Beastmaster of the Ages

Even though there were no skyward eyes broadcasting this fight, the aftermath would surely be felt throughout all of Orderia, especially during such sensitive times. It would cause an even larger commotion than the recent changes to the imperial star ranking, especially with the struggle between the celestial orderians and the Myriad Solar Sects being the highlight of the conflicts on the sun. It was deeply ingrained in the psyche of everyone.

Everyone watched as Li Haochen's white and gold robe burst into golden flames. Like his father, he radiated an impressive brilliance, especially the overlaid bane-rings in the middle of his forehead. Tianming basked in that bright light, admiring the imperial aura that radiated from his enemy. Li Haochen was fully integrated with Orderia, perfectly blending in with the hot and dry atmosphere. The sun was like a furnace and he was like the fire source within it that controlled everything about the environment he was in.

"A beastmaster, eh?" Li Haochen said with the full sense of superiority totemancers felt over beastmasters. He wanted to try goading Tianming into losing his cool and stoke his desire to stand up for all beastmasters. However, he wouldn't make the same mistake Long Youyou did when she underestimated her foe. Instead, he was going all out.

"Li Haochen!" Those on the side of the Supracloud Sanctuary cheered for him. Their drowning, zealous cries shook Tianming's eardrums. Li Haochen's eighth-level constellier power surged and began moving the fundamental cosmic forces of the sun, forming a vortex of flames around him. Then the roars of multiple beasts sounded out as many thousands-of-meters-long flaming beasts emerged from his bane-rings. They flew around with him at the center in all shapes and sizes and included fish, birds, beasts, and insects. Every one of them flared with great intensity, their appearance immediately causing the surrounding temperature to rise. These were the famous eight vastsun godbeasts.

The sounds of crackling flames and explosions constantly rang out. Each vastsun godbeast had countless golden divine patterns looping around their bodies, allowing them to change forms at will. In a sense, Li Haochen was almost like a beastmaster himself, one with eight beasts! It was said that these vastsun godbeasts weren't one bit inferior to lifebound beasts of the same level. Beastmasters had a limit of only five beasts while Li Haochen had eight totems, allowing him to dominate those of the same level.

"His totems are far stronger than those of his level...."

"The vastsun godbeasts are able to consume divine herbs to increase their totem ki. They seem much stronger than they were the last time they showed up...."

"As expected of the son of the sun emperor...."

Even though Li Haochen was only at the eighth level and couldn't compare to a grade-one swordpupil, he seemed much further ahead of everyone there in terms of talent and resources.

"It doesn't seem possible to catch up to the power of his totems."

"If Li Tianming can hold up for long enough, the fight will be entertaining at least. The two girls on their side aren't even on the same level as Li Haochen. That's probably how much more powerful the sun emperor is than the Torchdragon Emperor!"

"That makes sense."

Even Tianming could feel the pressure radiating from Li Haochen and the vastsun godbeasts that were glaring at him. He felt like he was in a furnace. I might've been looking down on him after seeing how easily Feng and Xiaoxiao won.

He admitted that to be the case, but his previous thoughts still held up. He could afford to lose, while Li Haochen couldn't. In other words, Tianming had nothing to lose, so he could go all out! He let out his lifebound beasts—a phoenix on his shoulder, a black cat in his arms, Lan Huang on the tree branch, and another tree.

"Let's go down!" Tianming descended to the ground with them. With the ground supporting them, the lifebound beasts could fight much better. Xian Xian, for instance, could take root in the ground like the divine tree, and even use the divine tree's own roots and vines for itself. Lan Huang got into position, ready to charge through the forest. Ying Huo and Meow Meow were swift, agile, and able to strike at any time. Meow Meow in particular had disappeared into the branches of the divine tree in a flash, nowhere to be seen.

And lastly, there was Yin Chen. Sharp metallic sounds chimed as two hundred thousand small silver eggs appeared beside Tianming, some from his lifebound space and some from the branches around them. They reflected so much light that it looked like Tianming was standing in the middle of a galaxy. Looking up, Tianming saw Li Haochen charging at him with his totems, coming down like a sea of flames.

"He's a quintuple beastmaster with beasts of wholly different species and elemental types! There's been no precedent!"

"Even though I didn't get it at first, I know why Li Tianming was able to take first place now."

"He truly has many unique tricks at his disposal."

"These five beasts look unique indeed!"

"I suppose they can at least stand up to Li Haochen's eight vastsun godbeasts somewhat. No doubt, this will be a huge help to him in the future. It's a shame that he doesn't have the Ninedragon Imperius to use the Ninedragon Tribulation with. Otherwise, he could become the next Ninedragon Emperor."

"Nonsense! The sun emperor won't allow another person like him to show up, especially after having the previous Whitedragon Emperor killed."

"Look! Li Haochen took out his Crimsoncloud Dragonbane!"

"I think he wants to see Li Tianming dead."

The Crimsoncloud Dragonbane was a domineering blade of red and gold. Its hilt was shaped like a dragon's head with an expression of agony, as if that dragon had freshly been decapitated. The blade itself had a sawtooth edge, giving it a gruesome feel. Tianming had heard that this weapon was a grade-seven divine artifact and was among the top five of the grade. Its core divine pattern was called Crimsoncloud Divinity, granting the weapon a much enhanced cutting capability, especially against the flesh of beasts. It was said that the weapon was also forged with seven types of grade-seven divine hazards that packed explosive power, making it one of the best weapons in the celestial orderians' arsenal.

Given the fact that its former owner was the sun emperor, Li Haochen must have inherited the exalted blood of his father. No doubt, this weapon, the Dragonblood Desecration, Lifesteal Silverdragon, and many other weapons forged during the same time period were made with the sole purpose of slaying lifebound beasts. As the dragons of the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect were known to be the most powerful of such beasts, this blade was named Crimsoncloud Dragonbane. Countless dragons had been slain by this very blade.

Li Haochen, coupled with his bane-rings, totems, and impressive weapon looked like an almighty hegemon as he descended. Others thought they were looking at the sun emperor himself.

"He's basically a younger version of the sun emperor!"

No doubt, it seemed like he had a huge advantage over Tianming. Eight stars appeared between him and his totems. The eight little flashes grew into gigantic suns a thousand meters in diameter and linked together like a ring, trapping Tianming and his lifebound beasts within. This was his octastar constellation. The eight solar stars sealed off the battlefield, raising the temperature even higher and causing many of the divine tree's nearby sprouts to burn. Even Xian Xian's branches, roots, and flowers were set aflame, causing it to cry before the fight had even started for real. While it was a Primordial Chaos Beast, it still seemed to have a weakness to fire.

The constellation applied huge pressure on Tianming. It was swiftly followed up by a full-force attack from Li Haochen in tandem with all his totems. "Who do you think you are?" Though he sounded cold, Li Haochen wasn't underestimating his foe in the least and had gone all out. He was fuming about his girlfriends being beaten up, though he didn't feel like expressing it before.

However, Tianming couldn't be bothered to even humor his arrogant question. On the battlefield, power was everything. "Let's show him what a real beastmaster is made of!" Tianming telepathically said to his beasts. Their minds resonated with his. Unlike totemancers, who had to control all of their totems themselves, beastmasters had the advantage of letting their beasts fight autonomously.

"Pandemonium constellation!" Tianming unleashed his constellation to curb the mounting pressure.