Chapter 2196 - Council Successor Override
Ying Huo and the others didn't have minor stellar charts, so their fusion into astrons was forced. As a result, they temporarily still relied on astralforce instead of cosmoforce and could only use the cultivation methods of initiate cosmic deities. The symbiotic cultivation began, allowing them to exchange their energies with Tianming through their links. He could feel their six bloodlines flooding into his body, triggering yet another change.
"So this is order!" He could see the spherical honeycomb briquettes within their heptastar organs all too clearly. Ying Huo's order was a flaming sphere, spreading terrifying power throughout its entire body to allow it to control its astralforce, preventing it from leaking into the environment. The other lifebound beasts also had their respective orders. When Tianming's astralforce flowed into their bodies, he immediately felt a deafening boom.
While he hadn't cultivated the power of the six orders yet, it made no huge difference. Normally, the order of a beastmaster was the same as their lifebound beasts'. If a beastmaster had many beasts, only one order would be picked. And though he cultivated the Imperial and Lifesbane paths, he could still feel their order flowing into him through their bloodlines. Their orders were also his! Such was the mystique of symbiotic cultivation. Tianming's Lifesbane and Imperial Wills absorbed the various strands of order, ushering in a complete metamorphosis.
"Am I really going to break through twice and become a stellaminor right away?" He was filled with anticipation as he took a deep breath. It was clear to him that his divine wills were rapidly growing as they interfaced with the orders from his lifebound beasts. The different orders had their own whims and characters and weren’t bound by the laws of the heaven and earth, allowing them to nourish his Imperial and Lifesbane Wills however they pleased. Tianming had obtained the basic power afforded to him by the orders and was able to mix and match the various orders and his divine wills by pairing them together!
"In my future cultivation, I can follow the guidance of the orders of ancestral caeli and interface with my beasts' orders. That way, even once I'm past the prime growth stage, I'll still be able to maintain a really high cultivation speed throughout the Stellaminoris stage and reach the Order stage sooner!" That was no doubt good news. "When my divine wills reach the right level in a bit more time, I'll be able to absorb a large amount of nova source to fill up my astral discs and sacrosuns. Those two cores of energy will cause my albi to reach maximum capacity and start squeezing my sacrosuns into the inner walls of the albi to form the minor stellar chart for the next stage!"
He felt like the time to make that leap was nigh. After the past ten days or so, his divine wills were now able to control enough energy to maneuver the sacrosuns into his albi's walls, as he had expected. He remained in the Zenith Way, absorbing nova source like a madman and drawing quite a lot of attention to himself. Ying Huo and the others also needed minor stellar charts, so they cultivated alongside him. The pandemonium and cyclic sacrosuns began diffusing into the inner walls of his albi. Whether he would succeed depended on this very moment.
A chain reaction ignited within his body. Every single one of his albi glowed blindingly bright from the sacrosuns within their walls, causing his entire body to glow. That was a clear manifestation of the minor stellar chart, which was hard to miss. The halos that were associated with sovereigns were usually a manifestation of divine light from inside their albi. The inner walls of Tianming's albi had minor stellar charts from his two sacrosuns, which were further influenced by the orders from his lifebound beasts, making them even more robust. They looked like actual star maps of the universe.
"Finally, the first level of the Stellaminoris stage!" Tianming beamed with excitement. It was an important milestone he had reached! With that achieved, what came after would be smooth sailing.
"With help from their orders and access to the sixth level of the Caeli Vault, I'll rise up in no time! Not to mention, I wouldn't even need to reach the Order stage to be able to fight orderans, thanks to my beasts' orders. I probably just need a few more levels under my belt. As I am now, I could probably take on genius eighth-level stellaminors with what I’ve got. Even without using the power of the Omnisentient Threads, I wouldn't even have to fear the Blood Abyss Wargod, especially since I have Ling'er with me!"
He had never been more terrifyingly powerful. The others thought the best he could do was fight disciples around the age of forty-five. Little did they know that he broke through a few levels in one go and entirely crossed that stage, allowing him to measure up to disciples near a hundred years old, and nobody knew that he was actually still under thirty! In terms of a prodigious genius, nobody in Ebonia would be his match! The only ones who could realistically suppress him now were those a hundred years old or above.
