Beastmaster of the Ages

The five gigantic silhouettes in front of Tianming looked like humanoid ghouls. Their bodies were clad in vast dark robes that flapped in the green fog, which made them feel unlike normal lifebound beasts. Instead, they seemed like some kind of monster. Their heads were the only parts of them that weren't black. Instead, there had huge, oval white faces that looked completely smooth, save for the 'Yama' character, though these were crimson red and seemed like they were dripping with blood. They looked like they were crying tears of blood.

Lifebound beasts like these, much like nimbus emperors and starbeasts, were unique ones that didn't quite fall under the category of animals. They had weird forms, and some looked like demons that had crawled out of hell. Though they almost seemed like totems in that regard, they had corporeal bodies that gave an impression of a ghost that haunts rivers and lakes.

"How terrifying...." All of Meow Meow's hair stood up when faced with the five lifebound beasts. It didn't even feel that way against Ye Chen's Desolate Chaos Progenibeasts, and the main reason for that was the robes those lifebound beasts wore. As they flapped in the air, it made them look incredibly ghostly in nature. And even though they didn't have a face, Meow Meow felt like they were looking at it. Those in the Mysterium Cluster acknowledged these to be among the most terrifying lifebound beasts in the universe, the faceless beasts, rakshasas.

Faceless beasts were their general designation, while rakshasa referred to the specific type. It was said that they were born as six-star divine beasts from the get-go, making it much easier for them to evolve into sovereign beasts. Their unconventional physiques also made it hard to guess how they would attack. Even so, Tianming couldn't afford to care about such fine details. He had Xian Xian and Lan Huang emerge to dominate the battlefield as Yanwu Ming was about to finally meet up with Ying.

"Ignore him! Let's go back!" Ying cried.

"Got it." Yanwu Ming looked at Tianming before turning back with his faceless rakshasas. As far as he was concerned, this new dark horse didn't interest him as much as winning did.

"Don't think I'll let you leave." Tianming summoned his godswords and used Myriadsword Providence, shooting nearly ten thousand swords toward them.

"Since that's the case, you should go back, Ying. You're faster," Yanwu Ming said.

"Alright." Ying didn't hesitate at all and sped up, turning into a white beam that shot toward the location of their astralis.

"Meow Meow, Ying Huo!" Tianming knew that was how it was going to turn out. "Don't let them stop Yin Chen!"

Before Tianming even gave the order, Meow Meow turned into a bolt of black lightning and shot toward Ying. It undid its Regal Chaosfiend transformation and got even faster after shrinking. Ying Huo turned into a chick and grabbed onto Meow Meow's tail, hitching a ride.

"This is fucking fast!" Ying Huo was being wildly flung around from behind the small cat much like a kite.

"Sit tight, my chicken!" Meow Meow had only just run into someone who could match it in speed for the first time. Even without Tianming's instruction, it was already ready to take up the challenge. The two of them launched abilities nonstop as they zipped across space. Though they were in their smaller forms, their abilities were still powerful. The two of them had fought together for so long that they instinctively knew how to synergize their attacks best.

"Is there an end to this?!" Ying was being blasted all over before she could even go far. Annoyed, she stopped and turned back, her smooth face glinting with killing intent.

"Oh no, that hag's angry! Cat Bro, help me evade!" Ying Huo cried in the face of the strong wind.

Being called a hag made Ying even angrier. There was no chance she would keep running without at least venting now. As Tianming wasn't with them, she knew that she would definitely be slowed down if she let the two beasts constantly harass her. "I'd better just get rid of those two so that I can make it back faster!" She turned around, wielding her sword and slashing it toward the two of them.

"Fuck! The ugly bitch is really angry!" Ying Huo chirped, loosening its grip and splitting up from Meow Meow. Powerful sword ki came surging over where it used to be.

"Ugly?!" That was a taboo word among the mysterians. Anyone who described them as ugly would suffer familial execution as punishment. Even Ying Huo wouldn't know that this little comment had absolutely inflamed the audience of the Mysterium Cluster, though it wasn't surprising given how brash and clueless it was about these proud races.

"Yanwu Ming!" Ying cried.

