Beastmaster of the Ages

As if Tianming's earlier rampage wasn't enough, he was about to go even wilder. He charged toward Xue Yi like a madman! Though the heartscourge fiend tried to stop him, it only ended up with another bloody orifice carved into its body. Tianming bore a hole through the heartscourge fiend's body, ending up covered in blood. However, the insect didn't have any vitals to speak of, and could even survive being bisected like an earthworm. It wouldn't have caused Tianming so much trouble otherwise.

"Xue Yi!" he roared as he executed the Ninesky Beastsoul Formation once more. Boundless sword ki pierced through the bloody ocean, forming nine great beasts behind him that hammered down on Xue Yi. It was clear to him that Xue Yi's forbidden art had a weakness: it couldn't be interrupted halfway. He still had hope!

However, Xue Yi had been ready for it long ago. He had been paying attention to what was happening at the bloody formation beneath him and saw that it had begun to fail, and cracks were working their way through it. It looked like an eggshell that was about to crumble. The Blooddragon Sealing Formation was going to crumble!

We did it! Xue Yi thought before he had even used his forbidden art. As far as he was concerned, it would be worth it if the formation crumbled even if his heartscourge fiend ended up dead. Seeing Tianming about to ruin his plans, he roared, "Brother Feng, give me a hand!"

You Ying didn't even need to be ordered and charged straight to Dugu Jin's side. Now that the formation was crumbling, they needed to be extra careful. After all, they didn't know the real reason Dugu Jin wanted to break the formation. With You Ying watching Dugu Jin, Feng Qingyu could come to join the fight.

Killing this little scum by myself? Xue Yi wasn't the least bit humored by that notion at all. With the power and status he had, there was no need at all for him to prove himself by fighting this junior alone. All he was concerned with was keeping Tianming occupied before the formation crumbled.

Now that Feng Qingyu was coming, Tianming wouldn't be able to escape even if he wanted to. As Feng Qingyu was attacking the barrier, he had been keeping an eye on Xue Yi's battle. Calm as he seemed after hearing the order, he acted with blazing speed. "Deal," he said.

His Hexafirmament Eradicator was already shimmering with power. The instant he heard the order, he stretched out his hand and fused the six swords into one before sending it straight toward Tianming with a speed so quick that it practically pierced through space itself. He seemed to be much stronger than Xue Yi. The moment Tianming even spotted the attack, he was already about to die from it.

"To hell with you! I'll take all of you down together!" Xue Yi snapped.

There was no way Tianming would be able to save his lifebound beasts from Xue Yi the moment before his death. This could be it. Tianming gasped at the lesson he had learned today: not a single person who managed to climb to such heights was weak by any means. Seeing Feng Qingyu's fatal attack humbled him and he could already imagine the scene of his death. However, he wouldn't give up!

At the last instant, he summoned the Prime Tower, but the Hexapath Swordfiend's attack was far too quick and ferocious. It completely knocked the Prime Tower aside, giving off blinding sparks at the moment of contact, not to mention the horrible ear-piercing sound it gave off. Even so, it managed to divert its trajectory a little bit, causing it to bore a hole through Tianming's chest and barely miss his heart instead of instantly slaying him.

Even though he immediately used the Dragonhide the moment before being struck, it was still pierced through. The blood-curdling sound of his flesh and sinew being ripped apart rang in his ears. He suddenly felt a chill in his chest where the hole was just bored. Every breath he took sent searing pain through him, causing him to pale immediately. Was this the end of his story?

The bloody formation had completely crumbled beneath him. Now, the entire blood star seemed to be collapsing in on itself. The formation could no longer be saved.

"Soon, the sealing formation's effects will disappear and they'll all regain their peak abilities.... I'll be helpless on their chopping block...."

Ying Huo and the rest were being suppressed by the Vampire Whale and were closer to death than ever, while he was heavily injured. If their enemies regained their power after the formation crumbled, it would turn out to be the biggest predicament that he had ever found himself in. Even a senior like Yi Xingyin would break down in such a situation, let alone Tianming.

