Eternal Purgatory Phoenix

"These eggs were born with me and hidden away for so many years. They definitely aren't ordinary."

Li Tianming's intuition mainly came from the bloodline bond between a beastmaster and companion beast, from the Symbiotic Cultivation System.

The so-called Symbiotic Cultivation System meant that beastmasters and companion beasts shared a single cultivation system.

For example, the first cultivation realm was the Beast Pulse Realm. Both beastmasters and companion beasts were born with nine beast pulses.

Cultivating in the Beast Pulse Realm meant that the beastmaster and companion beast worked together to connect their respective nine beast pulses, joining all eighteen pulses together.

With every beast pulse connected, the bloodline bond between the beastmaster and companion beast deepened. Once their beast pulses were linked, they used cultivation arts to transform the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into Beast Essence, storing it within their beast pulses. The beastmaster and companion beast shared the same Beast Essence and could borrow each other's power. They were a community of strength.

Within the Symbiotic Cultivation System, the companion beast's bloodline power transferred into the beastmaster's body, making the beastmaster more formidable, while the beastmaster's bloodline power granted the companion beast greater intelligence.

A beastmaster and companion beast formed a combat unit through beast pulses and Beast Essence. The companion beast fought using Beast Arts, while the beastmaster fought using Martial Arts.

Two "eggs" were currently crackling inside the Companion Space, and cracks had appeared across the surface of one of them.

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

The thrilling moment had finally arrived!

Crack, crack, crack...

More and more cracks spread across the egg, growing denser by the second. Faintly, Li Tianming could already sense a suffocating pressure.

"It's definitely something beyond a Fifth-Order Companion Beast!" When Jin Yu had hatched, it had not possessed such violent pressure.

Companion beasts had strict rank distinctions. The higher their rank, the greater their potential for growth. Li Tianming's former companion beast, the Four-Winged Golden-Winged Roc, had been a rare Fifth-Order Companion Beast.

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

Li Tianming was so excited that anyone unaware of the situation might have thought he was giving birth at home.

Crack!

At last, the egg exploded.

A shadow emerged.

"Damn it!"

The terrifying giant beast from his fantasies did not exist. What crawled out of the eggshell and staggered across the bed was unmistakably a chick!

And it was the yellow, tender kind.

Li Tianming thought of a phrase to describe it—melt-in-your-mouth.

Fuck!

He wanted to cry, but no tears came.

"You're obviously just a chicken, yet you made an entrance like some Primordial Chaos fiendish beast."

"Gah? Who are you calling a chicken?"

The Little Yellow Chick abruptly jolted upright, stretched out its neck, and glared viciously at Li Tianming. Flames practically burst from its tiny eyes.

"Telepathic communication?" Li Tianming was dumbfounded.

He remembered that he and Jin Yu had been inseparable from birth. Yet only after he had cultivated to the Fourth Beast Pulse, after they had each connected four beast pulses, had they achieved telepathic communication and begun speaking with each other.

"Who's communicating with you telepathically? I'm talking to you. Show some respect, or I'll beat you to death." The Little Yellow Chick cocked its head, opened its brown beak, planted its wings on its hips, and looked like a tiny street punk.

A chicken that had just been born was calling itself "your father"? He could not help touching his head. No fever. Why was he hallucinating?

He reached out, grabbed the Little Yellow Chick, and set it in his palm. Just as he was about to speak, he discovered that the chick was scorching hot, as if he were holding a red-hot coal.

"You little bastard, let go of me." The Little Yellow Chick continued glaring at him.

"Behave yourself, or I'll stew you." At that moment, Li Tianming met its gaze. Inside the chick's tiny eyes, he saw a "star point," a point of light.

He remembered that when Jin Yu had first hatched, five star points had appeared in its eyes, proving that it was a Fifth-Order Companion Beast, quite rare in Lihuo City.

When a companion beast hatched, however many star points appeared in its eyes determined its rank.

A companion beast's rank could be said to directly determine its potential for growth, and to a great extent represented the beastmaster's cultivation limit. A Fifth-Order Companion Beast had been enough to make Li Tianming Lihuo City's top genius in three hundred years.

This Little Yellow Chick possessed one star point, which at least meant it was a First-Order Companion Beast. As long as it had a rank, it possessed the foundation for cultivation. Even if its ultimate limit was only the Beast Pulse Realm, even if it could not even break through the fifth level of the Beast Pulse Realm, he would still count as a beastmaster.

One star point was certainly disappointing, but how many things in life could truly be as beautiful as one imagined?

Wait...

As Li Tianming stared blankly at that star point, he had not expected it to scatter before his eyes, whether due to an illusion or something else. The single star point expanded. At first, it seemed as though several star points had merged together to form that light, but it continued expanding!

Several, more than ten, hundreds, thousands upon thousands!

