Beastmaster of the Ages

"Five whole million caeli converted into Bloodblitz Blast... I can't wait for the feast that is to come!" The Archaionfiend laughed and opened its wings wide, flying until it was directly over Tianming. Then, countless bolts of bloody lightning gathered in its mouth, causing its belly to inflate as if there was a volcano inside it. All five million caeli were being converted into blood lightning.

"It's not powerful enough yet... I'll let it brew a little longer!" By now, its entire lower body was covered in bloody lightning, which seemed to gather in the sky above it as well. The lightning bolts surrounded the Archaionfiend, looking like a gigantic bloody mouth about to swallow the entire city whole.

Eventually, the sound of cracking electricity was heard, greatly unnerving anyone that heard it. Within the city, everyone apart from Tianming seemed to feel their souls shake, Fu You included. The sheer power generated by using five million caeli was something that even the Archaionfiend struggled to control. Almost immediately, the civilians in the city that were just out of danger, as well as the two million reinforcements and their lifebound beasts, looked up in terror. Everyone saw the bloody clouds that gathered in the sky as well as the gigantic voltaic beast in the very middle.

"What’s that...?"

"It looks like the lifebound beast that controlled the enemy troops and made them stronger...."

"What’s it... what’s it going to do? It feels really terrifying!"

Even young children could tell how dangerous the whole situation was. Everyone in the city felt a chill down their spines.

"You accursed piece of shit!" Fu You, sensing the sheer magnitude of power coming from above, ignored Tianming and immediately fled north. However, everyone else within the city couldn’t run as quickly as he had; the formation core was here, so Yi Xingyin and all the rest couldn't leave at all. They didn't even have time to react.

As Fu You was busy running away, the lightning had gathered to a breaking point. The Archaionfiend locked its gaze on the nearby Tianming. "Die!"

A torrent of bloody sparks rumbled out from the beast. Even before it was launched from its belly, the terrifying storms generated by it were enough to shake the city.

"If I was alone, I could just hide in the Prime Tower! But...." The blast would surely engulf the city whole, causing the deaths of tens of millions. Even with the Sun-Moon-Star Formation there, the city would no doubt be flattened. That kind of power wasn't something lifebound beasts could possibly generate in the first place.

"What in the world can I do?" Tianming grasped his fists tight as he desperately tried brainstorming a way out of it. In such dire straits, how were the visions from Fatesteal able to help him resolve it?

"Archaionfiend!" Tianming hollered, glaring at it and Lin Xiaoxiao. "Lin Xiaoxiao, I didn't think you'd become someone like this!"

Disaster would occur once the lightning blasted out of the Archaionfiend's body. Nobody would be able to stop the five million caeli from blowing up. It was almost certain death!

Yet something happened at that very moment, something that baffled even Tianming. He saw with his Plundering Eye how the charged Bloodblitz Blast was stuck in the Archaionfiend's belly, unable to come out. Little did he know that the beast was fuming over this technical mishap.

"Lin Xiaoxiao, how dare you mess around?! The Trisoul Boltchains will completely scatter your soul!" Its expression contorted significantly. The lightning-covered girl sitting on its back shuddered as she raised both hands to press hard against the beast's back with enough force to divert its snout toward the sky. With a great roar, the Archaionfiend interrupted its blast.

"You wanna die?! If you don't let go, I’ll torture them!" it yelled as it struggled, much to the shock of those watching from below. "Lin Xiaoxiao!"

As the beast roared and shook, everyone could see the blood-red eyes of the girl on its back. "Stop lying to me. I know they've been gone for a long time. Wu You, you’re right. I'm useless trash, and all I do is mess things up. I even got manipulated and used by you. However, it doesn't seem like you're fully aware of what symbiotic cultivation entails. From the moment you formed a blood pact, I became just as much of an Archaionfiend as you.