Life was like a nightmare for him now. With every breath he took, he felt a numbing pain spreading through his whole body. The smile on Xue Yi's face seemed to be mocking him for challenging a senior like him without knowing his place. Even with the sealing formation, he shouldn't have dared to step out of line in the first place! The world felt deathly silent to him. Nothing but the pain in his chest and the sight of Xue Yi's cruel smile filled his senses, accompanied by the weak cries of Ying Huo, Lan Huang, and Meow Meow.

Should I stop breathing, close my eyes and accept my fate? Is that the only way for me to escape this pain? However, would he really be afraid to breathe just because of the pain in his chest? The voices of Ying Huo and the rest reminded him of their cheerful conversations over the past few years. Theirs was a bond that would last to their dying breaths. Could he really pretend not to hear their cries and choose to accept death? I can't do it! I can never!

He wasn't the sort to tear up and cry. But now, he opened his eyes to let the tears and blood flow. He continued breathing heavily, taking in all the pain and looking at nothing but the four of them. Without you all, I wouldn't exist as I do right now. We killed countless people in Kilostar Domain, but it still isn't enough!

He tightly gripped his swords and took in everything before his eyes. Ying Huo, Lan Huang, Meow Meow, and Xian Xian were looking at him with gazes filled with trust. They didn't want to die either!

There are still many things I want to do in life. I want to do right by Feiling. I want to protect her for the rest of my life. I want to stand with my parents one day and face their troubles with them. I want to take all of you on a journey all over the world to walk the path to godhood! I love you all. I don't want to die! I don't want to die!

Those were his most earnest thoughts, and they were enough to make him forget even this pain. His eyes were completely bloodshot. To protect those that I love, I shall fight and never stop until I'm dead for good!

At that moment, he charged toward Xue Yi like a meteor, burning himself up.

"As expected, my power is coming back now that the sealing formation is about to disappear." Xue Yi smirked when he watched Tianming suicidally charge at him. "Do young people these days really not fear death at all? Come to think of it, it's really nostalgic to see someone with such blazing willpower. It's a shame people like this usually die the fastest."

Xue Yi could see part of himself in Tianming. He felt both nostalgia and embarrassment over it. The childish single-mindedness Tianming displayed by risking his life like this was too laughable for him.

He turned to look at Feng Qingyu, satisfied that he was launching another attack with his Hexafirmament Eradicator. Now, it was targeted at Tianming's left chest—in other words, his heart!

Since you've stopped caring about your own life to try to save your lifebound beasts, your life is forfeit! Xue Yi thought joyously. Through the tentacles, he had tasted the blood of Ying Huo and the rest and found it all too delectable. A single drop was enough to warm his body. If things went as planned, Tianming would die in the next moment from Feng Qingyu's attack. The collapse of the Blooddragon Sealing Formation would also make it much easier for him; there was nothing more joyous than that.

Feng Qingyu's second strike had pierced the void and arrived at Tianming's back. Would the brat finally die from that?

Feng Qingyu only got the better of me the last time because I wasn't ready! But now... Tianming already had a good idea of when the second strike would come. During the critical moment, he summoned the Prime Tower again with the entrance facing him. Before he even moved, the Hexafirmament Eradicator rammed straight into Prime Tower, causing it to slam against him.

A loud clang rang out, but Tianming survived! He entered the tower right as the strike connected, though the shockwave from the strike still shook him around and caused him to cough out blood. Even so, he was alive.

"Feng Qingyu's still at the level of a seventh-level death samsaran. Not to mention, he was too far away from me. No matter how fast his sword is, it's still far inferior to when he's at his peak!" If that weren't the case, Tianming wouldn't even have had the chance to summon Prime Tower.

Now, he was calm. He had turned his back on Feng Qingyu's attack and still managed to survive the fatal blow with a most unconventional method, much to Feng Qingyu's shock.

