Beastmaster of the Ages

Everyone, welcome to 2021!  2020 has been an absolutely horrid year for many people on many levels, and I think many (most? all?) of us are glad to leave it behind.  With that said, I wanted to give everyone a preview for some of the things that are coming up in the coming few months for Wuxiaworld.

Front-End Site Redesign - This one has been a long time coming!  Historically, we've focused more on incremental changes and feature build-out rather than overhauling the site itself, but for quite a few months now...

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After leaving the Kunpeng Sacred Hall, Li Tianming found himself in the mountains where the Grand-Orient Sect was located. Before him was a picturesque view of the natural landscape. At the foot of the hills was a stream, within which swam all sorts of aquatic life.

Thanks to the spiritual energy that enveloped the sect, even the marine life there grew strong and full of life. Fish up to a meter in size could be seen all over; they were a great source of food for the lifebound beasts of the sect members.

The Grand-Orient Sect spanned a huge area, so the lifebound beasts could roam freely without restriction. Out in the distance, one could see countless gigantic beasts walking, soaring, and swimming about. Some even got along with one another, while more exotic beasts, such as the insects, crawled in their little corners.

All kinds of wondrous lifebound beasts were there for all to behold in awe, and most of them weren't even recorded in the chronicles of Vermillion Bird. One such beast was the signature lifebound beast of the Li Saint Clan, the Kunpeng.

As far as Tianming was concerned, dual-species beasts like these were few and far between. Beasts like that were far more complex than normal dual-type beasts like Blizzard Dragons.

"The Kunpeng is both dual-species and dual-type. Not to mention, it’s no ordinary dual-type beast. Each of its elemental types correspond to its species. When in the form of the Kun as it swims in water, it’s water-type, and the beast ki within the spiritsources will be converted to water-type beast ki.

"That's why the Li Saint Clan's techniques are made specifically for descendants of the clan to facilitate the unique elemental switching property. I’d initially thought that techniques were mostly monotype. Only after coming to the Grand-Orient Sect did I find out about something so inconceivable."

Though, back then, Tianming had seen a dual cultivator of wind and snow: Yueling Ji. She must have had a unique and powerful cultivation technique for that purpose as well. But at the end of the day, her attributes of wind and snow didn't really contradict each other much, and could reside in the same spiritsources. She also only needed one lifebound beast to use both elements.

Mu Yang's Ink Qilin was also a dual-type beast of earth and water. Those two types mingled well and seldom caused backlash, unlike Tianming's lightning and fire that were both just as intense as the other. However, among the Li Saint Clan, spiritsources where water beast ki could be converted to fire beast ki could exist!

"While they might all be water-types in the Kun form, the beasts can be one of four types as a Peng, namely, wind, metal, lightning, or fire. Those four types are the basis that formed the four bloodlines of the Li Saint Clan, with the Wind Bloodline leading the clan. All four bloodlines are proficient in the water element, and differ only in their second element. For instance, those of the Wind Bloodline excel at water and wind, while the Metal Bloodline excels in metal and water, and so on."

Before they arrived, Li Jingyu had already given Tianming a briefing on the clan. Given the unique nature of the clan, there was no need for him to give the excuse that his two lifebound beasts were contracted using blood pacts any longer.

Twin beastmasters were inherently different from normal beastmasters, after all. They were considered to have rather unstable systems, so their lifebound beasts usually had the same basic type. Tianming had asked Jingyu about this matter before, as he noticed that she hadn’t found his two lifebound beasts being of different types all that surprising.

She said, "Actually, in the history of symbiotic cultivation, countless systems and subsystems have existed. There have been instances of twin beastmasters having lifebound beasts with different types. They’re usually referred to as unique twin beastmasters. With the right techniques, unique twin beastmasters are far stronger.

"To allow these unique beastmasters to cultivate their types in a balanced manner, it's possible to develop a cultivation technique for twin beastmasters based on dual-type techniques, like those of the Li Saint Clan, for instance. However, these techniques are split into three parts. The first is for the beastmaster themselves, while the second and third are for the different lifebound beasts.

"That way, twin beastmasters with different types can also cultivate and let two different types of beast ki coexist in the spiritsource. Even so, differences in strength between the unique twin beastmaster's lifebound beasts still exist. As such, while they have the advantage of having more elemental types, their lifebound beast's beast ki will have lower stamina. Tianming, for you to ask me a basic question like that.... Does that mean you don't have such a unique cultivation technique?" she asked curiously.

