Beastmaster of the Ages

Finally, Tianming’s middle finger had turned green. ”Good. Very good! Awesome! I got all five of these babies!”

He beamed with laughter and showed his hand to Ying Huo, Meow Meow, and the rest. Then he used his left hand to break the formation lock on the middle finger. That was something Yi Taoyao had been unable to do at all, so she looked on with great interest.

”So, you’re a powerful formation guru, too?” she asked.

”That’s right, he is,” Ying Huo answered.

”Oh?” She glanced at it and said, ”This little chicken’s pretty cute.”

Ying Huo took a step back, confused. In its experience, ’high-tier mounts’ (read: stunning beauties) had given him bad experiences.

”What about me, Big Sis?” Meow Meow stared at her with the most innocent look it could muster.

”You... are even cuter.” She didn’t have lifebound beasts of her own, making her even weaker to their charms.

”I want huggies,” Meow Meow said coquettishly.

”... Alright!” She hugged it after some hesitation.

Meow Meow stretched and fell asleep in its embrace. Before it did, it shot Tianming a glance and telepathically said, ”Did you see how easy it was for me to make my way to these beautiful twin peaks?”

Tianming almost lost it when he heard that.

”Cat Bro, you sure are a sneaky one,” Ying Huo said with feigned respect.

”You don’t get it, Chicken Bro. I’m sacrificing myself for our boss’s sake. By keeping her occupied, I’ll be able to stop her from attacking him without warning. You need to understand my sacrifice!”

Lan Huang, Xian Xian, and Yin Chen all vomited in unison.

......

As they messed around, Tianming unlocked the formation that had kept the middle finger sealed. His caelum then entered a world of stars. While he could have put the ring on and directly entered it, he didn’t do so, as he barely had any idea of what was going on. Everything about the nest seemed to be out of his control, so he had to think carefully before proceeding.

The world was filled with green stars, like before. The astral giantess was also there. With fingers of around a hundred meters in length, she could easily crush him like a bug. Her huge head that seemed to be made of stars slowly approached him.

”Hehe....” Tianming heard her jolly voice.

”Senior, I’ve gathered all of them. Where’s my reward?” he loudly asked.

”Very good, my darling. You’re such a nice boy.” The green light coming from her body completely surrounded him. She looked at him, a sky plunderer, the only one who could have located the green skeletons and fingers, unlocked the tomb, and eventually saved her. Nobody else would have been able to take his place. Tianming’s caelum was surrounded by green light.

”Here’s your reward.” This time around, she stretched her middle finger out and tapped Tianming’s forehead with such force that it sent him flying a little. Once more, his Imperial and Lifesbane Wills grew at a breakneck pace.

”Yet another crazy boost! Holy crap, it’s a heck of a steal. If I survive this, I’ll need to cultivate a lot to make up for all these hollow gains!” Tianming had no choice but to temporarily rely on the easy gains to face Shenxi Shang. He was all too aware that his current power would be far from enough to take him on without the help of Yi Taoyao. This middle finger was his only hope.

”If I can break through again, I’d at least stand a chance. Even so, it’d only be fifty-fifty.” Those were good chances either way, though. Should he fight Shenxi Shang right away, he probably wouldn’t even win one out of ten times. Tianming knew that Shenxi Shang, a top genius, possessed incredible combat potential. He had many warbeasts and a powerful divine soul to match. His taixi divine eyes were also better than Shenxii Yao’s. Tianming would have to go all out against the uncontested champion of the event.

”I’m already in second place, so I might as well aim for the top. Only the champion will be remembered throughout history! Who’d bother remembering the runner-up?” Not to mention, as far as Tianming knew, there was a possibility that everyone apart from the champion would die. As such, despite how unstable his cultivation might become, he still had to try. ”This is the last time! I’ll take no more shortcuts!”

Making rapid gains like that had clearly harmed the foundation of his power. Fortunately, the primeval source here was easier to process. He believed that he would have collapsed long ago had he used normal nova source. ”I should be able to break through right now.”

It didn’t take long before the astral giantess started vanishing. ”My dear, your rapid breakthroughs are my gift to you for bringing these fingers back. You’ll find the final reward inside the ring. With that, you’ll easily be able to defeat your foe.” Her voice grew softer and more distant.

Eventually, Tianming’s caelum returned to his body and he breathed a long sigh of relief. Then he recalled the last words he had heard and looked at the ring on his right hand.

”Lin Feng, is that enough? Stop wasting time,” Shenxi Shang impatiently said. While he had benefited from not having to fight beforehand, there was nothing he could do in that state. He was annoyed that he had to wait for this long.

However, Tianming simply ignored him.

”Did you get anything from that?” Yi Taoyao asked, stroking Meow Meow all the while.

”Yes. I need you to wait a little longer,” Tianming said.

”Fine. Your cock and cat are pretty fun to play with.” She moved between Meow Meow and Ying Huo, though the poor chicken was rolling its eyes.

”My... cock is fun to play with?” Tianming froze.

”I meant this chicken, okay?!” she snapped.

”Ah, okay. Misunderstanding cleared,” Tianming awkwardly said.

Yi Taoyao was almost rendered speechless. ”If you’ve nothing better to do, can I leave?”

”Wait! Please wait a little more, Big Sis! Give me a chance!” Tianming took Meow Meow back from her and began cultivating, rapidly absorbing primeval source.

He’s cultivating... is there a point? At this juncture, all Tianming could possibly do was recover some of the energy he had used. He’s at the twelfth level.... He couldn’t possibly enter the sea of order through the ancestral world and become an orderan, right? There’s no way he’ll become an astral god this way.... She simply didn’t know what he was up to, so all she could do was wait. Had it been someone else, they might have just knocked Tianming out with their nunchucks already, but she just sat there and watched.

Shenxi Shang’s patience had already reached his limit as well. While he didn’t say anything, his hatred for Tianming grew to new heights, especially after seeing what Shenxii Yao had done. The more Tianming stood in the limelight, the colder he felt. There could only be one main character.

At that moment, Yi Taoyao was shocked to sense Tianming’s astralforce rapidly growing in capacity. Wait, he’s still a twelfth-level stellaminor! What happened?! Neither she nor Shenxi Shang knew what was going on.