My divine beast is a foodie.

Lin Fan stood on the Astrological Observatory of the Imperial Beastmaster Association and looked at the vast star map projected on the dome. Twelve golden star tracks stretched interlaced in the void, seven stars suspended on each track, forming a complete planetary realm system. Chen Tianming's finger gently tapped somewhere on the star map, and the star track belonging to the Mercury Realm suddenly bloomed with dazzling blue light.

"This is your current realm - three stars of the Mercury Realm." Chen Tianming's fingertip slid along the star track, "Every time you break through a star, your star chain will have one more shackle."

Lin Fan looked down at his right wrist, three azure blue chain patterns faintly emerged under his skin. When he attempted to mobilize his star power, the chains suddenly tightened and a needle-like stabbing pain came from deep within his bone marrow.

"The so-called realm advancement is essentially the process of unlocking the star chains." Chen Tianming zoomed in on the star map, and four chain silhouettes emerged at the end of the Mercury Realm, "When your star power breaks through the fourth yoke, you will be able to open a new contract position."

"New contract location?" Lin Fan suddenly remembered the Dual Spirit Beast Sentinel that he had seen in the marketplace.

"Not bad." Chen Tianming traced two intersecting bands of light on the star map, "The Mercury realm can only carry single spirit beast contracts, but after reaching the Gold Star realm..." The star map suddenly split into a double helix structure, "Your Star Chain will evolve a second contract position, and can even resonate deeply with spirit beasts."

The alloy floor of the observatory suddenly shook as Taotie was nibbling on the Association's special energy cubes in the corner. Its size had shrunk by two-thirds from its usual size, and even the horns on its forehead had become dull.

"Speaking of spirit beasts," Chen Tianming looked at Taotie with a deep gaze, "don't you find it strange? A Mythic Level Spirit Beast should have planetary level combat power, but it even struggled to fight a Dark Shadow Wolf of the Earth Realm."

Lin Fan's fingertips unconsciously rubbed the contract ring. Through this new equipment, he could clearly sense the twelve pitch-black chains within Taotie's body - those chains were a hundred times more complex than his own star chains, and each of them was threaded with star-like shining sealing runes.

"Because its power is sealed by an ancient prohibition." Su Yuqing's voice came from the direction of the elevator. She was holding a thick ancient book, the tips of her hair still covered in dust from the underground book vault." I found this in the Secret Book of the Flood-"

The yellowed parchment scroll unfolded under the star map, and a holographic projection emerged: nine star-robed Ancient Beastmasters hovered in the air, and twelve starlight chains extended from their hands, binding the sky-covering Taotie to death on the earth.

"Starfall Soul Locking Formation." Su Yuqing tapped on a certain rune, and the projection immediately disintegrated into tens of thousands of flowing lines of ancient text, "This is the ultimate sealing technique that specifically targets Mythic-level spirit beasts, and it requires nine Hades Star Realm powerhouses to join forces to execute it. Each chain corresponds to one of Taotie's origin powers..."

Lin Fan suddenly understood why the Taotie was constantly feeding. In the contract perception, those energy cubes had just entered the Taotie's body before they were crazily torn and devoured by the pitch-black chains - it wasn't enjoying the food, but rather, it was impacting the seals in the most primitive way.

"That's why it keeps asking for energy." Chen Tianming reached out and touched the chains in the projection, and the runes immediately transformed into blood-red warning signs, "But forcibly impacting the seal is fatal, these chains are connected to its soul core, and the slightest mishap will..."

"It will scatter its soul?" Lin Fan's voice trembled a little. He finally understood why Taotie would suddenly weaken after every battle, those seemingly lazy feedings were clearly struggles on the edge of life and death.

The observatory suddenly sounded a piercing alarm. The star map automatically switched to the city's southeastern district, where twenty-three scarlet points of light were moving at high speeds-all of them berserk spirit beasts that had reached the Gold Star realm.

"Urgent mission." Chen Tianming's Star Chain Bracelet projected a three-dimensional map, "High concentrations of Ember Energy have been detected in these spirit beasts, suspected to be related to the black crystals from before."

Su Yuqing had already summoned Phoebe, "My 'Eye of Starlight' can track the flow of eclipsing energy."

"Then let's start the special training." Chen Tianming suddenly pressed Lin Fan's shoulder, "It's time to teach you the real Imperial Beast Technique."

The gravity of the training ground was adjusted to three times. Lin Fan was drenched in a light blue astral fluid, which was a speedy training device developed by the association. Su Yuqing's voice came through the communicator, "Remember, the essence of the Imperial Beast Technique is Star Chain Resonance."

