Chapter 2203 - The Young Xiuzhu
Tianming's speech and attitude had utterly shocked the spectators. Many disciples of the second branch witnessed the thuggish behavior of the current heir of their branch and furrowed their brows. His disparaging words made it awkward for Lin Bei and the rest to remain kneeling.
They stood back up, but maintained their composure. Lin Bei asked Lin Xiao, "Second Patriarch, what do you mean by this?" Lin Xiao had authority there while Tianming didn't, after all.
"Let's start the whole farce. We'll let the youths go first and I'll end it at the very end. Spare me the pleasantries and let's save everyone time." Lin Xiao finished what he had to say and didn't spare Lin Bei another glance before leaving the battlefield beside Dongshen Yue.
"Alright!" Lin Xiaoyun and Lin Wuyi were all too excited for it to start before Lin Bei had even reacted. They knew what Lin Xiao meant and chimed in with their agreement.
"Lin Bei, the council succession override shall begin. May the youths prepare for battle," Lin Xiaoyun announced, setting the matter in stone.
"Okay." While Lin Bei wore a look of pained frustration, he was secretly all too delighted about the proceedings. Many others in the second branch, including him, believed that the purpose of the day's event was nothing more than for Lin Xiao and Dongshen Yue to put up a front. No one expected them to actually put up a real fight. Not to mention, they even had three promising youths and a wastrel join the fight. Lin Xiaoyun and Lin Wuyi wanted Tianming and the three girls to suffer a bit and worsen their reputation, and it would be even more ideal if some... incident were to happen.
Thousands of others watched the four youths and sighed.
"Aren't those four still incredibly young? Even if the three girls are prodigies, they aren’t even thirty. How could they fight people ten times their age?"
"Is there even a point to this fight?"
"Couldn't the second patriarch just graciously step away and let the youths suffer less?"
"Looks like he's far too attached to the position of branch master."
"But why?"
"Honestly, I think Lin Feng's the one who wanted to fight. He wants to put up a stubborn resistance and involved the girls with him."
"How horrid of him. He's going to suffer even though he doesn't have to."
Most people saw Lin Mu's shadow in Lin Feng. The thousand people from Lin Bei's line insulted them behind their backs nonstop.
"Let them do what they want, then," said a green-clad youth beside Lin Bei. He was tall, slender, and his robe was decorated with straight bamboo patterns. His long hair was neatly tied together. He looked like a really handsome, well put together, and courageous young man. His green eyes pulsed with powerful sword ki.
Everyone knew who he was: Lin Xiuzhu. Neither Lin Bei nor his son were particularly accomplished, but Lin Bei's grandson, Lin Xiuzhu, carried the future hopes of the second branch. Even though he was only in his sixties, he was still among the most accomplished people under two hundred years of age and the only grade-six disciple, being of the same grade as Lin Jianxing. The event of the day had mainly been organized for his sake. Many believed that the calm and squeaky-clean youth with burning sword intent was the true backbone of the second branch.
As everyone watched, he stepped into the battlefield with Lin Bei. Before countless witnesses, he politely said to Tianming and the rest, "Ladies, I’m around thirty years your senior and have quite a bit of an advantage over you, so it isn't really fair. That's why I’ll be the only one fighting on our side as a handicap. I hope that I can learn from our exchange."
Many people echoed each others’ praises for Lin Xiuzhu's character. Their gazes were filled with nothing but affirmation, and many women his senior showered him with motherly smiles. That was all in spite of him talking to the girls and completely ignoring Tianming, not even acknowledging his presence. It was nothing short of a grave insult, but the rest of the second branch was happy to overlook it.
"Since Li Xiuzhu wants to even the playing field...."
Even with those odds, people still believed that it would be all too easy for Lin Xiuzhu alone to take on the four of them, Tianming included. It was so much of a given that not even Lin Xiaoyun and Lin Wuyi had anything to say about it.
Right as Lin Wuyi was about to announce the start of the battle, Tianming interrupted her. "I refuse! The council succession override shall be conducted according to the rules! Both sides have to send ten of their strongest disciples to ensure fairness and purpose. We’re only sending four because that’s all we have, but your side has more than two hundred and is more than capable of fulfilling those requirements. You should do as the rules say."
The words came as yet another complete shock. Many wondered where his courage had stemmed from, Lin Xiuzhu included. He shot Tianming a look and saw that his level was listed as a first-level stellaminor on his disciple card.
"There's no need for that, is there?" Lin Xiuzhu said with a chuckle. Quite a few people echoed his laughter.
"It is necessary. Otherwise, if you lose, the fight would have to be conducted once more because you can claim it wasn't fairly conducted as stipulated by the rules. That’ll just waste everyone's time," Tianming said.
"Ah, that...." Lin Xiuzhu mustered all the self-control he had to prevent himself from laughing outright, maintaining his decorum as much as he could. But the crowd couldn't hold back and the serious tension in the atmosphere simply dissipated. Some were laughing so hard that their abdomens almost cramped up.
