Beastmaster of the Ages

Stamping her feet, Dongshen Yue beat her chest. It was clear that she was furious. The ebons? Tianming was confused.

Lin Xiao bitterly smiled. ”What’s the point in running your mouth? So what if the two of us can beat ten of them? Without a successor, winning is the same as losing.”

”We must fight even if we end up losing. Isn’t it supposed to be a duel? I’ll kill Lin Bei. Let’s see if he can still become branch master then!” Dongshen Yue said through gritted teeth.

”If that happens, we’ll be scorned forever and the children won’t have a place to live,” Lin Xiao sighed.

”Ah... no successor? How’re you supposed to fight? Can we participate?” Tianming interrupted. He had figured out the dispute between his grandparents. Lin Xiao felt that there was no need to fight, but Dongshen Yue was furious. She wanted to fight even if it meant losing.

Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue glanced at them. ”It has nothing to do with you. You’re too young to take part in it.” She shook her head.

”I see.”

What could children do in the replacement of a branch heir? The experts would fight if it really came down to a duel. However, there were only two people on Lin Xiao’s side.

”I’ve just entered the sixth level and started enjoying some benefits, but it looks like I’m about to be kicked out. The prince is going to turn into a frog. How fucking sad.” Tianming couldn’t accept it. He seethed with anger upon seeing how sad Lin Xiao was. Glancing over, he noticed that Lin Dan was still standing at the door. After asking the girls to comfort his grandparents, Tianming ran out.

”Uncle, I want to know how the replacement of the successor works,” Tianming said.

”It’s a melee where the winner becomes the legitimate heir.” Lin Dan helplessly shook his head.

”Can you be more specific?” Tianming asked.

”Alright.” Lin Dan glanced at him and continued, ”Here’s how it works. In the succession override, the former and new primary lines compete in size, their future, successors, and other important factors. So the rules are more favorable for large families. The contest is divided into three levels: the apex, middle, and youth levels. The family that wins two out of three becomes the primary line.”

Tianming was excited to hear that. Isn’t it just like the Sanctum Replacement Challenge? The purpose and significance of the two are obviously the same. I can do it! With that in mind, he quickly asked, ”Uncle, that’s no problem at all. Can I participate in the youth level?”

”You? You got it wrong! You clearly don’t understand the definition of ‘youth.’ In Ebonia, for those that possess the Infinitum Bloodline, the official age for a youth isn’t thirty or a hundred, it’s three hundred!” Lin Dan explained.

”What? A three-hundred-year-old youth?” Tianming exclaimed, wide-eyed. Are you all crazy? If it weren’t for me, my maternal grandfather would have been buried in the ground at a hundred years old. How can a three-hundred-year-old be called a youth? he thought to himself.

”Isn’t that how it is? At the peak of one’s astral physique, they reach the Stellaminoris stage. The average lifespan of a god is more than two thousand years. Upon becoming an advanced cosmic deity and undergoing the transformation to a heptastar cosmic physique, they can live up to five thousand years, and after reaching the Cosmic Cartography stage, the maximum lifespan is six thousand years. Wouldn’t a three-hundred-year-old be considered a youth for five-thousand-year-old cosmic cartographers?”

Tianming did the math. If he were to compare a lifespan of five thousand years to the Vermillion Bird Kingdom’s hundred years, then one hundred years here was equal to six years there. Taking into consideration the explosive development in cultivation and rapid growth in early childhood, three hundred years old would be equivalent to a teenager. No wonder people here weren’t allowed to have children until they reached a thousand years of age.

”Nephew, in Ebonia, some parents are astral gods, while others are just normal gods. Their maximum lifespans vary so the definition of a youth can be quite confusing. But in the succession override, they’re all descendants of astral gods so the age limit for a youth is officially three hundred years old. You and your wives can participate, but all of your opponents will have cultivated for more than two hundred years. There’s no way you can beat them.” Lin Dan said.

”Fuck!” Tianming was crestfallen, but it made perfect sense. For descendants of astral gods, a hundred years old was considered really young. They wouldn’t be asked to participate in the succession override. Comparing the futures of two families based on the performance of children in the last three hundred years would yield more accurate results.

”What about the middle level?” Tianming asked.

”That’s from three hundred to a thousand years old. At a thousand years old, one reaches a threshold. For an astral god with a lifespan of five thousand years, they’re in the prime of their life at two thousand. Before the age of a thousand years, they fall under the middle level,” Lin Dan said.

Tianming understood—it was a comprehensive competition. In essence, it was indeed similar to the Sanctum Replacement Challenge. After all, the significance of it was the same. Not only were they comparing the present, but they compared the future as well. The difference was the age limit. In the apex stage, there was no age limit, so the experts would fight. In the middle level, those between the ages of three hundred and a thousand would fight, and in the youth level, those below three hundred years would brawl. At the moment, Tianming was still competing with hundred-year-old geniuses; how could he fight those with an additional two hundred years of cultivation?

