Earth's Greatest Magus

Inside the sealed chamber, Emery sat in a lotus position as he slowly exhaled a long breath. Sweat rolled down his temples and soaked the collar of his robe while violent energies surged through his meridians like floodwaters crashing through narrow channels.

Devouring the essence of a Three Cosmos expert was no easy task.

The Chimera Sovereign had walked a cultivation path centered around the Laws of Beasts and bodily transformation. His power was built upon forced mutation, predatory vitality, and the unnatural reshaping of flesh. This inheritance was wild and difficult to digest.

Several times, waves of bestial impulse rose within him.

Emery’s jaw tightened as he suppressed them all.

Fortunately, beneath those savage branches lay a deeper root he did understand.

Nature Law.

Growth, adaptation, evolution, and transformation were all extensions of it. Because of that shared foundation, Emery could slowly dismantle the chaotic inheritance and merge useful portions into his own system rather than allowing the foreign power to poison him.

Even so, the process was exhausting.

While his body refined the stolen essence, his mind focused on the memories.

The devouring process never preserved everything perfectly. Knowledge shattered quickly once a soul collapsed. Important memories could dissolve into meaningless fragments within moments if not seized in time.

His main target was clear.

[The Twelve Spirit Beast Arts]

[The Twelve Spirit Beast Arts]

He had already obtained partial fragments from Varkul, but this disciple was never entrusted with the technique’s true core. They received only enough to serve, never enough to surpass their master.

Now, through the Chimera Sovereign himself, Emery finally had access to the original inheritance.

The Twelve Spirit Beast Arts were far more sophisticated than he had expected. From the notes left behind by the legendary hermits, it was one of the high-grade divine techniques that could help someone reach the peak of the Grand Magus Realm, and even break into the Supreme Realm.

It was no wonder that it had awakened the greed of the Chimera Sovereign.

Emery opened his eyes briefly and, with a flick of his finger, a white pearl-like pill rose into the air and landed in his palm. Delicate verdant runes moved across its surface like living vines under snow.

The newly refined Tier 8 medicine.

[Serenity Pill]

Forged using Elysian Leaves and several precious materials, it had been designed specifically to aid deep comprehension and stabilize thought during difficult cultivation.

23:22

Emery swallowed it immediately.

Cool medicinal energy spread upward from his chest into his mind. The roaring chaos of conflicting memories softened. Countless fragments that had been slipping away now slowed, paused long enough for him to grasp and organize them.

His divine sense sharpened.

He began reconstructing the art.

The first branch was the internal cultivation path, divided into seven progressive stages. Each stage tempered the cultivator’s body and spirit, increasing compatibility with stronger beasts. Without sufficient advancement, attempting to bond with a higher-ranked creature would cause backlash, madness, or death.

The second branch was the external rune system.

Twelve major beast-binding formations were meant to be imprinted upon twelve critical regions of the body—arms, legs, chest, spine, eyes, heart, lungs, and more. These runes functioned as channels, allowing bonded beasts to lend their strength, instincts, and innate divine abilities.

The chamber lights dimmed and brightened with the passing cycles, but he never moved from his seat. At times, silver runes rotated around him. At others, phantom beast silhouettes formed briefly in the air before dissolving.

The exhaustion was visible—but so was satisfaction.

Emery remained in seclusion for ten days, untill he successfully reconstructed five of the seven internal cultivation stages and also restored eight of the twelve body rune formations.

That was likely the limit of what could be recovered directly from fragmented memories. The remaining stages would require personal deduction and experimentation.

Even incomplete, the harvest was immense.

At the fourth stage, a cultivator could safely form one stable bond with a Godly-ranked spirit beast. At the fifth stage, two or three simultaneous bonds became possible.

That was already within Emery’s expectations.

He lifted one hand.

Sealed cages of light materialized before him, then dissolved.

Two spirit beasts appear, hovering around him.

The first was the Silver Veil Ape.

Its body was compact yet powerful, every muscle hidden beneath long silver fur that flowed like liquid moonlight. Even while restrained, it refused to stay still. It darted across the chamber, blurring into the surrounding shadows before emerging elsewhere an instant later.

Its golden eyes were bright, cunning, and filled with mischievous wariness.

This was the true reason the beast interested Emery so deeply.

The Silver Veil Ape’s concealment did not come from speed or illusion, but from a profound law. Even with only a brief study, Emery could see its amazing ability to correlate darkness and light—a Shadow Law, one of the particularly elusive branches of the Darkness Law that he had long lacked.

His own comprehension of darkness had focused more on spatial and devouring power. If he could successfully forge a bond with the Silver Veil Ape through the Twelve Spirit Beast Arts, he would gain far more than a powerful technique—his mastery of the Darkness Law would become far more complete.

The second spirit beast held a far deeper and more personal significance to Emery.

It was the Blood Raven.

The dark crimson bird stood silently upon a ring of sealing light. Whenever it shifted, a faint metallic scent spread through the chamber, rich with blood energy and predatory aura. This raven was not just another captured beast.

It was a legacy left behind by his friend, Chumo.

Emery had spent the last few years consulting several experts regarding this spirit beast, and he was hopeful that the newly obtained high-grade spirit beast technique could create the stable bond he needed. If successful, he would not only preserve Chumo’s final legacy but also bring it with him into future battles at his side.

Together, the Blood Raven and the Silver Veil Ape offered tremendous potential.

Both would greatly enhance his versatility and combat prowess.

Still, Emery remained realistic. Mastering the divine technique would take years. He also needed to decipher the rune formations, and although Klea could assist him in that matter, it would still take time to create the appropriate patterns compatible with both the beasts and himself. Forming a true bond with each spirit beast would also require time.

These were long-term gains; fortunately, he has his two avatars to help with the task.

With a casual wave of his hand, the two sealed beasts were guided back into their containment arrays. Layers of light folded over them as the formations activated, locking their presence away once more. The chamber grew quiet the moment they vanished.

Only then did Emery turn his attention inward.

He closed his eyes and directed his senses toward the vast current of spiritual energy still moving through his meridians—the remnants of the Chimera Sovereign’s devoured essence.

Its effects were undeniable.

The violent instability that had plagued his aura for so long had gradually settled into calm balance. Cracks hidden deep within his spiritual foundation had nearly healed.

He could feel it with absolute clarity.

He was but a breath away from complete recovery.