Beastmaster of the Ages

After returning to Brokensword Peak, Tianming’s life in the Infinitum Swordsea formally began. With the two halls cleaned up, he sat down with Feiling and his other two ’wives’.

”Ladies, come let Granny give you a good look! With me around, the little rascals from the Third, Fifth, and Seventh Branches will puke blood when they see you!” Dongshen Yue got straight to work after coming back.

”What about me, Granny?” Tianming asked.

”Sit over there and relax.” Dongshen Yue didn’t even bother to give him a look and left with the girls.

”The hell?” He didn’t know how to react to the cruel nature of reality.

”Big Brother, go loiter about like a good hundred-year-old man!” Feiling said, smiling mischievously. All three of them were delighting in his woes. Even so, Tianming was quite happy that they were getting proper attention and care.

”Two things happened today: my appearance and my wives taking the top spots of the daisy ranking. No doubt, it’s spread to all members of the clan and perhaps even Ebonia as a whole.” His fame was surely spreading. ”I can’t just rely on them. I have to do something for myself too.” He had no choice but to pretend to be over a hundred years old. If it weren’t for that, he would have also joined the fight earlier. For now, he could only enter the fourth level of the Caeli Vault while Feiling could enter the sixth level, despite not really needing caeli herself. It was a waste! ”If I’d taken first place in the daisy ranking, that would’ve let me enter the seventh level.... It’s a shame there aren’t many chances to raise my disciple grade.”

When they returned to the hall, Ying Huo and the rest spread out and started playing around as if it had always been their home. Tianming calmed down and began reading, committing the Code of Infinitum and Lin Clan House Rules to memory. ”Damn, there’s so many rules! How strict!”

The Code of Infinitum applied to the entire Infinitum Mundus and was enforced by the Infinitum Bodhimanda. The consequences of violating it were severe. For instance, attacking anyone in Ebonia with divine astralships would see one sent to the Infinitum Prison for three years or more, depending on the severity. Centuries of incarceration wasn’t out of the question, which would no doubt be terrifying for any young person. Conditions within the prison were far from ideal, so being stuck in there long meant ruining their youths and future potential.

Comparatively speaking, the Lin Clan House Rules were even more granular and detailed. The house rules were enforced by the Hall of Discipline, which was currently headed by Fifth Branch Master Lin Jie. Tianming, knowing well that he should avoid messing with Lin Jie, made sure to properly study them.

”Are these rules trying to make the clan’s disciples into just, upstanding people?” On paper, the rules were reasonable and aspired for the best. Tianming read them over a few times and found no fault with them. They set a high standard of behavior for all disciples to follow, with an emphasis on justice and fairness. The only thing he was worried about was that the one that enforced the rules was the nemesis of his grandfather.

”I’d better remember them well to avoid causing trouble for the old folks.” His reputation was already poor to begin with, and breaking the rules would only worsen his situation. He carefully studied the two sets of rules through the night.

......

The next morning, Feiling called out to him from outside. She entered and pulled on his arm as she said, ”Big Brother, I’m going to the Caeli Vault.”

”Are you starting to cultivate right away?” Tianming asked, stroking her head.

”Granny’s been urging me a lot. I can’t help it. The old lady’s really serious about it and talked to us for the whole night.”

”Old lady? You’re the old lady. You’re way older than my grandma,” Tianming said with a laugh.

”Stupid! I’ll pinch you to death!” She glared at him and gave his thighs a hard pinch, which made him yelp.

”Wife of mine, lighter! Lighter! Agh!”

”Do you yield?”

”I yield.... You’re a grade-four genius and I’m merely grade-one trash. Have mercy....”

”You and your nonsense....” She pouted and got close to his ear, whispering, ”Granny said we’ll be spending all our time cultivating with her. If we want to leave, we even have to apply for it.... I won’t be able to spend too much time with you that way.” If there was one thing she wanted, it was to stick to him like glue all day long.

”It’s fine. Just sneakily tell her that you want to take a leave to make her a great grandson. There’s no way she won’t accept.”

”Why is your mind always in the gutter?!” Feiling suddenly shot him a mysterious smile. ”From now on, you should go to work and earn money to feed us like a good boy!”

Tianming had a bad feeling about things.

”Don’t dally and come out,” Dongshen Yue called out.

Tianming widened his eyes as he left with Feiling. He saw Xiaoxiao and Moran standing beside Dongshen Yue like followers. ”Grandma, I haven’t seen you for an entire day and have been missing you. Where’s Grandpa?”

”Cricket fighting.”

Tianming was quite surprised that his grandfather had immediately returned to his hobby after they’d just returned.

”Come here, my good grandson.” She waved for him and he did as he was told. ”I’ll bring the girls to the Caeli Vault. Let them familiarize themselves with the caeli of our Swordgod Lin Clan. After that, I’ll get them to claim eleven myriadstar manna for you.”

”Awesome!” Getting eleven pieces of manna of that caliber felt good, to say the least. Ying Huo and the rest were already howling with excitement.

”Granny’s more or less grasped the girls’ situations. Little Fish has a blood pact lifebound beast, which limits the growth of her level. Fortunately, my Grandnorth Dongshen Clan has a retraining technique. I’ll see if it can allow her to undo her blood pact and rebuild her cultivation base. Even though she’ll have to start from the Ascension stage again, it’ll be better for her future. I’ll work on it in a few days, so make sure to not let her take part in fights.”

”Is that actually possible?” Tianming said, surprised. He knew Moran’s weakness and had thought there would be no way to undo it. He didn’t think that there was a method to undo blood pacts on Ebonia.

”It isn’t a major problem, and that whale will be able to survive it. However, its mental capacity will weaken and it’ll return to being a wildbeast,” Dongshen Yue said.

”I see.” As long as Moran could accept it, it wouldn’t be a problem.

”Grandma, since I have nothing else to do, I want to go to the Caeli Vault and check it out too!” Even though he could only go to the fourth level, surely it was better than the caeli Tianming had access to, right?

”You? You have something to do.”

”Huh?”

”Look at your disciple card.”

”What?” Tianming hadn’t paid much attention to it, but the reminder caused him to notice some changes. There was another row of words under his merit points. ”Position: Brightflame Zone, Grade-nine Department Supervisor. What does that mean?”