Eternal Purgatory Phoenix

"These eggs were born with me and hidden for so many years—they can't be ordinary."

Li Tianming had this feeling mainly because of the bloodline connection between a beastmaster and his companion beast, rooted in the "Symbiotic Cultivation System."

The so-called Symbiotic Cultivation System means that the beastmaster and companion beast share a single cultivation framework.

For example, the first cultivation realm is the "Beast Pulse Realm." Both the beastmaster and companion beast are born with nine beast pulses.

Cultivation in the Beast Pulse Realm involves the beastmaster and companion beast working together to open their respective nine beast pulses, linking all eighteen pulses together.

Each time a beast pulse is opened, the bloodline bond between the host and companion beast strengthens. Once the beast pulses are connected, techniques are used to convert the world's spiritual energy into "Beast Essence," stored within the pulses. The beastmaster and companion beast share the same Beast Essence, allowing them to borrow each other's power as a unified force.

Within the Symbiotic Cultivation System, the companion beast's bloodline power transfers to the beastmaster, making the beastmaster stronger, while the beastmaster's bloodline power grants the companion beast greater intelligence.

The beastmaster and companion beast form a combat whole through beast pulses and Beast Essence. The companion beast fights using "Beast Arts," while the beastmaster uses "Martial Arts."

Right now, inside the Companion Space, two "eggs" were cracking with a crunching sound, and one of them even had cracks appearing on its surface.

At that moment, Li Tianming transferred the cracked egg out of the Companion Space, placed it on his bed, and quietly waited for the companion beast to hatch.

The thrilling moment had finally arrived!

Crack, crack, crack...

The egg's cracks grew more numerous and denser. Vaguely, Li Tianming could already feel a suffocating pressure.

"This is definitely something beyond a Fifth-Order Companion Beast!" He remembered that when "Jin Yu" hatched, it didn't have such an explosive pressure.

Companion beasts have strict rank divisions—the higher the rank, the greater their growth potential. His former companion beast, the Four-Winged Golden-Winged Roc, was a rare "Fifth-Order Companion Beast."

"It's coming out, it's coming out!"

Li Tianming was so excited that anyone listening might think he was giving birth at home.

Crack!

Finally, at that moment, the egg burst open.

A shadow appeared.

"Damn!"

The terrifying giant beast he'd imagined wasn't there. Instead, crawling out of the shell and wobbling unsteadily on the bed was—a little chick!

And a yellow, tender one at that.

Li Tianming thought of one word to describe it: melt-in-your-mouth.

Damn it!

He wanted to cry but had no tears.

"You're clearly just a chicken, yet you put on the aura of a primordial beast."

"Gah? Who're you calling a chicken?"

The little yellow chick suddenly jolted, craned its neck, and glared fiercely at Li Tianming, its tiny eyes nearly spitting flames.

"Mental communication?" Li Tianming was stunned.

He remembered that he and "Jin Yu" had been inseparable since birth, and it wasn't until he reached "Fourth Beast Pulse" and they had opened four beast pulses together that they achieved mental communication and could start talking.

"Who's mentally communicating with you? I'm talking to you out loud. Watch your tone, or I'll mess you up," the little yellow chick said, tilting its neck, opening its brown beak, and putting its wings on its hips like a little thug.

A newborn chick calling itself 'I'? He couldn't help rubbing his head—no fever, so why was he hallucinating?

He reached out, grabbed the little yellow chick, and placed it on his palm. Just as he was about to speak, he realized the chick was scorching hot, like holding a piece of burning coal.

"Brat, let me go," the little yellow chick continued glaring at him.

"Behave yourself, or I'll stew you." Just then, Li Tianming locked eyes with it. In the chick's tiny eyes, he saw a "star point"—a glowing dot.

He remembered that when "Jin Yu" hatched, it had five star points, marking it as a rare Fifth-Order Companion Beast in Lihuo City.

When a companion beast hatches, the number of star points in its eyes determines its rank.

The rank of a companion beast directly decides its growth potential and largely represents the beastmaster's cultivation limit. A Fifth-Order Companion Beast had made Li Tianming the top genius in Lihuo City in three hundred years.

This little yellow chick had one star point, meaning it was at least a First-Order Companion Beast. As long as it had a rank, it had cultivation potential. Even if its final height might only be the Beast Pulse Realm, or it couldn't even break through the Fifth Beast Pulse, it still counted as a beastmaster.

One star point was disappointing, but how many things in life turn out as perfectly as one imagines?

Wait...

As Li Tianming stared at that star point in a daze, he didn't expect—whether it was an illusion or something else—that the star point dispersed before his eyes. One star point expanded. At first, it looked like several star points merged into a single light, but then it kept growing!

A few, a dozen, hundreds, thousands!

Finally, that star point in Li Tianming's eyes became a vast starfield!

Within this starfield, trillions of stars were burning, so distant, yet their combined light pierced through to Li Tianming's vision at this moment.