"Of course not. How else would I cultivate?" he said with a laugh.

"The technique you're using at Spiritsource must be quite average. There should be a Unity technique in the clan you can use to cultivate both the lightning and fire types at the same time. Granny will get you one when the time comes. After all, you're my cute widdle grandson. You deserve nothing but the best techniques!"

"Ah.... Thanks a bunch for that..." he responded as cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

In fact, he really didn't need something like that; the Aeternal Infernal Codex and Genesis Chaos Codex were terrifying enough on their own. Not to mention, he didn't need to combine the infernalsource and lightningsource at all. They each had their own individual strengths, and were strongest on their own!

At the very least, after hearing the explanation, he no longer needed to feel the need to explain his lifebound beasts having different types to others in the future. He could pass as a unique twin beastmaster.

......

When Li Tianming left, his first opponent, Li Kunxu, had followed behind him, along with others who wanted to relish in some schadenfreude at Tianming's expense.

"Kunxu, don't strike too hard. Make sure you don't cripple the sect master's son. If both the sect master and his son are crippled, others will only come to mock our clan," Li Chenhong said.

Everyone sighed and shook their heads. It was a disgrace for the whole clan!

"Father, don't worry. I’ll definitely not cripple the genius with five bane-rings. However, since he decided to bite off more than he can chew, I will knock a few of his teeth out. It should be fine, right?"

"No problem. That'll teach him to be more careful with his bites." Li Chenhong smiled and shot a provocative glance at Li Jingyu.

At that moment, Li Kunxu whistled. Immediately after, a gigantic brown-colored Peng descended from the skies. It was even larger than Twelve-winged Goldrocs! This was a Hurricane Kunpeng, a low-tier eight-star lifebound beast! Most Kunpengs started off as imperial beasts that could create windstorms with just a single flap of their wings.

Raging winds caused Tianming's hair to flap uncontrollably. It almost made him look more dashing, with his black arm and white hair. He retrieved his Grand Thunderflare Sword from his spatial ring.

"Li Tianming! Have your lifebound beasts come out! Let me see your Void Kunpeng!"

Those of the Apex Branch of the Li Saint Clan had Void Kunpengs; they were said to be saint beasts of legend that were beyond eight stars! In the past ten thousand years, the eldest sons of the Apex Branch would usually have Void Kunpengs as lifebound beasts. Those who didn't would usually perform worse than those who did. As for those that didn’t even have kunpengs, they would be weaker than seventy percent of all Li Saint Clan members.

With such a long history, the clan had definitely gotten new blood mixed into their lineage, resulting in not all of their descendants having kunpeng-type lifebound beasts. Statistically, there was a seventy percent chance for the eldest son of the Apex Branch to have a saint beast Void Kunpeng, as was the case with Li Wudi.

Void Kunpengs had always been passed down to male heirs, rather than female ones, and only the eldest male heirs at that. That was the reason males had always held the position as clan leader. It was said that beastmasters with eight-star saint beasts and beyond had the talent to reach the saint realm alongside their lifebound beast in their cultivation! 

Perhaps the heritability of a saint beast had caused the Apex Branch to have much more difficulty giving birth to offspring. If the eldest male heir of the branch wasn't born with a Void Kunpeng as a lifebound beast, it was a sign of abysmal talent! That was the reason those of the Wind Bloodline wanted to see Tianming fight and see for themselves whether Li Wudi's son had a Void Kunpeng.

If he did, his identity was pretty much certain. Tianming was older than Qingyu, so he should be the eldest son. Everyone's burning gazes settled on him.

"For a son of Li Wudi to have five bane-rings, you should at least have a Void Kunpeng, right?" Li Kunxu said with a smirk.

Having holes stared into his body, Tianming chuckled and pointed at the little chick on his shoulder. "Are you blind? This is my Void Kunpeng."

"Hey, I'm not void!" the chick snapped, but nobody heard it over the laughter and angry shouts. Li Kunxu, for instance, was one of those letting out an outburst, for Tianming had basically insulted and made light of their clan! Was he mentally challenged? There was no other explanation for why he would call a pet chicken a Void Kunpeng!

