Chapter 2385 - No Victory Without a Fight

"Save me!" Tianming tried to cry out. The gigantic black ball rolled toward the two tiny people. Tianming even tried to hug them, only for them to move aside. "Huh?"

Only then did he recall that he was currently a ball. "Dammit! How hard can it be?"

Right then, he felt a sudden sense of weakness, causing him to feel faint for a slight moment. When he regained consciousness, he was already shrinking. "Oh, I can even turn back. Thank heavens. I wouldn't want Ling'er to have to hug a ball for the rest of her life."

He blacked out from time to time. Only after he had returned to human form did he feel properly conscious again. "It must be thanks to Huang Qi and the Order Relic in my body." He wouldn't be able to turn into a star whenever he wanted. It was only possible through Huang Qi's intent. It knew that there was no chance for him to survive if he was brought to the ebons, so it had saved him just this once.

When he came to again, he shouted at his grandparents, "Grandpa, Grandma, stop! I'm right here!"

The two were elated to hear his voice. Turning back, they saw their grandson instead of a gigantic star.

"Feng'er!" They turned around rapidly and flew toward him.

A leaf appeared in Lin Xiao's hand. It suddenly grew in length and wrapped itself around Tianming and pulled him toward the gigantic black sword in the distance, which was an ether-class divine astralship of the second branch.

Tianming's hair fluttered from the speed. He felt incredibly relieved that he had made his way back to them. While they were no longer in their prime and weren't that strong anymore, he still felt safe around them. "There's no victory without a fight. We have to protect our traditions well."

As he approached the black sword, Tianming felt a sweep of cold soul power coming from behind him. He turned to look and saw that the hundred-plus ebons had completely recovered and regrouped.

"Stop, Lin Xiao!" Chi Hun yelled, his voice echoed by the wailing of billions of wraiths. Tianming's Soul Tower heavily shuddered and his face paled from the pain. Fortunately, the enemies were just that bit slower, allowing him to be dragged into the divine astralship after only a short sting. The door of the ship immediately shut.

"How dare you act on your own accord, Lin Xiao!" Lin Yun anxiously watched as Tianming was taken into the ship. As divine astralships were forbidden from launching attacks within Ebonia, they were perfect sanctuaries. While normal divine astralships could still be breached by hand, not even Chi Hun would be able to stop an ether-class divine astralship from taking off. The only way to stop it was to use another divine astralship to ram into it with its nova source at full blast, but that was strictly forbidden! In other words, once Tianming had been taken into the ship and transported to a core section of the ship that was protected by many layers of formations, he was basically safe.

The black ship rose into the air and prepared to take off.

"Lin Xiao, your grandson Lin Feng broke the rules of the minor reges mundi ranking event! As a council member, I have the right—"

Before Lin Ziqing could finish, Dongshen Yue interrupted her. "Shut your flapping dog mouth! What kind of council member are you?! You don't even know the rules of the event! Everyone has seen my grandson's performance! Yet, you two old villains tried to bring harm to one of our own. Every member of the clan has witnessed your actions. Come back to the Infinitum Swordsea with me if you dare. I can't wait to see how they tear you apart there! So you’d better shut it, tramp!

"And you shameless fucking ebons! Not only did your elite disciples get killed during the event, you even tried—and failed—to take my grandson! I bet your ancestors are rolling in their graves from the humiliation of such a disgraceful display! Follow us if you dare!"

The ebons were the ones that had disregarded conventions to begin with. There was no way they could use Lin Yun and Lin Ziqing's support as an excuse for their attempted kidnapping of Tianming. They could only rely on their huge factional might to force people to not comment on their actions. As long as Tianming was in their hands, nobody could possibly rescue him. Even if their reputation suffered as a result, his fate wouldn't be changed.

Yet the problem was that they hadn’t managed to get him! Failing to get their way through force and kidnap Tianming had only made the whole thing even more embarrassing, and the key was that he’d escaped on his own accord. Even the ebons were greatly restricted by the rules of the Infinitum Bodhimanda. While they could get away with small moves, like taking Tianming before anyone could react, they wouldn't be able to do anything against the Lin Clan in any official capacity, as the latter also had comparable standing to them in the Infinitum Bodhimanda. The Grandnorth Dongshen Clan, however, didn't have that kind of power. Still, once Lin Xiao's ship left, there would be nothing that Chi Hun could do about it.

Dongshen Yue's voice had shaken the entire place. Before the ebons, Lin Yun, and Lin Ziqing could react, the black sword ship had flown off into the distance and there was nothing they could do but watch. The two members of the Lin Clan felt their faces heat up. They had forcefully dropped a sentence on Tianming on behalf of the council and would definitely be heavily chewed up for it once they returned. They had believed that it was a worthwhile sacrifice to pacify the ebons, so that their alliance wouldn't get affected, but there was nothing to show for it now. All they could do was blankly mull over what had happened.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

......

"They're gone?"

"So they left just like that after killing people and stealing treasures? They managed to slip away from the tenth rex mundi and hundreds of ebon elites?"

"This is gonna be big!"

"Even the ebons won't be able to catch them once they return to the Infinitum Swordsea, right? Not to mention, Shenxi Shang and Guchi Xiaoyin died because of their own actions." Shenxi Shang had demanded an Infinitum Duel of his own accord, while Guchi Xiaoyin's death had been declared an accident by Yi Daiyan. Nobody could be held accountable for it.

"Lin Feng killed Shuntian Bohan as well, but the Central Shuntian Clan didn't say a single thing."

"What would that achieve? The ebons were the ones that killed the most participants, if we're going to count the deaths. If anyone's to be held accountable, they should be the ones!"

"That's right. The round with the six walnuts saw all the ebons working together to kill others."

Even a bully would face resistance from the masses. The ebons were powerful, but they couldn't overpower Ebonia as a whole.

"What about that insane black star?"

"When the star disappeared, it seemed to turn into Lin Feng. Was I seeing things?"

"I don't think so. I also saw the same thing."

"Really? What’s that mean? Could something so odd really happen?"

People continued discussing the events even after the black sword ship left. Not even the ebons could stop people from talking about it, and their reputation was sure to plummet.