Beastmaster of the Ages

After killing the ebons and their sanctuary-class warbeasts, Tianming finally had a chance to fight Lin Jianxing one-on-one. It had taken quite a lot of effort to get here. Lin Jianxing was like a mad beast and seemed completely dominated by a murderous aura, evident from the daggers he glared at Tianming, who was himself getting rather sick of that fellow.

The walnuts from the four dead ebons entered Tianming’s head. They pushed apart the albi that made up his brain and formed a square arrangement, with one on each corner, seemingly connected to each other by a green thread. He suspected that the final winner of the room would be the one who had all six walnuts in their head, arranged in a hexagon.

Lin Jianxing’s eyes pulsed with sword ki that shot toward Tianming, so he had no time to study the walnuts. ”Lin Feng! Do you know how happy I was when I heard that you’d be coming to the Oldgod Domain? I’ve long dreamed of taking you away from your grandparents’ side. Even if I’m captured by the Hall of Discipline for it, I want to tear you apart! All the sinners on your side shall die! The billion people of the Lin Clan should never forget that you’re the son of the sinner that ruined the whole clan! You should bear all the responsibility for that, yet how dare sinful filth like you earn the cheers of others?!” His handsome, blade-like face was green and contorted. Killing intent leaked out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

”Brother Jianxing, enough! There’s no need for all this. Lin Feng has the right to atone!” Lin Linglin couldn’t stand it any longer. Even though Dongshen Xiaoli tried dragging her away, she insisted on staying.

”Linglin, even you’ve been corrupted to the point that you can no longer tell between good and evil, eh? This world is truly laughable!”

The way Lin Jianxing looked at her caused her heart to break once more. She looked at him with disbelief. ”You’re the one who abandoned me to die, but I didn’t blame you for it! Yet now you’re saying all that about me? Are you insane?!”

”Fuck off!” Lin Jianxing shot a strand of sharp sword ki toward her.

”Lin Jianxing!” Her eyes widened, but Dongshen Xiaoli deflected the attack for her. It brushed past her arm, cutting so deep that her bone could be seen. It hurt a lot, but her heart hurt even more.

”Don’t bother with him anymore. Let my cousin take care of him! How can someone of his character judge others for being sinners?” Dongshen Xiaoli audibly spat with disgust and finally dragged Lin Linglin to safety.

”Lin Jianxing is insane.... Lin Feng will die! Leave me be and help him!” Lin Linglin said, crying and clutching her wounded arm.

”Help? Help who?”

”Lin Feng, of course!”

”Wait, aren’t you Lin Jianxing’s girlfriend?”

”Not anymore! I’ve completely broken things off with him since he struck me!” The romance had been beautiful, but the betrayal was equally harsh.

”Fine, I got it. But if I go now, It’ll just make it more confusing. I’ll let my cousin handle him.”

”Why do you trust Lin Feng so much? Have you known him for a long time?”

”Not really. I only met him in the flesh once we came into this room.”

”Then, you....”

”Don’t worry! I’m an amazing judge of character. He’s someone who’ll become a hero that rises up to the clouds one day.”

”To the clouds? It’s more like his head is in the clouds....”

Tianming and Lin Jianxing had finally clashed while the two were speaking. The mighty abilities of their beasts caused shockwaves that sent them flying. ”Let’s hope Lin Feng defeats Lin Jianxing, and Yi Zhuojun will win against Qi Xuanzi!”

It was a fight that would determine the ranks in the two hundreds. Given the high-profile background factions of the fighters, the whole world was paying attention to the fight.

”Lin Feng is a surprising stand-out. Who knew he’d be able to kill four ebons to even the odds of his group? Now he’s among the top fighters inside the room.”

”It’s quite embarrassing for two disciples of the Swordgod Lin Clan to go at each other’s throats in such a public arena. Weren’t they supposed to be the most united clan in all of the Infinitum Mundus?”

”It can’t be helped. The reformists and traditionalists they represent are polar opposites. Not to mention, Lin Jianxing’s father even died during the pursuit of Yi Daiyan, which is a grudge that has yet to be settled.”

”The Lin Clan is truly tumultuous.”

