Beastmaster of the Ages

"It\'s amazing that this earthworm can swallow cosmic impulses to temper its flesh. But what a waste!" The blood-red monster glowed with the flames. Madly rolling around, it released its power as it slammed into Tianming.

"Fine!" Amidst the magma and rocks, he split the Grand-Orient Sword into two, his gaze fiery. Engraved with the sun, moon, and stars, the golden Grand-Orient Sword shone with majesty and brilliance. And covered in strange patterns, the black Grand-Orient Sword surged with wrath, its black glint reminiscent of the devil. Tianming’s jet black Fiendsky Arm seemed to match the ink-like sword, the image of a black arm holding a black sword creating a strong visual impact.

After its transformation, the lethality of the nine-star Grand-Orient Sword soared. Compared to a single, heavy sword, the pair was faster, stronger, and complementary to each other, and with a suitable sword art, the paired Grand-Orient Swords would be more lethal. The divine wonderians’ dual sword art was perfect for Tianming. The black dot in his Plundering Eye expanded, turning the eye completely black. As the hexagonal scales on his Fiendsky Arm crackled, his entire arm transformed and grew thicker. The power of his flesh gave him a sense of security that surpassed astralforce.

"As long as I continue tempering the Fiendsky Arm, my left arm will be more lethal than my right." Tianming was more flexible with two swords. Although he wasn’t a divine wonderian, he certainly surpassed them in terms of dual sword battle arts. Stepping on a high rock, he shot toward the earthworm in a burst of light, the swords leaving traces of gold and black across the air. Mirage Starslaughter! Tianming unleashed Mirage with the golden sword in his right hand, infused with the Flint Infernal Impulse, six layers of astralforce, and the Grand-Orient Vortex that exploded with extraordinary power to fuel the move. Mirage required quick moves that created golden waves to submerge the enemy like a thousand tsunamis.

It was magnificent, breathtaking, and ever-changing, but in fact, most of that was meant to intimidate. Its real function was to restrain and confuse opponents in preparation for Starslaughter. One man with two hands swung two swords, yet they moved on different trajectories. Without his lifebound beasts, totems, or divine wonders, Tianming was finally able to experience the profundity of the sword art more deeply. In fact, battle arts became more profound the further he went. Techniques were the lower limit, while battle arts raised the upper limit.

A thousand waves of golden sword ki struck the earthworm. For a beast that could only use brute force, the move was too complicated. It couldn’t stop Mirage at all, even if it exploded with more power than Tianming. The dazzling golden waves left numerous wounds in its flesh, peeling off a layer of skin from one end to the other. Despite its painful screams, the earthworm couldn’t stop the black Grand-Orient Sword in Tianming\'s Fiendsky Arm. With Starslaughter, Tianming cut through its body, his entire black arm sinking into its flesh and blood.

Numerous rays of black and red sword lights erupted from the earthworm’s writhing body, tearing it apart. Its head exploded into countless pieces, followed by its torso and tail end. Wherever the sword light swept past, flesh and blood splattered. In less than ten breaths, the ten-thousand-meter-long nova wildbeast had exploded into millions of fragments that were scattered all over the underground magma and immediately burned to ashes.

"It’s dead!" Tianming waved his swords surrounded by blood and flying pieces of flesh. He didn’t think the earthworm could resurrect itself after such a miserable death. "That should be the last of it." In fact, the earthworm was actually quite strong. The average second- or third-level stellaminor might not be able to kill it.

"Merit points, finally!" Tianming was excited about his first bucket of gold. He would only receive his salary after a month, so he’d had zero merit points before slaying the earthworm. A blue image was projected from the left side of his face. He now had twenty merit points.

"Only twenty points for killing that beast? They sure are misers." The beginning had always been the hardest part. "Oh, the cosmic impulse.…" Tianming turned around and saw a bright red sphere within the fire and smoke. It appeared to have been compressed into a thick and concentrated nova source.

"How do I take this away? It should be some kind of treasure, right?” The cosmic impulse was less than three meters across and should be considered small. It was hard to imagine that such a little thing could give that earthworm so much power.

He flew toward the cosmic impulse. "It\'s hot." He took his hat off to that earthworm for swallowing it. Tianming wouldn’t dare touch it with any part of his body except his Fiendsky Arm. If he tried touching it with his right hand, it would probably be completely charred.

"When I was still on the sun, the nova source inner core was the only thing I could temper my arm with. Wouldn’t it be better if I used cosmic impulses?" This little cosmic impulse was certainly inferior to the Flint Infernal Impulse; however, the Flint Infernal Impulse had naturally integrated with Tianming\'s body and wouldn’t harm him, so it failed at tempering the Fiendsky Arm.

"I’ll give it a try! After all, the Fiendsky Arm is the essence of a sky plunderer. There’s no limit to its strength. With it, I can become part specter. It’s really useful in the absence of my lifebound beasts, totems, and divine wonders, and makes me more deadly." His Fiendsky Arm was the reason he had defeated Lin Jianchen.

“There aren’t any restrictions on using physical strength in the Swordsoul Purgatory. That’s because no specters would be allowed in here. It’s obviously because no ghosts and gods will be allowed to enter the Sword Purgatory. In terms of bloodline, specters are even further from beastmasters than totemancers. They’re even less likely to be part of the Lin Clan…. So I’ll have an advantage if I can strengthen my Fiendsky Arm." With that in mind, Tianming sank his arm into the cosmic impulse.

"Oh!" Brows furrowed, Tianming grit his teeth and took a deep breath. "It’s amazing. My hand is actually absorbing the cosmic impulse!" Although the albi in his Fiendsky Arm were shaped like the Prime Tower, similar to the other albi in his body, he sensed certain special characteristics in their inner core. Those features were the key to his Fiendsky Arm’s power. Albi absorbed external power, transformed it into astralforce, then stored it in the astral discs. However, the cosmic impulse absorbed by his arm merged with the albi within it, causing them to undergo a fundamental transformation. That was the reality of tempering the Fiendsky Arm. In the past, Tianming hadn’t felt such strong absorption and continuous enhancement when using top-level nova source inner cores.

"It\'s a pity I can’t absorb the cosmic impulses in the Grand-Orient Sword, or my Fiendsky Arm would be invincible, the hardest hand in the world. I could pinch off formations with my hand!" Tianming laughed. His Fiendsky Arm was the only special thing he got from being a sky plunderer.

The cosmic impulse wasn’t very strong. In fact, it was probably of the lowest grade, otherwise the earthworm would have been burned to death. Even so, Tianming felt his arm growing hotter and hotter. The increase in toughness and strength felt wonderful.

At this rate, I’ll absorb the entire cosmic impulse in ten days, he thought to himself.