Chapter 2198 - Lin Xiao's Pain

After crushing Lin Dan’s spirit, Lin Wei turned around and said, "My grandson Xiuzhu is still preparing for the minor ranking competition. Call him back. We need his help to seize the position of the legitimate heir. In the last thousand years, he is the only one with a six-six talent in our entire branch. Only someone like him is worthy of the title! In the future, the revitalization of the second branch will start with me, and after that, my children and grandchildren will take up the baton. We’ll have a fresh start! We’ll no longer be the last!" With his passionate speech, everyone was excited.

......

“Ah, feels good." After reaching the Stellaminoris stage, Tianming felt refreshed and spent about ten days stabilizing his cultivation level. He couldn’t help but feel as if time was passing faster and faster. The past ten days whizzed by in the blink of an eye. "Let’s go back and surprise Grandma and Grandpa, Ling'er," he said.

"Okay!"

They picked up Xiaoxaio from the fifth level of the Caeli Vault. "Xiaoxiao, what level are you now? Holy shit!" Tianming was just casually asking. He didn't expect to see such a change in the information on Xiaoxiao's pink disciple card; she had soared to the fifth level of the Stellaminoris stage.

"Grandma’s been feeding me ever since she found out that devouring caeli works for me. Not like there’s anything I can do about it," Xiaoxiao bitterly said.

"I'm so envious!” Although Tianming advanced rather quickly, he felt that it was only possible through enormous effort and the unique nature of his lifebound beasts.

"You shouldn’t envy me. It’s very uncomfortable. Tell Grandma that if she keeps feeding me like this, I’ll burst," she whined.

"Fuck off! Stop pretending!“ Xiaoxiao had always been ahead of everyone else in terms of cultivation level.

"What’s the highest level you think you can beat?" Tianming asked.

"Don't ask. I don’t think I can even beat a second-level stellaminor,” Xiaoxiao dejectedly said.

“Yeah, you're so awesome.… The complete opposite of this Tianming. You get beaten by those below your cultivation level.” Tianming wanted to give her a beating.

The Archaionfiend had also evolved into a myriadstar beast!

"It's okay, I have the Archaionfiend. If we get into a fight, I’ll just cheer for it from behind!" Xiaoxiao said.

"You weakling! You’re worse than your lifebound beast," Tianming said.

Ying Huo, wings akimbo, stepped on his head and sneered, "Then you’re good enough?"

"Why, if it isn’t my Chicken Bro! Greetings, Chicken Bro. I wish you good luck and good health." Tianming froze at once.

Ying Huo was in high spirits as the three of them boarded the mini ship and flew back to Brokensword Peak.

"Ling'er is also a fifth-level stellaminor. Your cultivation levels are unfathomable."

Feiling was even more of a special case. She had already reached a very high level in the Kunlan Realm, but everything was gone in an instant. She had even lost her heptastar cosmic physique. Now that she was starting all over again, it was a miracle that Tianming could keep up with her. Her strength had regressed and even her memories of cultivation could be separated, which showed that she was indeed an extraordinary woman. Feiling's condition was better than Xiaoxiao's. With Perpetia City, as well as various Kunlan Worldwings, Feiling was close to Tianming in terms of strength. She might even be able to defeat a seventh-level stellaminor. If she were to assist Tianming in battle, the advantages would be even greater.

"Our combat power is slowly taking shape. As long as we’re strong enough to protect ourselves, we won’t be like ants when we meet Lin Jianxing again," Tianming said.

"Yeah…." Looking back, they had indeed been truly miserable when they’d first arrived in Ebonia. They were lucky they had made it through the raging storm.

"What about Little Fish? How’s she?" Tianming asked.

"She’s almost there, but she’s still a constellier. She’s currently recovering on Brokensword Peak," Xiaoxiao replied.

"Okay! Ji Ji evolved. It’s much bigger now, close to half the volume of the Divine Sun Palace’s compact nova source. Ji Ji should be able to support her divine wonders on its own," Tianming said. He had it all figured out. In the future, Ji Ji and Weisheng Moran would work together. The combination of the two was equivalent to a divine astralship.

"By the way, something seems to have happened in the second branch. Many people have been looking at me strangely," Xiaoxiao added.

"What?" Tianming asked. He and Feiling had been so occupied with cultivating that they hadn’t noticed anything.

"I’m not sure. Maybe it has something to do with your grandparents," Xiaoxiao said. Without Weisheng Moran around, Xiaoxiao had felt lonely in the fifth level of the Caeli Vault.

"Nevermind, we’ll talk about it when we get back."

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

......

Their mini ship passed through the sea of clouds, flew over the magnificent pitch-black Infinitum Swordsea, and landed on Brokensword Peak amid the cacophony of noise from the lifebound beasts. As soon as they returned, Tianming heard a huge commotion at home. It sounded like people were arguing and losing their temper. Not far away, a hall collapsed and the sky was filled with smoke and dust. He could vaguely hear a grumpy Dongshen Yue cursing.