”Don’t even think about it. It’s a team melee for all three levels. Your opponents are older than you and have more people on their side.” Lin Dan was lost for words. The Lin Clan was known for its flourishing population.

”How does it work?”

”In each melee, each side sends out ten people. So your grandparents, who are in the apex level, will have to fight against ten of their strongest. If you plan on participating, it’ll be the four of you against the ten of their strongest under the age of three hundred. There’s no one in your line to participate in the middle level, so you’ll lose that by default.”

Tianming was dumbfounded. It was certainly more exciting than the Sanctum Replacement Challenge.

”Twenty people from both sides will fight to the end in the Infinitum Bodhimanda. There aren’t enough people in your family, but mine has more than two hundred people who meet the age requirement of the youth level. It’ll be easy to choose ten of the strongest,” Lin Dan helplessly said.

”Your family?” Tianming was stunned.

”I’m sorry, but I belong to Lin Bei’s family. We’re a distant relative of the Second Patriarch. I’m so embarrassed to face you.” Lin Dan was even more upset.

”It’s fine! Uncle, do you think Grandpa and Grandma can beat ten of them?” Tianming asked.

Although a melee was shameless of them, it also made sense. The Lin Clan wanted a winner that could thrive.

”When the Second Patriarch was younger, he could take all of them alone. But now, it’s hard to say. He’s already five thousand years old, and in a thousand years, he’ll be gone. His cultivation has been declining for a while now,” Lin Dan said.

”So there’s hope.” Tianming thought about it, and was still unwilling to give up. ”Your family has more than two hundred suitable youths. What is their cultivation level?”

”The talented ones have a grade-four or five swordheart and five or six swordbeasts. There’s quite a few of them, but they can’t compare to your wife in terms of talent. But after years of cultivation, their cultivation probably ranges between seventh- and ninth-level stellaminors. Most of them are on the path to become astral gods. The most talented person among them is the only one under a thousand years old to have six-six talent. He’s called Lin Xiuzhu and he really wants to become the heir. Fortunately, he’s only in his sixties and an eighth-level stellaminor. You wouldn’t stand a chance if he were three hundred years old,” Lin Dan faintly said.

”What?” Tianming was stumped.

”What about it?” Lin Dan asked.

”They’re only seventh- or eighth-level stellaminors at that age? How does that make them geniuses?” Tianming retorted, wide-eyed.

”Fuck off. Do you think everyone’s a infinitum-class genius like your wife? My family can’t compare to the other primary lines, but reaching the seventh or eighth level of the Stellaminoris stage by three hundred is pretty good,” Lin Dan said.

”You’re right!” They were much stronger than the people of a deific-class world. Any of the youths would be considered geniuses in a deific-class world, and there were more than two hundred of them in Lin Bei’s family alone. However, they were nothing compared to Tianming in terms of talent. He seemed to have misread the situation. From the moment he had arrived in the Swordgod Lin Clan, most of the people he’d encountered had six-six talent, like Lin Xiaopo, Lin Jianjia, and Lin Huan. That was the reason he had assumed that the rest of the Lin Clan was equally strong, but in fact, the ones he’d fought were all infinitum-class geniuses.

There were hundreds of young geniuses in Lin Bei’s family, though their talents couldn’t compare to Lin Jianchen. After the initial explosive growth in cultivation that occurred before the age of a hundred, they began slowing down. For an ordinary two-hundred-year-old person, becoming a seventh- or eighth-level stellaminor was pretty good. In Ebonia, they were considered to be a cut above the rest if they had any hope of becoming an astral god. The Swordgod Lin Clan was a big clan, after all; ordinary people outside it were constelliers and ascendants at that age.

”Even if I’m two hundred years younger, I’ve never been afraid, not when it comes to talent,” Tianming said. After all, Etherean Shaohua had said that he was an infinitum-class genius.

At that moment, Tianming finally stopped frowning. ”We’ll have to fight ten people, and all of them are seventh- or eighth-level stellaminors. Is that right? But there’s only four of us. Fine then... I haven’t really done anything since entering the Swordgod Lin Clan. Just this once, my wives and I will turn this world upside down!” With Feiling’s Perpetia City, and Weisheng Moran’s divine wonders, would Tianming still be afraid of them? At the thought of Lin Xiao’s tears, he felt white-hot rage.

”When will they hold the succession override?” Tianming asked.

”Tomorrow,” Lin Dan said.

”Okay, I’ve decided. Fuck them all!” Tianming said, burning with excitement, as if he had returned to that day in Ignispolis.

”What?” It was Lin Dan’s turn to be stunned. After checking Tianming’s disciple card, Lin Dan realized that his cultivation level had gone up again.

”First-level stellaminor.” Lin Dan shook Tianming’s head, wondering if he had gone crazy.

Tianming slipped out of his hands like a loach and ran back to Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue. ”Grandma, Grandpa, look over here. Do you see anything different?” he shouted, pointing to his disciple card.

”I know. Come tomorrow, you’ll no longer be a legitimate heir,” Dongshen Yue sighed.