Beastmaster of the Ages

It was already dawn by the time they returned to the Grandfowl Water Palace. After Sovereign Xi dropped Tianming off at the Origin Hall, she smiled.

"See you soon, precious." Then she vanished in the mist of the moon.

"Tsk tsk!" Ying Huo and the rest had heard the whole conversation and popped out of the lifebound space to move about.

"Lend me a feather," Tianming said. A black and red bird landed in his palm; it was even smaller than his palm. It looked no larger than a freshly hatched chick, as if it had undergone a reverse growth spurt. While Meow Meow could grow in size by becoming a Regal Chaosfiend, Ying Huo had awakened a new technique from its bloodline: shrinking. It could turn as small as when it had just hatched, making it just the right size to nestle on Tianming's head.

This wasn't just a pointless size change. Much like the royal specters, the smaller it became, the faster it was, making it much harder to track. However, it would be much weaker in terms of absolute strength. In other words, Ying Huo could pick any size from a wingspan of three meters to as small as a little chick.

"As expected of Chicken Bro. You can inflate and deflate... like a certain avian-like part of the body. No wonder your tattoo was located at Boss's crotch," Lan Huang joked.

It felt like the sky was falling for Lan Huang to come up with that quip. One had to wonder whether Ying Huo had spoiled the rest of its siblings to think that way.

Joining in the fun, Ying Huo said, "It's too bad that I'm not the birdie that the old hag wants...."

"Buzz off. I need to cool off," Tianming said.

"So are you going to just wait for her to pounce you?" Ying Huo asked.

"No way. I'm waiting for a chance."

"What chance?"

"If I say it, I'll jinx it."

Tianming plucked off one of its Cosmic Blade feathers. Using his third eye, he gave it a look before piercing it into his chin and digging out the piece of flash with a fleck of blue. It definitely hurt, but nobody who had changed fate got away without going through some sort of pain. However, he was disappointed to find that the blue dot still remained when the flesh grew back. It was no wonder she didn't keep him locked up, since she would be able to find him no matter where he went.

"Is this good or bad?" Ying Huo asked.

"It's hard to say." He got up and returned to his room. "Let's go to the wondersky realm and see if Feng is still there."

......

Tianming had waited two days at Violetglory Pagoda's entrance, but Ye Lingfeng didn't show up. "He said there were hundreds of xenofiends around him. Could he have perished?"

His heart beat nervously. The mere thought of that possibility made him feel like something inside him was being torn apart. He was even short of breath. He'd already walked into Sovereign Xi's trap of his own accord, so he had to at least be able to save Ye LIngfeng.

But since waiting any longer didn't seem to have a point, he decided to do something else. "Let's focus on cultivation. I can't waste any prime growth window I have after breaking the Lifesbane curse."

He entered the pagoda to start another round of challenges. This time, he used seven of his godswords. Coupled with the recent power scan, he was able to defeat seventh-level ascendants, so nobody could match him on the first level of the pagoda. Once more, he came to the world with billions of caeli. Using his Caelum Prime, he rapidly scanned the stories of the seniors.

Like last time, it only took him one moment per caelum, thanks to his unique caelum which, along with his terra and vita, had been transformed by Trisoul Prime. Each day, he scanned thirty thousand caeli as well as defeated any challengers that had come.

Ten days passed without Sovereign Xi disturbing him, so he didn't leave. He continued to choose to challenge after a full ten-day cycle. But this time around, the wondersky fairy said, "As you've displayed the power equivalent of someone at Heptaglory Sky, you now have privileges to cultivate on the pagoda's second level. Cultivators there range from Heptaglory Sky to Orderian Sky. Would you like to attempt to challenge someone at the second level, Lin Feng?"

"What benefits are there to cultivating on the second level compared to the first?"

"The caeli come from seniors of a higher level. More than half of them are beyond Ascension, so there will be benefits."

"Alright then, I'll take the challenge on that level instead."

He turned out to be rather lucky. His first opponent was a totem user at about the same level as Prince Zhuoyang had been. After defeating his opponent, he could finally start cultivating there.

His power in the wondersky realm with seven godswords was actually akin to him using four in the real world. After all, the wondersky realm decreased the actual power of his lifebound beasts, so the three extra swords only made up for that specific lack.

The second level turned out to be rather different. There were just as many caeli there as there were on the first level, but they shone even bigger and brighter. When he approached them, it felt like each of them were bright suns. It wasn't as easy to scan an entire caelum within a breath's time, but he noticed that the insights of cultivators of a higher stage were much more complex and suited to him.

"So powerful.... This senior is also a totem user and a heptabane."

While there were many caeli that belonged to the bane race, practically none of them used a will that stemmed from Lifesbane itself. However, there was a common theme of resisting fate in their life stories. From them, Tianming could find his own answer.

"Right now, Sovereign Xi practically wants to kill me, just like Bodhi, and I have countless people like Feiling, Feng, and the humans of the Flameyellow Continent counting on me."

He thought back to Li Wudi, who had spent fourteen whole years of his life resisting his fate. Sovereign Xi thought that she had decided Tianming's fate, but in fact, she was only giving him one to resist! It would be the bane of his life story!

"Lifesbane Will is rooted in the courage to stand against destiny. It isn't just about stubborn hotblooded resistance. More than courage, endurance, and fighting spirit, it requires wisdom."

He needed to understand the powers of the universal laws of order to be able to control the forces that shaped his life. Looking through many tales, he had seen many who failed or succeeded in their own quests to resist, but his courage didn't falter.

"The strong are as powerful as fiends who kill to benefit themselves, while the weak change their mindset to cope. Those that don't resist perish!" As he had just started pondering on his Lifesbane Will, he rapidly improved with it.

"The foundation of Lifesbane Will is the power of rage and resistance! Enrage all the albi in the body! Let the astralforce wildly surge and grow stronger through the constant denial of death itself!"

He had Bodhi and Sovereign Xi to thank for the pressure they were applying on him, which served as a great source for his heavenly will's growth.

"Phew...." In the end, he spent thirteen entire days cultivating at the pagoda. During the fourteenth day, he encountered a ninth-level ascendant and was defeated, thus ending his streak. Then he spent another day waiting outside the tower, but Ye Lingfeng didn't show up. There wasn't a single trace of him in the crowd.

Tianming's heart burned with rage as he returned from the wondersky realm. Once his caelum returned, the memories it retained helped fuel the growth of his heavenly will after they synchronized with his vita. The last three days he had spent in the pagoda were equivalent to ten days on the first level.

"I should be able to reach Quadseal Sky by now." After absorbing stellunar source for a day and night, his lifebound beasts and totems all broke through to the fourth level. Now, he surged with even more power.

"No matter how observant she is, there's no way she'll be able to fathom the real speed of my improvement. I'm a decabane, an impossible existence that's far beyond the realms of her imagination."

That might be the only edge he had, so he wasn't too anxious, despite the heavy pressure he was under. However, he made a mental calculation and noticed that the day of the nova source pulse would soon be upon him. Was she ready to go through with it?