White Tiger Cub!

The Lin Family's back mountain.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged on the large bluestone, his eyes closed as he rested his mind.

His clash with Lin Mang and his son had given him some new insight.

So-called Heavenly Yuan Stage experts were still that formidable even after suffering heavy injuries.

He had thought that after stepping into the Earthly Yuan Stage, he would have the right to fight a Heavenly Yuan Stage expert on even terms.

Thinking about it now, he had been a little too optimistic.

Lin Chen opened his eyes and looked at the three streaks of light flashing past in the distance. That was Lin Zhentian and the other two Heavenly Yuan Stage experts already hurrying back toward the Lin Family.

It seemed the matter of Lin Mang and his son being killed had not been discovered for the time being.

"Ding! Congratulations, host, for successfully killing Lin Mang and his son. You have obtained one sign-in opportunity. Sign in?"

Lin Chen was not especially surprised by this.

Back when he had signed in repeatedly during the Clan Tournament, he had already had some guesses.

Now, the system's prompt had more or less confirmed his guess.

"Sign in!"

"Ding! Signing in. Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, for obtaining the sign-in reward—White Tiger Cub!"

Lin Chen's brows jumped sharply. Thinking he had misheard, he sank his mind into the system space and discovered that a White Tiger Cub had actually appeared inside. He was completely stunned.

It was a White Tiger Cub with snow-white fur all over and a faint black "king" character on its forehead. Its eyes had yet to open, and it was curled up in its bedding, licking its tiger paws from time to time.

Lin Chen rubbed his eyes and looked again. It really was a White Tiger Cub, and a strange expression appeared on his face.

No way, right?

Wasn't this making him a dad?!

Lin Chen carried the White Tiger Cub out and rather nervously stroked its head. After finding that it did not reject him, he finally calmed down a little.

It seemed he had overthought things.

Calling it a White Tiger Cub might really just mean it was a snow-white tiger cub.

Not the legendary White Tiger Divine Beast, one of the Four Symbols Divine Beasts and the master of killing.

Lin Chen took out a jade bottle from the Azure Dragon Ring. Inside was red Spirit Liquid produced by the Ancestral Stone after condensing Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi.

Since it was a White Tiger Cub, it probably needed milk.

He did not have any here, so he might as well use Spirit Liquid instead.

Lin Chen separated out one drop of Spirit Liquid, worried that the cub would be unable to withstand such terrifying medicinal power and explode on the spot. So he specifically diluted it, put it into the jade bottle, and poured it for the White Tiger Cub.

Gulp, gulp.

The White Tiger Cub showed no discomfort at all. In just a few gulps, it drank down the diluted Spirit Liquid, burped, and then fell asleep in a silly, contented manner.

This left Lin Chen unsure what sort of expression he should use to convey his current feelings.

"Forget it. A White Tiger Cub rewarded by the system should be worth raising."

Holding to that thought, Lin Chen settled the White Tiger Cub in the Small World inside the Azure Dragon Ring.

In its current state, it probably only needed to be fed at regular intervals, and it would obediently grow up.

When a dad raised a kid, as long as it did not starve to death, that was enough.

Although the members of the Lin Family did not know the specifics regarding Lin Mang and his son, from the orders passed down under Lin Zhentian's instruction, they could infer that Lin Mang and his son likely would not have a chance to make a move against the Lin Family for a short time.

With that, the Lin Family gradually settled down and returned to its former state.

Due to Lin Mang's betrayal, the Lin Family's financial authority that he had controlled was naturally transferred into Lin Xiao's hands.

Among them, properties like Huoyan Manor were the foundation of the Lin Family's standing. Their annual profits accounted for six-tenths of the entire Lin Family's income, making them extremely lucrative, and they were also placed under Lin Xiao's management.

As for Lin Chen and the other two, since all three of them had won first place in the Clan Tournament, this time Lin Zhentian specially added a Third-grade Spirit Medicine, Fire Blood Ganoderma, on top of the original Third-grade Spirit Medicine, Blood Condensing Vermilion Fruit.

This allowed the cultivation progress of Lin Chen and the other two to increase greatly.

