Beastmaster of the Ages

“Yes….” Qi Qiling was kneeling on the floor, clenching her fists as tears fell. She could only suppress the unruly frog and put it to sleep with her other warbeasts in her fauna worldstone.

“Elder sister!” Qi Hongzhen hurried over. “You aren’t hurt, are you?” He gave her a once over. Qi Qiling hadn’t been hurt at all. Instead, it was him who still had quite a bit of Flint Infernal Sword Ki still running all over his body.

Qi Qiling looked up and shot Tianming a deathly cold gaze. “I’m so angry! I didn’t expect him to have risen three levels, or I would’ve sent the starvore frog after him!” That misstep had led to her being eliminated!

“Don’t overthink it. What could I have done in that scenario? I would’ve just run.” Tianming shrugged. If no one was chasing Yin Chen, he would just run. Meow Meow wasn’t any slower than the frog. Once he had distracted Qi Qiling and let Yin Chen steal the fragments, he’d already won.

“Elder Sister….” Qi Hongzhen was feeling horrible inside. He quickly took out his Oldgod Ring to prevent things from getting worse for him. He was still in disbelief. “The minor reges mundi ranking hasn’t even been open for a year yet. How’d he rise three levels? Not even that person from the Shenxi Clan can! Last ranking, he clinched first place even though he wasn’t ninety yet!”

“Nonsense. That person’s an orderan, so of course they’d be slower to break through than a stellaminor... but three levels is still incredible regardless. It means that Lin Feng must have gained some stroke of fortune in the Oldgod Domain. It must be the previous finger, as well as that thing that glowed green!” Qi Qiling said with gritted teeth.

The two enforcers wanted to bring Qi Qiling away.

“Little brother, people outside can hear our discussions and guesses, but not our fellow ebons here inside. Tell Brother Xiaoyin what happened here and make Lin Feng spit out everything he took from us!” Qi Qiling whispered into his ear.

“Yes, yes!” As for how to say it, Qi Hongzhen had a rough idea. He definitely wouldn’t say that he had kept Guchi Xiaoyin in the dark and returned after everyone had left to take the fragments.

The siblings thought that their private conversation was a secret, but didn’t know that invisible cockroaches surrounded them….

Tianming came over.

“What do you want?” Qi Hongzhen was angry.

“Have your Oldgod Ring on?” Tianming grinned.

“Yes.”

“Nice, see you next time then!” Tianming’s sword shot out and struck him in the head. The ring broke, knocking Tianming and Qi Qiling away.

“Lin Feng! You’re going overboard! How dare you humiliate me like this!” Qi Hongzhen froze, then angrily howled at Tianming. He had never expected Tianming would kick a loser while he was down. Usually, it wasn’t necessary unless there was a severe grudge present.

“Do you think I’m an idiot and will keep you around to spread my secrets?” Tianming rolled his eyes. He put his ring away; no one could see what would happen next.

Qi Hongzhen and Qi Qiling were so frustrated they coughed out blood.

“Goodbye!” Yin Chen had already brought the fragments away long ago. They had brought the rubble somewhere deserted and Tianming was anxious to go over.

“Lin Feng, stay cocky while you can. You’re finished once you leave the Oldgod Domain.”

“Are you an idiot? I’m an heir of the Lin Clan, but who are you in the ebon race? You think you can threaten me?” Tianming didn’t even turn around as he left with a laugh.

Qi Hongzhen froze in place. He possessed a superiority complex, as there had been word in their race that the Swordgod Lin Clan was about to become their dogs. However, rationally, the ebons and Lin Clan were both regal clans. The Lin Clan’s heirs were indeed higher than him in status. He had simply disdained Tianming due to his identity as Lin Mu’s son.

“We’ve embarrassed ourselves by being eliminated by Lin Mu’s son.” Qi Qiling cried as she lowered her head. For ebons, even their tears were black, so it looked like ink was running down her face.

“It’s fine. That fellow will run into Brother Xiaoyin and the rest with how he’s jumping around, sooner or later. He’ll see what ebons are really made of then!” That was the only thing Qi Hongzhen could say to console himself. However, without Qi Hongzhen as an informant, none of the other ebons knew about the giant finger.

