Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming had seen the power of the eightpart apparition wonder in the earliest days of their defense of the Sun, especially how it could be used in tandem with astralships. ”Even though it pales in comparison to the ephemeral world wonder, the eightpart apparition wonder is the offensive one of the two. Coupling it with the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb will let me sweep the floor with my enemies!”

It was common knowledge that astralships lacked crowd control abilities. Part of the reason that wonderian ships were so terrifying was that their divine wonders made up for that weakness, allowing them to carry out even more precise operations.

Within the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, Moran split up into fifty people. Her kind and gentle sisters seemed slightly out of breath and flushed, as if they were nervously gearing up to undertake a huge task. Ji Ji left a part of itself within the miniature nova source of the ship and its spiritform that remained by Tianming’s side rolled its eyes and hurried Moran and her sisters. ”Stop messing around and get in line. Follow me.”

This was an infinitum-class wonder, and one cultivated to maximum maturity, no less! It was unlike the divine wonder embryo that Tianming had received, which required attention and nurturing. Its volume was quite vast; fortunately, Moran and her sisters had basked in Flameyellow Bloodsoul and enjoyed the careful nurturing of the elites of the Swordgod Lin Clan. She had finally become a stellaminor, her body morphing into the peak state of normal gods, allowing her to fully absorb the firmament ocean and evernight whale wonders. If she hadn’t done that, Tianming wouldn’t have dared to let her inherit the eightpart apparition wonder right away.

”Meng Ying’s eightpart apparitions were far stronger than Etherean Zhaohua’s. You must make sure to carefully and patiently absorb it at a steady pace,” Tianming advised.

”Understood, good little brother,” the sisters said in unison. All of them looked identical, with inky-green hair and eyes. Their resolute gazes and neat formation made quite a pleasing sight. Their gentle gazes that were filled with the desire to serve made Tianming a bit embarrassed.

After Fengqing Mengdie’s divine wonder had been brought in, the first thing they did was touch it while they absorbed the divine celestial patterns from the remaining astrons. Then they split them into fifty parts, one for each sister. While absorbing them was easy, integrating them would be the hard part! They were still not yet astral gods, so taking in patterns that were meant for astrons into their albi was naturally difficult.

And they only had one chance. ℴ𝑚

”This might hurt. If you fail, the consequences will be unthinkable. Are you sure you want to try?” Tianming asked for confirmation one final time.

”Yes.” Moran didn’t turn around as she could feel the assent of her forty-nine sisters. They were gentle, but also seemed immovably resolute. The Sun and its denizens were in a critical juncture, and they wanted to contribute as much as they could to lessen Tianming’s worries. He was the one who had brought them out of their sea of suffering. Despite the sisters’ damaged souls, they were able to fixate on one thing: repaying him for what he had done for them.

”Okay!” They wasted no words and let Moran lead them. They proceeded to surround Fengqing Mengdie and began drawing all the divine celestial patterns from her body. That was the insane ability that the dreamless celestial emperor had engineered in them. They could do it as naturally as they breathed.

”No wonder Meng Ying yearned for their power as well.” Tianming stood at the side to watch over them.

Billions of ghostly patterns enter their bodies. The eightpart apparitions were different from the evernight whales and firmament ocean. The apparitions contained a kind of evil resentment, seemingly able to affect the mental state of its user. Carelessness could result in them going astray in mind and in cultivation.

Tianming could immediately tell that they weren’t used to that aspect the moment the patterns entered their bodies. Eventually, they started struggling against the pain, their faces turning pale as if they were turning into eightpart apparitions themselves. They shook as they began giving off a terrifying aura of dread.

At that anxiety-inducing moment, Tianming saw them quietly hold out their hands to each other and linked together to form a large circle. They weren’t fighting alone! The lives of all fifty of them were connected. They were sisters, but they were also one. The warmth from the thread that linked their hearts made every single one of them feel like they were accompanied by forty-nine others. What was there to fear in this world?

The patterns of the eightpart apparition wonder swarmed into them like ghoulish wraiths, burning themselves into their albi. It was a highly complex procedure, with every single detail meticulously crafted by Fengqing Mengdie over millennia. Even if there were fifty sisters, inheriting a legacy of this level was far from easy.

Tianming nervously watched them.

”Looking at you, others might think that the sisters are giving birth to your children,” Ying Huo said.

”Ahem!” Tianming had to admit that it did feel like that. He was both nervous and expectant, but he did trust that the strong-willed girls would prevail no matter what, never relenting. All he hoped was that the process wouldn’t last that long so that they wouldn’t have to suffer so much pain. The patterns unleashed almost too much power as they coursed through every speck of their bodies, causing their dresses to wildly flutter, creating the illusion of a white snowstorm.

”How goes it, my disciple?” Xiaodao asked, hearing the commotion from the outside.

”It might be a boy.” Tianming shut his lifebound space tight and didn’t look away.

”What’re you talking about? I’m asking about whether she can deal with the eightpart apparition wonder.” Xiaodao seemed completely confused.

”Ah, what was I thinking? It should be my issue—wait, I meant it should be no issue!” Tianming almost bit off his tongue when he realized what he had just said. [1]

1. the first ’issue’ Tianming mentioned was used in the sense of one’s progeny or descendants, relating back to the joke Ying Huo made about the sisters birthing his children. ☜