Moreover, those who took first place in the Clan Tournament were all qualified to enter the Lin Family's Martial Arts Pavilion and find martial arts suited to themselves.

In the past, the martial arts they could cultivate were only first-grade or lower second-grade.

Now, they could obtain lower third-grade martial arts from the Martial Arts Pavilion!

The Lin Family's Martial Arts Pavilion was located in the rear courtyard.

"Ah Chen, what kind of Third-grade Martial Art are you planning to cultivate?"

A graceful young girl dressed in red stood beside Lin Chen, asking him with a hint of shyness.

"I'll take a look first. If there's a sword technique, that would be best."

When Lin Chen chose martial arts, he naturally hoped to obtain a sword technique.

Only a sword technique could maximize the increase in his combat strength.

Of course, if there were other powerful martial arts available, he would learn those too.

The point was simple: no skill ever weighed you down.

Beside him, Lin Dong looked at the Martial Arts Pavilion with great curiosity. Before this, he had learned all his martial arts from Lin Xiao and had never come to the Martial Arts Pavilion at all.

He said nothing and simply followed Lin Chen and Lin Xia inside.

On the redwood shelves, numerous martial arts manuals were arranged in neat rows.

According to the Martial Arts Pavilion's layout, first came the lower-tier First-grade Martial Arts, followed by lower-tier Second-grade Martial Arts, and finally the lower-tier Third-grade Martial Arts.

Generally speaking, one had to reach the Earthly Yuan Stage before they could cultivate lower-tier Third-grade Martial Arts.

First-grade and lower-tier Second-grade Martial Arts, on the other hand, were already more than enough for Body Tempering cultivators.

Even in the Lin Family, there were not many lower-tier Third-grade Martial Arts.

On the redwood shelves, there were only ten types of lower-tier Third-grade Martial Arts, such as Returning Wind Cotton Hand, Traceless Claw, and so on.

"Cousin Lin Dong, you're not thinking of cultivating a Third-grade Martial Art, are you?"

Lin Xia was looking for a Second-grade Martial Art suited to her. Noticing Lin Dong's movements, she could not help laughing as she asked, "For Body Tempering cultivators like us, Third-grade Martial Arts are still somewhat difficult. Only after reaching the Earthly Yuan Stage can we be considered to have met the cultivation threshold."

She thought Lin Dong did not know this, so she simply gave him a reminder.

In the past, there had been no shortage of people in the Lin Family who stubbornly chose to cultivate Third-grade Martial Arts. In the end, their Yuan Power cultivation was greatly affected, and they failed to successfully cultivate the Third-grade Martial Art as well. It could be called a total loss.

"Thank you for the reminder, Cousin Lin Xia. I'm just a little curious."

Lin Dong grinned and continued, "There shouldn't be any problem with taking a look in advance. If I break through to the Earthly Yuan Stage later, I won't have to make another trip to the Martial Arts Pavilion."

He knew very well that his current cultivation had already reached Body Tempering Stage Seven.

Once he absorbed the spiritual medicine reward he had received for taking first place in the Clan Tournament, he should be able to try breaking through to the Ninth Level of Body Tempering in one go.

At this speed, raising his cultivation to the Earthly Yuan Stage before the Qingyang Town Hunting Event should not be a problem.

When that time came, he would definitely need to cultivate Third-grade Martial Arts.

Besides, with the Ancestral Stone in his possession, there was also a great possibility that he could completely master a Third-grade Martial Art ahead of time, without being restricted by the so-called cultivation threshold.

While the two were talking, Lin Chen also walked over to the redwood shelf. He glanced briefly at the other lower-tier Third-grade Martial Arts and found one sword technique called Nine Thunder Sword. Once fully mastered, when it was unleashed, it could release nine thunder swords to attack the enemy, like nine bolts of thunder striking the crown of the head. Very few people could withstand such a domineering Nine Thunder Sword.

However, it was rather difficult to cultivate.

To put it simply, it required one to be struck by lightning while practicing the sword...

Lin Chen curled his lip and shifted his gaze to a pale-black martial arts manual in the corner. He took it over and gave it a simple glance.

Third-grade Martial Art, Qi Men Seal, fragment!