Beastmaster of the Ages

Breaking through even a single level in the Foundation stage was incredibly hard. Each level was separated by a huge gap compared to the next. It was a much larger gap than levels in the Cosmic Cartography stage. As such, the fight had been decided before it even began. With Qitian Jian falling behind in terms of level, he would only find success if he had a mindset that could take a loss with grace.

However, it was still the first time Tianming would be seeing House Qitian in action, so he paid close attention. They were said to be the mightiest beastmasters in the astralscape, after all. House Yumo had the strongest specters, the skyghouls with immense physical capabilities, while House Suishen had the strongest totems. They were nonabanes that used their vitae as a tenth vital origin totem.

As for House Qitian, they were famed for their myriadpath source beasts! Based on that name alone and its similarity to the Myriadpath Sourcespring, one could tell that House Qitian was the closest to Myriadpath Valley.

Qitian Jian had a source beast by his side before the battle even started. It looked like a suanni-type lifebound beast, with a mane like a lion, claws like a tiger, sword-like talons, and a tough, robust body covered in golden flames. With a star count of around six million, it was the highest among all of the disciples’ lifebound beasts with the exception of Tianming’s.

”Its name is Tian Luan,” Suishen Zhao told Tianming. It was an impactful name indeed, meaning heavenly imperial carriage.

Tianming would soon be shocked that Qitian Jian only had a single lifebound beast despite hailing from the strongest beastmasters of the astralscape. ”Do the strongest beastmasters really only have one lifebound beast?”

”That’s what you don’t get. Penta-beastmasters are usually the upper limit across the astralscape. Very rarely, we find a hexa-beastmaster like you, or even a hepta-beastmaster, though their beasts are usually unorthodox,” Suishen Zhao said.

Tianming understood that much. For instance, the Yishker Clan of Ebonia were hepta-beastmasters, though two of their seven beasts were actually the lifebound snakes that were connected to their bodies. They didn’t have the same capabilities as independent lifebound beasts.

Suishen Zhao continued, ”House Qitian’s beastmasters are considered the strongest because they return to the basics with their source beasts.”

”Return to basics? What does that mean?” Tianming watched Qitian Jian and Tian Luan engage in combat and noticed that Tian Luan seemed much stronger than its beastmaster. His beast was the main fighting unit of their time. Even after Suishen Yao’s totems had improved, they were only strong enough to take on the beast alone.

”Look at Tian Luan’s belly,” Suishen Zhao said.

Tianming saw seven glowing beastface tattoos on the belly of the beast, each one shining bright. Those were Tian Luan’s many faces. The tattoos weren’t mere decorations; each beast face’s eyes had star counts of their own, all of them numbering around six million. All those stars made Tian Luan brightly glow with starlight.

”Tian Luan is an eightsource beast!” Suishen Zhao said.

”Eightsource beast?” Tianming looked closer. ”Don’t tell me that the single lifebound beast is actually a fusion of eight different ones.” He recalled Ye Chen of Violetglory and his five lifebound beasts that could join together to achieve immense power in combat.

”You’re right, but you’re also wrong,” Suishen Zhao said while nervously watching the battle.

”What do you mean?”

”It’s as powerful as eight beasts fused together. A single eightsource beast is comparable to eight lifebound beasts in power, so it’s all too easy for them to fight far above their level. However, it’s still one lifebound beast at the very end of the day, even with seven Tian Luan tattoos. Every time it evolves, it needs eight pieces of ordered manna!”

Tianming figured that it was the same as eight beasts fused together. It sounded like the same principle as his fusion with Ying Huo and the rest. Even though the number of combat units was lower, the fusion allowed the group as a whole to become much stronger. For that reason, Qitian Jian was stronger than a hypothetical octa-beastmaster.

Suishen Zhao looked at the fierce Tian Luan and said, ”It isn’t considered a fusion of eight distinct lifebound beasts because, since its birth, it only had one will and consciousness, a single tripartite soul. The seven tattoos are more like energy sources of their own, each of them able to store as much as the main body can. In essence, cultivating a single eightsource beast is like cultivating eight lifebound beasts. The eightsource beast has never split up into eight different beasts at all.”

”Source beasts are that impressive, eh?” Tianming finally understood what they meant by returning to basics. Having eight stores of energy meant requiring eight pieces of ordered manna. However, there was still only one tripartite soul and will.

Tian Luan had always been a single combat unit. It was like the divinespring of the godspringers, who carried a separate source of energy in their bodies, but myriadpath source beasts were in a wholly different league. The only difference between them and Tianming’s fused form was that the latter had five different wills in one body.

”Normal penta-beastmasters would never be able to match House Qitian’s beastmasters. It’d just be a fight between one tiger and five dogs. That’s what makes House Qitian so powerful!” Suishen Zhao said. Their source beasts were indeed much stronger than the tenth totems of House Suishen or the skyghoul transformations of House Yumo.

”Do all members of House Qitian have eightsource beasts?” Tianming asked.

”Nope. That isn’t possible. Eightsource beastmasters only come from the core bloodline of House Qitian. Even among the most talented members of House Qitian, there’s only a few eightsource beastmasters.”

”I see. How many sources do they normally have?”

”The outermost branches of House Qitian have fivesource beasts. That includes most of the Qitian disciples. Fivesource beasts have four beastface tattoos, so their fivesource beastmasters are stronger than conventional penta-beastmasters, or even certain unorthodox hexa- or hepta-beastmasters.”