Beastmaster of the Ages

”What power! Ji Ji’s own cosmoforce can rival the other four’s combined!” Most of the time, Ji Ji didn’t participate in combat, and it didn’t have many abilities, either. However, it contributed the most to Tianming’s power and energy levels, so having it around made a huge difference.

Its spiritform emerged and sat on the crystal planet and said, ”Vaporize is a few times stronger now. There’s also many other ridiculous changes. Want to give it a try? I promise I’ll reduce you to ashes.”

”Better not. Leave the good stuff for our enemies,” Tianming said. Seeing it compressed to this extent, it definitely packed a much heavier punch than before. Having Ji Ji around means that I’ll be able to survive even crazier situations now! There’s only one final step before I become a cosmic god....

He looked down in stark anticipation; only two of his orders left. ”The Eightpart Pantheons aren’t done harvesting the fruits yet, so I should keep going.”

He continued cultivating for a few more days and found that his final two orders were still quite far off from transforming. So he had no choice but to focus on leveling up the other things in his arsenal to make some kind of progress.

First, Shao Xingru had ancestral cosmic god corpses with cosmic tribulation seas that he could use for his totems. Second, there was one final strike that he had to master from the flameyellow voidkin’s cosmic art. And third, there were the chaos swordmaidens inside the Grand-Orient Sword.

Among the three, the first took the least time to go through, so he immediately opened the totemancers’ corpses and let his decapath era godswords absorb whatever they could from the cosmic tribulation seas. Their simulacra rapidly increased to 40 folds! Even though Shao Xingru had a high status, she couldn’t bring an infinite number of ancestral corpses with her. But Tianming was still happy with how much his simulacra had increased. Though it hadn’t reached 60 folds, like Shao Xingru’s, the innate quality of his totems was higher to begin with.

”40-fold Simulacrum, Decapath Era Swordmaidens....” He blankly looked at the ten goddesses that his totems had transformed into. His sword totems had turned into heavenly-being totems thanks to his new simulacrum, each one embodying the unique elemental, cardinal, or spacetime aspects of their respective swords. The core essence of the decapath era godswords was still within them, just expressed in a much more complex form.

What surprised Tianming even more was how similar they were to Jiguang herself, just like her sixfold simulacrum, Era Swordmaidens. Though their precise appearances differed, their overall gentle temperament remained the same. It was the same kind of upgrade.

Why are they also called swordmaidens? Are the chaos swordmaidens also somehow related? Were they the concubines of the big boss or something? He had far too many questions. That said, though, no matter who they used to belong to, they were his for now, both the ones in his sword and his totems. They also made for a powerful combination. When Tianming applied the 40-fold simulacrum to his sword, he noticed that the two swordmaidens’ powers began blending. With a single strike, he suddenly felt the sensation of ultimate bliss.

How mysterious.... With his totems strengthened, he let his caelum enter the sword and mechanically kissed the chaos swordmaidens to ’process’ them. ”This might be monotonous and boring, but at least I’m making steady progress,” Tianming said, consoling himself.

”It doesn’t look boring to me at all,” Ying Huo said, eyes rolling.

”Just look at that curve on your lips out in real life. You look like you’re kissing air,” Meow Meow said.

”This is all the Primordial God-Emperor’s design! What does it have to do with me? I’d love to directly use the power of these hundred million swordmaidens if I could,” Tianming said.

This time around, he was going about things much faster than before. A few months later, he finally finished absorbing one percent of the power of all the chaos swordmaidens, reaching a million of them.

”The totems, Grand-Orient Sword, and Bai Ling are finally at the level I need them to be.” Even though his energy level wasn’t comparable to sixth-level cosmic gods, his offensive capabilities and weapon definitely surpassed theirs.

”Phew!” He went on to study the last move of the cosmic art.

”Eightpart Pantheons... almost collected... hundred million... ninelives fruits,” Yin Chen said.

”That fast?” Tianming coldly looked outside. ”Mushan Xue, what’re you doing? Do you have any plans?”

The empty space around him gave no answer.

”Alright, I’ll hold on then.” It seemed like the upcoming fight couldn’t be avoided. Fortunately, he was only one step shy of truly becoming a cosmic god.

***

A group of young cosmic gods from the Primordial Sands was gathered somewhere within the Ninelives Cave. Pu Lingyi leaned against the wall, facing a girl dressed in orange who seemed to drift around like a nebula made from maple leaves.

”Ji Lin, the Eightpart Pantheons are about to make their move,” Pu Lingyi said.

”I heard they’ve set their sights on the ninelives fruits in the cave. They’re willing to take the risk,” said Ji Lin.

”They also want to kill us,” Pu Lingyi added.

”What’s up with you? Do you want to avoid the fight? That isn’t your style—we have no choice in this matter either.”

”Of course not! I just feel like those two trust the denizens of the Ancestral World a bit too much.”

”They’re of the flameyellow,” Ji Lin said.

”That’s right. But if you look back at our history, the flameyellow divinities were the ones that dragged us down and forced us into our little corner,” Pu Lingyi said, rather dissatisfied.

”It’s a thing of the past. Not to mention, we have no choice but to work with them against a foe like the Eightpart Pantheons.”

”It’s been so long. What if the flameyellows have changed? Things never stay the same. How can we count on Lin Feng? If all he has is the three of them, what would be the point? Didn’t you notice? Lin Feng himself doesn’t even look like a proper flameyellow divinity, let alone the other two girls.”

”Are you still unhappy about the little beastballs?”

”That’s a separate matter! Who knows what’ll happen if we work with people we don’t understand? Being too trusting is never a good thing.”

”Fine....” Ji Lin nodded in resignation.

Pu Lingyi sternly said, ”If Jiang Feifei keeps getting her way, something bad will happen! Just wait.”

”Then I’ll go remind her about it,” Ji Lin said before leaving.