In the end, that star point became a vast starfield in Li Tianming's eyes!

Within that starfield, trillions of stars burned. They were unimaginably distant, yet their combined radiance pierced straight into Li Tianming's eyes at that moment.

This was not a star point. This was a starfield!

Boom!

"What is happening?" He felt as though his mind had exploded. Everything before his eyes vanished, and he seemed to arrive within that distant starfield!

Suddenly, his scalp tingled.

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

The next instant, he heard an earth-shattering bird cry.

He saw it!

At the end of the starry sky, a mass of burning flames was approaching. The flames spread enormous wings that blotted out the sky and covered the earth. As it drew near, Li Tianming discovered in shock that it was as enormous as the starfield before him!

Countless streams of fire circled around it. Every stream of fire consisted of trillions of stars.

This was an eternal bird!

Wherever it went, countless burning stars gathered into streams of fire. It opened its mouth and swallowed them, like slurping noodles. With a whoosh, quintillions upon quintillions of fiery stars entered its belly.

Such a shocking sight was dreamlike and beyond comprehension.

Then, following the eternal bird's perspective, he watched it devour its way onward. Perhaps every blazing supergiant star was the sun above the heads of countless living beings.

Until one day.

A Black Giant Hand appeared between heaven and earth. The moment that hand emerged, the giant beast finally became afraid. It shrieked in terror and fled in every direction. It was unimaginable that something even more terrifying existed, something that made it flee in utter disarray!

As it fled, it even burned itself, becoming smaller and smaller.

Every time the giant hand struck its body, countless sparks burst forth. Every spark eventually transformed into a star.

"From this day onward, I shall control the Reincarnation of chaos."

That was the voice of the Black Giant Hand.

That voice shook heaven and earth, stunning the cosmos. The endless starfields sank into eternal terror.

He felt the eternal bird's fear. That fear was like deadly poison, spreading from its body into his own.

In the final instant, the bird fell amid the river of stars. It felt that death was near, when suddenly, it seemed to see him.

"What exactly are you?" Li Tianming asked hoarsely.

The eternal bird gazed at Li Tianming for a long time without speaking.

Time seemed to freeze there.

"I am the Eternal Purgatory Phoenix!"

Li Tianming suddenly felt a sharp pain in his cheek. The scenery before his eyes kept changing, and with a whoosh, he returned to his room.

Damn.

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

"You're the Eternal Purgatory Phoenix?" Li Tianming gradually calmed down. He grabbed the Little Yellow Chick by the wing and lifted it before his eyes. The star point remained in its eyes, but it no longer transformed into a starfield.

"That's right, the very definition of badass." The Little Yellow Chick struggled as it spoke irritably.

"What exactly is an Eternal Purgatory Phoenix?" Li Tianming asked.

"One of the Primordial Chaos Giant Beasts!"

"And then?"

"I don't know."

"Then what do you know?"

"I was just born and saw an idiot like you teasing me. What do you think I know?"

Fuck...

He had been cursed by a chicken.

Actually, he knew very well that this chicken was extraordinary. Even his nine eggs were extraordinary.

That vision had been too magnificent: the eternal bird that fed on suns, the Black Giant Hand that blotted out the sky and covered the earth, the endless stellar suns...

"Young man, you're far too weak. Learn to become stronger." While he was lost in thought, the Little Yellow Chick stood with its wings on its hips, scrutinized him for a long while, and reached that conclusion.

"May I ask, Eternal Purgatory Phoenix, how can I become stronger?" Li Tianming asked.

"Follow me, and you'll become stronger."

"And then?"

"Money, power, hens—you'll have it all." The Little Yellow Chick grinned. It seemed to have thought of something wonderful, and drool streamed from its beak.

"I'll take the money and power. You can keep the hens for yourself..."

After Jin Yu died, Li Tianming had lost all his Beast Essence. Every beast pulse he had opened had gone to waste. Without a companion beast, his career as a beastmaster had already ended.

And this Eternal Purgatory Phoenix, whether or not it truly was a Primordial Chaos Giant Beast, could at least let Li Tianming cultivate again and rejoin the ranks of beastmasters.

He did not know why the eternal bird that could swallow even suns had become the Little Yellow Chick before him. Perhaps it was because of that Dark Giant Hand.

But he knew that although this Little Yellow Chick was irritable and lecherous, its thirst for power was the same as his.

As for how much it actually knew about the Primordial Chaos Giant Beasts, Li Tianming had no idea. After all, he had never even heard of them. They sounded terrifying...

When Mu Qingqing and Lin Xiaoting had framed him, he and Jin Yu had connected all eighteen beast pulses, achieving the complete ninth level of the Beast Pulse Realm, before breaking through into the Spirit Source Realm.

