Beastmaster of the Ages

The crowd cheered at the intense sight.

”Can you believe that the ones fighting are only around a hundred years old?”

”Suishen Zhao still seems to be on an entirely different level. His totemic calamity is truly powerful. Li Tianming’s abilities and divine wonder are completely overwhelmed.”

”Li Tianming’s not bad himself, but his arsenal is chaotic and disorganized. Being a jack-of-all-trades is the same as being the master of none!”

”Don’t be so sure yet. Look!”

The crowd saw a light appear behind Suishen Zhao right after he used his totemic calamity. Then a leg suddenly slammed into Suishen Zhao’s back! Eight dragons of mountain and sea circled the leg that unleashed that kick. With a single kick, the air around them shook with the roars of millions of dragons that harmonized with Lan Huang’s Primordial Soundwave. And all of it came smashing into Suishen Zhao at the same moment.

Suishen Zhao furrowed his brows with shock. He was awed by Tianming’s physical capabilities. He withdrew his totems and gathered all nine redlotus flaregods behind him.

”Do you think you’re the only one who knows how to fuse and regroup?” When the totems were behind him, the vital origin flaregod burst with terrifying flaming power. ”Sevenfold Simulacrum, Decuple Celestial Rampage!”

The power of totems was greatly affected by simulacra. When Suishen Zhao used his sevenfold simulacrum, the flaming totems turned into tornados of fire that shook the entire Fortuna Arena as they squeezed together to resist Tianming’s kick.

The primordial power of mountains and oceans clashed with that of the sevenfold simulacrum! Then the Eightruin Dragonshields exploded, sending Tianming flying backward and slamming into the inner wall of the Fortuna Arena. The flaming tornados immediately scattered, revealing Suishen Zhao and his nine flaregods. However, they didn’t seem too badly shaken and immediately turned into new flaming tornadoes. One arm stretched out of each tornado, wielding a cosmic artifact. The flaregods’ angry expressions could clearly be seen.

”Amazing!” Tianming’s brilliant flurry of attacks had been expertly countered.

”Looks like Li Tianming suffered from that bout.”

”Just look! He’ll be pushed back more and more!”

The totems that had turned into rampaging tornadoes roared as they unleashed battle arts with the outstretched arms. Battle arts were crucial for totemancers who used them in tandem with their totems, so they focused on them far more than beastmasters or specters. All the totem ki and cosmoforce Suishen Zhao could muster fueled his totems in executing an impressive combination battle art, Starflash Flare! The cosmic artifacts of the ten totems exerted world-crushing power.

”It’s amazing that you managed to last to this point,” Suishen Zhao said. Starflash Flare came down like a meteor shower. The attacks formed a sphere with Tianming at the center. The sphere shrank smaller and smaller, concentrating all the attacks on him.

”You aren’t so bad yourself either!” Even though people thought that he would crumble from despair, Tianming merely smirked.

”Come out!” A sphere of metal appeared from his lifebound space and expanded to form a shield for him. The rain of flaming strikes left quite a lot of marks on the metal sphere, but the marks evened out in an instant. Then the metallic sphere turned into a silver scorpion next to Tianming that landed on the arena. The entire arena rumbled from its sheer mass.

It was the combined form of all of Yin Chen’s bodies! It braved the flaming storm and charged toward Suishen Zhao. At the same time, Tianming was covered with Infernal Shields. He used Skyscorch Wrathlotus to blast an opening through which he could use his divine wonder on Suishen Zhao once more!

”You have lifebound beasts that aren’t fused with you?!” Suishen Zhao’s expression immediately changed. Yin Chen was an insect, so it should have been afraid of fire. But it had an undying body of steel that didn’t seem to catch fire at all. Suishen Zhao was being ganged up on both sides!

Tianming’s counterattack caused an uproar in the audience. Even though not much time had passed since the battle had begun, the variety and flexibility of his arsenal had convinced quite a few people in the audience of his prowess.

Yin Chen shone in the spotlight! It snuck beneath Suishen Zhao and turned into a spider and spun webs that were tougher than cosmic artifacts. It rapidly spun a net, but before it finished forming, it turned into galactic swordbugs that shot up from below.

”What?!” Suishen Zhao’s Decuple Celestial Rampage form was stopped by the net. His fortuna-class artifacts didn’t seem to be able to cut it apart, so he tried to retreat, only for the galactic swordbugs to shoot toward him! A loud clang rang out as two of his artifacts were knocked flying. Yin Chen blasted the totemic calamity apart and scattered the vital origin flaregod and the nine other redlotus flaregods. The sevenfold simulacrum had been crushed by a beast with such ferocity, much to the shock of the other geniuses that were watching the battle.

”What’s that?”

”It’s too hard!”

”Is it a metallic lifebound beast?”

”Suishen Zhao’s in danger!”

The crowd cried even louder when they saw Tianming charge out of the storm of Starflash Flare to directly face Suishen Zhao.

”You’re amazing! You haven’t disappointed me at all!” Suishen Zhao still seemed rather proud. He had never fought an enemy he couldn’t defeat; his pride and fighting spirit instantly soared.

”You still dare to talk like that after all that. Does that mean you have other tricks up your sleeves? Don’t leave me disappointed, then!” Tianming’s pride was clear from his words. He charged toward Suishen Zhao, working with Yin Chen for a pincer attack.

The two prideful youths clashed. Lan Yun, Qingyuan, Huang Daosheng, Jian Qinghe, and the rest didn’t even have the time to feel shock as the battle rapidly intensified! Suishen Zhao was quite mad that Yin Chen’s appearance had put him on the back foot.

The innate pride of his prestigious house caused his bloodline to surge with power and his eyes looked like they were shooting out beams of flame. The vital origin flaregod and his other nine totems roared so loud that the arena was being destroyed by the soundwaves alone. ”Eightfold Simulacrum, Eternal Tribulation Lotus!”

