Beastmaster of the Ages

Lin Yahan seemed like only a single threat, but all five of her swordbeasts were within her sword. They glared at Ying Huo and the rest and were able to emerge at any time to eliminate them.

”Begone!” Lin Yahan’s swing sent five gigantic waves of flame toward Lan Huang.

”Little girl, how dare you touch my pal?!” Ying Huo snapped. The four of them had order! Even though it still required cosmoforce to use it to its full power and they still only had astralforce at the moment, it was more than enough to fight eighth-level stellaminors.

”Haha!” Lin Yahan laughed as she executed her strongest move in concert with five abilities from her swordbeasts, intent on tearing Lan Huang apart. But her expression shifted the next moment. ”The power of order?!” she shrieked, which was fully within Tianming’s expectations. Not even he could resist order, much less her. Four types of order—infernal, primordial, immortal, and genesis—each fueled by astralforce, moved the surrounding nova source to suppress Lin Yahan’s power. All the albi in her body felt like they were being crushed by fire, lightning, seas, mountains, and metal, much like a cosmic deity could suppress a mere god! It was completely unexplainable and led to pretty much absolute domination. Even though Tianming’s beasts were unable to use their orders’ full potential, it was still enough to completely set an eighth-level stellaminor’s body aflame.

”Come out!” she cried, sending out her swordbeasts. Their normal forms were large and could take on a part of the orders’ powers, allowing her to continue her advance. But little did she expect that her lifebound beasts could barely move from the very same power of order she had just experienced!

Ying Huo and the other three charged them with full fury, unleashing their abilities after they suppressed her with their orders. Faced with insurmountable odds, Lin Yahan was utterly crushed! The Archaionfiend’s blood lightning also played a huge part in that, in addition to Perpetia’s spacetime snare.

”Aaagh!” Infernal flames burned her body on the outside as genesis lightning cooked her from within. Right after, Ying Huo went wild with follow-up attacks. Xian Xian, Lan Huang, and Yin Chen held the five lifebound beasts at bay, preventing them from returning to her sword. The many bodies of Yin Chen were able to burrow their way into the beasts’ bodies, making for quite a horrifying sight. Charred and burned, Lin Yahan fell. The audience saw it all as clear as day, wondering if she was still alive.

”What’s the deal with Lin Feng’s lifebound beasts?”

”It looked like Lin Yahan was held back by order!”

”Heavens! Lin Yahan lost to Lin Feng’s lifebound beasts!”

The battle finally reached a higher climax. Many in the audience were clawing at their hair in confusion and agitation at the multiple parallel clashes in the arena. Lin Xiuzhu’s slightly delayed reaction was enough for the tide of the battle to turn. Even now, Lin Shiyun still hadn’t managed to deal with Xiaoxiao, and Lin Yahan had perished before being able to cut Xian Xian down!

As for the other five that tried to target Moran, they faced the full brunt of the Grand Dao Thousand Words. The two divine wonders endlessly raged on in battle against five foes. Lin Mingzhi and Lin Hongguang fought alongside three other seventh-level stellaminors, but they hadn’t been able to interrupt the Grand Dao Thousand Words before Lin Yahan was defeated. The two divine wonders were unstoppable!

The fact that Tianming’s beasts alone had taken out Lin Yahan brought even more waves of shock. The battle took a turn for the serious and people no longer considered Tianming’s team easy pickings. As Tianming had expected, their sighs of exasperation turned into deep breaths of surprise. Far too many members of the second branch were flabbergasted at the turn of events, with waves of shocking sudden realization raging in their hearts. Even many within the council stood up in their seats after witnessing the intense battle. Not a single disciple wasn’t dumbfounded.

Lin Bei couldn’t resist and rebuked, ”Lin Xiuzhu, what in the world are you doing?!” The members of his line were completely livid. They had started with ten people on their side, but only seven still remained in the running! Not only had they so far failed to take out a single opponent, they’d even ended up being pushed into a deadlock.

Many spectators rubbed their eyes, thinking that they were just seeing things. None of them could have fathomed that Moran would be so powerful, and even after that, Tianming had still managed to stand out. The only part that others had difficulty discerning was Feiling’s support efforts.

Lin Xiuzhu had wanted to fight alone, but his expression was gloomier than ever. He finally understood why Tianming had wanted them to fight with their best. It wasn’t for the sake of plausible deniability for losing against an overwhelmingly more powerful force, but because he had been planning to win from the start! It was still not too late to have realized that. Filled with rage, he zipped over to Tianming and blocked his path.