Then again, if one of them has to die, I hope it isn’t Lin Feng. Despite being Lin Mu’s son, his actions and decision-making show wisdom and courage on his part.”

”The fight’s getting intense!”

Against an opponent like Lin Jianxing, Tianming had to use his full focus. All of his lifebound beasts were gathered. The flaming divine bird perched on his shoulder and he carried a black cat in his arms. Behind him was a two-headed dragon, standing beside a towering tree that rose from a sea of silver. Plus, Ji Ji had turned into a pink glow before assimilating into its comrades’ bodies, casting a pink glow around them. Tianming himself wielded twin swords.

Lin Jianxing’s robes fluttered as a result of his powerful sword ki fluctuations. His swordbeasts appeared beside him for a brief moment before fusing into his sword. His beasts looked similar to Lin Xiao’s; the ’standard’ six-beast arrangement for the Lin Clan referred to beasts of different categories that all shared the same elemental aspect. Lin Xiao’s beasts, however, were all of the same species with different elemental aspects. All of them were giant swordtooth tigers, though they covered the full span of elements, namely wind, fire, water, earth, wood, and lightning, resulting in six different types of orders.

Lin Jianxing’s beasts weren’t like his own line’s elders, deviating from the standard six-beast arrangement. All of his lifebound beasts were heavenly star dragons, but their elements corresponded to wind, fire, water, earth, wood, and lightning respectively. They glowed with the power of their respective elements, additionally infused with the might of stars. Lin Jianxing, looking like a descendant of dragons, seemed like the herald of destiny. It was no wonder he was so confident.

While his lifebound beasts were all of the same type, he had the advantage of having different kinds of orders, though that also slowed down his cultivation somewhat. Lin Xiao wasn’t able to rise to even higher peaks back then for the same reason. While Lin Jianxing was still far from becoming an amazing multi-element sword master, like Lin Xiao, he did have two types of order for now, namely windstar and waterstar orders. There were probably less than three people in the entire mundus that had two different kinds of orders at his age. That was also a huge part of where his confidence came from, as well as why he was favorably looked upon in the clan.

Comparatively speaking, Tianming’s lifebound beasts didn’t seem that impressive, apart from being eccentric. Those in the Swordgod Lin Clan with Tianming’s beast lineup were usually huge messes. He had six beasts, all of different species and elemental aspects! Even so, after witnessing their capabilities, nobody would think of Ying Huo and the rest as weaklings. The only one who couldn’t stand them was Lin Jianxing himself. He charged with his six dragons, mustering a multi-elemental storm of starlight!

”Dirty mixed-blood mutt! Fuck your trashy lifebound beasts! You don’t even have a swordheart! Your bloodline’s completely messed up, so you have no right to be a disciple of the Swordgod Lin Clan!” As he spoke, his heart shone a sharp, bright green. Though it was deep inside his body, it shone so brightly that the light was shining through his skin. It was shaped like a sword and it seemed surrounded by heavy storms! Every beat of his heart sounded like Lan Huang’s roar, hammering at Tianming’s eardrums.

It was the signature swordheart of the Lin Clan, and an orderan one at that. While order could enter any of the seven heptastar organs, members of the Swordgod Lin Clan always chose their heart, as that was where they inherited their sword intent. A sword-shaped heart was incredibly powerful and keeping the order there would greatly enhance blood circulation, giving the astral god in question even more energy and vitality. One had to manifest a swordheart to truly unleash their full potential. As such, reaching the Order stage was an important milestone for members of the Lin Clan.

As Lin Jianxing’s heart beat, green astral blood flowed through his entire body, a large amount of which entered his sword-wielding arm. Eventually, it seeped into his cosmic artifact sword, seemingly integrating the weapon into his body and allowing the cosmic impulse to fuse with him as well.

Cultivators of the Lin Clan could use the power of cosmic impulses better than anyone else, converting them directly into sword ki. As a result, cosmic artifacts were even more valuable for them, allowing them to achieve an unheard-of level of explosive combat power. That was the main reason others believed that Tianming lacked the capability to unleash the true power of the clan’s sword arts, as he had no swordheart.

Lin Jianxing was what a true disciple of the clan was supposed to be like.