Beastmaster of the Ages

”Jianjia is amazing. At her young age, she was selected to become a Hall of Discipline deacon. The Hall of Discipline is the best place to cultivate a disciple’s sense of righteousness and decisiveness. She has a bright future.”

”The chamber lord made Jianjia the scion. The girl is stronger than her brothers and will inherit the third branch in the future. They’ll only continue improving.”

Lin Xiaoyun was pleased to hear all this. Lin Jianchen, who had been beaten by Lin Feng in the Prime Myriadsword Corporation, was his son. And because of that beating, Lin Xiaoyun had been embarrassed, so Lin Xiaoyun’s subordinates understood very well and took the opportunity to compliment the daughter he was proud of to comfort him.

”The sword left by the old rex mundi in the Cinasthana Section is incredible!”

”Jianjia is the most suitable person for this stele. If she succeeds in mastering the battle art within it, she’ll be able to place in the top three when she participates in the minor ranking in a few years!”

”What glory that would bring to the Lin Clan! It’s a great blessing for the entire clan!”

Upon hearing that, Lin Xiaoyun was even more satisfied. Waving his hand, he said, ”Okay, that’s enough praise. We all know how difficult this battle art is. It’s the introduction to the Grandvoid Compendium, and comprehending that is equivalent to opening the Swordfiend of Time’s gates to the Grandvoid and having an opportunity to assume his mantle! No more than five disciples have managed to cultivate this sword after the old rex mundi died. Finding his stele doesn’t guarantee an opportunity.”

However, his subordinates didn’t seem to agree.

”Chamber Lord, you’re too modest!”

”That’s right. Everyone knows that Jianjia learned her two fullstella sword arts in preparation for this. She has those two sword arts as her foundation. When the conditions are right, success will naturally follow.”

Lin Xiaoyun laughed, ”We’ll see. Let’s not put too much pressure on the child.” In fact, he had been waiting for this day to come. In the Swordgod Lin Clan, parents had high requirements for their children and expected them to bring glory to themselves, proving that the family and lineage were prosperous and had an abundance of geniuses, a continued inheritance, and descendants that could surpass them. For that reason, Lin Xiaoyun had put a lot of effort into cultivating this scion with six-six talent. Now, the ancestral guidance stele that he had been waiting for had finally appeared.

......

In the Swordsoul Purgatory, Tianming rolled his eyes at Lin Xiaogui and asked, ”Why’re you so excited?”

”You don’t know?” Lin Xiaogui looked at him in disbelief.

”I’ve only been here for two days, what would I know?” he said. He was also studying the ancestral guidance stele, but he didn’t notice anything special about it at the moment. In order to see the entire stele, he loosened the Godsin from around him and soared into the sky.

”Hmm.” He finally saw the entire thing. There were countless black lines that formed little black swords on the island-like stele, hundreds of millions of which formed the image of a face. It was an old man with fluttering black hair and a smile on his face. His hairstyle was very unique and stylish—he had an afro. The lines of small black swords flowed and the part that made up the corner of his mouth pulsed, which made the old man appear to be smiling at all times. But there was something strange about his smile. Tianming stared at it for a while, growing completely immersed. His emotions were so affected that he couldn’t help but laugh.

”So this is an ancestral guidance stele? And this face is a sword art? Is it recorded in the formation formed by celestial patterns? It’s similar to the Sword Insight Rock, but more profound and complex.” Although Tianming couldn’t figure it out in such a short time, he knew that formations that recorded battle arts were essentially legacy formations. Most legacy formations weren’t “locked”. They could be created on bamboo slips, rocks, or other mediums, like swords. For example, there was a Sword Barrier on the Sword Insight Rock that was an additional lock, a screening mechanism set by its owner. Only by comprehending a certain sword intent or possessing certain knowledge could one unlock it and learn more. The method was mainly used to eliminate unsuitable or untalented people, or to weed out those of a different bloodline from its owner. Tianming knew that all of the ancestral guidance steles in the Swordsoul Purgatory were locked, and the face before him was one such lock. One would have to decipher it to comprehend the techniques within; it was basically a legacy formation.

”Back then, I didn’t grasp the Sword Insight Rock’s sword intent at all. I stole the sword art with my Plundering Arm. So you can’t screen anything!” Tianming couldn’t help but smile in triumph. He thought that the Swordsoul Purgatory would be his turf; the only question now was, could his Fiendsky Arm break this sword barrier? He had yet to test it, so he wasn’t sure. But one thing was certain: he didn’t feel anything when looking at the face made of sword patterns. He wouldn’t have an advantage if he were to use conventional methods.

”Careful!”

Tianming was filled with anticipation and knowingly smiling when he suddenly heard Lin Xiaogui’s shout.

”Ah!” He had celebrated too soon and missed the sharp metal ore hurtling toward him. The speed of the ancestral guidance stele sent him crashing into it. His nose was bruised, his face swelled up, and there was a huge bump on his head. He was almost thrown off the ancestral guidance stele. ”Fuck.” Covered in dust, he quickly returned to the surface of the stele and stabilized his body. Lin Xioagui couldn’t help but laugh at his sorry state.

”Oh, so you can laugh too. I thought your face was covered in wax,” Tianming teased.

”I still laugh at fools,” Lin Xiaogui retorted.

Tianming turned his attention to the stele once more. Crouching, he stretched out his left hand and touched the black sword pattern, which danced on the hexagonal scales on his fingers, as lively as little tadpoles. He had yet to begin “plundering”, but as a sky plunderer, he had a strong intuition.

”This lock will be hard to pry open. How many layers are there?” His arm was completely pressed against the face.

Lin Xiaogui and he were standing right on the face’s eyes. As his arm sank into the black lines, Tianming opened his Plundering Eye. Through it, he saw a world of black sword ki in front of him. There were innumerable strands of it, enough to swallow the sky. The sword ki formed a cage with more than ten thousand layers, enveloping and protecting a huge nova-source-like luminous body that looked like a person, yet was a sword art. The endless storm of black sword ki raged in front of Tianming’s eyes. Such a scene was far beyond the Sword Insight Rock in Xuanyuan Lake. The layer upon layer of dense sword ki indicated that Tianming wouldn’t even get close to the sword art without the key. And that supposed key was comprehending the storm of sword ki.