’t stand out at all. Not to mention, it had a humanoid appearance.

When it had first appeared in front of Tianming, he’d thought it was some kind of cultivator. The superfiend was incredibly slender, but covered in dense black scales. It had a triangular head with red eyes and teeth, as well as two sharp spikes. There were two wings on its back and a stinger that it waved in front of Tianming. He felt quite a bit of threat coming from the cold, savage monster. Its claws, mouth, teeth, and wings could all be used as weapons; it looked exactly like a devil in human form!

It flapped its wings and scattered fiend ki as it rose into the air. As the strongest warbeast there, it immediately zeroed in on Tianming, flanked by tens of deific-class and four low-sanctuary-class warbeasts. The ninevoid fiendcat and the amethyst lizard, however, weren’t by the superfiend’s side. Instead, it was accompanied by two other gigantic low-santuary-class beasts of Qi Xuanzi’s, an eyebeast and a myriadhead hydra.

The eyebeast looked like a red eyeball that was about as big as Lan Huang. Covered in blood vessels, it seemed incredibly frightening. The myriadhead hydra, on the other hand, was a snake-like beast with ten thousand heads. It looked like it was completely tied up in countless knots. Every single head hissed, revealing venom-covered tongues. Qi Xuanzi’s main warbeasts alone were powerful enough to overwhelm Yi Zhoujun!

Tianming didn’t have time to be impressed. In almost an instant, he delegated the combat duties, choosing to take the superfiend himself. If he hadn’t, it would have been able to hold back his lifebound beasts. Ying Huo had said that the superfiend was stronger than the lizard and hydra.

Now that Yi Zhuojun had somewhat recovered, Meow Meow could also join the battle. Tianming left the amethyst lizard to Dongshen Xiaoli and the other deific-class warbeasts to Xian Xian, leaving only the eyebeast and myriadhead hydra unattended. As for the ninevoid fiendcat, it stalked around in the background, waiting for a chance to strike. Tianming had Xian Xian keep an eye on it.

”Go! Exterminate them as quickly as possible!” Lan Huang and Ying Huo would work in a group, while Meow Meow joined up with Yin Chen. The eyebeast and myriadhead hydra might be stronger than the octavein fiend, but Lan Huang and Yin Chen had help. Tianming immediately sent the prime wonder to them, intent on making his way into the green pillar as quickly as he could.

Once more, the battlefield was filled with the shockwaves of fighting and abilities. As Tianming approached the green pillar, the winged humanoid demon appeared in front of him, glaring. ”If you step forward, you’ll die!” It was a warbeast that could even speak. While it didn’t have an order, its boundless fiend ki was just as terrifying.

Tianming looked behind him and saw that Ying Huo and Lan Huang were already tearing the eyebeast to bloody chunks. Thanks to Ji Ji’s support, and their orders, the eyebeast was barely able to hold up against them as it was only as strong as Shuntian Bohan and his lifebound beasts. On the other front, Yin Chen and Meow Meow were gaining an edge on the myriadhead hydra. Half of Tianming’s prime wonder was helping them out, after all. Xian Xian, on the other hand, was adequately handling the weaker nova wildbeasts with its roots and vines. Everything was proceeding according to plan. Even if he didn’t manage to barge into the green pillar, he would still be effectively rendering his opponents unable to fight.

That would make the following engagement much easier.

Before he acted, the superfiend made its move. The creature’s flesh looked terrifyingly powerful, far surpassing that of specters. However, its true strength lay in its abilities. A black fog surrounded Tianming in an instant, blinding him. Then hundreds of thousands of superfiends appeared in front of him. It was a cloning ability called Superfiend Shadows. Each clone was just like an actual body, all of them being more corporeal than Ying Huo’s Infernal Haze clones. They weren’t mere mirages; each clone could actually fight!

All the superfiends opened their mouths at the same time and let out an ear-piercing shriek that sounded so nightmarish it sealed Tianming shut! He felt like he had been caged up in a never-ending dream that confused his vision and hurt his head, constantly hammering away at his energy. Then, all the clones charged at him. Tianming took them out in a single strike, causing them to explode into a mist that just reformed together. They were unkillable! Tianming summoned his Imperealm Sword Formation for mass slaughter and managed to get rid of quite a lot of the clones.

”Huh?” He sensed a threat behind him and turned around to strike! Fortunately, Delayed Capture was fast enough and the flint infernal sword ki lent him enough power to push back against the superfiend’s claw strike. Even then, he wasn’t able to leave a mark on the creature.

”How powerful!” Having found the warbeast’s main body, Tianming went hard on it. Their fight added quite a lot of chaos to the entire battlefield. Every time he wanted to break through the encirclement, new clones managed to block him, preventing him from entering the green pillar of light. ”Looks like it’s smart enough to understand that stopping me is its real mission.”

The superfiend must have felt that defeating Tianming outright wouldn’t be easy. More intelligent beasts wouldn’t risk their lives without any thought. However, it had still overlooked something, perhaps out of carelessness. While it was tied up fighting Tianming, the eyebeast and myriadhead hydra were killed by his lifebound beasts! And the ninevoid fiendcat was smart enough to know when to retreat, but Xian Xian was holding it down. Tianming sent his prime wonder into the chaotic melee to help his lifebound beasts. No matter how smart wildbeasts were, they would always be inferior to lifebound beasts in terms of intelligence. Thus, it was only a matter of time until the ninevoid fiendcat died.

The next moment, Dongshen Xiaoli killed the amethyst lizard. Apart from the superfiend, all of the other low-sanctuary-class warbeasts had been killed, leaving four of the five ebons temporarily crippled. While Lin Jianxing and Qi Xuanzi had seen what was happening, they’d been unable to interfere at all, as they were still trying to assimilate the walnuts.

”Ying Huo, block the superfiend for me! I’m charging in!” He was running out of time. When his lifebound beasts came to take over, Tianming went for it. Just as he entered the pillar, he felt six consecutive rumbles. Tianming looked ahead and noticed that all six walnuts had entered the heads of Lin Jianxing and the five ebons.

”It’s over....” He was still too late!