Beastmaster of the Ages

Qitian Jian’s white robes fluttered as he channeled his cosmoforce. The white spear he wielded was called the Firmament Abyss. It was a double-ended spear with a two-headed dragon nova wildbeast as its artifact soul, containing fortuna-class cosmic impulses. That classified it as a mid-fortuna-class weapon.

Even though it couldn’t be compared to Suishen Yue’s Kunlun Watcher, Suishen Yue was 1500 years older than Qitian Jian, so their combat capabilities were too far apart to invite any comparison in the first place.

While Suishen Yue seemed to constantly get the short end of the stick, he was actually an eighth-level foundationeer that was leagues stronger than Chen Tianyong, the minotaur from the Xenoabyss. He was only two levels weaker than Eminent Jiguang herself. And after obtaining the Kunlun Watcher, not even Eminent Tiangui would be able to match him.

Qitian Jian’s order suppression emanated from his body. His order seemed like the explosive kind; even his foundation fortress was covered in projections of flames and metal. The blazing aura instantly filled the Fortuna Arena, yet Tianming’s Order Relic Universal Body absorbed it without him being affected in the slightest.

Tianming didn’t move at all, despite facing the raging storm of flames. Beside him, there seemed to only be a single metallic insect, but in actuality, five of his beasts were fighting with him! All of them had 9.99 million stars, far exceeding the star count of the singular eightsource beast.

That eightsource beast has six million stars or so, but if I multiply that by eight, it totals up to around 50 million stars. That isn’t that much less than the total star count of my lifebound beasts combined.

House Qitian had a great demand for manna, and Qitian Jian had only managed to afford a good one for his eightsource beast with the stipend he got as the first place on the Fortuna Ranking. His beast, Tian Jian, was shaped like a suanni. It kept its astron-compacted form. Around its body were seven tattoos of beast faces, the eyes of each glowing bright.

Each of the beasts within Tian Jian had their own cultivation bases, making it far exceed other beasts of the same level in terms of astron density and cosmoforce capacity. Ying Huo and the others had a high star count and terrifying bloodlines, though they were five levels weaker. If they were on the same level, however, even a single Primordial Chaos Beast would be far more powerful than an eightsource, or even tensource beast!

Tian Jian roared, knowing that Tianming’s beasts were fused with him. It didn’t care much about the immortal Yin Chen. Instead, it fully directed its hostility at Tianming.

”Go ahead!” Tianming said. He didn’t have any grudge with Qitian Jian. This was a fight for nothing but glory and resources; there could be no purer fight.

Qitian Jian and Tian Jian’s coordination was decent as they worked to encircle Tianming and ignore Yin Chen. The eightsource beast’s powerful body and abilities were the main threats Tianming had to deal with.

Specters of House Yumo had the strongest physical bodies, which humans couldn’t compete with, but Tian Jian probably couldn’t match up against Yumo Xue. However, Tianming’s physical capabilities were by no means weak when he was fused with his lifebound beasts.

Tian Jian’s claws were comparable to fortuna-class cosmic artifacts in terms of sharpness. Its abilities also packed a great punch, shooting out blasts of golden light.

Tianming’s hands unleashed Ying Huo and Meow Meow’s combination ability, Blitzburn Origin! The storm of lightning and flames combined with Tianming’s Imperator’s Mural and slammed into Tian Jian’s claws and talons.

The fierce eightsource beast was Qitian Jian’s vanguard, while Qitian Jian himself was the cavalry that circled around and attacked with the Firmament Abyss. His mode of combat reminded Tianming of the early days of beastmaster combat at the Vermillion Bird Kingdom. Most of his foes only had one lifebound beast and fought in a similar manner.

However, beastmasters and beasts were mostly on par in terms of power, whereas Tian Jian was somewhat stronger than its beastmaster. It wasn’t that Qitian Jian was weak, though. In fact, being able to match the power of eight beasts three to seven was a testament to his immense strength.

”Trying to gang up on me, huh?”

