Beastmaster of the Ages

”Lin Feng, I indeed underestimated you. I didn’t think that your actual level would be closer to an eighth-level stellaminor. Who would’ve thought that the clan registry would be mistaken.... But you’re already a hundred, after all, so it’s only normal for you to be at that level. So, you aren’t complete trash after all! However, what happens today still won’t change. Only a truly talented person can become the heir of my branch.” Lin Xiuzhu pointed his sword at Tianming when he was done pontificating.

Ying Huo and Meow Meow, one perched on Tianming’s head and the other standing on his shoulder, glared at Lin Xiuzhu. The rest were helping out the girls. Naturally, Tianming also had his divine wonder with him.

”Are you done flapping your mouth?” he calmly said as the crowd watched.

”Hmph.” Lin Xiuzhu didn’t waste any more words. He charged toward the vile beast that was Tianming like a warrior that carried the hopes of the second branch. Tianming didn’t have all his lifebound beasts by his side, and Feiling wasn’t there, either. Even this clash was unfair to some degree, but that didn’t deter Lin Xiuzhu from attacking with all of his lifebound beasts.

”They’re finally going to clash!”

”I want to see how Lin Feng can avoid losing without that monstrous wondermancer helping him!”

”What kind of trick did he use to stop his minor stellar chart from showing before? Is he really an eighth-level stellaminor?”

While that level would by no means qualify Tianming as a genius, considering his assumed age of a hundred, untalented trash wouldn’t have such a level of achievement, either. If anyone still looked down on him after this battle and believed that Lin Xiuzhu could easily deal with him like a small fry, their mental faculties would surely have some issues.

For some reason, this was the clash that really got the audience going.

”Lin Xiuzhu, defeat him! Prove that you deserve to be the heir and a future branch master!”

”This is a good chance! You won’t get this kind of stepping stone often!”

”Then again, Lin Feng is quite capable since he’s been able to last this long.”

The clash had finally begun after a long wait. ”It’s up to you guys now!” Tianming roared and let the power of the Flint Infernal Impulse surge within his sword. That and the strength of his Fiendsky Arm were things that Lin Xiuzhu didn’t possess. First, the prime wonder came crashing down! While Lin Xiuzhu’s sword looked incredibly thin, he still managed to send the wonder flying with an incredibly swift strike that made his sword look like it had transformed into a beam.

”You’re just a bamboo bug, nothing but an afternoon snack!” Ying Huo said as it charged in alongside Meow Meow. Despite the cat’s small size, its lightning abilities packed a real punch, shaking the entire Infinitum Bodhimanda. Its newest ability, Yinyang Boltwheel, turned into tens of millions of smaller electric wheels, all of them targeting Lin Xiuzhu alone.

”Break!” Lin Xiuzhu burst with green light as he unleashed a flurry of strikes that contained the power of his six swordbeasts’ ability, Lifeblood Voidzone. Countless bamboo shafts sprouted from the blade, covering the battlefield in a bamboo forest. They were all manifestations of abilities and Tianming found himself hard pressed to avoid them, ending up with wounds all over his body.

Within the Lifeblood Voidzone, countless bamboo swords flew around like dancing blades in the air. The constant barrage of strikes even managed to shatter Meow Meow’s electric wheels. However, a small number of the gear-like wheels managed to collide with Lin Xiuzhu and explode. Even with all that, he still looked rather dashing amidst the ability he had unleashed.

”He does have some skill, huh....” Tianming activated his Imperealm Sword Formation, allowing flint infernal sword ki to go wild and instantly neutralize the bamboo around him, which came as a surprise to Lin Xiuzhu.

”Oh? Are you looking down on this chicken?” Ying Huo’s Infernal Haze flashed around in the forest, appearing above Lin Xiuzhu.

”Foolish bird!” He smirked and sent thousands of strikes above, meeting Ying Huo’s flaming gaze for an instant. Right afterward, the power of order burned through his albi, causing him to yowl in pain. ”Aaaaaaagh!”

”Let me in on it, too!” Meow Meow’s genesis order was also quite terrifying, giving Lin Xiuzhu the double-cooking treatment as black and white lightning coursed through his skin.

”The power of order!” Lin Xiuzhu’s expression immediately changed. Though the order was quite weak and could only hamper a part of his combat prowess, the shock arising from its presence alone shattered his mental state. There wasn’t a single moment when he didn’t feel extreme pain. Though the battle was still taking place, he couldn’t raise his head before Ying Huo and Meow Meow; it was like he was ill. In addition to that, the two beasts kept raining abilities on him, forcing him to be unable to keep his six swordbeasts fused with his sword.

”Come out!”

Six bamboo swordkings emerged and turned into a flurry of swords that flew toward Ying Huo and Meow Meow! With the swordkings taking part of the pressure, the burden on Lin Xiuzhu lightened. However, he would no longer be able to maintain his sword’s fused form.

At that moment, Xian Xian’s roots and leaves, Yin Chen, and Lan Huang came assailing toward the swordbeasts, taking them on for Tianming with their respective orders! The mantises looked like they had been set aflame and the sight sent the crowd into yet another bout of stupefied silence.

