Beastmaster of the Ages

"Hey, you might think you\'re whispering, but the seniors in the Swordsoul Chamber can hear you through your bracelet," Tianming reminded him.

"So what if they do? Is that not the truth? I bet that if Lin Jianjia had been in trouble instead of me, you wouldn\'t even have had a chance to fight." Lin Huan rolled his eyes.

"Friend, are you saying that the Swordsoul Chamber is discriminating against branches and intentionally trying to get the heirs of other branches killed?"

"What? I sure hope I haven\'t implied that. After all, I can\'t say that without any proof, can I? It would be so, very, very ridiculous if that were the case, though!" Lin Huan spat on the ground in disdain.

The two of them matched each other\'s groove and levied an indirect accusation for those in the Swordsoul Chamber to hear. Since nobody had really been harmed by the allegedly intentionally slow rescue, others would be the judge of the matter. If they really were to freak out over the matter without proof, Lin Xiaoyun would just feign ignorance and proclaim his innocence. After all, if something were to happen to Lin Huan, the third, fifth, and seventh branches would all benefit, so it would be hard to pin the blame on the third branch alone.

For clans that prized legacies and succession, heirs were incredibly important. But Lin Xiaoyun had a lot of room to maneuver, since the incident had started because of the bloodline hairfiend in the first place. Accidents like this one were rare opportunities, so Tianming stopping it was a huge deal.

As the two of them continued chatting, Lin Huan\'s expression suddenly changed when he looked behind Tianming. Lowering his head, he said, "Grandpa, you\'re here." Though he had been showing off just now, he shrank into a small ball when he saw his grandfather.

Tianming turned and saw an even bigger figure behind him. He was dark and fat like a gigantic old bear, though he was still younger than Lin Xiao. He was probably only a little older than the fifth branch master. His dark face made him look angry, and Tianming felt a lot of pressure coming from him. As he had read up on the different branches, he easily guessed who it was.

He was none other than Lin Huan\'s grandfather, Lin Xiong, who had two positions in the clan: a member of the council and the head of the Hall of Merit. In the Swordgod Lin Clan, halls were more important than chambers. As such, the Hall of Discipline and Hall of Merit superseded the Swordsoul Chamber in importance. The Hall of Discipline dealt with enforcement and punishment, while the Hall of Merit handled the awarding of merit points.

The old man was the strongest fighter of the sixth branch, befitting his status and the titles he held. As for the new sixth branch master, that was Lin Huan\'s father, Lin Bao. All three generations of the key figures of the sixth branch were fat, and that was due to a quirk of their line. The Winemeat Sword Art that they excelled at made them dine on meat and wine in copious amounts to refine their bodies, much like specters. They mainly used heavy swords and had ferocious fighting styles reminiscent of bears, but with their chubby figures, they were more often known as boars instead.

"Grandpa Xiong, nice to meet you," Tianming greeted.

"Grandpa, this is my new friend, Lin Feng. He\'s handsome, isn\'t he?" Lin Huan said as he quickly rushed over.

"Move aside." Lin Xiong sent Lin Huan flying with a swing of his hand and looked down on Tianming and Feiling from above.

"Grandpa Xiong, what’s the matter?" Tianming was letting out cold sweat. Being stared at by a senior like that was quite a lot of pressure.

"Very good! Impressive!" Lin Xiong heartily laughed. Ignoring the Swordsoul Bracelet, he said, "Disciple Lin Feng, you’ve acquired mastery in the sword arts of two reges mundi. While your cultivation level may be lacking, your combat capabilities have impressed me. I’ve decided to raise you to a grade-three disciple."

Tianming noticed that the disciple card on his face immediately responded and recalled that a member of the clan council did indeed have this right! Naturally, he would have to convince more than a single clan elder, but he had achieved that with the mastery of his sword arts. Lin Huan himself was a grade-five disciple, two grades higher than Tianming right after his promotion, after all.

That sudden promotion gave him access to the sixth level of the Caeli Vault. Filled with gratitude, he said, "Thank you dearly, Grandpa Xiong!" He was a huge benefactor, and Tianming wouldn’t hesitate to ingratiate himself with him after he saved his grandson.

"I haven\'t finished." Lin Xiong cleared his throat and continued, "You two young\'uns knew that the bloodline hairfiend was a fearsome foe, yet you ignored any risk to your lives to save your compatriots while the Swordsoul Chamber only watched from a distance. Your fearless spirit is a model for our entire clan. Based on that, I’ll award each of you a thousand merit points!"

Tianming\'s smile beamed when he heard it. As expected, the lord of the Hall of Merit had more leeway in awarding points. "Thank you once more, Grandpa Xiong. May you ever be in good health." Feiling also thanked him with a bright smile.

