Beastmaster of the Ages

“So, where should we start? What a headache.” Lin Xiao shook his head. Even someone as lively as him had a sad expression on his face when talking about the past.

“Have some tea, Grandfather.” Tianming brewed some tea and offered it.

Lin Xiao took a sip before starting. “This story should start from me.”

“How so?” Tianming asked.

“Our Swordgod Lin Clan is a special clan. Other clans may freely intermarry with other clans, but not us. Our swordheart and swordbeast inheritances mean it’s very hard for us to have children when we marry another clan. Even if we do, the child tends to have trouble inheriting the swordheart and swordbeasts. That means they’ll be unable to get the core inheritances of our Swordgod Lin Clan and will have a limited future. Our Lin Clan’s seniors forbade marrying with other clans since ancient times, and the rule is especially strict for core and direct descendants. Because we’ve maintained that… purity, we’ve been able to remain strong and let the fame of our swordbeasts shake the entire Infinitum Bodhimanda.”

Lin Xiao looked at Tianming with a bitter smile. “Kiddo, do you see now what your father’s problem was?”

“You and Grandmother’s marriage?”

“Yes! When I was young, I didn’t believe in all those superstitions and loved a lady from the Grandnorth Dongshen Clan, resulting in being forsaken by my friends and family. Honestly, I never regretted that period, as I was young and indeed loved her.… Furthermore, I wasn’t going to be the branch master. I had an older brother whose family was the future of the second branch. However, they had an unexpected tragic accident, suddenly thrusting me into the position of Second Branch Master! I’d already been married to your grandmother for a thousand years at that point and hadn’t had a child yet. It originally didn’t matter, but it suddenly did when the second branch’s bloodline was cut off. Thus, we began suffering hardship outside of love. We tried hard for two thousand years before Lin Mu was finally born. As many expected, he didn’t even have a swordbeast and could only use an ordinary human’s techniques. He was fated to never rise high.”

Tianming nodded along as he listened. He could guess that Lin Mu hadn’t had an easy time growing up. The parents who had ‘wilfully’ fallen in love must have suffered much psychological pressure as well in a family that placed emphasis on heirs and inheritances.

Lin Xiao continued, “Lin Mu’s life wasn’t a happy one. He used wine to drown his sorrows and let himself go. He was actually a smart boy, but it was his parent’s fault that his talent was poor. His mother was also filled with regret and anxiety. The two of them didn’t get along well and often fought. Lin Mu’s personality was very rebellious in front of her, and perhaps he even hated us for giving him such a headache!” The old man’s eyes were red and a single teardrop fell into his teacup.

“Have some tea, Grandfather.” Tianming switched his cup for him. He could easily imagine the past; Dongshen Yue was very blunt, but as she also felt sorry toward her son, it was a recipe for conflict.

Lin Xiao put the cup down. “Did you know? At that time Lin Mu’s talent was bad and I was old, so the entire clan was urging him to marry a girl from the clan, so that the second branch may still have a direct descendant with swordbeasts. Lin Mu’s talent had an upper limit, but he still worked hard so he wasn’t much worse than others. He also had a lot of charm, so quite a few ladies were quite taken with him.… However, he didn’t want them. Hence, he frequently argued with his mother again. He even ran away from home many times.”

“And then?” Tianming asked.

“Someone who changed his life appeared.”

“Yi Daiyan? I’ve heard that name quite a few times,” Tianming said.

“Yes, Yi Daiyan. Like her name, she really was a beauty of a generation! We were all stunned silly when he brought her home and announced that they had already promised to spend the rest of their lives together. She was a genius from the luxdaemon race. They’re a xenorace and had just entered Ebonia at that time. They were spurned, as rumor had it that their cultivation methods were very sinister. They also had conflicts with many powers and even had some grudges with our Lin Clan,” Lin Xiao said.

“So, not everyone was willing to see their pairing?” Tianming asked.

“Naturally. Firstly, he needed a missus from the Lin Clan. Secondly, we had friction with the luxdaemons! And there was a third reason: a cripple paired with a genius didn’t look pleasing to many people. However.…”

“However, what?”

“They looked like me and the old lady when we were young, passionate and full of sincerity. Many people tried separating them, but they refused to let go of each other. Yi Daiyan even severed her ties with her race for him and Mu’er left home after arguing with us. They ended up eloping.” Lin Xiao’s voice had grown hoarse. “That was the fiercest argument we ever had. He said that we’d already ruined the first half of his life, so he begged us not to ruin the rest of it. He knelt on the ground and begged us! What were we supposed to do as parents?”

It was no wonder they didn’t want to talk about it. They had chosen love, and by doing so had harmed their son. However, they then stopped him from choosing love.…

Dongshen Yue was probably the one that was most hurt. Her personality was too fierce. Tianming now knew why she had such a strange look when she saw Feiling and the rest. They were all xenoraces! Three generations had all fallen in love with xenoraces! However, she hadn’t minded in the end, as the three all had high talent. Secondly, the bloodline could no longer be repaired and made pure again.

“So they eloped?” Tianming asked. That didn’t explain why the Lin Clan would hate him, though, as they should have been happy for a cripple to leave.

“Yes, they eloped, but Mu’er brought something along with him!” Lin Xiao grit his teeth.

“What?” Tianming asked.

“Somehow, he entered the Myriadsword Mausoleum and brought away our clan’s most holy item, the Ancestral Swordheart!” Lin Xiao’s tone turned agitated and his expression turned uneasy.