”You’re finally sick of showing off, huh? Too bad you’ve already lost three on your side,” Tianming mocked. He relished the look on Lin Xiuzhu’s face and imagined how his grandparents were reacting to everything. He didn’t dare to turn back and look at them, however, as he hadn’t won just yet. He still had more to show the old couple, and Lin Xiuzhu had come in at just the right time. His lifebound beasts returned to his side.

”Ling’er, help Little Fish and Xiaoxiao hold back the rest with Unitary Chaosrealm and Spacetime Sandflow.”

”Got it!” She flapped her wings and vanished from his side. Unitary Chaosrealm was a spatial technique that could seal off the enemy with heavy compression; its spatial effects were more potent than Tianming’s Unistrike Singularity. Spacetime Sandflow, on the other hand, was what she had used to help Tianming take down the Wonderhaze Suzerain. The combination of the Grand Dao Thousand Words and Perpetia City, coupled with even more harassment from Xiaoxiao, made it so that Tianming wouldn’t have to pay them any heed.

Lin Xiuzhu came to stop him, but it also worked the other way! Now, he was occupied and couldn’t go anywhere else. The stone slabs began shuddering once more. While Ji Ji had almost used up all of its energy, the six remaining foes were already at their limit.

”Save me!” someone cried.

Tianming turned back and saw that Feiling had used Unitary Chaosrealm to seal off an enemy, allowing a hundred slabs to slam down on that person’s head. The teamwork of the two girls resulted in the girl called Lin Guiyu being bloodied and battered and her lifebound beasts were forced out of her sword as a result, only to end up as targets for the stone slabs, Xian Xian, Lan Huang, and Yin Chen. They could do nothing but run and hide. And it was only even more hopeless with order in play. While their targets’ levels were much higher, they still weren’t enough to stand up against order and the Grand Dao Thousand Words. Moran was easily able to claim credit for over seventy percent of their efforts for the day.

Lin Guiyu’s pitiful state made Lin Bei’s line even worse off. Tianming cracked a smile and said, ”Oops, sorry, looks like you lost another one. Only six remain.”

His dastardly smile caused Lin Xiuzhu’s shame to morph into rage. The other two seventh-level stellaminors were basically good-for-nothings.

Lin Mingzhi, Lin Hongguang, and Lin Shiyun, all eighth-level stellaminors, were still being kept busy by the Grand Dao Thousand Words and unable to approach Moran. The three girls focused on their next enemy, proceeding to wipe them out one by one. They knew that they had to clear the battlefield for Tianming before Ji Ji’s energy completely ran out.

Lin Mingzhi and the others were no doubt in despair, as they had never run into such terrifying women in all their lives. Feiling’s two spacetime techniques could completely immobilize someone, and Moran’s stone slabs were tough, and there was no fear of them breaking, as they were divine wonders that could reform. Xiaoxiao’s arrows and her beast’s paralyzing lightning also infuriated them to no end. The techniques were simply insane, having come from the Lord of Perpetia, the Wonderhaze Suzerian’s lifelong work, and an Archaionfiend, respectively.

”Hold on until Xiuzhu takes down Lin Feng!”

”Those divine wonders must have a limited supply of energy! That sphere’s shrinking more and more!”

”That’s right. Once the divine wonders are gone, we can go on a rampage and Xiuzhu can score a decisive victory!”

Despite their dire straits, they were still confident they could win and continued giving it their all. Everyone’s attention was now focused on Lin Xiuzhu, who had clearly messed up. He definitely wasn’t in a good mood. No longer wasting words or caring about his standing, he finally drew his sword. It was a blade that looked like bamboo, fine and sharp. Unsurprisingly, it was also a saturated divine artifact with ten divine hazards infused within. It was a famous sword in the clan that embodied sharpness, the Bamboo Slayer.

At the same time, his lifebound beasts appeared beside him before turning into swordbeasts and entering his sword. Tianming knew that Lin Xiuzhu had six lifebound beasts, but they weren’t distinct. All of them were the same type of myriadstar beast called bamboo swordkings. They were half plant, half bug lifebound beasts that looked a little like praying mantises, except for boasting eight blade-like arms. They were born with a tough, impenetrable hide and their sword-like limbs allowed them to execute sword arts.

When the beasts entered the Bamboo Slayer, it turned into a six-link sword that looked exactly like a stick of bamboo. Power surged on its blade, highlighting its extreme cutting ability. A pair of eyes formed on each link of the sword. Lin Xiuzhu wielded the mighty blade, his hair and robes fluttering from the surging power as he stood tall and proud, his killing intent a single stick of bamboo hidden among the rest of a dense forest.