Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming’s black-and-gold sword projection was incredibly sharp. Coupled with the Pentagram Suishen Art, his strike drew blood from the tough nova wildbeast’s inner walls. Even though it was far from enough to truly harm the beast, it was enough of an opening for Xian Xian’s roots!

Xian Xian defused from Tianming’s leg and turned into its gigantic Radix World Tree form, immediately taking root within the stomach of the beast near the wound. Its black roots burrowed deep into the flesh and began spreading all over the place. The beast bellowed in pain and shook so hard that Tianming was furiously flung around within it. It sent its destructive energies toward the tree, attempting to digest it like normal dietary fiber.

While animals usually ate plants, it was the other way around this time. Xian Xian was devouring the beast from within with its flowers in full bloom. Radiant Vines formed a shield against the beast’s stomach acid and purified it. The Bloodrain Swords, Demise Greenloti, Astral Sunflower continued blasting away in the stomach, opening the wound up more and more. Evernight Curse and Trisoul Fiendsong caused the beast to feel like it had been poisoned. It rampaged around from the pain but quickly weakened!

Tianming helped Xian Xian by opening up more wounds within the beast’s stomach, allowing more and more black roots to dig deep into them. While Xian Xian would still be damaged by stomach acid splashing on its leaves, it was able to quickly recover by sucking away vitality through its roots. At the same time, it used that energy to make more and more Radixsword Leaves, further intensifying its barrage.

It was a feast of attrition for both of them! Xian Xian was a beast with a star count of 9.99 million. With Tianming helping it unleash its full potential, it was eating so fast that the beast’s body was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye! As time passed, its roars grew weaker and weaker until they sounded like pathetic cries.

Victory had been decided the moment the Radix World Tree properly took root. The beast had been destined to be reduced to a corpse that Xian Xian would devour in its entirety. Its spiritform had fattened up visibly, though it looked like a plump, round pixie and was cute in its own way.

When the beast’s body dried out, it was no longer able to weather the powerful yin-yang essence storm on the outside and gradually crumbled away even without Tianming’s attacks. It broke into quite a few chunks that got destroyed by the storm.

Xian Xian began feeling the brunt of the storm now that it was outside again. Having had its fill, it shrank back down into its compressed form and fused with Tianming’s left leg, turning it flowery once more.

”I think that was a baleflame greatwhale.” Tianming had studied up a little on the Outer Yin before entering. Most reverends and eminents would learn a bit about the local fauna so they didn’t panic when they ran into them.

Baleflame greatwhales weren’t that powerful in the Yin-Yang World, but Tianming believed it would have been rather troublesome to kill it if he hadn’t had Xian Xian with him. It wouldn’t be much of an issue if he only had to escape, though.

After that, he had properly claimed the tuft of baleflame that was worth more than a keg of springwater. Tianming had a total of more than six kegs of baleflame, all told, which was more than the amount of springwater he would gain in five years at a keg each year.

”I wonder who else but me could’ve earned close to a total of ten kegs of baleflame in five years?” He was even more certain that coming to the Yin-Yang World had been the correct decision. He could get rich without even having to deal with others.

Just as he was feeling good about himself, Yin Chen suddenly said, ”Five kegs! Five kegs! There’s a... lot lot!”

”What’re you talking about?” Tianming asked.

”Go now!” Yin Chen immediately guided Meow Meow. Before Tianming could react, the cat in his arm took over his body and used Fiveway Blitzrun to speed toward the deepest part of the yin-yang essence storm.

”Are you saying there’s five kegs’ worth of Yin-Yang Baleflame there?” Tianming blankly asked.

”Yes yes!” Yin Chen was so excited after seeing such an amount for the first time.

”How could there be such a large tuft?” Tianming was shocked. He had thought that a tuft worth a hundred bowls of springwater was large enough when he’d first come across it, and this tuft was fifty times that size. Obtaining five kegs of baleflame all at once was the same as Suishen Zhao’s reward at the Prehistoric Path after his five-times multiplier was applied!

It seemed unbelievable, but Tianming didn’t overthink it. He had Meow Meow use up all its energy, making it work as hard as it did for sleep.

”Shit!” The safe route was far too narrow, forcing him to turn around many times. The more he rushed, the more time he wasted.

”Faster faster!” Yin Chen found it rather hard to keep an eye on such a large tuft of Yin-Yang Baleflame. It tried its best to gather as many of its bodies there as possible, which was challenging in itself in this environment. The rest was up to luck.

Still, it urged Tianming to go fast. It felt too bad to discover the treasure from so far away. It was a perplexing situation to be in. ”It will... be gone... if you... are late.”

Not long after it said that, it went wild. ”There is... someone there!”

”Did someone discover the baleflame before we arrived?” Tianming asked.

”It has... already been... fully claimed....”

”Damn!” Tianming felt the pain in his heart. ”How far am I from it?”

”One hour... at the... rate we’re... going at.”

”Damn!” The Yin-Yang Baleflame was indeed too far away; it was already too late. ”That tuft of baleflame is bigger than the total amount I’ve collected in five years combined! But someone already claimed it before me!”

The joy of finding an entire keg of baleflame moments ago had completely faded.