Beastmaster of the Ages

Since that was the case, Tianming had to take down Lin Linglin as quickly as possible. ”Go!” He already had the heavenly sunflower held back, effectively chipping away at his opponent’s combat potential. Ying Huo shrank and flew to his side. His other lifebound beasts surrounded Lin Linglin. Yin Chen even morphed itself into a silver cage that sealed her off.

”Don’t you know that the power of the sword multiples a fewfold when swordbeasts enter it?” She believed that Tianming would be completely unaware, given that he had no swordbeasts or swordheart.

”Of course!” Tianming casually answered. The heavenly sunflower’s sword-seeds had been a huge nuisance before, but it was no longer a problem. Not to mention, he had Ying Huo and the rest fighting beside him!

Lin Linglin’s Soarstream Double Yang unleashed its combined abilities all at once. However, the barrage had a fatal opening, as the heavenly sunflower wasn’t within the sword! Then Ying Huo used its Skyscorch Featherblast and Yin Chen followed up with many swarms of eight-starred ladybugs, while the others also used their order-infused abilities to mitigate the barrage. Lin Linglin kept swinging her sword and even executed the Divine Flower Burial Dance again, but she wasn’t able to wipe out all the Yin Chens. Ying Huo even managed to get a surprise hit in!

”You!” She glared at Tianming, stepping across the darkness like a golden flash as she charged him.

”Here it comes!” Tianming wielded a sword in each hand. As his beasts’ abilities blasted away at Lin Linglin’s back, she was forced to send out quite a few beast-shaped sword projections to mitigate the incoming attacks. The next instant, Tianming used the Grandvoid Compendium, Delayed Capture. The golden sword surged with flint infernal sword ki as it struck the hilt of Lin Linglin’s sword, completely unimpeded by the heavenly sunflower’s seeds. That was followed by the Xiaozhi Sword Art, Unistrike Singularity. The signature strike of the Lin Clan’s renowned ancestor contained deep mysteries of space that suppressed her to the point that she was unable to draw breath.

”Ugh!” At the same time, Tianming’s lifebound beasts kept their bombardment up from behind her. She wasn’t able to defeat them whether her swordbeasts were out or in!

Amidst that chaos, Tianming’s black sword finally struck, sending vapor lightning sword ki coursing through her body as it slammed into her head like a steel plate, suppressing everything that tried to divert its trajectory. Even with the protection of her invisible armor, her head was battered and bloodied as she fell spiraling to the ground! Blood seeped out of all her orifices, though her injuries weren’t as bad as they looked.

Tianming took her spatial ring while she was falling and quickly retrieved the skeleton, storing it in his ring and tossing the ring back. ”Thanks for the enjoyable fight. Let’s exchange blows again in the future.” He called back his lifebound beasts and disappeared before her eyes.

”Wasn’t Lin Feng... a hundred-year-old trash-tier disciple?” It wasn’t just her; everyone in the Infinitum Swordsea had also been floored by the power he’d displayed. She wiped off the blood on her face, knowing that Tianming could have killed her there, but chose not to do so.

......

Tianming quickly vanished into a dark corner and asked Yin Chen how Lin Lele and Meow Meow were doing. He quickly heard that Meow Meow was safe.

”Cat Bro... did escape... Sis Le... is gone....”

”Huh? Gone?”

”Oldgod Ring... is gone,” Yin Chen said after some thought.

Tianming’s expression immediately turned cold. ”Are you saying that Lin Jianxing’s attack took out her Oldgod Ring? It’s capable of protecting the wearer from a fatal hit... Does that mean he tried to kill her even though they’re both disciples of the same clan?!”

Even in his fight with Lin Linglin, he hadn’t attempted that on account of that relationship. He only gave her a light tap on the head, worried that spectators from the clan would have a lot to say about it.

”That’s right,” Yin Chen said.

”Losing the Oldgod Ring means that she no longer qualifies to fight for a higher rank.... Her rank will only continue falling. Didn’t he just do Sis Le dirty?” The fact made him rather uncomfortable. Lin Lele had been very sure that Lin Jianxing wouldn’t do much to her. He didn’t really know what the rules of the clan were regarding something like that, but as far as he was aware, eliminating one of their own was indeed going overboard.

Tianming didn’t know how it would be taken back in the clan. Perhaps they might see it as Tianming getting what he deserved for initiating the conflict. Even so, he still felt that Lin Jianxing’s actions were unnecessary. Lin Lele had no grudge with him, after all.

Yin Chen said that the Mundus Enforcers had appeared beside Lin Lele, so she would be fine for the time being. Lin Jianxing also remained there, probably expecting Tianming to return.

Tianming went around to meet up with Meow Meow first. ”Did he go hard on you?”

”Yes. He tried to capture me, but my nap buddy stopped him. After that, he stopped holding back,” Meow Meow said, seething with anger.

”Sis Le....” Tianming still hadn’t gotten over it yet. ”To think that she was eliminated because of a whim I had.... I have to make it up to her if I get a chance.”

While she had said that she didn’t care too much about the ranking, every disciple of the clan would try to bring glory to their ancestors with all their effort. There was no way she wouldn’t feel anything about losing the chance to do just that. ”Lin Jianxing, who knew you could be so ruthless?”

......

After waiting for a while, Lin Jianxing was asked to leave by the Mundus Enforcers. They knew that Tianming wouldn’t show up as long as he remained there. After he unwillingly left, Tianming also returned. When the two enforcers saw him, they turned to Lin Lele and said, ”Say your farewells now, then follow us back.”

”Alright, alright!” she said with a smile. Then, she awkwardly made her way to Tianming as she scratched her head. ”I fucked up.... I didn’t think that stupid dog would be that strong! I thought I could at least measure up to him somewhat!”

Tianming noticed a wound near her forehead. It was a thrusting wound, not just a smack from the flat of a blade. The strike could have pierced her head if not for the Oldgod Ring! ”Sis Le, I—”

”Don’t apologize. I’m serious.” She patted him on the shoulder. ”I didn’t think that could happen either! The clan only has around a hundred disciples that stand a chance of gaining a high rank, yet he dared to do what none of us does. It isn’t something you could’ve predicted, so it isn’t your fault.”

”Alright.” He could do nothing but nod. ”Sis Le, you helped me immensely, yet I got you tangled up in this. I’ll definitely make it up to you.”

”Make it up your ass. Just do your best and get a good ranking. I’ll bask in your limelight,” she said, wearing a completely unconcerned expression. But no matter what she said, Tianming intended to keep his promise. So far, he had repaid everyone that had helped him from the Flameyellow Continent all the way to Orderia many, many times over. Sage Chen, for example, had given him around a thousand yellow-patterned spirit gems and he got to become a god because of it, which would have been impossible without Tianming.

This incident also renewed Tianming’s impression of Lin Jianxing’s character. He was someone with bone-deep darkness, completely unlike any other Lin Clan disciple.

”It’s a shame. I’d wanted to protect you to the end, but I can’t do that anymore,” Lin Lele said, shaking her head.

”Sis Le, I’ll do my best to protect myself. I won’t disappoint you.”

”Very well. Then keep marching forward with my dreams in tow. Young man, no matter what other people say, you’ll always be good in my book!” She smiled and gave his face a pinch before turning gracefully to leave with the Mundus Enforcers.