Beastmaster of the Ages

“That’s right, it’s a universe in its own right!”

Two-star universal manna had two star worlds, and so on. Tianming looked at the brief introduction that the manna had come with.

“So this four-star universal manna is called Flamefiend’s Shadow.” It appeared that it had been specially prepared for Ying Huo.

“Looks like your little birdie has a big reputation, Tianming,” Ying Huo said.

“Is that supposed to be an innuendo?” Tianming said.

“Haha, aren’t you a smart one!”

“Curse you! I wish you’ll stay a chicken after this evolution as well!”

“In your dreams!”

Either way, Ying Huo still felt a little nervous about ingesting this manna. It was three meters in diameter alone. Ying Huo looked like a little chicken standing before a tiger.

“How do I even eat it? Where do I start? Will it explode?”

Tianming couldn’t be bothered to care. He turned to the other three four-star universal manna. “Huh, so is this a series of fiendish manna or something?”

The second manna was shaped like an eyeball with countless blood-colored lightning balls that looked like blood vessels. It looked fierce and scary. There were four celestial bodies within it that looked like concentrations of lightning.

“This is called Blitzfiend’s Eye.” Meow Meow was lucky to get it, since it was a Genesis Chaos Thunderfiend to begin with so the manna had unbelievably high compatibility with it. The previous one it got, Fiendish Venus, had horrible compatibility, relatively speaking, which gave it quite a hard time.

Tianming turned to the third universal manna. Like the rest, it was graded as four stars. It was a gigantic black and crimson sword ten meters long. Pierced into the ground, it exuded a fiendish aura, with blood constantly dripping from its blade. However, it wasn’t an actual sword; within it were four celestial bodies as well.

“The third one’s called Starfiend’s Sword.” This one was for Lan Huang. It seemed that Sovereign Xi had obtained detailed information about his lifebound beasts from the Huiyue Clan before he came.

As for the last one, it looked like a flower. Not a pretty one, though. It slightly resembled a heart, and every time it pulsed, it let out a fiendish sound like that of a banshee that made one incredibly distraught. The patterns on its surface looked like the blood vessels of a heart. “The last one, Spiritfiend’s Heart!”

All four manna were dark, ferocious, and bloodthirsty in nature. Using them for evolution would no doubt affect the natures of the beasts, at least to some degree. If the ultimate tribulation manna he used happened to match up as part of a series of stars, it was a series of fiendish manna! By now, Meow Meow, Lan Huang, and Xian Xian were certain that ingesting these manna to evolve wouldn’t be a problem. After all, Meow Meow could take the form of a Regal Chaosfiend to increase its size. Ying Huo was the only one who stood blankly before the manna that towered over it.

“Don’t you like it big? Too big for you, huh?” Tianming said.

“Hmph! Are you insulting me?!” Ying Huo snapped.

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Just you wait, you bully. I’ll tear your lips off one day.” As they bickered, the rest had entered the lifebound space with their respective manna. Manna had to first be swallowed and integrated into their bodies before they could return to the lifebound space. So, Ying Huo would have to ingest its first before it could return.

“Alright, just stay outside. I want to witness your suffering,” Tianming said.

“Then open your dog eyes wide. I’ll deal with it!”

“Don’t chicken out, get it?”

“Aaagh! You’re driving me mad!”

Ying Huo charged straight into the manna. Almost immediately, the four flaming black birds within immediately angrily screeched at it and charged. It looked like they were going to devour Ying Huo instead of the other way round! It had no choice but to engage them in a fight. The scene reminded Tianming of the Aeternal Infernal Phoenix consuming planets for nova sources.

“As expected, with every evolution, they seem to be regaining their true natures. They’re behaving more and more like they used to. Universal manna must have some kind of synergy with nova sources.”

Tianming had a feeling that things that just spontaneously appeared in the universe wouldn’t be that simple. He did nothing but watch; evolution was a dangerous process, so he had to be ready to defend them at a moment’s notice. He couldn’t help them even if the situation required it. While the three still had backup manna to use if their evolution failed, Tianming knew they would only settle for the strongest. Not even Meow Meow wanted to lose out in that regard.

