Beastmaster of the Ages

When Lin Xiaoyun had announced the conclusion of the successor override, the Infinitum Bodhimanda retracted back to the fusion formation and the various lights from the Infinitum Swordsea filled the area again, making the council hall look stately and dignified.

The old fellows at the front all cracked a smile upon seeing the battle’s end. From their positions, a clear divide could be seen between the council hall. The old fellows led by Ku were closer to Lin Xiao.

“Brother Hu and sister-in-law are still as amazing as they were years ago.” The big and burly Lin Xiong gave a hearty laugh.

“They must’ve kept working hard these few years.”

“How can we not be won over?”

“Second Patriarch’s personality is exactly like that! He’s stubborn and single minded. He refuses to admit defeat before the limit of his lifespan!”

“He’s a model for our generation.”

Even in the council hall, Lin Xiao was a legendary figure. Apart from Ku, all of the older folks with Lin Xiong were younger than Lin Xiao.

“I wonder when the second patriarch will have a chance to return to his rightful place in the council hall,” someone said in a low voice.

No one answered. They all knew the people behind them were young and conducted affairs with much more fire and vigor. They wouldn’t agree. Today’s events hadn’t been good news for them, so they were keeping quiet, but it was impossible to hide their anger.

Ku understood. The council was about to fracture even more. It would force these people, who should have been united, to take a stand. Sooner or later, an even bigger conflict would erupt; no one could stop it.

Lin Jie was with his fellow reformists, standing in the shadows of the council hall. His sharp gaze pierced through the darkness and landed on Lin Xiao’s back.

Ku shook his head. He weakly leaned against his chair and looked at his clan that felt both familiar and foreign. “Second Patriarch, you’re still holding on… how wonderful.”

……

The second branch members all clustered around and as they cheered, Tianming finally enjoying welcoming gazes for the first time. It was a fantastic feeling. This is proof that all of my efforts and direction have been right. Ever since coming to the Lin Clan, he had never considered going against them.

“Feng’er!” Everyone watched as Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue reunited with their grandson.

“Branch Master!” many people cheered. After the battle, quite a few of them didn’t want to return.

Lin Bei’s line of over a thousand people weren’t thick-skinned enough to stick around. Lin Bei acted as their representative and came over to make some polite small talk with Lin Xiao and ask for forgiveness before they all skulked away. The cheers they were hearing were very painful.

Although many people pitied them, a successor override needed a thousand years before the next one could be issued. That meant their family no longer had a chance to rise up unless Tianming didn’t succeed as Second Branch Master.

“Brother Hu!” Tianming’s family were basking in their victory when they suddenly heard a booming voice. They looked up and saw three massive fatties coming over, so large that they took up their entire vision. Naturally, it was the three generations of fatties, Lin Xiong, Lin Bao, and Lin Huan!

Lin Xiong was a council member and the master of the Hall of Merit, Lin Bao was the sixth branch master, and Lin Huan was the branch’s scion. The entire sixth branch was under their thumb. And they had always had a good relationship with the second branch. However, after the events of a hundred years ago, Lin Xiong had rarely met Lin Xiao in public in order to avoid gossip. However, he had come this time, and was even representing the council hall!

“Brother.” Lin Xiao was all smiles.

The two fiercely wrapped each other in a hug. They were willing to show their brotherhood because of Lin Xiao’s reputation boost today. Lin Xiong would have been criticized by the council hall and sixth branch otherwise. Thus, the events of the day had been a good thing, as to the two of them, it’d simply been too long.

After the embrace, Lin Xiong cleared his throat and announced, “Lin Xiao, Dongshen Yue, on behalf of the council hall, I congratulate your branch on its victory!”

“Thank you council hall, thank you ancestors!” Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue solemnly said.

“Yes.” Lin Xiong nodded before looking at Tianming’s group. “Lin Feng, bring your wives over.”

“Yes!” Tianming knew a good thing was coming.

The people from the second branch were all full of curiosity toward Lin Xiong’s next words. They all craned their necks to see better.

Lin Xiong gave Tianming a heavy pat on the shoulder, making him grimace in pain. He roared with laughter. “Firstly, you actually hid your strength, kiddo! The council hall judges that you’re at least a seventh-level stellaminor, and that sword of yours with the cosmic impulse, as well as the sword arts from two reges mundi, was what allowed you to fight above your level and defeat Lin Xiuzhu. Thus, the clan registry will now record you as a seventh-level stellaminor that can fight one or two levels above him.”

“You can do it like that?” Tianming’s disciple card had already reflected the new changes. He didn’t know how to respond; he was actually still a first-level stellaminor, but they had somehow just raised him six levels! They had even overthought it and thought it was because of the Grand-Orient Sword and Tianming’s sword arts.

“The decision seems to make sense for now. However, when I’m sixth-level, it’ll say I’m twelfth-level. And as I myself increase from seventh- to twelfth-level, my disciple card won’t change but I’ll still continue getting stronger. I’m sure they’ll be confused again.” It was an intractable problem.

Another variable clouding their judgment was Ying Huo and the rest’s orders, making Tianming’s cultivation system look like a mess! In the end, he was simply too good in all aspects.

“As of now, my ability to fight above my level will probably only be reduced when I meet an astral god with order.” Ying Huo and the rest didn’t have enough astralforce, so their orders were still inferior to true order. However, that was unfixable as long as they were still stellaminors.

“Regardless, everyone will treat me more normally when I reach the seventh-level.” Usually, an heir that still hadn’t reached the Stellaminoris stage before a hundred was really just too trashy. The council hall’s decision would help reduce the bias against Tianming. “Whatever. Their mistake will only be revealed when I reach seventh level. That’s another day’s problem.”

Believing himself to have fixed Tianming’s actual cultivation level, Lin Xiong publicly announced, “In light of Lin Feng and his wives’ battle just now, the council hall has decided to raise their disciple grades so that outstanding disciples can receive the best nurturing!”

“Good!”

Even the council hall had to be convincing when they made their decisions. They had to follow the will of the people.

Lin Xiong was happy to hear murmurs of agreement and continued, “Lin Feng will become a fourth-grade disciple.”

“That works!”

“More or less there. A seventh-level stellaminor at the age of a hundred barely reaches the standard of a fourth-grade disciple.”

“However, he can go to the seventh level of the Caeli Vault now, since he’s a scion! The caeli there belongs to advanced cosmic cartographers, most of whom were historically members of the council hall.”

“The next part will be more shocking!” Lin Xiong dropped a spoiler, arousing more interest. “Jiang Feiling, Lin Xiaoxiao, and Weisheng Moran managed to defeat opponents who were three hundred years old while not even thirty themselves. Their performance is unprecedented in our clan’s history. Thus, the council hall’s decision is to make them sixth-grade disciples!”