Beastmaster of the Ages

“This!” The seniors of the chamber were finally unable to spin this into praise. They could see the implications better than the disciples on the stele. Lin Jianjia didn’t have a chance of winning at the rate things were going!

Tianming was getting more and more familiar with the art while Lin Jianjia was getting slower. He had taken twelve days to complete his four thousand sword patterns, unlike Lin Jianjia’s half a month.

Lin Xiaoyun’s emotions had gone through a rollercoaster. In the beginning, he had smoothly accepted all kinds of compliments with a smile. He kept nodding and agreeing with everyone’s claim that Lin Feng would fall out in the second half. From the tenth day onward, he just... stopped moving. His eyes just kept staring at the images in front of him, while he himself didn’t notice his expression turning uglier and uglier. The hands he had placed behind his back started to clench as well.

Most importantly, the stream of compliments was slowing down.

“Get Big Sis Jianjia to quickly chase that wastrel away! It’ll be such a waste if he gets the sword art!” Lin Manman was so anxious that she couldn’t resist speaking out.

“Quiet.” Lin Wuyi pinched her mouth shut.

The others around them exchanged awkward looks. No one wanted to say the wrong thing now, so the chamber had entered a dead silence. Everyone’s microexpressions were quite a sight to behold.

Lin Xiaoyun had graciously accepted so many congratulations earlier that he now felt like someone was using a knife to slowly carve up his face bit by bit.

The door being slammed open broke the silence as two elders swaggered in, bringing along three gorgeous girls.

“I heard my darling grandkid is comprehending Ancestor Grandvoid’s legacy and he’s in the lead? Haha, what a joke, no one’s able to challenge him!” Lin Xiao led an icy Dongshen Yue as he entered the crowd. The best viewing position was naturally Lin Xiaoyun’s. Lin Xiao placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Hey, can you scoot aside? My eyesight isn’t what it used to be and I can’t see my grandson if I’m not nearby.”

“You!” Lin Xiaoyun was furious at suddenly being shoved.

He was just about to erupt when Dongshen Yue rolled her eyes at him and said, “What, you want to attack? Your daughter is just like you. When you can’t win, you resort to cheating. Are you not embarrassed?"

"Granny Dongshen, it was those little kids from the Hall of Discipline choosing to do so themselves. Don\'t malign Jianjia," Lin Wuyi said.

“Blergh. When you use those words to try pulling a fast one, are you underestimating everyone’s intelligence, or is the lack of intelligence on your end?” Dongshen Yue slammed her staff on the ground and glared at everyone else. “I don’t care. If my grandson is disturbed and loses the legacy today, I’ll dismantle your entire Swordsoul Chamber. I mean, it isn’t even doing its job anyway.”

“Granny Dongshen, it’s those kids from the Hall of Discipline taking the initiative to disturb him. It has nothing to do with Jianjia, don’t malign her,” Lin Wuyi said.

Everyone was too intimidated to say anything.

Dongshen Yue had never expected her grandson would be able to cause such a commotion on his first trip to the Swordsoul Purgatory. When she had first heard the news, she had tripped on her staff. She was the first casualty to have had her face hit.…

“Granny, look, they’ve been beaten.” Feiling tugged on Dongshen Yue’s sleeve.

“Huh?” Dongshen Yue looked to see a black figure protecting Tianming. The figure held back the five Hall of Discipline disciples and even managed to counterattack! The five were all knocked off the stele.

“Haha!” Dongshen Yue and Lin Xiao excitedly broke into laughter.

“Who’s that brat? That’s going to embarrass the hell out of Lin Xiaoyun!”

“Not bad, kiddo. You managed to get such a reliable brother so soon.” Lin Xiao stroked his beard as he sighed with praise.

Lin Dan suddenly popped out of nowhere. “Second Patriarch, Granny, that’s no brat, that’s a lady! That’s Lin Xiaogui, a mixed-blood specter from the first branch.”

“Huh?” Lin Xiao was surprised that she was a girl. But it didn’t really matter. What was important was that Lin Jianjia’s dishonorable move had failed.

“The core spirit of an ancestral guidance stele is ‘fair competition’. Everyone has a chance. You taught your kid to abuse her authority and rely on dishonorable moves, which is a desecration of the spirit! If you don’t want to embarrass yourselves, just watch and stop bootlicking.” Dongshen Yue leveled everyone with a look and many people mutely lowered their heads.

“Don’t laugh too soon. There’s still two weeks left, who knows what’ll happen?” Lin Wuyu sneered. However, her voice wasn’t very loud.

……

On the stele, Tianming was still sprawled on the ground, watching as Lin Xiaogui returned, panting for breath. “Not thanking me yet?” he asked.

“Are you crazy? You should be thanking me, I protected you!” Lin Xiaogui glared at him.

“No, no, you should thank me! I gave you a chance to show off and vent,” Tianming said.

“You\'re so full of bullshit!” Lin Xiaogui rolled her eyes. She looked away and saw Lin Jianjia coldly staring at them. She pointed her sword at Lin Xiaogui, the threat in her eyes clear. Even without words, Lin Xiaogui knew what she wanted to say.

Lin Xiaogui instinctively cowered, a shadow left behind by her childhood. The only thing she could do was look down, but that didn’t stop her cold sweat from falling. Honestly, her hard work meant that she wasn’t actually that much weaker than Lin Jianjia. However, her nightmares were already indelibly carved into her bones. Getting stronger wasn’t enough to overcome the trauma.

Lin Xiaogui’s memories of her childhood were all of her, an orphan, always skulking in the corner like a rat. Lin Jianjia would bring along her group of cats to catch and toy with her.

That was why Lin Jianjia wanted to ask her one thing: “Where did you get the courage?”