The arrival of all of Tianming’s lifebound beasts made the audience think that things were evening out and becoming more fair. But seeing them completely dominate the six bamboo swordkings in the next instant made them feel rather uncomfortable.

Lan Huang went flying toward them like a boulder and Yin Chen turned into a silvery sea of stars. All of the bugs stuck close to the bamboo swordkings, completely dominating them and showing them who the king of all bugs truly was. The bamboo swordkings’ slashes did manage to leave cuts and holes on Lan Huang and Xian Xian, but their amazing constitution and vigor made it clear which side was going to win.

Additionally, Ying Huo had managed to extricate itself and continued burning Lin Xiuzhu, who was being driven insane. Not only was he unable to use his beasts in their swordbeast forms, it didn’t help for them to be out as their normal beast forms either! There was nothing he could do unless he took care of Tianming first. The orders of his lifebound beasts were scrambling the contents of the proud scion’s brain.

”Nobody’s ever possessed any order in the Stellaminoris stage!” That thought didn’t occur to just Lin Xiuzhu, but also the seniors as well. Tianming had shattered their worldview, getting them to question what was even real.

”Gaaaaaaaaah!” Lin Xiuzhu broke out of the Imperealm Sword Formation and locked on to Tianming. Ignoring the infernal order that still burned in him, he pointed his sword at his foe. ”You! Die!”

Green light burst forth from Bamboo Slayer, shooting toward Tianming before splitting into eighty thousand distinct sword beams that attempted to cage the white-haired ‘elder’ in before doing him in. It was a fullstella sword art, the Green Desolation Myriad Blades! The audience were in awe of the sheer power he displayed that went above what someone of his level should be capable of.

Tianming was instantly caged in. ”Want to see who’s better at the sword, eh?” That was the most laughable thing he had witnessed yet. Lin Xiuzhu actually thought that he was the weak link of the group, when he was actually the strongest one!

Tianming’s prime wonder only blocked half of the eighty thousand blades before shattering, a testament to the incredible prowess of the sword art. Yet right as Lin Xiuzhu thought he got Tianming for sure, he witnessed the heterochromic youth’s imperial descent, seemingly seeing the visages of two reges mundi behind him, one a celestial, one a fiend.

Tianming fell like a meteor, unleashing the Grandvoid Compendium, Delayed Capture and Xiaozhi Sword Art, Unistrike Singularity! The two ethereal sword strikes being executed by a single person created a sandwiching effect. Many, many more people seemed to have seen the two reges mundi returning to the world of the living to execute their respective sword strikes!

Delayed Capture was so fast that it looked like it was infinitely accelerating. Wherever the strike reached, the desolate green sword ki in its path was completely torn apart. It was such an artfully executed strike that it made Tianming look pure and refined.

However, the other strike, which was executed by his black arm, put the Unisword Goddess’s ferocious slaughterous art on full display! The compression of space sent Lin Xiuzhu’s own sword ki flying back toward him and its mere touch sent the Bamboo Slayer flying away, while the black sword pierced through Lin Xiuzhu’s chest and compressed every inch of his flesh! Then the flint infernal sword ki exploded, sending chunks of his flesh flying into the distance and instantly subsuming his entire person with blood-red sword ki, painting him entirely red.

”Gaaarrglglge....” His shriek of agony was stuck in his throat, unable to escape. People could see that Tianming could easily have killed Lin Xiuzhu with that strike, but he chose not to. He had returned to the clan to make amends, after all, and wouldn’t do something to give others a justification to resist him. Sometimes, completely defeating somebody without killing them would be even more impressive.

Tianming gripped Lin Xiuzhu by the throat. ”Still think you’re some big shot?” He gave him a loud, audible slap, caving Lin Xiuzhu’s handsome face in. ”You gonna keep this act up?!”

Down came another slap.

”No, I’ll stop! I’ll stop!” Lin Xiuzhu finally relented, uncontrollably sobbing. His bawling was all too audible, given the completely speechless crowd. Both he and his lifebound beasts had been utterly defeated, the fact worsened by the other disciples having been completely battered by Moran when the opportunity showed before she ran out of energy.

All ten of them had been thoroughly defeated, with Lin Xiuzhu suffering the worst of it at Tianming’s hands. And that utterly unbelievable sight had unfolded before tens of millions of witnesses, leaving them in abject horror. They all drew sharp breaths, sucking in the air they’d expelled when they had initially sighed in disdain.

Tianming looked around, seeing all the eyes focused on him. He had utterly subverted their expectations. Tossing Lin Xiuzhu away, he clapped his hands and laughed, ”Prancing around like a big shot when you aren’t even capable.... What a dumb fool.”

This time around, everyone had forgotten to breathe and were unable to talk back to him. Tianming didn’t see the expressions on his grandparents’ faces, nor did he look at the stiff faces of the rest of the second branch. Instead, he turned to Lin Bei’s line and chuckled. Turning back to Lin Xiuzhu, he said, ”You want to show off? I’m a million years ahead of you in that regard! Beg me and I might just teach you how to do it properly!” He then pointed at Lin Bei’s faction and continued, ”Well, cowardly pigs, let’s see if you still want to challenge me. If you do, send your remaining piglets to us at once! No matter how many come, I’ll make sure all of them end up crushed beneath my feet!”

𝙗𝙚 𝙤𝙣