“What’s that?” Tianming remembered hearing that term in the Myriadsword Mausoleum. As for how Lin Mu had brought it away, Tianming knew it was because he was a Sky Plunderer. He simply hadn’t awakened his memories, like Mu Yang in Heaven’s Division.

“Our Lin Clan cultivates our swordheart, which is the heart. Our swordheart is unrivaled through the world, and the Ancestral Swordheart is the fusion of ten thousand of our strongest ancestors’ swordhearts! It’s our pillar of faith and strongest weapon. If we were ever to encounter a threat, one of our clan’s experts can temporarily inherit it and unleash the power of ten thousand of our strongest ancestors!” Lin Xiao pounded the table as he spoke.

Tianming could tell how important the item was.

“He stole the Ancestral Swordheart and handed it to Yi Daiyan, before he was executed by the Lin Clan?” Tianming guessed.

“No, he died in a laughable manner,” Lin Xiao said with pain.

“Laughable?” Tianming didn’t get it.

“You were right about one thing—he did steal it for Yi Daiyan. But in truth, the Ancestral Swordheart is useless for others! Hence, my son Lin Mu, offered his flawed swordheart to Yi Daiyan for the sake of love. Hence, she would be able to use his sword heart to inherit the Ancestral Swordheart. They had made a promise to exchange hearts. Thus, on that day, my son not only handed her the Ancestral Swordheart, but also dug out his own heart to give to her. Yi Daiyan was supposed to give him her heart to save his life. Amazing isn’t it, this love story? But do you know what happened?” Tears fell from Lin Xiao’s eyes.

“When Yi Daiyan was done with everything, she held his heart in her hand as she looked at the bloody Mu’er… then crushed it! Without another word, she turned and left, leaving my son to slowly die in endless pain. When we finally got there, he could only say a few words before he passed. He told us if there was another life, he would repay us.”

Tianming felt his scalp go numb from the story. Dig out his swordheart? Exchange hearts? They had to have astral physiques by then to be able to survive for a while without a heart. His was a story of being used and betrayed! Yi Daiyan’s actions were no different from personally killing Lin Mu. It was impossible to imagine how much despair that man had been in while watching her go after literally crushing his heart.

“Vicious indeed, Yi Daiyan!” Tianming finally understood why the Lin Clan hated him so much. It was one thing to elope, but he had stolen the clan’s soul and gifted it to someone as well. The most laughable part was that he had died for it. Most likely, Yi Daiyan had only pretended to sever her ties to her race as part of her plot, too.

Not even Lin Mu’s parents had known Lin Mu would be able to steal the Ancestral Swordheart, but Yi Daiyan had. That showed the depth of Lin Mu’s feelings for her.

After all that, it was no wonder Li Muyang hadn’t wanted to tell him the sordid details. However, Li Muyang may not have much of a tie to his incarnation as Lin Mu, which hadn’t awakened his memories.

“It looks like I have to do a lot to resolve my dad’s regrets.” Tianming was clear that this responsibility was his to bear. Lin Mu was indeed at fault, but that nefarious woman couldn’t be forgiven, either.

Tianming still had doubts, though. “Is there something wrong? If the Ancestral Swordheart is so important and Yi Daiyan is just a genius of the luxdaemons, can the luxdaemons run even if she can? How could we not get the Ancestral Swordheart back?”

“She vanished without a trace after obtaining it. We couldn’t find her. Although she said she had cut ties with the luxdaemons, we still started a war against them and made them pay a heavy price. However, even after flipping over their whole race, we still couldn’t find it! Their patriarch no longer even had tears to shed.”

“So this ‘beauty of a generation’ was never seen again?” Tianming asked.

“No! Fifty years ago, she reappeared.” Lin Xiao lowered his head.

“And then?”

“Then she overcame all difficulties, killing a path to number one on the reges mundi ranking and becoming the rex mundi prime, invincible under the heavens at the age of five hundred plus! Accomplishing that at her age made her the Infinitum Mundus’ greatest miracle in history!”

“Seriously?” Tianming thought he had misheard. He wanted to ask Li Muyang if he himself could believe it.

Lin Xiao bitterly shook his head. “A genius needs millenia, at least, to become a rex mundi. However, she accomplished it in fifty. No one knows where she went or what she did in those fifty years! But it doesn’t matter, her strength is the truth. Now she’s the empress of the Infinitum Mundus. How else would our Lin Clan have fallen so far and have no one willing to do business with us? Perhaps she didn’t directly destroy us out of some measure of guilt. Anyway, getting back the Ancestral Swordheart is just a pipe dream now.”

The matter was definitely unsolvable for the Lin Clan. It was no wonder Dongshen Yue was still fervently cultivating at her age; she must want revenge. However, she was clear that she wasn’t on the same level even if she was still young.

“So! Feng’er, let me tell you that directly using the name Yi Daiyan in places with many people is taboo. We don’t have the qualifications to hate her. Not even the whole Lin Clan does,” Lin Xiao earnestly said.

“Understood.” After that stimulating story, Tianming now knew why Dongshen Yue called her ‘Bitch Yi’.

……

Dongshen Yue soon returned and loudly said, “Kids, time to move. Take these Lin Clan disciple cards! Ling’er, Xiaoxiao, and Little Fish, follow me!”

“Why such a rush?” Tianming asked.

“I was just at the clan registry and found out that the elite disciples of the Lin Clan under thirty are having Infinitum Duels right now. The three of you, follow Grandma to flip the board!” Dongshen Yue was burning with excitement.