"Alright, I'm coming." He seemed to be quite a calm person.

Ying was quite troubled by the beasts, and it wasn't surprising that she would want to get rid of them first. However, Yanwu Ming couldn't afford the risk, so he sent three of his faceless rakshasas back first.

Tianming, Lan Huang and Xian Xian immediately gave chase, but the other two rakshasas blocked their way, suddenly unleashing a powerful black storm that slammed against Tianming's totems and beasts, flinging them away. That single moment allowed the three rakshasas to vanish as they rapidly flew back toward their astralis.

"Looks like stopping them all is unrealistic. Guess it's a gamble either way!" Tianming immediately got back up. While the three beasts had escaped, he had to at least ensure that Yanwu Ming and Ying were held back here! This would no doubt be the most critical moment, and Yin Chen was their best hope. "Letting his lifebound beasts return is better than letting Ying go back. She's much faster, after all."

He was already pushing himself to the maximum. Right as the three of them were getting back up, Yanwu Ming and his two remaining beasts came charging. He seemed quite confident in his rakshasas and Ying, so he didn't plan to return any longer.

"Yanwu Ming, do a face reveal! We can't afford to delay!" Ying cried, her rage making her impatient.

"Alright." Even after all that, Yanwu Ming remained calm. The word on his face began morphing, and Ying's face also changed. When Tianming had fought against Xiao, he didn't notice it too much, but it was clear that a face reveal was a last resort for mysterians. When he asked Bai Feng about it, he was shocked by what he heard.

Face reveal was an innate talent of mysterians and it had two main effects. The first was that it could greatly increase the speed, attack, defense, and explosiveness of the user. Additionally, it could also bring their body to a half-deathless state. They could freely regenerate, even restoring severed limbs and surviving decapitation, making it even more effective than Tianming's Greenspark Tower. The only way to get rid of them was completely grinding their body to shreds, and that was the real reason the face reveal was used.

As Tianming had defeated Xiao with a single strike, his deathless state hadn't managed to manifest. In other words, it was as if all mysterians had a better version of the Greenspark Tower. Naturally, they could only use their face reveal for a limited time, and only under certain conditions. This innate skill of theirs earned the mysterians another name: the Undying Ones, which sounded far more impressive than faceless humans or faceless specters. It was also thanks to their face reveal ability that they managed to reign supreme over the three deific-class worlds in the Mysterium Cluster.

Ying's face reveal showed how incredible it was. When Tianming's face appeared on her smooth, featureless face, the stump where her arm used to be immediately grew back into a full arm that looked as good as new. Her body shook as she glowed with a bright white light, a sign that her abilities had been boosted. Now, the beautiful jade woman with an impressive figure sported Tianming's face. She was still bald, and wore an expression Tianming seldom wore. It was as if he was looking at a twisted version of himself. "The Undying Ones... mysterians truly are amazing."

Regenerating a severed arm was proof of that. Yanwu Ming's face reveal was even faster as the character on his face morphed into Tianming's features. He looked more like Tianming with his masculine facial structure, but what made it even more eerie were his lifebound beasts. The two remaining faceless rakshasas manifested his face, but in gigantic proportions. Their bestial expressions severely contorted his looks, though.

"Say, can you change into someone else? If even your lifebound beasts take on my face, it won't be fun," Tianming said, trying to draw out the battle.

"This shows that I want to kill you. Only the faces of dead people appear on our faces," Yanwu Ming said. The aura of mysterians could be felt from him.

"If we weren't in the wondersky realm, I'd be terrified of your words." Tianming shrugged. "In the last round, that Xiao fellow also used my face, only to be cut in half by me."

Yanwu Ming furrowed his brow and turned back to Ying. "Is he the one who got in Xiao's way?"

"Yes."

"Do it."

"Alright!"

They didn't let Tianming buy any more time. Ying went straight for Ying Huo and Meow Meow so she could return faster. Instantly, the two of them were in critical danger. Before Ying had used face reveal, she alone could already fight Tianming and his four beasts and nine totems!

Abilities of white light, lightning, and flames blasted all over the place. Ying Huo and Meow Meow's only advantage was their smaller sizes that allowed them to evade and last for a while. If Lan Huang were there, it would be killed in an instant!

