Chapter 2

"These eggs have been with me since birth, hidden for so many years; they must be extraordinary."

The reason Li Tianming had this feeling mainly came from the blood connection between a Beastmaster and their Companion Beast, derived from the 'Symbiotic Cultivation System.'

The so-called Symbiotic Cultivation System refers to a cultivation system shared by the Beastmaster and the Companion Beast.

For example, the first realm of cultivation is the 'Beast Vein Realm,' where both the Beastmaster and the Companion Beast are born with nine beast veins.

Cultivating in the Beast Vein Realm involves the Beastmaster and the Companion Beast working together to connect their respective nine beast veins, linking a total of eighteen beast veins.

Each time a beast vein is connected, the blood connection between the host and the Companion Beast strengthens. After the beast veins are interconnected, they use cultivation techniques to convert the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into 'Beast Essence,' which is stored in the beast veins. The Beastmaster and the Companion Beast share the same Beast Essence, allowing them to borrow each other's strength, forming a power-sharing entity.

In the Symbiotic Cultivation System, the blood power of the Companion Beast can be transferred to the Beastmaster, making the Beastmaster's body stronger, while the blood power of the Beastmaster grants the Companion Beast higher intelligence.

The Beastmaster and the Companion Beast form a combat unit through the beast veins and Beast Essence. The Companion Beast uses 'Beast Techniques' in battle, while the Beastmaster uses 'Martial Techniques.'

Now, two 'eggs' in the Companion Space are making cracking sounds, and one of them has even developed cracks.

At this moment, Li Tianming transferred the egg with cracks from the Companion Space to his bed, waiting for the Companion Beast to hatch.

The exciting moment has finally arrived!

Crack... crack...

The cracks on the egg are becoming more numerous and dense. Li Tianming can already feel the suffocating pressure.

"It must be a Companion Beast that surpasses the Fifth Rank!" He remembered that when 'Jinyu' hatched, there was no such intense pressure.

Companion Beasts have strict rank distinctions, with higher ranks indicating greater growth potential. His former Companion Beast, the Four-Winged Golden Peng, was a rare 'Fifth Rank Companion Beast.'

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

Li Tianming was so excited that anyone who didn't know him might think he was having a baby at home.

Crack!

Finally, at this moment, the egg exploded.

A shadow appeared.

"Damn!"

The terrifying giant beast he imagined did not exist. Instead, a chick wobbled out of the egg shell onto the bed.

And it was a yellow, tender one.

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

What the hell!

He felt like crying but couldn't.

"Clearly, you're just a chicken, yet you create the atmosphere of a primordial fierce beast."

"Cluck? Who are you calling a chicken?"

The little yellow chick suddenly shivered, straightened its neck, and glared at Li Tianming with eyes that seemed to be on fire.

"Telepathic communication?" Li Tianming was stunned.

He remembered that he and 'Jinyu' were inseparable from birth until he cultivated to the 'Fourth Level of Beast Veins,' when they had connected four beast veins, and only then could they communicate telepathically.

"Who's telepathically communicating with you? I'm talking to you. Be respectful, or I'll kill you." The little yellow chick tilted its head, opened its brown beak, and put its wings on its hips, looking like a little thug.

A newly hatched chick calling itself 'I'? He couldn't help but touch his head; he wasn't feverish, so why was he hallucinating?

He reached out and caught the little yellow chick, placing it in his palm. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly realized that the little yellow chick was scorching hot, as if he were holding a red-hot coal.

"Brat, let me go." The little yellow chick continued to glare at him.

"You behave, or I'll stew you." At this moment, Li Tianming made eye contact with it and saw a 'star point' in its small eyes, a glowing point.

He remembered that when 'Jinyu' hatched, there were five star points, indicating that it was a rare Fifth Rank Companion Beast in Li Huocheng.

The number of star points in a Companion Beast's eyes at hatching indicates its rank.

The rank of a Companion Beast largely determines its growth potential and, to a great extent, the cultivation limit of the Beastmaster. A Fifth Rank Companion Beast would make Li Tianming a top genius in Li Huocheng for three hundred years.

This little yellow chick has one star point, at least indicating it is a First Rank Companion Beast. As long as it has a rank, it means it has the potential to cultivate. Even if its ultimate height is only the Beast Vein Realm, or it can't even break through to the Fifth Level of the Beast Vein Realm, it still counts as a Beastmaster.

One star point, though disappointing, how many things in life can be as beautiful as one imagines?

Wait...

As Li Tianming stared at the star point, he didn't expect it to disintegrate before his eyes, either an illusion or for some other reason. The star point expanded, and at first, it seemed to be a combination of several star points. But the star point kept expanding!

Several, dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands!

In the end, the star point in Li Tianming's eyes turned into a vast star field!