Tian Jian rushed Tianming with its powerful body while Qitian Jian executed his battle arts from Tianming’s blind spots, almost fatally wounding him a few times! The crowd watched with great suspense.

But Tianming’s expression was the same as usual. He smiled and instructed Yin Chen to change forms and attack Qitian Jian from behind. While the Firmament Abyss was able to pierce Yin Chen’s body, it wasn’t able to completely eradicate it. Yin Chen could shift forms from mantis, scorpion, spider, and other bugs. While it couldn’t take down Qitian Jian, it was enough to divert him from coordinating with his eightsource beast.

Tianming then used Xian Xian’s multiple abilities. The black roots and Radixsword Leaves formed a barrier and the Demise Greenloti, Bloodrain Swords, Astral Sunflower, Fiendsong Mares, and other abilities were fired off at Tian Jian!

The abilities had myriad effects. Like red dust, they served to weaken enemies and had a really wide range. But against singular targets, Evernight Curse, Trisoul Fiendsong, and other abilities were just as effective. While they couldn’t lock Tian Jian down, they did serve to limit what it could do. The sheer radiance of Pearlight Sacredeye was enough to cause the beast to close its eyes from the blinding flash.

As the beast raged around, Lan Huang on Tianming’s leg used its Primordial Shockblast, causing it to bleed from its orifices. Then Eightruin Dragonshields and Azure Dragon Descent slammed into Tian Jian’s abdomen, slamming it into the walls of the Fortuna Arena, bloody and battered.

”Tian Jian!” Qitian Jian yelled. He shook off Yin Chen and charged back toward Tianming. His beast was as tough as nails as it got back up, rushing Tianming at the same time.

Tian Jian let fly a golden fireball from its mouth. It looked like a golden sun and it immediately caused surrounding temperatures to rise, reminding Tianming of the Greatsun Suishen Art.

Qitian Jian’s Firmament Abyss rapidly rose, piercing through the golden sun without neutralizing his own beast’s abilities. Instead, he used the spear to guide the ability toward Tianming with a battle art! That level of skill and technique caused quite a few reverends to gasp in awe.

When Tianming saw that, he was eager to show that he could do it as well. He wielded the Grand-Orient Sword with both hands and let the power of his totems and divine wonder surge.

The 999 words of the grand lexicon wonder applied their effects to the full extent, forming a cage of text around the eightsource beast by sticking to its hair. All kinds of laws began sapping its energy, attacking its astrons and causing it to collapse to the ground, no longer able to coordinate with its master to attack.

Then Tianming used the ten streams of totem ki in the Grand-Orient Sword, causing them to transform as he manifested the Fourfold Simulacrum, Era Swordwheel! The simulacrum could be used on top of the first simulacrum. It transformed the decapath era godswords, giving each of them a ghostly afterimage that powered them up even more. They looked like sword wheels of ten different colors; even the cosmic impulses in the Grand-Orient Sword were overshadowed by the totems!

”His totems have indeed powered up!” People cheered as flames emanated from Tianming’s eyes. His body radiated with power, illuminating everything around him. Ying Huo and the rest, who were coated in Ji Ji’s genesis ancestral nova source, caused the Grand-Orient Sword’s power to soar even higher, to the point that a golden nova source seemed to form at its tip.

”That’s the Greatsun Suishen Art!” someone cried. The strike seemed far more potent than Qitian Jian’s, and currently, the eightsource beast was out for the count!

Greatsun Suishen Art, Explode! It was one sword strike to annihilate all things. Tianming didn’t move his legs at all. When his sword came swinging down, the ability at the tip of Qitian Jian’s spear collapsed and holes instantly appeared in his spearmanship.

Tian Jian eventually managed to resist the divine wonder’s suppression and charged to intercept the strike for its owner in a final feat of defiance, taking a portion of the Greatsun Suishen Art’s destructive power. Even so, it and its master were still sent flying, slamming into the walls of the arena once more, blood trailing in their wake.

Master and beast both coughed out blood and powerlessly slumped to the ground, covered in blood, burns, and cuts.

Qitian Jian was defeated!