"Lin Feng, you deserve it!" Lin Huan said when he returned.

Lin Xiong glared at him and continued, "I watched you execute those sword strikes. It is really impressive, though there’s still room for improvement. See that you contribute to the clan one day. Perhaps from then on, you’ll no longer only be known as the son of Lin Mu, but as Lin Feng, a disciple of the clan in your own right."

"Understood!" Tianming nodded at the positive encouragement.

"Additionally, tell Brother Hu that I have a new cricket that’ll tear his to shreds, haha!" When he was done speaking, Lin Xiong grabbed Lin Huan and zipped off.

"Who’s Brother Hu?" Feiling asked.

Tianming didn\'t quite know how to respond. He knew it referred to Lin Xiao. "It should be my grandfather...."

"Isn\'t his name pronounced Lin Xiao?"

"Hahaha..." He didn\'t dare to say that Lin Xiong probably mistook the character Xiao (猇) for Hu (虎). [1]

Based on that alone, Tianming could tell that Lin Xiao still had some connections within the clan, with Lin Xiong being the strongest one. Back in the day, they had both been famous and were known as the tiger-bear brothers.

"What should we do now?" Feiling expectantly asked.

Tianming looked at his disciple card; he had a total of twelve hundred and fifty merit points. "I struck it rich overnight! Let\'s go on a shopping spree!"

"Let\'s go!" she impatiently urged. The \'poor\' couple had experienced what it felt like to win the lottery, even though they’d just been awarded a measly thousand points.

......

Within the corporation\'s island, a young couple walked across the busy streets, ignoring the people around them.

"This is pretty... but it\'s so expensive!"

"This one looks good too, but at two thousand merit points...."

The more Feiling looked around, the more pitiful she felt. She had no choice but to unwillingly leave the stores. There were far too many items, and most of them were treasures for orderans that cost tens of thousands of points. And to think they’d thought they had grown rich overnight.

"I\'m dead poor...." Tianming faced reality for real this time instead of remaining in denial.

Finally, Feiling saw a necklace called the Aquamarine Heart. When she put it on, it enhanced her beauty even more. It was a perfect match for her fair and supple skin and was also a grade-nine divine artifact with Aquamarine Divine Realm patterns. The divine hazards within formed a blue protective barrier, and the necklace even had an artifact soul refined from a nova wildbeast. It was a rare item that excelled in both form and function.

Disciples of the clan had an insider price of twelve hundred merit points, which was far more than the swords sold in the building Tianming managed. Normal cultivators didn\'t care much for beauty, so they wouldn\'t waste their merit points on a luxury item that only just happened to have practical uses. However, the necklace was irresistibly tempting to Feiling.

"Let\'s buy it," she said, tugging Tianming’s arm and biting her lip, shooting him a look of desire.

"Umm... if we do buy it, we\'ll only be left with fifty merit points..." Tianming said.

"Then let\'s not keep that little bit of pocket change. We can get some pastries and cakes with it," she said, swaying his arm around.

"Hmm... let me mull over it some more...."

"Big Brother~"

Hearing her coquettish voice, Tianming melted. "Fine, I\'ll buy it, but there\'s a condition."

"Alright, let\'s hear it."

"You must make me do ten Cicada Blasts."

"You rascal!" She blushed as she licked her lips. "Do you think you can take it?"

"Of course! I have a Primordial Chaos Beast physique, after all!" With that, his merit points had been entirely used up before they’d even had time to weigh down his wallet. Thankfully, he could at least partake in her joy.

"Alright, let\'s go to the Caeli Vault! I need to feast on the cosmic cartographer ancestors!" He walked on with a beauty in his arm, feeling like the ruler of Ebonia.

"Phrasing! Just say you\'re going to cultivate. What do you mean by feast?"

"Well, I\'ve already feasted on you, my little immortal of infinite age, so why would I worry about feasting on those old geezers?"

She didn\'t even want to waste words to respond.

Tianming had gained quite a bit by saving Lin Huan. With access to the sixth level of the Caeli Vault at his fingertips, his goal was to quickly become a twelfth-level solarian and build the foundations for his advancement to the Stellaminoris stage. He also had a feeling that his lifebound beasts would awaken soon.

"Experiencing higher-level caeli for the first time will give my divine will quite a boost. Last time that happened, I broke through two-and-a-half levels. Ling\'er said that advanced cosmic deities like cosmic cartographers have a different kind of order than orderans. I\'d like to see how that is!"

1. Hu is the character for tiger, while the character for Xiong 熊 is the one for bear. ☜