Legends speak of times when the Heavenly Dao dimmed and the cycle of reincarnation reached its limit. When that time comes, in countless realms, ten Primordial Chaos Beasts will be born, each possessing bodies surpassing those of gods. Wherever they go, the heavens will collapse, the earth will shatter, space-time will invert, and even the stars themselves will perish.
These monsters of Primordial Chaos will vanish along with the destruction of the old world. Only then will the heavens and earth regain form once more. Natural order will return, life will flourish, and a new world will be born.
...
Dark clouds gathered over the Flameyellow Scions Institute as a storm raged outside. Institute disciple Li Tianming braved the downpour on the back of his lifebound beast, a Four-Winged Goldroc, before landing in front of a house.
The door creaked open, revealing a beautiful girl in a white dress. Holding her skirt with one hand and an umbrella with the other, she stepped over the threshold with a warm smile and sheltered Li Tianming from the rain.
They hurried inside, after which Li Tianming took out a jade hairpin and placed it in her hand. The girl's eyes lit up.
"Happy anniversary, Qingqing!"
"What a beautiful thing! Help me put it on."
They stood in front of the mirror as Li Tianming inserted the hairpin into her hair and pinched her cheek. He failed to notice the flicker of irritation in her eyes. Despite the roaring storm outside, a pleasant atmosphere filled the house.
"Tianming, today I want to become a woman." Mu Qingqing lowered her head, her face charmingly flushed.
"What do you mean?"
"I want to give myself to you."
She began to remove her dress, revealing tender skin that intoxicated the senses.
Yet Li Tianming felt only confusion. Mu Qingqing had always been haughty in nature, and though they were dating, intimacy had been something unacceptable to her.
In truth, she had always said that cultivation was her priority, so they had never made their relationship public. Why, then, was she suddenly taking the initiative today?
Li Tianming stepped back two paces.
"Are you afraid?" she asked.
"Mu Qingqing, something's off with you today. This isn't you."
They had met on the way to the Institute. Li Tianming had saved her life, and afterward they began dating.
"So what should I do? Remain a small, insignificant girl and place all the responsibility on you?" Mu Qingqing's expression suddenly turned into a cold smirk as she continued removing her clothes.
A clap of thunder rang out. In an instant, the roof was torn off. Lightning pierced the sky, and at that very moment, a violet three-eyed eagle descended from above. Atop it sat a young man whose eyes seemed to flash with lightning. Astride the violet three-eyed eagle against the backdrop of the storm, he appeared as though born from the lightning itself!
"Li Tianming, how dare you drug Mu Qingqing and defile her!" The youth's voice, filled with rage, boomed like thunder.
In response, the Three-Eyed Eagle suddenly unleashed a bolt of lightning that struck Li Tianming! The lifebound beast's source ability paralyzed him; electricity coursed through his body, and he crashed to the floor with a heavy thud.
"Lin Xiaoting?!" Li Tianming was stunned. He recognized the man.
After all, Lin Xiaoting was a renowned figure in the Institute. His talent was astonishing, and not only was he one of the Heaven's Division disciples, he had even been born into Lightning Manor. Among the most elite descendants of the powerful families in the Vermilion Bird Kingdom, he stood at the very peak!
Li Tianming and Mu Qingqing hailed from small towns in the Vermilion Bird Kingdom. They had struggled long and hard for the right to study at the Flameyellow Scions Institute.
Lin Xiaoting should have belonged to an entirely different world; they should never have crossed paths with him.
"Brother Ting, save me!" the girl cried out in panic.
When Li Tianming raised his head, Mu Qingqing—with disheveled clothes—was already clinging to Lin Xiaoting, glaring at Li Tianming with hatred as she wept.
"Li Tianming, on my authority as a Heaven's Division disciple, I have every right to pass judgment on your beastly conduct. Your Four-Winged Goldroc is hereby sentenced to death!" Lin Xiaoting declared solemnly.
The death of a lifebound beast was tantamount to the loss of a beastmaster's cultivation. Lin Xiaoting intended to sever Li Tianming's path of growth and force him into regression until he became a cripple incapable of further development!
Electric arcs swirled around the violet eagle, and in the next instant, with a cruel screech, it lunged at Li Tianming's golden eagle standing nearby.
With razor-sharp talons, it pinned the bird to the ground and began tearing out its feathers. Each plucked feather was accompanied by a small spray of blood and pitiful cries that pierced Li Tianming's heart.
