Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming’s greatest weakness, his energy, began rising with blinding speed. The power of faith came flooding in from the Omnisentient Threads, converting into cosmoforce and filling him to the brim. Back then, the pandemonium and cyclic sacrosuns had been responsible for distributing the burden of this power before channeling them to Tianming and the beasts. With the sacrosuns having been converted into minor stellar charts, then turned into dark stellar charts where power was congregated, Ying Huo, Meow Meow, Ji Ji, and the ten totems were able to tap into that power.

”Ooooooh!” Meow Meow and Ying Huo seemingly went insane from the injection of energy.

”I’m going to blooooow!” The two of them jumped around like they were on fire.

Tianming and the Grand-Orient Sword were even more intense to look at. The power of faith, coupled with the Sun’s impetus, skyrocketed his aura from a sixth-astral orderan all the way to that of a third-level cosmic cartographer like Lin Lingxiao.

Lin Lingxiao had a firm impression that he was going up against an entire ether-class world on his own. It was utterly horrifying! His will had already begun wavering before the duel even began. The crowd wildly cheered at the sight of Tianming’s many talents even before he even showed any bit of his real skill. A sense of worship arose in many members of the clans.

”Impressive! Impressive!” Lin Lingxiao repeated. Tianming’s power ensured that he would have to use all the abilities at his disposal.

Cosmic charts were fundamental to the Cosmic Cartography stage. Once the hidden dark stellar charts turned into cosmic charts, cosmic cartographers could use them to reforge their bodies. Astrons at the Order stage could only group together without being able to change forms. Cosmic charts, however, were like blueprints that allowed one to rearrange their astrons as they pleased, making them even harder to kill.

For instance, Lin Lingxiao had unlocked three cosmic charts, which unfolded to reveal three seas of stars behind him. Deep within them were golden bees’ nests shaped like sunflowers, a manifestation of his order. When the charts opened, Lin Lingxiao’s body seemed to liquefy as the astrons within his body moved and recombined into the cosmic charts, causing the stars in them to shine. Then he appeared within the second chart, before going to the first and the third. As long as the charts were there, his body could transform as it pleased. Even the astrons that made up his astral organs could disintegrate into a sand-like fluid and recombine at will. The cosmic charts’ intrigue utterly stunned Tianming.

”Looks like the Order stage is only the very start of becoming an advanced cosmic deity. The Cosmic Cartography stage is where it truly starts to shine! He’s almost unkillable! I heard that if I don’t destroy all three cosmic charts, I won’t be able to kill him. As long as the charts are there, he’ll never truly die. At most, he’ll just lose a large number of astrons.”

At the third level of the stage, there would be three cosmic charts. People like Xiaodao had twelve cosmic charts, allowing his body to freely flow between them and making him incredibly hard to kill. Qi Huan of the Xenoabyss had five cosmic charts. With many of them acting as blueprints, one could change forms freely in combat. Once the spherical honeycomb briquette turned into a proper bees’ nest, the suppression from a cultivator’s order would further intensify. Fortunately, Tianming’s Order Relic body could completely counteract any order suppression. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to put up a fight even with the energy boost.

Lin Lingxiao’s swordbeasts and cosmic charts made him quite a daunting foe to fight. But Tianming only found the challenge enticing.

”The two of you, make an opening for me!” Right after Tianming gave the order, Ying Huo and Meow Meow went for the attack in their strongest forms. Fire and lightning bombarded the battlefield, instantly enveloping Lin Lingxiao.

”Not bad.” He chuckled and raised his Nine-Firmament Supracloud as the golden sunflowers within the three cosmic charts behind him flashed. Boundless cosmoforce gathered at the tip of his sword, then an ability called Gold Sunflower Shower blasted out of the blade. Before the two beastmasters clashed, their lifebound beasts’ abilities had almost reshaped the entire battlefield.

The audience could see that Ying Huo and Meow Meow’s abilities alone were able to greatly suppress those of Lin Lingxiao’s six beasts. Fire and lightning consumed everything, blasting away at the cosmic charts with abandon. From the smoke and destruction around the battlefield, it seemed like Tianming’s beasts had the upper hand.

”Looks like Lin Feng’s managing to push back against Brother Lingxiao!”

”How... how could this be possible?”

The billion cultivators were stiff with worry, yet this was only the beginning!

”Brother Lingxiao, en garde!” Tianming let sword ki pour out of his Grand-Orient Sword as he executed Carillon Imperatoris, Death Imperatoris, and Carnage Imperatoris all fused into one! The three imperatores manifested behind him, surrounded by the wills of trillions of people. His black and gold eyes glowed even brighter, looking like an absolute ruler that had just descended upon the realm. The combined power of fire and lightning infused into his sword, further enhanced by the wild, surging energies of the totems. That single strike carried with it the faith of countless people!

Thus, the slash was made.

”Holy shit, what horror! To think my dad even asked me to go easy on you!” Lin Lingxiao’s expression immediately changed as he used his cosmic charts to defend himself. Then he used an ether-class battle art, Ninespin Skybreaker. His sword rotated nine times, with his order and swordbeasts enhancing the strike with each revolution. It was his ultimate move. After nine revolutions, the sword ki around him formed a tornado, unleashing the full might of his cosmic charts.

It was a clash of the ages! All eyes opened wide, watching the three imperatores behind Tianming seemingly stop time for an instant. Then the tornado from Lin Lingxiao’s attack began crumbling. The sword ki of the decapath era godswords not only served to push back against the steel sword ki, but it had scattered the golden sunflowers as it struck all three of Lin Lingxiao’s cosmic charts at the same time, greatly dimming the starlight coming from them!

”Ugh!” The strike actually managed to shake the entire Sky Palace Formation. Many among the audience braced themselves, and more were thrown down by the blowback.