Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming could see the heart pumping the green substance into Yueling Long through the veins.

At this point, she had long since lost herself.

She had become part of the green worm itself, little more than an insect egg attached to its body. The return of her clarity had let her painfully realize that.

She turned to Tianming, her green-tinted eyes carrying a trace of envy. “Li Tianming... honestly, I envy you.”

Tianming glanced at her. “For?”

Yueling Long looked at him deeply. “For everything. If you survive this calamity, you’ll become a true emperor. Though... you may not survive it after all. Still, that has nothing to do with me anymore.”

Loneliness filled her face after she spoke. She closed her eyes, and slowly drifted away from Tianming.

Then, to Tianming’s shock, her middlekin astrons began disintegrating one by one. She had chosen self-destruction.

All her power turned against the green substance within her, which desperately tried to repair her body and fully resurrect her as a puppet.

But Yueling Long no longer wished to become a puppet.

Her pride was a core part of her.

Though every clash with Tianming had ended in her defeat, without him, she truly could have become the ruler of the Realm of Chaos. Especially because, without Tianming, Li Muyang and the others would never have been resurrected by Dao San.

Now, she chose to die with that pride intact.

Her middlekin astrons shattered so fast even the green substance couldn’t stop it. Cracks spread across her half-monstrous body before it exploded apart into chunks of green viscous flesh.

Her destruction barely made a ripple in that endless sea of green slime, her remains quickly dissolving back into the green ocean.

The scene left Tianming with an indescribable emotion, but there was no time to dwell on it.

Yueling Long’s choice did not affect what he had to do next.

Even Ying Huo stopped joking, staring intently at the gigantic green heart. “Little Li, there’s a huge disturbance inside that heart. Dad and the others might really be in there!”

Yin Chen immediately agreed. “That’s right. But it’s... disgusting inside.”

The green slime sea outside was already revolting enough. Going into the heart itself would be even worse.

But Tianming hesitated no longer. He gave Yueling Long one final look before rushing toward the green heart.

Massive tunnels dotted its surface. Some connected to those thick green veins, while others were hollow and led directly into the interior of the heart.

Each tunnel entrance spanned hundreds of thousands of meters, large enough for Tianming to enter with ease. Thick green slime even denser than outside churned within, clearly marking it as the core of the entire space.

As Tianming entered one of the giant tunnels, he faintly heard roars echoing from deep within the heart. They were faint, but he instantly realized they were likely coming from Li Muyang and the others.

“Go!” Tianming accelerated, his worry for his four family members overwhelming any caution.

When he had first arrived in the Realm of Chaos, the idea of family had felt strange to him.

But then came the companionship of his grandparents after they became the skypole stars. Then came Li Muyang and Li Tianzi risking everything to help him.

He had already come to accept them in his heart as his true family.

They were his father, mother, and elder brother.

He remembered fighting alongside Li Tianzi in Violetblitz Capital against the crushing pressure of Imperator Jian before finally slaying him together.

He remembered Li Muyang exposing himself and coming all the way to the Vermilion Bird Starcage to save him from Jie Ba.

“Dao San! Even if you resurrected them... they are not your puppets! I will never allow them to die again!” The roars and tremors from deeper within the heart made him increasingly anxious.

The slime had become so dense they had hardened into barriers that forced Tianming to draw the Grand-Orient Sword and hack his way forward.

A dreadful tension gripped his entire body. He could feel as though something tied to his bloodline and fate was slowly fading away.

His family was nearing death.

“Was I too late? No, no, NO!”

The surrounding green slime sensed the intruder and formed more and more barriers to stop him.

Tianming relentlessly carved a bloody path forward, the destruction he caused making the entire green heart convulse violently as if it were spasming in pain.

By now, any ordinary cosmic god would already have been melted away, but Tianming continued cutting through everything in his path.

Suddenly, Tianming heard the familiar roar of Li Tianzi’s lifebound beast from ahead.