……

“My reges mundi ranking now is 47,835,611.” Still eight digits, but at least it now starts with forty-seven. Lin Lele’s started with a thirty-eight. “As for the minor reges mundi ranking, it’s 1350. The Oldgod Domain has around a thousand astralsea divinities, which means the ranking thinks I’m quite above average among the stellaminors.”

Qi Qiling, who Tianming had defeated, had held a ranking in the nine hundreds.

“One thousand is nearing Lin Jianxing’s ranking in the two hundreds. However, how far’s the gap between gods and astral gods?” He would need a true battle to answer that.

Tianming entered a new cave where Yin Chen had gathered the fragments. Driven by an obsessive compulsion, it had put the fragments back together and even bound them using spider webs. Tianming almost thought the ring finger had been perfectly restored.

“Am I… not awesome?” A swarm of bonegnaw ants on the ground looked up at Tianming.

“You truly are.” Tianming stepped on the ants to walk towards the ring finger. He drew some blood and rubbed it on the surface.

The ants on the ground cursed him. “You stepped… on me… and made… me dirty! Tortoise Bro… I need… a shower!” The ants’ feelers and legs shook.

Tianming couldn’t help but grin when he saw his blood being absorbed by the nameless finger.

……

At the Grandsect Arena in the Infinitum Swordsea, the images of the minor reges mundi ranking could be seen. The Lin Clan all liked to share festivities, so most were watching it here. Most were young people of less than a thousand years old, passionately watching as those three hundred cultivators bore their dreams.

Everyone was currently watching a screen, speechless. Through Qi Hongzhen’s point of view, they saw Tianming approach with Ying Huo and ‘execute’ Qi Qiling!

The screen went dark.

“Lin Feng must’ve destroyed Qi Hongzhen’s ring!”

Defeating Qi Hongzhen, taking down the genius of the ninth branch, Lin Linglin, and making a fool of Lin Jianxing. Now, it had finally culminated in eliminating two ebons!

Tianming’s explosive growth rate had drawn the attention of the entire clan. Sometimes, the attention paid to him exceeded even Lin Hongchen. Lin Hongchen was twenty-ninth on the minor reges mundi ranking while Tianming was still one thousand plus, even after this victory.

“Rising by three levels really is too frightening.”

“Right? Supposedly, he hid his strength when he came to the Lin Clan and was actually a seventh-level stellaminor. Maybe he actually didn’t hide his level then, but rose while he was here?”

“Shouldn’t be. I heard his explosive growth rate is due to getting quite a few treasures in the Oldgod Domain.”

“He put away his ring so he must think the stroke of fortune he got is great.”

“I heard there’s already seniors at the Oldgod Domain’s exit, waiting to immediately bring him back when he comes out.”

“That means his performance must be quite good?”

“Duh. He’s currently only weaker than astral gods. How’s he a hundred-year-old trash? One more step and he’ll be an infinitum-class genius!”

It turned out that Lin Feng wasn’t weak. He had almost completely washed off his reputation as a hundred-year-old trash. Being able to win respect using strength wasn’t easy. The acknowledgment growing in the eyes of the youths here was a good thing for Tianming.

“Who cares whose son he is? No one can choose where they’re born. He’s worthy of our respect as long as he wins glory for our clan! Good job, Lin Feng!”

Many people agreed once that was said.

“Yes, why should it matter who his father is?”

“He’s never even met Lin Mu.”

“We always only thought about venting, but never thought of how much pressure he must be under.”

Tianming’s performance had made the second branch members feel satisfied and they kept their heads up as they joined the discussion about Lin Feng.

“The problem is!” someone suddenly said in a low voice. “Our Lin Clan is currently working with the ebons. His actions will cause problems with our alliance. Second Patriarch was always against it, so Lin Feng must be making trouble because of that. The stubborn old generation doesn’t want to keep up with the times.…”

“True, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal benefits.”

“Why can’t those old fellows understand? If it weren’t for them, we would’ve allied with the ebons long ago!”

Because the Ancestral Swordheart had been taken by Yi Daiyan, the Lin Clan had killed quite a few luxdaemons when she’d vanished. The ebons were their only way out!

“So it’ll be best if Lin Feng doesn’t antagonize the ebons any further.”