In this star field, trillions of stars were burning, so distant yet their light combined, piercing through to Li Tianming's eyes.

This is not a star point; this is a star field!

Boom!

"What's happening?" He felt his brain explode, and everything before his eyes disappeared. He felt as if he had come to this distant star field!

Suddenly, he felt his scalp tingle.

When he turned around in this endless void, he saw countless stars, each a massive fireball spewing flames.

In the next instant, he heard a deafening bird cry.

He saw!

At the end of the star field, a burning flame was approaching. The flame spread its enormous wings, blocking the sky and the sun. As it approached, Li Tianming realized it was as large as the star field itself!

The countless streams of fire surrounding it were each composed of trillions of stars.

This was an eternal bird!

Wherever it went, countless burning stars gathered into streams of fire, which it swallowed with a single gulp, like slurping noodles. Trillions of flame stars entered its belly.

Such a shocking scene, like a dream, defying imagination.

He followed the perspective of the eternal bird, seeing it devouring its way, perhaps each flaming super star was the sun above the heads of countless beings.

Until one day.

A black hand appeared in the universe, and at the moment it appeared, the giant beast finally feared, screaming and panicking, fleeing in all directions, unimaginably terrified by a more fearsome existence!

Even as it fled, it burned itself, shrinking.

Each time the black hand struck it, countless sparks flew, each spark eventually turning into a star.

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

This was the voice of the black hand.

The voice was earth-shattering, shaking the universe, and the endless star field fell into eternal fear.

He felt the eternal bird's fear, a fear like a poison spreading from its body to his.

In the last moment, the bird fell in the star river, feeling as if it were about to die. Suddenly, it seemed to see itself.

"What are you?" Li Tianming's voice was hoarse.

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

Time seemed to freeze.

"I am the 'Eternal Hell Phoenix'!"

Li Tianming suddenly felt a sharp pain in his face. The scene before his eyes changed, and in a flash, he was back in his room.

Damn.

He saw the little yellow chick had climbed onto his shoulder and was pecking his face.

"You, the Eternal Hell Phoenix?" Li Tianming's heart slowly calmed down. He lifted the little yellow chick by its wing to his face, and the star point in its eyes was still there, but it no longer turned into a star field.

"Exactly, the epitome of cool." The little yellow chick struggled and said irritably.

"What is the Eternal Hell Phoenix?" Li Tianming asked.

"One of the ancient chaos giants!"

"Then what?"

"I don't know."

"What do you know?"

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

Damn...

He was scolded by a chicken.

He knew deep down that this chicken was not simple, and neither were these nine eggs.

The scene just now was too cool, the eternal bird that devoured the sun, the black hand that blocked the sky, the endless burning stars...

"Boy, you're too weak. You need to learn to become strong." As he was lost in thought, the little yellow chick scrutinized him for a long time and came to a conclusion.

"Please, Eternal Hell Phoenix, how can I become strong?" Li Tianming asked.

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

"Then what?"

"Money, power, hens, everything you want." The little yellow chick laughed, probably imagining something wonderful, and drool dripped down.

"I'll take the money and power, but the hens, you can enjoy them yourself..."

After Jinyu's death, Li Tianming lost all his Beast Essence, and his opened beast veins were all abandoned. Without a Companion Beast, his career as a Beastmaster was over.

But this 'Eternal Hell Phoenix,' whether it was a real ancient chaos giant or not, could at least allow Li Tianming to cultivate again and rejoin the ranks of Beastmasters.

He didn't know why the eternal bird that could devour the sun had turned into this little yellow chick, perhaps due to the 'black hand.'

But he knew that although the little yellow chick was irritable and lewd, its desire for power was the same as his.

As for how much it knew about ancient chaos giants, Li Tianming didn't know. After all, he had never heard of ancient chaos giants, which sounded terrifying...

When he was betrayed by Mu Qingqing and Lin Xiaoting, he and Jinyu had connected all eighteen beast veins, reaching the Ninth Level of the Beast Vein Realm, and then broke through to the 'Spirit Source Realm.'

"The most urgent task is to restore my cultivation, but since I've changed Companion Beasts, the beast veins must be reconnected, starting from scratch, which will definitely take a long time. Moreover, the potential of this little yellow chick is uncertain. If it's just a First Rank Companion Beast, I might only cultivate to the Fifth Level of the Beast Vein Realm in my lifetime."

"Stop dilly-dallying, let's get started!" The little yellow chick jumped onto his head and built a nest in his messy hair.

Don't think it was casual; its position was precisely on Li Tianming's Baihui acupoint, one of the channels for connecting beast veins.

"Let's go!"

The first step in the Beast Vein Realm is to perceive the positions of one's own and the Companion Beast's beast veins.

When it was on his head, Li Tianming closed his eyes and felt for its beast