Beastmaster of the Ages

”It’s evolution, for lack of a better word. You beastmasters actually have it better when it comes to that. Simulacrum isn’t quite the same,” Yi Taoyao said.

In other words, my decapath era godswords can become more powerful through simulacrum, right? It was quite the pleasant surprise! ”Yi Taoyao, how many levels of simulacrum do you have now?”

”First level.”

”What does it do?”

”The first level is called hidden soul. Every totem that undergoes a simulacrum transformation will gain a hidden soul, which allows them to fight with their own wills and perform much better and more efficiently. You’ll find out how powerful it is soon enough,” she said. ”If you want to learn something that’s common sense, look it up yourself. Don’t keep delaying my beating you up.” She still seemed to mind what happened inside the bee’s room quite a lot.

”Wait a moment, one last question,” Tianming said, eager to placate her. There were few in the Lin Clan who knew about totems, after all, so he might as well find out about it from someone who did.

”Say it!” Yi Taoyao couldn’t stand having her fighting spirit raised and lowered again and again by his incessant questions.

”How can simulacrum be achieved? Can normal people do it? Is there some kind of trick? Why haven’t I ever seen anything like it from hexa or heptabanes in the skypiercer-class world I came from?” He wanted to know how to advance his decapath era godswords more than he wanted to defeat Yi Taoyao. While lifebound beasts could continuously evolve, the type and number of totems were determined at birth. Yet he finally found that even the unchanging totems could be made stronger. Not to mention, Qingyu had even somehow managed to increase their number, at one point being able to manifest eighteen of them.

”You said one question but you just blabbered a few in a row.” She was utterly speechless.

”Please, nice big sister, satisfy my curiosity.”

Yi Taoyao only grimaced when she heard his tone.

”What the hell, how shameless! You’re even pretending to be cute!” Ying Huo said.

”The little sister got promoted to big sister!” Xian Xian inscribed some more text onto its bark.

Initially, Yi Taoyao had gotten along with Tianming like oil and water, but her seething anger had been dampened quite a bit by the sudden confusion. Now, all she wanted to do was to beat him up instead of kill him. She grit her teeth but relented. ”The number of simulacra totems can achieve is a kind of talent that’s determined at birth. While there are some external factors that can change that, there isn’t much those things can do. The cultivators themselves are the only ones who can find out how many simulacra they can achieve.

”And there isn’t any technique to do it, either! How they achieve a simulacrum all depends on the totemancers themselves. Also, the upper limit of simulacra is just as important as the type and number of your totems. In skypiercer-class worlds, even octabanes or nonabanes might not achieve simulacrum. Usually, achieving a simulacrum is the sign of a lineage from a high-class clan!” She seemed quite proud about that fact.

”I see. In other words, if two people are both nonabanes, the one with more simulacra is much stronger, right?”

”Even if a monobane achieves a simulacrum, they’d be stronger than nonabanes. The number of totems isn’t everything. Once a simulacrum is achieved, even cultivation talent gets a huge boost.”

”It’s that impressive?” Tianming’s worldview was crumbling. He had thought that the number and type of totems were still more important than simulacra at the end of the day, but it seemed like the opposite was true. He figured it was just like lifebound beasts. Even if one had many of them, it would be pointless if they couldn’t evolve! Not to mention, people who could achieve simulacra with their totems got a huge boost in their talent as well.

”So how can one find out how many levels of simulacra one’s totems can achieve?” Tianming asked.

”It’s something you have to find out for yourself! Have you finished asking your questions? Are you going to fight or not? If not, cut it off and toss it to me before you fuck off!” Even a cold beauty like her couldn’t stand his incessant curiosity.

”Cut it off for you?” Tianming looked up and noticed that Shenxi Shang’s gaze felt a little odd. He had misunderstood what they were talking about, after all. ”Alright, I’ll fight!” He had already gained quite a bit by getting all that new information from her, to the point that he even felt grateful. Fine, I won’t let that monster in the beehive harm her. I’ll take that middle finger and send her home. She’s an astral god, after all, so her finger will grow back.

It didn’t take long before Yi Taoyao came impatiently charging toward him. Looking closely, he saw the biggest difference those nine totems had compared to the ones he’d seen: the hidden soul that willed them around. It allowed them to wield different kinds of weapons, and even different battle arts! Every one of them was deep and profound, and their spiritforms also seemed more corporeal and defined.

I wonder what tricks they’d learn after a second or third simulacrum? What’s the upper limit? With those questions in mind, Tianming clashed with her. Ying Huo and the other beasts were in the vanguard, blasting away with their abilities and orders, creating a dense field of abject chaos.

As totemancers inherently had higher cultivation speed, Yi Taoyao had broken through faster than her peers, even faster than the top ebon genius, Shenxi Shang—she was a fourth-level orderan! The fourth phase in the Order stage was called whale lungs. Tianming hadn’t learned too much about it yet, only roughly knowing that something happened to the lung astral organ at that phase. The lungs were the main astral organs that absorbed nova source and converted it into cosmoforce. In the fourth phase, astral gods could simply suck in energy around them through their mouths to greatly increase their explosive power.

Yi Taoyao’s level is indeed high, but she has two weaknesses. First, her order isn’t comparable to a beastmaster’s. Second, apart from Yi Daiyan, the strongest luxdaemon is ranked ninety-eighth in the reges mundi ranking. At the end of the day, their foundation can’t compare to those of other Infinitum Regal Clans. Yi Taoyao has the advantage of being able to quickly cultivate at the early stages, but her combat talent probably can’t match up to six-six disciples in the Lin Clan. It was a common problem for totemancers. While she was able to suppress Jiangbei Cheng, Shenxii Yao, and others with her one-level advantage, she barely stood a chance against Shenxi Shang.