Beastmaster of the Ages

No doubt, Lady Floral had heard of the epic battle for the top spot of the Violetglory rankings. She just hadn’t heard the details about it. The fact that two ’kids’ younger than thirty could be so powerful was something that greatly shook her. When one of those people showed up in Primary and was also entangled with the bearer of the Flashsoul Skywings and Longevity Lifewings, she knew that it would be trouble.

As for Gong Xiong, who was known as the wild bear, he was the most powerful fighter stationed on Primary by the Violetcloud Imperium, so Lady Floral was naturally familiar with him. Not only was he powerful, he was also someone who did anything he wanted without regard for anything else. Not to mention, he was rumored to have some kind of blood relation with the sovereign of the imperium, being a core member of the Gong Prime Clan as he was. The primalwingers couldn’t possibly handle someone on his level. Gong Xiong showing up right now and being so friendly toward Tianming meant that the primalwinger royals would have to give up on the piece of fat meat in front of them. Lady Floral had never thought that the girl would be able to escape her grasp until Gong Xiong showed up.

”Mother, ask him to show his totems to prove his identity. He might just be a fake planted here by the Violetcloud Imperium,” Ji Lingxian said from behind her guards. The helpless look on Feiling’s face made her feel like she was nothing but a weak sheep and easy prey. Little did anyone know that she had the protection of ’Lin Feng’! His identity had already caused quite a bit of commotion in Primary, and people were discussing the rumors about him.

”He’s only in his twenties, yet he fought Ye Chen to a draw in the wondersky realm!”

”I’m sure that everyone knows how powerful Ye Chen is. He’s the treasure of the Divineglory Dynasty!”

”Is that really Lin Feng? I heard nobody has seen him in real life before.”

”Just look at Gong Xiong’s reaction. It’s thanks to the royals that Lin Feng offered himself to the Violetcloud Imperium. I heard that the two main factions of the Violetglory Star are fighting over him.”

In actuality, Lady Floral still doubted Tianming’s identity. How could someone that had never shown up in the Violetglory Star for all this time possibly appear in Primary? ”That’s right, anyone can claim to be Lin Feng. Prove yourself with your totems!”

Many others agreed with Lady Floral on that. ”Yeah! Who knows if he’s just a fake planted here by the Violetcloud Imperium to take a genius primalwinger away from us?”

It was clear that they could spin this any way they wanted if Tianming didn’t prove himself.

Gong Xiong turned to Tianming and said, ”Why don’t you show them? To be fair, not even we have seen your magnificent totems in real life before.”

”Naturally. It’s standard protocol, after all.” Tianming’s bane-rings brightly shone as they absorbed the grade-seven divine hazard sword ki strands in his body. ”Watch closely.”

He hugged his shoulders and opened them wide, showing nine of his ten godswords. All of them appeared from his arms. After absorbing enough totem ki, all of them had quite considerably increased in size. All of the swords were unique from one another, each one having their distinct signature looks, from the Eastdivinity Acme’s flames to the mystery of the Infinitum Spatium.

”Whoa!”

With them on display, Tianming couldn’t possibly be a fake. The swords floated around him; he even used his totemic calamity and turned them into nine thousand providence swords, making him look like the lord of all swords. Needless to say, the primalwingers were completely stunned. Even though they weren’t totemancers, they knew what Tianming’s display meant.

”Nine totems, all of them swords and every one of them unique.... This kind of talent is far higher than someone with three pairs of Longevity Lifewings and the Flashsoul Skywings! The former only extends one’s life, while the Flashsoul Skywings aren’t that useful in combat anyway....”

Though they had felt that Feiling was wasted on Tianming before, it now seemed too good to be true. Some even believed that this union between the Violetcloud Imperium and the primalwingers would make Primary relevant again. Nobody doubted Tianming’s claim that he was Lin Feng anymore, and many primalwingers couldn’t stop their shocked gasps. If one only needed eight totems to reach the level of a sovereign, then nine totems could possibly mean that Tianming would exceed even the two sovereigns of the Violetglory Star. Tianming’s future was immeasurably bright, unless the Violetcloud Imperium somehow sabotaged it out of their own stupidity. No doubt they would have more than enough people guide and nurture him.

”Ye Chen is already well known from his battles in the Astraldome, spreading the Violetglory Star’s name far and wide. I doubt Lin Feng is far off from that either.”

The primalwingers broke out into many discussions about him; they had been easily convinced. Now that they had seen the totems, they no longer laid any claim to Feiling, though there were those who still dissented.

After seeing the totems, Lady Floral sighed and turned to her daughter. ”It looks like it can’t be helped. Lin Feng actually is someone who can take her away.”

”Is he really that legendary? I heard that after Ye Chen fought him to a draw, he made incredible progress in a few short months. His performance at the Astraldome shocked the astralscape once more and it’s said that he’s defeated many solarians as well. If it hadn’t been for Lin Feng’s recent absence in the wondersky realm, Ye Chen would’ve claimed the title of number one back again. Back when they fought, they were only about as powerful as eleventh-level constelliers,” Ji Lingxian argued, dissatisfied.

”Great progress? It looks like Ye Chen has impressive potential indeed. Even so, with Gong Xiong protecting Lin Feng, we still won’t be able to do anything about it.”

”You’re mistaken, Mother! There’s two great factions on the Violetglory Star. We don’t need to cave to both of them, we just need to pick the stronger side! If the Violetcloud Imperium dares to take action against us, we’ll go to the Divineglory Dynasty to even things out for us!”

”Everyone knows what you’re talking about. However, there isn’t a need to risk antagonizing either one of them in the first place.”

