The Cold Qi's Outbreak

The sky gradually darkened. At Qingtan and Lin Xiao and his wife's invitation to dinner, Lin Yan naturally accepted.

After the introductions earlier, Lin Yan and Lin Dong's family gradually became familiar with one another.

At this moment, stars dotted the sky. Beneath the dim lamplight, the family gathered for a reunion meal, as if Lin Yan had also become part of this household. It was beautiful and warm.

However, Lin Yan knew very clearly in his heart that in this cruel world, without strength, any affection or warmth was false, and could be shattered by all kinds of accidents at any time.

Only great strength could protect himself and his family.

Hadn't the original owner of this body once had a happy and complete family too? In the end, his father had unfortunately lost his life in a conflict with another clan.

From then on, the family had become lonely and helpless. His mother had also died of illness, and even he himself had silently passed away, allowing the latter to occupy his body.

Although these thoughts ran through his mind, Lin Yan did not show even the slightest hint of them on his face. He also properly satisfied his appetite.

Because of Lin Yan's arrival, Liu Yan personally went to the kitchen again and stir-fried several small dishes that looked, smelled, and tasted excellent, making Qingtan so jealous that she said she never got to eat such good food normally.

During the meal, Liu Yan also kept putting food into Lin Yan's bowl, asking after him like his own mother, and from time to time she would glance at Qingtan and Lin Yan, as if looking at her family's son-in-law.

As an ordinary woman without overly grand ambitions, a happy family and good futures for her children were Liu Yan's greatest ideals.

She had originally wanted to bring Lin Dong and Qingtan together, but Lin Dong seemed to have always treated Qingtan as his younger sister and had no such intention, so Liu Yan had given up on that idea.

Now that Lin Yan had appeared, that thought rose in her again. In her eyes, Lin Yan was of a suitable age, handsome and refined, and his abilities and strength were not bad either. He was no longer like the rumors of his sickly past, so he was quite suitable.

Facing Liu Yan's gaze, which seemed to be appreciating her own son-in-law, Lin Yan said he found it a little hard to bear.

Although he did have thoughts about Qingtan too—after all, who would not like a pretty and adorable girl?—right now, his main focus was on growing his Heavenly Flame and improving his cultivation. Romance was still too early.

In the end, it was Lin Xiao and Lin Dong who stepped in to help Lin Yan out of the situation.

As an elder, although Lin Xiao had now become half-crippled, his martial arts experience remained. During their conversation, he casually gave Lin Yan a few pointers, and it made the latter feel as if a blockage had been cleared and everything suddenly made sense.

As for Lin Dong, Lin Yan spoke with him even more happily.

Whether it was their principles for dealing with life and people, or their pursuit on the martial path, both of them had that kind of stubborn and resolute nature. On this point, Lin Yan and Lin Dong both felt a sense of mutual appreciation.

Although at first, when Lin Yan found out he had come to Tianxuan Continent, he had once thought about snatching the Stone Talisman from Lin Dong, that was a conflict of interest, not a conflict of stance.

From the bottom of his heart, Lin Yan still admired Lin Dong greatly. He valued affection and loyalty, carried a sense of responsibility, and never backed down no matter what he encountered. All of these were things Lin Yan admired greatly.

This world had no legal standards. Everything depended on moral restraint, so people's moral standards were generally not high. For Lin Dong to be able to do this much was already precious.

By comparison, Lin Yan did not like Tang San of Douluo Continent nearly as much.

As for Tang San, Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing said he was pure and noble, and Tang San himself actually thought so too, but Lin Yan did not think so.

Old Jack had treated him like his own grandson. During the first few years when his biological father Tang Hao was dispirited, it had always been Old Jack worrying over Tang San's daily education, Spirit awakening, and so on. For such a relative-like figure to never appear again in later experiences was simply absurd.

Ma Hongjun and the lecherous uncle Bu Le had a conflict over matters of the brothel. Ma Hongjun called Tang San and the others over and beat up Bu Le and his two companions again. That part was normal enough; wasn't it just a brawl between a bunch of lecherous men? But afterward, Ma Hongjun crippled Bu Le's manhood when he already had no ability to resist. That was also absurd.

Tang San and Xiao Wu formed the San-Wu Combination and stayed every day in an arena that existed precisely for fighting. When Xiao Wu was not injured, Tang San could still be considered a normal person. Once Xiao Wu was injured, he turned into Avenger Tang San. So Xiao Wu was someone Tang San valued, but other people's teammates did not count as people, right?

When they were hunting spirit beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest, the students of Canghui Academy had merely praised their own teacher normally. Just because they had stolen the limelight from Shrek Academy, they were beaten up by Shrek Academy, who even shouted something about those who did not dare cause trouble being mediocre. In Lin Yan's eyes, this kind of behavior was bullying the weak and fearing the strong. When you were stronger than others, you humiliated them like this, so why didn't you dare provoke a few people stronger than you when you met them? Didn't that make you the mediocrity from your own mouth?

In Slaughter City, it would have been one thing for Tang San and his father to obtain the God of Slaughter Domain and call it finished. But why did he have to kill everyone who had drunk Bloody Mary? Tens of thousands of people, including his own ancestor Tang Chen. Could it be that the one Tang San drank at the entrance of Slaughter City did not count as Bloody Mary, or did he think that among those tens of thousands of people, not a single one was innocent? He really could bring himself to be that ruthless...

After the final match in Spirit City, Tang Hao took Tang San away. And then? What about Dai Mubai and the others? What about Grandmaster? Spirit Hall actually let them leave? They did not arrest one or two of them as hostages?

Dai Mubai was a prince and could not be arrested, but Oscar could be arrested, right? Substitutes like Jing Ling could be arrested, right? So these people were just completely left with no one to care about them? They were just bullying Spirit Hall for following the rules, huh.

This was a textbook case of selling out teammates. Fortunately, you, Tang San, were the Child of the Plane, someone with tremendous luck. If it were anyone else, they would have long since become utterly alone.

When he killed spirit beasts himself, all the spirit beasts he encountered were bad, while the ones others killed were all good. So he was doing the work of murder and robbery, yet still boasting of being an upright gentleman?

This kind of behavior, in Lin Yan's worldview, was called having double standards.

By comparison, although Lin Dong also often caused trouble, he could always step forward and take responsibility at critical moments. That was why Lin Yan had a favorable impression of him. Of course, this was under the condition that interests were not involved. If the two of them had a conflict over benefits in the future, Lin Yan knew that he would not be soft-hearted either.

After finishing dinner, Lin Yan took the opportunity to bid farewell to Lin Dong's family. Although the atmosphere here was warm, it did not belong to someone like him, who had already died once.

Having been reborn into a new life, he had to take control of his own fate.

After saying goodbye to Lin Xiao and his wife, as well as Lin Dong, Lin Yan prepared to bid farewell to Qingtan. However, before he could speak, he saw that the latter's delicate, jade-carved little face had suddenly turned deathly pale. Strands of cold air visible to the naked eye slowly seeped out from her body, causing fine shards of ice to appear on the nearby ground.

"Damn it... the cold qi is acting up again!"

Seeing Qingtan's sudden change, Lin Dong's expression at the side instantly changed drastically.