"Interesting.... A divine artifact, eh? Break for me!" Once more, he launched Hexafirmament Eradicator toward the Prime Tower, striking it and sending it in Xue Yi's direction. He seemed to be really confident in his divine artifact. After all, it had managed to pierce through the Dragonhide, too. However, the second strike was still unable to break through the tower all the same. "It's that tough?"

He retrieved his swords and prepared to attack it himself. But what he didn't know was that the chance Tianming had been waiting for was finally here. He had found the perfect angle. Before, he was sandwiched between Xue Yi and Feng Qingyu. But now, as the Prime Tower floated past Xue Yi's head, Tianming emerged and charged toward the ghoul king, intending to risk everything on this gamble. Luckily, it worked out! When his eyes met the ghoul king's, he knew that this was his only chance. Ying Huo and the rest were still struggling to live.

"Kill him!" the four of them yelled.

"Die!" Tianming's eyes were completely covered in tears of blood as he used the Soulshaker Eye. Then he slashed using the Ninesky Beastsoul Formation. The Human Emperor's Dragonhide was still shining brightly and the Grand-Orient Sword was split into two. This would be the last and only chance he had.

"Even if I die, I'll take you down with me, Third Ghoul King!"

Xue Yi froze for a moment from the Soulshaker Eye. Tianming evading Feng Qingyu's fatal attack with a method like that had been completely out of his expectations, and it had all happened just fractions of a second ago. Feng Qingyu had underestimated him too; if he had come to attack Tianming himself instead of launching his divine artifact to do the job, the brat would have been dead for sure.

All those coincidences enabled an insignificant junior like him to continue struggling for his life and rewriting his fate! His sword strike was far stronger than before.

Even so, Xue Yi continued laughing. "My power should be back now!"

Right at that moment, the Blooddragon Sealing Formation shattered completely, immediately causing the samsara rings around the lifesprings and deathsprings in Xue Yi to surge as power began returning to him. He immediately stopped using the Vampire Whale. Otherwise, he would have to take a beating.

"Naive brat...." All he needed to do was to stop using his forbidden art to block Tianming's sword. However, the sound of wet flesh parting could be heard. Stunned, Xue Yi looked down and saw a bloodied bird impaled in him.

It had piggybacked on the last remnants of suction from his forbidden art to propel itself with its wing held out like a sword and aimed toward his heart. The bird savagely looked up at him, its wing having cut his heart in half. "I am the Aeternal Infernal Phoenix! Slit-mouthed monster, do you yield?!"

Ying Huo then spat a Sixpath Infernal Lotus at Xue Yi's face.

"Ugh!" Of all the things he could've expected, a dying lifebound beast piercing its wing into his heart wasn't one of them. I'm in big trouble...

Xue Yi's face finally paled as his whole body shook. Despair even surfaced in his eyes. "Noooo!" he cried.

Struggle as he might, it was already too late. The moment the Sixpath Infernal Lotus hit his face, Tianming's Ninesky Beastsoul Formation strike clashed against his head, immediately turning his entire body into minced meat. He was dead in the truest sense of the word, unable to even utter a final cry of agony. His power had returned in full at the very last instant before his death, but alas, it was far too late! He had died at Tianming and his lifebound beasts' hands!

Blood and flesh scattered all across the area, seemingly freezing time itself. Tianming wiped off his bloody tears and looked at Ying Huo, Meow Meow, Lan Huang, and Xian Xian. "Guys...."

He opened his arms wide and hugged all of them tightly, letting their blood intermingle. His voice sounded even more harrowing than before. "Same old deal—we live and die together without regrets."

"Waaaah!" Xian Xian broke out in tears.

"Stop messing around! My wing is still out there!" Ying Huo groaned.

"Chicken Bro saved me by risking his life! I don't have any riches to speak of, so I can only repay you with my body!" Meow Meow said.

"Get the fuck away from me!"