Beastmaster of the Ages

”Grandma, what kind of place is the Lifeless Chaoshole?” Tianming asked.

”It’s a dangerous region within the Infinitum Mundus. It’s said to have been formed by the destruction of a fifth-class nova source world in ancient times. There’s incredibly lethal nova source storms inside it. Even space itself is fragmented within. Most people avoid regions like that, where life can scarcely thrive,” Dongshen Yue said, worried.

”Star Hunters, eh....” Tianming furrowed his brows.

Lin Xiong was loudly bellowing within the council hall. ”Those ebons are nothing but animals! They even dared to hire astral pirates like those Star Hunters to go after Lingxiao! Do they not care about their reputation in the Infinitum Bodhimanda at all?!”

”Lin Xiong!” Lin Yun yelled, still seated in his chair. ”Don’t accuse the ebons without any proof! Baseless accusations will cost us our reputation!”

Lin Xiong charged at Lin Yun with fiery eyes. ”Before Lingxiao got attacked, he mentioned that he talked with Guchi Xiaoyao. She said something about ‘the consequences of our actions!’ Isn’t that proof enough!? What else do we need?! Have you gone fucking senile, you swollen old turd?!”

”Hey, if you’re that confident, go to the ebons with your accusations then! What’s charging at me gonna do eh? As long as you have no concrete proof, I advise that you mind your words. We’re already on Yi Daiyan’s bad side. If we offend the ebons as well, we’re done for!” Lin Yun said with an odd smile. No matter how hard he tried to hold it back, others could tell that he was enjoying this.

”Lin Yun.” Lin Changkong turned his piercing golden eyes to the old man. ”You said that we offended Yi Daiyan?” Lin Yun froze. ”She was the one that stole our Ancestral Swordheart, yet you somehow turned it into us being the offenders? Do you think we’re the ones who have wronged her?”

”I just misspoke, alright? It doesn’t change the fact that we already have a huge enemy to contend with and can’t afford to take on another,” Lin Yun said, rolling his eyes.

”However, once more, we are the ones who were offended. They came to slap us in the face. Will you choose to kneel and yield simply out of fear?!” Lin Xiao said, having stayed silent for the most part.

”Forget it! There’s no way I can ever convince you stubborn folks in the first place!” Lin Yun said. They were on fundamentally opposing sides, so nothing productive would come from their conversation.

”Changkong, are you going to go?” Lin Xiao asked, suppressing the anger he felt.

”Yes. I’ll go alone in the Gold Helianthus.” That was an ether-class divine astralship belonging to the ninth branch, though only a minor ether-class one as it was smaller than the Firmament. These days, Lin Lingxiao had been put in charge of dealing with the business shipments of the clan, so Lin Changkong had let him take the Firmament. From that alone, it was clear how highly he regarded his son.

”Come back alive. The ninth branch needs both of you,” Lin Xiao said.

”I will.” Lin Changkong nodded and got up with his fists clenched tight. He turned away from the ancestral plaques and headed toward the exit. When he reached the door, he turned back all of a sudden, his gaze falling on Lin Jie. ”When I return, if I find that there are moles within our clan that leaked the course of my son’s ship, I’ll tear them to countless pieces even if it goes against the rules! Let’s hope that no such person exists within our clan.” He disappeared in the next instant.

”Tch.” Lin Ziqing stood up and lazily stretched, as if she had been nothing but an interested spectator, and sassily left the council hall.

......

Tianming had coldly watched the entire confrontation. He knew that Lin Lingxiao had gone on this mission alone for his sake. Somebody is trying to go after Uncle Changkong all for the goal of killing me. There was no way that he was unrelated to this incident.

”Grandma, if someone in the clan really has resorted to using underhanded methods to harm one of our own, we’re allowed to spill blood, right? Even in the council hall?” Tianming asked.

”We still need proof,” Dongshen Yue said.

”I don’t think we do.”

......

Across many mountains to the north of the Infinitum Swordsea was an impressive peak that stood as tall as a titan that held up the skies. The peak stretched all the way up to the astralscape. It was the roof ridge of Ebonia, Taia Mountain, where the Grandnorth Dongshen Clan made their home. Somewhere on the mountain, Chi Hun, dressed in a black robe, smirked in the shadows. He held a gold transmission stone in his hand, looking at a pair of widely spaced golden eyes. ”If he fell into the Lifeless Chaoshole, there’s a good chance that Lin Changkong will be away for quite some time.”

”It’s even possible that he won’t ever return,” the figure said.

”A masterstroke, indeed,” Chi Hun said.

”There’s still been a small accident. Lin Lingxiao’s rather impressive and managed to drag the other two ether-class astralships into the hole, and the Star Hunters have suffered immense losses. It’s said that two of their cosmic cartographers’ subsouls have been extinguished. They perished within the Lifeless Chaoshole, but Lin Lingxiao yet lives.”

”It’s good that he survived, or we’d have wasted our funds to draw Lin Changkong away.”

”That’s true. What do you plan to do on your end?”

”I have an idea.”

”Let’s hear it.”

”Recently, Dongshen Zhuojun has been hiding near the ancient relic. I believe that is a sign that the Dongshen Clan is unable to send an army to fight for it, so they’ve resorted to sending individual elites to test their luck.” So far, Chi Hun had no excuse to attack, as the Dongshen Clan hadn’t been tempted to take back the ancient relic.

”So?”

”I plan to intentionally loosen our security and let him bring the ancient relic back to his lair.”

”I see.... They do say that you won’t be able to lure a wolf without risking your son,” the figure said, chuckling.

”That’s right.”

”What’s the plan in detail?”

”If he’s to be able to take the ancient relic, there’s no avoiding killing a few people, but not many will be lost. That won’t cause enough outrage to give us the pretense we need. So I decided to kill three thousand of our own to pin it on Dongshen Zhuojun. Think about it: we’ve done so much to set up that relic, only for someone to sneak in and take it from us after killing three thousand of our clansmen. That’s a grudge that can’t be forgiven! All we have to do is to earn public sympathy. Then, when we occupy their base, the relic will only reinforce our narrative! Not to mention, I can even get a few of our allied clans to sacrifice a few people to mobilize their ranks as well. We’ll let them be the ones that levy the accusation against the Dongshen Clan!” For the most powerful clan, all it had to do was rally a few allies to basically rival the entire world.

”Very well. We can say that we won’t stop the attack until they hand over the relic. Once they get their hands on it, there’s no way they’ll be willing to give it back. That’s how we’ll get them. If they choose to stubbornly keep it, you’re to swiftly break their defensive formation. Then we can start killing them off in the name of vengeance. Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue will be forced to move and show up. We’ll take everything, whether it be the ancient relic or Lin Feng’s treasure from the ancestral world.”

”Agreed.”

”Also, based on the footage from the Oldgod Domain, one of Lin Feng’s lifebound beasts seems to have impressive surveillance capabilities. When you talk to your contacts, make sure to remain discreet.”

”No worries on that front. The matter has my utmost caution,” Chi Hun said.

”Good. Let’s do as planned. I have something else arranged for Yi Daiyan and public opinion,” the figure said.

”That’s right. The one who throws the accusation first will be able to shape the narrative easier.”