Beastmaster of the Ages

Ye Chen's lifebound beasts were cold and fierce like wildbeasts; but not just any wildbeasts, however. In fact, the beast Tianming felt was closest to what they were was the Archaionfiend.

Right then, the unexpected happened. Ye Chen loosened his hand and allowed the bird to soar. As it did, it grew in size. When it reached Ye Chen's head height, its wingspan had grown to a kilometer, a match for Ying Huo. Its eyes were still black vortices through which no stars were visible. Tianming only had reports of it being a seven-star divine beast to go on, making it equal to Ying Huo and superior to the rest. In terms of star count and level, Ye Chen took the cake.

Dense black lightning formed black clouds as the bird flapped its wings. Once more, an ancient cry came from the bird, causing it to give off a wild, desolate aura. At the same time, the black qilin turned into a giant beast that was even larger than Meow Meow's Regal Chaosfiend form. The black squid, unsurprisingly, took a form that was even larger as well, making its tentacles about the size of Xian Xian's branches. Every single one of them was covered in suckers, within each of which was a black vortex. The bug at Ye Chen's neck burrowed into the ground, causing it to rumble for a while before countless black bugs burrowed out from the ground. Every one of them was surrounded by a black mist and had a horrifying face with gigantic serrated mandibles. The man-eating plant also took root, growing at a speed visible to the naked eye till it reached a size comparable to Xian Xian.

All of them turned into gigantic beasts, seemingly filling the battlefield with their characteristic black mist. Their entrance looked far more impressive than that of Tianming's beasts. Every single one of them inspired a chilling fear, yet even now, Meow Meow was still snoozing away like an idiot. Quite a lot of people were cheering for Ye Chen's beasts.

"They look far too fierce."

"That's why they're impressive!"

"Lin Feng's beasts look too gentle. They don't fit his image as a genius at all. It looks like he's being completely overshadowed by Ye Chen."

"It's fine. Lin Feng need only use his totems to even the odds."

"This is fundamentally a battle between a beastmaster and a totemancer. Lin Feng is definitely on the Violetcloud Imperium's side."

Ye Chen looked completely radiant, but his white robes contrasted against the dark, fiendish miasma that his lifebound beasts gave off. It was a clash of black and white between the beastmaster and his beasts. How could someone surrounded by so many savage-looking beasts seem so pure and harmless?

"How does it feel?" Ye Chen asked.

"A pure person with five inner demons, eh? That's interesting," Tianming said.

"Demons? There's no such thing as good tools or bad tools, only how they're used and who uses them."

"Makes sense." Tianming didn't doubt that line of thinking in the slightest. However, he was certain that the bloodline of lifebound beasts could influence the personality of the beastmaster somewhat. The same was the case with his Primordial Chaos Beasts' bloodlines, but thankfully his Imperial Will could suppress the wild personality fluctuations. Not to mention, his Primordial Chaos Beasts had been changed in some way by his Aeonic Grandbane. He didn't know how Ye Chen controlled his beasts, but he was sure that the Archaionfiend's guess was right.

"These are Desolate Chaos Progenibeasts, right?" Ying Huo said, rolling its eyes.

"That's right, they're a kind of spectral progenitor. It's almost certain now," Tianming said. Spectral progenitors had something to do with the specter race. Specters weren't considered to be a branch of humanity. They differed from humans far more than beastmasters and totemancers differed. Most specters strengthened their own bodies by consuming the flesh of beasts, an ability that came from spectral progenitors, or in other words, their ancestors. Though they had only inherited a small portion of their bloodlines, it still made them more beast than human.

Some legends spoke of sentient astral beasts that roamed the nova source worlds and could even survive in the astralscape. They loved to eat other beasts, and even their own kind, for growth. Not to mention, they didn't need divine wills to control their powers, only pure physical prowess. That was something even their distant descendants, specters, couldn't do; specters also needed divine wills.

As for the Archaionfiend, it also grew through consumption, but it used caeli. Consuming caeli was a far more efficient process, making it some kind of cousin of spectral progenitors. It came from a line of super beasts from the far reaches of the astralscape. Though the number of Archaionfiends wasn't that high, there were many spectral progenitors. Even in the present day, they still roamed the astralscape as wildbeasts, but spectral progenitors that still retained sentience had almost entirely been exterminated. Now, they were just relics of an ancient time.

Sentience was the core difference that separated spectral progenitors from wildbeasts. Ancient spectral progenitors were said to be incredibly powerful, with the strongest of their ranks comparable to Archaionfiends. In fact, Desolate Chaos Progenibeasts were a kind of spectral progenitor, making them distant cousins of the Archaionfiends as well. They were just more powerful in terms of physical combat prowess, thanks to their savage nature.

Tianming could imagine the sight of a large wave of spectral progenitors consuming and destroying nova source worlds, devouring countless lifebound beasts. Though the thought was savage, it was on a whole other level from the dreamscapes of Primordial Chaos Beasts. But still, the Primordial Chaos Beasts seemed to have encountered some kind of being that forced them to devolve to such an extent. Somehow, these Desolate Chaos Progenibeasts also had their evolution progress reset. But even so, they were capable of unleashing a terrifying aura like the Archaionfiend. That said, Tianming and his beasts were quite calm, despite knowing about their true nature.

"Even if he has five Archaionfiends with him, we'll still be able to beat him all the same! Perhaps they might even be inferior to Archaionfiends!" Say what they will, their levels were quite inferior compared to Ye Chen and his beasts'. Tianming knew that Ye Chen would be far tougher to deal with now that his guess had been confirmed. Ye Chen had practiced symbiotic cultivation with his beasts for at least a decade, so his experiences would be quite similar to Xiaoxiao's. In fact, his beasts were bound to him through real blood pacts.

The synergy and combat experience they had accrued over a decade was no doubt terrifying, but the key still lay in their levels. If Ye Chen were at the seventh level, Tianming would be three levels inferior to him, putting the astralforce he and his beasts could use at a huge disadvantage. As for the quality of their bloodlines, it was completely different. For instance, one look at Yin Chen was enough to surmise that Primordial Chaos Beasts had limitless growth potential, far more than Desolate Chaos Progenibeasts. Either way, Ye Chen's Desolate Chaos Body had at least ten years of refinement behind it.

"Spectral progenitors from billions of years ago are what gives Ye Chen the advantage against his foes in the Astraldome. However, what did these Desolate Chaos Progenibeasts and Archaionfiends encounter to cause them such great losses that they've been forced to work with humans?"

That was a secret that not even the Archaionfiend knew. Its memories were completely messed up. As such, it desperately wanted to ask the Desolate Chaos Progenibeasts about it, but before that could happen, Tianming would have to be able to hold his own in the fight. He still had no idea how powerful Ye Chen was.

"At the very least, those beasts knew to look for a partner in a nova source world, unlike the Archaionfiend, who came to the weak mortal world below…." That fact alone made them many times stronger than Tianming and Xiaoxiao had been at the start. "But if we manage to catch up to them, that'll prove how much more terrifying Primordial Chaos Beasts are compared to them."

He took a deep breath, then all five of his beasts changed. Ying Huo soared into the sky and completely spread its wings. The two divine birds, covered in lightning and flames respectively, faced off against each other in the skies.

Meow Meow's nap was disrupted and it lazily took the form of a Regal Chaosfiend. "Meow?" It still seemed half-awake, so it didn't look comparable to the black qilin at all. Even so, it seemed to be a good enough match for now. Tianming's beasts pressed on as the battle started.

"Where are your totems?" Ye Chen asked.

"I'll take them out once I think you're capable enough," Tianming said.