Though they were in danger, Tianming couldn't pay them any heed. Yanwu Ming was trying to kill him with his rakshasas; there was no choice for Tianming but to resist. Xian Xian's black roots dug into the ground, stabilizing itself as it used all the abilities of its five flowers. However, Lan Huang was the only one left to defend it.

The two rakshasas with Tianming's face immediately turned into loud, black storms, within which black flames could be seen. It was their ability, Rakshasa Fiendsun. The move was similar to Solar Explosion, but even more powerful, and two beasts were using it at the same time. Even after Lan Huang had evaded it by rolling away with its Primordial Wheel, the aftershock still sent it flying and left a bloody hole in its body. That only went to show how silly the simulation of the wondersky realm was. It could record the mysterians' undying tenacity, yet Lan Huang couldn't rely on the Greenspark Tower in here, the biggest trump card it had.

"A nonabane?" Yanwu Ming's reaction wasn't that huge as he continued bearing down on Tianming with his beasts. "If you have a chance to go to deific-class worlds of totemancers, you'll learn that the number of your bane-rings isn't everything. A heliacal-class world without a history or legacy can only give you pitifully limited resources. Residing there will only give you an inflated sense of pride, keeping you blind to the real vastness of the universe beyond it."

Yanwu Ming had already struck a number of times as he spoke. He deployed his sacrosun in the center of his two beasts, creating countless black stars. They were all made of solidified astralforce that could be tapped into by the beastmaster and his beasts.

Eerie squawks of crows filled the battlefield as the stars turned into a crow-like form, then flew in a huge wave around Yanwu Ming and his rakshasas, giving him an air of majesty. A huge sword wheel manifested in front of him, a wheel with eight swords linked together that looked like a bagua diagram. It was called the Wheel of the Lifeless and wasn't one bit inferior to the Skycloud Soul.

The Wheel of the Lifeless began rapidly spinning as it flew around Tianming, circling him with the other two beasts. There was a difference of five levels between them, on top of the fact that the two rakshasas were also sovereign beasts, so Lan Huang and Xian Xian were heavily suppressed. Thankfully, Tianming had his totems to even the odds. He flanked Lan Huang with the Eastdivinity Acme and Westvoid Progenifiend and defended Xian Xian with the Northapex Perpetuity and Southsky Chaospit.

"Kill them!" Yanwu Ming ordered as he joined his beasts in the attack. Countless black crow suns descended at the same time. He was among the top three geniuses of his deific-class world. When Tianming beheld his power, he came to the epiphany that there were geniuses beyond geniuses. It was hard for him to even get his second manna imperius, yet it was something Yanwu Ming could easily obtain.

The storms of blackness surrounding Lan Huang and Xian Xian wailed like possessive banshees. The rakshasas' strength stemmed from their formlessness. They roared with Tianming's features on their faces, causing them to crack open in a ghastly manner. Tianming had never known that his face could make such an expression. Countless dark claws stretched out of the black robes, around a hundred of them, piercing into Lan Huang's body and slashing at Xian Xian's branches. It was quite a gory battle. Even though they weren't fighting in real life, Tianming couldn't help but feel bad for his beasts. The enemy was much stronger than him, and had a rather easy time hurting Lan Huang and Xian Xian. While Xian Xian's broken branches weren't a big deal, Lan Huang was losing huge chunks of flesh. The simulation of the wondersky realm was real enough for it to look like it hurt.

"As expected, these are just wildbeasts bound by blood pacts, right? They're so useless, like they have no leader," Yanwu Ming said, smiling as he struck with his sword-wheel. He used Soaring Hell, causing the grade-eight divine artifact to descend upon Tianming like a bladed cage.

The Wheel of the Lifeless clashed with Tianming's other five totem swords, its sword ki grinding away at the trees around them. Yanwu Ming himself was quite powerful, despite being a beastmaster. Given his power, he could even take on sixth-level solarian seniors in the real world, which was why Tianming was having such a hard time. Both he and Ying were incredibly talented people from deific-class worlds.

"If only I were one or two levels stronger!" This battle was causing Tianming to desire strength even more.