"Midas!" That was the name of his lifebound beast.
And finally, Li Tianming understood what these two ruthless people were after. They intended to kill Midas and seize his saintbeast war-soul!
Ten days earlier, Li Tianming had obtained a precious feather containing the war-soul of a mythical saintbeast in a secret zone. It was so valuable that it could be worth an entire city.
Presumably, that war-soul held the potential to become a mighty power that stood above all others! Midas had already fused that feather Li Tianming found into his own plumage.
Only Mu Qingqing was with me at the time. She must have realized I had obtained something valuable. So… she betrayed me, using information about my saintbeast to gain the patronage of a great clan's heir?
Paralyzed by the electricity crackling around him, Li Tianming could only watch as Midas, covered in blood, lost one feather after another.
The desire and pain in the golden eagle's eyes as it cried out to Li Tianming cut unbearably into his heart. What could be more painful than watching your brother suffer and face death while being powerless to help him?
"Lin Xiaoting, Mu Qingqing!" Li Tianming's blood boiled.
"Tianming, neither your strength nor your status in life can compare to mine or the value of this War-Soul." Mu Qingqing, drenched from the rain, walked up to Li Tianming and looked down at him.
"So what? Now you think you're a sparrow that soared high and turned into a phoenix?"
"And what can I become? Brother Ting has already promised to help me become a disciple of the Heaven's Division."
She looked at Li Tianming without emotion:
"After arriving at the Institute, I realized we were simply insignificant. From this moment on, you will remain one of the countless ordinary people, while I will ascend to the peak. Just consider this the sacrifice you made for your love for me, alright?"
"Sooner or later, you will pay for everything, Mu Qingqing," Li Tianming replied furiously.
"Unfortunately, that won't have anything to do with you. Go back where you came from—to your hometown, Flamehaven. I'll spare your life as repayment for saving mine. From today onward, we owe each other nothing." The girl crouched down and straightened his disheveled hair.
"I sincerely thank you for this gift… I've been bullied and looked down on since childhood. Starting today, I want those who once looked down on me to kneel when they speak to me."
Then Mu Qingqing and Lin Xiaoting left, taking the War-Soul with them.
"In this world, there is something called karma. You may think you've risen high in society. But one day you will reap what you've sown—with interest." Li Tianming spat bitterly, his bloodshot, crazed eyes staring after their retreating figures.
That night, thunder roared and the storm raged. The humiliated youth, clutching the corpse of his lifeless beast—no, his brother—left the city and vanished into the darkness.
He knew… there would come a day when he returned to collect payment for this blood debt!
"Three years from now, I will return!"
...
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
"Midas!" Once again, Li Tianming awoke from the nightmare.
He regularly dreamed of his brother who once fought side by side with him, and each time the thought came, Li Tianming's eyes turned red.
He spent those three years in Flamehaven, living a hard life that served as a constant reminder of revenge, while Mu Qingqing had truly risen to a high position, becoming a core disciple of the Heaven's Division in the Flameyellow Scions Institute.
On the other hand, Li Tianming had become a laughingstock in the Institute for his supposed failed attempt to "drug" a girl. Even after returning to Flamehaven, people with no sense of restraint pointed at his "deranged" behavior and cursed him.
To top it all off, it was even said that the war-soul of his saintbeast had been obtained by Lin Xiaoting through his own power.
"Public opinion is controlled by influential families. No one will believe a single word I say. Nothing can be more cruel than the ways of the world."
It was already deep into the night, but Li Tianming rose from bed and walked to the window, gazing in the direction of the Flameyellow Scions Institute.
Suddenly…
Activity stirred in the place within his body where his lifebound beast resided.
"He's finally going to hatch after three years?" Li Tianming's eyes widened.
That place in his body was called the lifebound space! It appeared in every person on the Flameyellow Continent at the moment of birth. After seven days, a lifebound beast would be conceived within it.
Almost every person on the continent had their own lifebound beast. However, in Li Tianming's lifebound space lay a tremendous secret that no one knew!
Besides Midas, who had been born earlier, there were still ten mysterious eggs in his lifebound space. And today, two of them were shaking, while cracks had already appeared on one.
Li Tianming took the cracked egg out of his lifebound space, placed it on the bed, and calmly waited for something to hatch. The cracks spread further across the egg, growing larger and larger, and a suffocating aura began pressing down on Li Tianming. The egg finally shattered into pieces.