Beastmaster of the Ages

Around thirty elites were gathered in Shuntian Tower. Their expressions didn’t look nervous at first, but all of them looked tense as time passed.

”Impossible!” a black-haired old man called Shuntian Bolong yelled. His eyes were wide open as he glared at a broadcast feed from an Oldgod Ring. ”The son of Lin Mu is only a twelfth-level stellaminor! How could he possibly overpower Bohan? He wasn’t his match the last time at all!”

Right after hearing that, the elites of Imperium Central had witnessed Tianming sending Shuntian Bohan’s exploding bee head flying.

”Bohan!” Shuntian Bolong’s eyes turned bloodshot. After the Oldgod Ring was destroyed, the images disappeared in an instant. He could only imagine how Tianming had skewered the heptastar organs of the dear grandchild he’d raised for nearly a century to completely kill him.

”May you let go of your grief, Bolong!” The other elites of the Shuntian Clan were deeply troubled by it as well. The atmosphere within the tower was deathly still.

”No, this is impossible! Bohan definitely isn’t someone that normal gods can defeat!” Such occurrences were far too rare, usually limited to genius normal gods at their peak slaying old, deteriorating astral gods. Yet Shuntian Bohan was definitely a genius astral god! After that scene unfolded, everyone in Imperium Central, not just those in the tower, seemed unable to accept that truth.

”Could it be that bees’ nest? Did it limit Bohan’s power in some way?”

”Lin Mu’s son seems to have broken through four levels within two short years, reaching the twelfth level when he used to only be in the eighth. Perhaps he obtained some kind of treasure inside the nest.”

”That’s definitely possible. Why else would he be hiding his Oldgod Ring?”

”Maybe it has something to do with those green skeletons and the gigantic finger.”

”That must be it!” They finally found an explanation for Shuntian Bohan’s defeat.

”The problem is how someone without a swordheart or swordbeasts could even obtain benefits that others couldn’t in the first place....” Nobody was able to figure out how that had been achieved. They’d only considered Tianming a trashy son of the infamous Lin Mu, and had never taken him seriously.

”This is a shame. We’d discussed applying pressure to the Mundus Enforcers before the event started to let us take the skeletons from the participants for study before the event concluded. Now that they’ve been transported to an ancestral world, who knows if they’ll return?” All of them seemed rather regretful for what they had potentially lost.

”Shut up!” Shuntian Bolong breathed in and squinted. ”The Swordgod Lin Clan seems to be in the limelight often lately, and for the son of a disgraced member to be able to waltz around like that without any repercussions....”

”Shuntian Bolong, please forgive me for speaking out, but it isn’t all too uncommon for juniors to kill one another in such environments? It has nothing to do with the Swordgod Lin Clan.”

”Oh? Even when they’re the running dogs of the ebons?” Shuntian Bolong barked a cynical laugh. Nobody was able to say anything to rebut that. ”I truly am curious how Lin Mu, who was famous for his manic and passionate love, could have an illegitimate son elsewhere. I wonder how our rex mundi sees it.” He continued coldly smiling, possibly thinking of the hard and arduous path that the youth called Lin Feng would tread in the future.

......

Tens of millions of members of the Lin Clan gathered at the stump-like Grandsect Mountain.

”Lin Feng and Shuntian Bohan!”

The moment someone cried out, countless people turned their attention over. They quickly tuned in to Shuntian Bohan’s Oldgod Ring feed.

”Lin Feng’s done for....” Having seen Tianming run haggardly from Shuntian Bohan twice, they couldn’t imagine this duel turning out any other way.

”Where’s the Second Patriarch?”

”He’s gone to the Oldgod Domain!”

”It’s pointless even if he goes there. I heard the participants were sent to an ancestral world and none of them have been able to leave yet.”

”Lin Feng actually broke through four times... I thought that he would be able to mature as an infinitum-class genius, but alas....”

”This is such a shame.”

”His death isn’t nearly as shocking to the world as his dad’s....”

”He deserves it!”

”What’re you saying? He’s still a disciple of our clan!”

Many members began passionately arguing the matter. While there were many who mocked and laughed at Tianming, quite a few of them had started taking his side.

”Enough squabbling! Watch!” Suddenly, many people gasped in shock as Tianming put pressure on Shuntian Bohan with one strike after another until he broke the Oldgod Ring, cutting off the broadcast feed altogether.

”Huh?” The tens of millions of people there were speechless.

”He killed an astral god!”

Similar shrieks of abject disbelief echoed over and over. Such a phenomenon repeated itself, starting from Lin Xiuzhu, to Lin Linglin, then to Shuntian Bohan. The confused looks of every member of the clan began changing.

”Even though he isn’t an astral god yet, nor is he considered an infinitum-class genius, he managed to kill Shuntian Bohan, who’s definitely infinitum class.... I truly think Lin Feng is quite capable.”

”Not just capable, he’s among the best.”

”Perhaps one day, he can take over for the Second Patriarch and lead the second branch!”

”As he said, he’s really here to make amends!”

”Let’s hope he survives.”

The mountain began growing rather noisy with all the cheering. Most of the young people were unreservedly on Tianming’s side. Their loud cheers resounded throughout the Infinitum Swordsea and could be heard all the way from the council hall. Even the powerful members of the clan were starting to be swayed.

”Splendid!” Lin Xiong said, clapping. ”As expected of Brother Tiger’s grandson. He managed to completely subvert expectations! I’m sure none of you can believe what you saw, right?” He cast a look at the reformists, who were all cold and silent.

”It really is amazing. Linglin shouldn’t be the least bit ashamed for losing to him,” said Lin Changkong of the ninth branch as he joined the applause.

”Those fools in Shuntian Tower must be rolling in anger! Hahaha!”

”This young Lin Feng actually ranks around seven hundred, higher than my granddaughter.... Very good! That’ll put him in the top six of our clan, right?”

”Looks like he isn’t any worse than his wives. The second branch has a bright future ahead!”

”The second patriarch must be utterly elated!”

However, Lin Yun of the third branch interjected, ”Don’t be too happy just yet. We still don’t know if any of the children will survive the ancestral world.” He was the grandfather of Lin Jianxing, so he was quite worried.

”Let’s keep watching. It isn’t like we can do anything about it. It all depends on them now,” said Lin Jie from a dark corner.