"What happened to Grandma?" Tianming had an ominous premonition. They quickly disembarked the mini ship and headed toward the smoke and dust. Upon arriving at their destination, they saw Lin Dan standing outside with a helpless expression on his face. Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue seemed to have entered their hall.

"What happened, Uncle?" Tianming asked.

"Go in and comfort them, nephew." Seeing Tianming, Lin Dan's expression eased a little.

Weisheng Moran was also alarmed. She arrived at that moment and joined Tianming. He was still puzzled when he saw her. Without another word, he brought his wives into Dongshen Yue’s hall. Tianming looked up to see his granny sitting at the top, leaning on her staff with a gloomy face as she rambled on. Lin Xiao sat barefoot on the ground, arms dangling to his sides, head bowed, and a dejected expression on his face. His eyes were red and he seemed close to tears. It was clear that he was heartbroken.

"Grandpa, Grandma, what's wrong?" Tianming felt his heart tense up as he rushed over with his wives. He motioned for Feiling and the others to comfort Dongshen Yue, while he sat beside Lin Xiao. In his mind, his grandfather was always happy and carefree, as if he didn't have a care in the world. He never took anything to heart, but today, his helpless and painful expression showed that he was in extreme anguish. Even his eyebrows and beard were drooping. He had experienced such hardships, yet he was still so sad now.

"You’re back?" Lin Xiao looked up at him. Upon seeing him, the urge to cry felt even stronger. However, he composed himself, wiping away the tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Grandpa, if there’s any trouble, please tell me," Tianming said with concern. His heart ached at seeing the old man like this.

“It isn’t really a problem. If I were more tactful, I would’ve brought up retiring myself. I did plan for this.... I just never thought that eighty percent, more than eighty percent of the second branch hated me!" Eighty percent! That figure was the reason he was so sad.

"There is nothing I can do about what happened back then. I tried everything to make up for it. In the first half of my life, except for having few offspring, I devoted my heart and soul to the branch. I did everything I could to help every family in it, and I did that for thousands of years… but the results of the voting can’t be denied. Who cares about the council hall, or getting five other branches to come to an agreement? There’s so many people in the second branch, so I never thought they’d be so decisive. Just within a day, they came to a decision. They hate me!" Lin Xiao's eyes trembled. The more he talked, the redder his eyes became.

"If you ask me, they’re a bunch of ingrates! Not just Lin Bei, but all those who agreed! They’re all so anxious that they’ve made everything so ugly and they didn't even bother to show some basic decency! Are they satisfied now?" Dongshen Yue spat. "If they’d hesitated a little, or waited a little longer, the old man wouldn’t be so upset!"

It had only been a hundred years since the incident involving Lin Mu, but Lin Xiao was over five thousand years old. Over the course of his life, everything he had done for the second branch had been selectively forgotten because of that day. It was easier to remember hatred. Tianming could tell that he was helpless and lost, but the problem was that he didn't even know what happened. Fortunately, Dongshen Yue explained the successor override.

"In one day, more than eighty percent of the branch agreed?" Tianming finally understood why Lin Xiao was so heartbroken. Deep down, Lin Xiao thought that his contributions from before and the recompense after ‘the event’ would gain him respect. Unfortunately, that wasn’t true.

"Dammit, Lin Mu, you’re such a bastard!"

He had made Lin Xiao so miserable. The successor override hadn’t happened in two million years. It was a mechanism to keep the clan prosperous, but it didn’t happen often. After all, the three conditions were difficult to meet. For the ones that were usurped, it was a disgrace that would be recorded in the annals of the clan’s history. It was humiliating.

"To be honest, I wasn’t going to hold onto this position for long. I planned to cede the position to Lin Bei when he was ready. It just so happened that our grandson returned. All I want is to give you a little more time as the branch heir so you can grow stronger. It’s a pity the others can’t wait and won’t even leave me a shred of dignity." Lin Xiao sat on the ground with his head lowered, sounding even sadder.

"Old woman, fighting’s meaningless. It’ll still be humiliating whether we win or lose. I don’t think we should fight." Looking up at his juniors, Lin Xiao said, "I just pity these children. They’ve barely enjoyed the benefits—especially our grandson, who’s just entered the sixth level. He’ll have to return to the third level."

It was a huge difference.

"Are you afraid? I don’t care if we have to fight ten people! I told you a long time ago that Lin Bei wasn’t suitable! The whole branch will be doomed if he takes over. He’s just the same as the third, fifth, and seventh branches. They are all trash, just running dogs of the ebons! None of them have the guts! If you cede your position, the entire Lin Clan will become someone else's dog once Ku’s gone! How will you face your ancestors then, old man?"