"If you can consume caeli, so can I! The stronger you made me, the more I came to know. There was no way you could've stopped their souls from dissipating! You were lying to me the entire time! I knew that I wouldn't be able to break the Trisoul Boltchains for the rest of my life, but now I’m certain that you’re a cruel, heartless, greedy, and shameless clown! The biggest mistake you’ve made so far, or ever will make was choosing me! From now on, I'll stop you no matter what you're trying to do! You weren't wrong about me being weak! Thanks to looking down on symbiotic cultivation, you didn't know you were making me more powerful at the same time as you strengthened yourself, and now you shall suffer the consequences!"

The forceful use of her energy caused the Trisoul Boltchains fastened around her life and deathsprings to send electricity tearing through her body, causing her arms to crack apart. Then she opened her mouth wide. While abilities couldn't be shared through symbiotic cultivation, bloodlines could. The innate talent of the Archaionfiend to devour caeli was just as transferable to the beastmaster as Ying Huo's resistance to fire!

Now, there was a second caelum consumer in the skies. Lin Xiaoxiao knew that her lifebound beasts' souls were gone for good, so there was no longer anything holding her back. "Wu You, you’re nothing but a sore loser. How dare you be so full of yourself?"

As she smirked, the concentrated blast within the Archaionfiend's body began destabilizing. Perhaps it was because of that, or perhaps the Archaionfiend had realized what Lin Xiaoxiao was capable of, but the beast felt like it was getting a harsh wake up call. It thought it’d had the girl completely under its control!

"Stop!" The Archaionfiend began panicking. Despite its meticulous plans, it had neglected to take into account her ability to consume caeli like it could. It had taken her agency, or lack thereof, for granted, and it came back to harshly bite it during this critical moment. Who knew what would happen to the concentrated blast that was being drawn in two separate directions? Even though the Archaionfiend was much stronger than her in that regard, the amount of power it was dealing with was something that had to be handled without the slightest mistake, let alone intentional sabotage from another party.

"Noooooo!" the Archaionfiend shrieked before a gigantic explosion in the sky drowned its voice out. Countless bolts of blood lightning spread outward like a flower tens of thousands of meters wide, barely brushing against the formation. It was a beautiful sight to behold for those within the city. The spectators felt their minds go blank. Without a Plundering Eye, they didn't know what had transpired in that twist of fate.

Tianming was the only one who had seen it all. Right before the blast was unleashed, Lin Xiaoxiao's slender hands pulled harshly on the Archaionfiend's head like she would a horse. When the beast still wanted to unleash the blast, she intentionally triggered the explosion while it was still within the Archaionfiend.

Now there was a huge hole in the fiend's belly, and that was after all the damage control it could manage. Had it not done so, it would have been vaporized in an instant.

"Xiaoxiao?" Tianming flew into the sky without another word. The blood flower disappeared like transient fireworks and Tianming saw a suffering Archaionfiend, its entrails hanging out from the huge hole in its belly, completely unlike when it was at its prime moments ago. On its neck was a black-clad girl, fastened tightly like a sculpture. There were bloody marks all over her pale body, the marks of the Trisoul Boltchains that kept her locked and secured to the spot. She looked to be at the brink of death. There was barely any will at all left in her darkening eyes. When she saw Tianming, she forced out a smile and said, "I'm sorry... My foolishness caused you so much trouble."

That was all she could say with the last of her energy. But before she could finish, the Archaionfiend was already struggling to flee when it saw Tianming. The debilitating injuries it had suffered made it much weaker in combat now, making healing up a priority, so the reunion was cut short.

Tianming couldn't really give chase, and he didn't, as the city was still in dire straits. Even if he did give chase, there was no saying if the fiend would just vanish like before.

"Lin Xiaoxiao, I forgive you!" he cried as a flurry of complex emotions washed over him.

"Thank you...."

By the time Tianming heard that, the Archaionfiend was scurrying away into the darkness like a battered and defeated dog. While the meeting was short, Tianming knew that they would meet again. The next time they met, they would be able to commune with one another for real.