Beastmaster of the Ages

Even in the most dangerous of situations, Ying Huo had never let the opportunity to make a joke go. The fact that it sounded so serious now only showed how much chaos and pain it was in. Ying Huo was among the lifebound beasts with stronger wills. Meow Meow, Lan Huang, and Xian Xian kept shrieking in pain as the energy in their bodies ran wild, shaking their cocoons and even leaking from them.

”Thankfully, Yin Chen’s doing much better! It has countless bodies and has only lost more than ten billion of them to the manna. However, it has many chances to keep trying. Statistically, some of its bodies will succeed! That’s just how a lifeform like Yin Chen works! Hey, we’ll keep blocking her for you to see if we can hold on until Yin Chen finishes!” Ying Huo said.

The situation reminded Tianming of Midas’s death. The complete feeling of helplessness as he watched his lifebound beast die for his sake was a scar that he would never be able to heal from for all his life. It was the nightmare of nightmares. But after he had experienced so much growth, he would be able to hold on to reason no matter the kind of nightmare he faced.

”We said that we’d live and die together!” He would never let Ying Huo and the rest sacrifice themselves for him. They had already done too much. Tianming couldn’t bear to let his family sacrifice themselves to protect him! ”Ying Huo, tell me! Is there any other way? Don’t do that, please! Give me a ray of hope!”

Tianming glared at the burning red cocoon, no matter how much it pained him to do so. He had never spoken to Ying Huo in such a manner. If it weren’t for the desperate struggle, he wouldn’t sound so pathetic and on the verge of tears, but his lifelong trauma was coming back to haunt him again.

”Ying Huo! Meow Meow! Lan Huang! Xian Xian!” He kept calling their names with as much faith as he could muster. He didn’t have much time left, for Demoness Yin had already sent out some Bloodweaver threads toward the four cocoons!

Ying Huo’s weak voice came. ”There is!” There was another way!

”Tell me!”

”Our bodies have crumbled halfway due to our changing bloodlines. You’ve symbiotically cultivated with us before, so your body might be able to help us take the brunt. However, if you can’t endure it, you’ll die with us. That way, even if Yin Chen succeeds, it’d all be for naught!” Ying Huo angrily said.

Rationally speaking, it wanted to bet on Yin Chen and sacrifice the other four, itself included! Meow Meow and the rest kept struggling, but they didn’t disagree; they were of the same mind. Tianming felt truly touched. They were once wildbeasts in aeons past, cold and cruel. Yet now they were currently eager to sacrifice themselves for his and their unhatched siblings’ sakes!

”Boss, even if the four of us are gone, it’s fine. Yin Chen, Ji Ji, and even Sixth are still around. Besides, there’s still three unhatched siblings. With six partners, you’ll still be able to ride high and proud. Not to mention, they’re all much more talented and not nearly as lazy as me,” Meow Meow said in a pained voice.

”Shut up! Shut up!” Tianming was just as touched by them as he was angered. Tears kept flowing down his face. ”You stupid bastards! Stop spouting shit like that! How dare you sacrifice yourselves? You are all the most important to me! Do you get it? Do you?!”

Tears mixed with blood and fell from his eyes. ”I’m not dead yet! All of you were hatched by me, so you have to do what I say! We must face any disaster together! Come! What’s there to fear about death? All I fear is pitiful survival! Come back!”

Tianming said all that with his actual voice, not telepathy. As such, his lips and tongue were torn to shreds by the Bloodweaver’s threads. It hurt so much that his face was bloated, but that wasn’t enough to stop him. Feiling, Ying Huo, Meow Meow, Lan Huang, and Xian Xian were the ones that Tianming cared about the most. They had fought side by side all this time. If they were out there burning themselves away to save him, he had no right to just sit around and wait for death!

”Come to me! I’ll make sure all of us survive!” he roared. The four cocoons in front of him sat silently for a moment, then loudly roared. Thanks to Tianming’s beckoning, they unleashed some chaotic energy from the manna to shake off Demoness Yin despite the pain. Then they slammed toward Tianming!

The ball of blazing flame of the Aeternal Infernal Phoenix plunged into his right shoulder. The black and white bolts of the Genesis Chaos Thunderfiend smashed into his black arm. The thick, fleshy mass of the Primordial Terraqua Dragon burrowed into his right thigh, while the verdant mass of the Radix World Tree crept into his left. The two small and two large lumps avoided Tianming’s head and torso where his astral organs were situated, lest he have an even harder time surviving.

As the crumbling flesh entered his body, the essence of the Primordial Chaos Beasts within them fused with his flesh! The degree of fusion was far stronger and more complex than anything the Sky Starvore Fiendart could possibly achieve—they had fused into a singular body with symbiotic cultivation!

Many of Tianming’s orders had been granted to him by them to begin with! Even the cosmoforce in his body had taken on many flavors, like infernal and genesis. They were easily compatible with Ying Huo and the rest. Not to mention, his astral organs, like his infernal heart, genesis spleen, radix liver, and primordial lungs looked like something that had come out of the beasts’ own bodies. No beastmaster had ever achieved compatibility with their lifebound beasts to such an extent.

If Ying Huo and the rest had still been in their complete forms, this wouldn’t have been possible. But after their bodies had been wrecked by manna, their astrons hadn’t settled into a fixed configuration yet. That was just the thing they needed to fuse into a perfect body with him!

That instant, Tianming’s right arm turned into a feathered and scaled sword that burned with infernal flame. His black left arm was filled with lightning.

His right leg grew brown and blue draconic scales, becoming exceedingly tough and covered in spiky Primordial Swords that poked out of his kneecaps and toes. His entire right leg had become a weapon capable of massive damage!

His left leg, on the other hand, looked like the trunk of the Radix World Tree, having black roots, Radiant Vines, Radixsword Leaves, and many different flowers. Xian Xian’s spiritform was even almost visible from the pattern within the flowers.

But that was just the start. Tianming could feel his beasts’ heartbeats and energy, as well as the chaotic state that the manna had put them in. He would bear their burdens together with them as they faced this perilous crisis!