This wasn't a star point—this was a starfield!

Boom!

"What's happening?" He felt his mind explode. Everything before him vanished, and he seemed to arrive in that distant starfield!

Suddenly, his scalp went numb.

When he turned around in this endless void, he saw countless stars before him, each one a massive fireball spewing tongues of flame and burning fiercely.

The next instant, he heard a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering bird cry.

He saw it!

At the edge of the starry sky, a ball of blazing fire was approaching. The fire spread its enormous wings, blotting out the sky and covering the sun. As it drew near, Li Tianming was stunned to find that it was as massive as the starfield before him!

Countless streams of fire swirled around it, each stream composed of trillions of stars.

This was an eternal bird of flight!

Wherever it passed, countless burning stars gathered together, turning into strings of flowing fire. It opened its mouth and swallowed them—like slurping noodles. With a whoosh, trillions upon trillions of flaming stars went into its belly.

Such a shocking scene felt like a dream, utterly unbelievable.

He then followed the eternal bird's perspective, watching it devour its way forward. Perhaps every one of those flaming super-stars was the sun hanging above the heads of all living beings.

Until one day.

Between heaven and earth, a black giant hand appeared. The moment that hand emerged, the beast finally grew afraid. It shrieked, panicked, and fled in all directions. It was hard to imagine that something even more terrifying existed, making it run for its life!

Even as it fled, it burned itself, growing smaller and smaller.

Every time the hand slapped down on its body, countless sparks flew off, each spark eventually turning into a star.

"From now on, the chaos cycle is under my control."

That was the voice of the black giant hand.

The voice shook heaven and earth, stunned the universe, and plunged endless starfields into eternal fear.

He felt the eternal bird's terror—a fear like poison, spreading from it into his own body.

In the final moment, the bird fell among the star rivers. It felt like it was about to die. Suddenly, it seemed to see him.

"What exactly are you!" Li Tianming asked, his voice hoarse.

The eternal bird gazed at Li Tianming, silent for a long time.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment.

"I am the Eternal Purgatory Phoenix!"

Li Tianming suddenly felt a sharp pain on his face. The scenes before him shifted rapidly, and with a whoosh, he was back in his own room.

Damn.

He saw that the Little Yellow Chick had somehow climbed onto his shoulder and was pecking at his face.

"You, the Eternal Purgatory Phoenix?" Li Tianming slowly calmed down. He grabbed the chick by its wing and held it up to his eyes. The starry specks were still in its eyes, but they no longer turned into a starfield.

"That's right. The embodiment of cool." The Little Yellow Chick struggled and said irritably.

"What the hell is the Eternal Purgatory Phoenix?" Li Tianming asked.

"One of the Primordial Chaos Giant Beasts!"

"And then?"

"No idea."

"Then what do you know?"

"I just hatched and saw this idiot messing with me. What do you think I know?"

Damn...

Getting cursed out by a chicken.

In truth, he knew very well that this chicken was no ordinary thing—even his nine eggs were no ordinary thing.

The scene just now was too dazzling: the eternal bird that fed on suns, the sky-blotting black giant hand, the endless stars and blazing suns...

"Youngster, you're too weak. You need to learn to get stronger." As he was lost in thought, the Little Yellow Chick put its wings on its hips, sized him up for a while, and came to a conclusion.

"May I ask, Eternal Purgatory Phoenix, how do I get stronger?" Li Tianming asked.

"Stick with me, and you'll get stronger."

"And then?"

"Money, power, and hens—everything you could want." The Little Yellow Chick grinned, probably thinking of something pleasant, drool dripping down.

"I'll take the money and power. The hens, you can keep for yourself..."

After Jin Yu died, Li Tianming lost all his Beast Essence. The Beast Veins he had opened were all wasted. Without a companion beast, his career as a beast tamer was over.

And this Eternal Purgatory Phoenix—whether or not it was truly a Primordial Chaos Giant Beast—at least let Li Tianming start cultivating again and re-enter the ranks of beast tamers.

He didn't know why the eternal bird that could swallow suns in that vision had turned into this Little Yellow Chick. Maybe it had something to do with the Dark Giant Hand.

But he knew that this Little Yellow Chick, though irritable and lecherous, shared his hunger for power.

As for how much it really knew about the Primordial Chaos Giant Beasts, Li Tianming had no idea. After all, he'd never heard of them before, and they sounded terrifying...

When Mu Qingqing and Lin Xiaoting had framed him, he and Jin Yu had opened a total of eighteen Beast Veins, reaching the ninth level of the Beast Pulse Realm's perfect cycle, then breaking through to the Spirit Source Realm.

"The top priority is to recover my cultivation. But since I've changed companion beasts, the Beast Vein connections have to be rebuilt from scratch. That'll take a long time. Besides, who knows how much potential this Little Yellow Chick has? If it's just a First-Order Companion Beast, I'll be lucky to reach the fifth level of the Beast Pulse Realm in this lifetime."

