Beastmaster of the Ages

Finally, the key to the puzzle of Sixth’s power had been revealed! Not being able to cultivate symbiotically, it used a copied version of omnisentient threads instead. There was a huge difference between its implementation of the idea and Tianming’s, which had come from the Primordial God-Emperor, however.

Sixth focused on subordinating the souls of others and forcefully extracting faith from them, while Tianming genuinely resonated with his subjects at the level of the soul. Tianming had to focus on building his imperial order, divine will, and heavenly will, connecting all these powers of the Dao together. Sixth, on the other hand, used the soul as its foundation. It used its own astrons to plant something in the astral brains of other lifeforms! Tianming was certain that was what Sixth had been doing all along.

”After Xian Xian, every other beast that hatched got weirder and weirder. I really wonder what the next three will be like.” Tianming felt rather shaken by each hatching. Yin Chen was already something completely incomprehensible, being basically unkillable. If it hadn’t been limited by symbiotic cultivation, it would have long spread across the entire universe, increasing its numbers without end.

Ji Ji was also a lifeform that one could scarcely believe existed. It didn’t have any astrons at all and was a being made of pure energy.

And now there was a lifebound beast that messed around with souls.

With the final puzzle piece in place, they had finally figured out why Sixth had chosen the Ancient Oldgod Domain as the grounds for its revolution. The world of souls was perfect for it. It could absorb the ’omnisentient power’ of others to turn its body into a spiritform-astron state, making it stronger than astral gods. Sixth had basically become a soul version of the Galactic Emperor. It wasn’t any kind of profound power, but there was a lot of it and it didn’t even need to use its own order to control it; its subjects’ orders would suffice.

If I can get it to return home and undergo symbiotic cultivation and have its spiritform fuse with my body, I wonder if that’ll explosively increase my power! Tianming’s mind brimmed with ambition. The problem was that his sixth lifebound beast was a delinquent child that didn’t want to go home.

”Sixth is powerful enough to kill Ying Huo and the rest.” Tianming grew nervous at the sight of the fat, gigantic infant. Its eyes seemed like they contained hells of white. It had turned completely merciless, fueled by its childish delusions of grandeur. It was the only lifebound beast that could gain power outside of symbiotic cultivation, so it wasn’t surprising that it could overcome Ying Huo and the rest for now.

”I need you all to return to the lifebound space!” Tianming ordered.

”What about you?” Ying Huo asked.

”I still have the Skysoul Tower, so I can hold on a bit longer. You all, on the other hand, are nothing but sitting ducks!”

”Let’s go back!” Ying Huo decisively said. Going back in wouldn’t stop them from conversing anyway. ”Kneel to him if you have to! He’s family, so it isn’t anything embarrassing. Perhaps he’ll spare you after he gets his satisfaction.”

”Shut up! I’d rather die than submit!” Tianming took a deep breath when they finished retreating and turned to face the storm of clouds. Sixth was truly enraged.

”Ant, do you see? I am the king of self-cultivation! The Invincible Ultimate God of Old! I’m the soul ancestor of all living beings, the alpha of life! Even after dying and being reborn as a lifebound beast, nobody can hold me back!”

It turned into a white soul ocean, leaving behind nothing but a vortex-like head that angrily roared at Tianming.

”Sixth!” Tianming grit his teeth and gave his beast a serious look.

”What’re you calling me?! I hate how you call us like we’re mere numbers to you! We’re unique existences! You don’t deserve us!” cried the cloudy sea.

”Brother Sixth! Brother Sixth! Listen to me!” Tianming said.

”Brother Sixth doesn’t work either!” However, seeing that Tianming was finally caving in, the rogue beast felt a wave of satisfaction that slightly calmed its rage.

”Big Brother? Grandfather? Invincible Ultimate God of Old? The only truth in the universe? The ultimate being? The unencumbered Primordial Chaos King?” Tianming came up with a few more titles he thought it would like.

”Now that’s more like it! I didn’t think you’d be such a pushover! Those house pets must be despairing at having misjudged you. You’re nothing but someone who stumbled into luck! You don’t deserve us!”

”That’s right, I completely agree! I feel bad about it too!” Tianming kept both hands planted in the Original Sin Pool, continuing to absorb its core. He gave Sixth an incredibly sincere look. ”After witnessing your full might and glory, I finally know what I’ve been doing wrong! I regret it from the bottom of my heart! Dear Invincible Ultimate God of Old, can you, on account of the fact that I gave birth to your current vita, caelum, and terra, give me a chance and spare me? I’ll definitely do what you say!”

”Dream on, haha! You’re shameless. I know you’re only trying to buy time by feigning submission. Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

”If you did, why’d you keep letting me speak?”

”Because it makes me feel good! I want to hear more!”

”Then should I keep going?”

”Go for as long as you want. Either way, there’s only so much you can do after taking control of the Original Sin Pool. It isn’t a soul artifact, so I’ll be able to kill you all the same. After taking control of your body, the Original Sin Pool will be mine, too, hahahaha! How is it? Feeling despair now?”

Tianming remained silent. He knew that the Original Sin Pool wouldn’t be able to do much, but he cracked a sudden smile anyway.

”What’re you laughing about?!” Sixth suspiciously asked.

Tianming smiled and looked up at the sky. ”You knew I was trying to buy time and let me. What you don’t know is that I wasn’t buying time for the Original Sin Pool.”

”What else do you have to count on?!”

”It’s here!” First, a beautiful woman with long, ink-green hair jumped into Tianming’s field of vision.

”Stop!” Two fifty-meter-tall young wonderians came chasing after her. ”You can’t escape!”

A tiny bell suddenly expanded in size and suppressed everything in its range. The white bell seemed to crush everything within the walls of the cave, leaving nowhere to hide. Moran, Tianming, and even Sixth were all in its range!

”Come! Tianming let go of the Original Sin Pool and hugged Moran tight. He had already taken control of the pool in full. It shrank into a small bowl which Tianming easily put away. Then the bell of a divine wonder came crashing down!