Beastmaster of the Ages

”Ahahahaha!” Gongshu Ding broke into a sudden bout of laughter, spraying saliva all over Tianming’s face. He laughed so hard that his back arched. It turned out that Lin Mu really did have quite a reputation! As he laughed, he stopped suppressing Tianming and the rest, giving them back their freedom. However, the girls could only wait behind him with bated breath; Gongshu Ding was far too powerful and they didn’t dare to put up any resistance at all.

”Lin Mu of the Lin Clan? Ahahaha....” The laughter truly had no end, as if the middle-aged man had gone insane. What seemed even more eerie was that the snakes in his wine gourd also looked to be laughing in a startlingly human manner. Tianming only just noticed that the snakes themselves had countless stars within their eyes; they were actually his lifebound beasts!

”Is there anything wrong with that?” Tianming asked.

”Hahahaha!” Gongshu Ding continued laughing, which only made them even more nervous. Tianming still didn’t know what it meant to claim to be the son of Lin Mu.

The man looked up and gave his clothes a neat tug while he cleared his throat. ”That certainly is surprising. I didn’t think someone like that would actually have an illegitimate son. If it weren’t for wanting to survive, I bet you’d never dare reveal who your dad was! What a shame... I didn’t think I’d be the one to expose something so interesting. Didn’t the one that raised you up tell you not to mess around wherever you go?”

Someone like that? Like what? Tianming truly wanted to know. ”Don’t you doubt that I might be lying about my identity?”

”Are you joking? Nobody in the entire universe would dare to lie about being Lin Mu’s son,” Gongshu Ding said, shaking his head. It sounded like Lin Mu didn’t have the best reputation out there, but at least there was a chance of survival. Gongshu Ding didn’t seem like he would be killing Lin Mu’s son, no matter what kind of person the father was.

”So, what do you intend to do?” Tianming finally asked. The four of them tensed up when the crucial question was put out there. This was someone they couldn’t do anything against. A single move would see them crushed like popping bubbles.

”What indeed? Did you think I’d just let you off? How naive.” Gongshu Ding took another swig and drunkenly continued, ”Someone with such an interesting identity... I’ll send you to the Swordgod Lin Clan in exchange for some treasure, of course. Lin Mu has a son, eh? What a big deal! Hahaha! I’ll be able to trade for quite a bit! I’ve hit the jackpot!”

Tianming finally got the results he wanted to hear: Gongshu Ding wouldn’t kill them after all. Since he would be sent to the Swordgod Lin Clan, Lin Mu did indeed have something to do with the Prime Infinitum Trade Union.

”A son of Lin Mu’s would no doubt throw the entire Prime Infinitum Trade Union into chaos. I can’t wait to watch the upcoming spectacle!” Gongshu Ding kept looking over every single inch of Tianming as he chuckled before he turned to Feiling and the rest. ”Looks like you’re just like your old man, eh? What a fortunate lineup of partners you have.”

Was this really fortune amidst misfortune, or would it end up far worse than simply dying here? Tianming no longer thought too much about it. The fact that he had survived at all was already great news for now. Looks like the first thing that happened after arriving at a sixth-class world was being schooled.... He wasn’t the only one who was afraid; Feiling, Xiaoxiao, and Moran’s legs were also shaking. To survive, I have to stand firm no matter what I encounter. I will work things out one by one. The only reason things had ended up such a mess was that he didn’t know anything about Ebonia at all.

”I really didn’t think that your dad had something to do with the Swordgod Lin Clan, which must be a rather strong faction within the Prime Infinitum Trade Union. Will we really be fine after being sold to them?” Feiling asked..com

”At least we won’t be killed, but I can’t say if it’ll be any better,” Tianming said. It all depended on the kind of person Lin Mu had been. Tianming hadn’t expected he would ever reveal himself as Lin Mu’s son, or at least not so soon. His plan had been to wait for years, or perhaps decades, to ensure that nothing would go wrong before he came out to address his father’s regrets. Yet plans, more often than not, didn’t get realized.

”Since there’s no way to tell the future, let’s just leave it to fate!” At the very least, while Tianming wasn’t comparable to the elites, he was a top genius among his peers, or at least those in the Mysterium Cluster. He still had a certain semblance of confidence. ”I have you guys and Ying Huo, and the rest, too. I’m not afraid of competition, especially with our potential.”

”Alright!” They finally seemed to regain their calm. The lot of them didn’t run around as they pleased, since there would be no point in trying to outrun Gongshu Ding. Angering him might also have unforeseen consequences.

Around fifteen minutes later, a gigantic black snake appeared above the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. It was a divine astralship that was hundreds of times larger than the tomb. The tomb was a skypiercer-class ship, while the snake was at least an ether-class ship. Perhaps only custodians of fourth-class worlds and above would possess ships of that caliber.

”Gongshu Ding ranks in the top ten thousand of the rankings and is designated as a custodian, but there’s only around a hundred fourth-class worlds to rule. That must mean that the difference between fourth- and sixth-class worlds isn’t just a hundred times or more.... The difference in the quality of nova sources no doubt gives rise to even more powerful elites on higher-class worlds!” It wasn’t that difficult a concept to grasp and was akin to Flamehaven and Ignispolis. Ignispolis’s area was around a hundred times that of Flamehaven’s, but the elites in Ignispolis numbered far more than a hundred times that of Flamehaven’s.

The wider the world was, the more powerful beings that existed within, and most of them would flock to the Infinitum Bodhimanda! Most of them wouldn’t want to stick to ruling a small area and give up the chance to grow even more powerful. The world was interconnected, and even local hegemons of small territories would have to bow down to even more powerful folks. Since that was the case, nobody would willingly hamper their growth by staying in a backwater.

The belly of Gongshu Ding’s ship cracked open and tentacles stretched out of it. They wrapped around the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and pulled it securely into its belly.

”At least he’s nice enough to not take my ship away, or crush it....” Tianming breathed a sigh of relief.

The snake rose into the sky and sped across the beautiful black world at much faster speeds than the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was capable of.

”There’s a Myriadsword Emporium in Eastmound Zone, but the merchants there are super stingy. I’ll bring you all straight to the main base of the Swordgod Lin Clan! Even in the prime of my youth, I’ve never visited such glorious lands. Thanks to you, however.... Haha! I’m sure that’s also somewhere you’re dreaming of going to, right? Feeling emotional already?” Gongshu Ding’s voice rang throughout the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb.

Being sent straight to the headquarters of the Swordgod Lin Clan came as a bit of a shock to Tianming and the girls.

”Your father... Haha! Hehe! Hehehaha!” The thought of such a large clan like them finding out about Lin Mu’s illegitimate son is making my anticipation boil! I’m sure your reputation will eventually eclipse my own.... By the way, what’s your name?”

”Lin Feng,” Tianming said.

”Not bad, that sounds like a protagonist’s name. Let’s hope you have the fate of one, too.” Gongshu Ding’s chuckles continued reverberating through the ship.