"Stop dawdling, let's get started!" The Little Yellow Chick jumped straight onto his head and nested in his messy hair.

It might have looked casual, but its perch was precisely at Li Tianming's Baihui Acupoint, one of the connecting channels for the beast pulses.

"Here we go!"

The first step of the Beast Pulse Realm was naturally to sense one's own beast pulse location and the other party's beast pulse location.

When it was on top of his head, Li Tianming closed his eyes and fumbled to sense its beast pulse, while it sensed his body in return.

Sense the beast pulses, interlink them. When their first beast pulses were fully connected and merged, they would achieve the first level of the Beast Pulse Realm!

When the beast pulses connected, the powerful bloodline power of the bonded beast would surge into the beastmaster's body, strengthening the human physique. This was the immense benefit the beastmaster gained from the bonded beast. At the same time, the bonded beast could invisibly awaken its intelligence, breaking free from the shackles of a savage beast and becoming a bonded beast capable of cultivation and advancement!

Thus, bonded beasts that could cultivate and improve were also called "Origin Beasts."

Strangely enough, despite its small body, its beast pulses were incredibly thick. Each beast pulse resembled a divine dragon—majestic and imposing. It was hard to imagine what kind of giant beast could possess such sturdy beast pulses. In comparison, Li Tianming's beast pulses were like nine little earthworms.

"You're such a scrub. Your beast pulses are so tiny, clearly lacking in masculine vigor. Mine are countless times thicker than yours," the Little Yellow Chick said disdainfully.

Damn!

Why did that sound so weird?

Li Tianming was furious.

"Stop showing off. Your beast pulses are about to become big bro's beast pulses."

Imperceptibly, their beast pulses began to align. Connecting the first beast pulse was the hardest, as neither of them had Beast Essence yet. Fortunately, Li Tianming had plenty of "experience" with this process. The beastmaster indeed held the initiative, guiding most of the process.

Although the Little Yellow Chick's beast pulses were thick, connecting them wasn't particularly difficult, because it wasn't about forcing a path but rather an "activation." When their minds were in sync, when the beast pulses aligned, and when their bloodlines intertwined, the two beast pulses would gradually converge, forming a complete cycle.

Li Tianming was well-versed in this, but only when the first beast pulse connected did he realize just how much the bloodline of this "Eternal Purgatory Phoenix" could transform his body!

The transformation began with the beast pulses!

The connection between their beast pulses was like a divine dragon linking up with an earthworm...

Then, the earthworm frantically absorbed the bloodline power from the divine dragon, swelling rapidly. In a very short time, his beast pulses transformed into divine dragons, roaring and rolling within his body. The dragon's bloodline then spread through his bloodstream to every part of his body. Li Tianming could clearly feel his body undergoing a terrifying metamorphosis!

His bones, blood, internal organs—everything was transforming. This process almost made him feel like he had become an Eternal Purgatory Phoenix himself, a true Primordial Chaos Giant Beast!

Of course, still a cub.

But at least this proved that his future growth potential might be limitless! The Four-Winged Golden-Winged Roc had once transformed his flesh and blood, but never to this extent.

He finally confirmed that he had hit the jackpot.

His transformation was clearly visible in his eyes. After this change, his eyes burned as fiercely as the sun in the sky.

When his beast pulses grew into dragons as massive as the Little Yellow Chick's, it meant the first beast pulse was fully connected. The two of them—one human, one bird—had entered the first level of the Beast Pulse Realm together!

Next came cultivating techniques, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and converting it into Beast Essence to connect the remaining beast pulses!

The quality of the "technique" was another factor, besides the bonded beast's bloodline, that determined the quality of the Beast Essence.

Li Tianming had once practiced the Mystic Gold Art, forging Mystic Gold Beast Essence. This was the best technique in Lihuo City.

Just as he began to circulate the Mystic Gold Art, the Little Yellow Chick suddenly scolded, "What are you doing? What kind of trash is that?"

"What do you mean, little bro?" Li Tianming asked, confused. This was the finest technique in Lihuo City.

"Don't ask. I'm taking the lead in cultivation. We're practicing my technique, the 'Eternal Purgatory Scripture'!" the Little Yellow Chick declared proudly.

"What?" Before Li Tianming could react, something unbelievable happened: the bonded beast took the lead in cultivation and even came with its own technique. The moment the "Eternal Purgatory Scripture" began to circulate, he understood completely: the Mystic Gold Art was indeed trash...

Now it was perfect. He didn't need to cultivate anymore. With this little bro leading the way, he closed his eyes and comfortably enjoyed the fruits of cultivation.

He could even sleep.

Who knew how strong he'd be when he woke up?

The fire in his heart had already begun to blaze.

He had once thought he would never rise again. Even with his mother's daily encouragement, it was hard to see any hope for this life.

But today, he wanted to write those two names in blood on the ground—Mu Qingqing, Lin Xiaoting.

And then burn them clean with fire.