Because of Favoritism, There Was No Love

Eastsea City.

The second-largest city on the Eastsea coast of the Sun Moon Federation. An important port city for maritime transport and ocean resource development.

With a permanent population of over three million, the city was quite wealthy thanks to its use of marine resources. Even within the entire Sun Moon Federation, it counted as a second-tier city.

Eastsea City had a long history, and its appearance still retained an ancient style. Over the past few centuries, the Sun Moon Federation had paid particular attention to preserving old buildings, so this ancient city still contained many structures that were over a thousand years old.

It was summer, and Eastsea City lay along the coast, so typhoons were naturally nothing unusual.

But this typhoon was unlike any before it. Compared to this one, the previous typhoons seemed like mere child's play.

The sky rapidly shifted from deep blue to leaden gray, as though heralding the coming storm. The waves began to churn, changing from tranquil blue to violent white as they crashed toward the shore one after another with thunderous roars.

The wind gradually intensified, turning from a breeze into a gale that sent the beach umbrellas and flags toppling in every direction. Leaves whirled through the air as though performing a wild dance.

As the typhoon drew nearer, rain began to pour down in torrents, striking the windows with crisp pattering sounds. Water streamed along the streets, forming little rivers that made the city hazy and mysterious. Water began pooling in some low-lying areas, and Soul Guidance vehicles sent fountains of spray soaring as they drove through it.

Yet within the central villa district beneath the typhoon and downpour, the Xu Family's domestic storm was even fiercer than the rain.

"Go kneel outside!"

The stern command, filled with towering rage, slammed into the mind of the boy before him, leaving him momentarily stunned.

Amid the torrential rain and howling gale, the teenage boy stood outside the door, enduring the ravaging storm.

Rain soaked his thin clothes, and the gale howled through his body. He seemed like a sheet of paper, as though the wind and rain could swallow him whole at any moment.

Rain dripped down the boy's handsome face, leaving the once spirited youth looking somewhat bedraggled.

Yet beneath the rain and in the darkness, those bright eyes remained stubborn and resolute, utterly unaffected by the harsh surroundings.

His steadfast gaze was fixed directly on the people standing in the doorway.

"I told you to kneel. Didn't you hear me?"

The furious man at the forefront was middle-aged, dressed in a blue government uniform. His name was Xu Junwen, the head of the Xu Family and Eastsea City's Chief Financial Officer. He held great authority and naturally possessed an imposing air. Now that he was angry, his presence was even more oppressive.

A man and a woman stood beside him. The man was older, appearing to be seventeen or eighteen, while the girl was about the same age as the boy standing in the rain.

Xu Xiaoyu's face was dark, and the way he looked at the boy in the rain was exceptionally cold.

Behind him stood the young girl. Her pale blue hair was braided into two pigtails, and she looked exquisitely lovely, like a doll dressed in powder and jade. Yet she appeared anxious, her expression filled with reluctance. Several times, she looked toward her father, Xu Junwen, as though she wanted to say something.

But under Xu Xiaoyu's cold glance, she could only timidly lower her head and swallow her words.

No matter how the wind and rain howled, no matter how baseless the scolding was, Lin Xiuran still refused to kneel. No matter how towering Xu Junwen's rage became, it could not crush him.

In truth, Xu Junwen's anger today was not entirely without cause. Of course, as far as Lin Xiuran was concerned, he was completely innocent.

In order to nurture Xu Xiaoyan, the Xu Family had paid an enormous price to obtain three entry cards for the Riotous Spirit Ascension Platform. They had sent Xu Xiaoyan inside, while Lin Xiuran and Xu Xiaoyu were supposed to protect her. Yet because of Xu Xiaoyu's momentary arrogance, their Spirit Ascension Platform journey had ended just like that.

During the early part of the trip, Xu Xiaoyan had been too timid to hunt Soul Beasts, so Lin Xiuran and Xu Xiaoyu had handled nearly all the fighting. Since Xu Xiaoyu was powerful, he had acted the most. But after a Soul Beast was killed, its spiritual energy was randomly distributed among the people closest to it.

Xu Xiaoyu disliked Lin Xiuran for being weak and contributing little, so he did not want to share the spiritual energy with him. Thus, he had cast Lin Xiuran aside and taken Xu Xiaoyan to act alone. Later, because of his carelessness, they were eliminated by Zero Class.

That was what had happened. Yet the one being scolded and punished now was Lin Xiuran, simply because after returning, Xu Xiaoyu had told Xu Junwen that Lin Xiuran had left them without permission, causing them to be eliminated.

And so, this scene came to pass.

"If you won't kneel, then never come back to this home!" Seeing that Lin Xiuran refused to yield, Xu Junwen left behind only those words before returning indoors with Xu Xiaoyu and Xu Xiaoyan.

"Home?"

Lin Xiuran gave a bitter laugh, his eyes revealing a trace of anguish. He would rather not have this home at all!

It was not that he had not tried to explain, nor that he had not argued back. It was that Xu Junwen simply would not believe him.

He had been in this family for so many years. Nominally, Xu Junwen and Lin Xinran were his parents, yet he had never received even the slightest treatment that a child of this family should have received.

He had never known parental concern. When his older brother Xu Xiaoyu needed a sparring partner, his parents ignored the enormous gap in their strength and made Lin Xiuran go. His younger sister Xu Xiaoyan was exceptionally gifted, and there were countless instances where everything revolved around her.

He was not allowed to eat at the table, never received new clothes, and his room was even smaller than the servants' rooms. That had been his treatment in this family for all these years.

Had Xu Xiaoyu framed him only once or twice?

The Spirit Pagoda had real-time surveillance. Every person inside had dedicated staff recording their movements. Although Xu Junwen had not been present, if he had wanted to investigate, the truth could have been easily uncovered.

But he would not!

Not only did Lin Xiuran know this perfectly well, Xu Xiaoyu understood it even more deeply. That was why he could frame him so brazenly.

As the rain washed over him, Lin Xiuran still could not understand why his parents were so biased.

He had had no parents in his previous life, so from childhood, he had treated his parents in this life with great respect. Because he retained memories from his previous life, he had matured early and become sensible at a young age. Yet the Xu Family still disliked him.

Especially after he awakened his Martial Soul at the age of six. His Martial Soul had merely been the most ordinary Wind Element Martial Soul: Wind Bird, and after that, his family's attitude toward him had taken a sharp turn for the worse.

He had once believed it was because of his Martial Soul. Yet no matter how diligently he cultivated afterward, he could not change Xu Junwen and his wife's opinion of him.

Later, Lin Xiuran roughly guessed that he was not the Xu Family's biological son. After all, his Martial Soul inheritance came from neither Xu Junwen nor Xu Mother.

Moreover, he had never been allowed to take the Xu surname. He had once asked his so-called father, Xu Junwen, why he was not allowed to be named Xu, but all he received was another round of baseless scolding. Later, he learned that his name had been given to him by a Clan Elder of the Xu Family.

But if they were all biological children, they probably would not have been so biased...

The rain continued to fall, but his heart had long since been drenched cold as a river by the downpour. Every trace of warmth and expectation he had held toward the Xu Family was washed away clean by the merciless rain.

From this day forward, no matter how difficult the world became, no matter whether others were sincere or not, as long as he no longer expected anything, he would no longer be hurt.

There was no blood relation. The reason the protagonist's adoptive parents treated him so poorly would gradually be explained later; it was not merely because they were unrelated by blood.