Beastmaster of the Ages

“Granny, isn’t Lin Jianjia the mastermind?” Lin Huan asked.

“It’s her, yes, but there’s no evidence. What this insect heard isn’t enough. It’ll only be ironclad if the formation can record Lin Wuxing admitting it,” Dongshen Yue said.

Recording formations operated on the same principle as the Swordsoul Bracelet. It wasn’t difficult and many people had them. If Tianming had had one at the Grade-nine Department and activated it beforehand, he would have had ironclad evidence. Lin Xingjing had bared herself before he’d even understood what was going on.

“Little Fifth, ask her if she has one first,” Tianming asked.

“She does.”

“Good. Now, tell her the rest.” Tianming finally relaxed. Xiaogui hadn’t gone too far yet, so Lin Xiao had quickly caught up. As a cosmic cartographer, it was easy for him to hide in the sea.

Everything that happened next would be up to Xiaogui.

“Grandmother, what do we do if Xiaogui succeeds?” Tianming asked.

Dongshen Yue sneered. “Familicide and hiring an assassin are intolerable crimes with the Lin Clan Rules! Lin Jianjia is a supervisor in the Hall of Discipline, which adds to her crime. Her mother is also Lin Jie’s younger sister! Committing this crime with her identity will cause the third and fifth branches to suffer and their reputation to fall!”

No matter what ended up happening to Lin Jianjia, it would be a blow to Tianming’s enemies. “So you think you can bully my Grandfather and Grandmother? Since you’ve served yourself up on a silver platter, I won’t be polite!”

……

Xiaogui inhaled deeply. Her fingers hidden in her sleeves were slightly trembling. “I’ll win this time.” She had never expected this to happen to her. Coldness, disappointment, and despair filled her heart. Even though she had become a grade-five disciple and one of the Lin Clan’s elite geniuses, she could still be assassinated in the Infinitum Swordsea! That hadn’t happened often in history.

To anyone from the Swordgod Lin Clan, which emphasized unity and cooperation, Lin Jianjia’s actions were definitely chilling.

Then, all of the anger Xiaogui had repressed over the years burst through the dam and she grit her teeth so hard they almost shattered. However, her rationality told her that she had to pretend to be ignorant. Thus, she continued flying above the Infinitum Swordsea toward the Caeli Vault. In the past, she had been alone, but now she had people that cared about her protecting her! That gave her a confidence she had never had before.

The swords within the swordsea collided against each other and loudly clanged. When Xiaogui reached a certain region, she suddenly sensed that she was being watched! “If they hadn’t noticed the assassination time, I’d be dead for sure.” It was an orderan senior!

A clear, crisp thrum rang out and Xiaogui felt as if all of her albi had been sealed in ice. Even speaking became a struggle. Her entire body felt like it had been frozen in place as well.

A black-robed man appeared in front of her. He was wearing a large hood that completely concealed his face. Only the blood-colored flower on his black robe stood out, as if it was a bloodstain.

It was the Flower of Ebony! Lin Wuxing had appeared.

It would be an easy mission for him that would only take one move and he would be paid handsomely for it. What was there to not be happy about? To someone like him, who was over a thousand years old, killing Xiaogui, who wasn’t even a hundred, would be as easy as blowing dust.

A sword instantly appeared at Xiaogui’s forehead and she caught a strange and disdainful smile coming from under the disguised person’s hood.

“Die.”

At that moment, Xiaogui felt like she had already died, as she found it impossible to breathe. However, something like a white cloud appeared on her hair, then pounced on Lin Wuxing’s face and wrapped around his sword, blocking the attack.

The white cloud went splat, but Lin Wuxing’s order was disrupted for a moment, allowing Xiaogui to break free. She was sent crashing down into the sea below.

Xiaogui’s expression was pale as she gasped for breath. Finally able to speak, she directly knelt down and pitifully wailed, “Don’t kill me, Senior! I’m willing to work myself like a horse for the rest of my life to serve you!” She looked up and saw the sword had already reappeared in front of her.

The black-robed man tilted his head and chuckled. He had never killed a grade-five disciple with six-six talent before. The swordsea was vast and most used mini ships to cross it, so there was no one around.

The sword stopping represented a huge chance for Xiaogui! She quickly lowered her head and wailed again, “Don’t kill me! I’m willing to be your slave. I’m still young and capable—”

“Forget it, kid. I actually sympathize with you, but you can only blame yourself for annoying someone you can’t afford to annoy.” Lin Wuxing’s sword only needed a bit of force and it would pierce through Xiaogui’s head.

Xiaogui shook as she continued to sob. “Is it… Lin Jianjia? Only she bullies and hates me!” She knew the Flower of Ebony’s rule: once an assassination failed, they couldn’t reveal the client. However, they didn’t have a rule against revealing their clients to a dead person.

Some clients even wanted the assassin to reveal their identities before the deed to make the victim die with even more frustration. Lin Jianjia was one such person; she also wanted Lin Wuxing to record Xiaogui’s final moments.

Lin Wuxing didn’t really want to do it, so he had tried killing Lin Xiaogui as soon as he appeared. However, when the whitecloud bonebug had blocked him and he saw Xiaogui crying, he remembered his extra mission. He was supposed to make his target die in suffering.

Thus, he shrugged and emotionlessly said, “Lin Jianjia wanted me to pass on a message to you: ‘a rat like you is only worthy of being toyed with by me. You owe me a favor for letting you die so easily.’”

Then, he began laughing.