The first shackle began to glow. Lin Fan injected his star power into the contract ring as instructed, and the horns on the Taotie's forehead suddenly lit up with dark red lines. When their star power frequencies reached synchronization, the void suddenly cracked open with spiderweb-like lines.

"Star Gap Shuttle!" Lin Fan instinctively shouted out the name of the move. By the time he reacted, he had already appeared at the other end of the training ground, and the spatial rift behind him was slowly closing.

"Not bad." Chen Tianming nodded his head in the monitoring room, "This is Taotie's spatial origin skill, it seems that the first seal has been loosened."

For the next three hours, Lin Fan practiced over and over again in the astral force liquid. When the second shackle was unlocked, he learned "Swallowing Heaven and Devouring Earth" - converting the Taotie's devouring power into a protective shield through the star chain; when the third shackle trembled, he inadvertently triggered the "Nine Ghosts Gaze", which distorted even the light wherever he looked.

However, every time he used the skill, the sealing chains in Taotie's body would riot. When Lin Fan fell out of the spatial rift for the third time, he found that the Taotie was frantically gnawing on the energy blocks, and light golden blood was seeping out from the cracks in his scales.

"Enough." Lin Fan forcefully cut off the astral connection, "If you keep practicing you'll..."

"Mortal, who gave you permission to make unauthorized decisions?" Taotie's pupils shrunk into vertical lines, and the pressure of the ancient ferocious beast caused the gravity device to emit a mournful sound, "This seat does not need mercy!"

Lin Fan's star chain suddenly trembled violently. In the depths of the contract, he felt overwhelming anger and resentment - it was the humiliation of being sealed for ten thousand years, the grief of witnessing the fall of his kind, and the despair of having to count energy even to eat.

"Then teach me the method to break the seal." Lin Fan wiped away the blood stains at the corner of his mouth, "A true beast master should fight side by side with spirit beasts, shouldn't he?"

Taotie's vertical pupils dilated slightly. When Lin Fan activated the astral connection again, the veins of those pitch-black chains were clearly visible - each seal corresponded to a certain star orientation, and their astral chains were resonating at a certain key node.

The city alarm sounded again. Su Yuqing's projection appeared over the training grounds, "Detected Ember Energy Heads underneath the sea-crossing bridge!"

When the crowd arrived at the scene, the seawater had already turned a viscous black color. Seven Abyssal Demon Chapters at the peak of the Gold Star Realm were besieging the sea-crossing bridge, their tentacles embedded with black crystals. The most disturbing thing was the whirlpool in the center of the sea - there was an Ember Energy Core with a diameter of more than a hundred meters suspended there, and it was constantly creating berserk spirit beasts.

"This is... Planetary-level Eclipsing Energy Reaction!" Su Yuqing's monitor flashed frantically, "It must be immediately..."

Her words were interrupted by a terrifying roar. The Taotie's size skyrocketed to a height of a hundred meters, twelve sealing chains materializing on its body surface, triggering spatial tremors with every struggle. Lin Fan's Star Chain synchronized to emit azure light, and the three chains snapped in response.

"Star Chain Liberation-Triple!" Lin Fan's pupils were tinted with a dark golden color, "Nine Specter Demonic Flame - Change!"

It was no longer a mere black flame, but a torrent of dark gold interspersed with starlight. The seven-headed Demon Chapter instantly vaporized, and even the seawater was vaporized to create a vacuum channel. However, twelve chains suddenly shot out from the core of the Eclipsing Energy - exactly the same as the seal inside Taotie's body.

"So it was you..." Taotie's voice resounded through the heavens and earth, "Old Starfall Thief!"

When the chains were about to hit, Lin Fan's fourth shackle suddenly collapsed. A new contract position lit up on the star chain, and he instinctively grabbed Su Yuqing's hand, "Star chain resonance!"

Phi Phi transformed into streams of light and merged into Lin Fan's Star Chain, the devouring power of Taotie merging perfectly with the Star Fox's star power. With the double contract added, the beam of light that was strong enough to penetrate a planet was twisted into a star ring and slammed backhandedly back into the core of the eclipsing energy.

A supernova-like glow blossomed between the sea and sky. When the light dissipated, countless fragments of sealing chains floated on the surface of the sea, while Taotie's fourth seal was slowly dissolving.

"Well done." The Taotie shrunk back to its everyday size and picked up a fragment of chain to chew on, "But next time, remember to leave some snacks for this seat."

Lin Fan sat paralyzed on the ruins, looking at the new contract seal on his wrist and smiling bitterly. In the corner he hadn't noticed, in the wreckage of the Eclipsing Energy Core, a ring engraved with the Starfall Rune was faintly glowing.