His mood swayed as time passed. Within the lifebound space, his beasts were engaging in an internal battle that didn’t cause much commotion. Ying Huo, on the other hand, was literally fighting the manna on the outside, consuming it bit by bit.

“How far the great has fallen. To think that aeons ago, you swallowed an entire sun in a mouthful,” Tianming lamented. Was that only a dream, or was it a record of something that had actually happened? He couldn’t be sure. The only thing he knew was that Ying Huo and the rest started from the far bottom beneath the stars and had to climb up step by step, overcoming countless tribulations to reacquire their true selves.

However, when the day came, they would no longer be the Primordial Chaos Beasts from aeons ago. They had acquired feelings and warmth. Perhaps that was the difference between wildbeasts and rootbeasts. It was said that even divine wildbeasts had no true sentience. In exchange for the insane combat capabilities the heavens had granted them, they didn’t have an intellect that could be compared to an average person.

“Work hard. One day, you’ll find your true selves once again.” The process of evolution was similar to finding and becoming what one was meant to be. He wasn’t sure how many times they had evolved until now. This was their own battle to fight that would define their own identity.

He watched as Ying Huo gained one wound after another without relenting. It cared a lot about how it was perceived. Being the first to hatch, it was the big brother for all of them and wanted to be the best at everything, so it always did its best, never backing down from a fight and never giving up. Tianming sometimes felt like it was a reflection of himself; perhaps that was the true purpose of symbiotic cultivation.

Finally, the first black bird was swallowed into Ying Huo’s body. Then, it began burning with black flames. The bird was still resisting Ying Huo from the inside, while the other three clawed at it from the outside. It looked like Ying Huo was in a dire predicament. There was no choice for it but to persevere and overcome its limits. That was the way to undo the bloodline shackles of Primordial Chaos Beasts.

“I’m not evolving into you! I’m using your power to stimulate my own bloodline! I’m the noble Aeternal Infernal Phoenix!” Its bloodline was sublime and its pride forbade it from both losing and from falling in line with the clowns.

As time passed, Tianming watched Ying Huo swallow the second and third flaming birds, which caused the flames that burned around it to turn darker. It looked like it was almost charred at this point; being damaged from within was far more terrifying than from without. However, it still didn’t hesitate to hunt down the last bird and bite its head before sucking it up into its belly. Those four birds were the core of the manna. Once they had been dealt with, Ying Huo only needed to inhale once to consume all the mist surrounding it.

With a whoosh, Flamefiend’s Shadow was no more, leaving behind a little charred phoenix on the ground. The black flames burned stronger and stronger like it was forging Ying Huo.

“Are you doing fine? The rest are going to succeed, so you’d better not die off just like that,” Tianming said concernedly.

“Nonsense!” It felt its pride being slighted, causing its fighting spirit to rise.

“Haha, you’re like a chicken on steroids.”

“I know I call myself a chicken for laughs, but I’m a phoenix, dammit!”

Tianming’s provocation had drawn out every bit of spunk from it. In actuality, Meow Meow and the rest were only halfway through and far from completion. However, Ying Huo’s situation seemed a little more dangerous. Its sharp cry signaled the arrival of the most difficult stage of the process as the power of its bloodline surged in its body.

The piercing cry of a phoenix sounded louder and louder as it grew amidst the black flames. Then, the black flames intertwined with its original red-colored fire. The red flames even began to have hints of black as it mixed together and the temperature in the surroundings rose higher and higher.

Tianming squinted and could see the little bird growing bigger in the midst of the flames, but not to a ridiculous degree. After all, it wasn’t that large by Primordial Chaos Beast standards to begin with. But to Ying Huo, this might be the first time it actually stopped looking like a chicken and took the form of a true phoenix.

Its wingspan was now a bit over three meters. Amidst the dark flames, its eyes burned brightly, glaring at Tianming and emanating a ferocious, insidious, and bloodthirsty aura. It let out a sky-shaking cry.

Tianming teared up. “Haha, you’re finally a chicken no more.”