"Very well. I shall cook your Void Kunpeng today. Go!" Kunxu charged along with his lifebound beast with blinding speed.

Tianming was already losing his desire to banter with him. Second stage of Unity, huh? He shot Kunxu a glance. Currently, he was wielding a long, silver whip, and standing on the back of the Hurricane Kunpeng. He could also see his unity field and the eight nexuses!

The field was like a domain, within which strong winds blew and tore branches and leaves from trees. Within the field, each strike from the beastmaster and beast would be infused with the spiritual energy of the surroundings!

Whiiiir! 

The whip snapped toward Tianming like a venomous snake, accompanied by wind blades generated by the Hurricane Kunpeng's wing flaps. The enhancement afforded by the field greatly strengthened the skill!

"Li Tianming is already trying to get me cooked on a daily basis! Wait your turn!" the chick snapped angrily. It wasn't the first time it had been underestimated because of its size and appearance, and it was even more susceptible to mocking than Tianming was. Its rage exploded.

A suit of burning armor enveloped Tianming as feathery armour formed around the chick. The blazing wargod and warchick finally showed themselves!

"You aren't even wind type, and your trash lifebound beast is only seven stars. Aren't you ashamed to claim you come from the Apex Branch?"

Li Kunxu couldn't help but laugh. His opponent was trashier than he thought! He was afraid he would kill Tianming with one whip strike alone.

The whip continued swiping toward Tianming's mouth at high speed.

"I'll make sure all your molars fall out!" Anyone could tell he was in danger. However, he was armored and had his black arm!

Right before the strike landed, Tianming stretched his left hand out and grabbed the whip. All of a sudden, a beast-like strength tugged at the grade-six beastial weapon, Gale Whip, and Li Kunxu almost lost his grip on it. The power of the Aeternal Infernal Body and Genesis Chaos Body made Tianming far stronger than many lifebound beasts, and he would only get stronger from now on.

With both beast kis and the innate power from his body, Tianming tugged! The whip immediately snapped straight with tension.

"Scram!"

Li Kunxu would never have expected someone to be that foolish. He doubled down and used his battle art, Asura Whipping. His kunpeng followed up with a claw attack that moved similarly to his partner’s battle art. Unity battle arts were powerful fusions of martial arts and beast arts that boasted great coordination between man and beast.

But at this moment, the chick opened its beak and sprayed fire! A fire phoenix landed on the Gale Whip. The infernal flame burned away at the whip, and even Li Kunxu.

"Put it out!" A gust of wind rushed out from the unity field to scatter the flames. The unity field had borrowed a spiritsource skill. Even though it came from his beast, it was even more powerful, as it was unleashed by the field itself.

However, little did Li Kunxu expect the infernal flames to not be put out, but instead flare up even stronger.

"Come here!" Right as the infernal flames landed, Tianming suddenly exerted a powerful pull. The whip left Li Kunxu's grip and he was swung smashing toward the ground.

"So this is what the second stage of Unity amounts to? Truly, your skills are beyond peerless to fall flat on the ground so gracefully. Ten points for the landing." Tianming's merciless mocking laughter rang out.

"Come, let me see how powerful you are in your kun form." Unexpectedly, Tianming went into the water on his own accord. Imagine a fire-type beastmaster going into the river to fight an opponent in kun form!

"You're gonna be in trouble!" Li Kunxu sped toward Tianming from where he’d been smashed, his beast alongside. At that moment, Tianming watched as the brown-colored peng transformed before his eyes into a large fish that dove into the river with a huge splash!

When it next appeared, it opened its large fishy maw and attempted to bite Tianming. Li Kunxu swerved for a moment and his Unity field changed from Hurricane Field to Torrential Field. Within the new field, the river’s flow was more erratic, and Kunxu gained the ability to control water.

When he struck, the roiling waves generated a huge blast. He had completely exerted the full potential of the second stage of Unity.

"You overestimate yourself!" Li Kunxu didn't understand how Tianming had managed to overpower him earlier, so he choked it up to a fluke.

"Oh, really? You're only still fighting because I let you. I wanted to see how kunpengs transform. Now that I have, you can buzz right off from whence you came!" When he finished, Tianming and the chick's gazes met.

"Brother, go! Beat them up!" Tianming took but a single step, and shot forward thirty whole meters and struck out with the Grand Thunderflare Sword!

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