"Even in Ebonia, the talent afforded by my Primordial Chaos Beasts is unmatched." The pulsing power he felt in his body reminded him of the fearful awe Ying Huo and the rest deserved.
It was the first big transformation he had undergone in Ebonia. While it took him less than half a year, he broke through five entire levels in that time, almost a level each month! Even when he was cultivating among the mortals on the Flameyellow Continent, he had never made such rapid progress.
......
Traysword Peak was where the fifth branch made their home. It was a rather humble place for a prosperous line like the fifth branch, and it marked their border with the second branch. The place had once belonged to the second branch, but it had been taken over in recent times, marking the second branch's fall from grace to the second worst line in the clan. Since the fifth branch was still among the top three, there was nothing the second branch could do about it.
Within a dark building on Traysword Peak sat Lin Jie on his throne, his eyes closed for some restful respite. Beside him was the mistress of the seventh branch, Lin Wuyi, dressed in a long, flowing purple dress. Her hair and clothes were slightly disheveled and her face was slightly flush. One could easily imagine what had taken place there moments before. Being leaders of their branches, they usually had a main spouse and concubines. Lin Wuyi's concubines, in particular, were boys without much authority.
"Wuyi, so you settled on overriding the successor position through the council?" Lin Jie asked in a plain tone.
"I think it'll work. We won't have to bother with the juniors, nor go at it that blatantly. We can just get someone else to deal with Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue for us once and for all. When Lin Xiao is no longer the branch master, Lin Feng will no longer qualify to be the heir of the branch, either. The second branch's leadership will switch to a new line, causing Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue to fade into obscurity even more. Once Lin Xiao ages and deteriorates further, he’ll no longer have any ability to oppose us with his status stripped," she said.
"That's true.... Back then, Lin Mu was believed to be childless, so it was a given that the current line of the second branch would die out once Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue expired. A replacement was always envisioned from the beginning, so nobody brought up overriding the line to the council to leave some face for Lin Xiao. But with Lin Feng in the picture, the leadership position will soon end with him. If he decides to spread his seed far and wide, it’ll be impossible to replace those leading the second branch. I'm sure Lin Bei's ilk in the second are getting a little anxious, considering how long they've been waiting, right?"
"Yeah. When I talked to them about this, they refused on the surface. But I could tell they were beating around the bush. When I told them it was for the sake of restoring the second branch to its former glory to save it from even more suffering, they seemed eager to try. We didn't come to any concrete agreement, but they're mainly concerned with optics. As long as we give them a good justification, they'll jump at the chance to lead the second branch. Once they get what they want, the rest of the branch will side with our modern faction and nobody will be able to stop our plans."
"There's no need to waste words with them. I know what kind of person Lin Bei is. As long as I give him a chance, he'll be able to pull the rug from under Lin Xiao. With the appearance of Lin Mu's son, he's sure to be the most desperate of us all."
"If you're alright with it, I'll start preparing. We need to fulfill three conditions for the council successor override. First, the council itself has to agree. Second, more than five of the nine branches have to assent to it. Third, there has to be an internal vote within the second branch, and eight-tenths of them have to be in favor of an override. Only then will Lin Bei have the rightful authority for such a maneuver. The first and second conditions are easily fulfilled, but the third still needs some work. That's what those two lines have to fight over moving forward."
"Go ahead. The second branch has suffered much at the hands of Lin Xiao's line. They already implicitly believe that Lin Bei will take over as the branch master, establishing a new line for their branch, but Lin Feng's appearance put them back to square one. It's easy to get more than eighty percent of the votes. The members of the second branch are just waiting for a chance to turn over a new leaf by leaving Lin Xiao's line behind." Lin Jie made it sound like he was genuinely concerned for the branch's fall from grace. "Wuyi, you did well. You're much more reliable than Xiaoyun."
"Thank you...." She lowered her head and smiled.
Just then, someone called out from outside, "Fifth Branch Master, Lin Bei of the second branch requests a meeting."
Hearing that, the two branch masters exchanged smiling glances. "As expected, he's even more desperate than we are."