”There is, mother! Three pairs of Longevity Lifewings and one pair of Flashsoul Skywings are on the line! We can’t just let others take this precious resource of ours!”

”But there’s nothing we can do about it!”

”Who said that? That woman is a primalwinger, she belongs to our pool of talent! So what if he’s Lin Feng? Do you think someone from the Violetcloud Imperium can just take anyone that belongs to us?”

”True.... Alright. I’ll support you.” Lady Floral couldn’t help but give her daughter a few more looks. She had always been an ambitious one and had a wit to match. Many other royals also shared her views.

Gong Xiong was already preparing to take Tianming and Feiling back to the Violetglory Star. Lady Floral shot a glance at her subordinates, causing many primalwingers and royals to surround them. They were at the bottom of the astral hole and there was only one way to leave: up. If all the primalwingers tried stopping them, even Gong Xiong wouldn’t be able to leave. Given how far they were willing to go, it seemed that Tianming wouldn’t have been able to get out of this at all without revealing that he was Lin Feng.

”Lady Floral, shall I take this as a declaration that you’re going against my Violetcloud Imperium?” Though Gong Xiong had acted polite toward Tianming, his furious glare now looked like it was coming from a black bear. Even Tianming could feel the pressure coming from him.

”You misunderstand. We primalwingers have no intention of crossing the Violetcloud Imperium, nor do we wish to interfere in what you want to do. However, this woman is one of our kind. We can’t let anyone just waltz in and take our talented human resources away from us, just like you can’t let us take Lin Feng away from you,” Lady Floral firmly said. More primalwingers agreed with that line of argument and added to the encirclement, flapping countless wings nonstop as a means of applying pressure.

”So you’re serious, then?” In fact, even Gong Xiong was tempted to believe that Feiling was a primalwinger.

”Please respect the fact that this lady is a valuable talent gifted to us by the Kunlan Realm.”

”Fine. If she’s one of you, I’m sure you know her name.”

Lady Floral was speechless.

”Alright, it’s fine if you can’t answer. Is there anyone else among you primalwingers that knows her? What’s her name? Does she even have one? You don’t care about her. You just want to harvest her wing bones, don’t you?”

The primalwingers were struck silent again.

”Additionally!” Gong Xiong pointed at Feiling and continued, ”She’s her own person and has the right to determine whether or not she stays. If you want to force her to stay while claiming to have a good justification, let’s hear what she has to say. Does she want to stay here and perish?”

Again, the primalwingers were speechless to argue against this.

”I’m not a primalwinger. I came from the Violetglory Star and I grew up there. I’m not related to Primary in any way, shape or form,” Feiling firmly said, completely dispelling the plot of the primalwingers.

Lady Floral was put in an awkward predicament, but Ji Lingxian still hadn’t given up yet. ”How do I know that she didn’t say that due to your coercion? Not to mention, harvesting her wing bones is a baseless accusation. Only we primalwingers can properly supervise her growth. We will not let outsiders like you tell us what to do in our own territory!”

”That’s right!”

”It’s not your place!”

”This is our turf!”

Ji Lingxian expertly made use of the innate xenophobia of her people and it worked perfectly. Nobody disagreed with anything she had just said.

”Violetcloud Imperium, leave!”

She even made use of others to say what she didn’t dare to say. It was shocking how a xenophobic attitude could give so much courage to meek people like them.

”It looks like negotiations have broken down. My words are final: our sovereign has declared Lin Feng to be incredibly important to us. Anyone he wants to take with him will be protected by us. We’re going to leave with them whether you like it or not, so I’d like to see you try and stop us. The moment you kill even a single one of us, we can assure you that our armies will pay you back a hundred times for it. If you feel that the imminent demise of Primary isn’t quick enough for the extinction of your kind, feel free to accelerate it.” Gong Xiong wasn’t someone that would be fazed by a junior like Ji Lingxian. He summoned tens of thousands of people to ascend from Primary with him. ”To everyone else, have you ever considered that your masters are just getting you to sacrifice your lives for the sake of a few wing bones? Is it really worth losing your lives over?”

That was the cold, hard truth and everyone knew it. Many primalwingers hesitated, but then made way.

”Don’t let them leave! Primalwingers! What about our pride?!” Ji Lingxian cried, and some others surrounded them again.

”Why don’t I ask you this: what else, apart from slaughtering our way out of here, would convince you to give up this foolish death wish?” Tianming said. He had thought he would be able to leave with his status alone, but he’d underestimated Ji Lingxian’s greed.

She coldly glared at him, then brightened with inspiration. ”You’re the so-called genius of the Violetglory Star, aren’t you? Would you dare to face off against me, then?” Her words shocked everyone silent.

Even Tianming was stunned. ”Are you saying that you’ll duel me over whether she stays or not?” He immediately asked Yin Chen and Gong Xiong about Ji Lingxian’s age and ability.

”Lin Feng, there’s no need for that. We can just fight our way out. With me here, I can assure you that they won’t even touch a hair on either of you. The primalwingers are just pathetic pushovers,” Gong Xiong said.

”You’ll still suffer some casualties from that. I still haven’t done anything for the Violetcloud Imperium yet, so I don’t think it’s fair to ask some of you to die for our sake.”

The way Gong Xiong looked at him immediately changed. ”I can tell that you aren’t the same kind of person as Ye Chen. Those words are more than enough to convince us that you’re worth sacrificing our lives for.”

Tianming was at a loss for words. He whispered into Gong Xiong’s ear, ”You really don’t need to do this. I’m thinking of accepting the challenge, because I think I can take her out in one move based on her past performance.”

Gong Xiong was absolutely stunned.