"The most urgent matter is restoring my cultivation. But since I've changed companion beasts, the beast pulse connection must be rebuilt. It's the same as starting from scratch, so it will definitely take a long time. Besides, it's still uncertain how much potential this Little Yellow Chick has. If it's only a First-Order Companion Beast, I'll be able to cultivate at most to the fifth level of the Beast Pulse Realm in this lifetime."

"Quit dawdling. Let's get started!" The Little Yellow Chick leaped straight onto his head and built a nest in his messy hair.

Though it appeared casual, the spot where it settled was precisely Li Tianming's Baihui Acupoint, one of the pathways through which beast pulses connected.

"Let's go!"

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

With it sitting atop his head, Li Tianming closed his eyes and searched for its beast pulses, while it sensed his body as well.

Once they sensed their beast pulses and connected them, when their first beast pulses linked together, they would reach the first level of the Beast Pulse Realm!

When beast pulses connected, the companion beast's powerful bloodline power would flow into the beastmaster's body, strengthening the human body. This was the enormous benefit beastmasters received from companion beasts. At the same time, the companion beast would silently awaken its spiritual intelligence, break free from the shackles of savage beasts, and become a companion beast capable of cultivating and evolving!

Thus, companion beasts capable of cultivation and evolution were also called Origin Beasts.

Strangely enough, although its body was small, its beast pulses were extraordinarily thick. Every pulse was like a divine dragon, terrifying and majestic. It was difficult to imagine what kind of giant beast could possess such solid beast pulses. Compared to them, Li Tianming's beast pulses were like nine tiny earthworms.

"You pathetic chicken, your beast pulses are so small. You're obviously lacking manliness. Mine are countless times thicker than yours," the Little Yellow Chick said disdainfully.

Damn it!

Why did that sound so strange?

Li Tianming was furious.

"What the hell are you so proud of? Your beast pulses will soon be my beast pulses."

Invisibly, their beast pulses began to link. Connecting the first beast pulse was the hardest, because neither of them had any Beast Essence at that point. Fortunately, Li Tianming was experienced. In this cultivation process, the beastmaster indeed held the initiative, guiding most of it.

Although the Little Yellow Chick's beast pulses were thick, connecting them was not especially difficult, because connection was not about forcing them open, but about "activation." When their hearts resonated, when their beast pulses aligned, when their bloodlines intertwined, the two beast pulses gradually converged and formed one complete cycle.

Li Tianming was familiar with the process, but only when the first beast pulse connected did he realize that the bloodline of this Eternal Purgatory Phoenix could transform his body to such an extent!

That transformation began from the beast pulses!

The connection between their beast pulses was like attaching an earthworm to a divine dragon...

Then, the earthworm frantically absorbed the divine dragon's bloodline power and rapidly grew stronger. In a very short time, his beast pulse became a divine dragon, roaring and rolling within his body. Then the divine dragon's bloodline spread through his entire body with his blood. Li Tianming could clearly feel his body undergoing a terrifying metamorphosis!

His bones, blood, and internal organs were all transforming. During that process, he almost felt as though he too had become an Eternal Purgatory Phoenix, a true Primordial Chaos Giant Beast!

Of course, he was still a hatchling.

But this at least proved that his future potential might have no limits! The Four-Winged Golden-Winged Roc had once transformed his flesh and blood as well, but never to this extent.

He was finally certain that he had struck it rich this time.

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

When his beast pulses had grown into giant dragons like the Little Yellow Chick's, it meant that their first beast pulse had connected. Man and bird entered the first level of the Beast Pulse Realm together!

Next came cultivating an art, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, transforming it into Beast Essence, and filling their beast pulses!

The quality of a "cultivation art," besides the companion beast's bloodline, was another factor that determined the quality of Beast Essence.

The Mystic Gold Art Li Tianming had cultivated in the past forged Mystic Gold Beast Essence. It was the finest cultivation art in Lihuo City.

Just as he began circulating the Mystic Gold Art, the Little Yellow Chick suddenly cursed, "What are you doing? What kind of trash is this?"

"What do you mean, little brother?" Li Tianming asked in confusion. This was Lihuo City's finest cultivation art.

"Don't ask. I'll take charge of the cultivation. Cultivate my art, the Eternal Purgatory Scripture!" the Little Yellow Chick declared proudly.

"What?" Before Li Tianming could react, something unbelievable happened: the companion beast actually took charge of cultivation, and it even came with its own cultivation art. The moment the Eternal Purgatory Scripture began circulating, he completely understood. The Mystic Gold Art truly was trash...

Now this was perfect. He did not need to cultivate at all. With this little brother leading the way, he closed his eyes and began comfortably enjoying the fruits of cultivation.

He could even sleep.

Who knew how strong he would become after waking from one nap?

The fire in his heart had begun to burn.

There had once been a time when he believed he would never have another chance to rise again. Even though his mother encouraged him every day, it had been hard to see hope for this lifetime.

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

Then burn them clean with fire.