Beastmaster of the Ages

”That’s surprising...” Tianming said, placing his hands in front of his eyes with his palms facing down.

”What’s surprising?” The four lifebound beasts asked in unison.

”We used three-hundred-aperture manna,” Tianming said.

”Yes.”

”But there are 4.5 million stars in your eyes, and Lan Huang has the same number of stars! I’m guessing Xian Xian does, too,” Tianming said in amazement. Their eyes were tiny at the moment, so he had to go deep inside his caelum to see them.

”You’re right!” They hadn’t paid much attention to their star counts, but could immediately sense a difference with this evolution.

”So the effect of the 999-aperture manna still exists. Part of it was triggered this time, which is why you have 1.5 million more stars than you should! And your strength has increased accordingly! You’re Primordial Chaos Beats, so you’d be much stronger than lifebound beasts with the same star count if it weren’t for your cultivation level,” Tianming analyzed.

Although they were “crippled” at the moment, his lifebound beasts were over one and a half times stronger than they had been before in terms of strength, abilities, and toughness of flesh. Ji Ji had successfully evolved as well. The three-hundred-aperture manna was hardly a challenge for it.

Given its unique body, Ji Ji’s transformation was minimal. It merely doubled in size, which allowed it to absorb more midsky essence. It had few abilities, but each one was devastating. Although there were no stars visible on its body, it had the equivalent of three million stars. Yin Chen had the highest star count at 9.99 million, while the rest had 4.5 million stars.

”I’ll try to find a six or seven-hundred-aperture manna for Ji Ji to try. If it’s still as easy, then maybe Ji Ji can try a 999-aperture one....”

Ji Ji’s increase in size would be useful in combat. It was essentially their source of omnisentient power in the absence of Omnisentient Threads.

”By the way...” Tianming said, rising to his feet. His own astrons were made of the Order Relic, which gave them a certain edge in terms of power. Through symbiotic cultivation, they had grown stronger and taken on the shapes and abilities of his lifebound beasts’ astrons.

Stretching, he continued, ”Do you have any new abilities?”

He had become accustomed to his strongest combat form and discovered that their abilities were extremely important to his overall strength. The combat power of both wildbeasts and lifebound beasts rested on their abilities and the toughness of their physiques. At present, Tianming’s lifebound beasts’ cosmoforce and physical resilience had been completely handed over to him, leaving only their abilities for themselves, which allowed them to concentrate more on that aspect.

”I do!” Ying Huo proudly said.

”Me too.” Meow Meow sounded even more confident. It had always been the lifebound beast with the most abilities. Any manna could open the floodgates to its abilities.

”So do I!” Lan Huang rarely gained new abilities, so Tianming was overjoyed.

”And me, hmph!” Xian Xian chimed in.

Xian Xian’s words were a surprise. Tianming hadn’t noticed any new flowers blooming on his leg, so he didn’t expect that Xian Xian had gained a new ability.

”Let’s test them out!” Tianming went outside.

The Skymartial Blacksea was enormous. From above, he saw numerous lifebound beasts fighting and playing. All the buildings in Myriadpath Valley were equipped with top-grade formations that made them the most secure structures in the astralscape of order. Lifebound beasts could fight in many places without causing any damage at all; as long as a place was large enough, all movements would seem small. Thus, he could test out their new abilities there.

The first was Ying Huo.

”This ability is kind of an upgrade of Sixpath Infernal Lotus. It’s explosions, plain and simple, the destructive power of Sixpath Infernal Lotus intensified,” it boasted.

”Let’s do this!” Stretching out his feather-covered arm, Tianming aimed at the black water below.

Ying Huo activated their shared cosmoforce, building up power in Tianming’s right hand. In an instant, the sword-shaped feathers on his body formed flaming loti that rushed toward his palm. Countless flaming loti collided, petals merging with petals and receptacles crashing into one another, flames blasting together. His arm violently shook, and in a short period of time, a condensed flaming lotus appeared in his palm.

Tianming frowned. ”This lotus is only an inch wide, but it’s more powerful than all of the sixpath infernal lotuses combined!”

It was calm, like a water lily lying on his hand. Only through the power connected to him by its roots could he tell its destructiveness.

It’s supported by both our cosmoforce at the moment. I’ll be even more powerful if we add Ji Ji’s genesis ancestral nova source! he thought.

”Release it!” Ying Huo urged.

”Okay!” Using all his strength, Tianming tossed it into the black sea as if it were a stone.

At first, there was only silence, but the moment the lotus came into contact with the water, it exploded.

BOOM!

A dazzling red light instantly engulfed him as the small lotus burst into a flaming lotus the size of Lan Huang. Its petals unfolded and endless flames engulfed the black sea, forming a basin that stretched tens of thousands of meters deep! The aftermath of the explosion rippled out in shockwaves, creating a tsunami in the distance with waves a thousand meters tall.

”This is awesome!” Tianming’s eyes were burning. Ying Huo’s ability was perfect for their current situation, or at least more appropriate than Redsky Unistrike. That said, as Tianming’s right arm, Ying Huo would hold the Grand-Orient Sword in battle, so there was no way it could perform such an attack.

The small lotus, which was less than an inch in size at the beginning, could be hidden from their opponent. Anyone that underestimated its power would surely suffer a great loss. The explosion would be even more devastating if it were unleashed at close range. It certainly gave Tianming more variety when it came to combat moves.

”What’s it called?”

”Skyscorch Wrathlotus!”

”It’s worthy of its name!”