Beastmaster of the Ages

Yumo Xiaoyou had died far too quickly, terrifying Yuan Long to no end. As she turned and began to run off, her mental state was a complete mess, as could be clearly seen from her utterly contorted expression.

”No! Nooo!” As she shrieked, the black-and-gold giant formed from little beastballs loomed over her like a nightmare. She greatly regretted not forming a connection with them like Tianming had. Alas, regret as a timely gift was denied to those with wicked natures. There was nothing she could do but cry as a hellish death began to consume her body.

”Why can cosmic gods die so easily....” On the day she had become a cosmic god, she had thought that death had become far out of reach. Everyone said that cosmic gods were remarkably hard to kill. Even as she killed other astral gods, she was constantly reminded of how weak they were compared to her, never having to imagine that she would soon find herself in a similar position. She perished before she could even beg to be spared.

”What in the....” Tianming watched it all unfold with awe. It took but mere moments for two cosmic gods that were almost going to kill him to die from the rage of the little beastballs. ”Messing with Flameyellow is nothing short of suicidal, it seems.”

Though he was a bit stunned at first, he soon relaxed. The heavy blow he had taken from Yuan Long no longer weighed down on him. Her and Yumo Xiaoyou’s deaths meant that Moran would no longer have trouble dealing with the other orbiter-world geniuses. As for the black-and-gold mass of beastballs, they no longer pressed on the fight. Instead, they shook before splitting up into little beastballs. As if they were completely exhausted, they panted heavily with their tongues out and looked weakly at Tianming.

”Don’t worry. Leave the rest to us.” Though Tianming was still injured, he acted out of urgency. Qingyu had been standing guard at the entrance the whole time to prevent anyone from leaving.

”Run! Quickly!” The specters that remained were completely terrified and scrambled to get outside.

Tianming was just about to give chase, only to hear a gentle voice say, ”Take some rest!”

Moran zoomed past him and blocked the entrance to the ruins with her divine wonders and rammed them into the group of specters, completely shattering their formation before they could do anything or take out their transmission stones.

”None shall leave.” If even a single one managed to get out, they would be in huge trouble. Tianming kept a close eye on everyone. ”I don’t think there has been any leak so far.”

He breathed a sigh of relief once all the orbiter worlders perished. Thankfully, the little beastballs turned the whole thing around.

”Big Brother, are you alright?” Qingyu asked once she cleaned up the battlefield and came to him with Moran, both looking at him with worry.

”He’s gonna be fine,” Ying Huo said, flying out of Tianming’s arm and perching on his head. ”What about my Yueyue? Is it hurt?”

”It’s completely fine,” Qingyu said with a chuckle. What kind of chicken would care more about someone else’s lifebound beast rather than its own beastmaster? It wasn’t like Shuo Yue had been fighting earlier either.

”Buzz off, you useless thing,” Tianming said. He gathered the astrons in his body together. Even though he had lost some, it wasn’t nearly fatal, but he would require some time to recover fully. He really wasn’t in any shape to fight.

”I hope nobody else gets drawn in now that we’ve dealt with those two. More cosmic gods would mean trouble.” As much as he wanted it to be so, he knew that reality was hard to predict. He gave the little beastballs a look and knew that they had performed beyond their usual capabilities. They wouldn’t necessarily be able to repeat what they had just done again.

Either way, fighting alongside each other formed a sort of bond between them. A few little beastballs came to him and chirped while shaking their heads at him.

”Do you want me to come with you?” he asked.

”Peeep!” The beastballs nodded frantically.

”Alright. Lead the way.” Tianming found these little critters rather interesting. How could living beings like them, not cultivators, have galaxy-class orders within them? Their nature was truly unfathomable. Qingyu swept up some loot from the dead and joined Moran and Tianming.

”Big Brother, there’s a piece of manna with more than ten thousand apertures here,” Qingyu said, showing him a huge jade container that looked to be the size of a house. The manna within wasn’t small by any means.

”Ten thousand apertures? Yumo Xiaoyou’s?” Tianming asked.

”Yes.” Yuan Long had been a totemancer, so she didn’t need any ordered manna, especially not on her person. And unlike beastmasters who might need multiple, specters only needed one piece of ordered manna, and it was usually them who carried along a piece of peak manna for when they needed it.

”He probably planned to give it to his little sister after she became a cosmic god.” Lifebound beasts and specters alike needed manna above ten thousand apertures after the Cosmic God stage to bring their star counts past a hundred million, a staggering number. A star cluster only had ten thousand stars, so that would make ten thousand clusters.

Tianming opened the jade box as he walked to find a gigantic blood-colored sword within. That was simply what the order was shaped like. It was surrounded by blood-colored flames that burned intensely. The aura of blood and blaze seemed rather overwhelming.

”The Bloodblaze Sword....” Tianming read the introduction slip on the side of the box and touched the manna gently, feeling the odd power coursing through it. ”Ying Huo, this contains the aspect of fire, so it should suit you.”

”Let’s keep it for when we need it,” Ying Huo said.

”Alright.” He put the manna away and continued to follow the beastballs deep into the ruins. Yin Chen had already inspected the area before and didn’t find anything that stood out. But there, the little beastballs fused together into the black-and-gold giant once more, though it wasn’t aggressive in the slightest. While tired, it was still able to maintain its form just barely. The giant then pressed its hand against the wall, causing it to flash and leave a large handprint on it. Then, the wall moved apart to reveal a secret chamber.

”I didn’t think there’d be a hidden mechanism here.” Yin Chen had scanned the area quite a lot of times and didn’t spot anything noteworthy. The flameyellow ancestors had made enough preparations to ensure that outsiders didn’t take what belonged to them. However, Tianming received their permission to enter.