Beastmaster of the Ages

Tianming wanted to feel out the nine-colored scale through his sword using his caelum, but there didn't seem to be a connection with it through the sword. So he touched the scale directly. The moment he did, his finger seemed to sink into it. The scale had actually turned into a kind of liquid similar to the plane of origin's lake!

The liquid seemed to flow into his albi through his finger, even stretching out to his arm. That instant, he felt like his finger was about to explode—and that was a finger on his black left arm, the strongest part of his body. It now glowed with different-colored light, exuding a kind of powerful aura. Using his third eye, he could clearly see the part of his finger that entered the scale. Within it, he saw a figure with five dragons holding Tianming's finger.

"The dragon soul prevails and Xuanyuan lives on!" Those words came ringing through his fingers in his mind and soul. His sea of consciousness was completely disrupted as the words seemed to become engraved on his vita itself. They contained the essence of the dragon. The voice rang deep, as if it wasn't said by just a single person, but rather a hundred thousand rulers of the sect all at once. He felt a warmth flowing into his body from the scale, all of his albi feeling the sudden clash of energy.

When he suddenly felt pain, he drew his finger out in a hurry. After that, the nine-colored liquid left his body and returned to the scale, causing the raging astralforce around him to calm down.

"How'd it feel?" the Saintdragon Emperor asked.

"It felt like the Ninedragon Emperor was giving me power, but it was a little too much to endure."

"What kind of power? Divine soul power? Astralforce? How are you able to control it without divine will?"

"I don't know. It felt really weird, like the power was flowing into my body through the liquid almost like nova source." Nova source had to be converted to astralforce before use; that much was common knowledge.

The dragon imperials exchanged glances after hearing his explanation.

"Let's go back and properly study it," the Saintdragon Emperor said. With the rest of the clan still at the Myriaddragon Mountains, the Dragon Imperials didn't dare to be away for too long. Tensions were only rising as the wedding date approached, and conflict could break out at any time.

……

After returning to Little Saintdragon Peak, Tianming tried putting his finger in the scale a few more times, but it always ended up with him breaking it off because he couldn't endure it. They tested it for a few more days, but they couldn't figure out how it worked so they set it aside for now. They had thought the change in the plane of origin could help the sect somehow.

After they left to work on other tasks, Tianming continued studying the changed scale and trying to communicate with the Ninedragon Emperor within, to no avail for now. With the wedding date approaching, the atmosphere grew heavier. The future of the sect now seemed to be in the hands of the sun emperor. The wedding wasn't going to be that simple.

……

Every few days, Tianming checked on Lingfeng at the waste pill pile. The smell that wafted out of it whenever he opened the entrance was incredibly unpleasant, even for him, and he couldn't imagine how Lingfeng could possibly take being in there for so long. Even the Soulfiend entered a few days ago. Fortunately, it didn't have any sense of smell, or it wouldn't be able to stay inside for long.

"Feng, come out," Tianming said.

"No. I'm at a crucial point," a deep voice replied. Tianming could tell how much struggle and dedication Lingfeng was experiencing as he refined those waste pills that were not only toxic, but of conflicting properties as well. Forcefully using them could harm the body and even damage one's foundations.

"Are you really fine?" Tianming asked one final time.

"I am. Don't worry," Lingfeng said, gritting his teeth and smiling.

Life wasn't easy by any means, and even people like them had their own hardships. None of them could breathe easy with the sun emperor looming over them. Tianming knew that Lingfeng was putting himself through a hellish struggle to protect the ones he loved, something that Tianming himself was doing as well. As much as he wanted to tell Lingfeng he could count on him, he knew there was probably little he could do in a war on this scale. So, all he could say was, "Make sure you don't lose your heart!"

"Definitely!" Lingfeng no longer had any energy left to talk, using the simplest of language and putting the rest of his attention on struggling with the rampaging forces of the pills' effects. If Tianming went down there, he would see that Lingfeng's skin had turned completely black—not only that, his skin and eyes had turned black as well. In fact, his flesh seemed corroded to the point that some of his bones were visible. His handsome face now looked completely charred, and there was even some black substance evaporating from his tongue.

He slowly got up and approached another pile of pills, stuffing them into his chest. The Soulfiend slammed its chest and groaned, but all Lingfeng did was smile at it as he continued stuffing pills into his body. The vortex in his chest began grinding them down and a black substance began permeating his entire body like countless insects spreading out under his skin.

"Ugh…." He fell face-first on the ground, breathing hard as he opened his eyes wide. Then he got back up, supporting his body with his shaky arms.

"Feng, stand up!"

"Brother Feng, do your best! We're with you all the way!"

"You must grow strong and chase after the life you want!"

"You're doing great! Just a little more!"

Faces began appearing in his vita as the voices rang out. They were always there; Lingfeng was never alone.

"If you want to take her with you, keep running forward! Don't turn back, no matter the obstacles!"

"Kill anyone who tries to stop you!"

"Kill them!"

Were those the voices of his own inner demons, or the eighty thousand souls of his kin within him? The black miasma seemed to weigh down on his entire body like a heavy mountain.

"Kill…" he groaned. Then he opened his arms wide and his Primordial Gate spun rapidly as black blood dripped all over the ground.