"Lin Feng, let's stop... messing around... Pf— This is a serious occasion, I assure you, not a place for you to show off your comedic talents," Lin Xiuzhu said, shaking with suppressed laughter as he spoke.
"I'm not joking. If you refuse to send the right number of people and break the rules, you might as well put an end to the whole farce of this council succession override and go home." Tianming bluntly refused with a hand to Lin Xiuzhu's face. He had come here to raise his reputation and spread it far and wide, so how could he let Lin Xiuzhu get away with stealing his spotlight before his performance?
"Very well! Looks like you’re smart enough to think about a technicality to save you from your predicament." Lin Xiuzhu could barely hold back. He beamed with a smile that showed off his perfect teeth. Everyone figured they knew Tianming's shtick; it was nothing but a pathetic attempt to abort the council succession override.
"Xiuzhu," Lin Bei called out, instructing him to not insist. There was no way he would let the proceedings come to a halt.
"Understood, Grandfather." Lin Xiuzhu turned back to his people and said, "Pick any nine of you, ideally those under the age of thirty."
"I'll do it!"
"Me!"
A group of children were soon gathered. However, Tianming loudly voiced his complaints once more. "You can't just fill up the numbers and call it a day. The rules must be fully obeyed to the strictest letter. If you don't want to do this, just leave and stop wasting my time. If you can't find anyone, I’ll name your strongest fighters for you."
Lin Xiuzhu's smile froze. He turned back to look at Tianming. "Are you for real?" The laughter he had been holding back turned into anger.
"How can there be such a shameless person?"
"I can understand why Lin Feng would do this. He wouldn't be able to win either way. If he loses against stronger opponents, he’ll at least be able to save some face and even boast about standing up against all odds."
"I see...."
It was starting to sound more and more pointless. Lin Xiuzhu shut his mouth and glared at Tianming. Even though this was the first time he had met him, he was beginning to feel really annoyed by this supposed successor who could enter the sixth level of the Caeli Vault despite being three grades lower than himself. Why did he deserve such a privilege? From the very beginning, all Lin Xiuzhu had cared about was defeating Tianming, but now he wanted to toy around with him and secretly anticipated the fun he would come to have very soon.
All the while, Tianming kept the insults going. Turning to Lin Bei's line, he said, "Stop wasting time! Anyone named by me, haul your worthless asses over here! Lin Xiuzhu, Lin Yongning, Lin Mingzhi, Lin Guiyu, Lin Lingyao, Lin Hongguang, Lin Shiyun, Lin Yahan, and Lin Zhongyu! I want all of you! Everyone else, stay far away! Have some class, will you? My grandparents have long left the battlefield, so what’re you guys still lingering around for? Are you trying to show off how good the pigs and sows of your family are at breeding?"
He didn't bother to hold back against those that refused to show him any basic respect. "You think kneeling, giving us a handicap, and not wanting to play by the rules is something honorable?! Do you think that the council succession override is a joke? If you're just pretending, leave and stop wasting our time! This is the battlefield, and drawing this out is a shameless act! You want to try overpowering us with sheer brute force? Or are you trying to throw a tantrum and waste everyone's time? Everyone knows you just want to take over the leadership of the branch! You kids.... Bask in the shame your parents' actions have brought upon you! It looks like a crooked tree really can’t cast a straight shadow and the leaves really don't fall far from the roots. There's no need to pretend to be pure and just when you weren't born that way!" He wasn’t just insulting Lin Xiuzhu, but also all of the others who had participated in all the theatrics before, venting everything without holding back.
"This is too much...." Other things aside, Tianming's courage alone was shocking to witness and it immediately polarized the crowd. Some people were impressed with his bravado, but others felt like he was completely hopeless.
"To think that a living, breathing clone of Lin Mu would show up before us once more! It's like they've been cast from the same mold!" Lin Xiaoyun couldn't help but exclaim, being the so-called 'neutral' presider over the events.
People turned to Lin Bei and waited for his response. He growled, "Those that he named, come forward!"
As expected, Tianming's words had completely infuriated him and he could no longer keep his cheery attitude. Nine youths under the age of three hundred showed up. The strongest youths of Lin Bei's line had angrily joined Lin Xiuzhu.
It was a completely different ball game, and Tianming had known it would come to this. Even so, he cursed them out anyway. If he hadn’t, who knew how long they would have put up that stupid pretense for their actions? They were obviously the greedy and ambitious ones, yet they had still pretended that they were only doing this because the members of the second branch wanted them to take over as the line of succession. How disgusting.
"Lin Feng, you were the one who set the fire. You’ll suffer the consequences for stooping to such a low level," Lin Xiaozhu said, looking at the fellow he thought was around forty years his senior. Never would he have expected someone to be capable of having such courage.
"You were the ones that came to us with this! There will be consequences for you, too!" Tianming chuckled and drew the Grand-Orient Sword. Facing the crowd, he roared, "I, Lin Feng, disciple of the Swordgod Lin Clan, will join my wives, Jiang Feiling, Lin Xiaoxiao, and Weisheng Moran, to fight the ten of you in an Infinitum Duel! Regardless of life or death, our fighting spirit will burn ad infinitum! Come!"