Beastmaster of the Ages

With a wingspan of two kilometers, Ying Huo looked like a sea of burning flames in the sky. The vortices that emerged from the places where the ten bane-ring spots were looked like ten gaping mouths. It looked far more impressive than most lifebound beasts in the Violetglory Star in terms of appearance and aura, making it a proper sovereign beast. All that it needed was time to grow into its full power.

Tianming had seen many phoenixes, most of which were elegant and refined. Ying Huo, however, was an exception. Like a sovereign ruler, it was brash and dominant. The more it evolved, the more eternal and impressive its aura became. Rather than a phoenix, it was more apt to call Ying Huo an astral monster in the shape of one. The vortices on its wings looked like ten terrifying eyes.

Not to mention, it was the lowest-leveled sovereign beast in the history of the star, having made its evolutionary jump at the tenth level of the Constellation stage. With that level and bloodline talent, Tianming refused to believe that there were others like it across the entire astralscape. Past sovereign beasts had only managed to evolve to that level after the Solar stage, so this was something completely unprecedented. As such, Ying Huo still paled in comparison to lifebound beasts that'd had up to a thousand years to mature.

"I'm already at the tenth level. Coupled with Ying Huo, I have a feeling that even third-level solarians won't be my match now." People at those levels were usually four or five hundred years old.

Ying Huo flew around in the sky, showing off its brilliance to those below. "Come down!" Tianming said.

"What? I can't hear you from all the way up here!" It cast a look of superiority down at him as it flew around a few more times. When it was sure that Shuo Yue had been stunned by its new form, only then did it fly back down. As it did, it began shrinking back into its chick form, flapping its featherless wings as it landed in Tianming's hair. Even then, the bane-rings that had been enhanced by the Eightfold Desolation Furnace were still visible.

"Why did you turn back into a yellow chick? Are you used to looking weak?" Tianming said.

"What do you know about this? It's called tactics. I'll pretend to be kyute widdle me and only show my brilliance at the crucial moment. Only then can I attract the chicks and build my own harem!"

"Forget it. You can't even handle Shuo Yue."

"Sigh, you're hopeless. That bird's just playing hard to get. Can't you see?"

"Enough. So what do those ten holes of yours do?"

"Ten holes?" Ying Huo looked at its wings and rolled its eyes. "You fool, they're called Infernalgates, a basic trait of my Aeternal Infernal Phoenix form. Usually, there should be eight of them, but thanks to Lifesbane, I got ten. When they're activated, I'll be able to directly consume nova source and use it without having to convert it into astralforce. Essentially, it'll let me use a much stronger version of my Infernal Blaze."

"Isn't that a little similar to the Ninedragon Emperor's dragonsoul of origin?" Usually, nova source that hadn't been converted to astralforce couldn't be used, but that time back at the Myriaddragon Mountains was an exception. Tianming was serving as the core, while the dragonsoul of origin was the one that was actually directly utilizing nova source. While any cultivator could absorb nova source, they would first have to convert it into astralforce within their bodies, and even then, that still had to be suppressed and stabilized with divine will. Nova source itself was the energy of heaven and earth and only succumbed to natural laws, which humans couldn't directly control. However, what'd happened at Myriaddragon Mountains had expanded Tianming's horizons, and he never thought that Ying Huo could manage to do something similar with its Primordial Chaos Beast talent.

"More or less. Just imagine that my body is a divine ordered formation that uses nova source to operate. Divine astralships are the same, too. In fact, I can be considered a miniature divine astralship, in a sense. Naturally, I need time to gather and store all that energy, and the stronger I get, the more explosive amounts of energy I can use," Ying Huo confidently said.

"Manna imperius is impressive indeed. Your bloodline changes this time around can't be compared to your previous ones," Tianming said. Back then, Ying Huo would at most unlock an ability or two and grow larger, but this evolution had changed its fundamental structure. It was essentially a small divine astralship, much like the true form Tianming had seen in the dreams.

The Infernalgates were key. Tianming recalled that the Eightfold Desolation Furnace was shaped like a cauldron with eight vortices. Now, Ying Huo had a special organ apart from its own astralforce and divine will. That new organ would allow it to store nova source to be used during attacks, much like the attack function of divine astralships.

"Let's give it a try." Tianming wanted to see what it could do.

"Fine. However, the Infernalgates' power is still limited, as they've just formed. I can't use them for more than fifteen minutes," Ying Huo said.

"That should be enough. Anyone that can make you use your ultimate move for that long must be impressive."

"Looking down on me, huh? I'll blast your head off!"

Stunned, Tianming suddenly broke out laughing.

"What're you laughing at?!"

"Your ability... I think it's about time I gave you a new nickname: Boomchicken." The moment Tianming said that, Meow Meow and the rest laughed as well.

"Boomchicken! Haha! Boomchicken!" Lan Huang put its gigantic claw on Ying Huo's head and laughed with both its heads, its voice shaking the mountains.

"Eat this, you rainbow tortoise!" Ying Huo cried and flew into the sky, turning back into its true form. The attention of many people outside Violetpeak was once more drawn by Ying Huo.

"What's it going to do?"

"I don't know."

"Looks like it's gearing up to use an ability."

They watched as the ten vortices around Ying Huo's wings spun up to their maximum speed, creating a piercing sound in the air like that of a windstorm.

"What is it doing? Absorbing nova source? Is it performing cultivation or something?"