Suishen Zhao’s two types of totems fused together, then a gigantic flaming lotus flower took their place and appeared before Tianming’s eyes. The Eternal Tribulation Lotus pulsed with tribulation power and seemed like it could grind away any obstacle!

”The Eternal Tribulation Lotus! He isn’t much older than a hundred years old, yet he’s already capable to this extent!”

”Suishen Zhao is truly the future hope of House Suishen. He’s only one bit shy from overcoming the precedent of his ancestors.”

”That simulacrum’s power goes without saying, right?”

”The fact that Li Tianming lasted this long is already impressive.”

”Even Suishen Zhao will have to rest for a while after using the Eternal Tribulation Lotus!”

Even if Tianming hadn’t heard what they said, he knew how powerful the Eternal Tribulation Lotus was. While it looked like a flower on the surface, it was actually a congregation of powerful tribulation energy that could instantly expand to cover the entire arena. There was nowhere for him to run. Both he and Yin Chen had been sealed off. Then the boundless tribulation energy turned into streams of flame that shot toward him! No matter where he went, he couldn’t shake them off at all.

”If it weren’t for being limited to the Fortuna Arena, he wouldn’t be able to lock on to me like that! The battlefield is favorable to this move.” Once the flaming celestial patterns touched Tianming’s body, his flesh would char and end up scorched. It would spread through the rest of his body like a toxin.

He couldn’t run, but he didn’t know where his opponent was either. Suishen Zhao had turned into the vital origin flaregod, becoming what was essentially a totem-like being. His astrons could be scattered without killing him. As such, Tianming could only take the attacks without countering them, unless he could find a way to attack the entire Eternal Tribulation Lotus.

Pain spread across his body as more and more of it ended up scorched. Even Yin Chen suffered from those attacks, let alone Tianming. The audience was wildly cheering for Suishen Zhao. Even though they had acknowledged Tianming’s shocking prowess, most of them still found it ideal that Suishen Zhao, the representative of Myriadpath Valley, had the upper hand. The Eternal Tribulation Lotus’s stormy energy made its way toward Tianming, compressing and burning away at his body.

”Li Tianming, you’re amazing. You’re the only opponent that’s managed to surprise me in all my hundred-odd years of life! I’ll call you a friend whenever you come to visit Suishen Cave!” Every word Suishen Zhao spoke felt like a blast of fire on Tianming’s body.

Hearing that, Tianming knew that his goal had been achieved even though he risked fighting today instead of waiting twenty years. Those words were much, much more valuable than the initial invitation Suishen Zhao had extended to him.

”Suishen Zhao, you’re among the most impressive people in Myriadpath Valley. I truly respect that. However, I would like to ask if you would retract your words if I happen to defeat you,” Tianming said, the astrons on his face burning red.

”If you defeat me?” In that instant, Suishen Zhao fell silent with rage. ”If you’re holding back because of my status, that would be a true insult to me!”

”I’m glad to have your assurance!” Tianming smiled with bravado. ”Eternal Tribulation Lotus, en garde!”

All of Tianming’s cosmoforce poured into his black arm. The outer circle of lights in the eye on his red palm shuddered. When the spots of light fused into the yin-yang fish of the inner circle, his Sky Plundering Eye suddenly turned a gory blood red! It turned into a compound eye with a hundred subeyes that seemed like a dense honeycomb. The spiritual energy from the centuroptic Archaionfiend was unleashed, covering the entire battlefield in a red light!

Apologies. You may be strong, but I just so happen to be a bad match for you. Tianming didn’t actually say that out loud. Instead, he raised his left hand high and used Vitasteal! Turning the vita into a totem and exposing it was a fatal mistake.

The red glow from Vitasteal instantly flooded the burning, rampaging Eternal Tribulation Lotus, causing it to abruptly stop. Everyone thought that Suishen Zhao stopped his attack because Tianming had yielded. But what they didn’t expect was that the lotus would suddenly crumble into countless embers that vanished without a trace, leaving only Suishen Zhao behind. His totems all returned to his bane-rings, then he fell from the sky and slammed hard onto the ground!

The sound of his fall could be heard in the deathly silent arena like a single needle dropped miles away at the dead of night. People saw how pale, confused, and delirious he was. Tianming sheathed the Grand-Orient Sword and calmly stood there, smiling at his opponent.

”Thank you for going easy on me.” Everyone’s hearts felt like they were on fire when they heard Tianming’s words. It would be in order if he had said that after being defeated, but the truth was undeniable after Suishen Zhao didn’t rebut those words no matter how long passed.

Tianming had defeated Suishen Zhao! The myriadpath rings automatically registered the results of the battle. It was a fact that lingered in the air as the silence in the arena stretched on.

Myriadpath saints, fortuna and maniverse disciples, and reverends looked at the two youths in the arena without being able to utter a single word. Their dumbstruck expressions were quite novel. Huang Daosheng, for instance, had his mouth agape and his eyes squinting in disbelief.

”Is it over?” he asked the people next to him.

”It’s over. The myriadpath rings registered Suishen Zhao’s defeat.”

Huang Daosheng felt like a lightning bolt had struck him. He awkwardly said, ”How... how could that be possible? It must be a mistake! There must’ve been cheating going on!”

”There’s no cheating. Suishen Zhao was able to use the Eternal Tribulation Lotus. His power is truly impressive. Li Tianming, on the other hand, is at least better than that. He was able to counter every move that Suishen Zhao made,” Reverend Qingyuan said with an unpleasant expression.

”If he had this kind of ability, he could’ve crushed Qiu Ciling in a single move back at Skyward Grandpath. Why’d he hide it back then?” Reverend Shujian solemnly asked.