Beastmaster of the Ages

”You’re called Lin Feng?” said the deep, cold voice of the Third Branch Master. Every single word felt like a hammer on Tianming’s head.

”Yes!” Tianming nodded.

”You’ve just experienced the ancestral worship ceremony. Do you have any thoughts about it?”

”The ancestors have rendered impeccable service to the clan, expanding our lands and influence and leaving impressive legacies to those that came after. Nobody is more deserving of worship,” Tianming said.

”Then did you feel any shame? Do you feel that your very existence, your flesh and blood, even while prostrated before the ancestors, is a taint on their honor?!” The words struck Tianming’s ears like thunderous booms.

”If a wrong has been rendered, I’ll accept the consequences!” Tianming said after a moment of thought. He wasn’t affected by the immense pressure at all.

”Hahahaha!” Some people couldn’t hold back their laughter any more, and eventually, it spread to everyone. Nobody there refrained from laughing at hearing those words.

”What an ignorant fool! His skin’s thicker than Ebonia’s stormy clouds!”

”That’s not shamelessness, it’s pure foolishness! Not only has he inherited Lin Mu’s folly, he’s even surpassed him in that regard!”

”This is a descendant of the Second Branch! What a joke! Their line should just die off!”

As people began to chatter, a loud voice snapped, ”Shut up!”

”What shut up? How dare you folks from the Second Branch still dare to speak?! Don’t keep putting it all on Lin Mu—he was one of yours! He was the descendant of your people! He was your figurehead! You’re all just as bad as he was!”

The entire crowd at Myriadsword Mausoleum exploded into arguments over a single accusation.

”Silence, all of you! We’re at the Myriadsword Mausoleum!” yelled the elders and branch masters.

However, some still dared to sneak in a few words at Tianming. ”You want to accept the consequences? Fine! Go to the Infinitum Rex Mundi and reclaim our Ancestral Swordheart!”

”Hahaha!”

The mockery turned into a streak of insults once more.

”Enough nonsense,” said the violet-clad Seventh Branch Mistress. She turned to Feiling, Xiaoxiao, and Moran and her smirk turned into a sneer. With a most disdainful voice, she said, ”Like your father, you disregard the teachings of the ancestors and mingle with these dirty and disgusting xenoraces, and three of them at once, too. Seeing that you’re so deeply involved that they even came with you, your wish to stay together shall be granted. They’ll suffer the same fate as you and kneel here until they reach the end of their lives.”

Tianming wasn’t surprised that she would say that. However, she had called them disgusting and dirty. Was she blind or something? When he saw the Seventh Branch Mistress just now, he didn’t think she looked that good, either.

The Seventh Branch Mistress continued, ”Have the four of their bodies inscribed with a petrification formation. Their bodies shall be made to remain kneeling with the formation, unable to say a single word. They’ll be living statues that our future generations can collectively spit on!”

”Branch Mistress, let me do it!” someone immediately volunteered.

”They deserve it!”

”The son pays for the sins of the father! That’s the rightful way of the heavens!”

”Bind them quickly! I’ll spit on them until they drown!”

Tianming had initially thought that if Lin Muyang really had committed some great sin in his eighth incarnation, he wouldn’t mind making up for it. However, he had just learned that these people only wanted to vent on him. They would torture him to sate their vengeful little hearts. A petrification formation was something that was far worse than death, and they would even wish it on the other three girls that were clearly innocent. Is that what true justice looked like, or was this going overboard?

Nobody spoke out for Tianming. He couldn’t take it any longer and raised his head, pushing against the immense pressure, but all he managed was to see the dress of the mistress.

”Everyone, my father’s sins have nothing to do with them! Is involving innocent bystanders in the cruelest act of torture something appropriate before the honorable ancestors of the Swordgod Lin Clan? I think that should be far beneath you people.”

They didn’t think Tianming would still be able to talk back. His words silenced the entire crowd once more. Their mocking expressions turned even colder.

”Who said they were blameless? They’ve committed the sin of mingling with filth like you. That’s the lowest of sins! They deserve what they’re getting,” the mistress sneered.

However, the master of the Third Branch didn’t involve Feiling and the rest. The mistress clearly had a bias against the girls, considering how unnecessarily disparaging she was being. One look at the girls and she knew that they were no mere mortal women, which made her loathe them even more.

”What’re you all standing still for? Do you need me to do this myself?!” she barked.

”I’ll do it!” a minion said.

”Start with this one. Raise Lin Feng’s head and let him have a good look!” The mistress pointed at Feiling. The fact that she had singled out the most beautiful of them all only revealed how twisted her own psyche was. She was completely acting out of personal bias by using punishing the son of Lin Mu as an excuse.

The master of the Third Branch cleared his throat, but the mistress merely ignored it and he gave up on pressing the matter. That intentional choice of neglect completely infuriated Tianming, but there was nothing he could do about it when the other side held overwhelming power over him. Such was the nature of life in Ebonia, where the strong made the rules!

Feiling was dragged to Tianming’s side. She cast a pained look at him before turning to glare at the mistress. There wasn’t a single trace of fear in her eyes as they slowly turned ice-blue. ”If it weren’t for the destruction of the Well of Reincarnation and losing all my power, I would definitely crush you today.”

Tianming thought he had misheard.

”What did you say?!” The mistress of the Seventh Branch cast her a look of disbelief.

”I’ll crush you one day for what you’re doing to him,” Feiling said, her eyes turning bluer and bluer.

Laughter immediately broke out once more. The mistress didn’t even bother replying and turned to the minion, who nodded and said, ”Noted, we’ll start with her!”

”Seventh Branch Mistress!” Tianming bit his lips so hard they cracked apart. Never had he yearned for power as much as he did at that moment. But just like the time he had first gone to the sun, he was only more powerful than the juniors around his age range. Though the mistress looked young, she was easily a few millennia old.

”Do it!” she ordered. The hundred thousand elites of the Swordgod Lin Clan watched as those of the Seventh Branch started placing the petrification formation on Feiling.

”Who dares touch my grandson?!” came a booming voice from the entrance of the mausoleum. The voice was so loud that it shook the entire place, startling the crowd of a hundred thousand into parting and opening a path. The rage-filled voice had come from an old woman, cold and fierce like no other. Tianming’s ears almost burst, but hearing ’grandson’ made his entire body shudder. They had finally found him!

Why wouldn’t I acknowledge such a convenient grandmother? Using all he had, Tianming cried, ”Grandma, I’m here!” A real man knows when to be stubborn and when and who to accept help from. I’ll hedge my bets on her!

From the booming roar, Tianming could tell that this grandmother of his was definitely quite a fierce character. Not to mention, the fact that others still called him a descendant of the Second Branch meant that his grandparents were still alive, and that they still had some status. As he expected, the looks on many around him began changing.

”It’s Granny Dongshen!”

”Even Lin Lao’er has come! Well, he was dragged here, but still....” [1]

”What Lin Lao’er? It’s Second Patriarch Lin to you!”

It started getting messier and louder around them. After Tianming called out to her, a sudden storm of blood came flying toward him. He looked up and saw a gigantic skull in a mist of blood hovering toward him like a devourer of all things.

”Second Branch Master, Dongshen Yue! How dare you....” The mistress of the Seventh Branch immediately tried to resist, but the attack had come far too fiercely. The bloody skull came down with the weight of the gloomy hells below, instilling horror in everyone.

”Lin Wuyi, fuck off from this place and die in a ditch!” the skull roared from within the fog of blood as the skull-topped staff smashed toward Lin Wuyi, the mistress of the Seventh Branch.

1. Lao’er is a nickname. Literally translated, it means ’old second’ ☜